Hello. I am feeling overwhelmed today and am hoping to find some new ideas. We adopted a 3 month old Golden Doodle from craigslist (I see that is not accepted by this group, but please don't blast me on it). Admittedly, I did not do enough research into Doodles. At 80 pounds, Murphy is about 15 pounds bigger than I expected. He is very loving and thinks he is a lap dog. In closed quarters, he is a good playmate for our 20 pound miniature schnauzer, Renzi. However, outside, Murphy runs full speed and barrels over Renzi.
My daughter and I have allergies and asthma. Murphy doesn't shed, and his dander doesn't seem to bother us. However, between the dirt he wears in and the dust he and Renzi pound out of the rug when wrestling, having Murphy has quadrupled the dust in the house. That does affect our allergies.
We have a large fenced yard (split rail and wire). If someone is not outside with him, Murphy digs out of the yard every chance he gets. The first time, he came back with a child's stuffed animal. That turned out okay (fortunately, the neighbor's grandson was used to big dogs), but I worry. There's also a very busy road just across a little stream behind our house. This afternoon, Murphy dug out, and now he is covered in burrs and something (he likes to roll in feces and dead birds).
We're working on the jumping. He walks pretty well with a Gentle Leader head lead, but I cannot walk both dogs at the same time. The trainers at the obedience course we took didn't have any suggestions for his counter cruising. Everything is in his reach. He has a crate, and both dogs are gated in a large laundry/mud room whenever they're not supervised. Renzi no longer chews up things (well, he still loves tissues), but Murphy chews up whatever he can (like the rug and pad). I'm hoping that he will outgrow some of his puppy behavior within the next year.
I'm trying to deal with all the challenges. Murphy is a sweet dog, and Renzi likes having a brother. The kids enjoy him most of the time, but the escaping and allergies are serious issues. On days like today, I wonder if I can see through all the stuggles. How do we make it work?