22-001 Baron is a 10-month-old Goldendoodle who favors his poodle parent. The owner also has Baron’s sister and decided that two dogs was one too many when his wife passed away. A friend, who is a dog trainer, kept Baron for a couple weeks while the owner dealt with his wife’s death. The friend sent some behavior notes, which were very useful to our Placement Team. Baron walks on a leash well most of the time. If distracted, he will jump but just turn in a circle and start walking straight again and he refocuses quickly. He knows sit, down, and heel (still needs some work but okay most of the time); stay needs some work. Has met a cat while in the sit position; the cat sniffed Baron and Baron sniffed the cat, and both were okay with the meeting. He is crate trained – will go in the crate willingly and when the crate door is opened, he will wait until invite to come out. He is house trained. He travels well in a crate – tell him “Load up” and he will jump in the SUV and into the crate on his own. He is rambunctious and needs some formal obedience training. He will jump and be distracted if a sudden loud noise occurs (such as a loud car going by). May be under-socialized but with a little work will be fine.

Baron was placed with an adoptive couple in Paradise Valley. After some jockeying for pack position, Baron and the resident dog, Zorro, are getting along well. Baron is a bundle of basically untrained energy, so the family has hired a behaviorist to help them get Baron under control – they quickly realized they needed training as much as the dog does! Baron was finally neutered in March, which will hopefully calm him down some. The adopter recently commented:

Baron has been such a joy to add to our family. He adds energy to our everyday life. Our Portuguese water dog Zorro loves having him as a brother, and he's even lost 5 pounds running after Baron in our yard, which he really needed to do. Baron has become an affectionate and loving dog. It was a pleasure dealing with the personnel at Arizona Golden Rescue. They gave us the exact perfect dog for our lifestyle.