Mozart is a neutered 13 month old male Golden Doodle (DOB 10/12/08).  He is now a part of the RAGOM family after being surrendered by his family who were no longer able to take care of him.  Mozart has been with us for 7 days now and is still trying to figure out his place in our family.  We have two resident female goldens here (ages 1 and 8) and Mozart tries on a regular basis to take the alpha role but Sophie (the 1 yr old) is not willing to give up the top dog position.  As far as play, he is really only interested in playing with Sophie and hard as senior Maggie tries, he won't give her the time of day. 
 
Until we get to know more about him, we only have a couple MUST have's in Mozart's new family which are:
1. Fenced yard because Mozart does not have basic obedience skills and is not always friendly with strangers (gets a little growly) but most importantly, he chases cars.  These are all things we will be working on. 
2.  Someone who WILL do obedience training with Mozart.
3.  Someone who will commit to a regular grooming schedule (explained below)
4.  Patience- he is a lover and cuddler but it does take him time to warm up to people.  He spends all day with me (Foster mom) and there are 3 others in the house but the ones he only sees a few MINUTES a day make him nervous so he does still get a little growlie when he sees them.
 
Today we had a lesson on "trading" as a dime fell on the floor and he was right there to pick it up and run off to the other room with it.  He had a look like he was not going to give it up easily so we traded a treat for the dime.  He has not been cat tested but I'm told he lived with (and chased) a cat.  He does not like crates but we are working on trying to get him used to one by putting treats and food inside one so he is learning that good things can come from being inside the crate.  As far as children, his SO said he lived with children as young as 2 years old but did jump on them (again, something that can be curbed with good obedience training). 
 
Below are a few before and after pictures of Mozart.  He had gone to the groomer at 6 months but had issues with the groomer so hadn't been back which is unfortunate because his fur had turned into one big matt which is why his fur was completely shaved.  When we went to the groomers he was again very fearful so I stood with him through the entire shaving and it was so sad to see his fur come off as though we were removing a turtle shell.  We did not make it through the entire grooming before Mozart became VERY upset when they took the shaver to the bottom of his paw.  The groomer was very good with him and despite his panicked state, they were able to get the rest of the shaving done but nothing else so he looks like I went after him with a shaver instead of a professional.  However, once we were back at home and settled down, he let me further trim with a scissors and cut his nails and give him a bath.  Because I've never had a Golden Doodle, I've talked to several groomers and they told me the breed requires regular grooming because their hair mats SOOO easily and for that reason, should be kept short (but not shaved). 
 
One last thing before we finish our first update, Mozart will sit in front of the fireplace and growl- what he doesn't understand is he is growling at his own reflection in the glass :)

Mozart's "before" picture. He was extremely matted and in need of a good grooming!	Enjoying a day at the park
Mozart shaved- so happy his skin can breathe again!