Are you wondering what life with a 10-week-old Goldendoodle is like? Wondering what these cuddly teddy bear dogs are doing at this stage of puppyhood? Curious what a 10-week-old Goldendoodle looks like?
Well, hold on to your Kong puppy binky! By the end of this Doodle-loving article, you’ll have a better idea of what to expect when parenting a 10-week-old Goldendoodle—all from the perspective of another Goldendoodle parent.
Yes, I’m a self-professed Goldendoodle crazy parent who’s been doing zoomies around the house caring for a 10-week-old Goldendoodle.
I’ll do my best to share both the facts about 10-week-old Goldendoodles along with our family’s experiences, so you have a better picture of what Doodlehood is all about. In fact, our family is chronicling our puppy’s entire first year. So be sure to check out our article on our Goldendoodle at 3 months old, too.
And, spoiler alert: Underneath all that fluff, a 10-week-old Goldendoodle puppy is a bundle of love, smarts, energy, and curiosity.
So let’s dive into Doodlehood!
What does a Goldendoodle look like at 10 weeks?
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First, you may be asking, “What does a 10-week-old Goldendoodle puppy look like, anyway?” A picture is worth a thousand words, so take a peek at the photo above of 10-week-old Goldendoodle puppy, Sadie.
She’s a medium F1 Goldendoodle with a cream to apricot coat that’s fairly straight.
By the way, if your holding a fur baby right now who looks different from Sadie, that’s the beauty of Goldendoodles. They each have their own look and personality too.
Since there are so many colors of Goldendoodles, sizes of Goldendoodles, and even types of Goldendoodles, there’s a lot of variety in physical appearance—even at 10 weeks of age. (We’ll, dive into that in a minute.)
However, most Goldendoodle puppies at this age do have this in common—they look like cuddly teddy bears.
Here’s why:
- At 10 weeks, puppies have not gone through the Goldendoodle puppy coat transition, so their puppy coats are typically soft and fluffy.
- At this age, Goldendoodle puppies still have adorable puppy bellies and teddy bear-like body proportions. This is because they haven’t gone through the “teenager” stage of puppyhood yet.
- They have baby faces with floppy ears and bright, inquisitive button-eyes—like teddy bears.
Does it sound like I’m describing Winnie-the-Pooh? Well, I’ll add that a 10-week-old Goldendoodle’s personality is typically as comical as a “silly, willy, nilly ol’ bear” too.
Now that we know that 10-week-old Goldendoodles have a cuteness factor that’s off the charts, let’s get into the nitty-gritty about physical appearance including coat color, size, and weight.
Here are four things you might not know about the physical characteristics of 10-week-old Goldendoodles:
1. Two distinct parent breeds get the credit for the Goldendoodle breed’s teddy bear good looks.
Earlier I mentioned that when it comes to Goldendoodle puppies, you’ll see a lot of variety.
Why? We can thank the Goldendoodle parent breeds—the Poodle and the Golden Retriever. This is because a Goldendoodle is not a purebred dog, but a hybrid or cross breed between the Golden Retriever and the Poodle—two very distinct breeds.
The Poodle side of the family brings a wide variety of coat colors to the party, as well as a variety of sizes. To a lesser extent, the Golden Retriever brings a variety of golden coat colors to the mix, too.
With this in mind, next let’s look at size and coat type.
2. Ten-week-old Goldendoodles can vary significantly in size.
As a rule of thumb, size and weight will depend on whether your puppy is a mini Goldendoodle, medium Goldendoodle, or standard Goldendoodle. Plus, just like us humans, every Goldendoodle puppy is a unique individual and growth comes at various times during puppyhood. With this in mind, generally puppies at this age weigh anywhere from around 5 to 30 pounds.
At 10 weeks, our family’s medium Goldendoodle puppy weighed eight pounds and nine ounces.
3. At this age, there isn’t as much variety in Goldendoodle coat type as at adulthood.
Adult Goldendoodle coat types can range from straight to loose wavy to curly to fleece. Again, the two parent breeds—Poodles and Golden Retrievers— get the credit for bringing so much variety in coat type to the Goldendoodle family. The Golden Retriever coat type is straight and the Poodle coat type is curly.
However, at 10 weeks, Goldendoodle puppies haven’t gone through the Goldendoodle puppy coat transition, so you won’t see nearly as much variation in coat type at this age.
Puppy coats may be straight to slightly wavy to slightly curly.
Generally, the Goldendoodle puppy coat texture can be described as fine, wispy, fluffy, cottony, and soft.
Plus, the puppy coat is easy to manage and doesn’t require nearly the maintenance that the adult Goldendoodle coat needs.
However, don’t let this give you a false sense of security that the coat will always be this easy to manage.
In a couple of months, as the adult coat comes in, mats can quickly sneak up on unsuspecting or first-time Goldendoodle parents. It can even seem like it happens over night!
This is why it’s important to begin introducing your Goldendoodle puppy to grooming early on. (More about that in a few paragraphs.)
A close-up look at a 10-week-old Goldendoodle’s puppy coat
As you can see in the close-up photo of our F1 Goldendoodle puppy’s coat below, her puppy coat at 10 weeks was soft, wispy, and fluffy. Also, it’s straight and extremely easy to manage.
Even after combing, her coat has an unkept just-got-out-of-bed look. She has less hair on her belly than the rest of her body.
Her hair poofs around her head and her body. We think she looks like a gooey toasted marshmallow, and she’s just as sweet too!
You may be wondering whether 10-week-old Goldendoodle puppies shed. At this age, our F1 Goldendoodle puppy sheds very minimally. When combing her, there is some hair left in the comb. However, we don’t find her puppy hair on the couch or on our clothes.
As an aside, our adult F1B Goldendoodle sheds very minimally—no hair on the couch or on our clothes, but some dust bunnies on the floor. As a rule of thumb, F1 Goldendoodles may shed more than F1B Goldendoodles.
4. Coat color
10-week-old Goldendoodles can sport coats of many colors. This is because their parent breeds bring a variety of coat colors to the mix. According to the AKC, Poodles coat colors include apricot, brown, red, white, gray, cream, silver, and black. Plus, according to the AKC, Golden Retriever coat colors range from dark golden to light golden.
While Goldendoodle coat color may gradually lighten with age, at this stage the coat color most likely hasn’t changed much since birth.
Our family’s 10-week-old apricot Goldendoodle puppy’s hair is the color of a toasted marshmallow— some places light apricot and some places the color of warm honey. The color variation follows the pattern of the Golden Retriever coat—a lighter belly and darker along the topline (back).
Next, let’s look at what 10-week-old Goldendoodle puppies are doing at this stage, and I’ll share some tips for getting these little heart throbs started off on the right paw.
Parenting a 10-week-old Goldendoodle—helpful tips from a mom
At 10 weeks old, I can say that the amount of care and attention a Goldendoodle puppy needs is much like that of caring for a new baby. (I’ve done both and, in my opinion, it’s a fair statement.)
Your Goldendoodle relies on you for pretty much everything—potty breaks, meals, safety, and heaps of love, comfort, and attention.
Assuming you are bringing home a new puppy at eight or ten weeks of age (the time when reputable Goldendoodle breeders will allow puppies to go to new homes), your new furry family member is probably getting used to a new home, a new schedule, and getting to know you!
That’s a lot to take in for a little one, but they have YOU for positive praise and love every step of the way.
What to expect at 10 weeks
Oh my Goldendoodle! Even at 10 weeks old, Goldendoodle puppies are smart and curious!
I think they are like little sponges soaking up every thing in their world!
They will explore every nook and cranny—not only with their nose but also by putting things in their mouth too.
When they’re not exploring, they are sleeping. Like all puppies, they need about 18 hours of sleep a day.
At this stage, our family was focused on the bottom of the hierarchy of needs—establishing the basics of potty time, bedtime, and mealtime.
And of course, most importantly, we just wanted to love and cuddle and bond with her! And give her lots of positive, positive, positive praise.
Here are some things we did to help our puppy adjust to her new home. Maybe these tips will inspire you too.
Setting up a puppy safe place in your home
Setting up a small, puppy-proofed space in our home was a game changer for us.
When we brought our puppy home at 10 weeks old, we thought we had the perfect puppy space all set up. We’d puppy-proofed the family room and used puppy gates to keep her limited to this area.
We loved using the Pawland extra wide dog gate across hallways and entries to confine her space and keep her safe.
However, we quickly learned that at 10 weeks of age, our puppy needed an even smaller play area. So we MacGyvered a solution by sectioning off a smaller area of the family room using our puppy gates and our L-shaped couch (at this age, she was too small to jump up on the couch) to make a play area that was about about 12′ by 8′.
This made it much easier to keep a watchful eye on our pupper and supervise her at all times. But the unexpected bonus of this small space was that we could quickly learn our puppy’s behaviors.
For example, we could easily observe when our puppy started to wander away from us, lose interest in toys, or started sniffing the floor. These were all her signs that she needed to go potty!
Potty time
At this age, puppies won’t be able to hold their bladders. Expect accidents. Your puppy’s not perfect and you’re not perfect either. But if you stay diligent and learn your puppy’s potty cues, he or she will be potty trained before you know it. And NEVER reprimand your puppy for accidents in the house!
At our first puppy veterinary visit, our vet explained to us that as a rule of thumb, puppies will need to potty after naps, after meals, at night, after playing, and times in between.
Next, here are a few potty training ideas that worked for our puppy.
Observe your puppy and watch for potty cues and behaviors.
For our Goldendoodle puppy, we noticed that she would wander away from us and start sniffing near the puppy gate when she had to go potty. Also, she would get the zoomies as her way of “telling us” she had to go.
Basically, we found that we could learn our Goldendoodle’s body language and behaviors by being in close proximity with her, and watching closely for the repetitive patterns she used to “tell” us she had to go out. Also, during the day, we established a routine of taking her to potty after every nap, meal, play time, and then every two hours in between those times.
Choose a designated area outdoors for puppy potty training.
If there is one thing that really helped with potty training our Goldendoodle puppy, it was choosing a “puppy potty spot.” This is simply one area in the yard that we had chosen as her place to go pee and poop.
Our Goldendoodle puppy quickly picked up on what to do when we took her to her potty spot because she’d done her business there before.
Also, we always took her out on a leash so that we could ask her to go potty (i.e. saying, “Sadie, potty!” in a happy voice), reinforced each win with lots of positive praise, and gave her a “Yes, potty!” in a happy, celebratory voice for a job well done.
Bedtime
Put yourself in your puppy’s paws for a minute and imagine how much your puppy’s life is changing. More than likely, your puppy is used to sleeping next to puppy siblings, listening to puppy sounds, and feeling the warmth of mom and puppy brothers and sisters.
Since dogs are so social, for our puppy, we wanted to provide reassurance that we were nearby. We decided that our new furry family member would be safest in a crate for bedtime.
We placed the crate next to the bed so that our puppy could feel close to us—her new pack. Plus, we could comfort her with the sound of our voice or a gentle touch if she needed reassurance.
Next, here are some things we tried and that worked for us when helping our Goldendoodle puppy adjust to her new bedtime routine.
Crate time when sleepy
When we noticed our puppy getting sleepy, we waited until she was comfy and her eyes were closing, and then put her in her kennel.
If she awakened, we reassured her by sitting close to the crate and putting our fingers in the crate. This was enough to make her feel close to her pack again and settle. However, if she continued to stir, at this age we assumed that she had to go potty, and would take her out.
Night time potty outings
Expect your puppy to have to go potty in the night. I’ve read that some people choose to wake their puppy in the night for a potty break.
Our family decided to let our puppy sleep and, if she woke up, take her out.
At 10 weeks, Sadie woke up and had to go out around 2:30 a.m. and again at 6:00 a.m.
Within a couple weeks, her 2:30 a.m. potty time gradually lengthened to waking up at 4:00 a.m. and needing to go out.
Then she started sleeping until about 5:00 a.m. (a.k.a. fluffiest alarm clock ever. 😉)
A Snuggle Puppy to cuddle
Also, we’d purchased a Snuggle Puppy on Amazon and we placed it in Sadie’s crate at bedtime.
This stuffed dog toy mimics the warmth, sound, and pulsing heartbeat of a puppy’s mom. It was one of many Goldendoodle puppy supplies we bought in preparation for Sadie’s homecoming.
I wondered if the Snuggle Puppy would be a bedtime distraction (i.e. play toy) rather than calming aid, but this was not the case at all! Our Goldendoodle loved it! So far, she’s snuggled next to her Snuggle Puppy every night.
Grooming
If you’ve been learning about Goldendoodles, you probably already know that their coat will require frequent grooming. That’s why, as far off as adulthood sounds for your puppy, it’s important to start setting the stage now for a lifetime of happier Goldendoodle grooming sessions. This includes grooming the coat and handling those cute little toe beans—the puppy’s paws.
Here are a couple things we did to start setting our puppy up for a lifetime of positive, happy Goldendoodle grooming sessions.
Introduce your puppy to grooming tools
At 10 weeks, our family’s goal was simply to acclimate our puppy to a dog comb and grooming tools.
Since the puppy hair is so easy to manage at this stage, just getting into the habit and building a positive association around brushing and grooming was job number one. We focused on making sure we were having fun together, and she was happy and comfortable.
We let our puppy approach the comb on her own terms (not the other way around), and we let her sniff it.
Also, we placed other grooming tools in our puppy’s sight so she could become familiar with them too.
And we rewarded her with lots of positive praise.
We decided evenings would be the best time for grooming. This was a time when our puppy was sleepy and relaxed. While she was comfortable on the couch, we gently combed the hair. At this age, it literally took just a few minutes.
As an aside, for our adult Goldendoodle, we tried a lot of brushes before finally finding the best brush for Goldendoodle grooming. But at 10 weeks, we chose a dog comb as our grooming tool of choice.
Prepare for future vet visits and nail trims by handling your puppy’s paws
Gently handling the paws and toes sets your puppy up for success when you (or your vet or your groomer) will be trimming the toenails.
At 10 weeks, we gently held and touched our puppy’s paws as part of our grooming routine. And let me just say, those Goldendoodle toe beans (paw pads) are so cute!
Then over time, we started placing our favorite dog nail clippers out on the coffee table while combing her hair or massaging her paws. This way, she could become familiar with the dog nail clippers too.
Eventually, we gently held her paws and lightly touched the nail clippers to her nails so she could get the idea of nail clipping without us actually clipping the nails. Throughout our mock nail trims, she got lots of praise and sweet talk.
10 week Goldendoodle puppy: Mealtime
Your veterinarian is the best person to consult about your puppy’s nutritional needs. They can help you determine exactly how much food your 10-week-old puppy should eat at 10 weeks, which is based on your puppy’s weight.
At 10 weeks, we fed Sadie twice a day. At first, we hand fed her rather than using a dog food bowl so that we could use mealtime to bond with her.
Also, Sadie had a voracious appetite. After hand feeding for a few days, we eventually switched to using a slow feeder so that she wouldn’t eat too fast and get an upset tummy.
Speaking from experience, both of our Doodle dogs have eaten too fast and sometimes the food comes back up.
From an early age, Doodles are Golden
Are you’re ready to jump into Doodlehood? Through sharing our experience, we hope that you have a better idea of what to expect. At 10 weeks of age Goldendoodle puppies are a bundle of love, smarts, energy, and curiosity. Like all puppies, they are also a lot work. But with your time, attention, love, and companionship, they will be eager to please you and want to become a part of your pack.
Thank you for taking valuable time out of your day to stop by HappyGoDoodle®—our little cozy corner of the world for Doodle dog fans. We hope that parenting a 10-week-old Goldendoodle is the beginning of a lifetime of “Golden” adventures—for both ends of your leash.