Back to Dins1, eh? You did have a plain Dinsdale set up for the new board.
Tell me about your mini goldendoodle. I have a friend who just lost her 15 year old golden, and wants another golden, but is aging (aren’t we all?) and doesn’t really want the size. Would you say the temperament and laid-back-ness is about the same?
StG
How ya doin?
Sorry for your friend’s loss. We downsized after the 2 of us found how hard it was to lug Buster’s 75# around his last day. In 12-15 yrs it would be even tougher.
Lincoln is 38# - which is still plenty of dog. And we LOVE the non-shed.
But he is a completely different beast from a golden. Very different temperament. You know how when you tell a golden to do something, he’ll convey that he isn’t happy about it, but he’ll do it anyway? Not this little shit. He’ll think about it, and then maybe decide not to.
And when you teach a golden something, they have it forever. This fucker figures if you haven’t been working something constantly for the last couple of weeks he no longer has to do it.
He’s closing in on 2 yrs, tho, which IMO is pretty much when dogs get their brains. He’s turning into a really cool dog. But very different than Goldens. I wouldn’t call him laid back. He is very happy and smiles all the time. But after having had 4 Goldens, when I see one I still think THAT’S what a dog should be.
And VERY smart, in ways different than the Goldens. Here’s an example. The other day I was walking out a sliding door from our lower level. You can see the kitchen door from there, and Lincoln was looking out at me. I just called, “Come here.” He immediately turned around, ran downstairs, and around a couple of corners to come out the door where I was. Whereas a golden would still be patiently standing at the kitchen door…
Very affectionate. Very “springy” - like a Tigger. But VERY trainable - you just really have to put the work in. Whereas my Goldens pretty much picked up on how I wanted them to behave by living w/ me. He runs like a champ w/ my wife. He’s still got shortcomings, but my wife and I have exceedingly high expectations for our dogs. About the worst thing is training our friends. A couple of them are terrible w/ dogs and wind him up. He goes from 0-100 instantly. Again, not like a golden.
His coat is a bit of a pain to groom, but my wife got a nice set of clippers and scissors and is getting better/quicker at it. She lines Line and me up and does us both! 
But we think it might be a good exercise for us to work w/ a different kind of dog, instead of just doing another variation of the same. And the size and hair is great.
I’m trying to convince her to get a small setter. I do a lot of rescue transport, and setters are total lovebugs. And it’s not hard to find 30-35# English Setters.
StG
Full disclosure - our knucklehead is more noodle than golden. Breeder was injecting new genes into her line, so mom was mulligan doodle, pop was 100% mini poodle.
He’s an excellent dog, but a doodle w/ less poodle might be more golden-like.
I cannot overstate the pleasure of not having hair tumbleweeds throughout the house! 
I’ve always been a big dog guy, but 30-35# is PLENTY of dog. I have no idea why so many fans of purebreds keep going bigger and bigger.