Labradoodles - Does Breeding Two Together Work? Discussions

I met a young girl over the park yesterday with a 22 week old Labradoodle bitch puppy. I have to say she was adorable, but I had to ask what she was crossed with as she looked like a wire haired Golden Retriever.

The young girl was quite proud to announce that she was a Labradoodle and that they were going to get a boy pup shortly to keep her company and that they were planning on breeding them in the future

Now I have seen a fair few Labradoodles in my time, but each time I have had to ask what they were as they have all been so different, in fact, the one that lived down our road at the old house looked like a Standard Poodle with oodles of curls, I have seen others that look like German Wire-haired Pointers. I have limited knowledge on this cross, I know that people say that they don't shed hair and others say that its a falicy, however, I asked this girl what she hoped to produce from the mating. She said that there is a good market for them at the moment and she assumed they would look like her pup.

I kept my mouth shut, I did tell her what hard work it is to breed and that both parents should be health tested etc., but surely if you breed two labradoodles you could come up with a right mishmash of pups...some with curly coats, some with wirey coats...what if you get a throwback that looks just like a Labrador or a Poodle?...surely if someone is after a so-called designer breed they won't be very happy paying an extortionate price for a pup that turns out to look like many others.

I have no doubt this pup is very well looked after, she was adorable, bright eyed, just learning to sit and fetch her ball, she had a game with Leon and wasn't timid, she looked a picture of health. I just wonder what goes through some peoples minds though.

It is a fad that is bound to catch someone out sooner or later as they end up with a very expensive mongrel that they don’t actually want!

You are right, there is no consistency with Labradoodles (or any other type of Doodle) which is why they will never become an 'official' breed. Of the two living in our village, one has a medium heavy coat but that aside looks all Lab. The other is black and actually reminds me of a Flat Coat in it's facial structure and has very little hair at all. Both dogs are first generation crosses and, according to their owners, shed buckets.

Breeding two first generation crosses will obviously result in second generation cross puppies and as you say, there will be no consistency in coat type.

a friend of mine has a dog who's parents are both cocker spaniel x poodles. he is has a shorter coat than the first crosses i've seen and he does moult.

fortunately his owner is happy to point out he is a mongrel but when we've met other 'oodle' owners, they have bleated on about the fact their dogs are actual cockerpoos or other such ridiculous names.

they certainly are varied looking as you say and i have seen some that look very similar to a poodle and others that could pass for a tibetan terrier! the bottom line is that they are crossbreeds and goodness only knows what subsequent offspring will look like!

I wonder if some people go into purchasing a Labradoodle because of the "trend", although I'm sure some people see these adorable pups and just have to have one. My concern is that people are buying them who don't know any different and are having to part with well earned cash thinking they have bought a "designer breed" only to discover, once its fully grown, that it doesn't look quite as they had imagined. Possibly more often than not the owners keep them, but, as you say, what happens to those that don't turn out as expected. I wonder when there will be a court case regarding a child/family with allergies that has become ill due to the dog and they have bought it in good faith having been told that they don't cause allergies/shed hair etc by the breeder.

As a Labrador owner yourself I expect it grieves you to see these crosses being bred, I know it would me if it were setters, especially with the possible health implications if the sire and dam aren't given the health tests relevent to their breeds.

Worrying isn't it? I'm just happy that this little pup was full of beans and enjoying being a puppy. Mind you, she was very big for 22 weeks, not much shorter than Leon, although nowhere near as big in the body..I wonder what she will end up like.

Hm, I didn't see any poosets yet.

My understanding is that the Labradoodle governing body have no interest whatsoever in establishing a breed. The site clearly states it's a x-breed for practical purposes.

Shush!

Lets see, I last studied biology in 1959. Do I remember something about 1/4 one, 1/4 the other, and 1/2 crosses? I am sure that was for more simple things than dogs.

The dog guide school we raise puppies for keeps trying new things. They are doing a lot of Lab/Shepherds now, and I know of at least one Shepherd bred to a Lab/Shepherd. Unfortunately in some other changes, I am seeing less of the staff in informal settings and less of the training where they explained some of the whys. I do know that since people come in a wide range of personalities, they need dogs with a wide range of personalities. Since they want a range of dogs, that a litter of mixes varies is no problem for them.

Their program is far from the common ''designer dog'' fad. They actually are constrained from breeding more dogs by the lack of breeding stock that meets the high standards they have.

My mum has a 5 month old labradoodle - both parents are labradoodles and when we went to see the litter at 4 weeks there was quite a difference in their coat type. Some of them were like retrievers and some slightly more wavy.

Mum wanted one for their non shedding coat and good temperament and when she met several at puppy training one lady said her puppy did shed it's hair, so there is no guarantee on that.

This is the litter at 4 weeks.




Pippin at 8 weeks



Pippin 4 1/2 months.

Forgot to say I don't agree with paying extra for a cross-breed just because people say they are rare and don't shed. They're not rare any more and there is no guarantee that they won't shed.

Breeding is not easy and can be heart wrenching when it all goes wrong. People like this girl probably think it's a matter of getting a boy and a girl and just letting them mate, then they'll have lots of lovely cute puppies they can sell for lots of money. Makes my blood boil!

Pippin is gorgeous, but doesn't look anything like this one we saw yesterday, she was also gorgeous but just different...ist a bit like seeing two different breeds really :?

Beautiful pup. Looks exactly like the one around here. Does she shed?

I can totally understand certain bodies cross breeding for a purpose, Ramble has told us about the guide dogs for the blind and I can see why this would be done, especially when they need certain types for certain people...good for them, they have the dogs interests at heart as well as the owners.

OMG, could you imagine how naughty one of them would be

I have met 2 'doodles' and both were completely different!

One of them looked like a slightly larger-than-average standard poodle, and had hair shedding all the time

The other looks like a scruffy doormat (in the nicest possible way!) and actually looks like a Springer X... he sheds like nothing on this earth!

Both cost rather a lot more than my Boxers cost together (!!!) and were bought as non-shedding breeds....

Luckily no, he doesn't. Mum wanted a non shedding coat because several of the grandchildren have asthma.

People are selling them as a non-shedding breed but I didn't know until mum met another one at puppy class that some of them do shed. Pippin may go curly when he's older, I think his mum didn't go curly until she was about a year old.

Interesting. What would she have done if he had shed out of curiosity?

Probably have kept him, I don't know I suppose it would depend on how the hair affected the kids - she used to have a rough collie.

People keep offering to take him if she doesn't want him because they are so expensive and they want one for free!