Last month the breed we covered was the Standard Poodle.With the Poodle, Standard, Miniature and Toy now being bred with lots of different breeds we decided to take a look at the cross between the Standard poodle and the popular Labrador = Labradoodle and the Standard with Golden Retriever = Goldendoodle. These two mixes were the first to set the trend for the many kinds of crosses with the poodle that are ever increasing in popularity today.
HISTORY: The Labradoodle was bred first in Australia in 1988. The Royal Guide Dogs in Australia had been approached by a partially sighted lady who was desperate for a guide dog but her husband’s allergy towards dogs was preventing this. The task to find her a dog went to employee Wally Conran who really wanted to help her. Wally needed a dog with the excellent proven guide – dog abilities of the Labrador Retriever with the hypoallergenic coat of the standard poodle. He decided to mate the two breeds.The results of the mating was a great success in that one out of the three puppies passed the hypoallergenic tests and the lady got her guide dog. He named the puppies Labradoodles. With the work of scientists and very selective breeding more puppies followed that were hypoallergenic. The Golden Retriever with it’s excellent qualities was then bred with the knowledge obtained from the Labradoodle breeding. Today that mix provides many people with allergies a guide,assistance or therapy dog. Demand increased from families wanting a dog where in the past due to asthma and allergies had not been able to tolerate pet hair and odour. For some who required a smaller dog but with the same qualities a smaller poodle sire was used. Popularity continued to increase with non allergy families wanting them,and they are labeled as ‘Designer Dogs’. This has led to many people deciding to breed the Labrador and other breeds with the poodle but without full knowledge of the genetics. Wally has reportedly said since that his creation has helped many but people breeding and charging as much if not more than the price of a pedigree with little regard to the bloodlines and potential health issues is a grave concern, resulting in some offspring inheriting serious medical problems. Many puppies are sold into family homes with the breeder assuring them they are hypoallergic when there is no guarantee without testing. There are some professional breeders who are very selective when breeding but there are a lot more that are not.
F1 = 50% of the Labrador Retriever or 50% Golden Retriever and 50% Poodle. This is first generation, resulting in usually healthier offspring if careful selective breeding is followed. Offspring hair type can be like the Labrador or the Golden or wavy/shaggy,occasionally a wiry look like an Irish Wolfhound (but with a softer feel), they can shed or not shed, pups in the same litter can vary.
F1-B = 25% of the Labrador or Golden Retriever and 75% Poodle (F1 Goldendoodle and Poodle cross). This is Labradoodle/Goldendoodle bred back to Poodle.
F2 = F1 Labradoodle/Goldendoodle and F1 Labradoodle/golendoodle cross. With this combination you get the same percentage of Golden and Poodle mix as you would with an F1 Goldendoodle.
F3 = F2 Labradoodle/Goldendoodle and F2 Labradoodle/Goldendoodle cross.
MULTI-GENERATION = F3 or higher generation
HEIGHT & WEIGHT – Standard Height at wither: 21 to 24 inches.(not over 25) 53cm to 63cm. Weight: 23kg to 30kg. (50-65lbs)
The ideal size for the female is 21 to 23 inches and the male is 22 to 24 inches.
Medium Height at wither: 17 to 20 inches. (not over 21) 43cm to 52cm. Weight: 13kg to 20kg. (30-645lbs)
The ideal size for the female is 17 to 19 inches and the male is 18 to 20 inches.
Miniature Height at wither: 14 to 16 inches. (not over 17) 35cm to 42cm. Weight: 7kg to 13kg. (15-25lbs)
LIFESPAN: 12 – 14yrs
COAT: Variable from curly to straight,from a wooly to fleece feel. Colours Black, Silver, Cream, Apricot Cream, Chalk, Gold, Red, Apricot, Chocolate, and Café.
HEALTH: Labradoodles and Golden Doodles can suffer from problems common to their original breeds. Poodles,Labradors and Golden Retrievers can suffer from Hip Dysplasia, and a respectable breeder should have their vet check for this problem before breeding. The parent breeds can also suffer from a number of eye disorders such as Progressive Renal Atrophy (PRA), an inherited disease causing blindness, which can occur in Poodles.With their ears hanging down moisture can cause ear infections, after baths and swims it helps to dry around the ears to help prevent infections.With all deep chested dogs some can suffer from Bloat, dividing the daily food potion and feeding twice a day can help avoid this.
TEMPERAMENT & EXERCISE: Always good advice is to look at the parents but generally – good family companions, intelligent, loyal and loving. Can be diggers and chewers if bored, the standard size needs plenty of exercise about 2hrs a day. Many enjoy swimming and Flyball. With fair and consistent training along with a natural eager to please attitude they can be trained relatively easy making them ideal for assistance and service dogs.
Viewpoint of dogs owner
Delightful Handful!
Regular readers of Yorkshire Reporter will no doubt recall when I spoke about Raffles my 5.5 Stone Standard Poodle. Well as if looking after Raffles and the general bounding enthusiasm and mayhem he exudes daily, my dear Wife said to me on a walk one day “I really think Raffles needs a little friend” “What I exclaimed,isn’t he enough to contend with.”
She then went onto suggest and persuade that it would probably help him calm down and keep him occupied and maybe he gets bored sometimes and resorts to chewing. Really?!
Suffice to say I thought there was some merit in what she said, so I duly caved in on the proviso it wasn’t a BIG dog. So somewhat surprisingly quickly TOOTS was picked up from a local breeder. She is a Labradoodle (Dad was a toy poodle, Mum a Labrador)
Well all I can say is she rather resembled a big scruffy rat, she has now filled out some, albeit outwards and thankfully not upwards. She has a cheeky smile when sat with mouth open and sounds like someone in slippers as she walks across the wooden kitchen floor.
So has this calmed everything down – No not a bit of it Raffles will snaffle anything off the island or worktops, drag it to the floor and Toots promptly chews it. In fact she will chew anything – countless pairs of glasses- pouches of cat food – cushions. Both Raffles and Toots have been bought cushions to lie on which they promptly rip open and spread the filling around the hall for all to see. All the cats plastic bowls have been chomped to bits and we are replacing with metal ones.
However both are great animals and tremendous fun and best of all they are inseparable friends and both go nuts greeting us when we enter the house. TOOTS doesn’t really do a lot of Barking – Raffles barks for both of them.
Would you believe it was even suggested that they might want another smaller friend!? Thankfully its now been agreed that the Brother and Sister of Mayhem is quite enough.
Viewpoint of dogs owner
Jasmine our Goldendoodle named after the pretty white flower is just over 2yrs old. She certainly attracts attention where ever she goes, and that is most places. Jas goes to many parks, beaches, up and down dales enjoying every outing. In the summer sun she loves travelling in style in the convertible with her soft white hair blowing freely in the wind. On arrival fetching a ball and given the opportunity splashing and laying in water are her favourites activities .At home she plays with her squeaky toys, on fine days and evenings she is contented to lay outside on the conservatory step giving her the vantage point of both indoors and out.
We have had her since she was 9 weeks old. I had admired this mix breed for a couple of years looking at the various photos of litters advertised, meeting others on walks. The attraction for me was the looks combined with the gentle nature of the Golden Retriever and the intelligence of the Poodle. This with the plus point that they don’t shed, but also aware that this is not always the case kept me looking at these adverts. They do vary so much but for me I knew I wanted F1 which is a straight cross between a Retriever and Poodle. I also wanted a pale coloured English Retriever with a white Standard Poodle as the parents. I had over time seen many litters advertised with pics but fewer with the parents I was looking for. When I did find a litter that fit, the question of – am I mad to even to consider having another dog? prevented me from pursuing.We already had two Bichons that were perfectly happy and settled. Would a third dog upset them? With the cost of two dogs already the expense of a further one, the practically of walking 3 dogs were all important things to consider.
However I couldn’t stop looking at these litters. Then I saw Jasmine with her litter mates advertised from an experienced breeder. So finally after about 2 years of looking, with my partner encouraging me, we set off to go see them.
Jasmine there with her litter mates was the one who just kept coming up to us. After discussing our reservations with the breeder and her assurance that if it didn’t work out she would take her back and find a suitable home, we made the decision to take her home. Hopefully not to regret it.
The fears of the Bichons being disturbed was soon evident that it wasn’t going to be an issue. All three get on really well, eating and sleeping together. When we take them out all three being white and with similar hair, people often think the Bichon’s are Jasmine’s puppies. It is a lovely sight as they all walk and run around together. They are one family.
Jas has a very loving gentle nature.She hates any upset, obviously inherited from the Poodle gene and greets us and visitors with a toy in mouth – from the retriever gene. Shedding – she does go through stages where clumps do come off but that’s ok for us. I brush her regularly,shower her when needed and every now and again I trim her especially if it is hot weather.
Training has been easy,she has never chewed,counter stolen or barked for no reason. When she is out and about Jas is friendly towards people and other dogs, sits calmly while cyclists and horses pass by and her recall is excellent. She is an absolute pleasure and great joy to have.
