To not understand the obsession with ‘doodle’ breeds

[CherryValley5]

Eg: labradoodles, cockapoos etc.

They are absolutely everywhere! Why are people actively seeking out and paying pedigree prices for dogs that are effectively mongrels? Behavioural problems are all too common, not to mention hereditary health issues due to poor and unethical breeding - I am a dog owner and the vast majority of doodles, ‘poo’ breeds etc that I meet are incredibly hyperactive, with owners who have no clue how to deal with them. Obviously there are exceptions, some are lovely but as a rule of thumb they’re dogs that I tend to cross the street to get mine away from.

The breeder who created the labradoodle calls it his ‘life’s regret’ - that speaks volumes in my opinion!

Yes they are. What aren't people getting?

How lovely
I feel hugely sorry for the dogs owned by the sneering, heartless bullies on this post
It's a dog
It harms nobody
You love the dog
Nothing else matters

I think the obsession with doodle breeds has come about because they don't shed, look gorgeous and are friendly, wonderful family dogs.

I'm sure a percentage have feckless owners and are poorly trained, just like with every other breed.

If they are not for you, that's ok. Luckily they are not compulsory. But I will never understand the mindset behind some of the mean spirited comments on here, essentially sneering at people merely for their choice of dog. Who cares why other people make the choices they do?

I wonder if some of the backlash is led by breeders of pedigree breeds who are no longer as popular. But no need to feel superior when your breed has almost certainly also been cross-bred to establish wanted characteristics at some point in the past.

We are probably on the front end of a hundreds (thousands?) year process of a new breed that isn't a breed yet.

Standing at this point in time, to some it might look like a silly poo craze, very daft etc etc

But others of us are not arrogant enough to think that we are at the final point of all dog breed evolution. We understand that in the 40,000 years of breeding dogs many surprising new things happened since dogs were wolves... and in the next 40k, and the next 40k more surprising new things will happen and we aren't arrogant enough to know exactly how things will pan out.

The world evolves with new things...and the first pass at something usually is not as great as the "end product". It's what humans and their activity is all about. Maybe the cockerpoo will emerge as a breed in thousands of years while the other poo crosses fade out. Maybe the other way round...Who knows.

There’s no guarantee they don’t shed. My friend has a labradoodle that sheds as much as a Labrador.

If you want a gorgeous looking dog, that doesn’t shed, that’s easy to train, loving, obedient and intelligent, look no further than a poodle.

You do not need to cross something with a poodle to get an ideal dog. Everything anyone could want comes all ready, as an actual poodle.

I’ve known only two, a Labradoodle and a Spoodle. Both delightful, friendly, very good natured dogs. As someone who was forever sweeping or hoovering up dog hair, I can well understand why people want a type that doesn’t shed.

There was a message on my local 'nextdoor' someone asking if anyone had a male labradoodle because they had a female who was in heat.

Absolutely crazy.

You do not need to cross something with a poodle to get an ideal dog. Everything anyone could want comes all ready, as an actual poodle.

Everything YOU might want in a dog comes in a poodle. I wouldn’t want one!

"There’s no guarantee they don’t shed. My friend has a labradoodle that sheds as much as a Labrador.

If you want a gorgeous looking dog, that doesn’t shed, that’s easy to train, loving, obedient and intelligent, look no further than a poodle.

You do not need to cross something with a poodle to get an ideal dog. Everything anyone could want comes all ready, as an actual poodle."

I have had a poodle and wouldn't want another one. You see, people have different opinions and wants when choosing a family pet.

And just because everyone seems to know a doodle that sheds, doesn't mean that, in general, they don't.

But everything people are looking for in a poodle cross, is all there with an actual poodle. Everyone thinks our poodle is a well behaved cockapoo. 😂

The thing with a cross is, you don’t know what you are getting. The coat might be more poodle or more Labrador. You just don’t know.

I have a cavapoo, he was a rescue but for us he is perfect.

We weren't looking for a particular breed, but wanted one that was good with children, great in the car, liked cats, didn't resource guard, could be left for a couple of hours and was a low shedding breed was the ideal (our cat seems to shed 5 cat loads of hair a day).

He was the first to come up, we met him and fell in love, but we were lucky. DH keeps talking about getting a second dog but I have to keep reminding him we might not be so lucky a second time.

"But everything people are looking for in a poodle cross, is all there with an actual poodle. Everyone thinks our poodle is a well behaved cockapoo. 😂"

Presumably with a cockapoo you are hoping for the best traits of a poodle and the best traits of a cocker spaniel.

A poodle would not be able to offer that.

If is a F1 cross then it's 50% dna from.poodle and 50% dna from the other pedigree parent. So will will know the coat texture etc. It's the back crossing, the mix up with breeding cockapoo and cockapoo or vack with a poodle that messes things up

It isn't all there, hence the breeding of a hybrid. Many people don't want poodles.

I work with puppy- people (new owners and those wanting more support with this puppy than with previous puppies) every day.. and yes, there are an awful lot of doodles.

Currently, I would say at least 50% of our service users are cockerpoo or labradoodle owners, with a handful of less common doodles - Bernadoodle (Bernese Mountain dog), St Berdoodle (St Bernard), Sheepadoodle (Old English Sheepdog)... i think there was another one, I forget now.

These are the people who think a poodle x is somehow automatically going to be a really easy to train, excellent family dog.

Probably the people who in previous generations thought that cocker spaniels, labradors and golden retrievers were automatic, easy to train, ideal family dogs.

Some are under the impression the dog will also be hypo-allergenic, won't shed, won't cause a reaction. They are almost always shocked to discover this is not true. Even in an F1 x (and many people are totally unaware of what generation/type of cross their doodle is!), coat type, shedding level etc are not guaranteed, and many types can occur in a single litter!

Some for some very strange reason, have assumed 'hypo-allergenic' means that the coat is easy to take care of! I don't know why, but they are always pretty shocked to find they have to do a lot of grooming and that throwing the pup at a groomers every six to eight weeks will not absolve them of any/all grooming duties between visits, and that in reality such a dog may need grooming daily, with a bath and haircut every couple of weeks!

Absolutely tons of people THINK they do not want a poodle, they think poodles are yappy idiots, not proper dogs, hard to train, hard to groom...and whilst some of that is true (but they are far from idiots, and definitely proper dogs)... it is STILL true for the crossbreeds!

I don't think anyone I have talked to has actually been aware of the true traits of either cocker spaniel or poodle, and are shocked to discover that both like to carry things around in their mouths, both can be barky, both need a lot of grooming, both will resource guard very easily if not taught to retrieve/swap/drop properly, both are very busy, worky, intelligent dogs who need a LOT of input.

And of those who have... they seem to think that a crossbreed guarantees you ONLY the best traits of each breed... so the idea that they may actually get the worst traits of each breed is absolutely a spanner in their works!

Oh my goodness! Why would you ‘doodle’ such wonderful breeds instead of appreciating them for what they are?! Blasphemy..

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Doodle owners (excluding rescue dogs) aren't the brightest.

And yet there is a breed that has it all & more!
Affectionate, relatively easy to train, human oriented, not phased by much (bomb proof), loyal, almost hypoallergenic, cute, friendly, small to medium sized, ....
Ok, can also be stubborn, suffer from separation anxiety, need a lot of grooming and can be a bit bossy at times.
Do benefit from an experienced dog owner or very good & knowledgeable trainer to bring out the best in them!
Anyone recognise the breed?

Mini Schnauzer? Ooh, or Havanese?

I don't like that "non-shedding" is a criteria when looking for a dog. People are missing out on many of the wonderful breeds around just because they don't want to deal with a bit of hair. Pets are messy and my dog causes havoc in my house sometimes with mud and hair, but I clean up after her as it's part of the owning process.
She's a setter and has the most amazing temperament, very gentle with children and other animals, loves a run and loves a cuddle, she can chill out for ages with you, she absolutely loves people and is brave as anything but she does have a lot of hair! She's also not an imbecile as PP stated earlier, she's too smart for her own good and was easy to train.

I think one of the problems is the first labradoodles were bread to be guide dogs for people with allergies to dog hair. For some reason poodles don't have the right traits or they may be too big or two small.

Various guide dog charities around the world have bread selectively for the right attributes but even then they don't all make it.

I love watching Matthew and Paul on YouTube, Paul is blind and has a guide dog called Maple, they are trying to find his 7 littermates. They have found 6, a couple are pets but one works with the police, Maple and another are guide dogs, the others are working in other roles.

People have thought they are getting a fully trained guide dog.

The lady who does my nails has one and he is lovely but he cost a fortune and she was told labradoodles will become a registered breed in 50 years. Which is nonsense.

FFS Don't you have spell check on your computer?

I'm not actually sure what your point is (ignoring the patronising bits)- do you want people to have mongrels or pedigrees? Pedigrees are a product of people doing what "doodle" breeders are doing now- breeding for results- you seem to think its fine as it happened a long time ago or is breeding to achieve a breed standard - and there are lots of issues (medical/ethical) in that.

i knew/know where my dogs parents were from/health conditions (both parents were pure breds for what thats worth) and knew the breeding environment, knew the siblings etc - as much as my sister did for her pure bred poodle.

You do know labradors are originally a mixed breed don't you? As are German Shepherds, Dalmatians, Dachshund and tens of other breeds but of course a reputable breeder wouldn't tell you that would they?

I love dog snobbery, the temperament, disposition, obedience etc of any particular dog is more down to training that it is the breed, mixed, pure, mongrel or whatever Hyacinth Bucket wants to call them