to call my cockerpoo a poodle?

[Thebiggerthecoffeethebetter]

I rescued him last year. I did health testing via a DNA sample as I have done with my other rescues in the past. It can give you an idea of what you might need to prepare for in the future.

Anyway, it also tells you the breed make up and turns out he is 82% poodle which does not surprise me.

WIBU to say he is a poodle when people ask about him? He looks like a poodle, acts like a poodle and turns out is overwhelmingly poodle...🤷🏼‍♀️

I'm just so acutely aware of all the doodle hate and judgement 😭

(obvs his vet record and insurance has the breed make up)

That's a distinction that is designer led. I appreciate that breeders and others may wish to think that crossing two breeds somehow makes their dogs distinct from other "mixes". I clearly don't subscribe to that theory. I agree with Conran. They are "mutts". Nothing wrong with mutts. Had them myself. But didn't pay a fortune to call them a designer dog.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/26/labradoodle-inventor-lifes-regret-frankenstein-monster

Sorry but I always have a bit of a problem when the first thing other dog owners tell me is how much their dog cost.🙁

Forgot to add - I like many of the fashionable new poodle crosses, they do have a place in the world and I've met quite a few. I also know a fair bit about poodles - a much maligned breed that is tough and brave, and only got it's bad reputation because a) they are small and can be yappy and b) so many of the Miniatures or Toys would be owned by people who treated them like babies not dogs.

But it's very clear to me that people get them because they are an "in" breed at present. When the Disney film 101 Dalmatians came out, everyone wanted a Dalmatian - now the breed is in danger in the UK. Over the last few decades the most popular dog breed has changed over time - we've had Poodles up there, Beagles, Cavalier KC Spaniels, Cocker spaniels, Alsatians, and of course the old standby the Labrador. Old English Sheepdogs Collies got very popular when Dulux started to use them in their TV ads - now classed as at riskr, as are KC Spaniels (different from the Cavalier KC), Greyhounds are finally coming out of the doldrums. All breeds that have gone through phases of being in fashion.

One thing people forget to consider when they cross different breeds is that you can't be sure you'll get just the desirable traits from each breed, it's just as possible to get less desirable traits combining e.g. Cocker Spaniels are highly intelligent, high energy and a little crazy. So are poodles especially the miniatures & toys. So you can end up with a dog that is far too high energy for many of the people who want a cute little family pet.

How do you suppose the breeds of dogs we now recognise arose? They were all made, not arising spontaneously.

You should call it a mongrel.

I actually think the current fad for doodlydoos comes from snobbery. Like pp who is embarrassed to say poodle.

many people actually want a poodle. They list the qualities they want in a dog- non shedding, hypoallergenic, intelligent, trainable etc- so they want a poodle. But people have this image in their head that a poodle is all pom-poms and shaved faces, so they want a cross to bring something a bit less “wimpy”, for want of a better word. Not realising if you give a poodle a teddy cut and not the pom-poms, they look pretty much the same.

So they take all those characteristics they want and dilute them with another breed, so thy have less of the breed type they want, but hey, it’s now a jackapoo or a shipoo. It’s a cuddly teddy bear, not an effete pompom.

That and people don’t get genetics. now there seems to be a myth that if you cross something with a poodle you somehow increase the poodle qualities like the non shedding. I was offered a “chipoo” once because funnily enough the kid was still allergic to it, despite being ok with poodles. I also saw an ad a while back where a woman insisted she must have a yorkiepoo. She wanted a yorkie, but her grandson was allergic to dogs so it had to be crossed with a poodle. She didn’t seem to get that a yorkie was already a low allergenic non shedding dog, and even if it wasn’t, if the alllergy thing is so important just get the poodle.

There's a difference between a long-term, deliberate crossing of breeds to create a purpose-bred mix, and just breeding poodles with whatever other breed of dog available, though.

The reason most people object to "oodles" is because the majority are puppy-farmed and exist purely to make money, rather than because the breeder actually wants to create a genuine, healthy mixed breed.

Would love to see that!

I'd love to see a pic of that!

When people asked what our evidently largely spaniel was crossed with, I’d just say I had no idea, but we’d been told that her dad was probably a ruffian from a local farm.

No, because it's not a poodle 🙄

Which is a mongrel.

A mongrel is any mix of two or more breeds, or crossbreeds. So yes, even dogs bred from two pedigree parents of differing breeds are mongrels.

People who buy mongrels don't like us using their real name, because it shows that they've paid ridiculous amounts for a backyard bred puppy with a made up name. I absolutely do judge people who intentionally buy mongrels, especially those who then insist they're called a hippocrocodoodle and that's a BREED dontcha know? Or that they only got one because they're "hypoallergenic" 🙄

It just shows a complete lack of education, a low level of intelligence, and someone who couldn't give a fuck about the welfare of dogs.

"It's a mongrel" should be enough.

It's not a cocker poo of it has 82% poodle DNA. It is a poodle cross. Cocker poos are only puppies from a cross between a cocker and a poodle.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

Lots of of cockerpoos are crossed back with poodles (or cockers) - their offspring are still cockerpoos even though they're made up of more poodle than spaniel (or vice versa).

But where do you stop with this? Next generation will have even less Spaniel in it, and the next less, until eventually you have only a couple of percent Spaniel - would that still be a cockerpoo? Or when it dilutes down to under 1%? Still wouldn't be able to be registered as a poodle because of that 1% of spaniel in it.

Comes back again to the fact that cockerpoos are cross breeds, and won't be anything other than that until the KC register them as a breed which takes many generations of true breeding to fix. Basically that won't happen until they breed true enough to have a clearly identifiable type in all offspring used for breeding as a cockerpoo e.g. same coat type texture and density, very similar physical conformation, fixed colours, proportions etc. which so far they aren't. There's still plenty born under or over the "normal" size, there's a multitude of coat textures out there, and all body conformations ranging between nearly spaniel to almost poodle.

Then a decision will have to be made on whether there's only one "proper" cockerpoo type, or whether you can have variations like standard, miniature or toy poodle; KC or Cavalier KC spaniel; flat coat, curly coat, golden or Labrador retriever and so on.

I'm not at all offended by the term mongrel or mutt, it's factual. Apologies if that disappoints a few posters. 🙄

Imagine how that conversation would pan out though:

Person: "what is he?"

Me:"a mongrel"

Person: "right. So you don't know what breeds then"

Me: "yes. I do."

Person: "sooo....what are the breeds?"

Me: "I can't tell you. Some people on the internet said I am only to use the word mongrel"

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Wow! I haven't seen that!

VERY interesting though I guess there isn't really a strict rule as it's not a breed as such.

Thanks for sharing!

Well yes, that's all kind of my point, lol.

There is no set standard so there's no requirement for "cockerpoos" to be a straight 50/50 mix. Some are, some are from two "cockerpoo" parents, some are "cockerpoos" mixed with purebred spaniels, some are mixed with poodles of various sizes etc. All classed as "cockerpoos" though.

A cocker/poodle mix with 80% poodle is still a mix of two breeds, just as a straight 50/50 mix is.

There's no such thing as a cockerpoo though - it's just a cute name for a poodle x cocker spaniel mix. The "cockapoo society" is just something someone has made up for money.

It's not a breed. There's no breed standard and no requirement for them to contain any specific amount of any parent breed.

@Whycanineverthinkofone Agree 100%! lot of people actually want a poodle they just don't realise it ☹️

I don't understand PPs saying people should not be paying a lot of money for mutts and crossbreeds. I don't get that. It's a living thing. An animal. Of course they should cost a lot of money...as all animals should. Regardless of their heritage or papers. It's a living being! (Not from a squalid puppy farm though...that is never OK)

@Tessasanderson Top notch KC breeders aren't necessarily great either. Have you seen what the KC has done to the German Shepherd over the past few decades? It's cruel. I watched a video of a poor GSD who could barely walk and it's legs were practically dragging along the floor as it limped along but it won best in breed. Cause hey, it's got that slant downwards they decided looks cool and have bred in over generations. It is shameful.

My labradoodle is 75% poodle, 25% lab.

So basically a curly beast with no off switch where his stomach is.

Got him before the prices went wild (he's 8) and everyone loves him. I'm quite happy calling him a labradoodle even if he's really a mongrel. Everyone knows what you mean.

My brother's dog is supposedly a cockapoo but there's no poodle there at all - smooth coated bundle of energy just like every cocker I've ever met.

Oh dear... Where to start?

F1, F2 and hybrid. If you mate a pair of cockerpoos then you get cockerpoos in the next generation, but they may split slightly and some be more poodle others more cocker (it's not like Turner and Hooch or Lady and the Tramp btw). The next generation will begin to breed true. After half a century you will get a breed standard. After five hundred years, cockerpoos will be a breed with KC reg etc. 😀