Chocolate labradoodles?

[allluckedout]

Having met the most gorgeous chocolate labradoodle at my sons football training for the past few weeks, its made it certain to us that this is the breed of dog that we would like.
Does anyone have any advice or what to look out for when buying from a breeder and any known associated problems with labradoodle breeding?
thank you

There are lots of Labradoodles here all looking for loving homes

i have 2 2md generation labradoodles (black) and they are very good dogs but hard work. they do moult, and one requires a lot of grooming (poodle type fur) and the other is like a kinky-coated lab, so only needs a quick brush.

They can be quick to train, one is fab fab fab, learns trick quickly, walks perfectly on the lead, but has seperation issues, poor boy. he is quite nervous at times.
The other is a total dope, will work for food only, and is just getting there with walking on the lead.

One of the main problems with doodle breeding is unscrupulous breeders in it for a quick buck. the main thing to remember that these are NOT pedigree dogs, they are cross breeds, but sought after ones iyswim. so people price them high sadly.

labradoodle coats generally arent 'set' until they reach maturity at around 2years old as well. When we picked out boys, it looked like Tom wold be the curly one, and Ralph the shorter haired one. That has changed a lot.

Labradoodles come in many sizes, from minature (lab and toy poodle mix) to big dogs like mine, which is standard poodle and lab grandparents, and doodle parents.

curly boy
tom-boy

DooIn, that list on the doodle site is pretty much what i say :)

i am home all day, and the boys are settled, but def high-maintance dogs

See this weekends guardian magazine for an interview with the man who 'invented' the labradoodle ,

Whoops posted too soon. They are cross breeds and there is no saying how much Labrador you'll get to your poodle

Yes, they are crossbreeds and as such, one dog will be very different to another.

Still not many breeders are health teasting and you will struggle to find one that does. Health tests should be at least hips and eyes, preferably elbows too and elbows should be scored 0 or 1 and hips below 14. Eyes must be clear.

Same goes as for any other breeder. Any good one will have a waiting list, not allow you to visit and collect a puppy the same day. They should ask you lots of questions, not let you have the puppy if you work all day long, be prepared to offer lifelong support and help and take the dog back at any time in it's life if you cannot keep it.

There are lots in rescues, partly because most of the people breeding these are irrepsonsible and only care about the money they can make.

if i can get personalclown and lisad123 on here, they can show you my boys brothers and you can see then vast difference between all of their coats. Lisad123 has a choc boy.

Oh god yes my Flupps is high maintenance!
Only works for food and extremely bouncy.

He was lovely and smooth with a bit of a mohawk as a young pup but now is a long legged walking bag of messy curls.

There's a few pics of him on my profile. From young pup to mess!

pics on my profile of my choc brown doddle
he is quite well behaved as puppys go and easy to train as his food lead :)

I have no bread advice as he came from a friend but the labradoddle trust have plenty that need good homes. I think people go in thinking they are lovely and sweet (which they are) BUT they are large dogs and bouncy too.

As the recent owner of a labradoodle (blonde, not choc) pup I second all the good advice here. Please think in terms of getting a dog with the right breeding, parent's health history & checks, carefully choosing the size and temperament first. Then try and decide what kind of coat you would QUITE LIKE (curly, scruffy etc) but bear in mind there is absolutely no guarantee - even from the very best breeders - of what you will actually get when your dog grows up.

Then, and only then, worry about the colour.

If you do want to learn about chocolate doodles, this breeder seems to take finding her dogs good homes very seriously. We didn't buy from her or view her dogs, but she has some really useful 'quizzes' on her website that we did before deciding on our dog.

Also interesting to hear from other Doodle owners that they are purely food motivated - I thought it was my failing that I couldn't get him properly excited by toys!

the only toys mine like is the soft pet toys. however they rip them apart in a day then spend ages cuddling and chew the carcass

the only toys my boy likes are the kids ones he isnt allowed!

30andmerkin i woudn't touch that particular breeder with a 50-foot barge pole.a quick google reveals the bitch she had puppies from in 2009 also whelped in 2005, 2006 and 2007 - every sodding year!

bitches should have lives, not just litters.
and the ethics of mating poodle bitches (slim, light-built dogs) to heavy-set labs (think of being a chinese woman giving birth to the kids of a big Swedish man) is not great...

there are loads of doodles and doodle pups in rescue - including puppies.

so...get a rescue.

Hmm, that's interesting Edgar. Like I said, we didn't go to her so can't really comment, but we did use her 'Are you committed enough to own a Doodle?' quiz to prepare ourselves for dog-parentage, which I think is valid regardless of where you get your dog from.

sure, 30 ...

i think people often focus (rightly) upon finding a good breeder, without thinking too much about whether they will be a good owner.

although it is hard to generalise about doodles as they cover a spectrum of dogs from indistinguishable from poodle, (intelligent and naughty) to messy-looking lab (soppy and dependable), they are big, bouncy active dogs that need exercise and company.

unfortunately the 'fashion' for these dogs has led to many going into rescue as owners realise they aren't easy dogs to manage.

i have just spend the best part of 45mins combing ralph. and i still missed bits, but he fell asleep on my lap and is too heavey to shift atm lol.

...and I second midori about health testing - hip scores are the bare minimum!

too many people buy doodles thinking them healthier than purebreds, only to find them vulnerable to the genetic and inherited disorders of both parents.

have added a pic of my 2yr old with one of our 6month old doodles. bear in mind he still has 12-18months growth still to go!

some good points here here

we arent trying to put you off a doddle, those of us with doddles love them to pieces and i certainly wouldnt chnage our boy BUT they are a handful!

thanks for all the advice. I am used to large dogs and needing lots of walking and grooming, so not just in it for the trend. :)
I grew up with labradors and poodles funnily enough, large standard poodles and a black lab and a golden retreiver.
I work for the family business so I can take a puppy into work with me and its a farm so he/she can run around and get plenty of exercise and play with the other dogs once they are old enough.
My children are older now, well the youngest is almost 5 and used to dogs, so I don't think that would be a problem.
I will look at the rescue dogs as I have no objection to rehoming a dog and we did look at several rehoming centres without a breed in mind.
All of your dogs look gorgeous and make me want one even more!

I thought that the males are usually poodles and the bitches labs Edgar? Our doodle's parentage was like that.

As for 'fashion' aren't all pedigree dogs the result of a fashion somewhere along the line. Just because the fashion was in the 18th century doesn't render it any better than current trends.

Joni, I think ideally the bitch should be a lab and dad a poodlem that's our boys grandparentage.

I have however read of one where the bitch was a small poodle and dad was a lab. Eeeek. As I said there are some bad breeders out there looking to make a fast buck.

Good luck with you doodle search allluckedout. They are fab dogs and you seem to clued up on things. :)