Labradoodle Owners - advice needed please?

[onoffon]

I posted similar questions under a different topic but someone suggested reposting with 'labradoodle' in the title!

Have spent hours reading all the wise MNetters advice about puppies/dogs etc as DH and I have decided to get a dog later this year; but I just have a couple of questions.

We can't get one straight away because we're waiting to move from London out to the countryside (Sussex), but when should we start looking? and how do you find a good breeder?

And should I just wait until we're ready and then look for adverts of recent litters, or should I identify a good breeder now, visit them to see previous litters so then I can get first pick of a later litter?

Can anyone recommend a good breeder?

Thanks

Thanks ScaredofCows, good point. I'll add that to my 'things to remember when expanding the menagerie' list . Although I'd dispute that they usually look the same, ours looks much more like the dog equivalent of a tramp than most poodles, but I think he's BEAUTIFUL!

We have a two year old labradoodle. We actually got her from Cheshire dogs home, she and her sisters had been dumped in a box by the river

She is the most loving dog I have ever known, absolutly adores the children and apart from the usual nipping at ankles when she was a pup she has always been really gentle with them.

She does shed a little bit but not as much as other dogs I've had, still have to hoover the rug every evening.

She is also really naughty and will pinch anything she can to chew, she particularly likes the babies dummies and babygrows!

That's so sad ShortandCurly. That sounds like an unscrupulous breeder who couldn't sell all the litter

I still however maintain that there isn't a problem with doodles in rescues anywhere near the same extent as staffies for example.

"The idea that feckless people buy them on a whim and then cast them aside is not true. One doodle in a rescue is one too many but thankfully the numbers appear to be pretty low."

Bollocks, I'm afraid. There are few Doodles in all-breed rescue because they are a relatively "new" breed, they mostly land up in breed rescue, rehome is faster than that of poor Staffies and the like and there are less of them than, say, Labs or GSD, but breed rescue has their hands full nonetheless.

And, like every other breed, far too many of them are in there thanks to idiots who don't think about the long term responsibilities of owning a dog and want rid because they have a baby/are pregnant/he moults and they didn't take on board that there is no guarantee that he won't/he chews/they don't have enough time and so on.

I'm an independent rescuer and see the sad results of idiot decisions far to often. To assert otherwise is dangerously misleading.

jonicomelately, I'm sure I'll get over it... as for preferring doodles to 'inbred pedigrees mated to their cousin because the gene pool is so small' the doodle gene pool is still relatively small and where do you think all the F2's etc come from?

30andmerkin I agree a poodle would fit your requirements just as well, if not better. I love the look of poodles when they are clippered all over as opposed to show clipped.

I think what a lot of doodle owners miss is that no-one is critiscising the dogs themselves. They are dogs, like any other dog and every bit as lovely. I have a staff x lab x collie here who is wonderful and every bit as much a part of our family and valued just as much as our pedigree dogs. However, I wouldn't like to think people were breeding them deliberately.

Valhalla. I honestly don't agree. Whenever anybody mentions labradoodles the same message is heard over and over again. These dogs are bought by idiots who will give up their dogs as soon as they realise there is no such thing as a perfect dog.
I am absolutely pissed off with hearing this. I have had dogs all of my lfe. I know what they entail. I have rescued and I have fostered. Most of the people I've spoken to who have doodles have also previously owned dogs. It is easy to portray us as feckless people who quite like the idea of having a dog but don't like the idea of getting our pristine cream sofas dirty. If anybody dared to suggest that bull breed owners were all irresponsible thugs you and several others would be up in arms. Why shouldn't I be fed up of every doodle thread containing the words 'idiot owners?'

midori. I'm sure you will 'get over it.' You seem the type who would. I'd repeat here what I said to Valhalla. I'd also say that given the increase in popularity in Labradoodles it isn't necessary for the dogs to be breed to close relatives, unlike lots of pedigrees I could list.

Thanks midori, I'm not actually in the market for Dog II yet though... just ideally wondering!

I'll bow to your superior knowlege in just about everything dog-related here and you've been hugely helpful, but I suspect one thing we're not going to ever agree on is that everyone deliberately breeding labradoodles for profit is fundamentally wrong. I would wager that the breeder I went to has never had a dog end up in rescue, because they vet their owners very carefully, and maintain contact with them afterwards.

To me a professional breeder who puts the dogs' welfare at the top of their priorities is not a contradiction, regardless of what breed it is.

I suspect plenty of 'hobby' doodle breeders are just as likely to produce pups that can't be homed because they don't have the same no of buyers on their books, or produce pups with poor hip/eyes because they can't afford the best stud dogs - I know ours takes their labradoodle line just as seriously as they ever did their working labs because their professional reputation depends on every litter being healthy, sound and of good temperament.

idly wondering, even...

jonicomelately - you've summed it up yourself really by saying 'I don't really understand the whole purebreed thing '

well some of us dont really understand the whole crossbreed thing. I am a lab owner but not a snobby lab owner just dont get the excitment of the lab/poodle crossbreed the same as you dont get the 'whole pure breed thing'.

Again, thank you so much everyone for all your advice. Its exactly what I was after.

30andMerkin I have PM'd you! (Your inbox is right at the top of the page)

Just to answer a few of the questions people asked.

Why a labradoodle? I have done a lot of research into the type of dog that would be suitable for us (responsive to training, energetic, good with children and other animals etc) and out of those that fit the bill I just feel in love with the idea of a labradoodle (or lab cross!). I suppose you could say I have fallen slightly for the fad but I think its more about the eyes and scruffy fur

It doesn't have anything to do with shedding or being good for allergies so I'm not too bothered about that.

When we move out of London I'll be doing my job from home so will have a lot of time to play/train/walk the puppy. Plus I'm moving to a new area and thought puppy training classes might be a good place to make some new friends.

Like others, I have looked at rescue centre and just not come across many labradoodles; and not seen any puppies. But I will keep looking and if I think one is suitable will investigate it further.

Thanks again everyone.

"It is easy to portray us as feckless people who quite like the idea of having a dog but don't like the idea of getting our pristine cream sofas dirty."

Where the feck did I portray you like that, joni?

Where the feck did I say that all Labradoodle owners were of this type?

I didn't.

I said that it happens and that it is damaging to suggest otherwise. I see it happening... there was some silly cow on here a few months ago who got rid of her Labradoodle because it was "all lab and no doodle", moulting, dirtying her cream carpets and she couldn't be arsed to train it not to trespass into neighbouring gardens. I was involved in that and managed to get the poor dog into rescue. Likewise a 5 mo pup recently came into a rescue I deal with because she chewed and the owners "couldn't train her".

You're not all like that, you LD owners, any more than all bull breeds are all owned by thugs but some are. It happens though, as it does with all breeds.

What you're saying otherwise is that I'm a liar or that I am hypothesising and not speaking from experience... and that is incorrect. At a guess, based on that experience I would say that it is highly possible that incidences of LDs being handed into rescue for reasons of the owner not thinking it through and being blinded by cute fluffiness are higher than, for example, Shep owners or Border Terrier owners. Likewise I would imagine that there has been a fair amount of bandwagon jumping by backyard breeders out to make a fast buck with this breed and of those who have seen LDs taking off and who subsequently have bred other crosses with similar cute appeal to sell at extortionate prices. I can't back those up, they are just opinions, but I damn well can the first assertion I made.

I have no issue with decent Labradoodle owners per se. Wouldn't be my first choice of dog and I would never go to a breeder while pound dogs die but I don't consider you all to be idiots so I don't see why you are taking it so personally.

PS - My vote goes to Bradley :)

joni, have a read about this Labradoodle owner

I do realise you are not saying that ALL owners are like that Valhalla.

There is however, on many threads relating to this type of dog a general attitude that most if not all doodle breeders are after a fast buck (I'm NOT a breeder btw) and doodle owners are a particular type of owner. As I've already said, the word 'idiot' tends to be used a lot as does 'jumping on the bandwagon.'

I am merely saying there are not vast amounts of doodles going into rescues. There are some, and that is not just unfortunate, but tragic but I think I've seen one young doodle on a rescue website (aside from labradoodle rescue itself) and I look at rescue sites quite a lot.

And please don't turn this into a 'are you calling me a liar' type exchange. I'm not. And I think that anybody who reads your posts regularly knows how experienced you are because frequently tell us.

Touche, Joni. :o

Yep, I am fairly experienced. I'm good at what I do. So are lots of people, there's no shame in that.

I'm also completely crap at huge numbers of things so that evens out my experience in dealing with and knowledge of the suffering of unwanted dogs more than adequately. :)

On another note, it's worth people knowing that just because they don't see a particular type of dog on a rescue's website they shouldn't assume that the rescue doesn't have what they are looking for. Apart from the obvious issues of limits to numbers of dogs put on websites and difficulties in keeping websites updated it's also sometimes the case that a dog may not for other reasons ever get on the site. That's aside from some rescues being small/tucked out of the way/without websites whereby even locals don't know they have a rescue near their village!

For example, the 5 month old little Labradoodle I spoke of above went straight from the original owner to a foster carer although most of that rescue's dogs normally go into the rescue kennels or the rescue's large farmhouse. She went from there to a new owner after a chance conversation between her fosterer and someone at their agility club, without ever being "advertised" on the rescue website. So, it's always worth asking in person rather than just relying on rescue sites and worth approaching rescues further from your home area as some, although not all, will rehome outside of their immediate area if they can get another rescue to carry out a homecheck etc.

I have a 18 month old Doodle, she is about the size of a large Cocker, small labrador. She doesnt malt at all, her coat is curly but soft and she is gorgeous. I didnt want a really huge one so took great care when looking at breeders, her parents are not huge and she was one of the smaller ones in the litter.

Mad as a hatter, loves people and still jumps all over them when they come in the house, thats the hardest thing I have found to train. Whilst we are out she will now bound over to people but sits rather than jumping up. She doesnt understand why everyone who she meets doesnt want to stroke and per her.

She was diagnosed with hip dysplacia when she was nine months, she was given some medicine and since then we have had no problems but we are careful. My vet assures me it wasnt because we were overwalking her but Im not so sure, I thought we were sticking to the guidlines but if I had my time again with her I would be very very cautious how much I walked her.

She eats anything and everything, and I have had to remove horse poo from her mouth...

She has the most wonderful temperament and just wants to play and be with you. She brings happiness to all of us (three kids, 16, 14 and 11)

I like labradoodles, and there are loads of them in our practice, but I am occasionally frustrated by the people who buy them solely because they "don't shed", then come in and moan their faces off at me because theirs does!

It's pretty straightforward O grade biology: breed 2 dogs, one with 2 genes for not shedding (the dominant gene), one with 2 for shedding. You will get an F1 generation that doesn't shed, sure. But if you then breed 2 F1's, they are just as likely to pass on the gene for shedding as for not shedding, so you could expect 1:4 puppies to have 2 shedding genes and therefore shed hair!! Amazed that this has mystified many breeders (and owners)

They are nice dogs, but unfortunately prone to many of the lab problems (eg hip dysplasia, eye problems) AND to the poodle problems, although there is always the argument re hybrid vigour, which would be a good thing if they had stuck to crossing labs with poodles and not started breeding doodles with (a small gene pool of) doodles.

Anyone who wants a dog who doesn't shed should get a poodle! (or at least an F1 labradoodle)

But I don't really understand why people who don't want a purebred breed wouldn't just get a crossbreed- totally unique, each one, and with true hybrid vigour. I currently have purebred dogs (beagles, because of a childhood pet) but I have learned my lesson, and my next dog(s) will be crosses!

Touche in what respect Valhalla

"And I think that anybody who reads your posts regularly knows how experienced you are because frequently tell us."

It amused me, you put me in my place with that comment, which is why I acknowledged with "Touche". :)

And you're right too! :o

Don't let my comments put you off Val. You do an amazing job and I know we've clashed on this thread but I do admire you

Aw.., thank you Joni.

I admit to being an opinionated, gobby cow, but all the while it gets results and saves lives I'd best not change!

I've just been lurking here, as I'm broody for a dog (never get baby broody ) but have not enough outside space for one.

There is a labradoodle in rescue here 30andMerkin Lovely Jez

Makes my heart a bit hurty!

Ok people, enough now! Stop suggesting dogs for me to get, I'm going to end up with a pack like some people I could mention on this thread! if I'm not careful.

I only meant hypothetically if I were to get another dog, what would be a 'morally better' alternative - depending on your standpoint - than buying another doodle from a breeder! Now I'm googling standard poodles, and rescue doodles, and wondering if my MIL could grow to love a staffie, or if we should get a nice short-haired greyhound, or or or.... I'm not in the market, I'm not looking

we have a cockerpoo, cocker spaniel x poodle. usually they ae crossed with toy/miniature poodle but mine is with a small standard poodle mum.
he is gorgeous, a little bit bigger than average cocker spaniel, such a sweet temperament. he sheds just a little. He has that scruffy shaggy hair to die for also. I love labradoodles but they are SO big!