How much did you pay for a labradoodle/golden doodle?

[Monkley]

They seem to be around £600-£700 here, that seems crazy! Is this the going rate?!

Awww Clam just had a look at the pics on your profile - gorgeous dog!

Our Labradoodle has actually turned out to be a lot smaller than we expected - he had giant paws when he was a pup so we expected him to be huge. He actually looks about the same size as your cockerpoo (he's pretty much the same colour too). He still has his giant paws now and just looks like a big clown

I will also say that we (accidentally) ended up with what seems to be the holy grail of 'doodle ownership: A completely non-shedding dog (I shed more than he does!)

This does present its own problems though, because he doesn't shed, the new fur coming through tends to matt up with the existing fur so he needs daily brushing, lots of time at the groomer's and we spend a fortune on leave in conditioner spray to try to manage this.

At the 'lab' end of the scale, the coat is more manageable, but sheds loads. The further towards the 'poodle' end of the scale, typically there will be less shedding, but more grooming is needed.

Gorgeous breed though; playful, sociable, friendly - the perfect addition to our family.

Imo, paying £700 for any dog is a joke and perpetuating for-profit dog breeding. It is never for the benefit of the dog or their 'breed', no matter what some people profess.

Professional breeders on this site and elsewhere will try to convince you how they are actually out of pocket selling you a dog at this price and how they are 'strengthening' their breed by further thinning out the already shallow genetic pool to perpetuate the 'best' ones

The old adage about a fool and their money rings true...

Get a labrador and be done with it!!! Top dog! Or a poodle (sorry )

My sister has a much-loved lab, but even she says she'd never have another one. He near enough chewed her house up.

opoos clam - I hear they are dreadful chewers but we had one and she never was. but then my parents were around most of the tiem so I guess she never got bored or lonely.

Well, I don't think he can have been lonely - people around most of the time. And he had loads of toys/chews etc... They also sprayed everything in sight with the vile liquid.
But on the bright side, she got a new kitchen out of it! And, an extension to put it in!

oh crap! . Aaaargh!

I don't know if it's a particular labrador trait or that he was just particularly bad. He just seemed desperate to clamp his jaws around something - some things they were at fault for leaving accessible - the car tax disc, the broadband cable. But he'd also chew skirting boards (lord knows how!) and all the corners of the kitchen units and kick boards.
He grew out of it eventually and they wouldn't swap him for the world.

sounds a it like Marley!

"Imo, paying £700 for any dog is a joke and perpetuating for-profit dog breeding."

I have mixed feelings on this. I am a long time GS owner, of rescue GS's, fosterer etc.

It was standard practice in my region to have these as 'Guard dogs', which involved having them on the roof of a pub or chained in a back yard. There were very sorry examples of GS's about.

The reason that there isn't as many about now, is because the prices have risen. The previous over breeding produced dogs with so many 'faults' that luckily enough people didn't want them and 'breeders' couldn't get rid of them, so stopped breeding.

I personally don't agree with cross breeding, or even allowing a mongrel to breed. In my area Jackadoodles are becoming popular,but people are having bad experiences with them,because they want a lap dog and both these breeds need stron leadership and an experienced/committed to training owner.

How many people look at breeds when getting a cat? I think the whole breeding thing makes sense for working dogs. Otherwise one should just have a mutt, and choose based on personality of the individual dog, which is usually evident early on.

Honestly, in UK it seems people overly obsess about dog breeds. It is of no benefit to dogs and just spurs an industry in puppy farming.

I can see your point Flatbread, but don't you think it would be a shame to lose the distinctiveness of the breeds that have been developed over often thousands of years just because there are some unscrupulous BYB out there?

I agree wholeheartedly that there should be a special circle of hell reserved for Puppy Farmers, but I think the answer would be tighter regulation of breeders (having to have a prohibitively expensive licence to breed from your bitch for example) rather than a wholesale dumbing down of all breeds.

"choose based on personality of the individual dog, which is usually evident early on"

Puppies are sold from 8 weeks old,so there would be no chance of knowing the dogs character traits/personality. Without a definate breed, you don't know that dogs exericise needs etc, so more likely that you will end up with a breed that you don't/carn't handle.

Different breeds are different dogs and there are breeds to suit everyone's needs/wants, there is no need to pollute them by irresponsible cross breeding.

There is a 13 week old labradoodle at a reputable rescue near me. Apparently there due to overbreeding of these dogs, with more coming into rescue due to overbreeding.

Please consider getting a rescue dog rather than perpetuating this "industry". There are also tons of labs in rescue because labs need tons of exercise and mental stimulation.

there is nothing 'polluting' about cross-breeding, it leads to a healthier species. The dog breeds of today were artificially developed to meet certain working needs. Just as you have cows that produce greater milk and modified crops.

There are negative consequences of human selective engineering of any species. We tolerate the consequences or are willing to be oblivious to them when it comes to meeting our living, working and food needs.

But why on earth would we continue to do for pets? IMO, it is our thinking towards dogs that needs to change, and while there may be a few people who need a specific breed, most would be ok with a mutt. These are pets, not designer handbags that need to be a specific size and colour.

We are willing to have children who are essentially 'mutts' with varying energy levels. Cats and other pets which are mutts. Why this obsession with designer dogs?

They seem to be around £600-£700 here, that seems crazy! Is this the going rate?!

crazy indeed. Pedigree dogs cost at least this much. If you want a healthy labradoodle, with the desired combination of traits, then it should surely cost more.

I hate this argument. Bybs are just as guilty of producing pedigree dogs as doodles. As are puppy farms. Round here you can get almost any breed you want from a puppy farm, meaning you really have to work hard to find a good breeder.

Shelters are far more full of staffs and husky types than doodles.

Surely all breeds stared off the way of the doodle? It was first bred for a purpose and there are still breeders working towards a type. It does not happen overnight and did not with other breeds.

There are plenty of horrific breeders of pedigrees churning out unhealthy examples of their breed. If there were not then the health checks at Crufts would not be needed.

This idea of a 'type' I find hard to believe. My mam has a pedigree mini poodle (which she bought because she loved my doodle but wanted something smaller) from a very reputable breeder. He's lovely but much smaller than most minis and nothing like poodle temperament. You get a dog, not a type.

OK, so this is the doghouse, and therefore full of People With Opinions.
So I'm going to go ahead and say I don't give a shit what certain sanctimonious types think about cross-breeds. I've got a cockapoo and proud of it.
So there.

i love the appearance of the doodle breeds. I wouldn't want one myself as I prefer a bog standard labrador but I certainly don't object to cross breeds or people who buy them. You ought to be proud of your cockerpoo cam I am sure he or she has brouht you lots of pleasure and that you are wonderous owners

Just have a look at Clam's pics on her profile. 'Nuff said

Clam your dog is GORGEOUS .

Yes Did I say? He's a cross-breed?

We have a Springer Lab cross. The breeder, who shows labs and works springers (she and her husband are farmers) charged us £150 to cover her costs. Her FIL is a police dog handler and has taken 2 or 3 of her puppies from each litter for the past 6 years.

Our Springador (or Doorspring!) has so many traits from each breed. I suppose I'd you're breeding to make a profit then you have to charge a fair whack, but I'm not convinced that all reputable breeders are that trustworthy if they are doing so.

clam what kind of x is your dog? 18" would be very small for a straight SP/lab cross!

Don't buy a doodle pup. get a doodle from rescue if that's what you want.

doodle breeders really are just breeding for money*, the offspring don't throw true - you don't actually know what you are getting (i have heard of people buying what they thought were doodles..but evidently had way more breeds than those stated in their ancestry!) - and yes, a hell of a lot of BYB and puppy farmers have jumped on the bandwagon - flooding the market with ill-scialised, not health tested pups - often extremely in-bred due to the puppy farmer breeding close relatives.

*there are as ever a very few exceptions to this rule, however you would be very unlikely to stumble upon one of these.

in order to get the non-shedding quality in the coat, usually what happens is the dog is bred back to poodle...so you wind up with a dog that is 80%+ poodle anyway. What's the point?

£700-£800 for a x-breed is insanity. Flatbread is wrong as scrupulous breeders can easily lose money on a litter - the health testing involved is expensive, and by their very nature, a scrupulous x-breeder has to shell out fr relevant health test for both breeds.