Cockapoo breeders

[TioB]

Hi I know not everyone is keen on cross breeds but we've decided to get a cockapoo. We're seen one at Maison Jolie in Lincolnshire and another at Sylml Cockapoos. Does anyone have any experience of these breeders? Thanks

£1000?!

Okay, they're not puppy farmers and are doing some health testing but these are high volume, high profit enterprises.

Some spurious claims on the website of the first one, they are not hypoallergenic and there is no guarantee that they will be low or non shedding, many have very high maintenance coats.

Apologies for derailing slightly but I cannot help but be cynical.

We got a beautiful cocker from Hedgefen in Wisbech, cambridgeshire about 4 years ago. Justine also has cockerpoo litters from time to time. Look online at Justdogz

If you check out Puppy Loves ,it's a puppy farming campaign website , they have received complaints about the second breeder you mention , I agree with pp ,if you are spending that kind of money I'd be looking at a pedigree with a full medical history , not a cross breed from a money making organisation .

I am looking for a GSD puppy and this is what I want from my breeder:

• all health screening available for the breed, both parents, with paperwork, no excuses.

• a small number of bitches, with one or two litters a year.

• a breeding programme that is realistic and matches my needs, in this case a dog with a calm and trainable temperament that will fit in well with a family.

• puppies brought up in the house, with conditions similar to my own, e.g. other dogs, cats and children around.

If you check for these I think you can easily avoid the puppy farmers, although by choosing a cross-breed you are kind of playing into their hands.

Jukee Doodles was mentioned several times as being very good on a dog health group I follow, and they are on the list of approved breeders on the Cockerpoo Club website. They are in Lincolnshire.

I have no idea how much they charge, but the dogs are fully health tested and they appear to have a good set-up. Other than this recommendation, I have no idea, so I'm not endorsing this breeder as such, but they might be worth checking out. Also others on the approved breeder list which is here www.cockapooclubgb.co.uk/ccgb-approved-breeders.html

Jukee Doodles website: www.jukeedoodles.com/

"I have no idea how much they charge, but the dogs are fully health tested and they appear to have a good set-up."

Hmm, the bitches aren't hip scored...they have at least 12 that I can see and only leave 1 year between litters, they mention 'hybrid vigour' and appear to have a litter due at least every 2 months.

I mean some health tests are better than none, but the amount of litters and not leaving the bitches to have 2 years between litters is pretty far from ideal.

Personally, I wouldn't touch any council licensed breeder with a bargepole. The vast majority of councils require someone to be breeding more than four litters a year before a license is necessary. No decent breeder would be churning out that many puppies.

There's only mention of vWD for one of their poodle studs, not really ideal if they're breeding F2s.

Judging by the pictures and videos on the website the puppies don't seem to be raised in the family home.

They also don't keep their breeding bitches once they've had four litters. According to the website they each have a maximum of four litters and are then spayed and rehomed, usually at the age of four to five years old. Four litters by five years old is madness.

Like I said, not a personal endorsement, but apparently they have produced good, healthy dogs.

I don't necessarily have a problem with breeders making money - being a commercial concern - so long as they are producing happy, healthy dogs. It would be naive to think that there is some 'pure' breeder motive completely separate from the financial outcome of breeding. Even those breeding for 'the good of the breed' (with pedigree dogs) will be mindful that if they produce excellent dogs there will be a pay-off in terms of future value of litters and stud fees and so on. My personal yardstick would be how much is reinvested into appropriate health tests, the environment where the dogs are kept, the lifelong well-being of all animals involved etc. Clearly, there's a huge problem if commercial success is the only criteria, and I am as appalled as anyone by the horrors of puppy farming.

I am a rescue mongrel person myself, and regard 'pure-bred' dogs as simply bad science (which is causing increasing amounts of suffering) with a blindingly obvious poor future in terms of genetics. The idea that you can continually reduce a gene pool in the pursuit of health is laughably wrong, and the prioritising of conformation over function/health is scandalous.

There is a crucial difference between health testing the puppies and health screening the parents. The former is a quick visit to the vet to check there is nothing obviously wrong with the pups. The latter is a lengthy, costly process involving x-Rays, blood tests and genetic tests to ensure the parents are healthy enough to breed from.

Anyone can produce some healthy dogs, the difficulty is to avoid producing unhealthy dogs and to steer the breed towards healthier characteristics.

Try Bridgeways Cockapoos. We got our girl from there, and I can't recommend them highly enough. All the mums & dads are family pets and the owners are brilliant. We used to visit our girl for hours at a time....! Heaven!

We were also temporarily homeless & couldn't have the puppy during the week, so she went back to the breeders during the week & we picked her up at the weekends. She even got to sleep on the bed, as normal 😉