Where are all the poodles?

[JaimeLannister]

I regularly see many 'poo' type dogs around especially cockapoos and labradoodles but I rarely see actual poodles. These mixes are coming from somewhere!

“They don't throw a mix of breeds in to mate and hope for the best!”

They can just have female other breeds and one male poodle, yes, no hoping for the best, they know it’s going to be a litter of whatever doodles or poos, no having to keep extra dogs about.

“So by your reckoning great Danes, st Bernards and all other large breeds can't have puppies then? In case mother squashes them?”

They need a bit of effort from their owner if you want them all to make it, not quite the same thing.

Would love some of you to get off your high horse having a pure breed or a rescue dog doesn't make you a better dog owner than anyone else.

We have a mini poodle and they're fab dogs, although he's completely bonkers! Unfortunately, what other posters have said about the majority of these whatever-poos coming from puppy farms is probably true; there is far greater demand for poodle crosses (partly due to them being supposedly non-shedding although that's not always the case) than for pure poodles and where there's a demand, puppy farms will always step in to meet that demand. I'd have no problem taking on a rescue poodle mix but would never buy one because I think it just fuels the trend. We are in West London and must see 20 poodle crosses for every pure poodle we see - we are often asked if our boy is a cockapoo, as we have him in a pet clip, but almost never asked if he's a poodle, which just shows that people don't expect to see them as a pure breed.

All that said, I do think there are a small number of responsible poodle cross breeders around - friends of ours have a black cockapoo girl and they were very careful indeed about where they got her from - but I can't understand why they didn't just get a poodle! I kind of think that poods need an image makeover, so that people realise what fabulous dogs they are - but then more people would want one and guess where that would lead?

having a pure breed or a rescue dog doesn't make you a better dog owner than anyone else

No, of course it doesn't. Taking every stop possible to avoid supporting the puppy farm industry definitely does though.

Puppy farmers breed whatever is profitable. They like to use mothers that are genetically predisposed to having good sized litters without medical intervention, and ones that manage to rear as many as possible without human assistance to maximise profit.

“having a pure breed or a rescue dog doesn't make you a better dog owner than anyone else.”

Where has anyone said that?

We have a beautiful black standard boy.

Mine is stretched out on the floor by my feet! It’s true though we haven’t met another standard since we’ve had her and we meet a lot of crosses. She’s an absolutely amazing family dog, cannot fault her.

My dog (not a poodle cross) is 4 and a half - when he was a puppy there were quite a few labradoodle puppies around with one or two cockerpoos. Now virtually every single new puppy that comes onto the common is a cockerpoo with the odd cavapoo to ring the changes... they’ve all been bought by first time dog owners who’ve fallen for the spiel that they’re the ‘perfect’ family dog - and that they don’t shed... While many of them are lovely a substantial minority are a pain ... they bounce up to my dog, get in his face and completely fail to read his ‘please go away, I don’t know you’ signals

I shouldn’t imagine any of their owners knowingly bought them from a puppy farm but I worry about where this huge influx of poodle crosses has come from - and I can’t fathom why anyone would pay more for a poodle cross of uncertain provenance than for a pedigree poodle

What Whitney said...

... they’ve all been bought by first time dog owners who’ve fallen for the spiel that they’re the ‘perfect’ family dog - and that they don’t shed... While many of them are lovely a substantial minority are a *they bounce up to my dog, get in his face and completely fail to read his ‘please go away, I don’t know you’ signals

I shouldn’t imagine any of their owners knowingly bought them from a puppy farm but I worry about where this huge influx of poodle crosses has come from - and I can’t fathom why anyone would pay more for a poodle cross of uncertain provenance than for a pedigree poodle*

Poo cross owners you are letting the side down! Its only poo crosses that get in the face of other dogs! :D

Why does it bother you what dog someone else buys?

I know a labradoodle from the field where we walk our dogs it’s HUGE really just a massive dog and it drags her along. Not quite what I was expecting

@tabulahrasa no one has directly said it but it has been implied. There are a lot of posts implying that people who own cross breeds whether it be a poodle cross or anything else are worse human beings than those who have standard breeds and have no brain cells for even considering such a breed or for getting a puppy. As a poodle cross owner I take offence to some of these comments.

@undomestichousewife that's called an untrained dog, nothing to do with it being a Labradoodle.

Every dog no matter what the breed can have a number of issues be it health or temperment. For some reason poodle crosses really seem to piss off MNers.

I adore my retchid poodle cross. She's perfect.

After seeing one yesterday on walk have decided a toy poodle will be my next dog, won't be for a while though as hands full with 2 large dogs

Saw this tiny cute white dog running about chasing a ball, really lively and happy.
I asked the owner how old it was, as thought it was a puppy. He said it was ten years old and a toy poodle! It's coat was clipped evenly all over and didn't look at all "poodle-ish".

FILs ndn's have 5. 3 miniature, 2 standard. They used to have 2 toy too but they were both pts, 2 months apart, about 3 years ago as they were v v old. Not the breed for me but they are nice.

“As a poodle cross owner I take offence to some of these comments.”

Why? If I took offence about opinions on here or other forums about the owners of the breed I have I’d have to just be permanently offended by now.

There are comments about people being stupid enough to buy puppies from puppy farmers, well some people absolutely are buying them from there and tbh stupid is a better option than the alternative that they’re buying them knowingly and supporting it.

“For some reason poodle crosses really seem to piss off MNers.“

They’re a puppy farmers wet dream is mostly why...that and there’s no obvious reason why they’re preferable to a poodle, only at least with a poodle there’s a higher chance you’d be able to find a decent breeder.

And it’s not just poodle crosses, it’s any cross or breed that means there’s an issue with animal welfare either because they’re popular with puppy farmers or there are major health issues in the breed or both - cavaliers for instance, go have a look at threads about those, or pugs, they attract lots of warnings as well.

Or French Bulldogs.
Or many pedigree cats.

@tabulahrasa maybe I shouldn't take offence so easily, especially at the hands of random people on the internet, but I just admit posts like this hit a nerve with me. I agree there are people who buy from puppy farms who shouldn't, but it would be nice if people could also recognise that there are people (like myself) who do buy puppies but who also do their research before doing so. Don't really like people implying that all puppy/cross breed buyers are stupid, naive, etc...

Everyone has different preferences with regards to breeds, sizes, sexes, puppies/rescues and as long as these dogs are taken on responsibly then that's all that matters.

Agree with the pug thing and other breeds that have been genetically tampered with in order to make them more 'desirable - thats not good and people should be more aware. Did anyone watch a programme the other week about British bull dogs? It's shocking how much they have changed over the years purely to meet human requirements!

And people fall for these so called 'designer' dogs. Mongrels all of them

Of course they are mongrels! It's the pedigrees that are designer dogs, all of them!

“Did anyone watch a programme the other week about British bull dogs?“

Nope, but they’re in a shocking state.

I was about to say they can’t breed unaided or whelp unaided and have one of if not the highest average hip scores of any breed among other issues, so I went to look up their hip score. It’s as high as I remember, but, that’s not the bit that’s made me go

Only 23 dogs have been hip scored in 15 years, who the hell is buying bulldog puppies of all breeds with unhipscored parents!!!

Just to put that in perspective 145 otter hounds were scored in the same period and they’re so rare that only 24 puppies were registered last year, individual puppies, not litters...

That is totally off topic, I know, but it’s genuinely shocked me.

itallhappensforareason I wonder if some of the suspicion comes from the fact that people who own cross breeds that did their research etc never elaborate on what that research was. There are regularly questions on how to find a good breeder (on MN and other dog forums) and people with breeds chip in with how they did theirs... Normally a combination of breed clubs, KC, looking up the litter's lineage and all parents, grand parent health test results online to check they were correct. Essentially using all the tools they can to check that what the breeder tells them about their line, is true.

None of that will work for a cross breed because they won't have long lineages (or records of them) and the health test results for crosses won't be recorded online (I don't think?) but I've never really heard how a responsible cross breed owner found their brilliant breeder...

I think many people have no idea what health tests need doing. I've spoken to a few people and they say "yes puppies have had a health check." No concept of what health tests parents should have before they even consider breeding.

Generally they didn't. They may have a lovely dog but I've never met anyone who can show parents had necessary health tests before breeding.

Itallhappens, I think the reason for most people’s issues of poos and oodles, is that their breeders are putting two breeds of dogs together that are so dissimilar, so it is a complete mystery what you are going to end up with. That raises alarm bells. Youve got to ask yourself, why did the breeder choose to do this mating, and many people feel that it is simply so that they can call them a silly name and charge a crazy amount of money. I’m pretty sure that a ladradoodle would not be as popular if it was called a poodle/Labrador cross. It does not sit well with me that people spend sometimes double or triple on a Labrador/poodle cross than they would on a pedigree Labrador or poodle. If we stopped using the cutesy silly names, I think the dogs would decline in popularity. I certainly don’t blame owners for purchasing their cross breeds, and I understand that the owners love their dogs very much so don’t want to hear anything bad about the people who sold them their pup, but it has to be ask, why create crossbreeds (with the exception of lurcher and working dogs) with the health and temperament risks involved, when there are hundreds of pedigrees dogs. No matter what your requirements there will be at least one pedigree dog that suits - and you’ll be certain of what you are buying.

Certainly didn't start this thread to offend people. I love dogs. All dogs, and of course we have our favourites. If you have a poodle cross from a good breeder who health tests the parents then that's great.

I just wish I saw more lovely poodles. Especially the standards.