Goldendoodle

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Anyone have one? We have 2dd's aged 4 and 9 and have fallen in love with this breed. We are not rushing into adding to our family for at least a year or so to make sure.
I Would like to know the pros, cons, how did you decide where to get your pet from.

This is Peggy who we met at our local Sainsbury's

It’s not a breed
However if you decide to look into this particular cross consider the worst possible characteristic of each breed and imagine if you couid cope with a dog that has all of them - the shedding and joint issues of a GR with the hyper ness of a poodle for example, because that’s what you could end up with. There’s also the size issue, the ones I’ve met were bigger than my Goldie.
Then you need to think very carefully whether you will be able to find a reputable breeder as most people breeding this will be purely profit driven and might not do the hip scoring etc that Goldies need.

Thank you, much to consider, and research. You have raised questions that I hadn't thought of.

...and there was me thinking I didn't want another dog....

They can turn out huge! Also not guaranteed to be none shedding. What are the characteristics you are looking for there may be better matches.

We had one. Black but she quickly went a distinguished grey. She did turn out a bit bigger than a retriever and was very strong - coupled with stubbornness, this made for occasional frustrations. However, she was the most lovely, sensitive, dog who was fabulous with my two DC - my DD was 3 when we got her.

She didn't shed hair, but she was always slightly greasy and other than immediately after she was clipped, her paws were like dust traps that then released all the dust as she lay.

She was harder to train than any of our other dogs. House training was ok, but sit, stay and recall all took a while. Partly I think because she wasn't massively food oriented and never really saw the point of toys or balls. Until the end, which was very sudden (suspected poisoning), she had literally no health issues over the ten years we had her.

We loved her to bits. It's four years since she died, but I still miss her heavy head on my lap.

When we spoke to Peggy's owners they said she is very friendly, good with children, that she has recently been signed up to visit local residential homes to meet the residents and apparently this is very therapeutic to them.
So we are looking for
Good with children
Low shedding
Medium sized
Sleeps well! Fingers crossed!

@WhenIsTheEasyBit thank you for sharing your experience all things we need to hear.

We have a goldendoodle ( although one of his siblings owners did one of those gene tests and we think there is some setter in there).

Pluses are that he is affectionate, reasonably easy to train, DH isn't allergic to him ( has allergies to some breeds) and he's the least aggressive dog ever. He doesn't moult too much, but I do brush him at least every other day. He's generally not too barky - unless he spots a cat in the garden. He looks a lot more retrievery/setter like than a typical goldendoodle. We think he's a handsome boy.

Downsides are firstly he's the size of a small pony. Biggest of his litter when we had a meet up at 6 months. Being a crossbreed of the doodle kind everybody has an opinion on him and - probably more through luck than design- we were fortunate to get him from a lady who has her goldendoodle very much as a family dog and this was her first litter ( he slept in her teens bed the night before we picked him up)

If I had a chance to start again I'd get a miniature goldendoodle instead or preferably no dog.

Everything HoppingGreen is possible and important to consider. We have a labradoodle- as we know both poodles and Labrador’s well so we knew the positives and negatives for each breed. He was easy to train, is incredibly friendly to both humans and dogs, is low shedding and we can basically take him anywhere. He is great with children.
However he is incredibly needy and will talk at you demanding love/attention sometimes! I have met more naughty/scatty doodles, but no more so than with other mongrels/cross breeds/breeds. I imagine a lot of it is down to how you raise them and what the parents were like.

I know two. One is a huge shaggy black dog, very naughty and can’t be let off lead.
The other is a nice looking ginger dog, much more like a poodle than a GR and only middle sized. He cost £1500, a ridiculous price.

I was just going to add about size of pony- my boy is too Rookie. We’d planned on getting a miniature but fell in love with litter of pups descended from standard poodle and lab crosses.

We have one. She is I think the best of both breeds.
Ours very much has the golden retriever temperament which is perfect for us but obviously all dogs are different and it's not guaranteed- her sister is much livelier and more poodle like.

Would definitely recommend a miniature poodle cross as they stay a nice size.

Oh also ours is amazing with kids 😊.

Honestly wouldn't be without our girl.

Definitely look into what you want of both breeds. I was set on a cockerpoo and did a lot of research on breed.

I’m a first time dog owner and am now on a bit of a mission (it seems) to tell people how ‘just’ a regular poodle ticks their boxes. Why the cross?

Our mini poodle is excellent with both my kids, he knows dh is for rough and tumble but never attempts it with my kids. He will happily cuddle up next to us on the settee. He has been easy to train (so far - he’s 10 months and still a bit unreliable with recall. But he’s a puppy still and is 80% there). He doesn’t shed. He’s fine being left for a couple of hours. Loves a long, messy walk.
Honestly (so far) he’s been a breeze.

And he is always mistaken for a cockerpoo. Always. Because you can choose their cut. He needs a cut every six weeks ish. An ‘oodle’ breed coat can be very hit and miss. Often will shed to a greater degree - you won’t know till he’s with you for some time, and they can be tricky to groom as the mix can lead to likely matting at the base of their coat.

Plus poodles come in three sizes. Standards are BIG, our mini is 10kg and about knee height. Toys are tiny.

www.doodletrust.com/adoption/before-getting-a-doodle

www.doodletrust.com/education/about-doodles

www.doodletrust.com/education/doodle-alergy-myth

They wouldn't be my first choice if I'm honest. Why not a purebred poodle?

It’s not a breed.

I have one & can pretty much echo what a lot of the other owners have said
He is huge! All gangly legs but his temperament is honestly the best & gentlest of any dog I have ever met. He loves everything & everybody ( yes I'm biased but still.. )

He doesn't moult but I do brush him regularly. Very easy to toilet train & reasonably well trained but can be stubborn ie his recall is good but if he sees something he REALLY likes the look of he will ignore me but then I suppose that can be true of lots of dogs regardless of breed

He is very energetic, lots of exercise needed but I honestly wouldn't change a thing about him other than maybe making his legs a bit shorter!

I, too, would recommend a poodle. They fit your brief with a lot less risk.

I've met one. He was fabulous and absolutely huge! The owners rehomed him because he didn't turn out to be the calm, docile dog they wanted and they couldn't be arsed to walk or train him

I've also met the parents of these dogs - elderly standard poodles, retrievers and setters who spend their lives in puppy farms. I really wish people would stop kidding themselves.

Golden Retrievers are the best, doodles I have encountered seem to be very boisterous.

My gut reaction is....That's a good way to ruin a golden retriver!

However Poodle fans would probably say the opposite.

Not a breed

No guarantee you will get non shedding etc

Could have the worst of both breeds

I agree with the flip side of what Notrusthere says, it's a good way to ruin a standard poodle.

Your brief for dog breed would be fulfilled by a poodle, so why not one of those? They don't have to have pompoms and shaved face/feet.

I agree with 'get a poodle'. I fell in love with what I thought was a neighbour's poodle cross but was in fact pure poodle without the stereotypical grooming.

Something to think about is that a large doodle groom would cost from £50 and upwards depending where you are in the country. And that’s every 6-8 weeks.

I have a cockapoo that hardly sheds however needs brushing to prevent matts every couple of days on top of the regular grooms he has. As much as I love him I wouldn’t ever have a doodle of any kind again. He’s now 8 and still extremely hyper and requires a lot of exercise as well as mental stimulation. Yes he’s very cute and fluffy but also incredibly hard work!

Thank you all for your responses. I'm so glad I posted here. You have all given us a lot to think about and consider. To be honest we went with Goldendoodle as it's the one dog we have all met and fell in love with, think it was gorgeous eyes and soft curly fur.

We will also look into perhaps a poodle and other smaller breeds. We are going to take our time with making choices and decisions.

To those of you who have shared photos your dogs are absolutely stunning. Any more photos would be great.