A breed similar in temperament to a labrador… but without the shedding

[CocoonofDavid]

I don’t necessarily think such a paragon of virtue exists… but..

We have had labradors as family dogs for over 15 years, we’ve had three in that time. We still have two- aged 12 and 8.

All three have been very different personalities, however what they have had in common in their absolutely stellar temperament.

Pretty much everything is approached as ‘woohoo!! My favourite thing!’. They love people- their people and new people/strangers. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting up to go to take them for a walk or just nip to the loo- they want to come with you to keep you company and they’ll do it with a big smile on their face.

They have all been uncomplicated- not phased by fireworks, thunder, moving house, changes in routine, being left with house sitters when we rarely go away. They are all good with livestock and smaller animals. They have been beyond amazing with our own children and visiting ones. They are generally very chilled out about life, little phases them, everything is approached with a grin on their face.

Yes, they are HARDWORK as puppies (dear god on occasion they brought me to my knees!). We have had some inevitable damage to things that got chewed, and they were bitey land sharks for a time, but once you’re through the puppy stage they have been complete delights. They want to please/get things right, have been a doddle to train and always had solid recalls, and want to stay close to you on walks (within a few meters/always in sight- no wandering off into the undergrowth after interesting smells).

However…. The hair! My goodness the hair! Our downstairs is hoovered every day, usually twice a day… but within 30 min looks like it’s never been done. It gets ingrained into the carpets upstairs. They sleep in the kids rooms (which we are very happy with and brings great comfort and joy to both parties, so don’t want to change). But bedding is always hairy too, despite being washed at least once per week, often twice.

We have a fairly outdoorsy lifestyle and in the winter they get filthy on walks, and even when just nipping into the garden in the worst of the winter.

We were discussing the other day whether we will get another when (hopefully a very long time from now ☹️) our older dog passes.

I think we probably will go for another Labrador, either from the same breeder, or from very similar lines.

However, it got me thinking, I wonder if there are any other breeds out there that are similar temperament wise, but without the constant shedding, and possibly even a touch smaller? Around the 10-20kg mark rather than 30kg?

Friends have different breeds and having spent time with them, none of them would be a fit for us- too strong a prey drive, too aloof, can be difficult with other dogs, too much grooming required for long coats, breeds predisposed to health problems.

I wouldn’t want any dog (or more to the point encourage the breeding of) that had extreme features, the breeds with squashed faces, or big folds of skin, too long in the back, etc that are detrimental to their health. I am also not interested in mixed breeds, doodles etc for similar ethical reasons. I would want a puppy (as ours were), from fully health tested parents, from an experienced breeder, somehow involved in the breed whether that was working or showing but was breeding with a sense of what they were trying to achieve/improve upon.

Not asking for a lot, eh?! 🤣

i just wondered if there were any other breeds out there we should possibly research.

Many thanks!

Appreciate that a lot of people don't like the idea of doodles, but the best dogs I have ever had were all female old school giant labradoodles that came from the same really good breeder. They were happy as larks, easy to train and incredibly loyal. They were great with both children and livestock. I wouldn't say they don't shed though, but probably a lot less than a lab. Interestingly the one that shed the least had a short wiry coat and looked very much like a lab on a bad hair day!

A greyhound sounds perfect. We have three.

I also vote poodle. Mine's a star.

I have a rescue poodle and a pedigree Labrador and our lab has a bit of a barking problem when we come home/guests come over/people knock at the door. Our poodle barely makes a peep, except a funny and cute sounding whine when she's very excited.

I was having exactly the same thoughts as you when we lost our last beloved Labrador. Also I couldn’t bear to be without a dog, but couldn’t bring myself to get another black lab straight away as it felt like I was replacing her. So I decided to try a first generation miniature labradoodle that I sourced from a breeder that had both parents fully health checked. She has just been the most wonderful dog - and so much easier than the labs at puppy stage. I just wouldn’t be without her. So much so that I now have another one! We have barely any hair anywhere. However, that’s not to say that I don’t go all gooey eyed whenever I see a Labrador - I suspect I will probably end up having another one one day!!

My mil has a bichon. He’s a barky, as in non stop barking, bitey little thing. Fine with adults. DD couldn’t go to mil when she was little as he would snap at her. Constant grooming too.

I have an ethically bred, heath tested Australian labradoodle and he is amazing. It’s so funny when he meets labs out for a walk as he is like ‘oooh one of my kind’ and they got nuts together, but he is a sweet, patient, loving dog at home and great fun outdoors (loves the water and will paddle board with me happily). He’s great with my nephews and daughters and is so lovely with my elderly mum. They do need a good amount of walking my boy gets at least 1.5 hours a day in a variety of formats depending on what we are up to, will happily be out all day on day trips but is also a champion sofa surfer.

He is very trainable and loves doing the training (loves everything!) the only downsides (if you can call them that) is that he does require grooming as he doesn’t shed and in this time of year I spend a good amount time picking the little green sticky balls off his coat. I keep him short as he does love the water so we go to the groomer 4/5 times a year but I prefer that to the endless hair.

Oh and he is shocker for eating crap off the floor, tissues, food, rabbit shit 🤢 but I believe that’s similar to labs and I have a lot of success with training ‘leave it’ but as he is still young and it’s a work in progress

I would be happy to recommend my breeder as she’s been a great source of support before me after getting him, feel free to DM if interested.

Try this: https://www.furminator.com/products/deshed.aspx

Because labradors are the best dogs....no debate!!!

Thanks again.

In relation to working Vs show type labs ours have all been show bred (we did some showing with them many years ago- our first actually qualified for crufts).

Our first was a yellow male, and our current two are both black girls. The girls are aunt and niece from the same breeder. The boy wasn’t directly/closely related to the girls but did have similar lines and some dogs that were the same crop up further back in all the pedigrees.

The youngest’s coat was always less shed-y than the others, esp when she was younger and entire.

So I think it must be at least partly luck as to whether you get a particularly shed-y one!

Oh and yes to the crap eating! Both literal and general! The girls have been worse than our boy…. They both have a penchant for socks! One actually had to have surgery to remove one several years ago. She had managed to sneak one without us even realising (I think it must have fallen out of the washing basket I was carrying back upstairs). We knew there was something wrong as she was eating at a sensible speed and not inhaling her breakfast! Went to the vets and said there’s something very wrong- she’s eating normally! (A friend who had labradoodles and a havanese was somewhat horrified when they looked after ours when we were away for the weekend- she said they inhaled food like something in a cartoon! Her digs picked politely and delicately!) Even now they are old and semi sensible we have to be exceedingly careful re socks… why socks! Who knows!

Agree they are very similar characters to Labradors, my mini schnauzer gets on great with all dogs but particularly loves Labs, I think she finds them kindred spirits.

Bedlington Terriers don’t shed, are the right size and have a wonderful temperament they are also quite a lot more chilled than a lab but with the same enthusiasm for life.

Do they have to have that weird clip?

They can have any clip you like, like poodles.

We have a two-year old viszla and she has three black lab BFFS. My observations about their similarities and differences of this small sample group :
Size - ddog is a bit shorter than than the labs and is skinnier - weighs 23kgs.
Temperament - ddog is just as dappy and playful, loves jumping in the river and rolling in fox poo. She is also as gentle and soft mouthed, so although they enjoy a bit of rough and tumble there is never any aggression.
Moulting - the black labs don't seem to moult that much, but ddog only has a single coat and short hair, so not much noticeable hair shedding. She doesn't seem to feel the cold though, so no need for fleeces or anything like that.
Clingyness - ddog is very needy, and likes to be with us all the time. (We do leave her though up to four hours some weekends and she is fine.) The labs on the other hand actually sleep on different floors of their homes 😮
Excercise - both breeds can go for hours and have good recall - ddog is slightly less keen to go too far though possibly because of neediness.
Appetite - ddog is pretty food focussed, but she has never swallowed a tennis ball (unlike one of her lab friends), and is quite choosy about what she eats.

To be honest both breeds are pretty gorgeous, but thought I would give you a alternative pov.

PoshPoodle does not bark. I think I could cound on my fingers the amount of times he's barked in 5 years. He is a sigher though! Lets us know when he expects something by dramatic lying down and sighing or grumbling. It's pure comedy.

Outcrossing is not crossbreeding, outcrossing is what they did with breeding one pointer to one Dalmatian to create the LUA Dalmatian. If you DNA test an LUA Dalmatian, it will come back as full Dal, they bred the one pointer into the line to solve a known problem with Dalmatian’s (high uric acid) by introducing a gene from the pointer to the line. The puppies of that pairing were bred to other Dals, there was no need for further outcrossing, as they’d solved the problem they needed to.
Cross breeding is something else entirely, Labradors have a double coat and shed frequently, poodles do not, the original purpose was to breed a hypoallergenic guide dog, however, people ran away with the idea and started mass breeding them and creating f2 and f1b strains. This is not outcrossing. Labradors actually have a double coat for a reason, many labradoodles are at greater risk of skin cancer because they have Labrador skin with the poodle single coat which offers less protection from the sun.
My neighbours labradoodle had terrible skin problems, she looked more like a crocodile than a dog due to some form of keratosis, she had no fur at all and was scaly.
An outcross is never intended to be a recognised breed, they select a particular trait to breed into a line and after that, all breedings are done to the single breed.
Lurchers are a type of crossbreed as they’re not intending to breed collie intelligence into a line of greyhounds, but to make an entirely separate dog of a particular type. If lurcher breeding had remained collie x greyhound and eventually evolved into breeding lurcher to lurcher, the lurcher would become a breed, however, first crosses perform better for hunting, so the people who stick to the collie grey model will keep breeding first cross dogs, and there are people breeding basically anything to any sighthound and calling it a lurcher, these days (bull lurchers are hideous and a terrible idea all around, for how many people are keeping them as pets.)

@Poshjock - two poodles here and the dramatic sighs are common here too. I know exactly what you mean!
Often accompanied by frantic lying down and slumping.
Plus the grumbling or chattering in a whiny voice like they're talking to you.
They have a lot to say.
Great dogs!

A smooth Cockapoo (a smoothie). She sheds but only a little bit

@Twoshoesnewshoes
If you can get TikTok or have it I must recommend the account
@ socialworktherapy_dog she does so much to educate about ethical breeding and doodle breeding de influencing people from doodles/poos and is a doodle owner herself before getting educated. One of her pinned videos on her profiles go into detail about doodles while she was reading a message she sent.

Get a golden retriever. Similar temperament, but they'll shed so much you'll eventually just give up caring!

It's only more natural when it involves free roaming dog populations, where dogs the most successful in a habitat are the ones that get to pass on their genes.

My ex street dogs are not the same as purebreds, outcrosses, 'designer' breeds or intentionally bred crossbreeds.

Not better necessarily, but 'natural', because their parents reproduced outside of human intervention.

There is nothing natural (nor, I would argue, ethical) about breeding doodles.

Inbreeding and the resultant health issues is a massive problem in almost all recognised pure breeds. It is not undone by crossing two individuals from those breeds because the genetics have already gone through the 'bottleneck event' by that point. What is tending to happen is that recessively carried diseases are less likely to be tested for but may still be present in both parent breeds or issues that have multi-genetics elements are being introduced because the 'wrong mix' of genes is being pased through (eg hip and elbow displasia). The result in some cases is an INCREASE in the prevalance of those issues in the cross breed community than there was in the origin breeds.

e.g. cockerpoos are more likely to have PRA: progressive retinal atrophy (blindness) than the cocker spaniel or poodle they come from.

Instead of achieving hybrid vigour (which tends to need a much larger gene pool than just 2 contributing breeds), we are at real risk of making the situation worse.

It's a problem I cannot see getting much better (in pure or cross breeds) so long as we keep along the more recent trend where much of the deliberate breeding is now being about form over function. i.e. how the dog looks rather than how it performs at a task.

Just seen this has been resurrected...

Thank you for the input.

I am very grateful, and thankful to report that our old girl is still going strong at almost 13, so thankfully we haven't had to think about it just yet.

That's good. If you want a non shedding lab look for a short haired wiry labradoodle. We had one who looked just like a lab on a bad hair day and didn't shed. People like the woolly ones, but the lab coated ones are much easier to look after and a lot more hardy.