The hate towards doddle owners.

[RedDeer]

The hate against doodles,
I keep reading about Doodle owners, in a negative way on here, I'm wondering why they is so much negativity around them.

For context I have a poodle cross, who gets treated like a dog, we have used trainers, she goes hiking with us, is groomed regular. Doesn't sleep in our bed, can be left alone for a few hours no problem, and not a fussy eater, just eats dry food.
I didn't pay 1000s for her, paid the same as a cross breed. She has no health issues etc.

Yes she does have traits of both breeds, she can be hyper, and prone to barking at times. But we are aware of her breeds, both working dogs.

So am I unusual in that my doddle is treated like a dog. Or is there an unfair reputation towards doodles and owners?

I don’t think mine was ruined or mistreated he was just a big bouncy boisterous adolescent dog who was ‘too much dog’ for the family who first had him. He is very good looking but he is big, strong and not the most easy going or trainable until you figure him out. He was given up at around 9 months to a year old (don’t know exactly how old he was/is). Apparently 6-18 months is a peak age for surrendering dogs (and 2nd commonest is 1-3years) so I think he was not alone and that these dogs can be turned around just with basic input that they never had in many cases. I would question that if someone doesn’t think they could give the input to a rescue dog would they be any better with a puppy really. I think a basic training course should be mandatory to own a dog.

cross Post. So much agree with you tabulahrasa

"One of the largest category of dogs you’ll see in rescues are teenagers - people get a puppy don’t train it, don’t walk it and then can’t cope with it."

This is my experience from volunteering at a rehoming centre too. You can also get some amazing older dogs who come in from a loving home because their owner has died or gone into a nursing home, or sometimes because of family break-ups.

Ah yes I miss the Heinz 57 varieties of mongrels from my childhood. Children and dogs used to be released first thing in the morning, roamed around together all day and returned home for tea. Happy days! I have a Lakeland at the moment lovely little dog but a typical terrier! Laughing at the Twatterdale😂.

Ok. I'll bite. I bought a puppy because:

I was intimidated by rescues. I am a first time dog owner with my (now 1 year old) pup. At the time I had no experience of living with and managing dog behaviour. I would have felt so arrogant going looking for a rescue dog, so self-confident that I could manage/fix/rehabilitate said rescue who likely has a difficult background despite my never having even lived with any dog before! That just felt so arrogant to me if you know what I mean?

would I rescue now? Yes. I am a year in and have some experience with owning a dog.

But at the time, it was perfectly understandable why I went for a puppy.

I hope this doesn't discourage anyone from rescuing - I actually think I imagined a mountain out of nothing. Dog training is not that complicated after all and someone who has never had a dog before probably could rescue, but at the time, I was intimidated.

I think rescue does have a bad image and people think all the dogs are really hard core cases when they are not. I did not think I was some kind of dog guru. Just our family had always had rescue dogs that had worked out well. Buying a pedigree dog didn’t cross my radar really. I found it hard to start with but I would have found a puppy hard too and the puppy would still have had a tricky adolescent phase. Our local rescue have all kinds of dogs with all kinds of stories and they will straight up tell you if the dog is too much for you. I was refused for a GSD cross. How right they were!

Poodles are amazing. Why dilute perfection!

I’ve been looking a lot on rescue dog websites and pages over the past year. Some observations…

• it’s extremely rare for a doodle cross type dog to come up on there (so I can assume people who buy these from puppies don’t tend to end up rehoming or having it removed?)
• on the rare occasion one does come up (or something similar) it’s almost immediately snapped up compared to other breeds. So this suggests they are still popular and desirable to those who are choosing to rescue.
• The majority of dogs on many rescue websites are large quite powerful dogs like German shepherds, mastiffs, Rottweilers etc. I know some lovely dogs of these breeds but I can understand why many are not interested.
• Lots of dogs of advanced age or with health issues and other problems.
• Nearly every dog has very specific requirements for their potential owners, not always specified on the listing, many cannot be in a home with any human males, many cannot be placed with any children.

I can see why lots of people who want a pet dog aren’t drawn to rescues.

It’s true that it does seem rare to get a doodle in rescue. Anecdotally a lot of people rehome their dogs rather less ethically through Pets4Homes in order to recoup some of the huge amounts of money they have paid for said dog. I think it’s the ones that don’t have a resale value that go to proper rescues sadly.

It’s because many people get them because they look cute but aren’t prepared for a high energy dog and don’t understand the importance of socialisation and training.

The stand out breed mix of poor behaviour wherever I go with my well behaved and trained dogs are Cockapoos, specifically ginger/tan Cockapoos.

They are everywhere I go, the majority of the females are called Luna and they are yapping and over excited and completely out of control.

@Raven21I completely agree!

Hats off to her! She must have had to withstand some piss-taking when she started.

I have no idea of the working/show cocker %s in the cockapoo population, but the impression I have is that it's mostly working. Happy to be corrected is someone knows better though.

Due to the Doodle explosion, everyone assumes my poodles are doodles. I'm constantly asked what they are crossed with. They couldn't look more like poodles if they tried! I'm glad it's now warm enough to wear my new t-shirt!

https://poodleworld.com/products/my-dog-is-a-poodle-crossed-with-another-poodle-short-sleeve-t-shirt

doodles do shed sometimes, it depends on what trait that they got from which parent. My standards (mother and son team) and my two standards before (also a mother son team) same breeder since day on with our first girl, our Lexi, no shedding. I worked full time at my restaurant as a chef, my husband worked 12 hour shifts. The dogs got walks and loved up and I drove home a couple times a day to spend a little time with them on the slow times. Only 5 min away. No seperation anxiety, just happy dogs and now, our second mum and son team, Our Gracie and her wild child Oliver, retired with us to the Dominican and have 95 pc of the time with us compared to Canada, but are very happy to sleep and relax if we go out for a few hours . Poodles are not neurotic unless they are not trained, but if someone wants a hypoallerginic dog, I would NEVER recommend any doodle. Get a poodle. Doodles are gorgeous though as well , my husband's sister has a lovely one, he sheds a bit, but he also is very needy and has major seperation anxiety

I love this, as a fellow poodle owner.

Every day I get, ‘is it a cockapoo, or a cavapoo?’ When you say no, she’s a poodle you get a mixed response. Someone said, ‘yes but what’s she crossed with?’ The answer was obviously another poodle’. Someone asked me what breed of cockapoo she was. Someone nodded along and said ‘oh yes, mine is a purebred like yours, both parents are pedigree cockapoos’.

I must get that T-shirt.

Which kind of demonstrates the point of this thread.

the hate isn’t toward the dogs, but that they always seem to have an owner that clearly has no idea of dog basics. A “pedigree yorkipooshon”? No mate, that’s an oxymoron.

they’ve not done any research before loading the family in the car to pick up a cute puppy at a service station or a puppy farm.

my aunt is a lifelong dog owner. Generally always had poodles, but had a crossbreed about 25 years ago when her breeders dog had an accidental mating, long before “doodles” were a thing.

Early years comments were usually on his floppy ears or weird coat. In later years conversations generally went:
oh he’s lovely? What breed?

Dunno mate, cross breed, poodle and something. We suspect the schnauzer down the road.

aaaah he’s a schnoodle! My friend has one and they’re such a lovely breed. launches into another load of bollocks about how the “breeder” has a really good website and she should look

aunt backs away slowly…

I'm sure we all agree that puppy farms and unethical people just in for a fast buck are to be deplored .
That the health and welfare of dogs are a priority.
And that there are people who are ill informed and just not very bright .
But are comments like this

they’ve not done any research before loading the family in the car to pick up a cute puppy at a service station or a puppy farm.

really necessary.

Just my opinion but there seems to be a lot of snobbery on this thread.

And belated thanks to @LandSharksAnonymous for explaining that they weren't basing a view just on responses from posters on MN but on wider experience.

Take my quote out of context. I said these are people I’ve met irl. Not based on mumsnet or plucked out of nowhere.

like I said, my aunt had a poodle cross a long time ago. I have a small breed that is now more commonly seen as a poodle cross- so many doodle owners don’t know what breed he is, despite a Yorkshire terrier being one of the most recognisable breeds out there.

The conversations clearly demonstrated people’s lack of knowledge around doodles. So yes, IME the majority of doodle owners are doodle owners because they didn’t get any further than looks cute, can pick one up next week. That and they reel off a list of qualities found in a poodle, and say they had to have a doodle because they needed a hypoallergenic, non shedding dog.

i do know a responsible doodle breeder. She has two bitches, and has had one litter about every three years, with a maximum of two litters per dog. She has a waiting list out the door. But even she says many people who come to her after getting a recommendation won’t wait for a puppy and go to gumtree when she tells them the wait time. She hasn’t had a litter now for a good few years because she feels adding even well bred dogs to the doodle market is increasing the popularity and the puppy farms are dominating.

Reputable breeders are few and far between, so the chances of a doodle not being from a puppy farm given the amount you see on the street are extremely low. Tbf it’s the same with pugs and dachshunds as well.

@Whosenameisthis

Take my quote out of context. I said these are people I’ve met irl. Not based on mumsnet or plucked out of nowhere.
It was Landshark I was addressing not you , they had made a remark much earlier . Something about every time they responded to posters on MN about x they got no reply .

But you quoted me directly and said that comment was not necessary?

I didn't think your comment about families being loaded up in a car and buying a dog at a service station was necessary.
No reference to plucking things out of thin air or basing an opinion on responses from. MN .
My comment was in a separate post and tagged Land Shark. made at 9.54.
My post to you was made before.

But it happens all the time. I’d also add to the list of “irresponsible but depressingly common ways people buy puppies”:

• going to a puppy farm operating in plain sight - one of the large commercial kennel places which offers 10+ different breeds/doodle crosses, lots of cute photos of puppies posed beside baskets of artificial flowers and reassurance that they have a “vet in daily attendance”. Only the small print says that their puppies are supplied by “trusted breeders” they work with. These places are hugely popular, you can turn up and it’s a department store for dog breeds. No thought as to the welfare of the bitches and puppies behind the scenes if you can take away your cute puppy that same day, and it’s always the breeds most prone to health problems such as cavaliers, pugs and Frenchies.

• deciding they want a puppy, going on Gumtree and buying one the same day from a nearby “breeder” with no research into the health tests recommended for the breed or curiosity as to the lives of the parent dogs and likelihood that this is irresponsible backyard breeding at best or a front for a puppy farming at worst.
• buying a puppy in a non-breed-standard colour or coat pattern because it’s “cute” or “rare”. Particularly a concern when the pattern has associated health complications. I’m particularly looking at you, merle “spaniel” owners.

I’m incredibly judgmental about all these dog owners and I make no apology for that. There are ethical breeders - I’m not one of those who believe the only ethical way to get a dog is to rescue - but you have to wait for your puppy and you have to put the research in. The type of person who buys a dog in the ways above doesn’t do the most basic research into the ethical breeding of dogs and it doesn’t matter that once they have the puppy home, they love it and take care of it. It perpetuates the cruel breeding industry and damages the health of the dogs.

@Tygertiger I presume your post is an answer to mine of 9 .53
The one that preceded mine to Landsharks.
I have no disagreement with what you are saying
You're post makes fair points .
This thread has come across to me as snobbish , that's my perception. .
I'm sure it's just me being oversensitive but this
they’ve not done any research before loading the family in the car to pick up a cute puppy at a service station or a puppy farm.
got under my skin .
Whereas your
“irresponsible but depressingly common ways people buy puppies”:
didn't.

I'm sure it's just me being oversensitive but this
they’ve not done any research before loading the family in the car to pick up a cute puppy at a service station or a puppy farm.
got under my skin

Because it cuts close? Why else would it get under your skin.