Where do cockapoo and labradoodle owners usually get their dogs from?

[sortaottery]

This post is motivated by curiousity and a slightly OTT enthusiasm for all things canine.

I was wondering where cockapoo and labradoodle owners acquire their dogs from?

The cockapoo/labradoodle owners I've met don't seem like the type to buy intentionally from puppy farms. (Though since I imagine that type to have fangs, horns and red eyes, my impression might be incorrect).

But a lot of traditional dog breeders seem very down on the new "designer" mixes.

There a loads of them about, and they must come from somewhere.

I'm agnostic about them myself. I can see how a cockerpoo might go wrong, ending up with the highly strung temperament from the poodle side and the craziness from the spaniel side. (Love spaniels, btw). Yet looking at the harm done to dogs by breeding for exaggerated looks over breeding for health and happiness, it's hard to imagine how they could be any worse.

honestly?
they almost exclusively do get them from puppy farmers. They just don’t realise it

Puppy farms.

They just don't always realise that's where they're buying from.

Backyard breeders

Puppy farms.

Like the ones near me where the dogs have two litters a year, for four years, and then are either 'euthanised' (because they're 'aggressive') or dumped at the side of the road.

Meet Donna's Doodles - a puppy farm like no other. There's a million of these out there, and people fall for it because they're over-priced, use buzz language, and have cheap nasty AI generated websites. Link below about a thread on Donna (who an OP almost bought from) and how easy it was for everyone to pull apart her 'perfect' doodle set up and expose her for the scumbag she is.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thedoghouse/5540160-cockapoo-or-cavapoo

If I had a pound for every time a cockerpoo/doodle breeder has been mentioned on this website alone and it's turned out to be a puppy farm, I could retire.

Edit: I just googled to see what our 'mate' Donna is up to these days. Shocker. She has another mongrel litter up. Cockerpoos. Last time we checked in on her (two months ago) she had two different litters up. So in two months, she's produced three litters.

But if you saw her website https://www.donnasdoodles.co.uk/ you'd think she really loved her dogs. But she's a puppy farmer, like so many of them are. The signs are there for anyone who wants to see them, but the doodle bandwagon jumpers don't care.

Round here word of mouth mainly, friends, friends of friends for pets. Working dogs local gamekeepers or farmers. We've always had dogs and puppies always locally. Our son bought his first dog from a local friend who lives in the same valley.

If you've a friend with a lovely dog, good health and nature, it's worth contacting the seller and asking for a heads up on the next litter

If you've a friend with a lovely dog, good health and nature, it's worth contacting the seller and asking for a heads up on the next litter
I don't think that the cockerpoo buyers are generally thinking that far ahead, or that deeply.

Rescued from local dog pound.
She had been used for breeding then dumped 😢

I know one owned by a trainer who was carefully bred, parents health tested and she was on a waiting list for over a year. He is a delight. The rest ‘just one litter’ or puppy farms dressed up as breeding kennels. All have physical and/or behaviour issues. Most cost more than my fully health tested and temperament matched parents pedigree.

One thing I come up against a lot as a trainer is people don’t think they need to pay extra for health tested well bred puppies as ‘we just want a pet’. Well that’s what I have. But I didn’t want to spend ages unpicking behaviour problems or be at the vets every 5 minutes. Plus I wanted to encourage a breeder who genuinely bred for the right reasons, so much so she pays for a ‘kennel’ name as she’s proud of her dogs.

Many Tears rescue have lots of ex breeder doodles.

I have often wondered where are all the standard poodles that are producing these doodles? I never see a standard poodle!

Round where I live it tends to be that a family breed their poodle cross with a friend’s one that they know.
They usually do it only the once ‘for the experience’ and so that their children can have a first-hand look into the miracle of life etc etc. They then sell them to other school mums and a few end up on that Pets4Homes website.

I would guess they are locked away in cages somewhere, until they are needed to mate.
But I think the miniature ones are usually used for breeding crosses. Certainly with cockerpoos at least.

I do regularly see two standard poodles on walks - one white, one black.

Our latest 2 dogs are from Many Tears, they rescue a lot from puppy farms .
Our 2 are not without their issues including now they’re older health related ones too. However we have worked hard with them and they are unrecognisable from when we got them.

I don’t think the people who have doodle/ poo type dogs tend to be “dog people“ (imho) so, as pp have said, they tend to be taken in by puppy farm adverts.

We have ‘breeders’ here who sell the Australian labradoodles. Web sites and everything. Very expensive and imo unethical due to their neutering policies.

I googled your question, OP, and found the British Cockapoo Society website with a page on puppy farms and advice on how to find good breeders - https://www.britishcockapoosociety.com/what-is-a-puppy-farm.html

So I know there are comments here saying doodle owners don't care, but I can see that someone could search this up and find this advice and conclude that ethical breeding of doodles is possible. I don't know that someone doing this doesn't care about the abuse of dogs - it looks really reasonable and it gives the reader warning signs to look for, so if you go along and see clean puppies with the mother in comfortable surroundings with paperwork on health testing then it all looks legitimate. I would assume this kind of process is how a lot of doodle owners come by their pups.

The whole market for these poor dogs is so so cynical, constantly changing to what perceived wants are out there. Now people all of a sudden don't just want a standard cockapoo as they are becoming too 'common' so let's mix it up with other colours and then let's add the faux 'australian' in front to appear a bit more 'breedy'

I know many cockapoos, labradoodles, cavapoos and most are really lovely and I can see the attraction, but I still believe that most buyers are usually first time dog owners who are incredibly gullible and also think that buying a dog is an instant purchase, your friends have a lovely cockapoo, you decide you want a dog, you google, find some glossy websites and buy a puppy there and then. It's funding a highly unethical breeding practice and yes buyers do have responsibility! Donna's doodles as pointed out above is a typical example

Everytime anyone here tries to point this out, we are haters and dog snobs or it's pointed out that pure bred breeders are also bad. Yes some are but the whole point is that they breed to a standard and that doesn't exist in the poo world.

The British Cockapoo Society looks pretty low bar to me.
The simple fact is that no breeder of x breeds is reputable. Period.
My personal view is that we should not be breeding dogs at all but I do recognise that there are 'good' breeders. But a doodle breeder can never be included in that club.

So many ignorant people assuming doodle owners are not dog people, what a load of stereotypical tosh.

There are crap dog owners for every type of dog. My doodle is a rescue, she has some issues, mainly anxiety but she is different girl to the one we got 3 years ago.

My best girl who we lost in 2022 aged 13.5 was a labradoodle we had from a puppy, she had so many issues, and it turned out, we had unfortunately bought from a puppy farm, I thought I had done so much research in 2009 when we got her, parent health checks, saw her with the mum and everything you are meant to do.

However, the people who say that doodle owners are not dog people or we are actually lesser owners and our beautiful dogs are not worth the title of dog need to back off!

As mentioned earlier many dog owners are shit.

Rant over!

@Girlintheframe someone about 6 months ago linked the 'Australian Labradoodle Club' of the UK here. Six breeders the 'official club' recommended. Each and every one was a puppy farmer and not a single one of them produced litters from health tested dogs. Their websites were almost exactly the same as Donna's.Utterly disgraceful.

@Nordarlasp that's not the official breed club though. Even if it's a 'society' it sort of sums up Cockerpoo Owners and 'Breeders' in my eyes. It's a really poor website with lots of generalisations and some of the information is (from a breeding point) incredibly dangerous. And their page about 'should I breed my dog' made me roll my eyes. Not a single piece of valuable information. It's AI produced nonsense. I mean, this;

STUD OWNERS CONSIDERATIONS
While the bulk of the rearing of pups will be done by the owner of the bitch, the stud owner too should be ready to shoulder some of the responsibility and costs.

is literal crap. What does that even mean? 'Some of the responsibility.' These sorts of open ended statements that don't actually mention specifics have all the hallmarks of AI.

The entire breeding page says a whole lot of nothing that could be got from a google search. No real effort or experience has gone into producing that page.

This is basically another Donna Doodle page, just slightly less 'sexy' in how it's been put together. Honestly, if I had the time and inclination I could probably pull everything on that website apart...but I'd be all day trying to explain the nonsense it's peddling.

All I meant by linking that page was to answer the OP's question - she said that the doodle owners she meets don't seem like people who would intentionally support puppy farms and so I had a look. For someone who doesn't know and isn't experienced, there's plenty out there online that allows you to consider that you've done your research and know red flags to look out for, and I'm sure that's something that will be exacerbated by AI. There are loads of things I don't know about - cars, for example, I haven't got a clue and if I needed to buy one I'd probably fall for a scam pretty easily. I didn't know much about having kids before I decided to, that's probably how I ended up here. People who don't know might try to do their research and still come out with the wrong conclusions. It doesn't mean that they don't care.

I think there's a world of difference between adopting a doodle and buying a doodle. And I think most people who are critical of doodle owners would say the same. Might be wrong.

But with your first dog, you definitely didn't "do everything you are meant to do".
For example, parents need health tests, not just checks.
There is no need for people to be caught out if they do everything they are meant to do. I'm not trying to have a go and mistakes happen but I think we humans need to be honest when we mess up.

However, the people who say that doodle owners are not dog people or we are actually lesser owners and our beautiful dogs are not worth the title of dog need to back off!

No ones said you are lesser owners or your dogs aren't worth the title of dog. @doodleygirl

Oh stop it! You are exactly the responses that always come up if you critisise buyers of these breeds - I assume you are referring to what I said and your comprehension is obviously lacking. I have highlighted some for you so perhaps you can see that it does not mean that all poo mix owners fall in this category. You bloody admitted that you bought from a puppy farm but didn't know it, that's the whole point. If you choose a poodle mix the risk of getting a very poorly bread dog is a lot HIGHER

I still believe that most buyers are usually first time dog owners who are incredibly gullible and also think that buying a dog is an instant purchase, your friends have a lovely cockapoo, you decide you want a dog, you google, find some glossy websites and buy a puppy there and then.