As some of you might know I am getting a rescued Golden Retriever tomorrow. So I have been doing some research on the breed, then i came across one website which mentioned a Labradoodle. I decided to look it up, and couldnt believe what I read http://www.labradoodles.com/. . have a look. I would like to know what other people think, or if any one has one :)

Hi Hazeybabe1,
Had a look and I'm not sure at all about this one, some of the pics had a look of a smaller version of a wolf hound (shape etc) another a bit like a beardie, just my interpretation mind you.
Doesn't really sit right in my mind.
She

weard, very weard

sorry about spelling i ment weird

Indeed, it is weird. The name sums it all up really :D

A labradoodle attends our obedience class and she is a lovely dog. Her coat is wavy rather than curly and she has a beard. The family chose labradoodle as the 2 kids have rotten asthma. Mind you I wouldnt have realised she was a labradoodle - SB thought she was a GR and I thought she was a Heinz 57. It s funny when she sits and grins through her beard. :)

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have looked at other pics of Labradoodles - funny but sweet looking things. :)

i've done a link for you here

I'm dog mad, did a lot of research into all sorts of breeds when i was a kid. Never once have i heard of one of these! they're so cute!!!!!

That's because they're not a breed:d

It is easy to be snobby about crossbreeds but the world of dogs is ever changing and if breeds are to survive they must change too. All breeds have to start somewhere and all breeds are the result of initial crossbreeding between "types" if not established breeds. I know nothing of Labradoodles but if they produce a clear type with a clear purpose that is suitable for todays lifestyle then they are following the age-old tradition of developing new breeds and that is not necessarily bad.

SB

What you say is true to some extent but lots of people breeding crossbreeds from lots of different animals will never make a breed. To develop anything like a new breed that will breed true takes years of carefull breeding, and having the courage to start again when you find you have taken the wrong turing and hit a dead end.

Not as many years as you may think. Study the early bloodlines of most breeds and you will see that close breeding (inbreeding) fixes type. Type comes before breed and takes several generations to stabalise. I am NOT condoning randon crossbreeding but any intelligent person will recognise that all breeds were "created" and most fairly recently (couple of centuries or less). The breeds that some people are so defensive and "snooty" about were once crossbreeds too. We all need to be open minded for the future of the species as well as ready to defend it against abuse.

Just how many generations do you think it takes starting with say 4 to 6 dogs to produce a sufficient number of dogs to form a large enough gene base to say you can breed true with out continually using closely related animals. And if say after 10 to 15 years you find that you have got it wrong and an unwanted characteristic has creped in along with whatever it is you are trying to produce, do you go back and start again or do you try to pick up the line somewhere and hope to avoid whatever it is that has caused you to stop your work and start again.

And what would be your reaction if after say 50+ years you have achieved what you set out to do, and you have produced the dog that you envisaged all those years ago, you have a hundred or so dogs all breeding true and without, as far as you know, and major problems with the construction or health. You have had the 'breed' recognised by the KC and you have people showing them and they are becoming popular - then along comes someone who thinks we could cross breed this dog with a Lab and call it a Labidaidoodeli and make a lot of money, bet you would be very please to see someone carry on with your lives work.

The most recent most successful Crossbreed is the Australian Shepherd An American breed that all my australian friends in the sheep world have never heard of outside of Kennel Club registered dogs. They use Kelpie's & Header dogs(Border Collies in UK)to work their sheep not the Australian Shepherd

I don't have any interest in Australian Shepherds so don't know their background other than they are an American breed that allegedly comes from Australian Dogs taken to the USA from Australia to work sheep ! Bit old as there are no native Australian wild dogs they all originated from dogs taken to Australia from Europe by settlers & that includes the Dingo(domesticated dogs that have reverted to the wild) Settlers & sheep farmers from Europe would have taken their own dogs to America(well one of my everso many great uncles did)

Try lookinghere for the origins of the Australian Shepherd

Doesn't explain why they are called australian though does it. As I have previously written my shepherd friends in Australia had never heard of this Australian breed until KC registered ones were pointed out to them perhaps they should be renamed American

Well that could apply to a fair number of breeds what about the good old Border collie why are they named that which border do they come from and isn't that a little misleading ;)

The borders between England & scotland originally as the Welsh have their own sheepdogs & at least they have been used as sheepdogs there unlike the "Australian"shepherd

I had a welsh sheepdog in the early 70's & they are different not just in looks but to the style of working

The borders of scotland and england is where the Isds was started but did the collie originally come from there and if so why isnt it recognised at least in part as a scottish breed take a look here what do you think should it actually be called the Irish Collie or is it a case that someone somewhere called them a border collie and it stuck as someone somewhere must have done the same with the Australian Shepherd.Not arguing with you really just interested in everyones thoughts.:) Gillian

Moonmaiden and Satincollie,

You obviously know your way around the Border Collie breed. Do you think that different "types" (might later become different breeds) are developing for show and pet, farm, agility, obedience etc? Or are it there one homogenous type that is multipurpose? I don't know the breed but it seems to have so many facets.

Always thought they came from THE Borders - like the terrier - ie. Scottish Borders (on the border with England). No more misleading than Yorkshire Terrier - Borders is a region just as Yorkshire is! Unless of course they come from somewhere else of course! ;)

Hi living in Cumbria I am well aware of where The Borders thanks :D

As I said - I am not condoning cross breeding, but I am OPEN MINDED. You don't need me to answer the questions you raise - just study what has actually happened! Many "breeds" or types died out in their infancy because they were "unfit for purpose" or were superceded - however those that we have today were - "created" and often by one or a few dedicated individuals. If "an unwanted characteristic has creped in" the breed either died out, learned to live with it or bred away from it. You make it sound so incredible but it is the reality of how our breeds today developed.
As for how I would feel if other people dared to use MY BREED - seems an odd question. We don't own all rights our breeds, they are not ours to wield as if they are our personal property. We love them, enjoy them, and work for them in rescue, on breed committees etc., we breed and home them as best we can - but we don't own the breed it is there for all those who chose to do so to enjoy too.

I agree Smeagol- Beagle.
All breeds have to start somewhere and I get fed up with people being snobby about it.
I believe that the barking babes on ITV said that the EBT (I know there are some owners on here) was the result of a white terrier, something else and a dalmation ( the dogs started barking at that point, but Im pretty sure that they said dally).....but, I bet that if someone came on CD tomorrow and said they had a terrier and a dally and wanted to cross (and they had had the dogs vet tested etc) then they would be absolutely bombarded with critical posts.
Its so silly really, every single breed that people own started somewhere...and Im sure that the person who first ever bred them didnt get them veterinary checked, heart tested, hip scored etc etc, as there werent the means to do it back then.

LIKE I SAID, I'D NEVER HEARD OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! smatr a**e

I have a rare breed in this country and like to see new breeds as much as anybody else, but my only query about things like this is how much research do people do into known actual breeds. There are many "breeds" around the world that would suit a persons needs I'm sure, without more and more crosses being started.

I like cross breeds many of them look absolutely gorgeous, but as I said above there are many breeds that are there for people to see without adding more breeds.

I'm sorry that you don't understand my sarcastic sense of humour, nobody's ever called me a smart a**e before as I suppose that was aimed at me.

The only thing that annoys me about these cross breeds is that people are crossing them not to see that they end up as a breed that looks the same as many of them don't, but to ask extortianate (can't spell) prices for something that innocent people don't realise isn't really a breed.

If the people who are going to breed them are going to research everything on both breeds and irradicate the problems that both breeds can have wonderful, but if not, why breed them?

I think the only good reason to "create" a new breed would be to fulfull a real need. That is why most of the recent breeds we have today were created, the Aussie and the Border Collie (as they are raised above) etc. As times change breeds will become extinct and new types will develop, not to cater for consumer whims but to fulfil real jobs of work. In this regard Showing is irrelevant, showing is a hobby that people do with dogs of KC recognised breeds, but the breeds were not created to by shown that came later.

As this thread started with the Labrador Cross, the Labrador was bred for a specific purpose, retrieving and that job is used just as much these days as it was when the breed was created. Adding Poodle to it is not going to improve the breed in the slightest. If my views make me snobbish then tough! Labradors are a breed I know and love and I’m afraid that some of the things people are doing to them these days make me so sad. The old breeders who formed this wonderful breed must be turning in their graves!

John

John,

We all love our breeds that is why we own them. If the labrador was crossed with one or more other breeds to create a new breed that was particularly adept at hunting for the dead or injured in earthquake zones, that combined an excellent nose, great physical strength, an extraordinary capacity to cope with dust and the ability to tolerate considerable pain (labXpitbullXbeagle maybe (I am not serious, this is just an example!!!)) would you still be so indignant.

SB

The Guide Dogs for the Blind use Labrador x Golden retrievers, I have in the past had cross breeds. What I object to is giving them names rather than calling them what they are. The Labradoodle is not a breed, it is a Labrador x Poodle. Lets call it what it is like the Guide Dogs for the Blind do and not try to kid people that they are buying a new rare breed! Inflated prices for what is in fact a mongrel is immoral when in fact the rescues are full of them.

John

John,

I agree with everything you say there although Guide Dogs don't try to breed on so they are not establishing a new breed - they go back to first crosses (at least they used to). I was making the point that all breeds are born out of other breeds or types, the world of dogs is not, nor should it be - static, new demands are made of dogs in a changing world and new types and breeds will emerge to meet them. As I have said I can't comment on the Labradoodle as I have had no dealings with any.

SB

Actually the Guide Dogs have bred on quite a few times in the past. What they found was that a first cross Lab/Golden makes a very bidable guide dog. A second cross just does not work. The pass rate dropped noticeably!! They now only use first crosses.

You do not make a new breed by just putting two different breeds together.

John

That's just what I said - GDB don't breed on, I know they tried, I know it reduced the success rate! and no one on this thread has suggested that "just crossing breeds" makes new breeds - see above, I am not explaining it all again!

Thank you for that smeagol-beagle! I've explained my self hundreds of times on here in the last 3 or 4 years! A search will tell you all I have said in the past. on this subject

Hi John,
I do think a lot of these crosses are done simply to be able to advertise pups with 'cutesy' names. If a Labrador X Poodle was called a ..... i don't know, how about "Blogger", would people be drawn to them?
:)

I would never call my old Wire Haired Fox terrier x goodness knows what anything other than a mongrel! He was a smashing dog and I loved him to bits. He was the important thing, not his name. Interestingly, he looked nothing like his litter brothers and sisters.

Best wishes, John

My mother in law has a labradoodle, and I have since met 2 more. Out of the 3, 2 looked very similar and the 3rd quiet different. Andrew, my mother in law's is the sweetest dog ever. He's ever so wise , clever, and gentle, and has very impressive floating trot. As a puppy Andrew looked just like a little black lamb, and as an adult he looks like a small Irish wolfhound...we love our doodle...sure you would too!

Hi chaps- Am I correct in thinking that although a lot of 'Labradoodles' are said to be shed-free, therefore good for allergies, in fact you are just as likely to get a dog that sheds as much as a Labrador does? Surely if the characteristics are more dominant on the 'moulting' side, then you'll get a dog that moults.
I ask this as I met someone recently who has a 'Springerdor'. He got the puppy as he thought that it would have the look of the Lab but be smaller and a bit hairier, but what he actualy got was a giant black springer who runs about at 1000 miles an hour, jumps up at everything, and is selectively deaf! So it just goes to show that you don't always get what you expect!

Ali :)

I think that is the point about crossbreeds ..they don't breed true ..so whilst you MAY get a dog that looks the way you want and acts the way you want , you are just as likely to get a dog that doesn't ;)

Melody :)

Exactly - and where does it stop?
In rescue centres you'll find lots of say....GSD x collies. Do we see them being sold as "Germollies" for hundreds of pounds? Nope ;)
Hmmm now lets see...Sky is (possibly) a greyhound x collie x bull terrier....so she'd be a Bolliehound ;) Badger is (possibly) a collie x greyhound x springer so would he be a Sprolliehound? :D
Basically Labradoodles are crossbreeds - hundreds and thousands of crossbreeds in rescues - they don't charge £300+ for one ;)