Thinking of Getting a Goldendoodle? Don’t.
Or a Labradoodle. Or a Bernadoodle. Or a Cockapoo…
Dogs, like many other consumerist goods, go through trends and phases. The current pup of the hour is the “Doodle”. Breeds large and small have been mixed with poodles in the aim of creating a new mixed breed. Otherwise known as a mutt.
But in order to maintain the facade of breed standards, breeders have invented a myriad of marketing terms to imply that these unregistered mutts are purebreds with defined characteristics and genetics. Names range from the obvious (Saint Bernadoodle) to the catchiest (Peekapoo). But that is all they are, marketing terms and catchphrases intended to give the impression of a breed standard where none exists.
Read here to learn why these types of gimmicks are not only misleading to consumers but ultimately cause the dogs to suffer.
What is a Reputable Breeder
When breeding dogs, reputable breeders have a few goals in mind. The first and most important is to improve or maintain the overall health of the breed. This is accomplished by performing rigorous health tests of the breeding pair and the resulting offspring. These often follow the American Kennel Club (AKC) recommendations by breed but may also expand to include tests recommended by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) and temperament tests prior to placing puppies in a home.
What should stand out as obvious here is that there are no AKC recommendations for a mixed breed like a Doodle. In this case, tests should be conducted matching the AKC recommendations of both breeds. A Labradoodle, for instance, would need health tests recommended both for Poodles and for Labrador Retrievers.
Health tests such as these are the most often skipped by backyard breeders and puppy mills because they are expensive. When attempting to identify a reputable breeder, the most basic place to start is to ensure that all recommended health tests have been completed on the breeding pair. You can view the AKC health test recommendations here.
The second goal of a reputable breeder is to ensure consistent temperament. Dog breeds have been designed with specific characteristics in mind that affect both their personalities and their working abilities: an Australian Shepherd will likely have a higher energy level than a Shih Tzu. A reputable breeder is going to have some form of evidence of their dogs’ temperament. Oftentimes, they will either have their dogs perform in sporting, show, or working events to demonstrate that their breeding pair perform to expected standards.
When factoring in the costs of health tests and veterinary expenses, profit is unlikely. Reputable breeders will have other main goals for why they breed dogs beyond making income.
People much more connected than me have searched and scoured to find a Doodle breeder who meets these proper health test and performance criteria and come back empty.
To learn more about how to identify reputable breeders, see these resources:
Find a Responsible Dog Breeder — Basics
Responsible Breeder Checklist — Humane Society
Breed Standards
So why are breed standards so important?
Breed standards help to establish things like the correct breed conformation, temperament and performance.
Why is a Miniature Aussiedoodle being bred? Is it to herd sheep like an Australian Shepherd? Apparently not. Are they being bred to hunt game like a poodle? Or are they being bred to be lap dogs like other toy breeds?
If we do not have an answer to these questions then how can we know that a fresh litter of Miniature Aussiedoodle pups are standard and healthy? And how do we know what homes are best to place them in?
Do they need to go to athletic households where owners will have the time and motivation to regularly exercise them, like you would for an Australian Shepherd?
Do they go to homes with children where the dog will receive lots of cuddles and leisure like you would Shih Zhu?
Should the owners of a Miniature Aussiedoodle be prepared that their dog may nip at heels and attempt to “herd” small children in the home? Or should they be prepared for a dog who may be predisposed to bark a lot?
All of these traits can affect things like whether a dog is a good fit for apartment living, whether a dog can live in a home with small children, whether it will have a playstyle suitable for dog parks or can go to homes that have dogs already. And when you breed a mixture of two dogs with little to no idea about what will result, then it’s extremely difficult to prepare prospective buyers for what to expect and find a suitable home for the puppies.
Of course, being business savvy many Doodle breeders are simply going to choose the most desirable traits of each breeding dog and pass those off as the result. The beautiful color of an Australian Shepherd with the hypoallergenic coat of a poodle! Is that necessarily what the puppies are going to be? No. But that’s how they will sell it.
Creating New Breeds
There is nothing inherently wrong with mixing two different breeds together with the goal of establishing a brand new breed. However, experts would need to have a specific goal in mind. Is it to be a hunting dog? A herding dog? Or a lap dog?
And they would need to know what traits were desirable. Should the dogs be hypoallergenic? Should they be protective or gentle? Once the desired traits are known, then selective breeding would continue with the dogs who meet those traits until a consistent breed standard could be met.
Instead, Doodle breeders have been driven by profit. There are no breed standards that Doodle breeders are reliably testing for. To the contrary, they are mixing indiscriminately with any breed they can think of!
It is this unpredictability that drives many people away from shelters and rescues. Most dogs in shelters are going to be mutts with unknown backgrounds. And while they can still make tremendous pets (my dog is a rescue and an awesome companion) some people desire more assurance that the dog they are getting will be suitable for their home. Rescues and shelters often charge less money to adopt a dog because they know that there is unpredictability about the dog’s health and temperament.
But Doodle breeders are selling dogs with almost the exact same unpredictability but charging extortionate amounts of money because they are pretending to sell a rare and unique “breed”. Some people are paying thousands of dollars for mutts created by back-yard breeders when they could have had about the same luck rescuing a shelter dog for a fraction of the price.
Mixed Sizing is Animal Cruelty
Perhaps the biggest sin that Doodle breeders commit is mismatched sizing. They will take large breed dogs, pair them with a miniature poodle and then promise buyers that they can have a miniature version of their favorite dog. Sometimes they also use loaded terms like “forever puppy” to seal the deal.
To start, it would be best to wonder why the plethora of reputable breeders have not done this before. Why didn’t Golden Retriever breeders invent a miniature golden until now? The answer is as obvious as it is unpalatable: it isn’t ethical.
Toy dogs did not become toy breeds overnight. The origin of small dogs stems from a mutation in the IGF1 gene and probably arose shortly after early dog domestication. After that, decades of selective breeding eventually created known toy breeds that we have today. We did not simply pair huge dogs with tiny dogs for a few generations and call it a breed. In many cases, we bred the runts and small dogs within the same breed together to create toy sizes.
The animal cruelty known as a Miniature Bernadoodle is created by pairing a large Bernese Mountain Dog with a Toy Poodle. The process of impregnation is already more complicated in this case and carries risks in of itself. If the male is much larger than the female he can cause tearing and injury during conception.
But the birthing of the pups can lead to deadly complications for the mother. The birth must take place under the guidance of a veterinary professional and will likely require a C-section. Generally, the pairing of large dogs with small dogs is not done and never recommended. Doodle breeders have flouted this standard for the express purpose of making money.
All in all, if your small female is having puppies with a significantly larger male, she needs close monitoring during the entire process — from conception to birth. Allowing her to go into spontaneous labor with puppies that are too big for her birth canal may end up fatally for both the mother and the pups.
Any “miniature” Doodle be it a Miniature Sheepadoodle or Miniature Golden Doodle that is the product of a medium/large breed and a toy or miniature breed is unethical. The only dogs who should be bred together are those of similar size.
But even assuming that the mother survives the process with minimal damage, the puppies themselves are often going to be deformed even if it isn’t obvious to the casual observer. Breed conformations are standards that exist, not only for showmanship but to ensure that the build of a dog allows them to perform optimally. When you have a dog that is the product of a super-sized large breed and a toy or miniature breed, it is unpredictable how their bodies will form. Hip stacking may be an issue, joint problems are likely as are abnormal gaits.
A Life’s Regret
The man credited with the first known Doodle litter is named Wally Conran. Recently, he has gone on to describe this as his “life’s regret” when speaking to the Australian ABC Podcast Sum of All Parts.
His intention had been to create a dog for a blind client in Hawaii who needed a guide dog her husband wouldn't be allergic to. He bred the first known litter of Labradoodles in the 1980s. Saliva and hair samples passed only one of the pups for the Hawaii client’s hypoallergenic requirement.
Wally realized the remaining littermates were being rejected by clients because they were a mixed breed. Frustrated, he approached the Guide Dogs Victoria PR Department and he told them to sell the name “Labradoodle”.
It was a gimmick. No-one wanted a crossbreed but everybody wanted a labradoodle. Same dog, different name.”
Requests began to pour in from all over the world and soon enough this ignited a doodle craze.
Wally’s biggest goal had been to breed the healthiest guide dogs when he worked as a breeding manager. But he realized that many doodle breeders were more passionate about profit than welfare.
When I’m out and I see these labradoodles I can’t help myself, I go over them in my mind.
I look at it thinking, does it have hip dysplasia, has it got elbow problems, any other problems I can see?
The Undeserved Stigma of the Poodle
Perhaps the saddest undertone to all of this is that what many people are looking for in these doodle mixes can easily be met by a healthy, purebred poodle.
Poodles are intelligent but trainable, loyal and hypoallergenic. They come in a variety of sizes, ranging from the larger Standard Poodle all the way to the tiny Toy Poodle. They are also available in an array of different colors. Their hair can be cut to fit a variety of different looks, not just the “stereotypical” poodle haircut.
People have stereotyped poodles (likely due to cartoon media depictions) as being snobby or girlish. They assume that mixing in another breed will make poodles somehow palatable.
But instead of spending thousands of dollars for the latest, trendiest doodle breed, consider whether a poodle is actually what you’re looking for. They can make a great addition to a family home and unlike with Doodles, there exist a variety of reputable breeders who will prioritize placing the best fit for your household.
(And if you happened to click on this article due to the adorable dog in the cover photo, that is indeed a purebred poodle).
