About Labradoodles
Don’t know about you, but after exploring Labradoodle sites on
the Internet, we became rather confused. There was a lot of
information that was contradictory and pretty short of scientific
evidence. On this page we are trying to clarify that information and
make a clear distinction between fact and opinion.
History
Everyone appears to agree on this! The Labradoodle was first bred in Australia as a Guide Dog for people with allergies in the 1970s. Wally Cochran is the person credited with their initial development during the 1980s. Television coverage of this new breed of dog instigated a large response from the general public and several dog breeders started breeding the Labradoodle commercially. You don’t have to have allergies to appreciate little to no dog hair being deposited around your home and the Labradoodle was quickly gaining popularity as a family pet. Without doubt these Australians are the most experienced Labradoodle breeders in the world and are a good place to start your research.
The Labradoodle is now being bred all over the world, with varying degrees of integrity. Hence the confusion of information!
Breeding
‘Line’ breeding, which inevitably led to in-breeding in the past,
has resulted in pure breed dogs inheriting a huge range of diseases
and disorders. Many good breeders are attempting to combat this
today with more responsible breeding strategies and pre-breeding
health tests. However, they are still working with a limited gene
pool, so can only really achieve damage limitation. Indeed, part of
their strategy involves limiting their breeding dogs to those that
pass various health tests (eg hip/elbow scores) thus effectively
reducing the gene pool even further. Long term this will inevitably
be counter productive.
A more effective method is by actively widening the gene pool, which is exactly what cross-breeding achieves.
This was, for some breeders, like us, the most important reason for starting to breed Labradoodles. Cross-breeding should be a deliberate and carefully considered mating of two first class representatives of their respective breeds to ensure the best possible combination. Crossing any old Labrador with any old Poodle would not produce the quality of first generation puppies we strive for.
This is the point at which breeders diverge in their breeding programmes :
- Some only breed first generation puppies (Labrador X Poodle)
saying that these have the best ‘hybrid vigour’ and temperaments.
These are referred to as
F1 Labradoodles. - Some back-cross their first generation Labradoodles to a pure-bred
– usually a Poodle to strengthen the Poodle coat influence – saying
that these have the best ‘hybrid vigour’ and allergy friendly coat.
These are referred to as
F1B Labradoodles. - Others will only breed their Labradoodles to another
Labradoodle
producing multi-generational Labradoodles, saying that these have
the best ‘hybrid vigour’, temperaments and allergy friendly coats.
These are referred to as
Multi-gen Labradoodles.
We have seen no scientific evidence for, or against, any of these claims, although each breeder will have a wealth of anecdotal evidence. Experienced breeders like ourselves will usually decide on what they consider to be the best breeding programme for individual dogs, and not become locked into one set breeding scheme – remember, this is what we are trying to escape from!
The important thing is that you should feel confident that you know exactly how your Labradoodle has been bred. Although not recognised as pure breeds they should still come with a full pedigree certificate detailing their breeding history.
The Coat
You will probably have read quite a bit about these :
- About hair, fleece or wool coats.
- About short, medium and long coats.
- About straight, wavy, spiral or curly coats.
- About non-shedding or some shedding coats.
- You may have been directed towards different breeding programmes that will produce the coat you would like more consistently. And that’s before you mention colour!
A bit of common sense wouldn’t go amiss here.
Labradoodle breeding starts with a Labrador (short, straight, hair coat) and a Poodle (long, curly, woolly coat). One sheds a lot, one not at all. In fact, total opposites. It is this dissimilarity in genes that possibly makes them such excellent candidates for the benefits of cross breeding.
First generation puppies will take varying amounts of genetic influence from both parents and thus will vary a lot in their coats – somewhere between the two opposites.
The photograph on our home page is of three first generation Labradoodles that we bred. It is a particular favourite of ours. Apart from showing three healthy, happy dogs it is an excellent photograph to show the variation in coats achieved with the first cross.
The general rule would be that the more Poodle-like the coat the less shedding there will be. Although shedding is not always directly linked to allergies, many of which may be more susceptible to the ‘dander’ or dust in many dog coats, and some to dog saliva, it would be fair to say that this type of coat is usually more allergy friendly. It is clear from the photograph on the home page that it is perfectly possible to achieve this type of coat, even in the first cross, but it is more likely to occur in later generations.
Not everyone, of course, have allergies. On the basis that the worst coat shedding of a Labradoodle is minimal compared to a Labrador, there is something for everyone in the diversity of a first generation litter, particularly as the second general rule is that the less Poodle-like the coat the less maintenance is required.
At Kimberlenes we celebrate this diversity as a visible sign of hybrid vigour.
Temperament
Here we come to what, for us, is one of the happiest results from
this cross breeding.
The Labradoodle temperament is, without doubt, as good as it gets in
the dog world and is a particularly strong feature of first
generation puppies.
Variously described as confident, clever, loving and loveable, vivacious, loyal, affectionate, joyful, sociable, friendly, comical, intuitive, totally non-aggressive and devoted they clearly have everything going for them!
They are excellent with children, love water (both Labradors and Poodles are descended from hunting dogs bred to work in water – the Labrador from the St. John’s Newfoundland and the Poodle from the pan-European Water Spaniel) and are natural swimmers.
I read a particularly good description on one of the Labradoodle web sites about how they ‘melt into mellowness when touched by human hand’. This is exactly what they do and is a phenomenon that you have to experience first-hand to really appreciate.
As puppies they are adaptable, remarkably unstressed and just seem to take new things in their stride.
They do not like being left on their own for any length of time, however, feel rejection keenly and crave contact with their ‘family’. They can easily become bored and must have sustained, structured training in their early life, to which they will respond with an eagerness to please and a high level of intelligence and ‘trainability’.
All in all – a superb addition to a family that has the time and inclination to include this new member in everything they do.
Kimberlenes
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T 07956 198086
