Every time I hear someone say they have a purebred Golden-Doodle, or some type of purebred Shi-Poo, the biologist in me dies a little.

Attached is an eye-opening article about the creator of the Labradoodle, Wally Conron, who actually regrets his creation! I encourage you to read this full article to find out why. Like the author, it astounds me to know that consumers are chronically being duped into believing that the crossbreed someone created is now some rarity or luxury item. Or that anything with ‘oodle’ is necessarily ‘Non-allergenic’. False!

The first Labradoodle was created specifically for the special needs of one client who required a hypoallergenic seeing eye dog. But turns out the non-allergenic trait is not found in all puppies in a litter of ‘oodles’ – some pups have a true non-allergenic coat, while some others do not. Unless you test the dog’s coat, you don’t know if they are non-allergenic or not. Yet Oodle ‘breeders’ will almost always tell you their entire ‘breed’ is allergy friendly.

For the love of God, can somebody stop these con artists from taking advantage of consumers?

Echoing the sentiments of Mr. Conron, I was sickened to see a Kijiji ad charging $7,500 for a so called Bernedoodle! Are you kidding me?!?! A Bernese crossed with a Poodle. Ummm, you do realize that you can get a purebred Bernese Mountain Dog or Purebred Poodle for much less than that right?

Conron even admits that when created the first litter, nobody wanted to even train the hybrids. Then some clever PR marketing gave it the name “Labradoodle” and called it a Designer Breed. The “gimmick” as he called it, was an instant success. Goes to show good marketing can sell anything.

Not so long ago, mutts and crossbreeds were worth very little money (remember Farmer Joe who constantly gave away free puppies?). My distaste for these breeders is not because crossbreeds or mutts are lesser pets (hey, I got nothing against mutts), but because you pay top dollar to a responsible breeder for the time, resources, experience, commitment and skill of monitoring, controlling and managing generations of methodically selected purebred dogs – a pedigree.

When seeking to bring a puppy into your family, I urge to you remember to think hard about the value you are getting for your chosen dog. You work hard for your money. Make sure you get what you pay for. Responsible dog breeding is an art and science. Letting 2 dogs hump in your backyard doesn’t make a breeder!

Legitimate Purebred breeders understand and painstakingly select for optimal traits by:

Genetic screening (to check their breeding stock don’t’ carry genes for certain diseases)
Temperament testing (don’t breed dogs with fearful, shy, insecure personalities)
Selecting functional anatomy (don’t breed dogs with body shapes that makes life difficult for them just because we think it’s cute or looks nice)
Selecting for physically healthy dogs (not breeding dogs known to suffer from all sorts of skin, gut, skeletal and other health issues)

Back to doodles and poos. Biology 101. Female Breed X mates with Male Breed X to make Baby X’s. Those baby X’s breed with other X’s to make… more X’s. Most so-called designer breeds aren’t made that way. They mostly need to have Female Breed X to mate with Male Breed Y to make Baby Z’s. Currently, there is no standard ‘recipe’ on how to make a doodle or a poo. Every ‘designer breeder’ does it their own way – they may make Z’s by crossing X and Y or crossing Z’s back to X or some combination therein. But, until X and Y’s are no longer needed and Z’s can mate with other Z’s to make more Z’s, while demonstrating consistent predictable traits, Z isn’t a real breed yet.

Currently, doodles and poo litters may be full of variation, with siblings who all look different, behave differently, and grow differently. Curly hair, long hair, short hair, tall, short, stocky, lean, looks like mom, looks like dad etc. No standardization among or between litters.

Part of the problem is that doodle and poo breeding isn’t regulated, and it isn’t clear what the doodle/poo ‘breed standard’ is. Whereas kennel clubs like CKC or AKC (or other related registries) provide some degree of breed standard guidance, detailed records and documentation of pedigrees - ultimately leading towards the production of legitimate purebred dogs (that are created following strict breed standards).

If you’re going to pay a premium price for a dog, make sure you understand what that premium is. Is the dog trained to warn you of an oncoming seizure? Is it trained to do guard & protection? Is it a world champion, top-bloodline multi-titled dog? Paying $7,500 for a hybrid that does nothing special is simply outrageous!

Again, please don’t think I’ve got anything against crossbreeds or mutts. I don’t. Every dog is a beautiful animal worthy of love. But what I do have something against, is con artists tricking people into believing they are buying a unicorn when in reality, it’s just an ass.

- Dr. Steph