Labradoodle

The first Labradoodles were reportedly bred by Wally Conron in Australia in the late 1980′s. Wally was working with the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia when they received a request from a blind person in Hawaii who was allergic to dogs. Since a standard poodle is generally considered a low-allergy dog, Mr. Conron bred one of the best Labrador guide dogs with a standard poodle (which is much larger than your grandma’s lap poodle). Hair and saliva samples were sent to for testing, and some of the puppies from this first litter did in fact, come back with a ‘allergy free’ result.

Brown Standard Poodle at 5 Weeks

Labradoodles are frequently reported as being non-allergenic, or hypoallergenic, or allergy-free. You need to be aware, however, that different people react differently to different dogs. Poodles are well known for being good pets for some people who are allergic to dogs, however, there is no guarantee that this will be the case in your situation.

Over time, interest in the Labradoodle grew, until it eventually became the ‘designer dog’ that it is today. Labradoodles are still bred in Australia (you’ll see lots of references to Australian Labradoodles) as you search the web, because that is where the breed originated. Once American media began running stories about the Labradoodle in the mid to late 90′s, things really began to take off.

Ironically, Mr. Wally Conron has expressed concerns about opening a ‘pandora’s box’ when it comes to the Labradoodle. He recognizes the value, while at the same time he is concerned about the rise of the ‘backyard breeders’ who only want to make a quick buck off of the breed. This is another reason why you need to really research your breeder and make sure you’re getting one who has the best interest of the breed at heart.

There are dozens of websites dedicated to what was once an ‘unknown’ oddity from Australia. A lot of breeders will tell you that Labradoodles are hypoallergenic superdogs which make ideal family pets. Your neighbor tells you that they’re overpriced mutts sold by greedy ‘puppymills’.  Who is right? Who can you trust? Why should you give this website anymore weight than the next guy down the road?

To begin with, I don’t have a dog in this fight (so to speak). I’m not a Labradoodle owner, and I’m not a breeder. Actually, I own two dogs, both Labs. However, I’ve watched the growing fascination with Labradoodles since the early 2000’s when they first broke into the scene on the cover of LIFE (Sunday insert).

My parents own a Labradoodle, and he is one great dog. I know not all Labradoodles are ideal family pets, but they may be a dog you should consider. And you shouldn’t automatically rule them out as being undesirable crossbreeds. Here’s why.

All Breeds Began As ‘Crossbreeds’

Unless you have a wolf for a pet (which I don’t recommend). Your dog is a result of thousands of years of selective breeding. Owners would take wild dogs, domesticate them, and then breed in (or breed out) the characteristics they wanted.  Some were bred for ‘work’, others were bred for play.

Over time, the breeds we have now were developed, standardized, and recognized by organizations (started by breeders and owners) to ‘define’ what makes the ideal dog, according to their breed.

Today, we recognize that the Labradoodle may be a fad, or it may be a new breed which is currently in-development. Only time will tell.

However, since a lot of Labradoodles are still F1 – First generation dogs which are a direct mix of a Lab and a Poodle (usually a standard poodle), there are some advantages to this setup.  The first advantage is hybrid vigor. We’ll discuss other benefits of this later, but as you’ll come to see, these dogs are very intelligent and easy to train common commands such as sit, stay, and at more advanced commands such as leash training, and “staying”.