I haven’t met many doodles but I’ve seen just a TON from dog groomers who talk about totally unmanageable coats & seriously neurotic, hard to handle dogs.
There are just SO many people breeding them that care nothing about the dogs they produce. No health screening of the parents, no training or proving the parents in any way, no understanding of what kind of puppy they’re actually producing. Breeding just because the puppies sell for $$$$$.
About the time I put myself on the doodle rescue’s waiting list, I read this:
https://medium.com/@drv_88359/the-shame-of-being-a-doodle-owner-7bdecf9484bc
This is the sort of thing I’m talking about:
https://www.facebook.com/1411995016/posts/10226850183746605/
(I think that should be public)
31 Eye-Opening Puppy Mill Statistics (2021 UPDATE) (petpedia.co)
Top 10 Must-Know Puppy Mill Statistics
IME ,most “Doodle” owners would have done better with a poodle. I have seen mostly lab and golden crosses. My complaints about them are the deceptive claims many seem to make. They are not hypoallergenic and may or may not shed. The chief behavior complaint is the excess energy and more training difficulty than I would expect if the parents were typical. But my biggest concern are the health issues. It seems pretty rare for the breeders to screen for hips, eyes, or any conditions of concern in the breeds.
It’s possible that the doodles in your area come from better stock than most.
I’m not really a dog person, but the people I know who have dogs mostly have AKC purebreds from reputable breeders (or other registries if it’s a breed the AKC doesn’t recognize.) They seem to have a fine time with their dogs, beyond the crazy puppy stage.
I truly don’t think that is what I’ve been seeing.
Yes, stock matters. But at the end of the day, it’s the people.
You unpack every complaint about doddles and in the end, it’s the people who are being complained about.
I read @Simkie’s groomer post. Two of my closest friends own grooming salons and have the same complaint. But the complaint is with the owners: they don’t maintain the coat, they don’t properly socialize their dogs, they are rude when they pick up an unexpectedly shaved dog because it was a matted mess. None of that is the dog’s fault.
This is how I see it: most labradoodles and goldendoodles are exceedingly friendly and kind dogs, despite their high energy. A lot of uneducated dog people give them less than ideal care/training and mostly get away with it with little consequence other than perpetually naughty puppy-like behavior. A lot of dog breeds aren’t that forgiving. Anyone remember the cocker spaniel craze? There’s a reason that was fairly short-lived.
WOW! Who lets their dog get like that? That’s awful.
My sister has a Shitzu=poo, I think she’s about 10 now. Sweet little dog, mostly well behaved, but has trained the family to let her do what she wants on walks and to give her treats whenever she wants. Thankfully she’s small, so not much trouble to just scoop her up when she won’t walk in a particular direction. She does have a very sweet temperament, and gets groomed regularly. No health issues thankfully.
I think the problem I have with some doodle breeders is that they will just take any 2 purebred dogs and throw them together. They just breed… they don’t really have a breeding program, a standard they’re breeding towards, and there’s not much consistency in type or temperament. There are some that started with a poodle and whatever and crossed those and then bred for health and temperament through several generations for consistent dogs. I don’t have a problem with those breeders.
I wish more dog owners knew how to discern between good breeders and greedy breeders and I think we’d end up with less shelter dogs. I worry about the LGD and Shepherd mixes, because to me, when you start doodling those, you’re asking for an independent, more dominant dog with higher energy and potentially a nightmare coat. People just wanting that sweet loving family dog might not be able to handle those.
I worked in a vet clinic for 8 years and have been very connected to the dog world in a number of ways (conformation, agility, therapy, nose work, etc.). I can count the number of well-adjusted doodles I’ve met on one hand. They are more often than not nervy and hyperactive.
Quality breeders do not sell intact animals into a program to be used by a doodle breeder. There’s a reason most doodles have the same pigeon chest, wasp waist, and sickle hocks.
But some of it is the BREEDERS. The breeder is producing a dog with a coat that is claimed to be hypoallergenic (it is often not), and selling that dog to people who have NO IDEA that it needs real serious brushing very, very often & expensive, involved professional grooming on a regular schedule. Some of the other doodle crosses are also not likely at all to be good family dogs, but they’re still sold that way.
Additionally, most of these breeders are not screening their stock for any inheritable disease, so those owners who don’t know any better can wind up with big problems.
And these breeders are often charging even more than someone who IS screening, because it’s such a “designer” popular thing.
These owners would very likely be better served owning a nice family lab–a dog that requires far less coat care, is still a friendly, family dog, and can probably be found for less $$$, from a more responsible breeder.
There might be some responsible doodle breeders out there–ones screening their stock & informing their potential buyers about what the care really looks like–but the vast majority are not, and those people are no better than puppy mills.
To echo and build on this, I am seeing a lot of “health tested” doodles lately. What they mean is that they did a cheek swab Embark or other generic testing. Most buyers do not know enough to understand that a reputable breeder would be doing the specific tests for each breed in the cross.
Anyone breeding a goldendoodle should know and be performing OFA (elbow & hip), PennHip, CERF, DNA tested for PRA, OFA for SAS by a cardiologist, CAER, and OFA thyroid. I’d also argue that if they are so sure that they are breeding great “family dogs”, their breeding stocks should be doing something to prove that they are mentally stable and well adjusted - at a minimum CGCA but ideally a title in therapy work or obedience. To date, I’ve never personally seen that but have certainly seen people happy to sell their “health tested merle doodle” for $2,500 a piece.
I totally agree. But back to the entire reason I began commenting: there are JUST as many AKC breeders being irresponsible, deceptive, and producing terrible, unhealthy dogs sold to uneducated owners at premium prices.
The OP suggested people limiting their purchases to the AKC list instead of supporting doodle breeders. No, people should be responsible about dog ownership, which includes making sure your dog comes from a reputable source.
Yep, I totally agree. AKC registered doesn’t mean diddly squat by itself. Kind of like how Jockey Club registered doesn’t mean it can run 
This does:
If there are doodle people doing all that, they’re not the breeders that are being gripped about in this thread. It’s allllllll the others :-/
Yep… there are AKC registered, pure bred dogs coming out of puppy mills with all sorts of issues and some of them look damn near nothing like the breed standards. A poorly bred dog is a purely bred dog of any breed or mix.
A UK view. Recently there has been very negative media coverage of some hairless French Bulldogs being bred in Scotland. The breeders were roundly condemned by the British Veterinary Association on welfare grounds. Vets have high status in the UK . People generally horrified: cool, wet climate etc.
The current fashion for ‘designer dogs’ in the UK is based on concern for the multiple welfare issues bred into show dogs: breathing, skin, haws, skull deformity, inability to give birth naturally, etc which had TV documentary coverage about 20 years ago and caused a huge public outcry. The BBC actually stopped covering Cruffs because of it. The show is back on TV now as the KC has taken steps to deal with welfare and breeding issues. The shapes of certain breeds have definitely changed, e.g. Bassetts, but it is hard to undo the reputational damage. And many people do like their doodles. There is also profit involved. My neighbours have purchased a Jack Russell cross poodle and were charged £1.5 K for a dog that 20 years ago would have been given away free.
We import rescue dogs from Eastern Europe!
Yes! So well said.
There are some. Not many.
Those are the breeders who have long since moved from the F1 generation and are actually selecting breeding stock based on certain, predictable traits, and producing puppies with pedigrees that were chosen for a reason. And performing appropriate health screenings, not a silly swab from Embark and pretending that’s health testing.
Those breeders are few and far between. You know that’s the truth.
And it doesn’t include Bernerdoodles, Weimadoodles, Broodles, or the other stupid crosses like Pomskis, etc.
Those are recent fads and essentially a puppy mill in digsuise. “Greeders” making a killing on the “I want a puppy” pandemic situation.
As a Aussie breeder myself, I am gobsmacked at Aussie Doodle crosses. Why breed a hunting/retrieving dog with a herding dog? The Aussie Doodles I have seen are so stamped with poodle DNA that they look like poodles, no distinguishing physical Aussie features. Poodles are already smart, do they need Aussies to make them smarter? Many people struggle with smart dogs.
I have seen a couple of Aussie Berner puppies. They had the merle coloring of an Aussie with the Berner size. Who knows if they also inherited the Aussie energy?..imagine a big dog like a Berner with the energy of an Aussie. Yikes. Can go from 100 pound couch potato to Mach 10 in three seconds…watch out for your furniture and lamps 
One of my employees bred her german shepherd/husky to another german shepherd/husky with no health testing, no OFA of either dog. The bitch was already neurotic, unsocialized, and yet she was bred anyway…for money. Had eight pups, sold six, and my employee kept two. She sold each pup for $1,000.00 No health guarantees. This is what bad breeding looks like.
I was suggesting that with nearly 200 breeds recognized by AKC, there is surely at least one breed more suitable for most aspiring dog owners than an F1 (or even F2 or F3) mix of two different breeds. Apparently I should have added “because recognized purebreds breed true more consistently than crosses." 
And I picked AKC because that is the organization I am most familiar with. I was not in any way implying that all AKC registered dogs are “perfect” or free of genetic/health/temperament issues, nor was I implying that all AKC breeders are responsible as far as proving their breeding stock performance-wise, or doing genetic testing on breeding stock and REMOVING stock from the breeding population that should not be used. Heck, some AKC breeders (puppy mills, backyard breeders, etc.) don’t even know there is such a thing as a breed standard. And even if they do know about the standard, they don’t get their stock evaluated by knowledgeable, qualified individuals such as recognized judges to learn how the dogs measure up to the standard.
But in general, AKC breeders who are showing their dogs in conformation shows, field or other trials, etc., etc., are far more likely to use breeding stock that has been evaluated and ”approved” by other top breeders/judges. And those breeders are also far more likely to have done genetic/health testing. And the puppies they produce are far more likely to be fairly consistent in physical traits such as type, size, soundness, coat length, color, texture, etc., and “interior qualities” such as temperament, character, trainability.
As others have stated on this thread, so many breeders of “poodle-doodles” and other crosses are not using quality breeding stock to start with, and are not doing genetic testing because 1) they don’t know about it or believe in it; 2) don’t want to spend the money; 3) don’t want to take the risk of learning that their bitch or stud dog carries genetic factors for serious health issues. Yet these breeders continue to produce these creatures, which uneducated buyers pay $$$$ for and then often as not, neglect to train or groom or exercise or socialize properly.
Again – my original post was really to express my astonishment that someone would deliberately cross a Great Pyrenees with a Poodle. Or a Corgi with a Shetland Sheepdog. Like, why? What is the purpose?
So you can market them as a Shorgi or a Great Pyrgle.
Fun names = fun! Yay! Impulse buy!
Meanwhile, buyers from last summer are googling “what is a Great Pyrenees” and staring in horror at the breed traits that they thought would mix well with a Poodle. Others are wondering why their Shorgi chases their toddlers and bites them.
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