Best way to find a puppy?

[Jen D]

Hi all, I'm new here and just starting the process of looking for our next family member, aka labradoodle puppy.

I have a few questions and would LOVE some advice.

1. Our son has dog allergies and I'm wondering about general experiences with labradoodles. I know no breed is genuinely hypo-allergenic, and we plan to test any puppy we might get with our son before we bring him/her home. Mostly I'd love advice, thoughts, experiences? Are there some types of crosses that are more or less likely to be easy on allergies?

2. Finding a breeder. After searching here I see that people aren't really supposed to comment on specific breeders so I guess would it be possible for people to message me with thoughts? Sorry if this isn't appropriate! (I can delete this if so). Since we need to test specific dogs, we are looking for a local breeder. We're in northern CA (silicon valley) and I've mostly narrowed our search to two places: Golden Gate Labradoodles and California Labradoodles. I'm very, very worried about making sure we support an ethical breeder (all my previous dogs have been rescues and I'm pretty dedicated to not contributing to puppy mills) and would love any thoughts or comments on these two breeders.

Is there a way to search by where people got their dogs so I could check out other people who might have gotten their puppies from these breeders?

Are there any other Bay Area breeders I should look into?

Thank you all so much for reading and any comments!

Looking so forward to getting our new little doodle and being part of this community.

Jen

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If your son has dog allergies, I would strongly urge you to consider a purebred that is guaranteed to be allergy friendly and not to shed, such as a purebred Poodle or Wheaton Terrier. There are no guarantees with doodles, regardless of the mix or generation, and you cannot tell by his reaction to a puppy, as they go through coat changes. He may not have a reaction to an 8 week old but could be terribly allergic when the dog is 8 months ior a year old. Many doodles lose their homes because of this. Some good information:  http://www.labradoodletrust.com/allergy_info.html

[Jen D]

Thank you so much Karen! I just read this article and had no idea. If we could meet both parents and it was a reputable breeder do you think that would reduce the risk? I will be so sad if we can't get a labradoodle but I definitely want to be smart about this.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The problem is that the parents might have allergy friendly coats, but their own parents may not have. Somewhere in the genes are heavily shedding Labs (or Goldens, with Goldendoodles) and those genes can be passed to the puppies. Two Labradoodles can have a puppy that looks (and sheds) exactly like a Purebred Lab. We have a group called "Where's The Poodle In My Doodle?" that you should look at. You'll see how strange genetics can be, lol. We have members here with F1Bs, in which one parent is a purebred Standard Poodle and the other is a Labradoodle, so the pup is 75% Poodle, and still looks and sheds like a Lab. 

A truly reputable breeder will not guarantee that any puppy won't shed or affect your son's allergies. They will work with you, but keep in mind that they are in business to sell puppies.

And there have been people who had non-shedding doodles that still affected their allergies, some so bad they had to rehome the dogs. 

Labradoodles are great dogs, but all dogs are pretty great. I grew up with Poodles, and they were great, too. Schnauzers are another purebred that's allergy friendly and non-shedding, and they are also wonderful dogs.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In case you do decide to try to find a doodle breeder, here's our DK article on what to look for in a breeder. These are the minimum standards you should require. 

http://www.doodlekisses.com/notes/What_To_Look_for_In_a_Breeder

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Karen gave you the best advice on getting a dog that can be given.  Good luck in your search.  My children are so allergic to cats that we simply cannot have one and we used to. Luckily for us, they are not at all allergic to dogs.  Depending upon how allergic your son is to dogs, you might need to consider another type of pet.

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

I would be very carefull about the allergies. I have two F1 bernedoodles- one is only 8 weeks old so too early to tell if he will be a shedder or not, but Loki is 13months old and he is completely non-shedding but several pups from his litter were shedders. I personally do not have dog allergies but have several close friends/ family members who do and to varying degrees. With that being said some are fine as long as they don't touch my dogs or if they do they immediately wash their hands, only one is completly normal around them, but most of them react to my dogs only slightly better than completly shedding dogs. Knowing that so many people I know have dog allergies I wanted dogs that at least made an attempt to be hypoallergenic that way if I host a party I can have the house really deep cleaned and the dogs go to daycare or stay at a friends (we dog sit for eachother) and people could be ok- obviously that is the goal, not sure how practical that will be but I attempted to think it out. :) Good luck! They are great dogs but I would just be careful!

[Jen D]

Wanted to thank you all again for your thoughts. This prompted me to talk again to our allergist and are going to work with her and a local breeder willing to work with us. Our plan is to have our son spend a lot of time with both parents and our potential puppy and see what happens. We've also gotten to spend some time with other labradoodles and he isn't reacting at all so I'm hopeful!

So much as a hive during our visits and we're going to move on but I'm really crossing my fingers that this will work out!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Karen gave you the best advice but if you're set on a labradoodle, a good breeder of multi generational Australian Labradoodles is really the only doodle for you to consider. Since they have been bred for so many generations (several decades) they have almost become a breed of their own and are fairly consistent. But stay away from any breeder who infuses their line with cockers, etc., because then you're right back to square one. ALDs will go through coat changes too but they will wind up with a wavy fleece or a curly coat. F1, F1b or even a couple of generations, in a Labradoodle, do not produce that consistency.  My ALD doesn't shed, and his coat is consistent with his parents. My friend's F1 wiry Labradoodle sheds like crazy. BUT as you know, non-shedding doesn't equal hypoallergenic. Sounds like you have a good plan and good luck.