Does it matter which parent is the Poodle?

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I met with some friends who have new 3 month old Goldendoodles from the same litter. I took my Gracie Doodle to visit them and let them see what their babies will look like. They got their puppies from the same breeder as I got Gracie. Gracie's parents have been retired. The mother was an Apricot Standard Poodle and the father was the Golden. The new puppies are the opposite. The father is the Poodle and the mother the Golden. Gracie is 2 1/2 years old so she is done growiing. She is very tall but her mother (the Poodle) was very tall. My friends asked me if they take on the mother's rather than the father's features. Good question...I do know that even though Gracie is an F1 and should be 50/50, I see more Poodle in her. What is your take on this?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Wow, I don't know what the average ALD litter is, but that must be a record?
My comments, though, are about the breeding of F1s, which is the discussion topic: the breeding of a purebred retriever to a purebred poodle. As you have said yourself, there is very little retriever left in the ALDs, so I'm guessing the size of both parents and puppies in ALD breeding is much more consistent, similar to what you have with purebred breeding, than it is in 50/50 mixes, which is what I am addressing here.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Gracie Doodle's mother who was the Standard Poodle had 10-13 in all four of her litters. She only lost two. One, she rolled over on and suffocated it by accident. The other had some unusual spider bite that killed it. Otherwise, all of her babies have grown up to be healthy Doodles.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Lucy and Sophie's mom was the Poodle and father the GR. We ended up with one that favors each!

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

In our litter of 9 f!B Labradoodles, Mom was black F1 Labradoodle, one of two black puppies in litter of 11 (Parents- Father Black Poodle ((only black in litter of 10 puppies)) mother was a very light, almost white Yellow Lab, from all yellow labs), Sire is a Champaigne/Apricot Parti Standard Poodle with NO Blacks in bloodlines, going back 3 generations. There was a black/white Parrti 2 gens back.

Our puppies were 7 black 2 cream. 5 look like they are almost pure poodle, while our little black girl looks like a Labradoodle with coarser hair and a wavy coat. One little Cream boy looks 100% Labradoor Retriever. He doesn't look like he has even SEEN a Poodle! LOL Remember, geneticaly these puppies are 2/3 Poodle, so you would think that they would all look more like Poodles.

When breeding a mixed breed, we never know which genes are going to be dominant and what the puppies will turn out to like like at adulthood.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

And that is what is so facinating isn't it! As a receiver of a puppy, I might like to have some concept of what the adult will look like, but as a breeder or onlooker, the possibilities are so fun.