F1's in Vermont or New England, plus general newbie questions and rambling

[Jeff D]

I hate being a newb, but I totally am. We don't have any allergy issues, we just like the look of labradoodles and the size of the under 55-pounders. The potential for relatively low maintenance and/or relatively low shedding is a big bonus. 

I'm sort of leaning toward a mini/medium F1 to have more of a lab look, but smaller, although I love the fleece coats, so if non-F1 is the way to go for a really cool fleece coat labradoodle, I would certainly consider that. A 40 to 45 pound dog with a bit of lab and/or terrier look would be awesome.  The red and mocha colors are amazing.

We mostly want a family dog, and a year later a second family dog, who will be gentle, loveable, relaxed, and smart. 

We're in the market for a dream dog. To be able to visit the breeders/kennels it would be nice to find some in Vermont, New England, or New York. We could do a shelter/rescue/adopt-a-labradoodle online if convinced that it's the way to go, but we want a fairly young dog that we can keep 10+ years.

We're sort of leaning toward labradoodle more than goldendoodle based on my hunch that the labradoodle would be less maintenance and/or shedding.

Any leads for a dream breeder close to me?  I gather breeder recommendations and details about breeders are supposed to be sent to me privately, but separate responses to general questions and rambling can go on the forum to maybe help another newb one day.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Read thru some replies here and have to say that the comments about the F1 coat  not being fleece-y and the multigen coat not being straight are not really accurate--I know of several fleece F1s--and one of them does not shed! She has a lovely coat and I am sure there are others---and there are multigens that are what I call throwbacks--they look  a LOT like labs when young--but sometimes get big waves or feathers all over. You just can't generalize like that--there are too many possible genetic combinations in a mixed breed!

Mattie (the one Jeff D mentioned) is an F1 with loose curls on her neck, legs and head, but the rest is pretty straight with some wave.  My Rio has a coat that is unlike his mom's (my australian multigen, Lyric) or dad's (an F1). He has a thick soft fleecy coat that is pretty straight. His mom has a curlier coat (but soft) and dad has a coarser, thinner coat that is straight. 3 of his brothers are fleecy, but he has one brother who is really curly! So, predicting these things based on the generation is a mistake to be sure. 

[Adina P]

Jeff, there aren't many quality breeders of F1's, period.  A few sprinkled through the USA but most have moved on to F1b and higher.  My favorite, and the only one generation I've had is the F1 (3 of them, all shedders and all low maintenance because of it).  If I were in the market for a doodle from a breeder right now I'd consider an F1b because in every litter there tends to be 1-2 F1-like pups.  So My recommendation is to consider an F1b and make sure the breeders you consider understand you will be interested in their more F1 pups if they get some in a litter.  Sorry, no recommendations on the East Coast as I have no personal experience with any. d