F2B goldendoodle litter due in May!

[Jeri]

Hello! I have put a deposit down on an upcoming litter for an F2B goldendoodle. Mom is an F1 English cream goldendoodle. Dad is an F1B. Both are absolutely beautiful! I have he 6th pick so options will be quite narrow. I currently have a female doodle. She is friendly and enjoys playing with other dogs. I’ve had 2 female dogs for years until we lost our 16 year old dachshund last week. In my experience there always seemed to be one girl that didn’t really like the other or not have any interest in playing with the other. . We never really had to worry about them fighting although one would occasionally snap at the other. I’m considering a male pup this time, Is it true that males and females are more likely to get along? I have heard that 2 females are more likely to have conflict. I understand that finding a submissive vs dominant pup is also a factor. 

Also, any tips for coat  selection for better possibility of low to non-shed? I know this can be hard to predict when they are so young. I have attaches a pic of the beautiful parents ❤️

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There are many exceptions to the "rule", (and I'm sure other members will chime in here to tell us about them, lol), but in general, the combination most likely to get along best is one of each sex, followed by two males. Two females is the combination most likely to have some conflict. 

However, we do have many members with two or more females who do seem to get along beautifully, so I think it's really more about the individual dogs.

[Connie]

My personal experience, 2 females can be difficult. We had 2 females and a Male together in our pack for 8 years. The girls got into a few very scary, wicked, blood drawn fights. It would take them weeks to get past it. They lived together, the tolerated each other, they sometimes even cuddled. The senior female was the alpha, the youngster was always never allowed to play, chase the ball, sleep in bed with us etc. She was so controlled. I always felt so guilty she had the life for those years. Our Male was so easy, laid back and he was calming middle ground. The girls last fight was the most brutal I had ever seen and I battled hard to get them apart. Whippets are very calm, docile creatures, not a wicked bone in their body. I spoke to several whippet friends about the fight and the best advice I got was this.... "Males will scuffle over territory and move on, bitches fight to kill." When we met our Doodle breeder and told her we had a male & female whippet at home and we only wanted a male puppy. She asked why.... ? Maybe it's different mixing doodles?? Cant imagine so though.... I've always preferred males, only had females in singles. That has been my only females multiples experience. Wont do it again. It was a long 8 years.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Doodles are not "different" in this respect. But I've found many if not most doodle breeders are not really all that educated in dogs; they may know about breeding them, but they don't seem to know much about any other aspect of dogs. I think that may be why so few of them participate in any dog performance sports or training. 

[Jeri]

Connie, I had a similar situation about 20 years ago. It was really scary. Since then my experience has been the dogs basically avoiding each other. I’m a little worried we won’t find the right fit for us since 2 males are already spoken for in this litter.

Are either of you familiar with the F2B generation? From what I’ve read this generation has a good chance of low to non-shedding. I understand that is no guarantee. The breeder feels the chances are good based on the parents but of course says the potential is always there. F1B was my first choice but this is what the breeder has available now and I’m obsessed with the beautiful parents! I’ve been Following following the breeder for a few years and the pups are always beautiful. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

The mix you described is about 60% poodle.. so that's a ballpark estimate of the chances of not shedding.  Depends on what mix of genes the parents got too but it's impossible to know.  If the parents don't shed I would say the chances are better but there is always the possibility with retriever in there.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

With retrievers on both sides, though, there is a decent chance of shedding. Remember the two new members with open-faced pups who posted in the Where's The Poodle In My Doodle?" group recently? Those are both F2Bs. 
https://doodlekisses.com/group/wheresthepoodleinmydoodle/forum/topi...

https://doodlekisses.com/group/wheresthepoodleinmydoodle/forum/topi...

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Yeah I saw those.  Definitely less likely than a more "doodly" doodle but the chance is still fairly high since one parent is an f1.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Even the F1B parent though has the genes from the retriever. If you happen to get recessive genes from each side, you can still get a dog who looks more like a retriever than a poodle.
The one that baffles me more is the F1Bs who look more like retrievers. You have only Poodle genes on one side.
This is one of my favorite graphics on the subject of mixed breed dogs:
https://animalfarmfoundation.org/resource-library/all-dogs-are-indi...

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I mean I guess the f1bs that are flat coated the poodle must have been a carrier for improper coat... which shouldn't happen but apparently it does.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't think so, because there is no genetic testing for I/C in Poodles. The test isn't even offered for the breed. Optigen lists the breeds that should be tested for it:
https://www.optigen.com/opt9_impropercoat.html

There's no such thing as a purebred Poodle without the genes for length, curl and furnishings. Not even from puppy mills...IF both parents are purebreds. My guess is that some of the Poodles being used to breed doodles have some other breed in them back somewhere. Most doodle breeders are not experts in Poodle pedigrees and some honestly do not know what they have. I've recently seen two different doodle breeders who show "purebred merle Poodle" studs on their websites, both with mismatched eyes. There is no such thing. Doesn't exist. There is Australian Shepherd behind those dogs, somewhere. Maybe the doodle breeders honestly don;t know that, but it's fact. 

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

That makes sense.  Even if it's back a few generations that's all it would take.  Really careful breeders would have pedigrees going back many generations but I wouldn't call most doodle breeders careful :p  why be careful when you can sell a litter of puppies of questionable origin for $2-3k each (or more)?

[Stacy]

I wouldn't worry too much about not finding the puppy. Not yet at least. Totally anecdotally, I feel like every time I see puppies there are more boys than girls and it's the girls that are already spoken for. Hopefully your puppy is in there!