The Wonderful World of Doodles

[shelly]

With all of the excitement of DK lately from the new logo to the new tees, pjs, etc sporting their favorite 'doodle sayings' - it got me wondering about two things...1) How did you find out about "doodles"?  and 2) How old is your doodle(s)?  For us, well, we sort of just stumbled upon the 'breed'.  My kids wanted a dog. Our Golden Retriever was gone for about 7 years.  I truly missed him and missed having a dog, but LOVED the fact  of being hair free.  We thought that only 'lap' dogs were 'no- shed' and we really didn't want a lap dog (well, my youngest son did).  So my oldest went on dogbreeder.com and filled out a questionnaire about what we "wanted" in a dog, and up popped a "Native american Indian Dog" - a stunning looking dog...(looked liked a wolf), but saw some things that they were part wolf and well, that ended that.  We then we found, "doodles".  Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, and Aussiedoodles.  We started out looking for Goldendoodles as we just adored our golden retriever, but my younger son truly wanted a smaller dog that he could hold.  We saw that aussiedoodles came in smaller sizes,(we never discovered that there were mini goldendoodles or I would be writing about our mini gooldendoodle now I'm sure),  and so began our quest to find a breeder of aussiedoodles....That was bout 4 1/2 years ago.  Tori just turned 3 in March, and I have to say we love her to pieces!  She truly is our loving 'doodle-girl'!

[Adina P]

I wanted to get a dog (leaning toward the Boxer--I preferred lean, athletic looking family friendly dogs not hairy ones) and Clark told me to google "labradoodle" and the rest is history =)

[shelly]

And look what that led you to, Adina...  ALL OF US!  THANKS, Clark!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Our story is very similar, Shelly.  After our Dalmatian died we decided we wanted some "dog free" years so we could travel.  We did that for a while, and then we realized we really missed having a dog in the house.  It was my daughter who told me about Labradoodles.  They sounded great, especially the "non-shedding" part. Now I know this is a myth, but we did luck out and both of our guys don't shed.  So we started our search and found a Breeder that we liked, and Guinness was available.  One look at him and I was in love.  I did almost no research on the "breed".  I was pretty clueless about so many things.  I'm just glad this was the right time of our lives to get Doodles, because I worry about how well I would have been able to handle all the "issues" if I still had children at home or was working full time....training, home cooking, continuous Vet visits, grooming, just to name a few. I wouldn't trade them for anything, but it has been an "eye opening" experience.  Both of my daughters originally thought they wanted Doodles, but after watching us they realized that their lives were way to busy to handle it.

[shelly]

Yes.. it definitely was an eye opening experience for us too, Jane.  Our first dog was "BC" times (before children - lol).  "Swayze" (my first love) was well trained (well kinda') before my children came.  Guess it truly was easier then to train a puppy and devote time to him.  I didn't want to get a dog until my kids were older and they would be more involved with the training and care taking of a puppy, they'd be more responsible, and I wouldn't have their toys all over for the puppy to chew on (well we all know how good that has gone - lol)

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

I wanted a dog so I started doing tons of research.  Everything online (questionnaires) and descriptions of dog breed temperaments led me to the golden retriever.  I am also a runner & thought it would be neat to have a dog be able to run with.  However, I was a little concerned about the size & the hair shedding of the goldens.  One day I was reading a running magazine & it listed the top 10 dogs to run with & one of them was a goldendoodle.  I thought, "WTD?"  Well, actually, I thought, "What the heck" is that?  Then, a couple of weeks later I was talking with another teacher who has a golden retriever and was basically asking her a million questions about her dog.  She said that although she loves her dog, when/if she gets another she said she'd get a goldendoodle.  I freaked out remembering what I had read in the magazine.  So...I asked her what in the world is a goldendoodle & the rest is history.

[shelly]

That's so funny Traci... the librarian at my school breeds labrador retrievers and I too asked her if she heard of the doodle.... she said she heard of them, but anything that had the personality of a labrador or golden and did NOT shed or was low shed was "something out of a dream" - lol.  she is constantly asking me about Tori (who actually is neither one of those).  We toy with getting another doodle and if we'd get another aussie or go with the mini golden.   But right now I'm on the kick of "happy with my Tori-girl alone!

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

The day my daughter picked up her new white lab puppy, she brought Lucy over to meet my husband and me.  My husband was newly retired and kind of at a loss as to how to fill his days.  Watching my husband interact with Lucy, my daughter realized that what he NEEDED was a dog of his own, but we knew he had mild/moderate dog allergies.  Our first look at hypo-allergenic dogs on the internet revealed various "breeds" that, as my daughter put it, looked like scientific experiments gone horribly wrong!  Then we found the doodle!!!

[shelly]

Awe... I love how your daughter is now old enough to take care of her dad's NEEDS!  Love it!  Funny - after we first 'discovered' the doodle, we were on a vacation in Washington DC and saw a labradoodle, I pointed it our to DH - he had kind of the same reaction as yours... and then he said "how can that dog NOT shed!" ... but Voila!

[Clint]

My grandmother has always had poodles of all sizes throughout the years and now my mom has a toy poodle.  Since I was familiar with the breed and like a lot of the characteristics (minimal shedding, very smart, friendly, lean, etc.), but did not want just a poodle I started to Google and came across the "breed".  One of my oldest friends has always had labs and I liked their temperament, but I hated the shedding.  So, I thought the labradoodle was the best compromise.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We had two perfectly good dogs and were NOT looking for another at all. We were camping in our RV and suddenly I saw someone walking this DARLING small dog and I just fell in love!  I chased the poor lady down and inquired about her dog.  For the first time ever I had taken my computer with me and immediately went on line to find out about labradoodles.  I actually didn't find out as much as I thought - now I feel I really could pick the 'best' doodle type for our family, but luckily, we got just what we needed - Neddie poo.  Except for the high, high grooming needs, he is our perfect guy. There is more to our little story, but that is how I learned about doodles.  Ned is 3 years old.  Clancy, our rescue, is also 3.  We got him at age 2.  And luckily, because of dk, I know so much more about doodles and love them all because Clancy does shed and I don't care - well, I do care, but I am not disillusioned.

[shelly]

Awe, nancy!  See - it was 'meant to be'!

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

My sisters Labradoodle  Koby was the inspiration for Riley.  Koby is six years old now (I think) and when Andrea was getting him she told me all about Labradoodles.  They live in Vancouver Canada and I always love visiting  as he is a typical gentle, friendly and goofy Labradoodle.  I thought then if we ever had a garden that I would have to have one.  We moved to the  cottage last February but the search began six months earlier.  Riley will be 12 weeks old tomorrow and he is the most perfect dog and everything we could ever wish for.