7 months and still no facial beard or no long shaggy coat!

[Kendra MacEachern]

Just wondering if anyone else has had a doodle with absolutely no sign of a facial beard by the age of 7 months or anyone who has a doodle that didn't develop one until later. Is my carlos just a late bloomer?

 

And also does anyone have an pictures of a doodle with a coat similar to his? He just turned 7 months and is still sporting a slightly wavy short coat. I would love to know if it is going to grow out more or stay fairly short and straight. I'm not sure if he is every going to get long and shaggy!

He is an F1B that is 3/4 retriever and 1/4 poodle.

Anyone with any idea of what his coat will be like as an adult please let me know! I am just so curious!

 

Thanks everyone!

 

 

 

[Adina P]

It doesn't look like he's going to get much more in the way of a beard or snout fur...at least not to a 'doodley' extent. But it makes sense given that he's 3/4 retriever.  He's pretty darn cute though!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I don't know how "doodly" he'll get. BTW, you can embed pictures right in the discussion by clicking on 2nd icon from left above type.

[April Cliber]

He's adorable!!!  I don't think he'll get a lot more "doodley" but his coat may get longer.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Gotta agree, don't know how much more doodley in the face but think his body hair will continue to grow and feather out!  Love the 2nd picture.  He is adorable!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I can only judge from the 20 of so doodles I've known over this past year, and my own two and they all had longer fuller facial hair and beards from the start. But I guess anything is possible. BTW his hair is beautiful and he has a sweet face just the way it is.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

an F1b is a lab or golden, bred with a poodle, then that offspring bred with a poodle.... so you pup is a .... I dunno what thats classed as actually. As your pup is mostly retriever, i would assume that his coat will stay the same, very retrieverish. He does not look like a doodle at all, but he does look super cute! Gorgeous colours!

[Carol Brand]

No, this is an F1B.  The B=backcross to one of the parent breeds. The backcross does not have to be to a Poodle.  I'd say that genetically, you got a dog that is mostly Golden so I would not expect to see much in the way of shagginess.

[Kendra MacEachern]

His mother was an F1 doodle and was very curly and poodley, his father was a pure bred retriever. It is just called a back-cross to the retriever rather than the poodle in order to produce F1b offspring with the temperment of a retriever. 9 times out of 10 the puppies are usually shaggy or even curly with the odd one in each litter having a straight flat coat but he was not one of the puppies in that litter that had the straight flat coat so that is why i'm wondering why his coat is taking so long to grow out.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Kendra, I am not an expert, but I have a F1B Labradoodle. She is 3/4 poodle and 1/4 lab. She definitely looks more like a poodle than a lab, especially after being groomed. If your dog is 3/4 retriever than I would imagine you are going to get a more retriever like coat. My feeling is his coat is probably going to stay like it is now. Either way, he is one cute dog and I love his name. Does he shed?

[Kendra MacEachern]

No he doesn't shed. He shed his puppy coat at 4 months and I can count on one hand the number of hairs I have seen since. Most people are surprised when I tell them he does not shed because of how much he resembles a Golden but the Back-cross to a retriever almost always produces non-shedding pups as well as the back-cross to a poodle.

[Adina P]

" but the Back-cross to a retriever almost always produces non-shedding pups as well as the back-cross to a poodle."

 

How does that work when even the F1 retriever-poodle cross doesn't "almost always" produce non-shedders? It would seem logically implausible to think that going back to get more retriever genes would yield mostly non-shedders when a litter that is 50% poodle (statistically) comes out with variable shedding.  I can believe that certain litters come out favorably, but not consistently over time.  Over time, statistically, it would seem that out of 100 litters of 3/4 retriever - 1/4 poodle dogs, there would mostly be shedders--even if the odd litter resulted in mostly non-shedders. 

 

But that's really cool that you got the retriever that doesn't shed!  That's a retriever lover's dream!

[Kendra MacEachern]

Well I am no expert on dog genetics but from what the 3 breeders I have talked to told me, and from research I've done before getting a doodle, it was to my knowledge that when a breeder produces a litter with this mix there is usually only one or two pups that have the straight flat coat and even they don't shed any more than shaggy or curly doodles. I guess what they mean is that regardless of the 3/4 retriever in the dogs they still shed no more than a F1 or an F1b bred back to the poodle. It is hard to believe but this has been my experience so far with my dood! This breeding is for people who either love goldens and don't want to deal with the shedding or for those who would prefer a doodle with less poodle traits. I personally love the shaggy look but I wouldn't trade my boy for the world now!

 

If you would like to know more about the results of this breeding check out http://www.goldendoodleworld.com/

 - this is one of the "original" breeders of goldendoodles and she has had every different type of doodle and has quite an extensive amount of experience with these wonderful dogs. She has a page called smooth coats and that is where she discusses the relsults of the retriever back cross from her own experience.

This is where I discovered the 3/4 retriever 1/4 poodle mix.