We are looking for the right labradoodle to love

[The Turner Family]

Hello, thank you for the work you all are doing to help save dogs to help people fall in love with this wonderful breed.  We are interested in finding another perfect labradoodle for us.  The picture you see attached is our beautiful Coach Tom Landry, who is 3 years old.  We have 3 daughters, ages 12, 9, and 5.  We loved Coach so much and planned a long life with him, arguing about which daughter would get to take him to college with her.  Last August, with no warning, our sweet boy went to sleep in his crate one night and didn't awaken the next day.  We were devastated, and really still are.  We are ready to love another, but we must have a great temperament, gentle, non-shedding and hypoallergenic dog due to 2 asthmatics in our home and the fact that the 5 year old is still small.  The F1 and F2's sometimes shed and quite a lot.  This will not work for the respiratory issues in my home. That's the reason that we don't act on a rescue opportunity right away.  Any thoughts on how we can proceed to bring another labradoodle home with us?  Thanks for your attention.

[Amy & Bernie]

First let me say I'm so sorry for your loss! I can't imagine going through something like that - but I'm very happy to hear you're ready to give another dog a wonderful home. I'm new to Labradoodles myself so I don't have a lot of advice in regards to rescue versus breeder, but for what it's worth my husband and I are a complicated combination - I've been allergic to animals, every hairy kind, my entire life, and he has some pet allergies on top of suffering from reasonably severe asthma. We were able to visit Bernie on a couple occasions before taking him home, and he never bothered us. The breeder was just a few hours drive away and told us for any reason we started having issues once we got him home she'd refund our money and take him back - but we never had problems, and still don't. Bernie sheds some, he has a wavy fleece coat but there's wiry hair in the mix along his back and rump. Anyhow, I don't blame you one bit for taking precautions, but as shocked as I was with our results I'd suggest looking close by so you can spend time with different dogs to see what will work for your family. Good luck, please keep us posted!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

First of all let me say I'm so sorry for your loss.  I cannot even imagine the shock that must have been and the heartache that followed.  I'm sure some of the experts will chime in here, but from what I've learned in similar discussions here on DK, and from my involvement with the DRC (Doodle Rescue Collective), I would think the best choice for your family would be an adult dog that is over 2 years old and has fully completed their coat change.  The risk you take with a puppy is that until the coat change is complete you do not know if your family members will be allergic.  That means you bring in a puppy and for over a year everyone is fine, but then along comes the coat change and all of a sudden someone starts having problems.  Even if the breeder has agreed to refund your money, after what you have been through, giving a dog back at that point would not be a good thing.  There would be a few ways this might be possible.  Check with all the "reputable" breeders in your area to see if someone might have a breeding dog they are getting ready to retire!  That way the coat change would be complete and you could go and spend some time with the dog and possibly take it home on a trial basis.  The second thing would be to work with the DRC.  They routinely have many dogs in Texas (although TX is a huge state), possibly something might be close where you could do the same thing and have a trial on an adult dog.  I know that there are always concerns about placing a rescued dog in a home with people with allergies as we never want to have to rehome again, but possibly if one were close by and a trial run is possible it might be able to work.  I''m sure you will get lots of advice here, and I wish you success in finding the new perfect Doodle for your family!

[Adina P]

What a devastating loss, I'm so sorry about losing Coach :(

As to another labradoodle, I'm not really clear on what you are asking.  Are you seeking breeder recommendations or advice about finding a rescue or something else?  

[F, Calla & Luca]

The much too soon loss of your dog is so sad. I would think that given the fact that you have two asthmatics in your home the safest bet would be to go with a poodle. The have all the wonderful traits of the doodles but are much more likely to be hypoallergenic. We have had many discussions on this topic and you can search for them. It is one thing though to have some mild allergic symptoms and another to have an asthmatic attack. I have a friend who gets symptoms from my dogs, both of whom are ALDs

[Anna and Achilles]

My heart goes out to you and your family, I have experienced such pain as well. The best thing we did was to add Achilles a few month later. You will never forget your baby. There is always room for more love. Good luck in your search.

[Camilla and Darwin]

You already have a lot of good advice here so I will just say that I am so sorry for your loss. It's such a tragedy and I hope you find the perfect dog for your family...

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

So sorry for your devastating loss and I hope you find the perfect dog to love.