Puppy selection based on coat type

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Ok-I have read and read about coats on Goldendoodles. I know there is really no predicting, but there is experience from all my DK friends, right? My puppy will be born next week. I have pick of the litter and must choose the sex right away, and the actual puppy in the fifth week. I want it all really, and that may be the problem! In a nutshell, I want pretty, calm, and smart.

Parents are; dad-red moyen Standard Poodle, mom-cream English Golden Retriever. I chose the English because I like the thick body style. I want my puppy to exhibit the retriever style of short and wide face and thick body with shorter ears, but I also want soft ringlets and a beard. I understand curls mean no beard, and shaggy coats get beards. I also understand that curls are harder to maintain than shaggy coats.

Is there a way for me to look at the litter photos and pick close to what I'm after in looks since I have to choose at least sex immediately? Because what if there are only one or two girls? My breeder's current litter has five boys and one girl and even though you could pick out the curly ones, all their faces and ears look the same. 

I have read on here that some breeders actually pick the puppy based on it's personality to match with the prospective parents. Is that a good idea? Do the puppies really exhibit enough personality at five-eight weeks of age to know whom they should placed with? I want a smart girl who is calm and pretty :)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We chose Luna partly based on looks, but mostly on personality :)

 

She was the leader of her little "pack", and wouldn't leave my fiance alone when we were there to visit, except to run around like a little tazmanian devil as her sisters and brothers followed.

 

Here is Luna with her 5 sisters at 4 weeks.  She also had 4 brothers, but we knew we wanted a female so the breeder sent us the pics of the girls :) Luna is the one on the right in the first picture.  As you can see from my profile pic (and other recent pics), Luna is one of the few "straight haired" doodles around.  Her brother Oscar was in the same puppy class as us, and up until about 16 weeks was still straight haired like Luna, but we're not sure how the rest of the litter turned out.

 

Maybe these will help a bit if you're looking for a really "doodly" doodle - steer clear of puppies that look like Luna with her noticeable lack of a beard and no "scruff" between the eyes!

 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

It is fun - you never really know.  Peri is much doodlier than I thought she would be.  I could care less, she is the love of our lives.  Just the best personality.  As you can probably tell, we are all a little obsessed with our doodles.  I love my chihuahua, but Peri's doodle personality is just too much.  She makes me smile just looking at her!

[NewfoundlandNic]

Hi Sandy,

 

I can totally relate. We decided to get a goldendoodle in December and I drove myself crazy looking at sites that attempt to explain and predict coat type. As many have said here, it is a bit of a gamble. I finally decided to choose by sex first (female - I love giving belly rubs and have always had female dogs lol) and temperment: I wanted confidence and a middle of the pack girl (our last beautiful dog, a lab mix, was a little too submissive). However, like you, I really want the shaggy look, fleecey coat, squarer head and beard. Our breeder helped us choose, and we have to do all of this from a distance because we are provinces apart. I am still so nervous. "Georgia" will be nine weeks when she joins our family on April 4th and all I have seen are pictures! I think her pictures indicate she will be fleecy, and although I know it is no guarantee, 99% of this breeders doodles have the look.

 

Good luck! My profile pic and pic below are of Georgia during an outside romp this weekend. She is seven weeks old.

Nicole

[NewfoundlandNic]

My breeder does one pic every two weeks. Torture!

 

Here she is at just three weeks:

 

She seems to have the square head and shorter ears I was hoping for as well. And as my breeder has said, she is no great photographer, which makes it all even more challenging!

[Natasha]

I've shared this before, but here is what we did to test the puppies that our breeder was recommending to us. She did a fabulous job selecting puppies that met our list of needs (and temperament/family fit was one of the most important issues for us). However, we even found differences among the puppies that we had to chose from. We wanted a puppy that would be easy to train, a great family dog (good around children and older people), a dog that could go on an hour long walk with us but didn't need to RUN RUN RUN, a dog that would settle in when we were ready to relax at night but that would be playful and interactive, and we wanted a follower and not a leader (no Alpha).  We got all of that and more with Rouser. Here's the test that we did...

1) Lace your fingers together under the puppies rib cage and gently lift the puppy a few inches off the ground and hold for 10-20 seconds. A submissive dog will not squirm or will minimally squirm.

2) Cradle the dog in your arms so that the puppy is on his/her back. Hold for at least 45 seconds. A submissive puppy will relax into your arms and not squirm.

3) Walk around the room and see if the puppy will follow you (need to be in a room with few distractions - not one with the other littermates). Look for a puppy that will naturally be curious about you and want to follow you.

4) Drop your keys on the floor. Look for a puppy who will startle at first, but then will approach the keys and sniff. A dog that runs away and will not follow through to investigate may be timid.

5) Play a strange sound (like the alien or duck sound on many cell phones) and see what the puppy does. Again, you want to see a puppy that is willing to investigate rather than one that runs away and stays away.

These are just a few things that you can do to get an understanding of the temperament of the puppies that you are looking at. NOW, if you want something other than a submissive dog (for instance, you want a dog that hunts or you want to raise a bomb sniffing dog), there are other tests and traits to look for. For instance, people who want to train a dog for search and rescue missions will look for a dog that is completely obsessed with balls and is high energy.

 

It is critical that you tell your breeder what your life is really like. Make sure you say things like: "I sit around a lot," "I'm gone during the day," "I love to run," "I like to go on long walks on the weekend (or every day)," "I want to have a dog that will be very trust worthy off-leash (hint: don't get a realy prey driven dog, then)," "I have a variety of people over often/never," "I am around a lot of 7 year olds," "my 80 year old grandmother comes over a lot," or "I like to snuggle up and watch TV at night."

 

Also, let the breeder know what you love and can't stand about dogs, like: "I don't want a dog that lifts its leg (fyi, a submissive male might not lift his leg or hump other dogs/people but an Alpha female very well might)," "I can't stand dogs that jump," "I want a dog that will bark if there is anything that I should pay attention to," "I want a friendly dog - I'm not looking for protection and barking would be bad in my community," "I have a beautiful garden - digging would not be good," "I want to take my dog to Starbucks with me everyday so I need a dog that will be comfortable waiting outside for me and won't whine or bark." You would be surprised what things like that mean to a breeder. YES, you can train a clingy dog not to whine when you go in a store, but it's much more difficult (on you and your dog) if you picked a dog that is naturally more clingy. YES, you can train a digger not to dig but some dogs (especially very prey driven dogs) are just wired that way. That dog would be much happier with someone who likes to hike on trails or who might enroll him/her in agility or rally classes to actually feed his/her natural instincts rather than try to suppress them.

 

Spend some time thinking about yourself and share as much as you can with your breeder about your needs and wants behaviorally and let her know how much time you are willing to work with your dog (realistically). You'll be SO much happier if you do!

[Luke]

I can't wait to see your future posts. You said you were in SW Texas what city? I'm in Sugar Land, suburb of Houston, I'm also still in search of my own doodle. You did a lot of research like I have, so it's a matter of narrowing down the breeder. There are a few good breeders in Texas. Are you in Austin? There are some breeders in Austin and San Antonio also. Are you going to go and pick up your baby or are you having it shipped to the airport?

[Holly (Jax & Bandit)]

Remember I told you that my puppy, Jax, was also from a moyen poodle - well his dad was the father of the Travolta puppies.  Jax was one of the litter of those puppies so he has famous siblings!  All the puppies in that litter looked exactly alike and their mother was an english golden so that may give you a real good idea of what your puppy may look like.  You can look on the Mcdoodles website and see pics of the Travolta puppies if you want to see what they looked like at 8 weeks.  Congrats on Hattie!

[Holly (Jax & Bandit)]

No, we didn't do boot camp.  I have had dogs before so he was pretty easy to train.  I think his coat just looks shaggy.  He has some tighter waves around his collar and on the bridge of his nose.  He just looks like a big fluff ball to me.