What are your thoughts on this color?

[DJ]

Hi, I'm new and we have been planning on getting a doodle for a year now. I'm sure we all have in our mind what the typical doodle dog looks like. After finally finding a breeder I trusted the dog mom and dad finally had pups. It was a white doodle mom and red miniature poodle dad. I though for sure one of the pups would be that beautiful light tan color. All the pups came our medium apricot, which looks very dark to me. Also the breeder recently changed her allocations to 100% temperament testing. So she matches the puppy up with the family. So we no longer get to pick gender, coat, size. We can pick one characteristic but she said mainly we will get the puppy she says fits best with our family. So now I am having reservations about this litter. Not only it isn't the color I like but I'm paying $ 3,000 and get no say in what puppy I get. What is everyone's thoughts on this process? Thanks in advance!!

[EJ & Dante]

Also, even though I was first pick, I did ask the breeder which 2 puppies of each gender SHE would chose for me.  And honestly, the testing results were ones I would have chosen anyways.  The puppy I fell in love with based off looks for 7 weeks, was NOT the right puppy for us, both in her recommendation and my own opinion based off the testing.

I didn't meet my dog until after I had chosen them, with the breeders help, at the airport when I flew back home.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The breeder does have a quite detailed section on her website explaining her allocation process. In that section, she has this: 

 "We will not work with a family that is determined to focus on physical traits.  If we are already working with a family and they start pressuring us about physical traits, there will be a reminder about how we do things and then a 2nd offense will mean removal from the reservation list and the deposit will be NOT be refunded.  We will not field questions about physical traits.  We cannot make sure they are properly placed if we are worried about the shade of red being too red or other extremely hyper focused details." 

That may be why she is not responding to your questions. 

[EJ & Dante]

Personally, I don't think it's hyperfocused to ask what gender certain puppies are.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree, but it may have been the part about what gender the 2 lighter colored puppies were, lol. 

[EJ & Dante]

How else would you identify the puppies?  One of my children is Ethiopian.  Sometimes, when folks ask which kids are mine, I have to identify her by being black.  Doesn't mean I'm focused on a physical trait.  means it's an easy way to identify her in a group of kids.......

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not arguing with you, I'm just saying what the breeder seems to think.

Most breeders put different color ribbons around their necks and identify them that way. "red boy", yellow girl", etc. 

For that matter, my grandson as young child didn't seem to notice skin color or physical characteristics when it came to other children. When we'd ask him "Which boy is Matthew", he's say "the boy in the blue shirt". Never "the black boy" or "the boy with brown hair". I kind of liked that about him. :) 

[EJ & Dante]

Kids don't see it, which is great.    But parents, I will be pointing straight at her, and parents will say "I don't see her". Even when I say "the girl in the pink shirt". I've even tried "the girl with the braids".  They still can't see it.  They expect to see a child who looks like me ;)  I'm sure if your grandson was asked to point out his brother, who was a different color, it would have been similar.

[Stacy]

Even though Katie was always my puppy - because she was the only female available in her litter by the time I put down a deposit - I absorbed every tiny bit of information tha the breeder put out there. So I studied the volhard temperment results for all the puppies. And they all tested so similarly that without meeting them and additional criteria to separate them I would never have been able to choose just based on that. And shouldn't that be what the breeder is going for? A well rounded litter. Not too aggressive, not too fearful. They all tested 3s and 4s in all the categories. I don't even know how the breeder could really differentiate their personalities significantly given those results. There had to be some additional criteria that factored in. I didn't care so much about color or coat type. But I wanted a girl. I feel like a lot of people don't want the black puppies as much. If only because they are darn hard to photograph! If I could select only on color I would pick a parti-colored dog, just because I really like that look. It's a personal preference, not a value judgement. 

Sorry, I'm about to get really off topic here. But I think picking a dog is kind of like picking a house. You think you know what you want. You select all the criteria that you must have in your home. But I would like to ask a realtor how many times people give them all their criteria - they take them out to look at houses that check off all the boxes, and then the person ends up picking a house that is completely different from what they said they wanted, and doesn't have any of the things they thought they had to have. Because we just don't always know what we want until we find the thing that fits just right. It takes away all that random human-ness that you can't quite define. If the realtor takes all of your criteria, plugs it in and says, "here is your house." And you don't have any input into the selection... how many people are really going to be happy with that? I think there's something intangible that comes from the idea that "I picked you. I wanted you." There's a kind of bond in that moment. I just wouldn't want to lose that. But that's just me. Maybe some people don't feel that the way I do.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I want a dog with temperament as my first priority, but, I do not want a white dog - simply my personal thing, so I guess that would be my one consideration.  I know others care most about the sex of their dog - again a personal thing.  I think if I was comfortable that the breeder would take my needs into consideration and that after she chose the pup for me, I had right of refusal with no penalty, I would let her select.   A breeder who has been with the puppies for 7 weeks, does know more about them than anyone else could and I am sure she would not rely just on the testing.

[Rose Coward]

I don't believe she would have a legal foot to stand on, if she were to be taken to court for removing you from the reservation list and keeping your deposit because you asked questions about the physical traits of the dog.  

[DJ]

Well I do appreciate the input but I'm having mixed feelings. So I reached out to my back up breeder who was sooo nice and said your not bothering me at all! That's reassuring! She will take my preferences into considerations and will give us 2 puppies to choose from based on temperament my preferences and best fit. She has 3 weeks old puppies but they are multigenerational. I'm worried they can have a flat coat and shed right??? She has F1b puppies due this week. But their size will be a little larger than the current litter I'm waiting on at the other breeder. Not sure if I should just stay and let it be and know I will love whatever puppy I get or switch over to new breeder:/
The picture attached is the multigenerational puppies

[Stacy]

Those puppies are gorgeous! And I like the response you got from that breeder. It's a hard decision. I know whatever you do you will love your puppy more than anything.