Do I have a doodle?

[Courtenay]

Hello all! Our family recently acquired a new addition named Maggie. We did not get her from a breeder- a co-worker of my husband’s was giving away puppies for free, so I don’t have a very extensive knowledge of her lineage to say the least. Supposedly this co-worker has a lab/cocker mix that became pregnant by the neighbor’s toy poodle that kept somehow sneaking through the fence. I have seen pictures of the mother, who basically just looks like a black and white cocker spaniel, and the grandmother that is a chocolate lab. I don’t have any pictures of the supposed poodle. I came across this site and group while google searching what a mix from that kind of pairing may look like. Maggie is small, 6.8lbs at her last vet visit at 10.5 weeks. She does have shorter hair on her face and legs, so it doesn’t look like she will have the look that is typical of poodle mixes. She does have cocker-like waves on her ears and the top of her head; however, the rest of her coat does not. It is thick, fluffy, and soft but it does have a texture to it. Her coat doesn’t look anything like a typical cocker or lab puppy, but it isn’t super curly or wavy like a poodle either. Not being able to see at least a picture of the “toy poodle” father puts a seed of doubt in my mind that she is actually half poodle. I know the only way to know for sure is by DNA testing, but I thought I would post to see if anyone more experienced with doodles could see anything even remotely resembling a doodle in her or if anyone has a dog who had a similar coat as a puppy. Thanks in advance!

[Wanda Klomp]

Hi Courtenay, first of all: she is lovely. Secondly: the Australian Doodle is a mix of 7 different breeds, including Am and Engl Cock. Spaniel, Labrador and Poodle and can therefor look like one of these breeds. Your pup is a perfect fit :-) As a groomer I always look at the coat and these differ per Doodle. Some look really fluffy, others look more like a Poodle or Labr retriever, the Cockapoo mixes often look more like Cocker Spaniels and a lot of Doodles look like soft coated retrievers. They are all special in their own way and they all have great characters. If you want to know more about how to groom her, please check my free ebook on my profile page and my website. I have a book on Amazon too, teaching you all about the different coat types out there and how to treat them. Enjoy your pup. She is adorable, "real" Doodle or not. xxx

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Courtnay.  With what you described, the pup may not truly a 'doodle,'  or even a poodle mix but she is absolutely adorable.  Her eyes alone would make me want her.  She will probably look very different as an adult, but my guess is that she will be a small dog.  You are right that you could DNA test her to see what mixes she has in her - and that is sort of fun - but really she is what she is and you love her and it is going to be very exciting  to discover how she changes as she grows.  We had a lab/Australian Shepherd mix once and his coat looked very similar to Maggie's body.  He shed that straight but fluffy puppy coat pretty quickly and became short-haired. Boy, was his coat easy care - like a lab he dirt and mud just rolled off him and briars and stickers never got stuck in it. He shed quite a bit too.

[Christine]

Hi,

All I wanted to say is your pup is one of the prettiest pups I have ever seen, regardless of genetics.

Best of luck!
Christine & Miss Nala 

[Courtenay]

Thank you to everyone that has responded! I agree that she is beautiful! She is also very sweet. I actually had no clue what her parentage was when we made the decision to bring her home, I just knew she was a lab mix. When we got her and saw how small she was is when I got curious and started asking questions about the parents, and that’s when they told us about the male being a toy poodle. I quickly found out on google that even if she is half poodle, she doesn’t really show it, and that’s completely ok. I know it can be hard to tell, especially when they take more after the other side of their genetics, but I just didn’t know if there was some other indicator that may point to poodle besides coat like body shape or snout, etc. That’s so interesting Nancy that you had a fluffy puppy that became short haired. I kind of hope her hair stays a little longer, even if it is flat instead of fluffy! Time will tell!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Her coat looks quite a bit like our Luna's did at that age so I'm predicting flat-coated but "fluffy" a bit on the body.

Here's Luna at 8 weeks old:

[Courtenay]

That does look a lot like her coat! Thank you so much!

[Christine]

 My dog Nala’s dad is a red mini poodle.  Her mom is half golden retriever and half mini poodle making Miss Nala 3/4 poodle...however you wouldn’t know it by looking at her.  She looks like a mini red golden, but does have the slender poodle nose, the athleticism of the poodle, highly intelligent which I think is a poodle thing...so I definitely can see poodle characteristics, but she is my little golden girl.  Nala has her poodle dad’s color and markings though..

Just thought I would share since you have a poodle dad you don’t see :)

Good luck with your beautiful girl!

Christine