What are the top things we need to educate about?

[Adina P]

Hi DK friends!

DK started an Instagram account just over a week ago and I'm trying to intersperse bits of education between photos. So far we've shared info on:

-- finding a rescue
-- choosing a responsible breeder
-- why doodles are not "hypoallergenic"

Now we can break each of these down into smaller bits of info and CONTINUE to educate on specifics, but wondering what you think are top priority OTHER topics worth doing education on via social media?  Some ideas I have are on poodle facts/history and retriever facts/hx for the sake of education on the parent breeds...but what else?

What should other doodle owners and potential doodle owners know?  What do you want to shout from the mountain tops?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adina, the only pedigrees I have seen for doodles are for ALDs, and those are meaningless to me. 
All I can tell you is that IF someone actually has a pedigree for a doodle that has Poodles in it, I can tell them about those Poodle lines. 

There is no certain guideline for what a "champion lines" pedigree for a mixed breed dog should look like, because the concept in itself is an oxymoron. 
When I look at a Poodle pedigree, the first thing I look for is letters in front of the dogs' names. Ideally, most of the dogs and ALL of the males should have that. 
But if a pedigree had only one great grandfather in it who had a CH in front of his name, could you logically say whether or not that constitutes "champion lines"? 
There's no way for you to explain in an IG graphic how someone should interpret a dog's pedigree. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And, what about UKC pedigrees, and all these other bogus registry pedigrees? The average person wouldnl;t have any idea what they are looking at. Truly, I think it would be a mistake to open this particular can of worms. I don;t think pedigrees, with or without champion lines, and really very important to the average doodle owner, and rightly so.

To me, it also seems hypocritical for a breeder of mixes to cite a purebred pedigree as a marketing tool. If you admire purebreds so much, why aren't you producing them? And if you don't admire purebreds, why are you citing purebred pedigrees as a way to make your mixes seem superior? LOL

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

I think in buying a mix the health testing and health guarantees are more important than "champion lines"... because as you said good purebred breeders do not allow their pups to be even bred most of the time, let alone bred to make mixes.  When we bought our Bichon when I was a kid she wasn't even going to let her go but she had a small defect (apricot ears) and we had to agree never to breed her.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Oh, and here is what a "true champion lines pedigree" looks like, lol. 
This is Jasper's sire:

http://poodledata.org/pedigree.asp?ID=429697

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

Maybe also some basic safety issues. There are all kinds of poisonous foods, plants, and other things that can harm your dog or doodle.  The algae blooms in the late summer and fall.  We had a dog fall off of a five story building from a roof-top park here in town.

I know about rawhide and rope toys, but before reading here, I didn't think about too small of a toy for fetch - they can get it caught in their throat.  

I really watch for chewed gum on our walks, because one stick of xylitol gum can be a disaster.

Retractable leashes.

OMG - I sound like a nervous Nellie, but I do think about all of these things!

[Stacy]

You must be close to me. Have we talked about that before? The story of the dog falling off the roof is horrifying. I can't think about it without getting nauseated. That was a doodle too, and there is enough negligence on both sides to go around. It just makes me sick. 

I'm a nervous nellie too, and it just amazes me the things that people don't worry about. We are currently staying far away from all lakes. Just something else to be afraid of.

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

I'm in Lee's Summit.  I remember you said you were in Kansas.  That story makes me sick too.  That was the second dog to fall.  You know KC is not the only city to have green space on the rooftops.  I don't know how I would get over that, knowing I let my dog off its leash to fall.  Just horrible!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMG, I've never heard of that! Horrible!
There's no fences around these roof tops? 

[Stacy]

Yeah, I didn't tell you about that horrible thing. I tell you about a lot of the horrible things I see, but that one was just too much. 

There is a 3'8" ledge around this area of the park, but this is not the off leash area. The off leash area has higher fencing. There are apparently signs that say that dogs need to be leashed in this area, but I guess it's not enforced so everyone thought it was fine to let them off leash. They should have fixed it two years ago when the first dog fell, but I guess they just made the signs saying not to let your dog off leash bigger. No one is blameless in this story. I guess they're fixing it now. I don't think I could ever take my girls up there regardless. I'm not a big fan of heights anyway, but the thought of them falling is more than I can handle.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Right there with you, on all counts, including heights. 

What a horrible story. I'll have nightmares about that poor dog.

[Stacy]

Don't look it up. They have pictures of him (before the accident.) I may be permanently traumatized.

[Barbara, Zoey and Zeke]

I agree, don't look it up.  Now I see that face.  So sad