We are thinking of getting a dog late this year or early next and after a lot of thought thinking of one of these. A man in our village has one and its just a gorgeous looking dog.

Does anyone here have any advice or anything about them from experience?

Many thanks

We have in the villiage where i live one. She is very hyper but still lovely but whether its because she is still a puppy. We also have a labradoodle in the villiage as well. She jumps up a lot realy energetic as well.

They are over priced mongrels IMO. I really dont get this flogging cross breeds for a small fortune, the shelters are full of them.

Why are the shelters full of them? Do they have behavioural problems?

I don't care about the mogrel tag really. Just want a nice pet!

There is a great difference between a mongrel, and a crossbreed. A mongrel is of unknown parentage normally, can be many different breeds, whereas a cross breed is normally a deliberate cross of two pedigree dogs to try and get rid of inherited faults from one or other breed. The latest crosses with Bichons and Poodles is to help people who are allergic to dog hair, or simply don't like dog hair all over their clothes, furniture etc.

The shelters are mainly full of Staffies from what I have read.

No, sorry. I meant the shelters are full of cross breeds. Golden doodles sell here for £650-£700. People are being ripped off for what would used to have been called a mongrel..

So breeding a poodle and a bichon isn't really anything to do with getting rid of inherited faults (which can be done with good breeding within the line) but more to do with peoples demand for a "designer" dog with a cute name? God forbid, they get dog hair on their couch, but if it bothers them that much there are plenty of breeds that hardly cast without interbreeding. And having had several discussions with a consultant immunologist, there are, apparently, no guarantees with regards to these dogs and allergies as most allergies are caused by dog saliva not the fur. It's something we looked closely at before getting our dogs as I have asthma.

Not for me, sorry. It reeks of money making.

Hmmm. Well to be honest the "designer name" thing wasn't the reason I want one either as I saw the dog and just loved it and this was before I had any idea what breed it was.

I'm not too stuffy about the whole pedigree thing. Our dog growing up was a son a crufts champion (for his breed) but he was only ever the family pet and loved to bits.

My husband does get Asthma though - and even if its not guaranteed to not effect that, I like the idea of a low shedding dog. He had a miniature schnauzer growing up and he was also a low shedder I believe.

I am still going to think about it. My son (who is 9) just wants "a dog" so he's easy about it!

But I still think the goldendoodles are lovely looking dogs and the seem to be good family pets. I'm home so he or she will always have company and plenty of long country walks about for exercise.

Would be good to hear from anyone who's ever owned one though. Will keep an eye on this thread...

Thanks for the replies so far.

Well said duffsdad. My friend is a professional dog groomer and has also owned and bred Standard Poodles (very, very successfully) for over 35 years. She dreads getting a 'doodle' of any kind to groom because their coats are so unpredictable! Most of them DO shed and on top of many having the dense, profuse poodle-type coat, they also may have the worst traits of the coat of the other parent. She is also mystified as to why people pay so much for what is a cross-breed, almost always from parents who have NO health tests (in a Goldendoodle I would at the very least expect both parents to be hip scored as hip problems can occur in both breeds), when they could have a superbly bred pedigree poodle from someone with years of experience who has carried out all the recommended Poodle health tests (hip scored, eyes tested and Sebaceous Adenitis tested) and provides a life long back up and advice service for less than the price of a cross-breed. The guy who 'invented' the labradoodle as a guide dog for people with allergies is appalled at how people have jumped on the bandwagon and produced them by the hundreds of thousands. As duffsdad said, it is all about making money and if a reputable dog person was asked if their male could be used to produce a crossbreed of any kind, no matter how cute the resulting cobbled together name might sound, the answer would be a resounding 'NO'!

So pedigree dogs don't have health issues?

I agree.
And the labradoodle website itself says it is a myth that they are necessarily good for allergy sufferers.

On a shallow level - I couldn't have a dog which I had to tell everyone was called a golden doodle, that's ridiculous!!

To be honest I came on here to ask about a type of dog.

Not to hear a lot of bitching about pure breeds vs. cross breeds and the price.

I don't give a shit about the price to be honest. Its not a concern I will have when I buy the dog. I just want a nice dog. I saw one and spoke to the owner who informed me what type of dog it was. I'd never even heard of them.

I don't want a goldendoodle because of the name. I don't care if its a cross breed. I don't care what it costs. I appreciate they may have health issues but our dogs growing up were pure pedigree and they had health issues with their heart, ears and eyes (spaniels).

What I care is: Do goldendoodles make a good pet.

Sorry to rant on but honestly... I understand people have axes to grind or have a "view" on the rights and wrongs on pure and cross bred. I know there is a LOT of one-upmanship and snobbery in some parts of the dog loving world. Fine, if that's your thing but this thread is about a type of dog and does it make decent pet.

Thank you.

This dog is much like the one in our village.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dyThtxzAao

I mean, look at it. It hardly warrants some of the shallow comments.

I never said that but I did say that reputable people will test (regardless of whether they have experienced any problems) to ensure that they only breed from healthy animals. I can't see someone who just fancys producing puppies to make a bit of holiday money shelling out £130 - £275 per dog for hip scoring alone but this is something that reputable people do all the time. In todays 'take 'em to Court' society, it wouldn't cross their minds not to do health tests. On the odd occasion I visit my Vet, usually once a year for boosters, I usually have the only pedigree dog in the waiting room. I don't own and have never owned Poodles or Golden Retrievers in case anyone was wondering

So what you are saying is you don't get "reputable" people breeding goldendoodles?

Does this mean that all pedigree breeders are "reputable"?

OK I have never owned one but I do know quite a few Standard Poodles (I assume that this would be the type of poodle used to produce a 'goldendoodle'? Any of the smaller ones would not be feasible IMO). Standard Poodles are highly intelligent and very active, strong-willed dogs. Golden Retrievers, if from a working line (don't know if you would be able to find out as I wouldn't imagine that the producer of the puppies would be that interested in the antecedents of their dog) could be very high-drive and intelligent and require large amounts of exercise to keep them from getting bored. Couple the two together and you could have your hands full. The problem is that just because the goldendoodle you have met has a lovely temperement, it doesn't mean another goldendoodle will be the same. Unless you got a puppy from a repeat mating you won't be able to compare like with like. Not the dog for me and I speak as someone with a medium/large, active working breed.

There are miniatures - the one in the youtube clip above is one.

You keep slurring the breeders as if they don't care about health problems or where the parent dogs come from by the way. This breeder does seem to care about these things and is pretty honest I feel:

http://www.ukgoldendoodles.co.uk/faq.html#hip

Would be nice to hear from someone who has one of these dogs as a family pet.

I'm not slurring the breeders, just wanted to point out that a crossbreed is not always the answer to all the ills of the dog world and you should do your research (which is what you are doing ) before buying ANY animal. If the breeder is caring and doing things properly and you are happy then great!

The biggest problem with both first crosses and mongrels is you have no idea what sort of dog you will get ! People breeding them do not in my experience health test - so you can get the worst health problems form each breed, nor can they guarantee the coat type or size of the dog.

We have a golden retriever cross collie she is a rescue and was originally sold as a golden collier, she is lovely and very friendly but she has a strong retrieve instinct coupled with a herding instinct, she has cost us a lot in medication and special food due to her inherited health problems and is a nervous wreck if anyone peaks loudly or she hears a loud noise.

Would we love her more if she were perfect ? NO ! But would her life have been happier if she had been 100% retriever ? Yes as the collie side of her brings the health problems and nervousness. Any decent breeder would not have allowed her Dad to father pups IMO.

It has decided us our next dog will be from a decent breeder and an established breed from a healthy line.

See the link above. That breeder seems to be mindful of health issues at least.

If you only want a particular type of comment I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. This will probably be another comment you don't like, but you can ignore it and maybe someone else would be kind enough to answer.

Why are crossbreeds are given a 'name' as if they are a new breed? Why are they not just called (in this case) golden retriever/poodle crosses?

I once had an absolutely gorgeous cat who was a Bengal/Burmese cross. And that is what she was called, and the breeder sold her for £70 rather than the pedigree price of £500. Oh... maybe that's the answer? (I love crossbreeds btw.)

OP - a constructive suggestion: why not go and ask the man in your village who has one, he should be able to give you the full story on owning one.

Money - as a golden retriever cross collie Mollie would have been sold for £30 as a Golden Collier her first owner paid £250 for her - we paid £100 to the rescue we got her from.

Another one here who wouldn;t pay hundreds of pounds for a crossbreed dog - when the shelters are full to busting of perfectly good dogs (including mongrels if that's what floats your boat). The fact they have 'cute' sounding 'breed' names doesn't make it anything other than a crossbreed.

my sons father had a labradoodle who was a lovely dog but unfortunately didnt make it to his first birthday, but died leaving my son absolutely distraught - he doesnt know if it was because of being a cross breed. he never had health problems before

if the dog the man in the village has seems healthy do you know him enough to ask the name of his breeder?

I am sure your son will love it - my son still misses his dog and would love another one (however we have cats...)

Again, I didn't like the dog because of the name. Its name had no bearing on my liking it. I liked the dog because of the look of it and its manner. I had no idea what it was when I saw it.

Nothing floats my boat or otherwise when it comes to crossbreeds or pedigree to be honest. We are looking at lots of different dogs trying to decide. I wouldn't have a spaniel again for instance. Lovely dogs but all of ours (bred from crufts champion and with lots of cc's) had issues with their ears and (in later life) heart problems.

I just simply want to know what they are like as a pet. Not the rights and wrongs of cross breeding in the grand scheme of the dog world. I couldn't give two hoots. Any pet we have will be spayed/neutered anyway so its not as if we will be breeding from it.

Our cat came from Battersea. I am no stranger to rehoming and given we won't be getting any dog until the end of this year or more likely early next this could well be an option for us.

I never knew what a can of worms I would be opening just by mentioning a type of dog!!

Crazy.