The non shedding phrase is a bit misleading, the coat does shed, but the loose hair stays in the coat, so owners have to be diligent with daily brushing, certainly every couple of days at least, it quickly gets knotted and matted if you don't. And they need a visit to a groomer every 6-8 weeks to be clipped, unless you can do it yourself.

For people with allergies it is worth the effort, but prospective owners need to be aware of th he higher maintenance needed. A responsible breeder will explain the care needs.

I'm ok with silky fur be it long or short but if I touch a wire haired dog I come out in a horribly itchy rash! Allergies aren't as straight forward as they may seem I can't go near a cat without being a mess and my son is even worse. We both react in a house where a cat lives even without seeing the cat or knowing one lives there

Here you are, some figures in here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...questions.html .
Whilst they aren't massively high they are just the rspca who don't actually deal with massive numbers of dogs, there are loads of smaller rescues and pounds and ones like the Blue Cross and Dogs Trust too which will increase the numbers a lot. My point was that at one time it was rare to get a pedigree dog in rescue or a designer x but as they have become fashion items to a lot of people more are being abandoned or mistreated. People see a cute dog and all too often buy it based on looks instead of researching it.

With a pedigree you have an idea what breed characteristics you will get, you can't be so sure with a cross breed which is often the reason people cite for not getting a rescue yet they will take a risk with a designer cross only to find the dominant traits aren't the ones they expected. And it's just a whole new 'breed' of dog to be exploited by puppy farmers looking for what they consider to be easy money at the expense of the poor dogs living a life of hell.

If you read the article the main problem seems to be with puppy farms that breed cross breeds, not with the cross breeds themselves. I got my dog from a reputable and caring breeder, and know the family tree.

Puppy farms are a totally separate and horrible issue - they also churn out dodgy pedigrees

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/gett...-to-buy-a-dog/

I did reference puppy farms. I've nothing against the dogs, just the way they have become the latest accessory for so many people especially people who buy them and certain pedigrees because celebrities have them. Dodgy breeders who breed indiscriminately with no regard to health issues are a problem as are the ones who cross big dogs with little dogs that would never happen naturally and these daft names just fuel demand for crosses that shouldn't happen.

Even reputable breeders can't always be relied on as with everything in life some have been found to keep their dogs in awful conditions whether they are breeding pedigrees or crosses. There needs to be a lot more regulation re breeding generally, even some breeders on the kennel clubs accredited breeders scheme have been found to be seriously lacking, it's a minefield. I cringe when fellow dog walkers tell me that they met their breeder in a lay by or motorway services. The desire to own the latest fashionable breed at a price they can afford appeals to idiots who often haven't considered the dog and what dog ownership involves.

Do you actually know of any people like this? Again you're rather rudely calling a particular group of people idiots, but do you really personally know of people that have bought these breeds to be fashionable? People choose a particular breed for all sorts of reasons, for me it was knowing the family she came from and liking the Mum dog. It had nothing to do with 'Oooooh, someone on Towie has a Labradoodle, I must have one and as soon as it goes out of fashion I'll ditch it.' The new cross breeds have just opened up some new types of dogs for people that are a bit easier to predict than your straight up old fashioned mongrels (which I also love by the way).

The kind of people that are cruel enough to mistreat and abandon dogs will do so whatever breed they have - it is to do with the wrong people owning dogs, not the breed.

Cockerpoos and labaradoodles are really cute so I can see the appeal.

Designer mixed breeds seem to be all the rage at the moment, any combination of small dog seems to fetch a high price round where I live - pugs, pomeranians, jack russells, westies, cavalier spaniels, chihuahuas, shitzus, etc.

It is quite funny that they are high price mongrels but as most breeds have been very inbred over the years this should be a step in the right direction so I can't see the problem.

It's because many of us love dogs we worry about these fashionably named dogs. How many are from health tested parents ? How many breeders actually home check ? How many end up not looking a bit like the breeders promise they will ?

You might have have chosen a crossbreed for genuine reasons, but many many people don't. They choose them based on the daft name, the current popularity of that cross, to be fashionable, basically to have something 'exclusive' to stand out from the crowd with. I don't know why else un-health tested puppies from un-health tested patents, without a jot of background, papers, proven in the field or literally anything, would be fetching such high prices.

Would you (general you) pay the same, or even more, for a brand new car from a reputable garage as you would for a second hand motor with absolutely no service history, no MOT, no registration and no guarantees off a free ads site, from someone you met for ten minutes in a lay by or a service station? No of course you wouldn't, you would not give more than £50 for it, in fact most wouldn't even give it the time of day let alone fifty quid. Yet this is exactly what people are doing with crossbreed 'designer' dogs. It's staggering that most people wouldn't even think of buying this pile of metal from a dodgy untrustworthy source, yet they won't think twice about buying a living creature that will become a family member for 15 years or so in the same way!

99% of these crosses aren't being bred for genuine reasons or careful, considerate owners, their being bred like a production line for one reason and one reason only -money. There is no other reason why french bulldog puppies are advertised at £4000-£5000 and even more for the 'rare' blue colours which doesn't even exist in the breed, or why super tiny chihuahuas and yorkies are fetching double the price of a normal standard sized one for being a "teacup" which is a made up word to make a dog sound appealing and unusual when it's actually the runt of the litter.

These so called breeders are filling a gap of supply and demand, if people wouldn't buy these dogs there would be no demand and therefore no reason to keep churning them out. So when people, especially those who work in the dog world and see the result of this, hear that someone has paid silly money for one of these dogs they get rather angry and frustrated. Because if that person had bought a pedigree puppy from a genuine breeder, they would be buying from a good source for good reason off somebody who deserves to be supported for their hard work in maintaining and helping keep good bloodlines. If they wanted a cross or mongrel and went to get one from the local pound or rescue, they would be giving an unwanted dog a second chance and would get respect for taking on a dog that has possibly got 'baggage/issues' and hopefully overcoming them with hard work and patience. But if that person has gone straight to the first ad they see and paid £££'s for a cockerspancolloodlejackamawhatsit which has had no health tests done on either it or the parents, by someone who has simply thrown two dogs together with no real clue what their doing and is only seeing puppies as pound signs, then their going to have quite a different attitude. As if that person had wanted a pretty little mix and didn't care a bit about background, history and health tests, they could have gone to virtually any shelter in the country and got just that for less than a third of the money they've just lined some back yard breeder's pockets with, giving them an incentive to breed yet another litter as they obviously sell.

And that is why those in the dog world tend to frown on those who deliberately buy crosses, not because of snobbery or elitism, or because they have a problem with the dogs themselves, but because of the reason behind these dogs and the outcome of them which is not good news for anyone except the greedy people breeding them.


Poodles shed but the hair stays in in the coat to be brushed out instead of falling out all over your floor. People breed poodles with other breeds to get non shedding dogs, but the poodle isn't non shedding, and whatever breed the other parent is certainly isn't, so how do you guarantee that a puppy, who can inherit from one or both breeds is going to be non shedding? Never believe someone who advertises their pups are 'guaranteed not to shed', they can't, no one can, it's just a way to sell them. There is no such thing as a completely shed-free dog, even hairless breeds shed skin flakes and dander, which is what most people who have pet allergies are actually allergic to.


Unfortunately, rescue shelters are full of dogs because people do just that. A breed becomes the 'in thing', tons are bought on impulse and then dumped in droves when the novelty wears off/ next craze comes along. Dalmatians were in huge demand when the film came out, everyone wanted one without thinking of just how demanding a dog they are, they are not an easy dog and aren't for novice owners, but they were on Disney and everybody wanted their own Pongo or Perdy. The craze wore out much quicker than the dog and most were quickly ditched. Same with Andrex puppies setting a craze for Labradors, Babe creating a craze for collies, and Twilight / Vampire Diaries causing a frenzy for Malamutes and Huskies, which rescues are now chock-a-block with. So I'm afraid yes, history shows that film and TV and the people in them do spark must have crazes in dog breeds, and some people are fickle enough to get a certain dog because some well known face off the telly has one, then dump it once their bored or moved on to something else.

totally agree.

decobelle, I never called you an idiot and as for knowing people who have just got them on a whim as an accessory I talk to people, I see them in the vets and yes they exist. You are clearly not in that group but it happens. As for fashion you look at the winner of Crufts every year and there is an increase in demand for whatever breed wins no matter how suitable or not it is for the people who buy them.

These crosses have always been around whether bred intentionally or by accident but they didn't have the daft sounding names and cost the crazy amounts people are willing to pay and there wasn't there the demand for them - Emperors new clothes

What was wrong with having a dog that was a cocker crossed with a poodle? people saw it as what it was, a x breed, call the same dog a cockerpoo and make out it's something new and wonderful and charge a fortune and people will rush to buy one.

1 - 99% - is this fact or a statistic you made up?

2 - Those in the dog world frown on people that buy crosses - actually this comes across as very snobby and elitist. Anyone that owns a dog is in the dog world - not just pedigree and rescue dog owners,

3 - so as per your point any kind of dog can become a craze and subsequently ditched. Not just cross breeds. Again, this comes down to the owners NOT the breed

Sorry if I'm coming across defensive here but I wonder how people would feel about their dogs criticised, and have themselves ridiculed, as is happening on this thread? I am first time dog owner and adore the latest member of our family, as I'm sure countless Cockapoo and whatever owners do.

I'm off to the cat forum

It's not quite as simple as that though. If you introduce a different breed into a pure line it looses its purity and becomes a cross. That's what a crossbreed is - two different breeds mated together to produce a mix of both those breeds. So if you introduce say a yorkie into a line of pugs , your not going to solve any of the pugs issues, your just going to create a cross of those two breeds. If you have a pie full of blackberries, that's all it is, a blackberry pie and nothing else. If you then put a raspberry in it its no longer a blackberry pie, it's a blackberry and raspberry one. Introducing other breeds isn't answer to sort out problem pedigree breeds, breeding out overdone features is by only breeding from dogs without over exaggerated features, making sure judges only award fit, healthy specimens and keeping the gene pool healthy by not inbreeding too closely.

All that aside, there are now so many crossbreeds their probably even more interbred than pedigrees are, with no way of registering or keeping track of the dogs, if you bred two cockerpoos together you have no clue if their related, how closely, if they have any genetic or heridatary issues, or anything, it's all one big jumbled mess.


BIB 1 - I'd have thought my points that go with that 99% sentence would tell you that. No it's not made up, designer dogs are bred solely for money, very few are bred for genuine reasons. Mainly because they have no real purpose to be bred, any specific skill you'd want one for, there is already a pedigree breed capable of doing that task and has been for generations. Even the original labradoodle that started the designer dog craze didn't really work out for the task it was bred for.

BIB2 - I didn't mean owners, I mean those actively involved in the dog world, those who work with them, rescues, kennels, vets, trainers, behaviourists, groomers, breeders, the show world ie those who actively see the outcomes of these dogs, pick up the pieces and have first hand experience.

BIB3 - Yes any breed can become a craze and get ditched, but there has to be a reason that breed became a craze in the first place, and at the time, the breeds I mentioned were becoming just as much of an issue as the crossbreed phenomenon is now. I never said only crossbreeds could be a craze, you said "It had nothing to do with 'Oooooh, someone on Towie has a Labradoodle, I must have one and as soon as it goes out of fashion I'll ditch it.'" I simply pointed out that it can be exactly that because it's been done before.

Forgot to say in my last post too, Riversmum and Molliepops, great posts, agree completely with you.

Ah and yet as I sit here with my my puppy's sweet head on my lap do I really give a flying f@&k? I would recommend one in a heartbeat. ill leave you now to view dog breeding and ownership in your own way, but what it boils down to for me is having a loving and faithful pet that brings me and my family unlimited joy. No one can spoil that for us!

No you probably don't, most people don't, until they are landed with a bill of hundreds for a genetic complaint that could have been avoided by health testing that is. Of course you may be one of the lucky ones and have no problems whatsoever, but many are unlucky and discover later down the line that the puppy whose background they didn't give a 'flying f**k' about, has a heridatary disease which will cause it to go blind, or a genetic hip condition that will stop it walking, problems that will cause a lot of distress, upset and expense, and could have been completely avoided had the person who bred that puppy cared enough to pay for testing the parents, which would have picked up such conditions and shown they shouldn't have been bred from. If they are very very lucky and manage to contact the breeder, they will find they don't want to know, aren't interested in their dog's problems as they have bred several others since then, all with the same conditions, but chances are they won't know this as the breeder is nowhere to be found when they go calling. They pay the eye watering bill to fix their dog, if their fortunate enough for it to be fixable of course, and as the vet leads it away they suddenly wish more than anything that they had indeed given a 'flying f**k' about the things that didn't matter when their puppy was curled up alongside them.

I am not trying to scare you, I sincerely hope this doesn't happen to you, and that your puppy brings you untold joy for many many years, I'm just pointing out it can happen, which is why those things you don't care about are actually really important.

Nobody is criticising or ridiculing you, we're just trying to explain the issues with designer crossbred dogs as most of us are genuinely interested and concerned with dogs and their welfare. As it happens your one of the exemptions, the rare few who have bought one for genuine reasons and are going the right way about things, but for the benefit of others who migh stumble on this thread, there's advice and proper facts for them to hopefully guide them in the right direction for getting a dog or at least help stop them making a bad choice or getting ripped off if they don't.

It doesn't scare me - I know exactly what Coco (yes there is a real dog behind all this doom) is made up,of. I also live next door to 4 year old Ted, a Cavapoo, who is a beautiful healthy dog, Barney the 2 year old Cockapoo lives down the road and is a bundle of shaggy joy, another Ted, the Sproodle (Springer and Poodle, go nuts on that one) who belongs to my best friend, you will not meet at happier, friendlier dog, Rosie, another Cockapoo, a puppy that has gone to loving and overjoyed owners. These are real dogs, they are our pets. Not once has my vet warned me of any upcoming disasters, but no doubt I'll now be told that I have a terrible vet!

I'll leave it here now as this thread could start to taint what should be a lovely time in me and family's lives. I don't want to face such negativity about my precious pooch!

I think you are taking this far to personally, of course many people love their crosses we loved ours so much I nearly had a breakdown each time one died, but the fact is they are not health tested, and too many do not develop as people expect and those dogs end up in rescue. I could name half a dozen people who wanted small poodle crosses who ended up with huge dogs they couldn't manage another few who have had terrible health problems. It happens in the pedigree world but instead of weeding those lines out they are now being used to breed crosses, unhealthy crosses.

Yes I suppose I am taking a bit personally, because I love my dog and a lot of rather unkind, unfounded comments have been made on this thread, questioning owners motives for getting a particular breed. The health problems you describe can happen in any type of dog - unscrupulous breeders and puppy farms churn out all sorts of dogs, pedigree or otherwise, that could have problems later down the line. This is not a route that I, or anyone I know with a crossbreed have gone, or would go down.

Despite the claims that Labradoodles are modern, designer dogs they have actually been around and called Labradoodles since the 1950's. They became popular in the 1980's, so have been around for a long time. Anything you read oniine will tell you that they are lovely, sociable and affectionate dogs, that need a lot of stimulation (which she certainly gets around here!)

My puppy looks just like this, only a bit smaller with slightly more crimped looking hair (fleece)

http://www.pets4homes.co.uk/pets4hom...fo/labradoodle

I do appreciate what you're saying, people do need to be careful and check when getting any type of dog though, it's not just specific to us fashion victims

As I am a chihuahua owner I get a lot of comments I don't like about chihuahuas and their owners you just can't take it personally people are not talking about me or my dog as we don't fit the profile they condemn, in fact I condemn those who carry them in handbags as much as anyone else does. And yes you can get the problems in any dog but why not make it less likely by health testing parent dogs ?

Lovely looking dog.
I think it can only be good to mix breeds, too much inbreeding going on.
I have always preferred x breeds, as it is I have what some might call a borderjack, I call her x collie myself, and only paid £100. Most of my dogs were rescue dogs (where health issues were not known), and I take them as they come, if they get ill, we deal with it.
I had lots of dogs over the years all getting to age 15, and only had some issues in later life. I take a dog because I fall for it, no other reason, apart from me preferring Lurchers, or terrier types .

I love crosses too but I do think this is not a good idea, too many are crossing very bad combinations of dogs, staffie crossed with mastiffs, terriers with larger dogs making them enormous temperamental dogs that are not safe with other dogs or even people, curly coats with yorkies creating terrible skin problems.

Agreed that it is a bad idea to just cross this breed with that breed and see what happens. I've read that it's hoped some cross breeding could eradicate the hereditary health problems found in pedigrees but obviously this would only happen with proper testing.

Sorry if I've come across as taking this too personally, I just so love being a dog (and cat!) owner at last!

BIB - thank you!! I would post an actual pic but don't know how to!

I have seen quite a few of those dogs, and think they are lovely. Just enjoy the dog you have and don't worry about other people's opinion.

I wonder just how many poodle crosses are sitting in rescue centers as we speak, not many I suspect, whether it is a spaniel, Labrador or retriever cross, which are the most popular. There is a reason for their popularity. So if us owners are stupid, then all I can say is that there are a lot of very happy stupid owners out there.

Owners have the choice before they commit, by only buying from a breeder who has had their DNA testing done before breeding. It's easy to check out the claims made.

My cockapoo is not here because of vanity, snobbery or any reason other than her being, as virtually all of these crosses are, non shedding, friendly, easy to train, gentle natured and an absolute joy to be with. Of course other breeds are as nice, but this was my choice. A happy, healthy dog, with a happy owner. That's what it's about.

I know loads of cross owners, none are disappointed, none are stupid, or idiots, or snobs. Let's respect each other's choices. We are all dog lovers after all.

Thanks I will! She's curled up in the sun at the moment, after a morning of bounding around. She's already added so much to our family life, and I can't wait for her to grow more so we can take her on long walks