Oodles of doodles

TW: This blog post is a very nice little soap box I’m going to stand on about Doodles. It’s not an attempt to change your opinion if you have one along the lines of “doodles-are-awful”; but at the end I’ll ask you a question to reflect on, and I’ll tell you right now: your answer isn’t a wrong one.

I see a lot of hate online for Doodles - some opinions are of the humans breeding them and some are against the dogs themselves. We have a 1.5 year old Bernese cross Standard Poodle - a “Bernedoodle” if you will - and you should know I’ve had this “why are people so mad about Doodles?” thought long before we had Bernice. They’re a hot topic these days but I think it’s a good idea to look back at some of the history of dog breeds.

From what I can research, there are 14 “original” dogs. Some of them are: Afghan Hound, Greyhound, Shar Pei, Chow Chow, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Akita, Lhasa Apso, Shih Tzu, and Mastiff. Now, what I find interesting is that out of the current 400+ breeds of dogs on the planet, if you remove those OGs, the rest are less than 400 years old.

Do you see where I’m going with this?…

All the beloved dogs you grew up raising or dreaming about, all had to be mixed with other dogs at some point to create the familiar dogs we consider the purebreds of today.

Let’s have a lookiloo at Golden Retrievers. This history took me by surprise because I assumed its mixes would’ve been more, or as familiar, as the Golden (like a lab or something maybe?) but was I ever wrong. Goldens got their start by crossing a Flat Coated Retriever (like a Golden but smaller frame and totally black) and a Tweed Water Spaniel (curly haired nerd that’s usually chocolate in colour).

How about Poodles you ask? They’re originally a cross between a Barbet (this made me lol because they look just like a Poodle?) and a Puli (the little mop dogs that are also curly coated like a Barbet when not in dreads).

Now I’m going to assume in the early days of Golden and Poodle development, selective breeding of those dogs had to happen to create a consistent new breed.

I have a feeling some of you are arguing with me in your head (I am a medium remember?) about ethical breeding that Doodles aren’t getting - and not the fact that it’s these two purebreds making babies. And to that I say: I agree. I also think that ethical breeding should be happening all across the board, for all the dogs. So don’t just burn your bra for Doodles - dumb people are breeding dogs everywhere; but that’s a blog for another day.

Doodles in shelters are on the rise and it wouldn’t surprise me if marketing got us into this bind. These dogs are sold as perfect family pets that are hypoallergenic…leaving out the part that majority of them are super athletes that like doing most of the things. So some families aren’t prepared for the brain that shows up with these dogs along with their physical needs.

Many argue to just get a Standard Poodle if you want a large hypo dog but not many people “feel like” they’re Poodle People. Poodles, thanks to marketing and media, can be perceived as snobby, fancy, and prancy. It wasn’t until I got Enzo (our Miniature Poodle) where I was like: holy shit. Poodles can be like….real dogs?? One con to Enzo, and most Poodles I’ve met, can have this judgmental air about them whereas most Labradors or Goldens are pleasers and that makes us humans feel good when our dog listens to us. You have to have pretty thick skin to have a Poodle; they look at you like your ideas are super dumb sometimes.

Doodles are everywhere these days but these dogs aren’t new. They got their start over 30 years ago because someone wanted a guide dog, but without the trigger of allergies. Poodles didn’t have the personality to be a guide dog (aka not pleasers) and so the cross was made with a Labrador and there you have it. The start to the Doodle-demic we’re in.

Others argue that Doodles (of any sort) are really inconsistent in their outcome - so they can’t make a breed standard. I don’t know if that’s a sound argument to wish them into extinction though because I’ve assessed litters of puppies, I’ve been around grown dogs and their siblings, and personality wise? They’re different. So inconsistencies can happen within purebred dog litters as well. “Well what about coat, Amanda! That’s inconsistent!” yes yes I know - BUT one of my sisters had a Basset Hound with long hair, yet his siblings didn’t nor did his parents. So if he was in the “show world” his parents would probably not breed again and he would be killed or sold and neutered. Which brings me back to: selective breeding and story time!

Do you know how West Highland White Terriers got their white coat? Well back in the day, the guy who was creating this breed, had these little scrappy terriers and their coat colour ranged from black, red, to creams and white. One day while out hunting, a red dog popped out of the fox hole and got shot because the hunter thought it was a fox. Legend has it, in that moment he decided he will only breed white Westies. Now, because it was over 100 years ago I can only imagine how that selective breeding went…

I think Golden Doodles or Labradoodles will get their time in the show ring in my lifetime (oh stop it - we got like 60 years to prove me wrong) if people would do it properly in the sense of breeding well bred Labradors or Goldens to well bred Standard Poodles and then selective breed Doodles to Doodles to create that consistency that isn’t showing up. My brain is like: why can’t it be done? History tells us it can be? That’s how we got Goldens and Poodles in the first place?

I need to bring up one more thing: Mastiffs. Part of the Original 14 and a foundational dog for many. If we didn’t have the Mastiff, we wouldn’t have: Cane Corso, Bull Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux, Boerboel, Dogo Argentino and if you’re like: pffft whatever. Those dogs are lame and I could live with out them. Ok but they’re also the foundational breed for Rottweilers, Great Danes, St. Bernards and others. In fact, to get our floofy Beethoven’s we all have a soft spot for, they used Newfoundland, Great Pyrenees, Mastiff, and Great Dane. That’s a lot of dogs to create a purebred dog…

I think, if you’re of the camp of “DeViL DoOdLeS”, we gotta look at what you’re actually mad at. Is it the way they’re being bred, is it the price tag, is it the fact it’s two purebreds having babies, is it the inconsistency of what’s produced…dig in and see what it stirs up.

My opinion on it is I don’t understand why they’d pick two typically high energy dogs and breed them to sell them as easy keepers. There’s nothing wrong with the dog, it’s what the buyer thinks they’re getting - but that’s not just a Doodle problem. Anxiety isn’t just a Doodle problem. Winding up in shelters isn’t just a Doodle problem. Excitement, shyness, barking, separation anxiety, hating car rides, health issues….not just Doodle problems. Those are any dogs and their humans problems.

In conclusion, I’m sure 100s of years ago when the first guy bred a Mastiff to an English Bulldog it stirred up some shit in the tavern; but when you see a Bullmastiff of today you can’t help but appreciate their look. At the same time giving zero thought into how they came to be.

Every breed we love has a history behind it and we’re currently living through a Doodles. What a time to be alive.