History of the Labradoodle  - Then Came Golden Doodles   

 

The mid 1970’s  The Australian Guide Dog Association received an inquiry from a blind lady in Hawaii, requesting a guide dog that would not cause her allergies to flare.The reason she chose Australia was due to the relaxed Quarantine requirements. Because Australia is an island with strict quarantine laws, dogs exported to Hawaii would be able to get off the plane and go straight home with no quarantine.The Australian Guide Dog Association had nothing to offer, so they set a task to try to breed such a dog. Their Labradors were tried and proven, so breeding with them was the obvious choice.To achieve a hypoallergenic dog they needed to breed their Labradors to a dog that was already non-shedding, hence the Standard Poodle. The Guide Dog Association sourced an imported white dog from Sweden, as he was a quality dog from working bloodlines. The gentleman in charge of the operation was Mr. Wally Conren.When the first litter was born he christened it  Labradoodle, and so the Labradoodle was born.A couple of years later, a man who bred puppies for pet shops started to breed these rather handsome Labradoodles. But he went one step further, and bred Labradoodle back to poodle, and Labradoodle to Labradoodle. Unfortunately he kept few records. His main aim was to breed lovely natured family pets, so he never recognised the non-shedding possibilities. He continued breeding his first and second generation Labradoodles for a few years, before retiring from dog breeding.The Guide Dog Association had minimal success, as they too never recognised the mutated gene that would go on to develop the allergy friendly Labradoodle as it is seen today.Interest in the Labradoodle soon become apparent, and forward thinking breeders in Australia started to breed these dogs with a deliberate plan in mind. Within a few short years other breeders joined in, and together they developed the Australian Labradoodle we all know and love today.The main attraction to the Labradoodle was the low and non-shedding coats, but more and more people were won over by the wonderful disposition and kindness the Labradoodle possessed. These dogs were becoming so versatile, their intelligence and tenacity started to attract people and trainers’ wanting special dogs for sports and assistance/therapy dogs.Today you can see the Australian Labradoodle around the world as an allergy friendly soul mate, family companion, seizure alert dog, agility dog, assistance dog to the physically and mentally disadvantaged, guide dog, and in the not too distant future a gun dog and show dog.The ALA was born to be a guardian over this new developing breed, to bring together breeders from around the world to unite their breeding programs, to breed for the same goals:"An all-round great dog that is non shedding and allergy friendly".The Australian Labradoodle now comes in a variety of colours, from black, silver and cream, to reds and chocolate. They have also adopted their poodle ancestor’s size variation from:A Standard who is over 22 inches; a Medium who is not more than 22 inches and over 17 inches; and a Miniature who is not smaller than 14 and is not larger than 17 inches.There are two coat types that are considered allergy friendly. These are the Fleece coat, and this has a soft textured fleecy feeling. The two variations are wavy fleece and curly fleece.Then there is the Wool coat. This has a definite dense wool feel, and is mildly to very curly. The last coat type still seen today is the Hair coat. It too varies from short wiry to long combination. These Hair coats will soon be a thing of the past, but for now they still play an important part in the breeding and development of the fleece coat.By the time the Australian Labradoodle becomes a recognized breed, they will be a dog of three sizes with two coat types. We hope you have enjoyed learning about the Australian Labradoodle and we invite you to return to this site and watch the progress of this amazing breed.