Celebs like Paris Hilton can carry their dogs in their Gucci handbags, as accessories of the shiny necklace. But the recent trend in designer dogs seems to suggest that everyday people are picking up on this unfortunate trend.
However, instead of simply buying diamond collars, people are demanding mongrel dogs with catchy trade names. We have had the Spoodle, the Groodle, the Labradoodle, the Spanador, the Digger and the Retrievador. Now folks, meet the Roodle.
The roodle is a cross between a poodle and a rottweiler. They are the successful creation of a breeder from Melbourne, Australia. Fred Freeman has successfully bred 3 litters of roodles, some making it as far as Hawaii.
Roodles have the wrinkled coat of a poodle, but larger. They are quite stocky and quite large, with long drooping ears. Freeman describes the dogs as having the intelligence of a Rottweiler, but docile and easy to train. Their roodles are also non-aggressive, do not shed, do not smell, and have a low allergy scale.
The idea of creating a non-allergic dog was started by the original breeder of the Labradoodle, Wally Conran. Wally was the manager of the Royal Guide Dog Association in Australia at the time. Someone in need of a non-allergenic service dog contacted the Service Dog Association, and Wally successfully bred a Labrador Retriever with a poodle that was well suited for this purpose.
So the origins of the labradoodle were quite in keeping with how many of what are now considered purebred dogs were created. That is, they were created with a specific purpose in mind.
But the popularity of the labradoodle has created a new set of problems. That is, a lot of unscrupulous people, some with no experience breeding dogs, and others with little or no experience breeding Labradoodles or other similar crosses, jumped on the bandwagon. Demand meant that these dogs were expensive, supply was in short supply, and this attracted many to this new field.
But breeding dogs, especially between different breeds, is not simple. In Wally Conran’s original efforts, not all labradoodles were low allergy. And when it comes to trying to create new mixes, a lack of knowledge can produce disastrous results. For example, breeding two dogs with similar genetic weaknesses can result in new litters being born with a higher chance of having the health problems associated with those breeds. Other factors include design. If people expect certain traits based on what decent breeders have produced, and pay top dollar for a dog that becomes completely different, those dogs may well end up being abandoned.
In the case of a dog purchased to be low allergenic, this probability is higher, and this is exactly what is happening to many of the labradoodles being purchased in the US now. They are ending up in shelters because they do not have the characteristics of the carefully bred cattle from which the variation originated.
And since poorly bred Rottweilers can be very aggressive, if the roodle trend takes off in the same way, this could spell disaster for everyone. Especially if a family with children bought one expecting the docile nature of the roodles created by Mr. Freeman, and ends up with a large, aggressive dog.
Labradoodles are not consistent breeds. And given that they spent ten years trying to get a poodle-rottweiler cross, all indications are that roodles aren’t a consistent breed either. That means that simply mating a Rottweiler to a Poodle will not automatically give him certain characteristics, especially in temperament.
Normally, contacting an association to recommend a breeder would solve this type of problem. But in this brave new world of designer dogs, that may not always be the case. Especially if the experience with labradoodles is valid.
Breeders at Rutland Manor and Tegan Park in Australia began their stock with Labradors, Poodles and Labradoodles from Don Evans, another breeder who had discovered the breed independently of the Guide Dog Association. Those labradoodles were legitimate labradoodles and they kept records of all subsequent breedings. They also determined which coats were low allergenic. They carried out extensive research and breeding programs to arrive at the dog that has been characterized as a ‘labradoodle’. Contrary to popular knowledge, they are not the product of the exclusive mix of Labradors and Poodles. Occasionally other breeds were used, for certain characteristics.
Breeders at Rutland Manor and Tegan Park began calling their dogs, and the descendants of reputable breeders, Australian Labradoodles, to distinguish them from the Labrador and Poodle mixes that were produced indiscriminately. The mixes were not quality controlled, many were allergenic, but people with allergies were tricked into buying them, hoping they would not have allergic reactions.
The International Labradoodle Association was originally created to help maintain the quality and characteristics of this new designer dog. However, they now seek to call all Labrador and Poodle crosses ‘Australian Labradoodles’. If this is successful, consumers will have no way of knowing if they are buying what they think they are buying and what health requirements they determine they need. The end result will be the euthanasia of more dogs abandoned due to careless association and even more careless breeders.
Not a good omen for the roodle.