| These puppies are from the
same litter as the two flat coat pups shown above. These pups are
shown at nearly 15 days old. The ripples are straightening just a
bit. |
|
|
This Goldendoodle puppy
appears to be more "Golden Retriever" . This is just a hybrid who
has more Golden Retriever genes. This puppy is actually out of the
litter up above. Hence what we mean when we say there is no
consistency in the litter where size and coat goes. While this pup
looks like a Golden Retriever puppy, at this stage, it will not shed
like the Golden Retriever. It will shed its puppy hair at various
stages, but it will not shed fly away hair all year round.
Riley, (shown above) had a flat coat and more
Golden Retriever genes when he was a young puppy. As you can see,
though, he still sports the "V" shape in the face but has adorable wisping
hairs about his coat. He was not yet one year old in this photo,
so he was still going through changes. This indicates a doodle who will
have a shorter coat and may have more of a Golden Retriever appearance
than those with ripples in the coat. If you are a Golden Retriever fan,
you will enjoy this type of coat. Golden Retriever fans will NOT enjoy a
small doodle because the smaller they are, the more Poodle traits they
take on.
Between 10-14 weeks of age, the
flat coated Goldendoodles continue to shed their baby fuzz. This puppy
was 12 weeks old in this photo. By the time it is a year old it's coat
will fill in and it will be beautiful. Pups with more ripples in the
coat at birth go through fewer "extreme" changes. Those who have more
Golden Retriever genes appear to have a flatter coat, thinner neck and
longer muzzle at this age.
7 month old flat coat
Goldendoodle puppy with his coat filling in. The dog shown above
will start to fill in just like this pup.
17 week old Goldendoodle
puppy. You will see the "V" shape between the forehead and the nose,
a common trait with Goldendoodles. This doodle is a light apricot.
We call him a light apricot because he has more golden hues all
through-out his coat and not just about the face. He was going
through a coat change at this age. On his neck and back, he has
hairs all going in different directions. This particular doodle had
slight curl in the coat. He will have a very nice, thick shaggy coat
as an adult.
Example of a coat wisping
in all directions but also showing curl. Curls occur at the tips of
each strand beginning at 15 days of age, but become more prominent
by age 6 months. The curls in the coat continue to lengthen as the
coat grows out. This photo shows all the waves in the coat about the
neck. This puppy was 17 weeks old and the coat begins to thicken by
this age. Some people will view a doodle at different coat changes
and ages and assume their coat is either curly or flat or that the
puppy is not as attractive as one they saw at a different age. Every
first generation doodle goes through a transitional coat phase. It
is completely normal and WILL OCCUR regardless of whom you purchase
from. We see the same coat phases occur with all Poodle hybrids.
Short adult coat coming
through with many of the baby hairs still in the coat. This sort of
gives the doodle a "lamb skin" effect. The coat is not as silky at
this age as when younger, but it is still soft to the touch. Doodles
go through so many phases that if you have severe allergies, you'd
better wait until the doodle is one year old to purchase. You could
be allergic at one phase and not at another. Determining whether or
not a doodle's coat will bother an allergy sufferer would be quite
difficult as they are going through various shedding phases.
Goldendoodles and other Poodle hybrids shed completely different
than any other type of dog. They shed strand by strand much like a
human.
Goldendoodles can have
short ears, mid-length or long ears. As in any dog, longer ears are
more prone to ear infections because the heavier the ear, the easier
it is to trap moisture. Shorter ears allow an even flow of air and
they do not experience issues with moisture collecting.
As your doodle nears closer
to its first birthday, the coat continues to bloom and the face is
slowly making a really remarkable transformation. That muzzle that
appeared short at birth and then long as a toddler, will now appear
to have its own characteristics of beauty and intelligence!
Goldendoodles come in
all colors and sizes. Even litters with a Toy or Mini
Poodle as one of the parents can produce large and small dogs within the
same litter. Poodles can carry a huge array of colors and markings deep
within their ancestry. Genes can pull from any ancestor at any given time
and within any given litter. There have been black Goldendoodle puppies turn
silver and silver phantom. Chocolate Goldendoodle puppies can stay chocolate
or turn into a chocolate phantom. Even colors such as tri-color and the
color apricot with black tips can occur from Poodles who have parti-colored
ancestors and a huge variance of colors deep in their lineage. A single
litter can produce pups with different coat colors. Typically Goldendoodles
will lighten as they age. Golden Retrievers are the reverse. They darken,
unless they are born white. Then they just stay white.
Regardless of what generation a
Goldendoodle is, all usually work out well for those
with allergies but those having SEVERE allergies will want to consult their
allergist because regardless of what generation a doodle is, they all will
go through the same coat changes and they all will lose their baby coat and
all will shed to a slight degree while going through those coat changes. The
coat will change up to 15 coat changes from the time they are born until the
day they turn 1 year of age regardless of generation type. There has also
not been any actual proof to support the healthier dog theory, but of course
it makes sense that a first generation would be healthier than that of any backbred, inbred dog.
The first generation Goldendoodle who has picked up an equal portion of
Poodle and an equal portion of Golden Retriever will usually have Golden Retriever
temperament tendencies in their behavior.
In 2005, we used a Toy Poodle to a Golden Retriever (natural breeding, not
artificial insemination) and what we found is this:
The largest puppy in that litter would have been a 45 pound canine had he
not been stillborn. We know this because he was of normal size at birth that
we had always seen in our doodles who were going to be approximately that
size as an adult.
The second largest puppy in that litter weighed 18 pounds and 1 ounce at age
9 months. Was 15" in height at the withers. The third puppy in that litter,
at age 1 year, weighed only 15 pounds and was also 15" or a bit less in
height at the withers. The fourth puppy in that litter at age 1 year, that
we kept, weighs 13 pounds and is slightly less than 15" in height at the
withers. The fifth puppy in this litter, of whom we kept, at age 1 year is
less than 15" in height and weighs just 10 pounds. So, technically, all but
the first stillborn puppy could be considered to be actual "Miniature" sized
dogs.
All have very quirky personalities
unlike those who are over 25 pounds in genetic body weight. All were and are
skittish to strangers. All were and are very sweet dogs to the owners, not
to strangers. None were or are friendly to those they do not know and are
very leery to new surroundings, regardless of professional training. Their
personalities, within that litter, amongst each other was like night and
day.
Within any given litter, regardless of the size of the parents, we see great
differences between each puppy with regards to size. Sometimes even coat.
But we have been very lucky to have consistency in both personality and coat
type amongst the pups who will be 25 pounds or bigger, but those who are
under 25 pounds show the biggest disparity in personality, coat type is
generally consistent with us too.
Breeders can not produce supporting
evidence to back up claims that generations other than the first
generations are better for those with severe allergies. No one that
I know of or heard of has produced DNA hair strand supporting
evidence from a genetic laboratory to support such a claim. We
consider all doodles, even those with twice the Poodle, to be a
first generation litter so long as the Poodle parent to the litter
is NOT related to the Goldendoodle parent.
Keeping in mind all allergies differ
from person to person; here is my personal experience. I consider
myself to be the classic example to what some people with severe allergies
can expect in a first generation doodle.
Myself having chronic asthma as well as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disorder) in which my lungs can be severely affected given my environment
with smoke, dog hair, dust, air that is not quite cool. sudden weather
changes, etc. I do not have any issue whatsoever
with my first generation Goldendoodles, I can wash up to seven doodles one
at a time before my lungs begin to fill with fluid, whereas if I wash a
purebred dog that is even a Poodle, I can immediately begin having an issue
with my lungs filling with fluid due to the reaction of the coat smell or
slight hairs coming off from blow drying. Upon the seventh doodle puppy, no
hair is seen coming from the coat, but just the mere fact of blow drying and
my face being close to that many wet pups at one time, my lungs will begin
to have a reaction on the 7th pup. So, my experience is; a person even with
severe allergies can do quite well with one or up to 7 Goldendoodle
pups at one time before having an allergy issue. For me this has been consistent
with all our litters.
To me, it is safe to say that the majority of allergy sufferers could do
quite well even with a first generation doodle.
From our experiences we have found, coat type on a Goldendoodle puppy that has one parent a Poodle and one
parent an unrelated Goldendoodle is consistent with what we see with our
Goldendoodle puppies who have one parent the Golden Retriever and one parent
the Poodle. We have seen that when the Poodles are NOT related for example a
Goldendoodle bred back to a purebred Poodle; *the poodle in the Goldendoodle and the
purebred Poodle* produce Goldendoodle puppies with twice the Poodle genetic makeup, but will NOT sport a curly coat. We
believe that only doodles who have Poodle parents who ARE related
*considered to be backbred or inbred* will sport a curly coat because of the
fact both Poodles in the doodle are relatives, or very closely related. When
the gene pool is wide by having unrelated Poodles, we still see consistency
in the appearance of our doodle coats.
I don't know that I've ever seen a
Goldendoodle come out looking wiry, but what I do know is that when a
doodle is approx. 4-6 months of age, some can appear to look very awkward,
like a teenager going through their "puberty" stage. The doodle's coat goes
in all directions appearing like he or she stuck their paw in a light
socket!! Some doodles who are shaggier by that age may not have this
appearance, but we've seen Goldendoodle puppies go through approx. 12-15
different coat changes from the time they are born until the day they turn 1
year of age and some go through different stages than others with no
explanation. That's just the "hybrid" for you.
Note: This information is from
Goldendoodle World's personal experience and from their years of hybrid
research. It is based on the theory, a hybrid dog is better off not backbred,
inbred or line-bred. Read Designer Dogs for
more info.
