Labradoodle History
The Australian Labradoodle breed dates back to the 1980’s and was initiated by Wally Conran of Royal Guide Dogs located in Victoria Australia. The intent was to create a breed that was allergy and asthma friendly with the temperament of a service dog. This journey was inspired by a vision impaired woman in Hawaii needed a Guide Dog which wouldn’t aggravate her husband’s allergies. Of the 31 Labradoodles bred at Royal Guide Dogs, a staggering 29 made it through as Guide Dogs… an accolade of paralleled proportion for this “new breed’ of Guide Dog.
To continue the efforts of Wally Conron, breeders in Australia began breeding Labradoodles determined to produce litters with consistent conformation, coat type, and temperament. During the 90’s, a number of other dog breeds were bred into the Labradoodle lines to assist in this effort. Most often the English Cocker Spaniel and American Cocker Spaniel were the breeds used, however, it is reported that a few other dog breeds were also introduced into certain lines. DNA evidence of these dog breeds is still found in a few lines today, while others were bred out and not re-introduced into any other blood lines.
Currently, the Australian Labradoodle is considered to be a cross between the Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Labrador Retriever, while the Labradoodle is a cross between the Labrador Retriever and Poodle only.
Organizations have been formed to protect the continued development of the Australian Labradoodle lines, and guidelines for the continued introduction of English and American Cocker Spaniel are followed carefully. Infusion committees also discuss the merits of other possible dog breeds being allowed careful introduction into select lines. It is an exciting time to be involved in the development of this breed.
Australian
ALAA-What Is It And Why Does It Matter?
In Australia, the Labradoodle is an established breed. Here in the US, the AKC has not yet recognized the Australian Labradoodle as an official breed. As a result, people can simply breed any Labrador to any Poodle and call it a Labradoodle. While there are some heterotic advantages to the F1 offspring of such a mating, the problem is that no controls are in place to prevent inbreeding or breeding of dogs with genetic defects, so the offspring of such pairings are somewhat random and unpredictable.
ALAA stands for Australian Labradoodle Association of America. As a member of the ALAA Dandy Doodles has to prove the genetic purity of any dogs we use for breeding. The includes genetic testing to assure the dogs involved are not too closely related and that their DNA does not indicate susceptibility to hip dysplasia, elbow weakness, eye problems and a number of other genetic defects. Once we have passed all these tests we can register our breeding dogs with ALAA. The litters we produce are also registered with ALAA.
When you purchase a puppy from parents who are registered with the ALAA you are assured these breeding dogs have passed extensive genetic tests to prove their offspring will not have certain genetic defects that can affect any puppy. We guarantee the parents of our puppies have passed a number of such genetic tests. While we cannot guarantee against all genetic defects, we can guarantee that the tests required by ALAA have been performed and the parents have passed these tests. In our 20 year history of breeding various dogs including Labradoodles we have never had a complaint about any defects in the puppies.
Over the long term, ALAA will maintain breeding records for all registered dogs and will assure the continued quality of ALAA registered Labradoodles. We believe over time ALAA we will prove to AKC the quality of our dogs and eventually, Labradoodles will be recognized as an official AKC breed. In the meantime, you can be confident your puppy is a genetically superior animal.
If you would like to learn even more about this amazing breed, here are a couple excellent articles about Labradoodles:
http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/labradoodle#/slide/1
https://pethelpful.c
http://support.seein
PS. Our Puppy Litters Go Fast!
