Labradoodle... this must be 'lavendar'...

[zefi]

I groomed a labradoodle this morning. Her name is Connie and her owner loves her but so far shows no inclination to care for her properly or feed her more appropriately. She's the same age as Montana (3yrs) and she's huge, much bigger than my poodles, and she's now so fat I need Greg's help to lift her onto the table and hold her there so I can clip her.

She only comes in about once every 7 months and she has the worst type of coat. Sparse and wavey on the body, yet it mats to a felted pelt around the neck, topline, ears, head and tail. The rest is thin and wispy coarse hair. She was 'brown' when they bought her but she's faded to this 'lavendar' colour. She has pinkish pigment, pale yellow eyes and an overall 'sore' look about her skin. Partly thats cause she's so rarely clipped and partly its cause thats just her colour. Image they sell this colour as 'special'!!!! To me its simply bad pigment.

I always clip her with a #7 blade all over, #10 on the face and ears, #30 on the feet cause even a #10 wont go through the mats between toes and pads. I normally clip the top of her head short but leave a fringe over the eyes to make her kind of cuter, more like a terrier but today I had no choice... someone had hacked her topknot off with scissors. I use a #10 on her tummy and armpits. Trust me, its not easy clipping saggy baggy tummies... Poor girl is all I can say.

Other than jumping off the table and threatening to break my back she's a sweetie of a dog, but to me she embodies the worst of the worst of labradoodles. People who rave about them should see more dogs like Connie. Timid and shy, sweet yet so easily spooked, shedding and matting. Great.

I'm posting these photos cause Carlene was telling me about how much labradoodle breeders charge for their 'rare' colours... sheesh.

[auntie c]

WOW THAT SURE IS A HIGHLY PRIZED LABRADOODLE!

"lavendar" is the most desirable colour and to have lucked out with the "rose coloured nose" as well

this is what is people are paying AUD$2400.00 for.

i hope those that think they are in the know over at the labradoodle assocation of australia website dont track her down for there own agendas..

carlene

[Neo]

I had a mixed something ? in for clipping for a few days ago...
She was just like this girl, the whole dog was a huge matt, between the eyes, around the mouth, the legs, the stomache, everything...
and so! overweight! and impossible to clip,

I managed to clip the body, and to get the matts off her face and head.
but when I started clipping the feet (with a 5#) i discovered huge wounds under the matts, no wonder she was difficult!!!
so I called the owner, and asked her to come get the dog, and to go straight to the vet...
actually I dont even think she went with her...

poor little girly....


what an ugly colour!!! and the labradoodles, what a price for a mixed one...!!! they charges over 2500$ for mixed miniatyres here in norway....
how stupid is the people who buys these dogs for this price! 

[zefi]

Yes. Indeed. Poor girly! Thats how I feel about them.

I once saw a tiny terrier mix running across the road. It looked like a puli it was so covered in dredlocks. I just missed it with my car so I stopped and followed it into its yard. I then told its owner that it was out on the road and was going to get run over. I also told her that she should get it groomed, now unhealthy it was etc. I gave her my card. I was willing to groom the poor thing for nothing.

Anyway, she send her over with her fiancee, he came to hold Tara cause he said they've tried to groom her and she's vicious, she bites. Well... I clipped that poor girl and she didnt bite me. She was a sweet thing but she was in pain. I found a crusted hard lump on her hock with a pink round bubble sticking out. It was swollen skin. The hard crust was tight around her hock and she was in pain and in danger of losing that leg! I had to soak it and clip and cut carefully with a scalpel to get it off. It stank to high heaven and was red and white where the flesh was pressed to the bone. I'm SO glad the fiancee was there to witness all this and couldn't blame me for doing something to her!

Well... I never saw Tara again. I saw the owner's mother one day and asked about her. She got run over.

Its so sad that people have such lovely dogs and don't do right by them. In this case it was so obvious what had happend. New baby, young kids... the dog gets tossed outside to be forgotten.

[MotherofMercies]

A few days ago I was watching a childrens program and they had a segment on "designer" dogs. This one particular breeder breeds schnoodles, labradoodles, spoodles, cavoodles you name she probably breeds it providing its crossing it with a poodle. She also breeds them in standard and smaller sizes. She has well over 35 dogs, don't get me wrong all the dogs look well looked after. But I can't help but to wonder if she does it for the money (I mean she does have A LOT of dogs) and I can't help but to think its gonna get out of hand. She cannot possibly give ALL those dogs loving attention even if it is on the property and I wonder just how long they are locked up for.

I am not proud that Australia starting this whole labradoodle thing. Did it also derivive from designer dogs and  Why are people falling for this hype?

[zefi]

Weeellll....... of COURSE she does it for money! Why else would anyone have and breed so many mixed breed 'designer' dogs?

There's a labradoodle 'breeder' (I use that term in the loosest possible way!) in Tasmania who advertisers their dogs on TV. I was astounded. How can anyone have any doubts that this is a big money making business?

No one can give 35 dogs individual love and care. I bet they live in kennels for the most part. I find it hard to give new puppies, plus my dogs, individual love and care when I have them all at the same time! I do the best I can, they are in the home with us all the time, but they all have to share me and my pats. No one can love and care for that many dogs... they are cared for no doubt, but I bet none of them get a lot of care and attention. Sounds to me like they're more an investment and money making machines than pets.

As for why people fall for the hype? Cause the association for the blind did such a great job in building up these designer dogs in order to sell them! Cause they knew the experiment failed and they had all these dogs on their hands that they had to find homes for.

I read an interview by the man who invented labradoodles. He said they coined the name 'labradoodle' as a marketing ploy to sell unwanted pups to the public cause they failed for the purpose they were created... and the assoc stopped breeding them. But by then they had created such a name for them and there was a demand among the gullible that wanted that 'new breed of dog that the assoc for the blind had bred' that people jumped on the bandwagon and started breeding them for money.

No one spread the word that they were no longer being bred by the assoc for use as guide dogs and why. All they cared about, and advertised, was that they had been invented by the assoc as guide dogs for allergy sufferers... low shedding, non-allergenic dogs sanctioned by a worthy organisation. The fact that they flunked out (and why) was never mentioned again.

[MotherofMercies]

What annoys me more this was on a childrens program, teaching kids that its ok to breed muts and be dishonest to the buyer and calling them designer. I was seriously thinking of writing to the ABC.