A labradoodle () is a crossbreed dog originating from Australia created by crossing a Labrador Retriever and a Standard or Miniature Poodle. Labradoodles were intended to be a good choice for people allergic to canine dander.
The Australian Labradoodle Association, an organization run by labradoodle breeders, says they are "generally considered healthy dogs". However, they also state that hip and elbow dysplasia are common problems affecting labradoodles. Other ailments include eye diseases and Addison's disease. Wally Conron of Australia, who is credited with inventing the breed, has commented that healthy labradoodles are "few and far between" and most are "crazy or have a hereditary problem".
Breeding history
Origins
Australian breeder Wally Conron introduced the cross-breed to the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia in Victoria. Conron hoped that the combination of the low-shedding coat of the poodle, along with the gentleness and trainability of a Labrador retriever, would provide a guide dog suitable for people with allergies to fur and dander. He hoped the catchy name and claims regarding allergies would offset the stigma associated with mixed breeds and thus help him sell his litter.
Sultan, a dog from this litter, displayed all the qualities Conron was seeking and worked as a guide dog for a woman in Hawaii for ten years.
Conron has since repeatedly stated that he regrets initiating the trend for this type of crossbreed and maintains it caused "a lot of damage" and "a lot of problems", largely stemming from the genetic unpredictability of combining breeds. He felt he was to blame both for the spate of unethical breeders producing labradoodle puppy mills and for creating a "Frankenstein", adding that problems were being bred into the dogs rather than selectively breeding away from problems and towards a recognizable standard. Conron is further quoted as claiming that "for every perfect one, you're going to find a lot of crazy ones."
The labradoodle was not popular and was mostly unused as pets and/or service animals. Initially, the breed was again not popular leading to the rebranding of the dog as the "Labradoodle". The Labradoodle then experienced an explosion of popularity and quickly lost breed conformity due to a lack of kennel club recognition and thus a lack of breed standards.
In a 2019 interview, Conron said that he "released a Frankenstein monster" and that "[...] the biggest majority (of Labradoodles) are either crazy or have a hereditary problem." Brandi Hunter, the American Kennel Club's vice president of public relations and communications, mirrored Conron's concerns, saying that "[...] there is a reason why we emphasize the time and research that goes into breeding purpose-bred dogs. It matters in the long run."
Follow-on guide-dog breeding programmes
Currently, as with other mixed breeds, labradoodles are not considered a purebred or breed by the AKC and other major kennel club associations in North America and across the world. Technically, they are a hybrid of two pure breeds rather than a new breed. In 2010 the AKC began allowing owners of mixed breeds to register their dogs through an alternative listing programme to receive an AKC ID number.
Guide Dogs Victoria no longer breeds labradoodles, although they are bred by other guide and assistance dog organizations in Australia and elsewhere. The Association for the Blind of Western Australia has introduced labradoodles into their training programme. Their first, Jonnie, graduated in November 2010. Labradoodles are now widely used around the world as guide, assistance, and therapy dogs. They are also popular family dogs.
Australian labradoodle breeding programme In an effort to standardize the Labradoodle and achieve breed recognition, the Labradoodle Association of Australia (LAA) was founded in 2000. The organization began taking steps to regain a careful selective breeding program and introduced new lines to both experiment with temperament and to introduce additional genetic diversity. Over the subsequent five years, additional organizations formed and merged resulting in The International Australian Labradoodle Association (IALA).
Australian Labradoodles are called Australian Labradoodles because the Australia-based breeders wished to avoid the breed being mistaken for the many Labrador Retriever/Poodle crosses being bred in a way the LAA deemed as unhealthy and irresponsible. The Australian Labradoodle is a developing dog breed and not considered purebred.
In the current, generally accepted Australian Labradoodle's heritage, there are as many as 22 unique purebred contributors. The Australian Labradoodle generally primarily has Labrador Retriever and Poodle genetics, but recent efforts by the IALA, particularly the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA), have introduced the Irish Water Spaniel, Curly-coated Retriever and the English and American Cocker Spaniel. These additions were to increase the breed's gene pool, achieve greater health, and attempt to perfect the temperament of the dog. The IALA made the decision to abandon certain lines and that the Australian Labradoodle was a largely complete breed. Officially, the Australian Labradoodle Association (ALA) mandates that the Australian Labradoodle must have exactly three progenitors: Poodle, Labrador Retriever, and Cocker Spaniel.
The Australian Labradoodle is not recognized as a pure breed by any independent, non-regional kennel clubs or recognized registration organizations. It is, instead, considered a mixed-breed.
Australian Cobberdog
The Australian Cobberdog is a dog crossbreed developed in Australia by the Rutland Manor Breeding and Research Center and Tegan Park Labradoodle Breeding & Research Centres. The mix was created as a continuation of Wally Conron's efforts to create a definable and carefully researched labradoodle. This effort was also in response to the increase in demand for labradoodles which had led to breeders referring to any combination of Labrador Retrievers and Poodles as labradoodles without temperament or hypoallergenic criteria. The inconsistency of standards for labradoodles led to the distinction of Australian Labradoodle and the further distinction of Cobberdog attributed to a purebred dog breed with more strict standards for breeding, temperament, and appearance.
In 2004 the Irish Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier was infused by Manners at Rutland Manor in Australia. Two Irish Wheaten Terriers were infused, one of which was a Melbourne Royal All Breeds Championship Show champion. That addition resulted in Manners' disassociation from the IALA and the beginning of the Australian Cobberdog's development. The goal of this new effort was a revision of the original Australian Labradoodle project's. The mission of the effort was to breed a widely usable dog with a hypoallergenic coat which would be able to be used as exemplary therapy dogs, service animals, household pets, and/or companion dogs. This dog would be bred with specific attention to coat and, most importantly, temperament. Manners' goal was to achieve what Wally Conron had initially set out to do and breed a calm, intelligent and hypoallergenic dog. Up until the initial creation of the Australian Cobberdog breeding program, no individual and/or purebred breed had been developed with the sole objective of creating an ideal candidate for being therapy and assistance dogs. This is in part a result of the fact that assisted therapy and assistance dogs are relatively modern.
The Australian Cobberdog was bred to be an ideal candidate for being therapy and service dogs. Up until the creation of the Australian Cobberdog, no breed had been developed with the sole objective of having the ideal characteristics to serve as therapy and assistance dogs. This is in part because therapy and assistance dogs are relatively modern. Australian Labradoodles, as prescribed by the Australian Labradoodle Association of America, are derived from three breeds of previously purebred dog breeds. Cobberdogs are meanwhile derived from a combination of at least eight existing breeds in order to achieve the desired temperament.
The large pool for the development of the Australian Cobberdog led to the breed's disassociation with the Australian Labradoodle; this caused the involved research centres to approach the obscure private company Master Dog Breeders and Associates. With a name change and the finalisation of the breed's DNA sequence, the standards for physical and temperamental attributes were established and the Cobberdog was made the only pure breed of labradoodle.
In 2012, the Australian Cobberdog was accepted as a new breed in development by the semi-obscure Master Dog Breeders and Associates (MDBA) a worldwide breed registry company. With the breed's acceptance, a pedigree and breed standards were set. The breed's unique DNA sequence was also categorized in order to establish the validity of a purebred Australian Cobberdog.
One condition for the Cobberdog's entry into the MDBA was that the breed has a name which distinguishes it from the Labradoodle, thus distinguishing the new pure breed from a less recognized cross-bred and unregulated category of dogs. The original project's name for the breed was Service Animal Australian Labradoodle. The decision to name the breed the "Australian Cobberdog" was done to maintain the Australian identity of the breed; the latter half of the name, "Cobberdog", comes from the Australian term "cobber" which simply means "friend" or "friendly". In total, the name Australian Cobberdog directly means "friendly Australian dog".
Since the breed's acceptance, the number of MDBA-certified Cobberdog breeders has expanded to over 150 worldwide and the breed continues to become increasingly popular, although it is still a relatively unknown breed as of January 2024. The breed is touted as an ideal therapy dog with breeders and owners displaying that through a general standard practice of breeding dogs also being trained and used as Therapy dogs for hospitals, schools, retirement homes, and many other applications.
Cobberdog breeders make the assertion that the Australian Cobberdog was an attempt to reach the originally intended goals of the labradoodle. Prior to the explosion of the popularity of Labradoodles, they were carefully bred in an attempt to perfect the temperament and be hypoallergenic. After the popularity of Labradoodles began less careful selection and a lack of breed standards led to the modern, unrecognized crossbreed. Cobberdogs, as researchers state, are the product of continuing with the original goals of the Labradoodle project: a gentle, hypoallergenic dog with a calm demeanor and a tendency to comfort the people around them.
In early 2024, with the increasing popularity of the Australian Cobberdog, some previous new breeders of the MDBA across the globe united to form the Australian Cobberdog Society where they claim that they could take the breed a step further on the journey to "official" recognition through recognized purebred organizations. For this at this time the breed standard was refined and updated in the format as prescribed by the ANKC Ltd. However, to achieve this, one must manage studbooks for at least 15 years, which seems like an impossible task for the new ACS that only formed a splinter group in December 2024 with former members of the MDBA. The MDBA has been working on breed recognition of the Australian Cobberdog since 2012. The revised breed standard takes into account the refinement breeders have made to move dogs from the Foundation Registries of the MDBA to genetically to purebred and submission into the Purebred Registries with the National Kennel Club.
Eight breeds have contributed to the Australian Cobberdog Miniature Poodle Labrador Retriever American Cocker Spaniel English Cocker Spaniel Irish Water Spaniel Curly-coated Retriever Poodle