About Labradoodles
The Labradoodle breed started with a request. Over twenty years ago, a blind woman wanted a guide dog that wouldn't bother the allergies of her husband. Since Labradors are great working dogs, and great with families, and poodles are intelligent and allergy friendly, the breed made sense in theory. After some research and careful breeding by Tegan Park and Rutland Manor in Australia, the Australian Labradoodle was born. The idea caught on and the result is a wonderful, allergy and asthma friendly dog with excellent health and fantastic temperament and service qualities.
Just like any other breed that becomes popular, though, some breeders have started breeding for the popularity of these dogs and not for the benefit of the breed itself. So here's how to make sure you're getting the dog you want.
Researching for your Labradoodle:
Chances are, in your research, you'll come across terms like "Multi-Gen" (Labradoodle and Australian Labradoodle), "Early-Gen F1" (Labradoodle Origin) and "Back Cross" or "F1B". Here are some helpful tips to understand what a breeder means when they are using these phrases.
The original multi-gen Australian Labradoodle has a foundation stock including 6 different parent breeds. The verified parent breeds by the ALA (Australian Labradoodle Association, Inc.) are: poodle (all three sizes), Labrador retriever, Irish water spaniel, curly coat retriever, American cocker spaniel and the English cocker spaniel.
The multi-gen Labradoodle has only poodle and lab in its heritage. It does not include the other parent breeds that were originally used by the creators of the breed.
The early-gen F1 (Labradoodle origin) is a dog from a labrador/poodle mating that has not had the multiple generations of Labradoodle mated with another Labradoodle nor the addition of Australian Labradoodle foundation stock or multiple parent breeds. These dogs tend to shed their coat since they are more closely related to the Labrador.
The "Back Cross" or "F1B" is a dog from an F1 (see above) mated back to a poodle usually for coat correction. These dogs have not had the multiple generations of Labradoodle mated with another Labradoodle nor the addition of Australian Labradoodle foundation stock or multiple parent breeds.
When you reserve an Australian Labradoodle from Alpen Ridge , you get the highest quality pup that has either been imported or comes from genuine Australian imported lines.
About Alpen Ridge
C. Sue Broady owns and runs Alpen Ridge with oversight by Australia's Melinda Radus of Sunset Hills Breeding Center in Adelaide. Being careful to do what we can to make sure the breed is preserved, all our dogs are imported or come from genuine Australian imported lines. For us, it's as much about the happiness and health of the dogs as it is about matching families with the perfect Australian Labradoodle.