Goldendoodle Love The Official Guide: for Selecting, Raising, Training & Caring for Your Goldendoodle

By Ji Khalsa MNS, IAABC-ADT and Jessica Hekman DVM, PhD

Unleash Your Goldendoodle Love: Your Ultimate Guide to Selecting, Raising, Training & Caring for Your Perfect Companion
Ready to embark on a life-changing journey with a Goldendoodle? Look no further – this transformative guidebook is all you need. Written by a seasoned dog trainer, scientist, breeder, and devoted Goldendoodle parent, this comprehensive resource provides you with unparalleled expertise and complete information that no other book can match.

With so much misinformation out there, you need the only official guide written by a professional and endorsed by the Goldendoodle Association.

Discover the secrets behind the Goldendoodle breed as you delve into their unique traits and characteristics. With expert guidance, you'll navigate the selection process, ensuring you find the perfect four-legged companion who complements your lifestyle and preferences.

From the first exciting days of bringing your Goldendoodle home, you'll be equipped with invaluable knowledge and practical advice. Unleash the full potential of your puppy's health and happiness with comprehensive care tips, covering nutrition, grooming, vaccinations, and essential training techniques that guarantee obedience and a harmonious home.

As your Goldendoodle matures, this guide seamlessly transitions to address the changing needs and challenges that come with age. With a focus on preventive measures and solutions, you'll learn how to handle common health issues and nurture a lifelong bond with your beloved new best friend.

But this guide goes beyond the basics. It delves into the emotional well-being of your Goldendoodle, offering insights on mental stimulation, playtime, communicating with your dog, and creating an environment filled with love and warmth.

Unleash the extraordinary transformation that awaits both you and your Goldendoodle. Become a confident and responsible owner, armed with the knowledge and skills to provide the best care possible. Don't settle for anything less – grab your copy of this remarkable guide and embark on an incredible journey with your Goldendoodle today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798890740212

Book preview

Part 1: All About the Breed

Chapter 1 Welcome to the Wonderful World of Goldendoodles

Dogs have been humans’ best friends for tens of thousands of years. They are loyal, loving, and adorable creatures that improve our lives in countless ways. While dogs have performed working functions for humans for most of that time, they have also been great companions. In modern times, more dogs are in companionship-only roles than ever before. They keep us company, give us a reason to get outside and walk or play, comfort us when we are blue, and just enrich our lives to a degree that most of us can’t even imagine being without them.

Goldendoodles have gained immense popularity in recent years because of their suitability as companion dogs. These dogs are a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle, and their adorable looks and lovable personalities have won the hearts of many dog owners. So, what makes Goldendoodles so special?

Goldendoodles are known for their affectionate and sweet personalities and are one of the friendliest and most social breeds of dogs. They’re intelligent, obedient, and have great temperaments. These dogs are great with children, making them perfect family pets. They’re also excellent therapy dogs and helped ease the symptoms of anxiety and depression in their owners.

Like any breed, there are exceptions. Many factors go into a physically and emotionally sound dog, and I go over those in this book. But if you get your Goldendoodle from a responsible breeder, you significantly increase your chances of having one with the kind of temperament Goldendoodles are known for.

One of the biggest reasons behind their popularity is the allergy friendliness they inherit from Poodles. Unless they are specifically bred to have a flat coat (not to be shaggy) most well-bred Goldendoodles shed minimally or not at all, which means dog owners with allergies can enjoy their company without any issues, making them a better choice for people with allergies than dogs that shed seasonally. Again, a good breeder can guide you on the shedding issue and ensure your puppy has good non- or low-shedding genetics if this is important to you.

Another thing that sets Goldendoodles apart from other breeds is their loyalty. They form deep bonds with their humans, which makes sense since they are specifically bred for human companionship.

Goldendoodles are intelligent and easy to train. Golden Retrievers and Poodles—the foundation breeds for the Goldendoodle—are smart, and Goldendoodles inherit that trait. They’re eager to please, which makes training a breeze. Whether you’re teaching basic commands or more advanced tricks, Goldendoodles respond well to positive reinforcement and are quick learners.

Goldendoodles also have great stamina and are always up for a good playtime. They love to exercise and can be taken on walks, runs, and hikes. They’re also great swimmers, which is a bonus if you live near the beach or have a pool. Goldendoodles can have a range of energy levels, so talk to your breeder or shelter to ensure your pup’s energy level suits your lifestyle.

Goldendoodles come in a variety of sizes, ranging from small (petite) to large (standard). They can weigh anywhere from 15 to 90 pounds, so there’s a Goldendoodle for everyone.

Many Goldendoodles are great with kids. A Goldendoodle may be a perfect fit for your family if you have children. These dogs are generally friendly and patient, making them excellent companions for kids. And you can get one in a size that’s right for your family so they can easily play with children without accidentally knocking them over.

Goldendoodles have become increasingly popular among celebrities, which has helped in their rise to fame. A-listers like Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy Teigen, Jennifer Aniston, Tiger Woods, Miley Cyrus, and Justin Theroux, to name a few, are proud Goldendoodle owners. Celebrities’ endorsement of the breed has made Goldendoodles even more popular.

Goldendoodles are popular and great dogs for many reasons. They’re affectionate, allergy friendly, loyal, gregarious, and come in a range of sizes. They’re perfect for families, individuals, and even as therapy dogs. If you’re looking for a new best friend, consider bringing home a Goldendoodle. They’ll bring love, joy, and endless cuddles into your life.

Chapter 2 History of the Goldendoodle

Most historical information about Goldendoodles is wrong or poorly interpreted. So, let’s set the record straight here.

History of the Doodle (Spoiler: It’s Not What You Think!)

Let’s first cover the history of the Doodle in general.

Doodles are a general class of cross-bred dogs, where one breed in the mix is a Poodle. Poodles are popular functional crosses for companion dogs because they have non-shedding coat traits they can pass on to their offspring, even when crossed with shedding breeds. While not all Poodle crosses are non-shedding or even low shedding, an understanding of the genetics lets a knowledgeable breeder work within the non-shedding framework and create non-shedding dogs over successive generations (this is known as a multigenerational Doodle, or a multigen).

The First Doodles

Most people think a man named Wally Conron developed the first Doodle. This is far from correct.

Poodles have been around since the 15th or 16th century. It’s silly to think Poodles haven’t been crossed with other dogs since then, whether intentionally or unintentionally, but let’s look at some of the more organized efforts to do so.

The Pudelpointer

The first Doodle that I can identify is a breed called the Pudelpointer. The Pudelpointer was developed in Germany as a hunting dog in the 19th century. They are a cross between Poodles and English Pointers. Hunting kennels first imported them into the United States in 1956.

The Barbet

The next Doodle we may want to look at is the Barbet. The Barbet is an ancient breed that predates even the Poodle. It first appeared in history in the 14th century, but they may have originated as early as the 8th century. The earlier Barbet population is said to derive from a mix of the Bichon, Briard, and Newfoundland. You may ask, if the Barbet predates Poodles, then how can it be a doodle? Good question!

Although the Poodle isn’t listed as an early foundation breed for the Barbet, in some places in Europe the Poodle and Barbet were considered the same breed for almost 100 years.

World Wars I and II were hard on many animals and breeds, and the Barbet was no exception, and the breed became almost extinct. The breed was revived by breeding to Poodles and non-pedigreed dogs, hence the reason they can be considered one of the earlier doodle breeds.

Interestingly, the AKC description of the Barbet compares it to a doodle.

And, as old as the Barbet breed is, the breed wasn’t recognized by AKC until 2020.

Early Doos and Poos

There are credible reports of Cockapoos (Cocker Spaniel and Poodle crosses), Labradoodles, and Goldendoodles bred as early as the 1950s and 1960s.

•Cockapoos were the first popular crossbreed in the United States, with their popularity starting in the 1960s.

•Monica Dickens (the great-granddaughter of classical author Charles Dickens) bred Goldendoodles in the 1960s to provide guide dogs for people with allergies.

•A Labradoodle was first mentioned in written literature in 1955 in a book about speedboat records titled Into the Water Barrier by Donald Campbell as an incidental mention on page 125. There’s also a photo of the lovely Labradoodle, Maxie, in the book’s frontispiece.

Labradoodles and the Hidden Truth Behind the Wally Conron Story

First, I think it’s important to point out why Wally Conron bred a Labradoodle. In the 1980s, his employer, Royal Guide Dogs (Victoria, Australia), was looking for a service dog for a client with an allergy. They had Conron try to use several Poodles (33 to be exact) as a guide dog for that client and all 33 of the dogs failed out of the service program. So to capture the coat traits of the Poodle that make it allergy friendly, his supervisor had him breed a Poodle to a Labrador Retriever to, in his words, create "a dog with the working ability of the Labrador and the coat of the Poodle." That breeding produced three puppies, one of which (Sultan) became a service dog.

The media portrays Conron as regretting having bred this Labradoodle litter that garnered so much attention and created a whole new market. That Conron had some regret is true as far as I can tell, but the reason for his regret was NOT that the Labradoodle was an unsuccessful mix—on the contrary, it was very successful and Conron’s boss at the time still supports his having done it and thinks it was a great breeding.

Conron’s boss, John Gosling, was quoted in the New York Times as saying, "It’s actually turned out to be, in my opinion, something quite fantastic." In fact, after Sultan retired from his career as a service dog, Gosling adopted him and when Sultan died, Gosling buried Sultan in his backyard alongside the dog’s father.

Conron says he regrets that too many unscrupulous breeders jumped on the bandwagon and bred these dogs.

I agree with him. That happens with every breed that becomes popular.

But the unethical breeders are neither the fault of Conron nor the Labradoodle or any other Doodle. There have always been unethical breeders and we can’t fault the good breeders or the dogs themselves for this.

Conron wasn’t even the first to use the portmanteau Labradoodle. That word appears in print for the first time (as far as I can tell) in 1955 in Donald Campbell’s book Into the Water Barrier about speedboat records.

I’m confused about the importance given to Conron’s oft-misquoted and out-of-context opinion about the Labradoodle. It wasn’t his idea, as his employer had him make the cross, he wasn’t the first, and he definitely did not invent the concept, nor even the name, of the Labradoodle or any other Poodle cross.

The Labradoodle in the United States

In the 1990s, breeders in Australia continued with the Labradoodle cross and introduced other breeds to the mix. The goal was to create a dog with a more consistent temperament, structure, and coat. The Australian Labradoodle (the Australian Cobberdog) developed mainly from a cross of Poodles, Labrador Retrievers, and Cocker Spaniels.

Breeders also crossed Poodles and Labrador Retrievers crosses (Labradoodles).

There are now three Australian Labradoodle breed clubs in the United States: Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA), established in 2004, Worldwide Australian Labradoodle Association (WALA), established 2018, and Australian Labradoodle Club of America (ALCA), established in 2005.

One of the earlier Labradoodle breeders in the United States was a 4H leader, Judy Hahn. Hahn had a friend in Australia who bred Australian Labradoodles and she tried to develop an American line of the breed. These organizations provide policies and ethics for their breeders,

Hahn was the 4H leader for Amy Lane, who became a Golden Retriever breeder. Hahn and Lane remained friends after 4H, and in the early 1990s, Hahn asked Lane to help market her Labradoodles.

The Goldendoodle

While Monica Dickens was one of the earlier Goldendoodle breeders, Amy Lane helped popularize the breed in current times.

In 1990, a stray pony wandered into Lane’s yard and killed her Golden Retriever stud dog. Without a mature stud dog for her program, Lane was unsure how to keep her program alive and looked for stud dogs to use outside of her program. Since she saw the quality of the dogs produced in Hahn’s program over the years, she took a risk and used a Poodle stud for her program, making her one of the first known Goldendoodle breeding programs.

Over the years, customers have told Lane they had a Poodle and Golden Retriever puppy as a child, typically from an accidental breeding. This tells us the first Goldendoodle was produced well before the 1990s. But I don’t know of any earlier programs that focused on the breed (if you know of one, please let me know and I’ll add them to this!).

During the first decade of her Goldendoodle breeding program, Lane had many potential customers tell her they loved the Goldendoodle but didn’t want such a large dog. So, she decided to breed a smaller version. She crossed a Golden Retriever with a Miniature Poodle in 2001, and in January 2002, had the first known miniature Goldendoodle litter, producing puppies that matured to the 30-45 lb range. (What was called a mini back then is now known as a medium, and now there are four size varieties recognized by GANA™; please see Goldendoodle Sizes for Goldendoodle size varieties.)

Bearded Retriever

In 2017, breeder Alicia Hobson started a new crossbreed project. This project, now called the Bearded Retriever Club of America (BRCA), developed a medium and large size, lower-shedding Poodle crossbreed for companion dogs called the Bearded Retriever. The club has created a breed standard and is establishing its database. Bearded Retrievers comprise Poodles, Labrador Retrievers, and Golden Retrievers as foundation breeds.

Other Doodle Crosses

The Poodle cross has been so popular over the years they have been crossed with almost every other breed imaginable. Some crosses have been more successful than others.

Here are some of the more notable successes not yet mentioned.

•Bernedoodle (Poodle and Bernese Mountain Dog)

•Aussiedoodle (Poodle and Australian Shepherd)

•Cavapoo (Poodle and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel)

•Schnoodle (Poodle and Schnauzer)

•Yorkipoo (Poodle and Yorkshire Terrier)

•Shih Poo (Poodle and Shih Tsu)

•Sheepadoodle (Poodle and Old English Sheepdog)

•Whoodle (Poodle and Wheaton Terrier)

•Westiepoo (Poodle and West Highland Terrier)

•Maltipoo (Poodle and Maltese)

•Havapoo (Poodle and Havanese)

•Pyredoodle (Poodle and Great Pyrenees)

Doodle to Doodle Crosses

With the development of several Doodle breeds, breeders gained a deeper knowledge of what to expect in terms of temperament, structure, and potential health issues. Breeders crossed one Doodle breed to another in an effort to continually improve the puppies they are producing.

This cross lets breeders achieve the infusion of one or more additional foundation breed genetics into their lines without having to go back to the drawing board and start from scratch.

One of the more common Doodle-to-Doodle crosses is a Labradoodle crossed with a Goldendoodle, often called a Double Doodle.

Golden Mountain Doodle or Golden Mountain Dog

Another popular Doodle-to-Doodle cross is the Golden Mountain Doodle or the Golden Mountain Dog, which crosses a Goldendoodle with a Bernedoodle. Note that a Golden Mountain Dog can also refer to a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Bernese Mountain Dog.

So, There You Have It!

The Doodle has a long and proud history. Despite some people out there with an irrational dislike for Poodle crosses, Doodles have been around for hundreds of years and as the most popular dog type today, are here to stay.

Chapter 3 About GANA™

In the mid-2000s, Amy Lane attended an Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA) Roundtable conference. She was impressed by the camaraderie, professional association, and dog registry of the ALAA and wanted something like this for Goldendoodles. At the following year’s conference, she talked to other breeders about it and formed an informal group.

Along with some other breeding colleagues, including April Cliber, she worked for a year to form the Goldendoodle Association of North America (GANA™). The association was formed as a non-profit organization, developed a database for all dogs bred and produced, established policies, a code of ethics for breeders, standards for pre-breeding health testing, standards for registration, and engaged a Registrar to manage it all.

To this day, there are only a select few breed clubs that require pre-breeding health clearances for all breeding dogs and require proof of this testing registration and membership.

For the first decade, GANA™ had a small number of members. There were a few reasons for this. Goldendoodles were a new breed. Social media wasn’t prevalent like today, so it was hard for breeders to know who else was working with the same goals. GANA™ also had very stringent requirements and no entry-level options. GANA™ only accepted the highest level of health testing for breeding dogs.

In the 2000s, GANA™ held a conference in Nashville, TN, where AKC judge Rhonda Hovan was a speaker. Hovan made several suggestions that GANA™ took to heart to help improve the breed and to help increase GANA™ membership. Those suggestions included opening entry-level memberships for breeders who wanted to work toward the higher levels of GANA™ pre-breeding health clearances and a mentorship program.

In 2017, GANA™ membership decided it was time to develop a breed standard, which is a codified ideal for the structure of the dog that breeders can use. A breed standard helps breeders make breeding decisions and gives a metric against which they can assess the dogs they produce. GANA™ has also added an extensive educational program and library for its breeders. It hosts an annual breeder education and professional conference, continually upgrades its registration database, helps with breeder networking, and represents the breed to external canine organizations. GANA™ has tens of thousands of dogs in its database, has dramatically expanded its membership, and has members in most US states, Canada, and Europe.

GANA™ has mandatory health testing requirements and a code of ethics for all GANA™ breeders. To make sure you are working with a GANA™ certified breeder, look for the GANA™ logo and confirm the breeder is in good standing with GANA™ by reviewing the list of member breeders.

GANA™ has an extensive pedigree database with tens of thousands of dogs recorded in it.

GANA™ is an independent breed club, which means it is not a member of a kennel club such as the American Kennel Club (AKC) or the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC). So, while GANA™ puppies will have GANA™ registration and pedigree, they are not AKC registered or CKC registered.

Chapter 4 Goldendoodle Generations

Another common misconception on the internet is about Goldendoodle generation and shedding. If, for example, you’ve read or heard the term F1 or F1b, those are generations.

What the F?

In the 19th century, monk and scientist Gregor Mendel developed filial, or F generation system (F1, F1b, etc.) to describe offspring created from crossing different varieties of pea plants.

Mendel studied simple inheritance in peas, looking at how traits, such as color or texture, are passed from one generation to another. As part of his studies, he created the filial, or F generation system.

That system was groundbreaking at the time and works great for studying the simple inheritance of one or two genes in an organism, but in reality, it gives little or no information about individual dogs.

The filial generation can give us a statistical estimate of how many offspring of a particular generation may carry a single trait.

But that doesn’t tell you anything about YOUR puppy since it’s just a statistical estimate.

To know more about your puppy’s genetics, you need to use modern tools, not statistical estimates.

That’s where DNA testing comes in. Modern breeders use DNA testing to determine many characteristics of their parent dogs so they can have the best possible results in their breeding programs.

If you want to discover if your peas will be wrinkled or smooth, then use the filial (F) generation for information.

But if you want to have reliable, accurate information about the parents of your Goldendoodle, then I suggest you work with a breeder who uses modern methods, such as DNA testing, to produce only the best puppies.

F Generation (F1, F1b, F2b, etc.) and Percentages of Poodle vs Golden Retriever

Most people think that knowing the generation (F1, F1b, F2b, etc) will tell them what they need to know to make sound assumptions about coat, shedding, temperament and more.

Unfortunately, that is not the reality because of the complexity of breeding genetics (see What This All Means to You, below for an explanation.)

The Importance of Science-Based Decisions

A knowledgeable breeder will evaluate her dogs genetically and through type and temperament to determine the characteristics to produce desirable Goldendoodles.

Using statistical estimates is not a reliable method for evaluating the traits and characteristics of a dog and therefore not a reliable way to making breeding choices.

I recommend finding a breeder who bases her breeding decisions on the more reliable information obtained from genetic testing and structural and temperamental evaluation of dogs rather than on generation.

What This All Means to You

So, what does this F-whatever alphabet soup all mean to you?

Likely, nothing.

Seriously.

A common Goldendoodle generation is the F1b, which has one purebred parent (usually a Poodle) and another parent that’s half Poodle and half Golden Retriever. This combination looks like it should be 75% Poodle and 25% Golden Retriever. But no dog is ever genetically exactly 75/25 Poodle/Golden Retriever or whatever a mix is purported to be. It just doesn’t happen that way.

Something called genetic recombination causes the irregularity of percentages. Those numbers are a statistical estimate and not the reality of what any given Goldendoodle is genetically. It can be useful only to a certain point.

In any mating, the offspring gets one of each chromosome from each parent. And if that were the only thing that happened, then our dogs (and other animals) would perfectly fit the statistical estimates for percentages.

But before the formation of each sperm and egg, there’s a process called crossing over. Crossing over causes some of mom’s chromosomes to exchange genes with some of dad’s chromosomes, mixing up the genes from both. So that’s why some offspring may resemble or have traits that seem to come from one parent more than the other—because they likely do! This is why Goldendoodles don’t have the exact percentage of Golden Retriever and Poodles you might expect. Crossing over helps create the genetic diversity we want to see in a healthy population. However, crossing over is not directly relevant to coat traits, which breeders can genetically test for and select for in their breeding choices.

If you are interested in the biology of how this happens, here’s a good video that explains and illustrates the process.

How to Use this Information

So how do you select a puppy and a generation that gives you the desired traits?

Simple—be sure to use a breeder that makes science-based decisions and understands the genetic mechanisms we just spoke about, and who knows how to use existing genetic testing, temperament testing for adults, structural evaluation, and more to evaluate their mom and dad dogs and to make sound breeding decisions. This gives you a much better chance of getting the traits you want in a dog and not a blind stab at a statistical estimate of what you want.

The best breeders genetically test their parents for shedding genes, as well as other traits, to make sure they are actually breeding what they want to breed (such as puppies with the least likelihood to shed and solid genetic health) rather than spinning the genetic roulette wheel by guessing that a particular generation will give you what you are expecting (it will, sometimes, but not most of the time).

Chapter 5 Goldendoodle Health Genetics

Before we talk about breed genetics, let’s take a quick look at genetic diversity.

Genetic diversity is essential for the health of dogs. Having a wide variety of genes helps to limit the possibility of genetic-related health issues in breeds. It also makes breeds more adaptable and resilient, helping them remain healthy through changing environmental conditions like climate or nutrition availability.

The Benefits of Genetic Diversity

Goldendoodles are an outcross. That means one breed is crossed with another to produce a new hybrid breed. In addition to the favorable characteristics we find in the Goldendoodles cross, there are highly sound scientific reasons for it, one of the most important of which is the mitigation of problems associated with inbreeding.

Inbreeding is sometimes called line breeding to make it sound more palatable. Regardless of the term, when you breed first cousins, siblings, or parent-to-child, which is what line breeding involves, the results are the same: significant dangers to the breed and individual through enhanced likelihood of genetic problems.

Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI)

Coefficient of Inbreeding (COI) is a statistical tool that lets breeders determine how inbred their dogs are. Inbreeding, or lack thereof, determines whether genetic diversity is present, and genetic diversity is directly related to health and longevity.

A recent analysis by the Institute for Canine Biology determined that there is NO existing pure breed (AKC breed) with a COI of less than 6.25%, which is what you would expect when breeding first cousins!

High COI is a problem for dog breeds because it can lead to several health problems, including:

•Infertility

•Early death

•Degenerative diseases

•Behavioral problems

•Shorter lifespan

Inbreeding occurs when two dogs related share the same ancestors. Inbreeding happens when two purebred dogs are bred, or in rarer instances when a purebred dog is bred to a mixed breed dog that is somehow related.

Breeding two related dogs can be dangerous because the offspring of these dogs will have an increased risk of inheriting a recessive genetic defect. Because the parents are so closely related they effectively double up on the same set of genes. The chances that both sides of their DNA carry the same genetic mutation increases, making them more likely to pass this trait onto their young. These defects can cause a variety of health problems, including the ones listed above.

You can statistically expect health problems to show up when the COI hits .05 (also expressed as 5%). It’s interesting to note no pure breed is listed with a COI less than .05,* which is frightening to me and the future health of those breeds. (Please note that’s a breed average and does not necessarily represent each individual within a breed. In Poodles, for example the breed COI is in the high teen percentages but there are some individual Poodles with a COI as low as 2%.)

Closed vs Open Registries

A breed registry is closed when the breed club no longer accepts registration of dogs whose parents weren’t also registered. A closed registry means even if a non-registered dog is the most perfect specimen of the breed, it can’t be registered because its parents weren’t registered. It also means that in rare breeds there are a very small number of dogs in the registry and those dogs are almost always closely related. Yet, having a closed registry means new genetics can’t be introduced. A closed registry limits genetic diversity by limiting the gene pool and not allowing in new genetics.

Closed registries (also called closed stud books) are used in the dog breeding world to help maintain the purity of a particular breed. The concept is fairly straightforward: it’s an official registry that only allows purebred or pedigree dogs to mate together. Dogs in a closed registry must have documented lineage going back to the closure of the