History-Australian- Labradoodle

The original idea ofcrossing of a Labrador Retriever and Standard Poodle that occured by the Guide Dog
Center in Melbourne Australia was a mixed blessing at first. From the first litter produced, only one of the
three puppies had allergy friendliness and Sultan the one who was selected for work as a Guide
Dog, had a shedding coat.

The early strains of the Labrador x Poodle in Australia usually produced huge dogs who were often hard
headed hyperactive individuals with minds of their own. The intelligence was there, but when combined with
a willful easily distracted nature, many of the early dogs did not make the best family pets. As new
breeders began to spring up, attracted by the popularity of the emerging Guide Dog breed, there was a
flood of Lab x Poodles finding their way to shelters and euthanasia due to their families being unable to
control them. A steady stream of Lab x Poodle Labradoodles came to each Center to be re-trained and/or
re-homed. There was still such a lot of work to be done.

By the mid 1990’s although the two Australian breeding and research centers Tegan Park (Angela
Cunningham, later known as Angela Rutland-Manners) and Rutland Manor (Beverley Manners) had begun to
achieve a measure of consistency in the envisioned allergy friendly non shedding coat yet the willful over
active temperament remained in too many of the offspring. This was a feature which needed more work if
the breed was to reach its founders’ vision of a sound and healthy dog which would be suitable as a
therapy and service dog as well as a superlative family dog for people who suffered from dog related
allergies.

The Necessity for a Wide Genetic Base

The sharing of a number of hereditary diseases by Poodle and Labrador was already a major concern and
it was
obvious that continuing to develop the Labradoodle using only these two breeds would compromise health in
the new breed , and would almost certainly lead to a genetic dead end .

It was during one of the many meetings that Breed founders Angela Cunningham (Rutland-Manners) and
her mother Beverley Manners held to discuss the future direction of the Labradoodle, that it dawned on
them that if another breed were introduced, it could serve a twofold and beneficial purpose. Firstly the
genetic dead end
could be avoided, and just as importantly, diversifying the gene pool with another breed which didn't share
the common diseases of the Labrador and Poodle may result in diluting the troublesome recessive genes on
which many of these diseases are carried.

It was important that progress already made must not be lost. Achievements such as -

* Improvement in Temperament - much more gentle and eager for training

* Consistently improving health testing results especially with regard to Hip Dysplasia and Ununited
Anchineal Process (Elbow dysplasia) - two OCD's which had plagued earlier generations.

* Exciting and encouraging consistency in non shedding coats in every litter

* Modification of the huge size in the early Labrador x Standard Poodles.

To introduce an infusion too soon or too late, or into the wrong bloodlines could undo the years of work
and destroy the progress gained. After lengthy and laborious research, the chosen breed for the first
infusion was the Irish Water Spaniel.

It was particularly interesting to discover that the Irish Water Spaniel had only five congenital and genetic
diseases that were found with greater than average frequency in the breed when compared to the 41
found in Labrador Retrievers, the 31 in the Standard Poodle and the 39 in the Miniature Poodle.

Complementing this choice of breed on health standards, was the fact that many of its attributes in
character and temperament were aligned with the desired attributes of the Australian Labradoodle.

However not all was plain sailing. Some serious character flaws were discovered in one of the infused lines
and the entire line was culled for breeding. The other line was a huge success and was the start of the
Chocolate color in the Australian Labradoodles. Up until that point, all Labradoodles were Cream! When the
first Black and the first Chocolate were born, oh what rejoicing there was!

When researching the hereditary diseases shared by Labrador, Poodle and Miniature Poodle, it is easy to
see why both Breeding and Research Centers chose to strictly limit the use of Miniature Poodles in their
downsizing breeding programs when the public demand for Miniature sizes became too great to dismiss.

When several generations of selective breeding of the smallest Australian Labradoodles to other smallest
Australian Labradoodles failed time after time to produce consistency in sizes of puppies, it was decided
that it was time to infuse another smaller breed.

This time, the Cocker Spaniel was chosen. The choice between American or English Cocker was a difficult
one
to make, as both have suffered at the hands of over popularity and the resulting flood of inexperienced or
uncaring breeders who had bred the original merry temperament right out of both breeds. It was very
difficult to find a line of Cockers which not only had retained the true cheerful child friendly nature
originally a hallmark of both breeds, but which had also maintained good health status over generations.

Another challenge which faced the Founders was the very real possibility that introducing a Cocker could
undo
the progress that had already been made in mellowing the temperament of the Labradoodle. Many Cockers
came
from bloodlines in which an excitable and in some cases almost hysterical nature was pretty much parr for
the
course. After an exhaustive search they did manage to find a grand line of merry little Cockers and the
next challenge was to select the Labradoodle individual/s who would be suitable in size, coat and
temperament to be infusion recipients. One mistake could ruin future generations forever.

On the way down from 28 inches tall to a Miniature size, the trick now, was to keep the bloodlines carrying
the Cocker infusion separate and still maintain a wide genetic base for the sake of health. If progeny
from the new experiment were mixed in with other lines, and something went wrong along the way, then
the whole adventure would be over.

Results were variable and a roller coaster ride for the two women who lived and breathed 'Labradoodle'
between disappointment and joy.

Within three generations past the Cocker Spaniel infusion into selected lines, size was starting to
stablize, poor temperament was weeded out (given away neutered or spayed and with no pedigrees) and
only the best of the best were kept for breeding onwards.

The bloodlines which carried the Irish Water Spaniel infusion were producing throwbacks with a mutation
of genes from the 'bald' face and rat tail of the Irish Water Spaniel. Rutland Manor decided that another
infusion was required to scatter the gene pool but Tegan Park didn't agree.

Rutland Manor considered the beautiful non shedding Portugese Water Dog, but after numerous
discussions with fanciers and breeders, the 'self willed' streak common within that breed was the deciding
factor against using it with the Australian Labradoodle whose temperament and nature had become so soft
intuitive and ease to training, that Rutland Manor was afraid that any gains could be lost with other equally
important losses.

More research led to the Soft Coated Wheaten but that idea was abonandoned due to temperament and
health issues that were discovered to be prevalent within that breed.

In 2009 the Stud Book of the Australian Labradoodle closed.