Doodles the latest doggone craze
New dog breed crosses labs and golden retrievers with poodles
By Aimee Heckel, Boulder Daily Camera Staff Writer
February 12, 2005(
With his floppy tongue and clumsy tail, Rocky doesn't look like a rare and expensive "designer dog."
But as his Boulder owner, Anna Mahorski, sits outside Lolita's Market and Deli earlier this week, every person who walks by stops and gawks. They want to know what kind of dog he is.
A goldendoodle, Mahorski says mechanically. Part golden retriever, part poodle. With straighter hair than most doodles, 7-month-old Rocky looks more like his golden mom. But he cannot escape his father's nose and eyes.
Not that Mahorski wants him to. She's beaming to be one of the first few Boulderites to own this new breed that has taken the pet world by storm. There also are labradoodles (poodle plus Labrador) and schnoodles (schnauzer-poodle), among a growing list of other cartoon-like names.
Magazines and Web sites call the doodle mixes the "next big thing." Some breeders claim they're the "perfect dog," with the lab's demeanor and loyalty — and approval among men and outdoorsy types — coupled with the poodle's intelligence, delicate frame and non-shedding hair.
Don't call Rocky a mutt. He's a "hybrid." That's fancy for super-expensive mutt.
Denver breeder Norma Blanchard says she expects the American Kennel Club to soon recognize doodles as an official breed. Blanchard, who bred Rocky, is one of the few doodle breeders in the state. She has a year-long waiting list of customers and receives about 50 e-mails every week. One man asked her to name a price, any price, to put him at the top of the list.
"The response is wild. It's crazy," she said.
Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People newspaper in Washington, says the doodle craze reflects the public's rediscovery of the virtues of mutts. He notes that the number of dogs killed in U.S. shelters is down from 23 million a year in 1970 to 5 million a year in 2004.
In a Google search, "labradoodle" yields more than 130,000 Web pages. Goldendoodle brings up another 23,000. Interest in the labradoodle has recently "exploded" as no other dog breed has done in the history of man's best friend, National Geographic reported, especially among people with allergy and asthma problems.
The demand is, in part, why doodles are so pricey. They can fetch as much as $3,000.
Doodles often are genetically tested to ensure they're healthy. Mixing breeds is supposed to cut back on illnesses and attitude problems inherent with purebred practices that emphasize appearance first, some say.
That's why Blanchard decided to get into doodles several years ago. She says she was heartbroken after her 12-year-old golden died, and she hopes a little poodle in the blood will keep her newest pet, Paris, alive longer.
"My daughter thinks I'm crazy, but Paris is the perfect dog," Blanchard says. "She's so agile. She climbs a tree or a fence — that's the poodle. I've never seen a retriever do that."
As for Mahorski, she's not yet sure if she'd call Rocky perfect.
"You know he's trying, though," she says. "I'll let you know in two years."
Contact Camera Staff Writer Aimee Heckel at (303) 473-1359 or .