We've created an additional page with regards to the many coat changes and phases of the Goldendoodle coat because as time goes by and we continue our research with regards to the Goldendoodle dog, our information will change as we update it. Over the years, we would receive calls from others who made their doodle purchase somewhere else and were confused about the coat their doodle had. They were confused because their doodle looked like a Golden Retriever. To the right is a purebred Golden Retriever of ours named "Sadie". Sadie does NOT have the typical coat of the Golden Retriever which is just 1 of the reasons we purchased her at 6 wks of age. We immediately fell in love with her curls.
Sadie has curls in her coat which you don't normally see in a purebred Golden Retriever. Sadie is a purebred Golden Retriever and NOT a doodle. She came from a very reputable Golden Retriever breeder. Sadie has AKC Champion bloodlines. I deliberately selected her because I knew her coat type would work out splendid for our Goldendoodle breeding program. She has produced some of the most beautiful Goldendoodles for us, over the years. Take a good look at Sadie's face! She is void of a facial beard because purebred Golden Retrievers do not have one. If your Goldendoodle looks alot like Sadie, we now know from a recent Goldendoodle litter what we've suspected all along and this was that if a Goldendoodle sire was bred to a purebred Golden Retriever dam, at least 1 of the offspring will have an identical appearance as that of a purebred Golden Retriever and WILL be void of the facial beard!!! We bred another Golden Retriever (Mara) to one of our blue eyed Goldendoodle sires (Star Dust) and what we found was that while the majority of the offspring had our normal Classic Goldendoodle appearance (ie...fluffy, shaggy with the facial beard) 1 doodle in the litter was completely the opposite! She is a smooth coat doodle; She has the identical appearance of a Golden Retriever. Each puppy has the Golden Retriever personality. None of the puppies have shed any differently than what we see with a 50/50 mix or with a Goldendoodle sire to a Poodle dam. There's alot we have come to know through our research since 1999.
We suspected that it was possible if a Goldendoodle had twice the Golden Retriever DNA structure. To the right is a four week old Goldendoodle pup who is in the beginning stages of its facial beard and coat. As usual, we see our Goldendoodles start out with a Golden Retriever appearance (only they have ripples in the coat and Golden Retrievers don't.) and then as the weeks go by, their face takes shape and their coat continues to change. The Goldendoodle pup to the right is the typical type of head we see on our Goldendoodles at this age. As the weeks go by, their muzzle will become longer and again, more changes occur. The one thing that is always present in a 50/50 mix or a mix that comes from a Goldendoodle sire/Poodle dam, even if it's just a "hint"....is the upside down "V" shape between the eyes down to the nose. This is a common trait of the Goldendoodle. We see this upside down "V" shape on our Goldendoodle puppies 98% of the time. Even when our Goldendoodle puppies have a fuzzy face, that upside down "V" shape is still there. When we deliberately bred Mara (A purebred Golden Retriever) to our blue eyed Goldendoodle sire (Star Dust) who has twice the Poodle, it was then we saw our first Goldendoodle that was completely void of the facial beard and having a flat coat. like that of a Golden Retriever because she picked up twice the Golden Retriever DNA. She has NOT shed like a Golden Retriever, but she has the appearance of one.
We began to notice the difference in this one particular Goldendoodle from Mara's litter when the pups began their first coat change at 4-6 weeks of age. So, we know for a fact that Goldendoodle breeders are fully aware of whether or not their doodle will have the classic shag and facial beard before it is even old enough to be sold. I noticed the difference as soon as her brothers began to get their shaggy coat. Even her body structure was stockier than her brothers because her brothers were more petite and she had the usual body structure we see in our purebred Golden Retriever puppies. We knew at the age of six weeks that "Meeryn" was a smooth coat doodle, which IS PERFECT for anyone seeking a doodle that looks just very much like a Golden Retriever but sheds very little!
Until Mara's deliberate doodle litter, we had only seen 2 coat types. 1. Shaggy. 2. Curly. We also decide to breed a blue eyed Goldendoodle to a blue eyed Goldendoodle so that we could see what coat type would come out of this pairing, not to mention, we had hoped to see more blue eyes. What we know to be a fact is that it is VERY important to ensure, when breeding two Goldendoodles (non-related) together, that both parents have at least twice the Poodle in their genetic structure. The reason for this is because it will keep your smooth coat doodle offspring low shedding. If the breeder uses two non-related Goldendoodles who have more Golden Retriever traits, your chances for increased shedding that is similar to the purebred Golden Retriever will be quite high. We knew going into this pairing that we'd have at least 1 smooth coat doodle in the litter...what we saw was 3 out of 4 pups in the litter had a smooth coat. Only 1 pup had the usual shaggy coat that we see 90% of the time in our doodles. With this pairing, we came to learn that there are 3 coat types to the Goldendoodle dog.
1. Shaggy coat
2. Curly coat
3. Smooth coat
So now we have created Goldendoodles in every possible way except for AI (artificial insemination) which should be avoided at all costs.
Some Goldendoodle breeders try to claim that a "flat coated" (smooth coat) Goldendoodle is an "American Goldendoodle" while shaggy coated Goldendoodles are "English Goldendoodles". This is flat out nonsense! We know for a fact that their FLAT COATED (smooth coat) Goldendoodle came from a Goldendoodle sire and a purebred Golden Retriever or out of two Goldendoodles bred together. All of our Goldendoodles were born from American bred canine and 90% of all of our Goldendoodles...first generation....have a shaggy coat. The shaggy coat is our typical coat type since 1999. Say NAY all you want! We know what we are talking about when it comes to Goldendoodles and we've busted many myths of what some breeders claim inside of their forums and on their websites.
Many breeders attempt to fool unsuspecting buyers with their silly terms such as "English", "Comfort", "American", "British" and so on. A Goldendoodle is a Goldendoodle is a Goldendoodle. They are NOT registered based on their origin. They are simply registered as a Goldendoodle. The doodle in the photo, above right, is a light apricot Goldendoodle with blue eyes. We kept him and named him Star Dust. This particular Goldendoodle is 4 months of age in the photo. You can see him as a year old doodle on Mara's page we created for her Goldendoodles. Star Dust has twice the Poodle. He was created and born here and is out of Ellie's 2006 litter. Every Goldendoodle puppy with loose curls in the coat has a very fuzzy face. This particular Goldendoodle's face became fuzzy by the age of 8 weeks. The facial beard, even at the age of four months is very pronounced. Goldendoodles whom we call "CLASSIC GOLDENDOODLES" means that they will be shaggy/wavy and that they have more Golden Retriever traits. BUT, it is important for you to know that all doodles who are 50/50 (one part Poodle and one part Golden Retriever) will have hairs sprouting away from their muzzle showing that the beard is coming in. Many people assume that all doodles have a full facial beard when they are ready to be sold to new families. Not true. Some have their beard more pronounced at a young age while the majority have hairs sprouting away from the muzzle and about the eyes which is an indicator that the beard is coming. With Mara's litter, we noticed between 4-6 weeks of age that her one doodle female was NOT sprouting any facial hairs about her muzzle and that her hairs were very smooth like we see in purebred Golden Retrievers. It is a FACT that if the doodle has a smooth face without any facial hairs sprouting away from the muzzle by this age, they will NEVER have the beard. It is also safe to say that most doodles take up to a year for the coat to fully mature but if the coat is smooth and has no hairs growing up and away from the body, the doodle will NOT be shaggy and the coat will be smooth like the Golden Retriever, when that doodle becomes an adult.
The doodle above right is the same Goldendoodle up above but we are showing a frontal, downward view of the facial beard. This particular Goldendoodle has twice the Poodle because his father is a Goldendoodle but his mother is a Poodle that is NOT related to his Goldendoodle father. STILL, we see the usual facial beard. This particular Goldendoodle has gorgeous bright blue eyes and he's a most striking Goldendoodle in appearance! This Goldendoodle is a light apricot in color. His nose at the age of four months does appear to be long, but he is still growing into his face and his muzzle was the same short length as the 4 week old Goldendoodles up near the top of this page. The photo below is the body coat that we see in all Goldendoodles that are shaggy and wavy with loose curls even if one parent is a Goldendoodle and the other parent a Poodle that is not closely related. You can see every strand of hair going in various directions. At the age of four months, this is very typical of a doodle with twice the Poodle.
At four months of age, even when the Goldendoodle has twice the Poodle (not closely related to the Poodle in the Goldendoodle), the facial beard is evident. Some have more of a facial beard than others. Some doodles take longer to get a shaggy coat and facial beard. This Goldendoodle has gorgeous light blue eyes. We are able to now have blue eyed Goldendoodles because we integrated a blue and green eyed Goldendoodle into our breeding program in 2006. This gives us a higher chance for light color eyes in our doodles.
The majority of Goldendoodles typically have long, low hanging ears. Some do and can sport shorter ears but the coat hair is always long even on those with shorter ears. It has been our experience that while Goldendoodles look prettiest with low, long hanging ears...they are more prone to ear infections and moisture build up because the hair that hangs longer than the ear can trap moisture in the ears. We always advise those who purchase Goldendoodles with low, long hanging ears to pay attention to the ear care and possibly keep the coat under and around the ears trimmed a bit short to help alleviate the moisture build up. Goldendoodles should never have a wide, thick ear that resembles a "spaniel" ear. The majority of Goldendoodles sport more of the thin, long, Poodle shaped ear with very long hair covering it.
The coat color to the right is called "Apricot with black tips". This is a color more often seen on Toy Poodles but is occasionally seen on Goldendoodles. Since 1999, we have only seen this color (which is absolutely gorgeous by the way) four times! Some will call it rare....I don't like to use that word when Poodles are involved. Its not common, but its not rare. Apricot with black tips is always darker when a Goldendoodle or Toy Poodle is very young. It continues to lighten as the days and months pass by. We have seen our Toy Poodle who was born apricot with black tips turn into a cream colored Toy Poodle with black strands on each tip of his hairs as an adult. Quite possibly, on a Goldendoodle, the color will do the very same thing.
The photo to the left is an ear shot of a Goldendoodle who is apricot with black tips at the age of four months. Many lighter hues underneath the coat are visible. Down towards the lower portion of the ears, many black strands are seen within the apricot coloring. We did have this particular Goldendoodle photographed by a professional photographer; see photo at the end of this page. While many people typically want to purchase a Goldendoodle who is very light in color...many people miss out on owning a Goldendoodle with unique coloring, markings or eye color because they go with the "trend" and not what's different. Since 1999, we've seen so many Goldendoodles look so much like each other that we are thrilled when a Goldendoodle that is different and unique is born to us! We were once told by a Poodle breeder who had over 25 years of experience with the Poodle that the color apricot with black tips was literally "bred out" of the Toy Poodle by show breeders because it was an undesirable "show" color. I don't know why. See Photograph at the end of this page to see how beautiful this color really is!
In the cynological world, three separate approaches combine to constitute canine breeds. Dogs are distinguished first by ancestry; all of the individuals descending from a particular founder group (and only from that group) being designated as a breed. Next they are distinguished by purpose or utility, some breeds existing for the purpose of hunting particular kinds of game,others for the performance of particular tasks such as utility dogs, while others are simply there for their human's companionship and friendship. Finally dogs are distinguished by typology, breed standards (whether written or unwritten) being used to describe and to recognize dogs of specific size, physical build, general appearance, shape of head, style of ears and tail, etc; Kennel clubs distinguish each breed as they become refined over many, many years... recognize them and accept them of which then a canine "standard" is written for each individual, recognized breed. While many kennel clubs recognize hybrids...which is what a Goldendoodle dog is....many have not adopted a particular "standard" for this hybrid. It is with great hope, over time, that a great uniformity will occur for the Goldendoodle hybrid and that a kennel standard will be adopted. For now, Goldendoodles will owe their appearance to their breeder's knowledge and education whether because of it or the lack of it. This page and our other pages that are with regard to coat changes, phases, colors and generations were created to demonstrate how distortions and misunderstandings occur regarding the Goldendoodle hybrid and how it can threaten proper knowledge of this terrific hybrid.
It's very important for people to be aware that the characteristics of all breeds, including the Goldendoodle, are created by their breeder.... not by registries or kennel clubs. The origin and course of a canine breed is in the hands of its breeders, first, last and always. It is the business of cynological associations like UKCI,AKC, CKC and other kennel clubs to facilitate and support the work of dog breeders and not vice versa.
The show ring has also been largely responsible, over all these years, for the decline of breed purpose, working ability and temperament in a great many breeds, notably sporting breeds, herding breeds and sled dog breeds. The quick and easy gratification of blue ribbons, gilt trophies along with a hefty price tag placed upon the head of offspring by the owners of these championed dogs cause many issues among the pure breeds. Because there is so much "incest" (backbreeding,linebreeding, crossbreeding and inbreeding) within the Champion show dogs' lineage, it is only logical that the first generation hybrid is a much hardier, healthier animal. Now here we have those who breed the Goldendoodle and the Labradoodle dog falling into the same footsteps as the show breeders for purebred dogs. The fanatical pursuit of breed type and lack of stability in the overall health of purebred dogs by show breeders and purebred dog fanciers alike, are the entire reason many people have opted for the hybrid dog. It is detrimental to the existence of the Goldendoodle dog if breeders follow the same road as the fanatical show breeders and purebred dog fanciers. Declining vigor caused by the inadvertent fixation of sublethal and subvital allele genes will not be made up for by breed points in the show ring, nor will any amount of backbreeding, linebreeding, out- crossing, backcrossing or any sort of crossing cause a Goldendoodle to have a non shedding, hypoallergenic coat!
In the quest for breed purity by fanatic show breeders and dog fanciers, the superior strain and classic type has made a sad mess of the dogs today....many with unhappy neurotic temperaments, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, immune system weakness, skin diseases, blood disorders, endocrine system malfunctions, crippling blood disorders, deliberate deformity and often even the inability to reproduce their kind without breeder and veterinary intervention. Yet, the Internet is full of forum ranting and raving and the calling of names over the hybrids' existence by those very same people. Incest breeding (ie...linebreeding, inbreeding, backbreeding, backcrossing, outcrossing or any other sort of inner crossing), once a convenient tool for the rapid fixation of type in newly-registered breeds, has become virtually standard practice for those who seek success in dog breeding..however elusive that may be. The net effect has been the decimation of gene pools, widespread homozygosity and the unintended fixation of unknown scores, hundreds or thousands of alleles many of which are proving to be harmful or lethal to the animals that bear them. Which is exactly why we don't understand why a hybrid breeder would want their hybrid dog to follow the very same path as that of the purebred dog.
Small populations, such as most purebred dog breeds, are subject to a condition known as genetic drift. This is a situation in which gene frequencies change at random from generation to generation, varying from statistical expectations because of sampling error. (Sampling error occurs when too small a number of trials departs from the expectations of probability, as when someone flips a coin six times and gets five heads and one tail - if he flipped it 600 times, the results would be close to 300 heads, 300 tails, but in a small sample, chance can cause a departure from the expected result.) This happens also when gametes unite to form zygotes in reproduction; the union of gametes is at random by hazard. A dominant black dog, whose dam was white, when bred to a white bitch should in theory produce equal numbers of white and black pups, but few breeders would be very surprised to see 2 whites and 6 blacks, or vice versa. Yet when such sampling errors occur in small populations, over subsequent generations gene frequencies can change, taking a random walk that leads finally to the loss of one allele and the fixation of the other! The smaller the population, the fewer generations this result is likely to take. In a very large population, it will not happen at all. Genes are lost and other genes fixed completely at random in this way by genetic drift. The population figure that matters in situations such as random genetic drift is not the total number of individuals alive at any one time. Nor is it even, as one might think, the actual number of individuals that contribute progeny to the next generation. Variations in breeding population from one generation to the next have a marked effect, such that the effective breeding population, especially where variations in number are extreme, tends to be only modestly greater than the lowest number. Another factor which makes a great difference and is crucially important in purebred animals is the sex ratio of successful reproductors. The effective breeding population can never be greater than four times the number of males, no matter how numerous the females may be, since gametes must come from both sexes. Thus anything that limits the number of males in use drastically restricts the effective breeding population. Overuse of popular sires is a tremendous factor in the genetic impoverishment of purebred dogs. This can also occur with the Goldendoodle if a breeder limits their gene pool by only using one or two particular sires or dams, yet continues to backbreed the Goldendoodle to it. Many breeders are doing this claiming they are "fixing" coat type or whatever it is they have set their goal as being. All they are "fixing" is a higher risk of genetic issues like that of the purebred dog.
Inbreeding Depression
As genetic variability diminishes and homozygosity rises through inbreeding, a syndrome known as inbreeding depression sets in. It is characterized by a reduction in viability (survival of individual progeny), birth weight, fecundity (number of young) and fertility (reproductive success), among other things. Much of it is caused by the homozygous presence of rare, deleterious recessive alleles. Part of it may also be due to the relative absence of over dominant heterozygote combinations. As inbreeding depression becomes more severe, highly inbred lines tend to become extinct through the loss of ability to reproduce successfully and / or inability of the young to survive. It varies somewhat in intensity from species to species, due probably to variations in the number and nature of lethal, sublethal and subvital alleles involved. Some wild mammals which show almost no juvenile mortality when bred in captivity without inbreeding, exhibit 100 percent juvenile mortality when inbred! A survey of captive breeding records for 44 species [Ralls & Ballou, 1979, 1982] showed that juvenile mortality of inbred young was higher than that of non inbred young in 41 of the 44 species for which records were analyzed.
Assortative Mating
Assortative mating is a method of selective breeding capable of creating homozygosity for desired traits without having as great an effect on overall homozygosity as does inbreeding. Assortative mating consists of mating phenotypically similar individuals. This method of selective breeding would be capable of maintaining a reasonable range of breed type in a balanced-heterozygosity breed system such as breeding Golden Retrievers to Golden Retrievers but does not pertain to breeding Goldendoodles to Goldendoodles. Assortative mating also helps the breeder maintain consistency in their offspring with regards to coat type, temperament, bodily structure and so on for purebred dogs. Unfortunately, this can not be achieved when a Goldendoodle is bred to a Goldendoodle because the Goldendoodle is a hybrid dog. Purebred dogs had multiple breed types originally mixed together for many, many years before breeders refined and defined the purebred dog and then categorized by breed type. Hybrids are still, so far, like a "wild card". The hybrid has not, yet, been refined over enough time to be consistent.
