well said poor dogs

nickboy do you actualy have the sorce of the numbers you are quoting, would be interested in not only the numbers but how they were collected given that labradoodles are not registered at all where as pure breed do at least have a % registered.

I agree. Dogs are seen as a commodity by far too many these days - whether 'designer' cross-breed or pedigree. To some, they are simply a fashion accessory, no thanks to the media portrayal of celebrities with their matching handbags and chihuahuas. Bring back the dog licence!

no sorry im not explaining myself well - i just plucking the number out of the air cos you see lets say 10 times nore adverts than a few years ago, so stands to reason there will be more in shelters, that would I imagine work with any breed and I did read somewwhere it was the case with GRetrievers a few years back and ill have a dig round for that.
Im not saying their is disposable statistics at hand as like you say how would you quantify it, i was just summising that there are a lot more.

The point I was making was that this is being scrutinised as number of labradoodles in shelters and as you rightly say quantifying labradoodle numbers is hard enough so to draw a conclusion on the labradoodle we would need to put it into the same context as other dogs. i.e that 17 labradoodles could be the lowest percentage of dogs rehomed per breed out there - it also could mean that people have been moving away from labs and GR or standard poodles and as a result their shelter numbers have diminished.

Dont think Im shouting in the corner for Labdoodles im not - I havent got a strong opinion, this is more about scratching below the headlines.

There are plenty of people who would have my beautiful staff taken off me and the breed band on the strength of a headline without drilling down into the stats - statistically staffs arent kid savagers etc

my point was that it would be interestin - but like you say impossible - to put this into the context of other breeds - umbers owned etc etc

please dont think im supporting the labradoodle - im really undecided as I have no experience of them - but i think this headlines could have a positive side that im just throwing out there

I would have thought the opposite, although like you I have no numbers to back my impression up. When the Guide Dog people started to make this cross everyone seemed to develop an allergy to any dog but a LabXPoodle and they were breeding them as fast as possible to meet the demand, now days it would seem any crossbreed or mongrel given a fancy name will catch on and the owners then defend them making claims that can't be substantiated; that is until they get fed up with them or they become too much of a hand full or simple grow up into the crossbreed or mongrel they always were, then first stop the rescue centre.

i agree that its a problem, but i think the thing labradoodles may have going for them in the end of the day is they are fashionable and will therefore see a wane in interest as well as the current spike.
I think it is a current trend to mix n match ( well im sure they have always done it ) - but it seems like its a real problem at the moment - and the one positive thing about trends is they seem to go away - though undoubtedly much damage will be done by then but if it is a trend it means its time is finite.

Unfortunately as someone else said Dogs will always be a much maligned 'commodity'.

Guide Dogs tried X-ing the Lab and Poodle to see if a suitable dog could be bred for the blind with allergies and to see if the shedding problem could be solved. They found that both resons were unfounded with too many from a litter, thus the reason they stopped breeding them.
The public jumped on the band wagon without researching any findings.

designer breeds were going to be the next rescue job lot, as has been said, with so many cashing in.
i like to bet they are about 9-18 months old as!!!

I really think this thread is interesting, i wonder is there a reference source on pedigree breeds rehomed etc just to peruse out off interest maybe from a charity organisation - it will be interesting reading when compared with the KC puppy register ( for want of a more acurate reference source ) for breeds.

My point was not defending labradoodles earlier, but what if someone looked at the above data and saw the number of poodles and labradors bred went down by the same amount as estimates of the labradoodles increased BUT the number of those two breeds in shelters fell by 100 when the number of labradoodles only showed 17 entering shelters......
see a totally different slant on a headline and the labradoodle is a success for dogs as a whole...

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT DEFENDING DOODLES - just pointing out that its one set of numbers in many in other words

17 labradoodles in shelters - 17 too many
60 less labradors in shelters - whats happening...

im probably not explain myself well at all - sorry

I agree 100% too.
I fear it is the same old, same old.........the novelty wears off. Don't know if anyone else agree's but if I analyse the time I have to give to my dogs....it's unbelieveable just how much time they take up.........and I'm not a a owner that panders to thier every whim

I wonder how many of the supposed "non-shedding-so-suitable-for-allergy-sufferers" crossbreeds have been dumped when their owners realised that this was rubbish on both counts? There were two ads in my local paper for such crossbreeds - I just can't understand how they are allowed make unsubstantiated claims like this.