why are doodles so dandy?

     Crossbreeding poodles with other dog breeds has been happening for 100’s of years, but it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that doodles became the designer dogs of choice. Poodles were chosen to be crossbred for a wide range of reasons such as being highly intelligent, affable, empathic in nature, energetic, variable in size, and, the obvious: they’re just, so, CUTE. That said, the most highly valued characteristic that poodles bring to the Doodle breed are their hypoallergenic qualities. Because poodles have hair instead of fur, they naturally don’t shed their coats, not to mention they have relatively little dander. Because these hypoallergenic traits are passed down to their offspring, doodles of all varieties make perfect pets for people and families with members suffering from animal allergies or other respiratory issues.

     Labradors and Retrievers are the most common dog varieties used to crossbreed with poodles, but various other breeds such as Maltese, Schnauzers, Pomeranians, Shih Tzus, and Basset Hounds are gaining in popularity. No matter which breeds are used, all hybrid dog breeds are classified into three generations, those generations being able to be further subdivided, but simply put are as follows:

1. F1= Are hybrids that have 50% of each of their purebred parents DNA, each breed being represented equally in the offspring.
2. F2= Are hybrids which are still an even split of 50% of each breed, but are the result of being bred by two F1 generations.
3. F3= Are hybrids who are also 50% each breed, but are offsets of two F2 parents.