[ SHOWGSD-L ] interesting
- From: Kmgraphic2@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 16:55:15 EDT
the following was on one of aol's news blurbs today - interesting.
diane
Diane Silver-Strasser
Silstra German Shepherds
_Skatiebug'z_ (http://skatiebugz.shutterfly.com/) The online store for
everything German Shepherd and then some!
_http://skatiebugz.blogspot.com_ (http://skatiebugz.blogspot.com/)
Skater's Blog
_Labradoodle Creator Has Massive Regrets Over the Craze He Started_
(http://www.pawnation.com/2010/05/06/labradoodle-creator-has-massive-regrets-over-t
he-craze-he-starte/)
by _Josh Loposer_ (http://www.pawnation.com/bloggers/josh-loposer/)
(_Subscribe to Josh Loposer's posts_
(http://www.pawnation.com/bloggers/josh-loposer/rss.xml) )
May 6th 2010 @ 3:00PM Filed Under: _Dogs_
(http://www.pawnation.com/category/dogs/) , _Pets News_
(http://www.pawnation.com/category/pets-news/)
(javascript:void(0);)
Is your mixed-breed a mistake of monumental proportions, or the crowning
achievement of thousands of years of thoughtful selective breeding?
Despite millions of labradoodle owners across the planet who are convinced
their pups are the greatest thing since sliced bread, the man credited
with pioneering the breed has massive regrets about his involvement in the
"oodle" craze.
"I don't regret the dog, not for the purpose I bred it for," Wally Conron
tells Paw Nation, "I regret all the people who got on the bandwagon
willy-nilly. People who are breeding poodle crosses for the money, who have no
concern for parentage."
How was Conron to know that by crossing one of his kennel's best Labs with
a standard poodle, he would unwittingly spark an international trend that
would spawn the schnoodle, the groodle, the roodle and countless other
similar designer breeds?
In 1988, service-dog trainer Conron received a letter from a woman in
Hawaii who needed a seeing-eye dog that wouldn't shed, because her husband was
highly allergic. At that time, no one had ever bred a Labrador retriever
with an allergy-friendly standard poodle, at least not on purpose.
Now, only 22 years later, labradoodles have their own _Facebook pages_
(http://www.facebook.com/bocker) . Labradoodle enthusiasts, along with other
groups of "oodle" owners, are even vying to have the breed recognized as an
official breed by the Kennel Council.
So why is Conron so ashamed of his own creation? Like many others, he
feels that the labradoodle trend started a gold rush for unscrupulous backyard
breeders with no knowledge of proper dog breeding.
"One of our litters had 10 pups in it and only three were actually
allergy-free," says Conron. "Let's face it: they're a crossbreed. You never
know
what you're going to get. It's a bit like buying a pig in a poke, yet people
all over are charging more for labradoodles than purebreds."
Two years ago, it was even rumored that President Obama was considering
bringing a labradoodle home to the White House. (Of course, he chose a
_Portuguese water dog_
(http://www.pawnation.com/2010/04/14/bo-obamas-first-year-in-the-white-house/)
instead). "I actually wrote him a letter that said to
be careful and check the parents," Conron explains. "I never heard back."
On the other side of the controversy, Dixie Moore of the _Australian
Labradoodle Association of America_ (http://www.ilainc.com/index.html)
believes
that the wild-west days of the oodle craze are now behind us.
"Ten years ago, I might have said that it is taking off too fast.
Fortunately for the breed, many breeders focus on health and temperament,
which, in
addition to being allergy-friendly, are the hallmarks of the breed," says
Moore. "I think the backyard breeders quickly find that there is little
demand for their dogs. Puppy mills are, of course, a problem for almost all
breeds."
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