I just got off the phone with a very dear friend in upstate NY. Recently, her boss flew to New Orleans and picked up a 9 week old male Labradoodle pup, that is "already neutered" and first shots for $2500. The females are $2800. That is so disgusting! What is wrong with people?

No flames, please. I just had to vent.

Who would neuter a pup at 9 weeks???

Suckers really are born every minute, aren't they?

As far as early spay/neuter....animal shelters have been doing it in some states for over ten years. It helps prevent pet over population in dogs and cats. In some states it's actually mandatory that pets not leave the shelter until they have been spayed or neutered.
Getting back to the very expensive designer mutts....I just don't get it! At the Vet practice I work for we had a new client come in with a "mini Labradoodle" She got it from a pet store for the bargain price of $2600.00. It came with all it's shots too! (it had been in a cage at the pet store for 5 1/2 months) The poor puppy is so fearful....it's just so sad for the puppy! These puppies are the true victims......

So who really cares how much someone spends for something they want. I also wouldn't spend $2,000 on a bottle of wine nor can I see how someone could charge that, but there are many that would. It's their money, they've worked for it, that's what they like, that's what it costs, so go for it.

I think the real problem here is that the folks who pay these big $$$ for the crosses are sold a bill of goods that is just false. I have several clients who come in for nutritional consulting with Doodle's or Poo's and seem shocked that they were promised a Golden coat that was hypo allergenic but they have a dog with a poodle coat and they sneeze all day long and the dog is covered with scabs and sores. I place the blame on the people producing these crosses and making outrageous claims and getting big bucks in the bargain. By the time they grow this dog up they love it and just have to deal with the consequences.
BTW - Has anyone ever heard of a "KCA" registration, a few of my clients have "papers" from the KCA - just like my dogs I am told, UMMM NOT - mine are AKC, another sham they fall into.

My MIL's neighbor sent $2500 on a goldendoodle, who at 8 months had hip dyspasia so bad that now her hips are held together by ligaments. The joints are gone. Whats really sad is the dog was bred by a vet, who told the woman I guess I didn't go far enough back in the pedigree. The one who is suffering is that poor dog. It walks like a penguin. I can't imagine what's going to happen as it ages.

I think that 90%, or more, of so-called Labradoodle breeders are breeding nothing but mutts and are compleatly uneducated about breeding and just trying to make money, HOWEVER, I also think that there are a handful of Labradoodle breeders out there that have bred many, many generations of these dogs very selectively with real goals in mind. And, even if you don't personaly see a need for yet another new breed of dog, we must all remember that even our precious Labs were at one time created from crossing other breeds and that it took many years for them to ever become recognized as such.

Breeding any dog to a Poodle and calling it a doodle of one sort or another, just as crossing a Pug or a terrier or any other dog to create a so-called "designer dog" is outragous. Why anyone would pay big $$ for a mutt is beyond me when they've always been available at shelters. Mutts should not be anything to be proud of as they are the product of irresponsible pet owners who failed to spay/neuter, or worse yet, puppy mills.

At the same time, if you look back and do some research, you'll discover that the origin of the Labradoodle started over 30 years ago and NOT as a designer dog, but with the intentions of creating a new breed. The fact that Americans eventually decided that breeding any dog to a poodle and calling it a designer dog is unfortunet and irrelevent to the true Labradoodle.

Why do I mean by true Labradoodle? I believe a true Labradoodle, all-be-it with a bad name, is a dog that was selectivley and carefuly bred with good intentions for at least 3 to 5 generations and is true-to-type. And Yes, there is a breed standard (http://www.ilainc.com/IALA/ALabradoodleBreedStandard.html)for the Labradoodle. I catagorize Poodle/Lab hybrids (mixes) as nothing more than a mutt like any other poodle mix. But for those select few breeders out there such as http://www.rutlandmanor.com/ and http://manorlakelabradoodles.com/ I consider these dogs a breed unto themselves.

Just my two cents.

Let's not let the poor cross breeding of one dog to another by money crazed idiots keep us from keeping an open mind when a new breed is in the works. Even the AKC recongzines new breeds every year or so, such as the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, and many others. An individual does not have the right to say if a new breed should or should not exist, if enough people find a new breed worthy, let them have it. Anyone who doesn't share that opinin need not purchase such a dog.

If interested in learning more about a true Labradoodle as a breed see the links below.

http://www.australianlabradoodleclub.us/

http://www.australianlabradoodleaa.org/index.html

And, No, I do not breed these dogs. I have nothing against them, but they are not my passion.

I am a firm believer that the AKC will never accept any of these so called designer breeds. for example, Duck tollers, red and white setters,etc have been around longer than any other designer breed. I personally am tired of people that are not educated calling my curly coated retrievers, labradoodles... When in fact i also feel bad for them because they dont know. Its these damn people that false advertise, like Lois said and charge astronomical amounts of money for a mutt!! Just my thoughts too!!

Jen

No name calling please.

I think we all know how you feel when you call these people "dummy," however, good people do make bad choices. I doubt most of these people are actually are, but rather not well educated as to their puchase.

The down side of living in a a free country is people are free to breed poorly, and others are free to buy from these people.

Fortunelty, we are also free to attempt to guide these people into make better choices.

I have a pet sitting customer who on a whim went to the pet store purchased a goldendoodle because she could charge it pay for it later...... This poor thing I think already has hip problems at 5mths of age he has a very hard time getting up. I've brought it to the owners attention but she doesn't seem to be concerned. Well it came from a breeder ya right a puppy mill out of state out! Another dummy!

"...but she doesn't seem to be concerned."
Many people rescue dogs and some people adopt special needs children too, it's called love dummy.

Yes we could call the badly bred "...doodles" those with hips and other problems "special needs" and I'm not laughing at the dogs. I agree that some people like to adopt special needs' children but those who do... get special needs benefits from Goverment because contrary to amateur doodle breeders (I don't support doodle breeding but some are doing their job) some are purposely bred by dummies who have all the tools to avoid such problems, like: Xrays,OFA, PennHip, and CERF!

The price they ask for their dogs is their business. It's a sham but if people are willing to pay for it then I guess they have the money to pay for it! People have always had in their minds "if it costs more it's probably better" so that's how they screw these people but that's their business not mine.