Frequently Asked Questions

1. What’s the difference between “hypo-allergenic” and “allergy-friendly”?

The term “hypo-allergenic” means completely non-reactive for allergy sufferers. No dog is completely “hypo-allergenic”. There are some dogs, however, who tend to be more “allergy friendly”. People who suffer from allergies and asthma tend to be more tolerant of dogs who have coats that are more like human hair. The Labradoodle is one of those dogs, although even among Labradoodles there is quite a variation in coats. It is important to work with your breeder to determine the right coat for you. For more information about coats click here.

2. Is it true that Doodles don't shed?

Some doodles are non-shedding, others shed slightly and still others shed quite a bit. Generally, multigenerational labradoodles (labradoodle x labradoodle) and F1B's (labradoodle x poodle) are less likely to shed because there is a higher percentage of poodle in the mix. But if you are considering adding a labradoodle to your family it's important to realize that any labradoodle may shed. As hybrids, labradoodles can have non-shedding coats like the poodle side of the family, and others can have shedding coats like their lab relatives. It's important to note that there isn't necessarily a correlation between whether a dog sheds and whether he/she will be allergy friendly.

3. Is a Labradoodle for everyone?

Sunny smiling for the camera

No. These dogs require a lot of mental stimulation and challenge. They are extremely smart and need to feel challenged or they will get bored. And boredom can result in a variety of undesirable behaviors (barking,chewing, digging). Doodles are extremely social animals who thrive on companionship. They will not do well if they are relegated to the position of "outside dog" They need to feel that they are part of their "pack" (your family). Doodles require moderate exercise, the amount of which varies depending on your living space.

4. Why are puppies neutered/spayed at 8-10 weeks?

Unless your puppy is purchased for breeding purposes, he or she will be neutered or spayed prior to coming to live with you. At one time it was thought that dogs should not be de-sexed until they were 6 months old. For a variety of reasons, population control and maintaining breeding standards among them, early spaying and neutering has become common practice in the veterinary community. For further reading about ESN (Early Spay and Neuter) check out this link

5. Are Doodles good with children?

Doodles by their nature are friendly, non-aggressive, loyal and loving. But it is important to note that as puppies, doodles exhibit all of the behaviors that you might expect from any young, un-trained dog: puppy nipping, jumping and excitability. This is why training is absolutely necessary in helping your puppy learn how to behave within your household. It is also important that children be taught how to interact with puppies/dogs to insure the safety of both child and puppy. If your family has never lived with a dog or raised a puppy before then attempting to do so when you have toddlers/young children may not be the best choice for your family or for the puppy.

6. Which make better pets...males or females?

Most behaviors that people associate with one gender or the other are influenced by hormones (marking, humping, wandering etc). Since our pups are spayed and neutered before they go to their new homes, gender is irrelevant. We try to match our pups to their new families based on their temperaments and the level of experience that their new family has with raising dogs. We find that the best puppy-family matches are made when folks are flexible around the gender and color of their new canine family member.

7. Can we pick out our puppy?

Yes and No. We use an allocation process rather than a strict "first come first serve" process.  When the litter is 5 weeks old we identify the prospective breeding pups that will be retained for our breeding program.  When the pups are 6 weeks old we then invite the families from that litters' wait list to come and meet the litter.  We are want to know which pup(s) each family is drawn to and we do our best to meet each family's requests regarding gender, color, coat type all the while trying to make the best fit with regard to temperament. 

Since we live with the pups and have had the opportunity to
observe them in many settings, we work very closely with each family to make sure that there is a good puppy/family match.  To this end, we ask that families try to be open with regard to gender and color...sometimes folks have their hearts set on a particular color or gender but there may be other pups whose temperaments might be better suited for their family. If we have several families on the wait list who are requesting the same type of pup (e.g. 3 families request a caramel female pup but we only have one caramel in the litter), all other things being equal....we then defer to the family's place on the wait list to make the final determination.

8. Do you ship?

Yes, we ship within the continental United States. (For International shipping please contact us).

9. We're driving through Davis, can we stop by to meet your doodles?

There is nothing we enjoy more than introducing our labradoodles and goldendoodles to people who have never met one. For people with allergies it's important to see whether they can tolerate the breed. And others who have only seen pictures of doodles on the internet, simply want the opportunity to meet one up close and personal.

Whatever the reason, we encourage prospective puppy owners to meet some doodles before making a commitment to owning a puppy. If you are interested in meeting our doodles please plan on attending one of our "Doodle Romps".

About 3 years ago, we decided to host Doodle Romps (gatherings of labradoodles, goldendoodles, their friends, family and admirers at local dog parks) as our method of introducing the public to our dogs. We came to this decision for a few reasons:

1) When we first began breeding labradoodles we used to invite prospective puppy owners to our house to meet the dogs, see our home (we are a private home, not a kennel) and ask questions about the breed. However, as the popularity of doodles has just soared over the past couple of years, we have found ourselves overwhelmed by the volume of requests from people who would like to meet our dogs. It is not unusual for us to get between 8-12 requests to visit per week.  As we tried to accommodate all of these requests we found that we were spending most of our weekends and a few evenings each week introducing folks to our doodles.  It really became overwhelming to balance our desire to introduce folks to our dogs with the day to day needs, activities and school work of our family.

2) In the past few years the incidence of Parvo (a devastating disease that is almost always fatal to young pups) has increased significantly.  It is easily transmitted and once it is present in a kennel/property it is extremely hard to eradicate.  Last year, a number of breeders in Southern California lost entire litters to parvo.  Very likely it was brought into their kennels by families shopping for pups...often prospective puppy owners will go from kennel to kennel before purchasing their pup and will unknowingly carry the disease in on the bottom of their shoes or even on the tires of their cars. Because of this, we finally decided that it was too risky to invite the general public to our house and into the puppy areas. 

We realize that many people want to visit a breeder's home to see the condition that their pup is raised in.  We will happily provide references from past puppy owners who can speak to this and answer other questions about their experience of getting a pup from us.   We do invite families on the wait list to come see the litter once the pups have received their first puppy shots (at six weeks) so all our puppies' families do have a chance to come to our place and see where their pups are raised.  (We have folks wear shoe covers and wash hands before coming in.)

3) And finally, there is the logistical challenge of getting all of our dogs in the same place at the same time. Since we're a private home and not a kennel, the majority of our breeding dogs live in guardian homes throughout Northern California (Santa Rosa, Mill Valley, Yuba City, Sacramento, Davis etc) so even if we were to host visitors at our place we would only be able to introduce them to the 4 dogs who live with us (2 Poodles, 1 Golden Retriever and 1 Labradoodle) for folks to meet.

When we host romps all of our guardian families attend with the rest of our breeding doodles so that folks have a chance to meet them and see the various sizes, colors and generations.  The nice thing is that we also invite other doodles (and their families) from all over the Bay Area and Northern California to our romps so that folks can meet a slew of them up close and personal.

10. When is the next Doodle Romp ?

We host Doodle Romps once every 3 or 4 months.

Our Next Romp will be held on Saturday April 5, 2008 from 10am-12noon.

Location: The Toad Hollow Dog Park in Davis:. All are welcome!

Directions to Toad Hollow Dog Park:

From Sacramento: Take Hwy 80 toward Davis. Get off at the Mace Blvd exit. Take a right at the end of the ramp on to Mace. Go to the first traffic light (you'll see Ikeda's fruit stand on your right) and take a left on to 2nd street. Go approximately 1.5 miles and look for Sudwerks Restaurant and Brewery. Toad Hollow Dog Park is just beyond Sudwerk's on the right.

From the SF Bay Area: Take Hwy 80 toward Davis. Get off at the Mace Blvd exit. Take a left at the end of the ramp on to Mace. Go to the first traffic light (you'll see Ikeda's fruit stand on your right) and take a left on to 2nd street. Go approximately 1.5 miles and look for Sudwerks Restaurant and Brewery. Toad Hollow Dog Park is just beyond Sudwerk's on the right.

Please check our website on the morning of September 22nd before you leave for the romp. We will post updates on our home page regarding cancellations or change of location.

Our romps are free of charge and open to the public.

It's a puppy pile!