History

The Labradoodle Hybrid is a wonderful crossbreed
that was developed with the purpose of finding an
allergy friendly working dog.

Labradoodles are a relatively new breed of dogs that were first
bred by Wally Cochran in the 1970's. Wally Cochran, of The
Royal Guide Dogs in Victoria Australia, was prompted to breed the
Labradoodle after receiving a
request from a blind woman living in Hawaii. She needed a guide
dog that wouldn't aggravate her husband's allergies. Hair and
salica samples from 33 different Poodles in Hawaii were sent to
the couple to see if the dogs
would cause an allergic reaction in the husband; they all did.
Wally then asked the manager of The Royal Guide Dogs about
crossing one of their Labrador Retrievers with a Standard Poodle.
He agreed, and so the first Labradoodles were bred.

In 1998, Tegan Park introduced the "Miniature" Labradoodle to the public. When these were crossed with the
standard Labradoodle, the medium resulted. Thus three sizes are currently distinguished.

Labradoodles from the early generations had a large diversity in coat types. Some of the coated puppies grew up to
be low allergy, while others started out low allergy but by 8 months had shed their coats, which was replaced by a
coat that was not low allergy. Some puppies grew up to look like Golden Retrievers with a thinner coat, and others
looked similar to a Labrador.

The breeding centers selectively bred away from the
shedding coat and now, shedding coats are rare.
Labradoodles are now bred to have either the truly
Fleece Coat or the wool Curly coat. The fleece coat has
a distinctly soft fleecy feel unlike any other dog coat. It
hangs in loose loopy spirals like that of the Angora goat.

The Wool Curly coat resembles that of a poodle and
feels like a soft sweater. Both coat types are
non-shedding and allergy friendly. The coats come in a
variety of colors including: Black, Silver, Cream, Apricot
Cream, Chalk, Gold, Red, Apricot, Chocolate, and Café'.

Labradoodles are sociable, friendly, non aggressive, and extremely intuitive. Their intelligence and high
trainability make them well suited for guide dogs, therapy dogs and other assistance dogs. Their non-allergic coats
make them popular among people who have mot been able to enjoy pets because of their allergies. This new breed
is bound to become even more popular as more people learn about the lovable Labradoodles.

There were only three puppies in the first litter; only one of which didn't bother the husband's allergies. The
other two puppies also lived useful lives, one as a Remedial Dog, and the other as a Guide Dog. There was a waiting
list of people wanting to puppy walk Guide Dogs, but when these new cross breeds needed home no one wanted to
take them in. Wally knew it was important that these puppies socialize with a family, so he aired a story on Channel
9 in Melbourne about "the new breed of Guide Dog." Soon the phone rang incessantly with people wanting to
puppy walk the amazing new "breed" of Guide Dogs.

Wally bred Labradoodles to other Labradoodles, calling the new puppies "Double Doodles." He then bred Double
Doodles to Double Doodles and called the offspring "Tri Doodles." Out of the 31 Labradoodles that were bred at
Royal Guide Dogs, 29 made it as Guide Dogs. People fell in love with the new breed, and soon there was an
overwhelming demand for them that was not being met.

In 1989, Rutland Manor Labradoodle Breeding and Research Center was organized in Darnum, Victoria. They used
only health tested Labradors, Poodles, and 3rd generation Labradoodles. The Tegan Park Labradoodle Breeding
and Research Centre located in Seaspray, Victoria was established at the same time. It also carefully controlled
its breeding program, using only the finest genetically dogs.