[nagdu] Labrador-Poodle cross

[Haben Girma]

Thanks a lot Jenine that was very helpful! You mentioned that Labradors 
were the bread and butter, and I"m wondering if they are more reliable 
than the golden retrievers and German shepherds so many schools train. 
At most schools in the US more than half the dogs are Labradors. Are 
they simply more popular as a breed or just easier to train. I'm also 
wondering why schools don't offer more poodles.

Haben



Jenine Stanley wrote:
> Hello Haben, 
>
> I have worked with a Lab/Poodle cross from the Guide Dog Foundation. First
> though I must tell you that currently, the Foundation is not breeding any
> Lab/Poodle crosses. We may have a few still coming up through training but
> the numbers are very few indeed and someone needs, at this time, a
> demonstrated allergy situation, i.e., personal or family allergy, to even be
> considered for one. 
>
> We continue to breed Standard Poodles but our waiting list to receive one is
> over a year long and again, demonstrated allergy situations merit first
> choice for Poodles. 
>
> The Lab/Poodle varies widely in everything about itself from coat to
> temperament to allergic factors. Lab/Poodles, which I'll call LPs for short,
> have a mix of fur, which grows to a set length, and hair, which grows
> continuously. Some LPs look like Poodles with curls or relaxed curls while
> others look more like Labs with longer, sort of frizzy coats. The Coats have
> a unique texture though, wiry is probably the best description. 
>
> Poodles are generally very alert dogs and this alertness can carry over into
> the LP, causing some to be hyper alert, watching everything and reacting
> accordingly. 
>
> There are some outstanding LPs out there, obviously or the cross would not
> have been considered for guide work, but there are equally many LPs who
> start out perfectly fine and become noise sensitive, suspicious, overly
> protective, have confinement issues  and even develop aggression toward
> other dogs or people. I say this because these dogs can break your heart.
> They are brilliant, have fun personalities and can do some incredible guide
> work, but they are rather fragile in terms of temperament. Mine was retired
> after 3 years due to increasing confinement issues, i.e., she could not
> stand to be under things or in small spaces and if forced to be, she would
> become even more suspicious, growling at any other dog that came near her.
> She also began to snap at other dogs, something I personally find to be
> unacceptable in a guide dog no matter what the reason. 
>
> The Lab/Poodle is a very complex dog, more so I think than either of the
> breeds that go into it because you never quite know what you're going to
> get. When it's good, it's incredible and when it's bad, it's, well,
> incredibly bad. 
>
> Most of the schools around the world, including the one in Australia where
> the breed was started, no longer use the LP due to its unpredictability. I
> am not sure the Foundation will resume using them. We simply don't know at
> this point. We are quite pleased with the Poodle lines we have now, and our
> Labs are our bread and butter, as they are at most schools, but the
> combination has proven costly in terms of training, retraining, and the
> emotional tole it takes on handlers when having to retire the dogs. I don't
> know the status of the LP at the other schools who have used them here in
> the US, Guide Dogs of the Desert and Guide Dogs of America. If I was
> interested in getting one, I'd definitely call and talk with their training
> departments. 
>
> It was my observation that though my LP might have been less allergy
> producing, having a different dander, this did not lessen the resistance to
> her if people were going to resist her. 
>
> Another factor of a Poodle or LP is that they do produce a certain odor that
> one must monitor. It's best described as dirty socks. It's just a matter of
> brushing and sometimes using a coat conditioner or dry shampoo to remove
> excess oils from the coat, but it's there in some/most LPs and Poodles from
> time to time. Of course, most of our dogs can have a particular doggie odor
> from time to time. The Poodle odor is just different. 
>
>
> As for grooming/clipping, this too depends on the coat. I've seen LPs with
> the wavier coat who just need it trimmed every 3 to 4 months while mine
> needed a full clip every 2 months unless I let her grow out in winter. She
> still needed her face clipped every 6 weeks or so. This ran me between $40
> and $60 depending on where I went. My girl adored being bathed and clipped
> but I made sure the groomers knew LPs. Many LPs have beards that also
> require a lot of care to keep clean and trimmed neatly. They have longer
> hair that grows not only on the outer flaps of their ears, sometimes
> trailing in food, water and every other substance with which they come in
> contact, but inside their ears as well. This hair must be plucked and
> trimmed. The plucking from inside, I'm told, is painless. My girl didn't
> have any hair inside her ears but the hair on the outside grew quite quickly
> and needed to be managed. 
>
> Btw, the shedding myth is just that, a myth. My LP shed like crazy. Some do,
> some shed very little, but most do shed. It's only when breeding successive
> generations of the cross that the shedding goes away. Then other issues
> begin to surface though as the Australians discovered when trying this, and
> they ended up dropping the cross. 
>
> So, I hate to be a wet blanket, but I wouldn't get my hopes up for an LP
> unless you find one and have it privately trained or owner trained. 
>
>
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