Labradoodle Information
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Some claim that when mixing these two breeds, you are getting the best of both breeds. That is untrue. It is impossible to get only the good traits of each breed. Reputable breeders of purebred dogs work for years to achieve the healthiest dogs possible- this process isn't something that has an end to it either. With each breeding, only dogs who compliment each others traits should be bred. The majority of those breeding Labradoodles are not concerned with the health and temperament of the puppies they produce, they are only interested in the money they can get from it. There are some breeder who are testing their dogs for problems prior to breeding, and their foundation stock consists of excellent dogs, but sadly, breeders of Labradoodles who do this are rare.
What kind of health problems? Well, when you think of the problems that are associated with both breeds, there are numerous health concerns you should be worried about.
The Labrador Retrievers main health concerns are hip and elbow dysplasia, Progressive Retinal Atrophy, dwarfism, muscle myopathy, megaesophagus, skin allergies, and hypothyroidism. The Poodles' main concerns are epilepsy, hypothyroidism, corneal dystrophy, addisons disease, cushings disease, Von Willebrand's Disease, sebaccous adenitis, bloat, liver shunts, juvenile renal disease, mitral valve disease, entropian, autoimmune disease, and ocd.
That is a very long list of health concerns to be mixing if the breeder is not going to test to assure their dogs are not carriers of these problems. You could end up paying a couple thousand dollars for a Labradoodle puppy, and he may be crippled with hip problems at 2 years old, or blind from Progressive Retinal Atropy by the time he's 7. Please, if you have already decided to purchase a Labradoodle, do your homework first! As the breeder about all the health problems mentioned here. Also ask to see the eye certification and OFA reports- if the breeder cannot supply this, you may want to look elsewhere for your puppy.
Keep in mind that usually the health issues do not show up in the first generation of the mix. Usually the generation two's start to show weaknesses in the breeding. If the breeder is paying attention to these issues and truly wants to achieve a healthy breed out of this mixture, they will carefully plan their future litters to breed out the problems. Health problems are not just associated with Labradoodles- when creating any new breed (even back when breeds were first developed), the generation 2 dogs were "worse" than the generation one dogs. After that, careful planning and paring of dogs bred out the issues that were not desired. The farther along the line gets when breeding, the healthier the breed will become if the breeder is seeking to improve on their breeding.
