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Labradoodle

The breeds · companion · cross

Labradoodle.

Assistance-dog origin: Wally Conron, puppy breeding manager at Guide Dogs Victoria (Coren: the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia), crossed a Labrador Retriever with a Standard Poodle in 1989 to produce a guide dog for a vision-impaired woman in Hawaii whose husband was allergic to dog hair, after none of 33 Standard Poodles he tried succeeded as guide dogs. Today a companion cross; ALAA describes the Australian Labradoodle as people-focused with a desire to please, suited to therapy and assistance work.

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

24INHeightall 23.75. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
40–80LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 68.8 lb (60 to 80); breed bitches 53.8 lb (40 to 70).

The lines

Within one breed the line can matter more than the breed. Where the lines differ, the page says which one a value belongs to.

f1

F1: the first cross, a purebred Poodle to a purebred Labrador Retriever ('F' for filial generation, ALAA). Coat is the least predictable here: the first 1989 litter of three produced one allergy-friendly pup, and Wally Conron described the cross's coats as running from wiry to soft and curly, wavy or straight. A third of UK Labradoodles surveyed in 2023 were F1 (Bryson 2026).

f1b

F1b: an F1 Labradoodle bred back to a purebred Poodle (ALAA; Bryson 2026 Table 1 uses the same definition). The backcross selects toward the furnished Poodle-type coat; 17.8% of UK Labradoodles surveyed in 2023 were F1b.

multigen

Multigenerational: both parents are crosses of any generation beyond F3 (Bryson 2026 Table 1; 22.6% of UK Labradoodles surveyed). Dogs registered with the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA) are a separate entry with their own standard, sizes and figures: see Australian Labradoodle.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

23.8 in (21.5 to 27)

DerivedThe Poodle Club of America

Center is the midpoint of the Labrador's center (23) and the Standard Poodle's center (24.5). Derived from both parent standards; a Standard Poodle parent is assumed, and Miniature and Toy Poodle crosses run smaller with no derived figure here. Not measured on Labradoodles.

Weight

dogs 68.8 lb (60 to 80) · bitches 53.8 lb (40 to 70)

DerivedAKC

Center is the midpoint of the parents' centers (62.5 and 45). Derived from both parent standards; a Standard Poodle parent is assumed, and Miniature and Toy Poodle crosses run smaller with no derived figure here. Not measured on Labradoodles.

Coat

f1 lineVariable: Wally Conron, who bred the first litter, describes F1 coats from wiry to soft and curly, wavy or straight, and only one of his first three pups was allergy-friendly for the client it was bred for; appearance, working ability and behaviour 'remain somewhat unpredictable'

EditorialCoren S. Designer Dog Maker Regrets His Creation. Psychology Today, 2014

Editorial (Stanley Coren reporting Conron; CBS 2019 carries the same account from Conron's own interview). The parents' standards: Labrador short, straight, very dense with a soft weather-resistant undercoat; Poodle naturally harsh, dense, curly. No peer-reviewed coat-genotype survey of F1 Labradoodles was found.

Shedding

f1 lineNot predictable in the first cross: considerable variability within a litter; the paper cites an estimate that about one-third of Labradoodles in a litter end up with a Labrador-type coat that sheds, and a 2012 allergen study found no evidence to call any breed hypoallergenic

StudiedHladky-Krage B, 2022

The one-third figure is quoted by Hladky-Krage 2022 from a secondary source, not measured by the paper; recorded as the paper reports it. ALAA (alaa_faq) says no dog is truly hypoallergenic and that a non-shedding coat is expected only when both parents are non-shedding.

Heat tolerance

3 of 5 · Parents differ: the Labrador's short, very dense double coat scores 4 (short dense) and the Poodle's dense curly coat, kept clipped, scores 3 (medium); an F1 may land anywhere between

DerivedAKC breed standard, 1990

Derived from the two AKC parent standards' coat descriptions. No center because the parents disagree.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

Parents differ: Labrador Retriever more than 2 hours a day (RKC, 150) and Poodle up to 1 hour a day (RKC, 60)

DerivedThe Royal Kennel Club

Derived from the two RKC exercise bands. No center because the parents disagree.

Grooming load

2 of 5 · Parents differ: Labrador Retriever once a week (RKC band, 2) and Poodle every day or regular clipping (RKC band, 4). The coat a given dog carries varies, so the load runs between

DerivedThe Royal Kennel Club

Derived from the two RKC grooming bands. No center because the parents disagree. Hladky-Krage 2022 (owner survey, doodles pooled) is recorded separately as the grooming expectation.

Grooming

Grooming is the expectation most often unmet: in a US survey of 2,191 owners, more than twice as many doodle owners as purebred or mixed-breed owners said their dog's maintenance (chiefly regular grooming) was more intensive than expected; one Labradoodle owner wrote that she had not realised there were generations that were less hypoallergenic

StudiedHladky-Krage B, 2022

Owner survey recruited through Facebook and Reddit; doodles of all types pooled.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

Assistance-dog origin: Wally Conron, puppy breeding manager at Guide Dogs Victoria (Coren: the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia), crossed a Labrador Retriever with a Standard Poodle in 1989 to produce a guide dog for a vision-impaired woman in Hawaii whose husband was allergic to dog hair, after none of 33 Standard Poodles he tried succeeded as guide dogs. Today a companion cross; ALAA describes the Australian Labradoodle as people-focused with a desire to please, suited to therapy and assistance work

EditorialCBS News, 2019

Editorial (CBS 2019 from Conron's ABC interview; Coren 2014 from Conron's earlier account; Bryson 2024's introduction gives the same history). No source opened describes retriever field work in the cross, so no hunting traits are recorded. The Labrador parent's standard calls for a retrieving gun dog for waterfowl or upland game (akc_std_lab).

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Most common disorders

Owner-reported disorders in 583 UK Labradoodles aged up to five (2023 survey): diarrhoea 46.3%, vomiting 40.7%, dietary indiscretion 25.0%, otitis externa 23.6%, ophthalmological disorders 15.7%, pruritus 12.2%. Against Labrador Retrievers the cross had lower odds of hip and/or elbow dysplasia (OR 0.37), lameness (0.35), multiple masses (0.35) and wounds (0.52) and higher odds of otitis externa (1.80); against Poodles, higher odds of allergic skin disorder (4.39), dietary indiscretion (2.03), wounds (1.82), diarrhoea (1.64) and vomiting (1.54), lower odds of patellar luxation (0.24). Odds did not differ from the parents for 50 of 57 (Poodle) and 52 of 57 (Labrador) disorders

StudiedBryson GT, 2024

Owner-reported, young dogs, UK; the authors read the whole three-cross study as no evidence of hybrid vigour and no evidence of poorer health. Eyes, measured separately: of 1,182 Labradoodles screened by one ECVO diplomate in the Netherlands 2014-2024, 7.8% had a known or presumed hereditary eye disease, led by iris-to-iris persistent pupillary membrane 4.7% and distichiasis 2.5%, cataract 0.5% (goossens_2026). Epilepsy in Labradoodles is phenotypically like the Standard Poodle's (Mandigers 2024, 40 dogs; not recorded as a value).

What the studies found

Population-level findings, shown as a spread. Breed sets the odds; the parents set the dog.

Trainability

2.7 of 4 · C-BARQ trainability breed mean 2.73 (Labradoodle n = 166), against Labrador Retriever 2.63, Standard Poodle 2.70, Miniature Poodle 2.54; not significantly different from any parent breed

StudiedShouldice VL, 2019

Owner questionnaire data from the University of Pennsylvania C-BARQ database (extracted April 2019); the survey records no pedigree, so generation and Poodle variety are unknown (the authors treat the crosses as F1). No SD published. In the larger RVC 2026 UK sample (bryson_2026, 583 Labradoodles acquired as puppies from 2019) Labradoodles scored significantly WORSE than Labrador Retrievers on trainability; that paper prints no breed means in text.

Energy

2.2 of 4 · C-BARQ energy breed mean 2.20 (Labradoodle n = 166), against Labrador Retriever 2.11, Standard Poodle 2.07, Miniature Poodle 2.04; excitability 2.04 against Labrador 2.00 (no significant breed difference on either scale)

StudiedShouldice VL, 2019

Same caveats as trainability. Bryson 2026 found Labradoodles significantly more excitable than Labrador Retrievers in the UK sample.

Toward strangers

0.6 of 4 · C-BARQ stranger-directed aggression breed mean 0.56 (Labradoodle n = 166), against Labrador Retriever 0.47, Standard Poodle 0.57, Miniature Poodle 0.65 (difference not significant); stranger-directed fear 0.69 against Labrador 0.50

StudiedShouldice VL, 2019

Aggression subscale; fear quoted in the text. Same caveats as trainability. Bryson 2026: no difference from either parent on stranger-directed aggression; LESS stranger-directed fear than Poodles.

Toward other dogs

0.6 of 4 · C-BARQ dog-directed aggression breed mean 0.62 (Labradoodle n = 166), against Labrador Retriever 0.95, Standard Poodle 0.74, Miniature Poodle 0.92 (not significant); dog rivalry 0.19 was significantly lower than the Miniature Poodle's 1.02, the only scale on which the Labradoodle differed from a parent

StudiedShouldice VL, 2019

Same caveats as trainability. Bryson 2026: less dog-directed aggression and dog rivalry than Poodles, more dog rivalry than Labrador Retrievers.

Being left alone

0.8 of 4 · C-BARQ separation-related problems breed mean 0.76 (Labradoodle n = 166), against Labrador Retriever 0.55, Standard Poodle 0.62, Miniature Poodle 0.93; not significantly different from any parent

StudiedShouldice VL, 2019

Same caveats as trainability. Bryson 2026: more separation-related problems than Labrador Retrievers, fewer than Poodles.

Aggression, as studied

In the Royal Veterinary College's 2023 C-BARQ survey (583 UK Labradoodles), the Labradoodle sat between its parents: better than Poodles on six scales (owner-directed aggression, dog-directed aggression, dog rivalry, stranger-directed fear, dog-directed fear, separation problems) and worse than Labrador Retrievers on five (dog rivalry, non-social fear, separation problems, excitability, trainability); no difference from either parent on stranger-directed aggression, touch sensitivity or attachment. Of the three crosses studied, Labradoodles showed the fewest undesirable-behaviour differences

StudiedBryson GT, 2026

Dogs acquired at 16 weeks or younger from January 2019, so a young, pandemic-era cohort. Shouldice 2019 (166 North American Labradoodles) found a parent difference on only one scale (dog rivalry). Population-level findings, never a prediction for one dog.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

Side by side

Or let the selector rank the Labradoodle against your own answers.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 16 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
Labrador Retriever x Poodle
Parents
labrador-retriever × poodle

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