Hi Mike! Let me see if I can share some of what I am learning and my thought process when I selected my F1 girl. I take it you are considering an F1?
There is no standard as to which parent gets to be which, except for one should be choosing good quality stock on either side. The general rule of thumb for doing smaller dogs is the Dad needs to be the miniature as a miniature Mom could have trouble carrying a litter of bigger pups. Though I have heard of the smaller puppies having trouble nursing on the bigger teats of the bigger mom, but a breeder can step in and help those little ones :) Experience so far has shown what seems to be a preference for Lab Moms and Poodle Dads, but I have certainly seen litters with the Poodle Moms and Lab Dads. Some of that depends on if the breeder has a high quality dog of one breed then goes on to find a matching dog. I think meeting and liking the parents is very important. Always a good start to deciding. If you can't do this because of distance then ask for sibling references and talk to someone who has one of their puppies. Ask about coat, temperament, size, and even pictures. For the Lab side there is American and English Labs. For myself I prefer the English lab and so that was a criteria in selecting my girl. You can research this and see if you have a preference. I wanted a smaller girl or at least smaller genes in my girl. I also wanted Apricot and Red for my color. So that led me to an English Dam and what is called a Moyen Poodle Sire. My second criteria, being a breeder was quality, especially hips. I chose parents that were both great hips! I am very big on temperament. I looked at many F1 breeders and litters before I selected my girl. Next criteria, because the F1 looks can vary by a huge amount I wanted to choose from a litter that had prior siblings, both parents, not just one parent!. Seeing how those pups look can give you a very good idea what to expect from your pup. You won't have an exact match but those pups should still come within a consistent range of each other. I hope that helps :) Feel free to email me if you want to talk about it more! Here is a picture of my F1 girl, Mindy. She is 4 1/2 months old and 21 pounds! <img src="http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=WO_Lady&pid=336257&sid=hvE52lyKS8"; border=0> Shari Olympic Labradoodles P.S. if that link didn't work ... http://www.weblogimages.com/v.p?uid=WO_Lady&pid=336257&sid=hvE52lyKS8 At 02:51 PM 6/9/2005 +0000, you wrote: >We don't currently have a doodle, but are starting to look, having >(finally, perhaps) recovered from the loss of our dog just before >Christmas '03. >I've been doing lots of reading about F1's, F1B's, coats, etc, etc. >and I have a couple (perhaps basic or obvious) questions that I've not >really seen the answers to. >To start - is there a 'standard' for which of the parents is which >breed? I guess I know which would be which for mini's (since I've >never heard of a miniature labrador) but do you get different >qualities depending on which breed is mom?? Do the coat >characteristics change? Is there a way to predict (even vaguely) >which characteristics (e.g. blockhead) will come through in the pups? >Any other thoughts or ideas?? > >Thanks for sharing your knowledge. > >Mike in Oregon - currently working on insuring the integrity of our >dog management system (fencing) prior to actually looking for a pup. > > > > >---------- >Yahoo! Groups Links > * To visit your group on the web, go to: > * > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/labradoodles/>http://groups.yahoo.com/group > /labradoodles/ > * > * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > * > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>labra > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * > * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the > <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>Yahoo! Terms of Service. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/RzSHvD/UOnJAA/79vVAA/rtCxlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/labradoodles/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
