The history of the Goldendoodle dog

Since 1999,  I’ve written about the Goldendoodle.   When I first began writing about this lovely hybrid,  I admit that I didn’t know too much about the dog since the year 1999 was the first time I had ever mixed a Poodle with a Golden Retriever to deliberately create a hybrid dog.    There was very little information over the internet about the mix and this is why I began writing about the Goldendoodle in the first place.    Over the years,  my own information has changed because it literally takes years to become an expert on a subject.   I’ve made it my business to know everything I possible can about this wonderful dog.

There were no books on the Goldendoodle and to this day,  there are still no books regarding this hybrid.   None that are factual, that is. Many of my blogs as well as many of my articles regarding the Goldendoodle dog could literally be turned into a book. . . . . . . . . but thus far I’ve not had the time to make this happen.   I have, unfortunately, seen quite a few of my articles and much of my information plastered all over the internet without giving me, the author, credit for my work and in some instances,  I’ve seen my work posted word for word on many doodle websites as well as many websites that has nothing at all to do with doodle dogs.   Many of these sites are “orphan” sites where there isn’t a way to contact the owner to have my work removed.   So it is unfortunate when that happens.

Noticeable changes has occurred over the years, for the Goldendoodle dog since they first became available in the United States.   When I created my first litter,  it was in 1999.   Upon advertising my first litter,  I discovered I was the only breeder in the entire southern region of the United States to have Goldendoodles available for sale.   There were a few sporadic breeders in the western part of the United States and barely any in the middle of the United States.   For a year or two,  the entire southern region of the United States was my section and we enjoyed for awhile,  having this section all to ourselves.   When my first litter became available,  I called these dogs “curly Goldens” because frankly speaking,  I didn’t know what to call them.    A friend of mine and I had joked about what breed name to give them.   So we came up with that!  When I sold a puppy to a resident in Charlotte, NC  he brought with him a printed article he’d found on the internet regarding a man in Australia who deliberately mixed a Golden Retriever and a Poodle together and called them “Goldendoodles”.   The name sounded cute,  so I agreed to start calling our dogs “Goldendoodles”.    I never have understood where the “doodle” part came from but I agreed to go with the trend regarding the name itself.

At the time I began my first litter of Goldendoodles,  I was not concerned with color, coat texture, size, shedding or allergies.    I was concerned about temperament.   I was also curious as to whether or not this mixture would make a fine hunting dog and serve its original practical purposes as we knew the Golden Retriever and Poodle did back in the day when breeders were creating these dogs.   I spent 2 years researching the lineage of my Poodles and discovered over 400 OFA good, champion ancestors that dates back to the early 1930s.   The lineage of my Golden Retrievers actually stopped in the early 1970s and I wasn’t exactly sure why.   My theory is because prior to that,  the Pekay Kennel owners more than likely required their dog buyers to place the purchased dogs in AKC dog shows or they didn’t give out the registrations.   Many show breeders do this if the buyer fails to use the dog for showing purposes.   Many show breeders also continue to own the rights to the dog, even after they sell it,  and refuse to allow the dog to be bred unless they are given the rights to the litters.  I’m not sure I agree with that,  but it is something I’ve heard show breeders do.   At any rate,  when I began creating Goldendoodles,  it was my concern that I’d have a hard time finding homes for this mixture.   I was completely wrong.  No sooner than my first ad appeared over the internet,  I had 50 people calling for a litter of 7 puppies.   My first litter was sold in less than three days.    We had three more litters by Christmas.   That year,  we literally took 23 puppies to the airport at the same time and overwhelmed the employees signing them all in for their flights across the United States.   Needless to say,  ”Santa”  made quite a few families very happy for christmas!

There were no kennel clubs in the United States at the time of our first litter, registering the “Goldendoodle” dog.   I contacted Lois at our affiliated kennel club,  UKCI, and began the task of getting our first litter to become the first registered Goldendoodle hybrid.   It’s been awhile ago,  but I think I registered my first litter as “curly goldens”. . . . . I can’t remember if we registered them as “curly goldens” or as “golden-doodles”.   I do remember that we played around for a bit with the breed name.   I also remember that my recommendations to our affiliated kennel club was accepted and a few changes by the kennel club owners  were made after my recommendations were accepted.   We eventually went with “goldendoodles” and not “golden-doodles” or “curly goldens”.    I also know that it is a fact that I was the first breeder to ever register the Goldendoodle hybrid with this kennel club and at the time this kennel club accepted my dogs for registration as a “hybrid”,  there was no other kennel club in the United States registering them.   Universal Kennel Club was founded in 1938.    After I became very disappointed with the American Kennel Club,  I sent UKCI copies of all of my dogs’  AKC registration documents, including copies of their AKC pedigrees and made UKCI the sole registrant service for my dogs.    The American Kennel Club permitted a dog breeder in Georgia to register a purebred Toy Poodle litter that belonged to  one of my stud dogs, to register the litter using HER male dog’s name as the father when the facts supported my stud dog as being the father.    I had sold my female Toy Poodle not knowing she had been impregnated by one of my Toy Poodle stud dogs.  The American Kennel Club sat back and claimed they were nothing more than a “registrant” service and could not assist me in the matter after I contacted them and filed a grievance about this issue.   It was because I discovered AKC was  nothing but a liar and a disgrace as a kennel club, that I removed my dogs from their “registrant service” and vowed to let people know what a fraud AKC really was and continues to be through an article.   This kennel club, AKC, laughs itself all the way to the damned bank.   Back some years ago,  they actually had the audacity to post a derogatory blog on their own website about the Goldendoodle and the Labradoodle proclaiming these mixes to be nothing more than “designer mutts”,   but guess who, in October of 2009 began registering this hybrid?  If you said The American Kennel Club. . . . YOU ARE RIGHT!

The Golden Retriever club of America also further wrote a derogatory article on their website some years ago about the Goldendoodle and Labradoodle.   Back in 1999,  I received numerous hateful messages via my answering machine and email from lunatic purebred Golden Retriever and Poodle fanciers over the fact I was mixing these dogs to create our Goldendoodles.   Well, guess who has changed their tune and jumped on the doodle bandwagon?  Hmmmm. . . you guess it!  Purebred Golden Retriever and Poodle fanatic fanciers who originally blasted me over the internet and called my home making threats and leaving hateful messages on my answering machine and email account.

In Australia,  there was a systematic plan in place by breeders, to create the “ultimate”  “assistance” dog.   The first litter of Goldendoodles was created in 1997.   Australia actually calls Labradoodles and Goldendoodles “purebred” dogs in their kennel club.   I am still not sure exactly why that is,  but it is a fact.   Still considered to be in its infancy,  the Goldendoodle as well as the Labradoodle is not considered a purebred dog.   It would take many years of back breeding,  in-breeding and linebreeding for any American kennel club to consider making these hybrid dogs a “purebred”.

 Think of how many years ago dog fanciers considered creating so many varieties of dog breeds and how long it took for kennel clubs around the world to recognize these mixed breed dogs as “purebreds”.   And why would a breeder want to take the Goldendoodle or the Labradoodle dog on the same path the purebred dog has been walked on, in the first place?  Too many purebred dogs of today have genetic health issues because breeders created a “genetic bottle-neck” for their dogs.    The competition began to heat  up between  multiple Goldendoodle breeders around 2002-2003.    Back biting, name calling and absurd postings began to swirl around the rumor mill and I personally saw much of it when I began writing about the Goldendoodle dog and posting my articles on the web.     A small group of breeders began targeting not just myself but a couple of other original founders for the Goldendoodle dog, here in the United States.   The original “breeder bashers” were coming from Canada.    As more news and information began to appear over the internet through my articles and blogs about the Goldendoodle dog,  it seemed to me that the rumors’s purpose was to lead potential customers in the direction of breeders  who paid a woman in Canada to advertise their available  dogs on her own website, for a hefty yearly fee.   She also harbored and to this day, continues to harbor,  a doodle forum on the same site.   It was obvious to me why the site owner would continue to fuel the fires.   It was because she was raking in the dough from advertisement fees.   She was sent multiple letters to cease and desist by not just myself,  but a breeder in California and a breeder from Virginia.   Some years later,  I noticed the breeder in Virginia had created her own doodle forum and picked up the rumor mill from where the people in Canada had left off.    The internet is abound with stories of self-made doodle breeders who hopped on the rumor mill for the simple purpose of putting dollars in their own pockets and not those of their leading competition.

As I weighed in on the Goldendoodle competition,  I realized that there really wasn’t any competitors out there who were a threat to myself as a breeder,   if potential buyers sought breeders who had real experience; real knowledge; actual doodles of quality and wanted to not just buy a doodle from someone who had them,  but also wanted to learn about them.   I admit that I was very thin-skinned in the beginning and took offense at reading the fabricated rumors and derogatory nonsense that was eventually picked up by my own estranged sister in 2006 after she fell out over my not giving her a Goldendoodle dog in the manner that she felt I should have.   Anyone would become sensitive over finding untruthful comments made about their dogs and their business especially when they knew who was doing it and what their purpose was for doing it.   Especially when I knew none of the rumors or posted content was true.   

Even in today’s economy, I  help potential buyers get the most out of their Goldendoodle by offering multiple popular articles, blogs and insight on not just my own personal website,  but on a wide variety of websites across the world wide web!   Consumers care more today than ever about:

1. Integrity

2. Experience

3. Knowledge

4. Professionalism

5. Quality

Investing in a Goldendoodle is very similar to investing in your future.   As a Goldendoodle breeder who began their doodle breeding program in 1999,  I offer all of the above.    My Goldendoodle World website offers tools for the buyer to use to help them understand the dog they have become interested in.    There aren’t certification classes or degrees for breeders.   Everything I’ve come to know regarding this hybrid, has come from doing.   My knowledge comes from hands on experience;  from  thousands of photographs taken over the many years from not just myself but from our Goldendoodle fans and families.   Many of my blogs and articles have come from my own head as well as from many unpaid hours of research.    Yes.   I am a “Goldendoodle Specialist”.    It takes many, many years for someone to become an expert in a field they’ve dedicated themselves to and since 1999,  I’ve dedicated nearly my entire website to the Goldendoodle dog.

Because temperament is one of the things that is most important to me concerning dogs,  I had to ensure that the dogs incorporated into my original doodle  breeding program would make the cut.   Since I began breeding purebred Golden Retrievers in 1996,  I already knew my Goldens were perfect candidates.    My concern was the Poodle and the temperament that would come from this type of dog.   I was very glad that I found someone who had terrific Poodles with superb temperaments.   Had that not been so,  I wouldn’t even be here writing this article or any of the others for that matter.    Over the years,  it was also important to me to receive buyer responses and photographs.    Feedback from customers is very important.   With their permission,  I began scanning their letters,  their cards,  their photographs and their email and placing them on my website for others to enjoy.    For me to sit here and pretend that we didn’t get some negative feedback would be ridiculous.   Of course,  as comes natural to any business owner,  we did get a few negative responses. . . . . . but they were so few they were not even worthy of mentioning.    Since 2006,  an estranged sister of mine with an internal family ax to grind has led potential dog buyers to believe we’ve had “hundreds” (as she enjoys posting over the internet) of complaints. . . . negative reviews and so on. . . . but that’s simply not the case nor are her comments truthful.    The fact of the matter is,  we’ve had many years of successful placements for our Goldendoodles and we come highly recommended by not just those who have purchased from us and whom continue to this day of enjoying their lovely dogs, but by our affiliated kennel club and strangers alike.    It is possible that the increasing  influx of doodle breeders, over the years,  will cause sales to continue to decline, competition to increase and breeders to fight for their fair share of sales in the industry.    It is possible that the Goldendoodle dog’s general overall quality can fall to the wayside as breeders witness a sort of “purging” period.     The question is,  will each be best served by focusing on their individual success and needs or would the Goldendoodle  industry be best served by a collaborative effort of breeders making the Goldendoodle dog the best breed available on the market?  I personally believe that a collaborative effort by the original founders for the Goldendoodle dog here in the United States would continue to make this hybrid the best dog it could possible be and I include myself  in this very small group of breeders.

In times like these,  it is expected that a few breeders in the industry will fall to the wayside.    Trust me,  I’ve spent the last year or two dwelling on whether I am going to stay in it for the long haul or just get out of the breeding industry altogether  and focus more of my  time writing.   I have an equal  love for both hobbies.   While there is a small group of adversaries who absolutely find the idea of the  Goldendoodle dog to be appalling,  these adversaries are really comprised of purebred dog “naysayers” who have had a failed effort of halting the popularity of this hybrid for years.    Some naysayers are more concerned about targeting specific breeders and trying to put them  out of business than they are of focusing on the overall breeding industry and some of the issues this in itself has caused the canine in general.

The naysayers forget about the children who have come to love the Goldendoodle dog.   They forget that many children are owning these dogs for the very first time.   As they grow up with this breed,  they will turn out to be the adults who go on to say,  “Hey,  you know what?  My very first dog was a Goldendoodle and it was the best dog I ever had!!”.    Those ”adults” will then more than likely turn around and purchase the same type of dog for their own children.    This is what we as people who are dog lovers,  generally do.   It is what I, as a breeder, continue to strive for.     We do not know for how long the doodle dog will last in this industry.   What we do know for now is that this hybrid is extremely popular and there are many breeders who are NOT commercial breeders;  they are NOT affiliated with pet stores or pet shops;  they are NOT sitting back raking in the cash.   I know.   I am one of these breeders who are none of the things above.    If the doodle breeders who began around the same time that I did with their breeding programs would focus on what is most important for the future of the Goldendoodle dog,  fewer would fall to the wayside.   And it’s possible that by combining this focus. . . . . . the over all quality and health of such a wonderful family dog. . . . . . . that this mixture will continue in the future to live up to its full potential.

For those of us original Goldendoodle founders,  especially those of us who continue to forge ahead by putting our  individual struggles aside to stay focused on the Goldendoodle as a whole,  there is a potential to build relationships designed to last a lifetime.   For myself personally,  when the crisis regarding the years of fabricated rants of an estranged sister fades,  I can ask myself where would I rather be?   Part of a rebounding group of focused Goldendoodle breeders,  or alone and starting over?  I think you already know, by the tone of this article,  what my answer will be.    Part of a rebounding group.

**About the author:  Dee Gerrish has been writing articles and blogs about the Goldendoodle dog, since 1999.   Dee is one of the original founders for the Goldendoodle dog for the entire southern region of the United States.   Goldendoodle World was founded in 1999, however,  Dee began as a private, professional, hobby breeder in 1996 after she received an honorable,  medical  discharge from the military. More information about Goldendoodle World can be located at http://www. goldendoodleworld. com  

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