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It became obvious to me early on that a
breeding program which consisted of crossing
Labradors and Poodles, would not provide a
wide enough genetic base on which to build a
new and healthy breed. The challenges
that faced me were firstly judging
when a new breed was needed, then which of
my lines needed them, and perhaps
greatest of all, what breeds could be
used without endangering the progress
already made in calming the early
generational hyperactive temperament,
stabalizing physical type,
and of course the ever present challenge of
maintaining coat quality.
It
is surprising to me how many people choose to ignore the fact that the 'pure' breeds of today trace their origins back to the cross breeding of two known breeds or breed mixes. As the generations progressed, breeders who were involved with the development of the new breed would then blend in another complementary breed in order to achieve the ideals they were working towards.
The Development of the Australian labradoodle has followed the same
traditional paths.
Each
time this was done, it was called an
'infusion'. Infusions had the
serendipitous effect of widening the gene
pool of the new breed whilst at the same
time correcting faults, increasing health
status, or otherwise introducing desirable
traits which were thought to be missing.
Some of our modern day 'pure' breeds have
had up to four and even five additional
breeds and breed blends infused over the course of their
history. They were carried out by
leading fanciers of the era, who had an
extensive knowledge of the bloodlines they
were working with.
The infusions I introduced into the ASD
Australian Labradoodle were not and should not have been,
undertaken lightly. In most cases, the
introduction of an additional breed into the
'mix' was a one-time infusion, the resulting
progeny being bred back to stable Labradoodle lines which were already reliably and consistently reproducing their own type.
 The
first infusion I did was of the Irish Water Spaniel, a breed
closely related to the Standard Poodle, and a soft
mouthed bird dog with retrieving instinct and a
love of water, as well as the non shedding coat.
This infusion brought in
the first Labradoodles in
the brown (Chocolate) color. Up to
that time the only colors in the Labradoodle
were varying shades of Cream. Chocolate
Poodles were scarce in those days and the
few who were around, were either carrying
health or temperament issues, or else
their owners would not allow them to be used
in a 'cross breeding' program for fear of
being expelled from their kennel club
memberships.
 As
I was developing the Miniature size I infused the
American Cocker Spaniel into some of the smaller lines
to counteract the yappy 'small dog syndrome' which had
crept in from the use of Toy and Miniature Poodles. For a
number of years, these infusions were
monitored and now appear in the majority of
Miniature Rutland Manor Miniatures.
I
have always been more interested in continuing research
than in simply producing puppies and I've never wavered
in my vision of the ideal ASD Australian Labradoodle - a reliably non shedding dog,
with an easy care allergy friendly coat, and with an
intuitive trainable nature, Suitable for Therapy
and Service Dog work and the ultimate in family
companions for those with allergies to other
breeds of dog.
Temperament,,
physical soundness and overall health are never
compromised in the pursuit of other features.
 The
Irish Water Spaniel brought more
good things to the breed than just color.
This infusion helped to fix the soft
retriever mouth and also modified
the 'hard' boisterous
and hyper active nature that was so
common in the early Lab x
Poodles. It also helped to bring
down the size which at the time
the infusion was done, was usually
at least 26 inches tall and often
much larger.
But experience
also taught us that this infusion
should not be over - done and it was
not brought back in after the first
generation. The 'rat tail'
which is prized amongst IWS's kept
popping up in later generations, as
did the smooth muzzle and some
individuals were inclined to be shy
and non sociable. These were
not traits which were wanted so some
lines were culled from breeding and
the infusion was not repeated. Only the best examples were kept for
breeding on with and these lines
have been very
successful.
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breeding terms, The ASD
Australian Labradoodle is still a very young and developing breed
at 2008, barely
twenty years ( nine or ten generations) in the making since the first intentional purpose bred crossing of the Labrador Retriever and the Standard Poodle by Royal Guide Dogs in Melbourne Australia.
Because of its incredible surge of popularity hundreds of new breeders have sprung up across the world,
many of them with little or no dog breeding
experience prior to dabbling in Labradoodles.
Some of these breeders are messing with established Australian breeding lines, and others
are criss crossing between Lab and Poodle or
following ridiculous 'grading schemes'. Yet
all these mix and match cross breds are being
registered as 'Australian Labradoodles'.
In an attempt
to protect the breed, the ASD was set up and
internationally trademarked. ASD stands
for what the breed was developed for in the first
place... A Service Dog, intuitive, intelligent
helping dog, therapy dog, seizure/alert hearing dog
and an answer to the prayers of families across the
world who never thought they could ever own a dog
due to their allergies. It is imperative that the
breed not be diluted, mixed, graded or otherwise
interfered with so as to lose the wonderful
qualities interwoven into the very fabric of their
being.
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Form
To Function
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Ear problems had become a
chronic health problem and Labradoodles in the hands of inexperienced or non observant hands were in danger of suffering pain and even worse, brain damage from neglected ear infections.
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Toplines, (backs) were becoming slack
from too much Standard Poodle influence,
along with weak loins, especially in the larger sizes, a condition which if not checked, would ultimately lead to similar skeletal structure diseases as seen in breeds such as the Basset Hound and Dachund.
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The very best non shedding coats were becoming high maintenance with the majority of Labradoodles being shaved to the skin when their coats became too matted for the average busy family to manage.
As
most people are aware, there is no dog breed
in existence which has been created from the
combining of just two parent breeds, with
many having had infusions of up to five
additional breeds to either widen the gene
pool or correct problems which were
appearing at certain stages of the new
breed's development
Time To Act
I n 2002
I decided that it was time to introduce another breed into the development of the Labradoodle. Angela on the otherhand was not so sure and
chose to wait and observe. The search was on
yet again for a suitable breed that was
available in Australia, But what breed would that be?
I researched dozens of different breeds, but always came up against either health or temperament problems which would not benefit the Labradoodle Ground already made must not be lost!
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 I
had almost given up, when I began to research the
Soft Coated Wheaten. At first I was excited. Non
shedding thin silky coat, elevated ear carriage and
strong compact topline seemed too good to be true - and it was. When I discovered temperament problems and serious health problems such as renal and kidney failure I was bitterly disappointed and I shelved the whole idea. There seemed nowhere left to turn to realize the dream. There were other beautiful breeds which could have been used, but for one reason or another they proved unsuitable. Then Providence stepped in.
In
2004 I was holidaying interstate when I met
a lady who had pure IRISH line Wheatens. I telephoned her and asked if I could see her dogs and destiny took a hand. I told her of my dream and to my utter surprise she didn't hang up on me as I expected. She asked if I had a website. She said she would read up on what I was doing and for me to call her in another couple of days which I did.
During
our phone call two days later she told me
that she felt honored that I was considering her breed to improve the beautiful Australian Labradoodles Rutland Manor was breeding. I almost fell off my chair! She also gave me the most exciting news I could have heard, when she explained to me the difference between the Wheatens who came from Ireland the country of their origin, and many of the Wheatens who had been exported to other countries where they had been bred primarily for the show ring until their temperaments, coats and general type had become unrecognizable from the original Wheatens bred and preserved in Ireland.
An
Exciting Visit
She invited to visit with her and her Wheatens, an invitation I eagerly accepted. When I arrived at her home I wasn't sure what to expect. But I couldn't have been more delighted! After sounding the alarm with deep warning barks, her lovely dogs greeted me with their owner at the door with wagging tails, smiling faces and charming manners. What wonderful dogs! I felt my heart beating faster as I felt through the silky wavy coats, looked into soft lustrous eyes and enjoyed affectionate kisses.
I
learned a great deal during that visit
including the way that the Irish breeders
have a passion to preserve the purity of the
breed, and the way that breeders in some
countries have bastardized the Wheaten in
their efforts to out - do each other in the
show ring. Poofy extravagant coats which are difficult to maintain, exaggerated conformation, and an apparent disregard for health issues had combined, with the result that the true spirit and type was gradually becoming lost. Here was a lady after my own heart!
Excited
beyond belief, arrangements were made for me
to purchase frozen semen from superb Irish
lines. Shortly after I returned home I
decided to infuse this precious semen into
the woolliest tightest curliest coated
females I could. Misty, a Café Miniature and Bunnie a Standard Cream were selected for this exciting trial. Both girls had a history of producing mainly thick curly wool coats in their offspring regardless of the Labradoodle sire used.
The
Dream Becomes A Reality !
 Rutlands Funnie Bunnie
(small Standard) and Rutlands Lil Misty
(Miniature) were AI'd (artificially inseminated) a week apart.
Both had tight wool coats .  Bunnie produced twelve puppies one of which didn't make it during birth and the Miniature Misty produced seven surviving puppies, fabulous results to an AI. Hybrid vigor was already at work and was a serendipity I hadn't even considered up to this point!
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From Bunnie
-Proudly owned by Brian
& Maureen NSW Australia |
From Misty -Proudly owned by Lew D
Florida |
Many of
the old pedigrees of infused stock
have either code names or show some of the
ancestry as 'unavailable'. The reason
for this is that owners/breeders of pure
breeds of quality, can have their show ring
careers ended and be expelled from their
kennel clubs if they allow one of their pure
bred dogs to mate with another breed.
Fortunately, when I infused the Soft Coated Wheaten (Irish lines only)
Rutland Manor had long been
recognized as
developing a new breed, rather than simply
'cross breeding'. This enabled the true pedigrees of the imported Irish Line SCW
to be provided and so established accurate records of the infusion.
At that time, I was still involved with the International Labradoodle Association (ILA) which I founded, and I had already submitted the results of my research to it. Rutland Manor's experimental breeding project was accepted and the two litters of IRISH Wheaten infused puppies were ILA registered.
As the eighteen puppies grew the whole team at Rutland Manor was so excited to see the soft silky coats develop, the wonderful true Labradoodle nature emerge and the strength and balance of their conformation.
Acceptance is Re-Affirmation
Then began the telephone calls to people waiting on the RM waitlist to explain what had transpired and to offer them one of these exciting new puppies. From each family I called, only one refused the offered puppy, and that was because their new home wasn't finished being built and they needed another few months to receive their puppy. Everyone else was excited to be a part of this new era in the Australian Labradoodle!
Feedback has been unbelievably encouraging, and the families have fed RM with progressive photos and updates to enable us to continue monitoring their progress. Naturally we have retained several of the puppies to continue selective breeding with some of our well established Australian Labradoodles.
The success of this project has far exceeded
my expectations so far and although we don't
expect instant overnight success with wider
ear canal structure, nor elevation of the
ears away from the skull.
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A Study of the URL's below will illustrate that what Rutland Manor has done, mirrors the practice of dog breed creation throughout history. The modern 'Pure' breeds of today have been developed not by the blending of just two known breeds, but in some instances by up to four and five in the pursuit for the ideal purpose-bred dog type. What
has have done is by no means new
or different when developing a
new breed.
Have a look at the following
excerpts from the breed history
archives of the Labrador and the
Poodle -
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The Labrador's Exact Origin is Unknown
Click
Origin and History of the Chocolate Labrador
- Excerpt -
"Further more we should keep in mind that there are a lot of missing links in our database, and sometimes the reasons for this are rather obvious. I found 21 interbred or fullbred Flatcoats or Chesapeake Bay retrievers in our Labrador retriever database, all born in the U.K. between 1914 and 1933. Of all the 21 interbred or fullbred Flatcoats or Chesapeake Bay retrievers, most of them being Field Trial champions, we could only track the ancestors for more than two generations of two dogs. The information about the ancestors of the other 19 interbred dogs was simply removed from the files in the 1930s. It seems that some well known Labrador breeders didn't want the public to know that their succesful dogs were partly the offspring of interbred dogs.
Two well known Chesapeake Bay retrievers were a dog called Jolly, who sired the male Labrador retriever Jolly Sam, born before 1933, and the bitch Corydalys, who was the dam of the female Labrador retriever Micklefield Juno, born before 1925. Clyde, born before 1923, was the "liver" (chocolate) Flatcoat retriever who sired the male yellow Labrador FTW Folkingham Bexter (1925), who in turn sired the yellow bitch FTW Limekiln Rhoda (1927). She and the yellow dog FTW Golden Morn (1926) had a litter that was registered as "half Golden Retriever and half Labradors". The separation was by coat length, because all puppies were yellow. Apparently the third generation showed some traits of the original breed involved.
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Excerpt from the Canadian Labrador Club:
Origin: The Labrador descended from dogs taken to Newfoundland by explorers, fishermen and settlers and evolved by natural selection. The breed was known by several names, among them the black Water Dog, the Lesser Newfoundland and the St. John's Dog. Excellent retrievers of fish and game, they often sailed with the fishermen and in the early 1800s, English sportsmen acquired a few of the hardy dogs off the fishing boats.
The British further developed the breed by crossing it with other sporting dogs, notably the
Flat-coated Retriever, the
Curly-coated Retriever and the
Tweed Water Spaniel.
It wasn't long before the Lab took over as Britain's most popular gun dog. The breed was first recognized by The Kennel Club (England) in 1903. In addition to its prowess as a gun dog, the Lab has distinguished itself as a police and war dog as well as a guide dog for the blind.
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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001 - Excerpt - |
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Labrador retriever - |
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".......breed of large sporting dog whose origins are obscure but whose immediate ancestors were developed in Newfoundland and brought to England in the early 1800s " |
'Norwegian Elkhounds were crossed into yellow labrador lines in the 1940's to correct the lack of undercoat in the yellows but they never stopped calling them labs.'
So much for the Labrador Retriever. Now let's take a look at the Poodle.
The Poodle's Origin
- reprinted
"Tracing the origin of the Poodle is difficult. Today's Poodle
probably originated as a water retriever. Some speculate
the Poodle could be the original
Water Spaniel. In sixteenth century Europe a dog called the
Water Dog of England was popular among hunters.
Others speculate the Irish Water Spaniel, which sported a curly coat, is the forerunner of the Poodle.
The
Poodle is believed
to have
originated in Germany, but to name a
specific country of origin is impossible.
Germany, Russia, France, and practically
every European country has claimed the
Poodle as their own.
Spain could also claim the origination of the Poodle. This idea is based on the Poodle coming from the Spaniel family, and the word spaniel is derived from the word Spain.
German writings from the sixteenth century describe the Pudel as a fairly large
black water retriever. In the 1600's the Water Dog was begun to be called a Pudel.
The dog was also found in Belgium and Holland as a working dog called the Poedel.
Most likely, the English name Poodle, descends from these terms.
The French have long claimed the Poodle as their own. The dogs found a devoted following in France. First known as the Barbet , a term that means beard, and is used to describe any dog with long hair, and later called the Caniche , meaning duck dog.
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