LABRADOODLE OR COBBERDOG

tHE tRUE ORIGIN

IS COBBERDOG JUST ANOTHER NAME FOR A LABRADOODLE?

Australian Cobberdogs are no different than a number of individual established Pure Breeds which all have a portion of shared ancestry, having come from the same root stock, yet they are individual Pure Breeds with their own DNA imprints. Some examples are the Skye Terrier, the Scottish Terrier and the West Highland White Terrier, who all came from the same root stock.

Are there really 22 breeds that go to make up the Australian Cobberdog?

If there are, I have no idea how they got sneaked in!

I have NO knowledge of breeds being present such as Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Irish Terriers, Cattle Dogs, Springer Spaniels, or Cavaliers, just to name a few which are rumored to be in the ACD.

It is a great disappointment to me, that the MDBA on its official Australian Cobberdog website, despite its promise several years ago, still makes no mention in its History of the Breed, of the two people without whom the Australian Cobberdog would not exist. Mel Woolley (formerly Angela Cunningham) deserves a mention because without her there would be no Australian Labradoodle and it is from the ranks of uncorrupted bloodlines that I began the Cobberdog journey. Its reference to 'a core of breeders' and its Breed Advisory Committee are in fact, relatively new breeders who had never heard of an Australian Cobberdog until recently and who are decades away from its origin.

The True Origin of the Australian Cobberdog

ORIGIN The authentic Australian Labradoodle was the brainchild and vision of Mellodie Woolley of Tegans (my daughter) back in the late eighties/early nineties. Together and independently we developed it with a series of intentional infusions from specific pure breeds at indicated stages and for special reasons to avoid a genetic dead end and for genetic diversity as well as to correct flaws in type or temperament as they appeared. There was no DNA health testing back then and it was basically a matter of "try it and see"! It was a huge global success but it suffered from over popularity in the hands of new breeders who bred for the wrong reasons, until finally its reputation was tarnished. The Australian Cobberdog is on the brink of the same fate.

AUSTRALIAN COBBERDOG

Mellodie became very ill and was forced out of breeding for about ten years and I struggled to keep the vision alive. I gathered together bloodlines that had not been corrupted and added more infusions as I went along. Not many people know this, but when I submitted the developing pure breed for acknowledgement by the MDBA In 2011 it was under the name "Australian Labradoodle". The MDBA advised me that the name had such a stigma attached to it, that it would never be accepted by any all breeds pure dog breed registry in the world, including the MDBA. but they also said that my very lengthy submission and meticulous records would be accepted if I came up with a different name.
In Australia, the land of origin, your best buddy/friend/pal is known as your "cobber" so that is how the breed got its name.
All this while no one else, including Tegans had ANYTHING to do with the creation of the Australian Cobberdog. After the MDBA accepted my breed, I then invited Tegans to participate and helped her to start breeding again by gifting her with a young adult proven female, Rutlands Wh Amelia, and several doses of frozen semen from my best stud dogs. This was NOT to repay her her for gifting me with my first two Australian Labradoodles years before as it is claimed. I purchased them from Ron Evans in Victoria,

The Australian Cobberdog was recognized in January 2012 as a pure breed in development sprung partly from the root stock of the authentic Australian Labradoodle. Like most pure breeds it is different to the breed/s from which it originated.

Australian Cobberdog. The eyes tell the story

Can the Original Recipe Be Repeated or Repaired?
Personally, I don't think it can, because it isn't possible to recreate the individual dogs that influenced the breed over the years. So there is no blueprint that can be followed.
Most pure breeds have been around for hundreds and even thousands of years. So the Australian Cobberdog breed is still in its infancy. Tools such as DNA testing are certainly speeding up the breed development process, but it is expected that for some time to come there will be differences in the Cobberdogs being bred by various breeders who are still selecting for different traits along the way. The important thing is a unity of purpose amongst them all.
To this end, I believed when I handed the reins over to the MDBA in 2012 that it would be a good thing to have my life's work under the control of one entity. Based on certain incidents and observations I now think differently. I now believe that there need to be additional registries for the Australian Cobberdog in various parts of the world.

Between 1837 and 1869 Sir John Dalberg-Acton, made the following remark in a letter to an Anglican Archbishop.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
I could add that when the flow of money is added to the equation the truth in his statement is tenfold.

Photo:

Rutlands Maja (Ruby) exported to Germany for breeding.

When Will the Australian Cobberdog Stud Book Close?

Before the Stud Book can be closed there are technical requirements to be met, such as at least 500 individuals of generation F4 or above, to be assessed and judged on the consistency of their physical attributes and behaviours. The breed needs to have a wide genetic base on which to build future generations. The challenge is that fresh bloodlines introduced, must be genetically rich in specific traits unique to the breed. Otherwise there could be no consistency and generations of non-typey dogs would be produced which would at best slow down progress, or even halt it altogether.
The health and width of gene pools can be and often are, impacted by politics, differing views of what is the best path to take to get to the desired goals, differing views of what the desired goal/s should be, and numerous other variables. I believe that the best way forward for the next few years is to regularly back track to individuals who have proven to exert a positive influence regardless of the bloodlines they have been blended with. This will 'set' the desirable qualities of the ACD whilst at the same time weaving fresh blood into the tapestry whilst the open studbook still permits it, without losing the gains of past generations of work already put in by some breeders.

Postscript: In 2021 the MDBA refused my application to register Rutlands Lil Blossom, who is the result of my strictly regulated 3 year long program with my final infusion. The process used to assess my submission was to put it to popular vote to all MDBA registered breeders. The process is inherently flawed in my opinion because a large number of those, are people who have not bred a single litter of puppies of any breed yet, and therefore they are not qualified to have any input in such a major decision.
Rutlands Lil Blossom is a perfect example of everything the best Australian Cobberdog could be, in health testing, character, behaviors, conformation, and non shedding soft fleecy coat (DNA tested F/F). Her puppies will speak for themselves.