Almost afraid to ask this . . . .

Stay clear of the designer dogs, Labradoodle, goldendoodle. These dogs are a puppymills dream come true! A pure bred Lab registered out of good parentage with a solid field trial or hunt test background, with a gaurantee of hips, elbows, eyes tested clear for EIC and CNM, with the brains to hunt and mark multiple birds will cost between $800.00 to $1000.00. A designer dog costs around $1500.00 no gaurantee of nothing no registration. The puppymills are eating it up. I would hate to see where these pups are coming from. I have had experince with one my cousin rescued and this pup had serious mental issues. My guess is this pup was bred tight. Mother to Son or daghter to father these puppymills don't care about the dogs just the dollars. The people with lots of bucks around here think these dogs are great, if they only knew what they where getting. If you plan on doing any serious hunting I would get a Lab or other well known retriever breed and keep it outside where it will get conditioned to the weather you will be hunting in. If you want a dog that can only pick up the ducks that land in the decoys have at it, a poodle or designer dog will be great. This is why we train to such high standards. I want a dog that can get the birds I can't. 100, 200 and 300 yard marks otherwise just walk out and pick up your own birds. Just my honest opinion.
 
well... yeah... i do and have.

They are more sensitive than labs (its the french in them.) They aren't too great with ice (which we don't often get here.) They get all kinds of crap stuck in their curly coat. Those are some of the negatives that are appearant. Other than that, like all dogs, some have their quirks and can tough it out, and some belong back in France with the poofy hairdoo. We always cut our dogs' hair short (yes you have to cut them, they don't shed.) We forget the bushy tail, and thin the ears out. You should clean their ears out with rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs after the hunt. They get TERRIBLE ear infections if you don't clean them (another not so fun thing.)

Positives--

I don't care what anyone says, they are the easiest and smartest dogs to train. In fact, sometimes they can be a little too smart (i know this belongs with the negatives... but NEVER leave lunch or snacks unattended, you will end up with one dog that is WAY too happy!!!)

One of our dogs is crazy about rabbits, the other loves birds... again, it's their quirks. The rabbit dog has a HELL of a nose. He is a tad gun shy (probably because of age... nothing too bad.) but can rack in the money for finding deer durring deer season!!! The other dog who likes birds will eat anything you put down (not birds, but anything from shotgun shells to my hunting liscenses.) He doesn't have as good of a nose. He is clumbsier, and doesn't have the pointer in him like the other dog does. However, cold weather and ice are no problem for him. He is a tank. His name is Chip (he's a brown poodle) but we call him "Chunk" for "chocolate chunk" when he was little he was a chip, now he's like a hershey bar.

I gaurantee you that if you have any nerve to own a poodle without that show hair cut crap, NO ONE will ever know it's a poodle.

My experience (and this is not a fact, just what i have had happen to me) is that a labradoodle just combines the negatives of both a lab and a poodle. Get one or the other, they do have pure-bred labradoodles that are SUPER expensive, but you may as well just get a poodle or lab and save some money.

Portugese water dogs aren't bad though.. i have never owned one, but know a few guys who use them.

AGAIN these are just MY observations, draw your own conclusions. I am sure there are labradoodles that are great, i have only seen one, and it's a purebred.... but even then, it was not the same quality as a good lab or standard. INFACT, even the purebred labradoodle shedded a little. The regular labradoodles shed like a lab.

Poodles are great with kids, and are very good with people with allergies (that is why i could never own labs.... i used to be allergic to them, but no longer am.)

Hope this helps,

Spencer
 
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Hi Jeff,

A very intresting topic. There is a wealth of info already been posted from members so far. Over here in the Uk poddles are not used so much for hunting but are very very popular in europe, for both retreving and flushing, would be important to buy from a working strain.

As im sure you already know, allergies are caulsed by differnt things, normally in dogs, its the hair, or more corectly its the feaces that come from natural mites that live in dog hair but can also becaused by their danfer, or saliver, not so common. but this is the big allergin from cats..the other things to remember, is the if a person is allergic they normally will become more allergic to differnt things over a period of time,the more the are exposed to a pathagene, all to do with marker cells and ther cascade effects, so keepinga dog any dog in doors may over time make both of your allergies worse. However would you consider the dog living out side.

I was a game keeper for nearly 10yrs and have a high allergic reaction to annimal hair in closed enviroments, but my dogs, mostly springer spanals and german shepards( security dogs). Did not effect me when they lived outside. I may get stoned for this but I also think that working dogs are better living out doors......Reason is you dont have a wife or children feeding them tip bits or moaning at them because they are under there feet or making a mess in the kitchen.I worked with my dogs every day , 7days a week. the only time i sneezed was when I changed bedding, or put it in wahing machines, out door kennels can be great.

Bying a dog is a big thing, as the others have said perhaps borrow one or find a breeder who can let you get close requlary to them for a bit.I agree I dont think there is a allergic free dog.

this wed site may help or at least be a starting point. http://caninebreeds.bulldoginformation.com/hypoallergenic-dogs.html

Good luck Paul Scott, Scotty.
 
Hi Jeff,
I have the dubious honor of judging AKC hunt tests and have seen a couple nice poodles run.
One of them was out of Mass. and the other from North Carolina. Both dogs passed senior legs.
They seem very smart but could prove interesting to train. I have tollers so I shouldn't talk!!
I think the most important thing to do is get the dog lots of birds at a young age. Many of the
(off breeds) get hunting exposure as a second thought and that may explain some of their quirks.
I know that happens with our breed and contributes to some bad reputations.
Get a well bread dog and give it a GO!! If I can find the test catalogs with the poodles I'll
let you know. Good luck, John
 
I have heard that people can develop an immunity to their own dog over time. But don't ask me, ask an allergy specialist what he thinks. Buying a well bred Lab/golden/chessie and you popping an allergy pill may be way less expensive and stressful than dealing with a non-standard breed. Buy a few HEPA air cleaners for the house, and give the dog regular baths. It's NOT the coat, its the dander on its coat.

I bet that finding a good hunting stock standard poodle will be difficult and will cost you a LOT of money.

I have seen a few IRISH Water Spaniels in action. Nice pets. Box-o-rocks otherwise. Velcro dogs. EXPENSIVE velcro dogs. My former friend who has one had told me he would spend 2-3hours after a hunt to get the crap out of its coat. Took around 8 tries to get a JH title, after having invested around $3500 in pro trainers, then the guy is a glutton for punishment and sent the dog for over 2 months last summer to a different pro who went 1-2 on SH tests with it.
 
Hey folks:

Thanks for all your thoughts. The pudle pointer (sp?) is interesting. Got to find one and see if I react to it. It looks very similar to a wire-haired Griffon. A buddy of mine has one, and despite the rough coat and not much shedding, I do react to her. She doesn't bother me in the boat, but riding in the truck with her gets me sniffling. She's also not great in cold water, which is definitely a necessity for a duck dog here. I'm not goint to chase eiders in January, but would want a dog that can retrieve black ducks and goldeneyes in the December Atlantic.

I had considered the outdoor kennel idea, and have a barn with good shelter I could easily adapt into a kennel, but I don't think my wife would go for it, and we're looking for a family companion as well as a hunter.

As for "getting used to" a dog I'm allergic too, all I can say is that I lived with springers and labs from age 4-18, and suffered pretty serious allergies and got a serious flu/bronchitis almost every year. When I went away to college, I got much healthier, except that every year I'd get my bronchitis on Christmas break. (Some of that was my parents who both smoked, but a lot of it was the dog.) I'd love a dog, but I can't live with that.

Perhaps I should get myself to some NAVHDA events and start sniffing various dogs I see, and chatting up the owners of dogs I don't react to.

Jeff
 
Pudelpointers are nice dogs, but are quite different than Griffons in foundation breeds. I actually will be apprentice judging a test in a couple of weeks where there will be a number of PP's running. I will ask just for my curousity but suspect its not much different the a DD, sheds less, but still contributes to allergies though not as severe. The problem you would run into having a outside dog, is in my experience your allergies to them will be much worse. I own a DD that lives in the house and outside kennel, but when I am around my fathers outside only DD's, I am highly allergic to them. If mine spends time at a outside kennel somewhere else, I will be allergic to him for a couple of days when he comes back home. When I bring in other DD's into my house I generally have allergies for a couple of days and then it goes away. What I do now in either situation is give them baths right away and its usually fine. So I think there is something to be said, about building up a tollerance or immuntity, but think it would depend on breed/dog and your severeity I know my brother is highly allergic to cats, yet his wife wanted one, he is not allergic to his, but get him around another cat and its bad. So who knows.

If you do start looking at PP's you will need to find a blockier body type to withstand the cold better.
 
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