RESEARCHING
LABRADOODLES
You may have come across terms like “Multi-Gen” (Labradoodle and Australian Labradoodle), “Early-Gen” or “F1” (Labradoodle Origin) and “Back Cross” or “F1B”. Here are some helpful tips to help you understand what a breeder means when they are using these phrases.
The original multi-gen Australian Labradoodle, which is the original Labradoodle, has a foundation stock including 6 different parent breeds. These dogs were developed in Australian, and hence the “Australian” in the name of the dogs. The verified parent breeds by the ALA (Australian Labradoodle Association, Inc.) are: Poodle (all three sizes), Labrador Retriever, Irish Water Spaniel, Curly Coat Retriever, American Cocker Spaniel and the English Cocker Spaniel. This was a breed that was developed with goals in mind for a low-shedding service dog, not a designer dog.
Multi-Gen
The multi-gen Labradoodle has only Poodle and Labrador in its heritage. It does not include the other parent breeds that were originally used by the creators of the breed.
Early-Gen F1
The early-gen F1 (Labradoodle origin) is a dog from a Labrador/Poodle mating that has not had the multiple generations of Labradoodle mated with another Labradoodle nor the addition of Australian Labradoodle foundation stock or multiple parent breeds. These dogs tend to shed their coat since they are more closely related to the Labrador and often have a wire hair or feathered look to them. F2 would be two F1 bred together and there can be quite a variation in coats.
Back Cross or "FB1"
The “Back Cross” or “F1B” is a dog from an F1 (see above) mated back to a Poodle usually for coat correction. These dogs have not had the multiple generations of Labradoodle mated with another Labradoodle nor the addition of Australian Labradoodle foundation stock or multiple parent breeds. They are often developed to bring new bloodlines into the breed and bred into the mulit-gen lines.