What size and generation is right for me? – Differences in size come from crossing with the poodle whose breed consists of either standard, miniature, or toy sizes. The American Kennel Club (AKC) defines a standard poodle as being a minimum of15″ in height, while the miniature is between 10-15″, and the toy is under 10″. The AKC also describes the temperament of the poodle as being proud, active, and intelligent and they do not explain any distinction between the temperament of the three sizes . However, there are some attributes that you may want to consider, such as athleticism, lifespan and costs of care. The smaller dogs often outlive their larger counterparts and have a longer life expectancy. Large breed dogs tend to be more prone to heart problems and arthritic changes earlier than the smaller dogs. They are more athletic due to their larger muscle mass and so they may suit you better if you have an active lifestyle and want a jogging partner. The smaller dogs also require less food and are often less expensive to groom since they are so much smaller in size. However, because the smaller dogs usually have much smaller litters, they are often more expensive to purchase but are more suitable to a smaller environment such as apartments. Size also matters when you have young children as the larger dogs are more hardy and less apt to be injured when young children may accidentally be too rough. When considering which size is right for you, it is more a question of lifestyle and what size suits your needs.

Goldendoodles are often termed based on which generation they are. You may have heard of them called “F1, F1b, F2” etc. These refer to which generation the Goldendooodle is and breeders breed back to the poodle in order to obtain higher percentages of poodle in the bloodline that produce the desired traits. This accentuates the non-shedding traits for example that we all love about the Goldendoodle. But it isn’t as easy to ensure the traits we want are those that result when selecting which dogs to breed together. At Fox Run Farm we genetically test our Goldendoodles to breed for specific traits like “furnishings” and “shedding” and match our parent dogs accordingly.

Goldendoodles are desired not only for their lovable and family-friendly nature, they make excellent pets for those with mild allergies thanks to the outcrossing to the Poodle. However, they are not completely hypoallergenic dogs and we recommend client’s with allergies test their tolerance with our adult dogs before committing to a new puppy. You can learn more about Goldendoodle generations in this great crash-course article on the Continental Kennel Club (CKC) Website by clicking here (CKC, 2022).

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”

-Charles Shultz (cartoonist, Peanuts)

Generation			DNA
	Parent 1	Parent 2	Poodle	Golden
F1	Golden	Poodle	50%	50%
F1b	F1	Poodle	75%	25%
F1bb	F1b	Poodle	87.5%	12.5%
F2	F1	F1 or F1b	varies	varies
F2b	F2	Poodle	62.5%	37.5%
F2bb	F2b	Poodle	81.25%	18.75%
F3	F2	F1 or later	varies	varies
Multigen	F2 or later	F2 or later	varies	varies