OMG! Dr2little! You're adorable and your dog is adorable. What an adorable picture!!!
You know...I've always thought mixing dogs was a horrible thing to do. After all, there are a lot of mixed breeds in shelters that need homes. And I always thought that responsible breeders are the ones who promote health and reduce genetic problems by being careful. But after doing some study (not a huge amount yet) and reading about the domestication process, evolution, some biology, I have come to have mixed feelings about mixing breeds together, such as Labradoodles. When purebred dogs are bred, selected from the best of the best, (and there aren't that many) that limits the gene pool and that very thing IS what causes genetic defects, (not breeding dogs with defects necessarily, but just the fact that they're relatives causes defects) that are so prevelent in our purebred dogs. Their life spans are getting shorter and they are in big trouble.
When an outside dog with no chance of relatives anywhere back there is introduced, there is a wider variety of genes and this reduces mutations. (hip, eyes, elbows, all the diseases etc, etc) When there is a champion somewhere back there, everyone and their brother is bred to it and all those offspring are bred together. It doesn't matter that they're line bred and not inbred. It's not enough to stop this genetic drift or whatever.
So, while I still think some kind of caution or plan needs to be implimented, I'm beginning to like the Labradoodle for a breed. Now if someone starts getting too "responsible" and starts breeding only those few who are the creme of the crop, we're back with the same problem our purebreds are having. Sure, a dog with known defects should not be bred. But the large variation in background is a good thing.
I met a Labradoodle where I went babysitting with my daughter and that dog hadn't had any training much. He was jumping up on me and just nutso. In about a half hour, I had him not jumping up for a greeting, going out the door more politely and not jumping up on the counters. LOL. He was so sweet and willing. He was beautiful too....just like yours, Dr2lilttle.....curly hair, muscular and sturdy and fairly tall. And that sweet, intelligent expression! Wow.
Anyhow... I think they're great dogs. But that woman shouldn't have been breeding so many, probably all from just a very few.