Skip to main content

Davis Journal

Utah is definitely part of the doodle craze

Mar 09, 2023 02:08PM ● By Linda Petersen

Ashling and Tyler Woolley, pictured, bred their mini Goldendoodle Indy last fall. She gave birth to a litter of five puppies.

These days it’s hard to go to any dog park, pet store or even to visit Instagram and not encounter a doodle – a breed of dog unknown before the 1980s. The first doodle was bred by Wally Conron, a breeder at the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia in the early 1980s, according to a post on the rover.com blog. Conron was contacted by a woman who wanted a hypoallergenic guide dog because her husband was allergic to fur. Since standard poodles are nonshedding, Conron began there and bred a poodle with a Labrador retriever, resulting in the birth of the first labradoodle. 

Since that time the practice has taken off and there are now doodles everywhere. There are now more than 40 types of doodles ranging from the mini Goldendoodles to the standard Cockapoo to the larger Newfypoo. A recent Internet search based on Utah breeders indicates that, by far, Goldendoodles are the most popular breed of doodles here, followed by Bernedoodles. Prices for these puppies range from $2,000 to $4,500. While many have found a way to work this into their budget, others have been creative in making a doodle part of their family. 

In 2018 Ashling Woolley, a Utahn now living in Memphis, Tenn., really wanted a mini Goldendoodle but she and her husband Tyler were finishing up master’s programs at BYU and Utah Valley University and couldn’t afford the hefty price tag of the average doodle. So Woolley began to research her options and discovered guardianship, a program where a person agrees to keep and look after a breeder’s dog. In exchange they are given the dog for free or for a small fee. The parties enter into a legal contract where the breeder keeps the breeding rights of the dog but then agrees to turn over ownership after the dog has a certain number of litters. In the Woolley’s case they agreed to having the dog bred three times; after the third litter the dog would then be legally theirs. They took their mini Goldendoodle home and named her Indy.

During her first heat after turning a year old, the breeder arranged for Indy to be artificially inseminated and the dog became pregnant. Once delivery was imminent, the breeder picked her up and when it was time, oversaw the birth of five healthy puppies. Normally the breeder would then have taken Indy and the puppies for six weeks. In this case, since it was in the middle of the pandemic, for a fee (the cost of one puppy from a future litter). the Woolleys agreed to care for both Indy and the puppies until they could leave their mother. 

Then later that year Tyler Woolley was offered a job in Memphis, Tenn. which the couple decided he should take. They approached the breeder with trepidation and were subsequently thrilled when she generously released them from their contract. In exchange, they agreed to forfeit the compensation they had been promised for caring for the litter.  

Last fall, looking for another income stream, the Woolleys decided to have Indy bred and become what is known as “backyard breeders,” essentially unlicensed breeders. They had Indy bred through a private insemination service and in November a litter of five puppies was born. They sold four of the five puppies but decided to keep the smallest puppy of the litter, Theo, after he experienced medical problems due to an oversensitive digestive tract. To help ensure a smooth adoption, the Woolleys developed an application process which helped prospective puppy parents realize just how much of a commitment it would be and how much work would be involved after bringing a puppy home. 

Woolley recommends that those considering becoming guardians or breeding their doodles themselves  thoroughly research all the possibilities. Their guardianship was a positive experience for them because they had a clearly delineated contract, they had a good relationship with the breeder, and they were lucky to work with a breeder who allowed them out of that contract when they needed to move across the country.

Although they are happy they bred Indy themselves, they found that caring for the puppies was a lot more work than they had anticipated. When Theo experienced his medical problems the vet recommended they euthanize him. Instead, the Woolleys decided to nurse him themselves. While his issues resolved themselves over several weeks, during that time Theo had to be held upright at all times and required round the clock care. His unexpected health problems also meant veterinarian bills of close to $500 they had not planned on.

“I’m glad we did it, but I would not do it again,” Ashling Woolley said of the breeding/adoption process.  “You can do it super easy, but I looked at the regular breeders and decided I wanted to do more. We wanted to keep up with the big breeders by providing extra services.”

 “I wanted to potty train and to start doing obedience training with the puppies,” she said. “I also wanted to make sure they were really well socialized, so we did a lot of extra things to make that happen.” 

The Woolleys also discovered that the market for doodles in Tennessee is not as strong as in Utah. While they were able to find homes for the four they decided to sell, they did not realize the same profits they would have if they had sold them in Utah. They also received unexpected negative responses on social media from people who did not feel they should have bred their dog. Although everyone’s experience will be different, someone contemplating breeding their doodle, or any dog, themselves should be prepared for unexpected problems, they learned.