When I started this website in January 2009, it was because someone said, "There are no Doodles in Rescue," in a Social Forum. As I already had two rescued Labradoodles, some friends and myself began searching through Petfinder, looking for Doodles. What we found, was that there were MANY doodles waiting for love but it was a bit of a job to find them. Even today, if you are searching through Petfinder, there is no breed as "Labradoodle" or "Goldendoodle" in the choices. There is no choice of "Schnoodle" or even "Poodle-Mix," although now that choice will yield poodles of all kinds...IF the listing rescue or shelter puts "mix" in as a second breed.

Read through our discussion, "RECOGNIZING A LABRADOODLE" for an idea of some things to look for when searching Petfinder.

This article was written in December, 2009 because of the frustrations of many people who were helping us search Petfinder and other dog listing sites. It was a compilation of several discussions, by many people who contributed to the article. But it is just as relevant today, a year later, as it was then.

Many times, even shelters don't know exactly what to look for in a doodle, so all sorts of breeds get labeled all sorts of labels but they can actually be a doodle. OR many Doodles get labeled all sorts of breed names because busy shelter volunteers don't know how to recognize a doodle. One shelter in California, calls every scruffy dog coming into their shelter a "Tibetan Terrier." So, if you perform a search in Petfinder for "Doodle," Poodle" or "Poodle-mix," a Tibetan Terrier will not show.

Our searchers spend a few hours a week searching out those Oodles/Poodles/Doodles and Schnoodles waiting in our shelters and sadly, being missed and killed because they were mis-labeled.

Use our Listing Service to find your Oodle. It will save you time and hopefully, will save more dogs.

Lynne Fowler