Breed Standards

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Typically, breeders and owners will refer to their Australian Labradoodles as Fleece Coated Australian Labradoodles or Wool Coated Australian Labradoodles. These pertain to coat descriptions found in the Australian Labradoodle Breed Standard.

IALA Breed Standard (1997 revised 2007)

Australian Labradoodle

General Appearance: Must appear athletic and graceful with a compact body displaying substance with medium boning. Should not appear cloddy or heavy nor overly fine. A distinctive feature of this breed is their coat, which is non-shedding and easy to manage.

Temperament: Extremely clever, sociable, comical, joyful, energetic when free and soft and quiet when handled. They should approach people in a happy friendly manner, keen and easy to train. They should display an intuition about their family members or handler’s current emotional state or needs. This ability to “know” is what has made the Australian Labradoodle an excellent dog for individuals with special needs.

Currently there are three sizes of Australian Labradoodles during this stage of continued development, it is acceptable and expected to see inter size breeding at this time.

Sizes: Height: 14 to 24 (not over 25) inches (35cm to 63cm) at wither. Weight: 7kg to 30kg (15-65lbs).

Miniature range: Height: 14 to16 (not over 17) inches (35cm to 42cm) at wither.

Medium range: Height: 17 to 20 (not over 21) inches (43cm to 52cm) at wither. The ideal size for the female is 17 to19 inches and the male is 18 to 20 inches.

Standard range: Height: 21 to 24 (not over 25) inches (53cm to 63cm) at wither. The ideal size for the female is 21 to 23 inches and the male is 22 to 24 inches.

Head: Moderately broad with well-defined eyebrows. Stop should be moderate with eyes set well apart. The head should be of moderate width; developed but without exaggeration. Foreface to appear shorter than skull. The head should be clean-cut and free from fleshy cheeks. The whole head must be in proportion to the size of the dog.

Eyes: Large, expressive and slightly rounded.

Ears: Set slightly above eye level and should lay flat against head in proportion with the skull. Leather should be of medium thickness, and leather should not hang below the lower lip line. Excessive hair in the ear canal is undesirable.

Mouth: Must be a scissor bite. Upper teeth to just overlap the bottom teeth.

Nose: Should be large, of square appearance and fleshy.

Neck: Well proportioned of good strength, moderately long lending an air of elegance, slightly arched and flow into shoulders with no appearance of abruptness.

Forequarters: Shoulders blades and upperarms to be the same length, and shoulders should be well laid back. Elbows are set close to the body. Forelegs to be straight when viewed from the front. Toeing in our out is a fault.

Body: Height (to wither) as to length (from sternum to point of buttock) should appear square and compact. Deep chest and well sprung. There should be a good tuck up. Loins should be strong and muscular.

Hindquarters: In profile the croup is nearly flat, slight sloping of the croup is acceptable. Stifles should be moderately turned to propel forward movement, and hindquarters well muscled for power in movement. Hock to heel should be strong and short being perpendicular to the ground. View from the rear should be parallel to each other, must not be cow-hocked.

Feet: The feet are of medium size, round with well-arched toes having elastic and thick pads. The feet should not turn in or out.

Tail: The tail should follow the topline in repose or when in motion. It may be carried gaily, but should not curl completely over the back. Tip of tail should not touch the back nor curl upon itself.

Movement: Trotting gait is effortless, smooth, powerful and coordinated in mature dogs. Should have a good reach in front and drive from behind for forward motion. Sound free movement and a light gait are essential.

Coat: A distinctive feature of this breed is that the coat is non-shedding and easily maintained. Any coat length is acceptable but preferable not past 4 inches in length. The coat should be even over the entire body. It should be straight, wavy or forming spirals. It should not be too thick or dense, nor should it be fluffy or fuzzy. It should be a single coat. Any sign of an undercoat is a serious fault. Can range between a fleece to wool in texture. Extremely harsh hair is highly undesirable.

The Fleece textured coat is a soft texture as in the Angora goat. It can either have a straight wavy look or a soft spiralling curl look. It is an easy to manage textured coat.

The Wool textured coat is like a lamb’s wool in texture. It should have the appearance of looser spiralling wool, which opens up easily to the skin. It should not appear thick and dense or tightly curled.

The coat should not appear overly groomed and any appearance of sun bleaching is acceptable.

Colour: Coat patterns in Australian Labradoodle include the following: All solid colours. Colours of Parchment, Lavender, Cafe’ and Chocolate may have dark amber eyes; liver noses, eye rims and lips; and dark nails. Colours of Caramel may have dark amber to pale hazel-green eyes; liver noses, eye rims and lips; and self coloured to dark nails. Colours of Gold, Red, Black, Blue and Silver must have very dark eyes; black noses, eye rims and lips; and black or self-coloured nails. Colours of Chalk and Cream may have either pigmentation of dark amber to pale hazel-green eyes; liver noses, eye rims and lips; and self coloured to dark nails or very dark eyes; black noses, eye rims and lips; and black or self-coloured nails. These colours may appear in one of the following patterns:

Solid. Colour is solid and preferably even, preferably with no white markings. A small white flash no larger than 2.5cm in diameter can appear on the chest, feet or tail and is permissible. Even colours are preferred but natural colouration of the coat is not considered a fault.

Parti: Colour is fifty percent white, with spots/patches of any other solid colour. No set pattern is required but symmetrical markings on the head are preferred. Freckling of the solid colour in the white of the coat is acceptable but not encouraged.

Phantom: The body colour must be a solid colour with defined markings of a second colour as follows: above each eye, on the sides of the muzzle, on the cheek, on the underside of the ears, on the throat to forchest, or in a chin and forechest pattern, with a minimum second colouring on the feet preferably up the legs, and below the tail. Second colour in the inside of the leg and flank is also acceptable and should not be penalized. Markings are preferred to be clear and defined. Face markings of the second colour with the entire face coloured is acceptable, though not preferred, if the other required body markings are present. Any of the solid colours combination is acceptable.

Abstract: Any solid colour with the second colour being white, must have less than fifty percent white.

Sable: Black-tipped hairs on any solid colour, preferable even but no penalty for uneven pattern of ticking.

Brindle: Should have an even and equal distribution of the colours with layering of black hairs in regions of lighter colours (usually, chalk/cream/gold/red, cafe/lavender/parchment, or silver) producing a tiger-striped pattern.

Multi: Multiple colours or patterns, as in a phantom with large white Abstract markings, or a Parti pattern with Sable ticking etc...

NOTE: It is normal that all colours may show bleaching and discolouration over the top coat, referred to as sunning, this is quite expected and acceptable. The Australian Labradoodle is an active dog and often a service dog that enjoys the outdoors. Sunning or weather bleaching MUST NOT be penalized.



Faults:
Any sign of aggression or dominance to be heavily penalised
Fearful, timid, yappy or highly-strung temperaments
Harsh hair, or any sign of undercoat. Coats must be fleece or wool
Short or overly thick neck
A coat, which sheds (note: some coat instability during hormonal changes with fertile bitches)
Possum type or Teapot handle tails, minor fault
A long narrow or block head
Protruding or sunken eyes
Watery or tearful eyes
Over or undershot or pincer mouth
Long Back
Crowding teeth
Bad carriage or heavy gait
Monorchid or inverted vulva
Cow-hock
Toeing in or out
Colour, albinism is a disqualification
Over or under sized is a major fault

SPECIAL ATTENTION must be directed to soundness in the breed, any sign of lameness is a disqualification.

NOTE: Males should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum. Female should have an apparently normal formed vulva.