Two years ago, Good Housekeeping put up on their website an article titled “The 20 Best Dogs for Kids and Families to Adopt Straight Away.” Goldendoodle owners across the land know where their preferred breed finished, right?
If you guessed anywhere in that list, you would have chosen incorrectly. But remember, that a Goldendoodle is the sum of its parts. Golden Retrievers ranked high at number six, while Poodles fell into the bottom half of the rankings at number sixteen.
Goldendoodles are the best of both worlds, right? Certainly, that combination should propel the breed of choice to the top. You would think it would; however, only one hybrid or mixed-breed dog made the list—we’ll get into that later.
Who made the top five?
The number one ranked dog for kids and families you ask? The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. There’s nothing wrong with the breed. They’re small. Their stature is that of a toy breed like a Chihuahua or Pomeranian. But not many Goldendoodle owners could see themselves tossing the ball or tugging on a rope with this highly ranked dog.
The Bernese Mountain Dog and the Alaskan Malamute take up the next two spots. Small to very large. These are big, beautiful dogs, with thick coats that are going to shed all over the living room and float onto the table when guests come over for dinner. We know Goldendoodles can still shed, but that discarded fur typically gets caught in her coat. This way our Goldendoodle is not flinging fur all over the sofa.
Number four is taken up by the Boston Terrier—another small breed—and the number five ranking is filled by the Labrador Retriever. It takes five spots to get to a dog that has anything resembling the demeanor of a Goldendoodle. But we know where our heart lies, right?
Golden Retriever a respectable number six
The Golden Retriever finished ranked number six. Not bad. But why didn’t it finish higher in the list? Talk about family friendly, what dog do you typically see leading the blind? To be a good guide dog, it needs to possess the right mixture of intelligence and patience. And it needs to be a hard worker. Goldendoodles check all those boxes.
Poodle near the back of the pack at number sixteen
The Poodle, considered one of, if not the most, intelligent of dog breeds, finished close to the bottom of the list at number sixteen. Overall, this is still respectable. The American Kennel Club recognizes 197 different dog breeds. That puts the Poodle in the top 10 percentile in kid and family friendly dogs. Not to mention their hypoallergenic coat. Goldendoodles check all those boxes too.
Why should Goldendoodles be number one?
That’s easy. Perhaps they were just trying not to be snooty by only listing AKC registered dogs, but the “Mutt” filled the number twenty spot. Now, we all know that Goldendoodles are not “mutts.” They are bred for specific qualities—the best of Golden Retrievers and the best of Poodles. They are affectionate. They are playful. They are brilliant. They are gentle.
We can’t say that the magazine didn’t know about our breed because Monica Dickens—the great-granddaughter of author Charles Dickens—crossed the two parent breeds over fifty years ago. The only thing for us to do is to petition to make that list when the next version hits the press.