Poodles, poodle crosses, and strange new breed names

There are fashions in dog ownership, as there are in nearly everything. And for the last few years, the fashion has been for poodle crosses. That, of course, is a cross between a pure-bred Poodle and pure-bred dog of another breed.

Some of these crosses look absolutely wonderful. But whether they’re beautiful of not, what really attracts me more than anything else is their name.

Probably the most common is the Labradoodle, a cross between a labrador and a poodle. But we also have Bordoodles (Border Collie mix), Goldendoodles (Golden Retriever), or Dalmadoodles (one could imagine a cartoon film about 202 of them).

Labradoodle puppy

But not all the names follow this pattern. There’s another much less euphonious one, based on the first syllable of the poodle’s name. A Cockapoo is a cross with a Cocker Spaniel, a Pekepoo is a cross with a Pekinese, and my personal favourite is the Bossipoo, which has nothing to do with an authoritarian effluent, but a Poodle cross with a Boston terrier (and, to be honest, I have no idea what a Boston terrier is).

Danielle and I had our granddaughter in stitches when we were told her that we were looking for a Shihpoo.

“What are you looking for?” she gasped between giggles.

“It’s a dog,” we explained, “a cross between a Poodle and a Shitsu.”

“Between a poodle and … a ... what?” she spluttered.

It dawned on us that our explanation hadn’t made things any better.

Shihpoo: much more attractive than its name

Well, in the end we went for an actual poodle, rather than a cross. And she’s great. In fact, I only have one disappointment: her breed, though it’s contributed to so many others, doesn’t have a striking new name for itself.

So I’ve decided to come up with one of my own.

A Poodle cross with another Poodle, which is what we’re proud to have sharing our home with us now, is to be known, henceforth, as a Poodledoodle.

Lucy: our new poodledoodle

OK? Got it? All right with the name?

I mean, we really wouldn’t want to refer to her as a Poopoo.