Labradoodle Size Guide

The Labradoodle

The Labradoodle dog is a hybrid dog breed. What this basically means is that Labradoodles have one purebred Poodle parent dog and one purebred Labrador Retriever parent dog. In the world of Labradoodle breeders, there are three adult size ranges: miniature, medium and standard. As you can imagine, the size of the Poodle parent can greatly impact adult Labradoodle size. But not always in the ways you might expect.

In the case of standard Labradoodles, the Poodle parent is a standard Poodle. In the case of miniature Labradoodles, the Poodle parent is a miniature Poodle. The medium Labradoodle size can occur in either pairing, which we will talk about in greater detail here shortly.

History of the Breed

Labradoodles as a hybrid breed got their start in the 1980s in Australia. A blind woman from Hawaii wrote to a man named Walter Conron. Conron was then in charge of breeding and training guide dogs for the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia. The blind woman had a special problem: her husband was wildly allergic to dogs. So she was reaching out in hopes of finding a hypoallergenic dog to help her get around. Mr. Conron took on the challenge with gusto, and to make a long story short, the Labradoodle was the result.

Labradoodles still make fabulous service dogs. But they are also beloved as family pets for their famously friendly, smart, intuitive personality, their adorable appearance and, in some cases, their non-shedding coats.

How Big Are Labradoodle Puppies

Labradoodle size can vary even within a single litter. This variance relates to the size of each parent dog. And also to what generation breeding program the puppy comes from (more about that topic here later).

Standard Labradoodle puppies typically weigh between 7 and 12 pounds by the time they are two months old. But in 10 more short months, they may weigh up to 80 pounds depending on the size of each parent dog.

Miniature Labradoodle puppies, in contrast, may only weigh 4 to 7 pounds at the age of two months. In 10 months, they may weigh anywhere from 30 to 45 pounds. This depends on the size of each parent dog.

To estimate the size of medium Labradoodle puppies, it is best to learn as much as you can about the breeding pair. Important factors include whether the Poodle parent (if you choose an F1 breeder) is a Standard Poodle or a Miniature Poodle.

Labradoodle Growth

You need to know the breed size of each parent dog and the exact weight of your little Labradoodle pup to work out how big they will grow. But if you don’t know that you can make a guess.

Take your puppy’s weight at the age of four months, double it and then add 10 pounds. Or use the four fold or double up formula.

The Four Fold Formula

When your puppy reaches the age of two months, the number you see on the scale typically represents one-quarter of his or her estimated adult weight.

The Double Up Formula

When your puppy reaches the age of four months, the number you see on the scale typically represents one-half of his or her estimated adult weight. Puppyhood lasts just a short period of time but it is a critical time for your dog’s lifelong health.

For this reason, even though using these formulas can give you a handy point of reference as your Labradoodle puppy grows up, no formula should be used to substitute frequent weigh-ins and health check-ups by a qualified canine vet.

To help moderate growth (neither too slow nor too fast), if your Labradoodle puppy falls into the miniature to medium size range, select a Labradoodle puppy food that is formulated for the needs of smaller breed dogs.

On the other hand, if your Labradoodle puppy is projected to be a standard size in adulthood, you will want to select a puppy food formulated for the needs of medium to large breed dogs.

Your canine vet can help you assess your puppy’s weight at each stage of the rapid puppyhood growth process. They can help you adjust portion sizes and Labradoodle puppy foods as needed.

What Is The Average Adult Labradoodle Size?

Labradoodle size in adulthood can vary depending on gender. In general, adult males tend to outweigh adult females by 10 to 15 pounds. Of course, this is not always the case. Other factors that can influence adult weight include birth order and food type. Also feeding schedule, activity level and health in puppyhood.

But by far the biggest potential impact on your pup’s adult size will be the size of each parent dog. Here, the more size uniformity there is between each parent dog, the more accurately you can predict your Labradoodle puppy’s adult size. Hybrid dog breeding always includes genetic uncertainty.

The Reason Behind This

Why can Labradoodle size in adulthood be so hard to precisely predict, you might be wondering? The answer relates back to the nature of hybrid dog breeding itself. Whenever two different sets of canine genes combine, it is not possible to predict exactly how each set of genes will influence a given puppy in any litter.

For example, in Labradoodle breeding programs, this means some puppies in a hybrid litter may grow up to look and act more like Labrador Retrievers while other puppies may grow up to look and act more like Poodles.

Labradoodle Breeding Programs

There are different types of Labradoodle breeding programs. Some programs contain a greater amount of genetic uncertainty than other programs. Here is a basic overview of the different programs in order of greatest to least genetic uncertainty:

• F1: This Labradoodle puppy will have one purebred Poodle parent and one purebred Labrador Retriever parent.
• F1b: This Labradoodle puppy will have one purebred Poodle or purebred Labrador parent and one F1 Labradoodle parent.
• F2: This Labradoodle puppy will have two F1 Labradoodle parents.
• F2b: This Labradoodle puppy will have one F1 Labradoodle parent and one F1b Labradoodle parent.
• Multi-generational (F3 or later): In these generations, a Labradoodle’s closest purebred Poodle and Lab relatives are their great grandparents or more.

Using This To Choose Your Labradoodle Size

If it is very important for you to ensure your Labradoodle will be a certain size when fully grown, we encourage you to seek out a multi-generational Labradoodle breeder to work with. It is also very helpful to meet each parent dog to assess potential size variance in adulthood before making a commitment to a puppy.

If your primary goal is to bring home a non-shedding (often mislabeled as “hypoallergenic”) Labradoodle puppy, your best bet is to pick either a F1b or a multi-generational Labradoodle breeder to work with, with a high proportion of Poodle ancestry. Here again, meeting each parent dog can help you assess potential coat variance in adulthood.

These two examples will give you more insight into how sizing differences arise. It can even happen between Labradoodle puppies within a single litter.

Standard Labradoodle Size Variance

First, let’s take a look at size variances in Standard Labradoodles. Here, the adult Labrador Retriever parent will typically weigh l The adult Standard Poodle parent will typically weigh between 40 and 70 pounds.

A breeding pair where the Standard Poodle weighs 40 pounds will theoretically produce more size variance in a litter than a breeding pair where the Standard Poodle weighs 70 pounds.

Miniature Labradoodle Size Variance

In the case of miniature Labradoodle size, you will have a Labrador Retriever parent dog weighing between 65 and 80 pounds and a miniature Poodle parent weighing between 10 and 15 pounds.

Here, it is easy to see how you can expect quite a bit of size variance in early (F1, F1b) breeding programs regardless of what each parent dog weighs. In later breeding programs (F2, F3/multi-gen), it is usually easier to predict the adult Labradoodle size for a given puppy.