Frankie above  and her sisters Violet, Maisie, Maggie and Marley are a new cross I have developed to breed small dogs like Golden Retrievers that we are calling MiniRetrievers and their puppies which we call MiniGroodles.

This is Maggie – born on the 24/5/2015 to Ralph and Daphne. She was our first MiniRetriever

She is a Golden Retriever X Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  Her parents are Daphne, a pedigreed Golden Retriever and Ralph our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

 

Here’s  Maggie grown up with her little sisters (and Ridgey our pet mini labradoodle)and at home with us

 

 

 

 

They are just gorgeous dogs. All very similar looking and all with sweet natures as you would expect from Ralph and Daphne (or any Cavalier and Golden Retriever)

 

Here is Frankie

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then Maisie,  Violet and Marley

And finally on the 27th of January 2017 – after 4 years of planning and waiting we had Maggie’s first litter of Minigroodles and now  I can finally show people how Maggie’s MiniGroodle puppies are growing up.   They are medium sized, non shedding, beautiful (at least I think so) and really nice dogs. These are the reviews, from their owners, of her first litter at just on 6 months of age

This is Parker:

“He is  14.6, NON Shedding- yayyy!  A big shaggy teddy bear at the moment although we are having him groomed this week so guess he will look a bit different then!    He is such a

 

This is Hendrix: 

“He is a beautiful natured dog, very energetic, social and easy to train.

 If he is exercised every other day he is calm and easy to manage at home. He loves the off leash dog park and has had no issues at all with shyness/anxiety. His retriever heritage seems to be dominant, he is VERY food driven and will eat anything. Anything. Anything…..concrete, rocks, pegs”  He is a non shedding puppy (aside from puppy fluff)

 

 

Here is Buffy:

“We love Buffy to bits – he is just the most beautiful dog and everyone he meets comments on his lovely nature. The kids love him too – he is very tolerant of my 6 year old son and his sometimes overly exuberant behaviour!

He weighs around 12 kilos. No behaviour problems whatsoever – such a lovely, good- natured and friendly  dog.

As for shedding – we have been finding little tufts of hair around in corners of the house – this seems to be decreasing though.”

And Raffy:

“Raffy now weighs 10 kg and is low/minimal shedding – after about a week you see a bit of hair collecting in the corners of the room, but it’s very minor. 

 His coat is wavy, with no tight curls.  As to  temperament/behaviour, for the most part he is lovely and well behaved. 

He’s very friendly to people and dogs, and gets a lot of love in return even from strangers – I can’t count the number of times I have heard people say he’s beautiful or gorgeous.  People are very taken with his looks – he’s been called pretty, even exquisite!  I get a lot of questions about what breed he is and where we got him.  

He adores the dog park and runs up to every dog to say hello, or tears past them in an invitation to chase …………although he does love to eat just about anything,……..He doesn’t get stressed when left at home, though – I can monitor him with the “Dogmonitor” app so I can see what he’s up to – he mainly sleeps or chews his toys.”

Then there’s Frank:

“Frank now weighs 10k.  He has the worlds biggest paws

He does not shed

He has a wonderful temperament and he is as smart as new paint – very  very curious and relaxed at same time

Incredibly social – he cannot leave the park without saying GM to every single dog every single time

We love him and we get asked about him all the time

He is a sheer joy to have in the family”

 

 

I haven’t got an updated photo of Lola but she was doing well at 4 months:

Lola is fabulous. I think of all our beautiful puppies, Honey, Blossom and Poppy, she is my favourite. She has so much spirit but she also wants to make us happy so she comes when we call her, she sits when asked and she does the most amazing acrobatics. She’s a hoot!! Poppy loves her and is quite maternal but has dobbed her in a few times, particularly when she’s trying to get past the gate. They snuggle up to sleep  and Lola seems to have gotten over the 10pm zoomies when, each night at bed time, she ran around like a crazy dude for about 30 mins.

I think she’s gifted. I want to retire so I can stay home with her.

WHY Maggie and her MiniGolden sisters?

Maggie and her sisters are absolutely beautiful little dogs with large brown eyes and sweet faces which match their temperament.

Maggie is very relaxed, about life. She loves her family and lived in Glebe last year with my daughter Elle, but she is equally happy with doggy company, and she shows no sign of anxiety at all when left to live in the kennel for a while. She is a very confident, adaptable and laid back medium sized dog.

I will breed  one or two litters of these MiniRetrievers each year.  They are lovely medium sized retriever and will be great for people who don’t care about hair in the house, love Golden Retrievers, but want a smaller dog.

BUT – I really bred these puppies so that I can breed medium sized Groodles, with my medium sized poodles, George Max and Rex, when they are old enough, and with Louie and Rufous in the mean time.

Maggie has a great temperament to cross with poodles because she is so laid back and easy going and our poodles with a dash of Lagotto are also very calm sensible dogs. The combination should be similar to the F1 Groodles which are well known for their calm temperament as well as their looks.  The F1 labradoodles were fabulous dogs temperamentally but  perhaps a little more  high energy than Groodles because of the exuberant temperament of Labradors (have you seen the movie “Marley and Me”?)

F1 Golden Retrievers and F1 Cavaliers are normally non shedding dogs (as long as the poodle genetics are right) and  Maggie and her sisters should consistently produce non or low shedding puppies – like Blossom’s beautiful puppies which inspired me to try this cross.

The eternal question arises in crossbreeding…… What will you call them?

In the US there are people breeding a “Mini Golden Retriever” which is based on crossing with Cocker Spaniel and Poodle. I really don’t want to be confused with them because

1.  I am not developing a new “breed”  (as breeders usually like to do) –  the Minigroodles are crossbred dogs and their puppies are composite crossbreds. they are desexed as puppies and we don’t breed on from them.
2. There is no Poodle in these MiniGoldens  – we cross them with Poodle coated dogs to produce our low/non shedding puppies so our Minigroodles are never more than half poodle.
3.  I don’t use Cocker Spaniels:  In my childhood they were the classic family pet, but these days they are at risk of temperament problems (see Rage syndrome), and have been bred for exaggerated coats, narrow heads and excessively long ears.  They don’t appeal to my breeding program and I have never felt tempted to breed Spoodles.

Until someone comes up with a better name I am calling Maggie and her sisters MiniRetrievers and the puppies MiniGroodles.