Mixes & doodles
Mixed breeds & doodles, explained by DNA
Mixed-breed dogs and designer crosses rarely look like a neat blend of their parents. A small number of genes shape a dog's coat, colour and size, while breed ancestry is spread across the whole genome. These guides explain what's inside popular crosses and how DNA sorts it out.
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Bernedoodle Genetics: Size, Coat, Colours and Temperament
What's inside a Bernedoodle: how big each size gets, why some are tricolour and others solid black, how F1 and F1B coats differ, and what to expect from a Bernese and Poodle mix.
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Cavapoo Genetics: Size, Coat, Colours and Temperament
What's inside a Cavapoo: how big mini and toy Cavapoos get, how Cavalier and Poodle colours combine, how much they shed, and what a large study found about Cavapoo behaviour.
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Cockapoo Genetics: Size, Coat, Colours and Temperament
What's inside a Cockapoo: American and English Cocker parents, how big each size gets, why Cockapoos come in so many colours, how much they shed, and what research says about temperament.
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Do Doodles Shed? The Genes That Decide How Much
Every doodle sheds some hair, but some barely leave a trace. Here's how furnishings, curl, an undercoat and a shedding gene decide which, why littermates differ, and what helps.
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Doodle Generations Explained: F1, F1B, F2 and Multigen
What F1, F1B, F2 and multigen really mean, how each generation shifts the odds of a curly, furnished or improper coat, and why the parents' genes matter more than the label.
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Goldendoodle Genetics: Size, Coat, Shedding and Colours
What's really inside a Goldendoodle: the few genes that decide coat, curl and shedding, how F1 and F1B generations differ, how big they get, where the colours come from, and what a DNA test can show.
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Hypoallergenic Dogs: What the Science Really Says
No dog breed has been shown to be hypoallergenic. Here's what studies of the main dog allergen found in coats and homes, why low shedding isn't the same as low allergen, what coat genes do explain, and what allergic owners can do.
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Improper Coat Doodles: Why Some Doodles Have Flat Coats
Some doodles grow up with a smooth face and a flat, shedding coat. Here's the furnishings gene behind an improper coat, how often it turns up in each generation, and how to tell.
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Labradoodle Genetics: Size, Coat, Shedding and Colours
What's inside a Labradoodle: where the cross came from, why its coats vary more than most doodles', how big it gets, where the colours come from, and what the Australian Labradoodle really is.
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Is My Doodle Really a Doodle? What a DNA Test Shows
A DNA test can confirm the Poodle in a doodle, hint at its generation and show which coat genes it inherited. Here's what to expect, walked through with two real doodle-type example reports.
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DNA Testing a Rescue Dog: What It Can and Can't Tell You
Shelter breed labels are educated guesses, and research shows they're often wrong. Here's what a DNA test can tell you about your rescue dog, how to read a very mixed result, and what DNA can't explain.
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Common Mixed-Breed Dogs: Six Patterns Explained
Six mixed-breed patterns people often encounter, popular designer crosses, why looks can hide ancestry, and how DNA adds evidence without pretending there is one authoritative national ranking.
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How to Identify Your Dog's Breed (5 Methods, Ranked)
Five ways to figure out what breed your dog is, ranked honestly from the least reliable to the only one that reads the genome directly. Learn why looks and paperwork so often mislead, how DNA breed detection actually works, and what to do once you finally know.
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Can You Identify a Dog's Breed From a Photo?
A photo can suggest a dog's breed, but mixed ancestry is difficult to infer from appearance alone. Here is what shelter-labelling research shows, how photo and AI guessers work, and how a cheek swab adds probability-based genetic evidence.
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Want to see what your dog's DNA suggests?
A PuppyGenes report covers six sections for your dog: breed ancestry, coat colour, physical appearance, temperament and size predictions, genetic diversity and oral microbiome. The report does not include genetic disease or health screening.
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