Cavapoo Genetics: Size, Coat, Colours and Temperament

A Cavapoo is a cross between a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and a Poodle, usually a Miniature or Toy Poodle, so most Cavapoos are small dogs. Their coats follow the same furnishings and curl genes as other doodles, and their colours blend the Cavalier's four standard colours with the Poodle's much wider range. A large UK study also suggests they aren't the automatically easy companions they're often marketed as.

The short version

• Two parent breeds: the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the Poodle, usually a Miniature or Toy.
• Small dogs: most Cavapoos are small, and a Toy Poodle parent means a smaller dog still.
• Coat: F1 Cavapoos are furnished and usually wavy; F1Bs are curlier on average.
• Colours: Cavalier colours (Blenheim, tricolour, ruby, black and tan) mixed with Poodle colours such as apricot, red, cream and black.
• Behaviour research: compared with Cavaliers, Cavapoos scored worse on several owner-reported behaviour measures, though better on trainability.
• Not automatically healthier: ask about health testing on both parents.
• Not hypoallergenic: no dog breed has been shown to be.

Where Cavapoos come from

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a small companion spaniel with a long, silky coat. The Poodle brings three sizes and a curly, furnished coat. The Cavapoo, also called a Cavoodle in Australia, combines the two. As a cross, it has no kennel-club breed standard, so size names, coats and colours vary from breeder to breeder.

How big will a Cavapoo get?

Both parents are small unless the Poodle is a Standard. Going by breed-standard ranges:

• Cavapoos with a Miniature Poodle parent usually land close to their parents' weights, since the two breeds are similar in size.
• "Mini" and "toy" Cavapoos are breeders' names for the smallest dogs, usually from Toy Poodle lines.
• Littermates can differ, especially in doodle-to-doodle litters.

The size names aren't standardized, so ask a breeder about the parents' adult weights. The PuppyGenes report includes an estimated adult height and weight based on your dog's own genetics: useful context, not a promise.

Cavapoo coats and generations

A study of more than 1,000 dogs from 80 breeds found that three genes, for furnishings, curl and coat length, account for most coat types in purebred dogs. Cavaliers have long, silky coats with feathering, but no furnishings and little or no curl, while Poodles usually carry two copies of the furnishings and curl variants. So:

• F1 Cavapoos are furnished, with a doodle's beard and eyebrows, and usually have long, wavy coats.
• F1B Cavapoos (an F1 crossed back to a Poodle) are all furnished, and about half are curly.
• F2 and later Cavapoos vary more, and about one puppy in four from two F1 parents is expected to have an improper coat, with a smooth face and a flatter, Cavalier-like coat.

Our guides to doodle generations and improper coats explain the odds in more detail.

Do Cavapoos shed?

Most shed lightly. Furnished Cavapoos with wavy or curly coats shed least, while an improper-coat Cavapoo sheds more like a Cavalier. The trade-off for low shedding is grooming: a wavy or curly coat traps loose hair, so it needs regular brushing to stay free of mats. Our guide to doodle shedding covers the genes behind it.

Where Cavapoo colours come from

Cavaliers come in four standard colours: Blenheim (rich chestnut markings on white), tricolour (black and white with tan markings), ruby (solid rich red) and black and tan. The Poodle adds apricot, red, cream, black, chocolate, phantom, parti and more. A few genes decide how they combine:

• Red, apricot and cream shades: red and apricot dogs across breeds usually carry two copies of a red variant of the MC1R gene, one from each parent (Schmutz et al. 2002).
• Tan markings: the tan points on tricolour and black-and-tan Cavaliers, and on phantom Poodles, come from the tan-points version of the ASIP gene, which a puppy usually needs from both parents (Dreger and Schmutz 2011).
• Solid black: one copy of the dominant black variant at the K locus is enough. Cavaliers don't come in solid black, so a solid black Cavapoo usually got it from the Poodle side.
• White: the white in Blenheim and tricolour Cavaliers, and in parti Poodles, comes from white-spotting genes.
• Chocolate: brown coats need brown genes from both parents, so chocolate is unusual in a first cross with a Cavalier.

A Cavapoo puppy's coat can also change shade as the adult coat grows in. The PuppyGenes coat colour section predicts colour, pattern and markings where the sample supports them.

Temperament: what the research says

Cavaliers are known as gentle, affectionate companions and Poodles as clever and active, so Cavapoos are often sold as easy family dogs. A 2026 UK study of owner-reported behaviour in 9,402 Cavapoos, Cockapoos, Labradoodles and their parent breeds found a more complicated picture.

• Compared with Cavaliers, Cavapoos scored worse on 8 behaviour scales, including aggression toward owners, strangers and other dogs, fear, separation-related problems and excitability. They scored better on trainability.
• Compared with Poodles, Cavapoos scored worse on non-social fear, fear of other dogs and trainability.

Overall, Cavapoos differed from their parent breeds in 12 of 24 comparisons and scored worse in 11. That's an average across thousands of dogs, not a prediction for yours, and the study measured differences rather than their causes. Breed explains only about 9% of behavioural differences between individual dogs, according to a 2022 study of more than 18,000 dogs, so early socialization, training and a careful breeder still matter most. Our guide to what a dog's breed means for daily care covers how to use breed context without over-reading it.

What a DNA test shows for a Cavapoo

The PuppyGenes report covers six sections:

• Breed ancestry: how much Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Poodle is in your dog, plus any other breeds.
• Coat colour predictions, including markings and patterns where the sample supports them.
• Physical appearance: coat length, curl, furnishings and shedding, each where the sample supports it.
• Temperament and size predictions, including an estimated adult height and weight.
• Genetic diversity.
• An oral microbiome snapshot.

The report does not include genetic disease or health screening. Browse our example reports to see what each section looks like, or compare the Cockapoo, the Cavapoo's closest cousin among the doodles.