The Doodle Myth: Healthier, Easier, Better? Not So Fast

A lot of people choose doodles like Cockapoos, Cavapoos and Labradoodles because they’re often marketed as the best of both worlds: healthier than purebreds, easy to train, and great family dogs. But two large UK studies suggest the picture is much more complicated than that.

The first study, published in 2024, looked at the physical health of more than 9,400 dogs and found that these designer crosses were not generally healthier than the purebred breeds they came from. In 86.6% of health comparisons, there was no significant difference at all. In other words, the idea that doodles automatically benefit from “hybrid vigour” was not supported here. They were not broadly healthier, but they were not broadly less healthy either.

The second study, published on 19 March 2026, looked at behaviour in the same three doodle types and compared them with their parent breeds using C-BARQ, a validated canine behaviour questionnaire. This time, the findings were more striking. Across the behavioural comparisons, designer crossbreeds showed more undesirable behaviours in 44.4% of comparisons and fewer undesirable behaviours in just 9.7%.

Cockapoos stood out the most. They differed from Cocker Spaniels and Poodles in 16 out of 24 behaviour comparisons, and in every one of those they scored worse. Cavapoos also showed more undesirable behaviour in most of the comparisons where they differed from their parent breeds. Labradoodles were more mixed, scoring worse than their parent breeds in some areas, but better in others.

One of the most important takeaways is that being a crossbreed does not guarantee an easier temperament. The 2026 paper highlights higher scores in areas such as fear, excitability, separation related behaviours, and in some cases aggression, particularly in Cockapoos and Cavapoos. That matters, because many owners choose these dogs believing they will be especially easy to live with or naturally good with children.

So the message here is not “doodles are bad dogs” and it is not “purebreds are better.” The real message is that marketing myths are not the same as evidence. A doodle is not automatically healthier, calmer, easier, or more suitable for family life just because it is a mix. Good welfare depends far more on ethical breeding, the health and temperament of the parents, early life experiences, training, and realistic expectations.

Were the parents health tested? What are their temperaments like? Were the puppies bred and raised well? And am I choosing this dog based on evidence, not a sales pitch?