Australian Cobberdog

Australian Cobberdog
A eleven-month-old parti-coloured Cobberdog
Common nicknames	Cobberdog, Cobber
Origin	Australia
Traits Height 35–61 cm (13–24 in) Weight 7–40 kg (15–88 lb) Coat single coat Colour chocolate, dark gold, red, gold, black, white and cream
Kennel club standards MDBA standard
Notes	*No verifiable study has taken place
Dog (domestic dog)

The Australian Cobberdog is a purebred dog breed developed in Australia by the Rutland Manor and Tegan Park Labradoodle Breeding & Research Centres. The breed was created as a continuation of Wally Conron's efforts to create a definable and carefully researched labradoodle. This effort was also in response to the increase in demand for labradoodles which had led to breeders referring to any combination of Labrador Retrievers and Poodles as labradoodles without temperament or hypoallergenic criteria. The inconsistency of standards for labradoodles led to the distinction of Australian Labradoodle and the further distinction of Cobberdog attributed to a purebred dog breed with more strict standards for breeding, temperament, and appearance.

The Australian Cobberdog was bred to be an ideal candidate for being therapy and service dogs. Up until the creation of the Australian Cobberdog, no breed had been developed with the sole objective of having the ideal characteristics to serve as therapy and assistance dogs. This is in part because therapy and assistance dogs are relatively modern. Australian Labradoodles, as prescribed by the Australian Labradoodle Association of America, are derived from three breeds of previously purebred dog breeds. Cobberdogs are meanwhile derived from a combination of at least eight existing breeds in order to achieve the desired temperament.

The large pool for the development of the Australian Cobberdog led to the breed's disassociation with the Australian Labradoodle; this caused the involved research centres to approach the obscure kennel club Master Dog Breeders and Associates for cataloguing. With a name change and the finalisation of the breed's DNA sequence the standards for physical and temperamental attributes were established and the Cobberdog was officially a pure breed and thus the only pure breed of labradoodle.

Cobberdog breeders make the assertion that the Australian Cobberdog was an attempt to reach the originally intended goals of the Labradoodle. Prior to the explosion of the popularity of Labradoodles, they were carefully bred in an attempt to perfect the temperament and be hypoallergenic. After the popularity of Labradoodles began less careful selection and a lack of breed standards led to the modern, unrecognized crossbreed. Cobberdogs, as researchers state, are the product of continuing with the original goals of the Labradoodle project: a gentle, hypoallergenic dog with a calm demeanor and a tendency to comfort the people around them.

History

A standard brown Labradoodle with the desired hypoallergenic coat

The Labradoodle

Main article: Labradoodle

The term "Labradoodle" was first used in 1955 by Donald Campbell to describe his dog, a Labrador/Poodle cross. The breed was not popular and was mostly unused as pets and/or service animals. In the 1980s, Wally Conron, a Labrador Retriever breeder specializing in service dogs, received a request for a hypoallergenic guide dog. The result of Conron's efforts was a hand-picked parentage mix between a Poodle and a Labrador Retriever. Initially, the breed was again not popular leading to the rebranding of the dog as the "Labradoodle". The Labradoodle then experienced an explosion of popularity and quickly lost breed conformity due to a lack of kennel club recognition and thus a lack of breed standards.

In a 2019 interview, Conron said that he "released a Frankenstein monster" and that "[...] the biggest majority (of Labradoodles) are either crazy or have a hereditary problem." Brandi Hunter, the American Kennel Club's vice president of public relations and communications, mirrored Conron's concerns, saying that "[...] there is a reason why we emphasize the time and research that goes into breeding purpose-bred dogs. It matters in the long run."

A ten-year-old Australian Labradoodle

The Australian Labradoodle

Main article: Australian Labradoodle

In an effort to standardize the Labradoodle and achieve breed recognition, the Labradoodle Association of Australia (LAA) was founded in 2000. The organization began taking steps to regain a careful selective breeding program and introduced new lines to both experiment with temperament and to introduce additional genetic diversity. Over the subsequent five years, additional organizations formed and merged resulting in The International Australian Labradoodle Association (IALA).

Australian Labradoodles are called Australian Labradoodles because the Australia-based breeders wished to avoid the breed being mistaken for the many Labrador Retriever/Poodle crosses being bred in a way the LAA deemed as unhealthy and irresponsible. The Australian Labradoodle is a developing dog breed and not considered purebred.

In the current, generally accepted Australian Labradoodle's heritage, there are as many as 22 unique purebred contributors. The Australian Labradoodle generally primarily has Labrador Retriever and Poodle genetics, but recent efforts by the IALA, particularly the Australian Labradoodle Association of America (ALAA), have introduced the Irish Water Spaniel, Curly-coated Retriever and the English and American Cocker Spaniel. These additions were to increase the breed's gene pool, achieve greater health, and attempt to perfect the temperament of the dog. The IALA made the decision to abandon certain lines and that the Australian Labradoodle was a largely complete breed. Officially, the Australian Labradoodle Association (ALA) mandates that the Australian Labradoodle must have exactly three progenitors: Poodle, Labrador Retriever, and Cocker Spaniel.

The Australian Labradoodle is not recognized as a pure breed by any independent, non-regional kennel clubs or recognized registration organizations. It is, instead, considered a mixed-breed.

A white small medium Australian Cobberdog from Finland

The Australian Cobberdog

Beverley Manners, was the Founder of the International Australian Labradoodle Association. In 2004 the Irish Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier was infused by Manners at Rutland Manor in Australia. Two Irish Wheaten Terriers were infused, one of which was an Australian Champion. That addition resulted in Manners' disassociation from the IALA and the beginning of the Australian Cobberdog's development.

• Miniature Poodle
• Labrador Retriever
• American Cocker Spaniel
• English Cocker Spaniel
• Irish Water Spaniel
• Curly-coated Retriever
• Poodle
• Irish Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier

The goal of this new effort was a revision of the original Australian Labradoodle project's. The mission of the effort was to breed a widely usable dog with a hypoallergenic coat which would be able to be used as exemplary therapy dogs, service animals, household pets, and/or companion dogs. This dog would be bred with specific attention to coat and, most importantly, temperament. Manners' goal was to achieve what Wally Conron had initially set out to do and breed a calm, intelligent and hypoallergenic dog. Up until the initial creation of the Australian Cobberdog breeding program, no individual and/or purebred breed had been developed with the sole objective of creating an ideal candidate for being therapy and assistance dogs. This is in part a result of the fact that assisted therapy and assistance dogs are relatively modern.

In 2012, the Australian Cobberdog was accepted as a new pure breed by the semi-obscure Master Dog Breeders and Associates (MDBA) a worldwide breed registry. With the breed's acceptance, a pedigree and breed standards were set. The breed's unique DNA sequence was also categorized in order to establish the validity of a purebred Australian Cobberdog.

One condition for the Cobberdog's entry into the MDBA was that the breed has a name which distinguishes it from the Labradoodle, thus distinguishing the new pure breed from a less recognized cross-bred and unregulated category of dogs. The original project's name for the breed was Service Animal Australian Labradoodle. The decision to name the breed the "Australian Cobberdog" was done to maintain the Australian identity of the breed; the latter half of the name, "Cobberdog", comes from the Australian term "cobber" which simply means "friend" or "friendly". In total, the name Australian Cobberdog directly means "friendly Australian dog".

Since the breed's acceptance, the number of MDBA-certified Cobberdog breeders has expanded to over 150 worldwide and the breed continues to become increasingly popular, although it is still a relatively unknown breed as of January 2024. The breed is touted as an ideal therapy dog with breeders and owners displaying that through a general standard practice of breeding dogs also being trained and used as Therapy dogs for hospitals, schools, retirement homes, and many other applications.

Characteristics

Physical characteristics

A nine-week-old Australian Cobberdog lying down

A profile view of a nine-week-old Australian Cobberdog

Colours

The Australian Cobberdog can have a very wide range of colours. However, the MDBA standards mandate that in order for a dog to be considered a purebred Cobberdog it must contain no more than two colours and the colours should be solid. A non-exhaustive list of the more common coat types is:

• White – lightest possible coat colour, often accompanied by lemon eyes
• Cream – white with a yellow tint of varying strength
• Gold – a rich and deep yellow colour
• Red – a rich colour resembling mahogany
• Black – a pure black coat, sometimes fades to blue or silver with age
• Silver – grey in colour, usually develops from a black dog over the first 1–3 years of life, often not solid
• Blue – smokey grey-blue colour which can be initial or develop over the first 1–3 years of life
• Brown – a solid brown colour, usually preceded by a puppy born with very deep brown hair
• Café – a unique shade of brown which generally develops with age
• Parchment – a cream/Café mix
• Lilac – a pink to purple colouration which generally develops with age from brown dogs
• Parti-colour – a mixture of two distinct colours
• Phantom – the term to refer to the non-dominant colour of a parti-coloured dog
• Sable – Black tipped hairs on a background of any other solid colour

Coat

The Australian Cobberdog has single coat hair which is low to no shedding and produces minimal dander. This trait means that the dog is considered hypoallergenic. Contrary to the belief that dog hair is the cause of an allergy to dogs, allergies are primarily caused by a hypersensitivity to a protein found in a dog's saliva, dandruff and chafing skin. The Cobberdog has two principle coat types: fleece coats and wool coats.

A fleece coat is a single coat of soft, thin fibres which appear silky and slightly wavy. The coat's fibres generally create soft clusters called staples. Fleece coats have minimal shedding and dander, making them minimally odorous and largely hypoallergenic. Fleece coats require regular grooming to prevent matting. Without regular brushing and consistent care the fleece coat is more susceptible to matting, the formation of dreadlocks, hair-borne conditions and the capture of dirt against the skin which can cause discomfort and/or chafing. The lack of shedding also necessitates frequent trimming of the dog's hair as the hairs continuously grow and do not naturally maintain coat length.

A wool coat is a single coat of coarse, thick fibres which are grouped together as small, tight curls. Wool coats are non-shedding and low dander and they require attention similar to that of the fleece coat. A true wool coat was deemed as "highly undesirable" by the MDBA and has become increasingly rare in Cobberdogs. Instead of the original pure wool coat, the term has shifted to also apply to a curly variation of the fleece coat, again non-shedding and low dander, sometimes called the "spiral wool coat". This coat usually appears as multiple long and loose spirals which are considerably larger than the fleece coat's staples. This coat is similarly low odour and largely hypoallergenic. This coat is caused by the presence of both fleece and wool coat genes. The spiral wool coat, also called the curly fleece coat, is somewhat similar in appearance to the more common "straight" fleece coat and requires frequent grooming, trimming, and brushing in or to avoid matting. This type of coat, both true wool and curly fleece, requires closer and more frequent care than the aforementioned straight fleece coat.

Sizes

There are generally four size categories for Cobberdogs: miniature, large mini/small medium, medium and standard. Some breeders also include a "large medium" and/or "standard XL" category. The MDBA only officially recognizes three size categories: miniature, medium and standard. However, the MDBA does not prohibit additional categorisation by approved breeders.

Cobberdog sizes are based solely on height as measured from floor to withers (top of the shoulder blade in quadrupeds). While weight is often included in size categorisation, that is typically to aid in the visualisation of sizes and not to aid in the categorisation of a specific individual.

Four general size categories

Category name	Height range	Weight range (approx.)
Miniature	35–41 centimetres (14–16 in)	7–12 kilograms (15–26 lb)
Large mini/small medium	41–47 centimetres (16–19 in)	10–16 kilograms (22–35 lb)
Medium	47–56 centimetres (19–22 in)	14–22 kilograms (31–49 lb)
Standard	56–61 centimetres (22–24 in)	20–40 kilograms (44–88 lb)

Features

A closer image of a white Australian Cobberdog

The MDBA has created a set of breed standards which any dog must adhere to in order to be considered a purebred Australian Cobberdog. In addition to these standards, general practice has created further preferences for the breed. The official breed standards state that the sum of all the dog's features should portray "A gracefully athletic and balanced dog, free of exaggeration, with a luxurious non-shedding, odourless coat." In general, the breed's goal is to be a square and regularly dimensioned dog with the breeding process more focused on health and temperament.

Notable distinctive features include floppy ears, standard pigmentation of nose and paw pads, an undocked tail and a non-shedding hypoallergenic coat.

Behavioral characteristics

The Cobberdog's original purpose for development was as an effort to breed a calm, compassionate and empathetic dog which is ideal for training as a therapy dog or service animal, the first pure breed with that as the initial purpose for breeding. Additionally, the hypoallergenic coat and low saliva production is meant to broaden the Cobberdog's usefulness as it allows the dog to be a companion to or visit individuals with allergies to dogs, dander, dog saliva, and who should avoid the presence of residual hairs left behind by shedding dogs.

Australian Cobberdogs are generally considered to be an intelligent breed which learns tricks and tasks more easily than most other breeds. Additionally, they are known to very rarely bite with an intent to harm. The Cobberdog barks less than most breeds and vocalization is generally limited to instances of extreme shock or distress. These characteristics, in addition to the breed's respectful and unimposing nature, make them particularly ideal for therapies involving individuals with difficulties interacting such as victims of trauma, certain individuals with autism spectrum disorder and a myriad of other socially sensitive groups.

Around other animals, the Cobberdog generally remains calm and unimposing. It is uncommon for an individual of the breed to be involved in a fight as a result of the dog's natural inclination to retreat from conflict. Oftentimes, the Cobberdog is uniquely capable of interacting with dogs which are generally incapable of cohabitation with other dogs. The Cobberdog can cohabitate in some circumstances with animals such as cats, birds or rodents, although the breed is generally very curious and should be supervised to avoid unintended harm or intrusion.

Roles

As a result of the selective breeding and natural temperament of the Australian Cobberdog, the breed is considered ideal as therapy dogs, service animals, emotional support animals, companion dogs, and household pets. These roles are greatly aided by the Cobberdog's unimposing nature, calm demeanor, and general sense of empathy.

Health

Common medical issues and screening

The Australian Cobberdog is generally considered as among the healthiest dog breeds and has received DNA screening for successive generations throughout the pure breeding process. Carriers of known diseases are regularly removed from all MDBA-approved breeding programs. The nature of pure breeding as a whole, however, does harbour some genetic conditions which can and should be screened for prior to any dog's use in a breeding program.

• Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) is a set of genetic eye diseases that frequently occur in Australian Cobberdogs and can lead to blindness. The nerve cells at the back of the eye break down over time and will cause cataracts to form. PRA frequently initially manifests as night blindness; this can progress to total blindness. Surgery can correct this and health screening can determine if a dog is a carrier.
• Degenerative Myelopathy (DM) can be found in the Cobberdog in rare cases. DM causes progressive hind limb muscle weakness and loss of coordination over time. Affected dogs gradually become increasingly incontinent and lose the ability to walk. The condition can be screened for before being passed on but is ultimately fatal to affected dogs.
• Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC) is a genetic disorder that causes otherwise healthy dogs to collapse after intense exercise. Typically, 5 to 20 minutes of strenuous exercise with extreme excitement induces weakness and then collapse. Although most affected dogs recover quickly, severe episodes of EIC can be fatal. EIC is discoverable in screening.
• Eye anomalies: Microphthalmia, Anophthalmia & Coloboma (Wheaten Terrier Type) are genetic eye diseases that can affect Cobberdogs.

Lifespan and aging

According to some sources, Australian Cobberdogs have an average lifespan of either 12–14 or 13–15 years, however no evidence of a meaningful and verifiable study is shown. They reach senior status at seven years of age and have a healthspan target of sixteen years. In depth studies of the aging process specific to Cobberdogs and the effects on their activity, vitality, temperament, and/or health are yet to be published under official means. This being the case, more information and observation is required for a verifiable and set standard.

See also

• Dogs portal
• List of dog breeds