What is an F1B Goldendoodle?

What do F1, F1B and F2 mean?

They're generation labels, and they tell you where the Golden Retriever and the Poodle sit in a puppy's family tree. F1 means the first generation of a cross, and breeders add a B, for backcross, when that generation is bred back to a parent breed. In doodle breeding the backcross goes to a Poodle.

• F1 Goldendoodle. A Golden Retriever bred to a Poodle, half of each.
• F1B Goldendoodle. An F1 bred back to a Poodle, roughly three quarters Poodle on paper.
• F2 and later. Goldendoodles bred to Goldendoodles, labeled F2, F3 and onward.

These letters aren't official, so nobody checks them, and it's fair to ask any breeder which dogs stand behind them on a particular puppy.

What does each generation mean for the coat?

Mostly it decides whether a puppy grows furnishings, the long hair that makes a Poodle's beard and eyebrows. That's the look most families want in a doodle, and it comes from one gene. A Golden Retriever doesn't carry the furnishings form of it, and a Poodle usually carries two copies.

From there the generations follow simple odds. Every puppy of a two-copy Poodle inherits the furnishings form, and a Golden has none to give, so an F1 puppy carries one copy and has furnishings. Breed that F1 back to a two-copy Poodle and every F1B puppy gets at least one copy, with about half getting two. Breed two F1s together and, on average, about a quarter of the litter can inherit no copy at all, and grow a flatter coat that's short on the face, head and legs.

Those odds assume each parent carries what its breed usually carries. A DNA test for furnishings tells a breeder for certain what a parent has to pass on.

Does an F1B Goldendoodle shed less than an F1?

Nobody can promise it of a particular puppy, and the genetics only take you part of the way. Shedding is tied to more than one gene, so furnishings alone don't settle how much a dog sheds, and an F1 and an F1B can both have furnishings.

The parents show how far apart the two sides start. A Golden Retriever sheds a good deal and a Miniature Poodle hardly at all, and an F1B has more of the Poodle in its family tree. That's an average, though, and littermates can grow quite different coats, so the parents' own coats are a better guide than the letters. Our Mini Goldendoodle guide covers grooming, shedding and allergies. The full answer, generation by generation, is in do Goldendoodles shed.

How are our F1B Goldendoodles bred?

Each litter pairs one of our Goldendoodle mamas with a Miniature Poodle papa. The mamas weigh 28 lbs, their F1B puppies are expected to grow to 19 to 22 lbs, and we raise them as Mini Goldendoodles.

Coat color comes through the same pairings. Our Goldendoodles come in the same colors as our Poodles, apricot and red, with a white one every once in a while. Our Goldendoodle colors guide explains where each shade comes from. Where we have DNA results for a mama and papa, they help us plan the colors a litter may carry.

Each puppy's listing names its mama and its papa, so you can see the dogs behind the letters for yourself, and every one available today is on our F1B Goldendoodle page.

Which generation suits your family?

Start from what matters most in your home. If shedding is the big question, ask a breeder what each parent's coat is like and whether either one has had a DNA test for furnishings, and spend time around grown dogs from the same kind of pairing. If size matters most, ask which size of Poodle the papa is and what the mama weighs, because the generation letters say nothing about size.

For how long a Goldendoodle can be expected to live, and the health checks to ask a breeder about, read Goldendoodle lifespan and price. Choosing your own puppy from a litter is covered step by step in how to pick a puppy.