WTF is this?

April 24, 2012 1:31 PM

Is there such a thing as a "lambradoodle"?

Some girlfriends and I had a totally strange experience at a spa weekend on Sunday. We met this very bizarre guy whose behavior and claims lead me to believe he might have some mental illness... but everything he said has checked out so far.

One of the MANY strange things he said was that he had a "lambradoodle"--a labradoodle with lamb genes so it wouldn't bark and was hypoallergenic or something. He led us to believe he is extremely wealthy--and I found that credible for several reasons--so he would have a lot of money to acquire such a thing if it exists.

1) Is it even possible, scientifically, to create a lambradoodle?
2) Has anyone heard of or seen a lambradoodle?

This experience was so strange I need help emotionally processing it. I'm sure some corroborating information (or lack thereof) will help. Thanks for your insights.

posted by emkelley to pets & animals (24 answers total)

No. Either he's lying to you or someone's lying to him.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:40 PM on April 24, 2012 [6 favorites]

Is there such a thing as a "lambradoodle"?

If there is, it's so obscure that it's never been mentioned on the public internet. I think he was trying to mess with your mind, and would be delighted to know you had this reaction.
posted by John Cohen at 1:41 PM on April 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

Labradoodle dogs (poodle/Labrador mixes) are often credited with being hypoallergenic like their poodle ancestors. Labradoodles bark just like any other dog.

As for lambradoodles? He was either pulling your leg or flat-out lying to you. I call shenanigans.
posted by workerant at 1:42 PM on April 24, 2012

No.

We're not to the point where we've isolated out the genetic components of instinctive and deep-rooted canine behavior, such that we can just swap in lamb genes (of all things) and cause a change in that behavior.
posted by gauche at 1:43 PM on April 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

My cursory googling seems to indicate that labradoodles have been touted as being hypoallergenic-y , but that there is no current proof that such truly hypoallergenic dogs exist.
posted by bitterkitten at 1:43 PM on April 24, 2012

Google can't seem to find anything on lambradoodles.

Did his name happen to be Moreau?
posted by dzot at 1:44 PM on April 24, 2012 [7 favorites]

I'm sorry that you're apparently a bit freaked out by this guy, but there really aren't any lamb-dog hybrids out there. People freak out about cross species hybrids (like ligers...) we don't have any cross genus, or especially CROSS FAMIlLY hybrids with mammals.
posted by shrabster at 1:44 PM on April 24, 2012

I'm agreeing this is a prank.

Poodles are already considered good for those with dog allergies, though Hypoallergenic dog breeds may be bunk - allergies are actually caused by a protein found in the animal's dander (a combination of skin and hair), and also its saliva and urine.

And you can train dogs to not bark, or surgically prevent a dog from barking.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:44 PM on April 24, 2012

I work at one the top veterinary teaching hospitals in the US. Our cutting edge research includes bone marrow transplants, stem cell therapy, gene therapy and prosthetic limb implantation. I have never heard of dogs (or any other animals) being crossbred with other species. Either he was lying or he was conned.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:45 PM on April 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's technically scientifically possible - using genetic engineering, one can in principle take genes from any organism and place them in almost any other organism. However, doing this with mammals is very difficult, time consuming, and expensive. So the person you met was almost certainly lying.
posted by medusa at 1:46 PM on April 24, 2012

Let me ammend that. It would be a CROSS ORDER ( yes, I'm yelling) hybrid.
posted by shrabster at 1:48 PM on April 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

This guy is either whackadoodle (an extant hybrid of whacky and doodly) or fucking with you. Or both.
posted by elizardbits at 2:02 PM on April 24, 2012 [26 favorites]

Some girlfriends and I had a totally strange experience at a spa weekend on Sunday. We met this very bizarre guy whose behavior and claims...

It's often useful to step back and look at greater context. For example, if you met a stranger in a bar making unusual claims ("Hey baby. I'm friends with Brad and Angelina,"), you'd subconsciously take the context -- stranger, bar, unusual claims -- into account when assigning credibility to the claims. ("Bullshit. You're just some wannabe name-dropping schmuck on the prowl.")

In this case, we have...

* A group of women...
* At a spa weekend...
* Talking to a strange man...
* Who is making outward shows or claims of extreme wealth...
* Including a claim of owning a hybrid animal that is not generally recognizable to you or your girlfriends, who are intelligent, reasonable people.

This is not what "normal" looks like. For example, you're not meeting hybrid animal guy at a genetics symposium or even a dog show. It's a spa weekend.

He's not just messing around with you.

HE'S HITTING ON YOU.

Thus endeth the lesson.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:25 PM on April 24, 2012 [12 favorites]

Wow, I think you met the real-life Barney Stinson.
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:29 PM on April 24, 2012 [13 favorites]

I believe this was an Opener, used by Pick Up Artists (read: desperate awful excuses for human beings) in order to get inside your head.
posted by Greg Nog at 2:33 PM on April 24, 2012 [7 favorites]

oh god i clicked on that site and now i feel even more dirty than when i spent 20 whole minutes trying to find a pdf download of that 50 shades of mishegoss.
posted by elizardbits at 2:47 PM on April 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

that is some pretty funny bullshit right there. i'm using that one.
posted by facetious at 2:47 PM on April 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

This is hilarious. It does make me think of a Bedlington terrier mix, though -- they look lamb-y and are purportedly low-dander dogs, like poodles.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:57 PM on April 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I have never heard of dogs (or any other animals) being crossbred with other species.

I hate to call your veterinary expertise into question, but there are dozens of examples of cross-species hybridization in animals.

Sheep x dog is not one of them.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:33 PM on April 24, 2012

People freak out about cross species hybrids (like ligers...) we don't have any cross genus, or especially CROSS FAMIlLY hybrids with mammals.

This is not true. There have been occurrences of both intergeneric hybrids (sheep x goat, baboon x macaque) and interfamilial hybrids (various crosses with guineafowl and domestic fowl).
posted by mr_roboto at 3:45 PM on April 24, 2012

No cross-order hybrids, though? I think shrabster just had a brain freeze that swapped "family" and "order".
posted by Sidhedevil at 4:07 PM on April 24, 2012

I hate to call your veterinary expertise into question, but there are dozens of examples of cross-species hybridization in animals.

That's a fair point. I was not being rigorous in my use of the term "species." I suppose I should have said "I haven't heard of dogs (or any other domesticated animals) being crossbred with animals in other families." Though I don't doubt the existence of your guinea fowl crosses, I've certainly not heard of them before now.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:18 PM on April 24, 2012

Well, thanks all for the input. I was pretty sure that was not genetically possible but I wanted to inquire with the hive.

We definitely were aware that he was attempting to hit on us--no doubt about that. :)
posted by emkelley at 5:26 PM on April 24, 2012

Shrink here. Just wondering if he wasn't psychotic. Lambradoodle sounds like the kind of "clanging" wordplay I have heard schizophrenics use at some of the psychiatric clinics I have worked in
posted by chaoscutie at 9:47 PM on April 24, 2012 [1 favorite]