What's a good estimate for exercise requirements for the labradoodle breed?

handful of rain — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 07:00:08 -0800

My husband and I are considering getting a lab/poodle ("labradoodle") mix. I'm a little concerned about how much exercise the dog would realistically need. We have talked to a breeder about this and are pursuing referrals from her to current owners, but I'd like all the advice on this subject I can get since this will be a 15-year commitment. Any labradoodle owners out there? I have googled for this, but I get a very broad range of information--everything from "not much--they'd work well in an apartment" to "they need tons of exercise." I assume it varies somewhat based on the parents: in this case the father would be a standard poodle and the mother a labrador retriever. The breeder told us that the puppies fall toward the poodle end of the exercise spectrum--she says that her standard poodle is happy indoors (and spends most of the winter inside) but will take a good amount of exercise if given the opportunity. I know that every dog will be different, but does anyone have experience that supports or contradicts this?

A little about us: we've had a small breed dog (mini dachshund), but we've decided that we'd like to have a larger dog this time around. We live in the city and have a good sized fenced-in yard. We can take turns coming home at noon for a half-hour or so to let the puppy out, though ideally we'd like to transition away from that after a year or two. We will be crate training, at least until the dog is trustworthy enough not to get into trouble. We will be obedience training. We can definitely do a nice walk in the evening and romping in the backyard, and most weeks will be able to squeeze in a trip to a dog park. Realistically, is this enough for a lab mix breed?

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dogbreedadvice

What's a good estimate for exercise requirements for the labradoodle breed?