Crossbreeds like the cockapoo and cavapoo are often sold on a promise of the best of both breeds, but new research suggests buyers should do their research before blindly accepting these claims.
Few dogs have risen as fast as the ‘doodles’. Cockapoos, cavapoos and labradoodles have gone from novelty to mainstream in barely a decade, and in South Africa, they now command prices that rival or exceed many purebreds. The ‘sales’ pitch is familiar: a low-shedding, healthy, friendly, easy family dog that conveniently sidesteps the problems of pedigree breeding. It is an appealing story, but the evidence suggests it is only partly true.
A large study from the Royal Veterinary College, published in 2026, put the marketing claims to the test. Researchers analysed C-BARQ behavioural questionnaire data from the owners of 9402 UK dogs, comparing three popular designer crossbreeds against their purebred parent breeds (Bryson, O’Neill, Packer et al., PLOS ONE, 2026). The headline finding is uncomfortable for those behind the marketing, as across the comparisons made, the crossbreeds showed more undesirable behaviours than a parent breed, far more often than they showed fewer.
The crossbreeds scored worse than a parent breed in roughly four times as many comparisons as they scored better.
What the dogs actually showed
Cockapoos came off the worst of the three, differing from both cocker spaniels and poodles in sixteen of twenty-four behavioural comparisons, and scoring worse on every one of those sixteen. Cavapoos differed from their parent breeds in twelve comparisons and scored worse in eleven. The behaviours involved were not just trivial quirks; they clustered around trainability, separation-related problems, and aggression, both towards owners and towards strangers. Labradoodles were more of a mixed bag, scoring worse on some measures but better on others, which is itself a useful reminder that ‘doodle’ is not a single, predictable type.
The same research group had earlier found that the physical health of these crossbreeds was broadly similar to their parent breeds, not superior (Bryson et al., 2024), so the popular assumption of ‘hybrid vigour’, the idea that crossing two breeds automatically produces a healthier, hardier dog, is not well supported either, for health or for behaviour.
What this means for buyers
None of this makes doodles bad dogs (at all!). The lead author’s framing is the sensible one: the real problem is the gap between expectation and reality. If a buyer is told they are getting an easy, low-maintenance dog, and then meets a bright, energetic crossbreed with a genuine need for training and company, they are set up to be disappointed in a dog that has done nothing wrong.
For South African buyers, there is an added layer. These crosses are expensive here, and high prices attract opportunistic breeding. A premium price guarantees nothing about the parents’ health testing, early socialisation, or behavioural support, meaning the questions worth asking are the same ones you would put to any breeder: can you meet the mother, what health testing has been done, and what has been done to socialise the litter? The cross on the label ultimately tells you very little it seems, so meet the dogs and choose for yourself!
References
Bryson GT, O’Neill DG, Packer RMA et al. Comparing undesirable behaviours between designer-crossbreeds and progenitor breeds. PLOS ONE, 2026.
Bryson GT et al. The doodle dilemma: physical health of designer-crossbreeds. PLOS ONE, 2024.
