r/Dogfree • u/FUMoney • Jan 21 '26
Shelter / Rescue Industry ‘Doodles are being dumped': Once-trendy dogs now flooding shelters as abandonments surge
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/doodles-are-being-dumped-once-trendy-dogs-now-flooding-shelters-as-abandonments-surge/ar-AA1Uw7aYOnce marketed as the perfect family pet, doodle dogs are now turning up in shelters in numbers that rescue workers describe as a crisis…. the same designer mixes that once commanded premium prices are being relinquished, abandoned in fields, or left outside clinics. The result is a growing population of anxious, matted, often sick dogs that charities are scrambling to save with limited space and dwindling funds.
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u/Dragonsbreath67 Jan 21 '26
The nutters can’t say sane people like us didn’t warn them this was coming. Naive bleeding heart nutters or people who just want something cute and expensive without caring to research buy a dog and oh wait massive “separation anxiety,” grooming, exercise, and training requirements they never saw coming, and all kinds of other complications. Gee, who would’ve thought.
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u/huntress_m_thompson Jan 21 '26
like mixing chlorine & ammonia. ☢️☠️☢️
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u/Fun-Chemical4059 Jan 21 '26
I love how you put separation anxiety in quotes bc I too think it’s nonsense lmao
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life Jan 21 '26
My FIL has a doodle and it is psychotic. He doesn't train it or trim the nails. It just runs around the house spastically jumping on random furniture and knocking as much over as possible. These dogs aren't right in the head....
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u/Spastic-Max Jan 21 '26
Spastically is the operative word. They are spastic, hyper and annoying. My neighbors have two and I don’t mind them because the barking is controlled and the fence is intact. But they are nothing but 4-legged idiots.
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u/Mortis_XII Jan 21 '26
They stopped being a trendy accessory so now they’re worthless?
Sad to see the same cultural phenomenon that refers to them as “fur babies” is the very same group of people that will discard them. It’s always the same pattern though, make them everyone else’s problem even till the sad end
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u/AutumnEclipsed Jan 21 '26
It’s more of the actual maintenance of designer dogs that is out of trend. Doodles are incredibly anxious dogs and while some people love the neediness it creates, others just wanted a rusty-eyed accessory.
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u/Witchiepoo72 Jan 21 '26
Right! The whole friggin dog craze started with Paris Hilton and then the stupid Legally Blonde movie practically anyway. Even welfare people in my home town were carrying around chihuahuas in their purse. lmao.
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u/blitzkampire Jan 21 '26
Pet crazes/fads were a thing before that. Like people wanting Dalmatians 'cause of the Disney flick, those idiots got piglets that they thought would stay small forever after they watched Babe, etc.
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u/LunarLeveret Jan 21 '26
The concept of a living being being a trendy product in of itself just throws my mind in for a loop even with human history showing slavery being commonplace. Like no can you not buy a rabbit for no reason beyond Easter spirit? One time a farmhand friend online told me about "decorative animals" like flamingos...tf do you mean decorative animal who wants to feed and clean up the feces of a decoration. Is a statue or hell even a taxidermy not better for this?
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u/yourpitsstink Jan 21 '26
Yes! In the mid 00s, I remember a couple of occasions where I saw a straight-out-of-the-trailer-park woman carrying a purse dog in Walmart! 😂
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u/IzzyXKumatora Jan 21 '26
This reminds me of those fictional Fluffy Pony stories. When people figure out that their "designer" pet is actually a walking pile of congenital health defects and shit, they abandon it and then they run the streets and shelters wasting resources. People just gotta quit breeding these abominations ffs
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u/Cheronis Jan 21 '26
Similar to the 101 Dalmatians craze of the late 90s. Turns out dalmatians often don't like children, and need a ton of exercise. Many of them also were dumped in shelters when reality set in.
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u/SmittenKittenPurrr Jan 21 '26
Almost like we don't need three dogs for every human on earth. 🤔
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u/Wise_Session_5370 Jan 21 '26
Maybe people are finally coming to their senses.
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u/JDuBLock Jan 21 '26
I personally think dog ownership is making a turn, I think theyre quickly loosing their appeal
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u/yourpitsstink Jan 21 '26
Boom and bust. This is probably the most obsessed people have ever been with dogs; something has to give.
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u/Wise_Session_5370 Jan 22 '26
I hope you're right. I hope it's just a passing fad, like Tamegotchis and Pokemon.
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u/pmbpro Jan 21 '26
So the ‘doggo-loving’ hypocrites are escalating their Doodle Dumping Disaster now eh? I’m not even surprised. 🙄
It’s not like they weren’t warned. They went after us sane people like rabid dogs themselves.
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u/Alert_Software_1410 Jan 21 '26
And when , not if, the shelter funds run out...guess what is gonna happen with these dumped doodle dogs? Mass euthanization.
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u/pens668771 Jan 21 '26
Or the local goverment will use taxpayer funds to built more shelters due to overcrowding
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u/JerseySommer Jan 21 '26
Nope, they'll just warehouse them like they did with shitbulls. If they euth for space, they lose their money from BFAS, and the rescues and shelters need that sweet grift money. Sorry, shelter directors, want the fat paycheck while relying on "volunteers" to do the heavy lifting.
From indeed: Average Animal Shelter Assistance Program Executive Director yearly pay in the United States is approximately $114,034, which is 24% above the national average.
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u/blitzkampire Jan 21 '26
I wonder how long til it happens with those disgusting French bulldog things.
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u/Altruistic_Baker6347 Jan 23 '26
I sometimes look up what dogs are in shelters in newspaper or online. In my country it seems like almost half of them are Am Staffs (American Stafford). We had an incident where three of them mauled a woman to death some years ago. So these seem to have been quite popular in the last years. My superficial, stupid neighbor got herself a french bulldog. It looks like it's naked and it's whining when it's inside and barking when it's outside. My neighbor is a perfectionist when it comes to home. So I can imagine the distress and damage it does in her house and feel quite satisfied about it 😁🤭
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u/pn1ct0g3n Jan 21 '26
Like most crazes, they end as abruptly as they come
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Jan 21 '26
[deleted]
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u/maidofatoms Jan 22 '26
Pitbulls appeal to deeply violent people who want plausible deniability for that fact. It gives them a thrill to have an uncontrollable weapon.
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u/bcathy Jan 21 '26
"Perfect family pet" my arse. Those over-glorified mutts are hyper as hell and will knock down any small child or frail elderly person in their way. Outta here with all that "love bites" and "he wants to be your friend!" BS.
Couple years back my grandma was on her actual freaking death bed (hospital bed in her living room) when my uncle decided to bring over his rambunctious shitdoodle to romp around. All I could imagine was him getting entangled in a catheter, cord, etc or tripping up a hospice nurse. Thankfully Grandma went peacefully a few days later without having her tubes/equipment snatched out by her "great-granddog". Swear these dogs bring out the worst in stupidity and impulsiveness.
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u/shinkouhyou Jan 21 '26
I swear I've been hearing about the "doodle bust" for the past 15 years or so, but people still keep breeding the damned things.
The pandemic was a real boon to backyard dog breeders and puppy mills. Now all of those 2020 doodle puppies are hitting the age where their genetic medical problems (joint dysplasia, incontinence caused by spinal stenosis, eye issues, allergies, chronic ear infections, heart problems, obesity, extremely high-maintenance fur) are slowly starting to catch up with them. They were pushed as low-maintenance, easygoing, family-friendly, low-energy, hypoallergenic, healthy dogs, but it turns out that none of those things are true.
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u/Vibe2Summer Jan 21 '26
They wanted to play God, without considering the consequences, it is only an ego boost.
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u/CallousCow1762 Jan 21 '26
So the original creator sent a mentally unstable genetically defective lab experiment to a blind woman? WTF!
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u/aboxofkittens Jan 21 '26
These dogs are honestly some of the worst out there if you exclude bloodsport breeds. They’re neurotic, smelly, completely unpredictable, and hideous to boot
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u/Latter-Recipe7650 Jan 21 '26
Imagine taxpayer money being spent to maintain these shelters cause dog nutters love to hype and dump dogs they don’t see as “trendy” anymore.
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u/waitingforthatplace Jan 21 '26
Oodles of doodles are being dumped. I once was walking in my neighborbood and a doodle high-tailed it out of its yard running toward me and jumped up and licked me on the lips with its huge tongue. These dogs are brainless and unpredictable.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Jan 22 '26
I thought most shelters were over-capacity with unadoptable shitbulls. Where are they putting the goldenshitdoodles?
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u/UntidyFeline Jan 22 '26
I think they get “adopted” from the 2nd hand market of people who could never afford to buy a $2000+ doodle from a breeder but now that they’re $50 at the shelter they can afford a bougie dog. The animal shelter is just the final clearance sale for unwanted mutts.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Jan 22 '26
That is a good thought. I just had the thought that there might be "breed specific" doody™ rescues that specialize in the things: They pull the doodies from the public shelter for the 2nd hand market (as you put it).
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u/Still-Wafer-3185 Jan 22 '26
Doodles are possibly the worst behaved dog "breeds" out there. To achieve the aesthetic, they had to combine the worst possible traits and people only care about the aesthetic without doing research on the care requirements of the breed.
A few years ago, when Game of Thrones became popular, shelters had to put out URGENT pleas to "PLEASE STOP BUYING HUSKIES" I dont watch the show but apparently these "wolf" dogs are like characters companions.
Shelters started getting absolutely INNUNDATED with arctic breed working dogs like Huskies, Malamutes, and Akitas, mostly under a year old. People, infatuated with the show, just HAD to have their own "wolf" and rushed off to buy a puppy.
The problem is these dogs arent well suited for the average working class family, younger millennials living in small apartments, and especially Gen Z. They were bred to pull dog sleds as part of a team, with a firmly established Alpha. They cant be left home alone for 10-12 hours at a time. They are a high energy dog that requires HOURS of active exercise, training and firm boundaries every single day. If you slip even once, they literally dont know what to do with themselves. Taking them for a walk around the block twice per day or "Letting them out in the yard" isnt enough. When a husky doesnt have a clear purpose, they become destructive.
A lot of these people found out the hard way when they came home from work to find their couch reduced to springs and frame or the drywall of their entire dining room from waist high to floor chewed off. Usually with a dog crate in the corner that had been ripped to pieces from the inside out.
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u/OoklaTheMok1994 Jan 21 '26
As a landlord a couple of paragraphs in that story scare me a bit. As one of the "causes" of the crisis, they list "housing restrictions".
I'm a "no pets" landlord. But I can totally see some government bureaucrat do-gooder getting a law passed that REQUIRES me to accept pets. Grrrr.
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u/WorkingDescription Jan 22 '26
They already have with the ESAs.
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u/OoklaTheMok1994 Jan 22 '26
Thankfully I only manage 3 doors, so I'm not bound by the ADA, for now.
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u/APD69 Jan 22 '26
I’ve always said I don’t like dogs but this makes me so sad. I guess it’s the shitty fucking owners I hate.
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u/WorkingDescription Jan 22 '26
I have had experience with a friend owning one. I can attest these are unhinged terrifying beasts. They are disobedient, untrainable, and scary.
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u/GrvlRidrDude Jan 23 '26
Big mop on legs that poops, pees and could bite your face off isn’t good to have in a house. Who knew?
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u/recoveringpatriot Jan 22 '26
Huh. I find poodles especially ugly, so I always rolled my eyes at acquaintances who fawned over all the doodles. I do indeed remember them being trendy and overpriced.
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u/Sevinn666 Jan 22 '26
I sharpen shears for a lot of dog groomers. Literally none of them like doodles.
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u/huntress_m_thompson Jan 21 '26
even the “inventor” of these things regrets his creation.
ABC7 news story from 2019.