We get asked this one all the time, usually from a family who just put down a deposit and is already imagining what their puppy will look like grown up. Will she be curly? Will he have those loose Golden Retriever waves? Honestly, with an 8 week old F1b puppy, it’s part science and part educated guessing.
Here’s what we’ve learned after raising a lot of litters.
The coat a puppy ends up with comes down to genetics from both parents, but with our F1b litters, that’s a Goldendoodle crossed back with a Poodle, the Poodle side usually wins out. Most of our puppies land somewhere between wavy and curly, and it’s pretty rare to get a truly flat coat in an F1b litter. If you do, it just means more Golden genes showed up in that particular puppy.
A few clues we look for early on. Puppies with tighter curls around their ears and the base of their tail as babies almost always end up curly adults. If the coat looks looser and more like waves all over, especially down the back, that puppy usually settles into a wavy coat. The texture also tends to feel different even before you can see much of a difference. Curly coat puppies feel a little more like a wire brush, wavy coat puppies feel softer and silkier.
We also watch what happens around 4 to 6 months. This is when a lot of puppies go through a coat change, sometimes called the “puppy uglies.” The soft baby fluff starts to fall out and the adult coat comes in underneath. This is usually when it becomes obvious what you’re working with. A puppy that looked pretty straight at 8 weeks can suddenly show a lot more curl once that adult coat is in.
One thing that surprises new owners: coat type does not really change how hypoallergenic a dog is. Curly and wavy coats from an F1b litter are both considered low shedding and easier on allergies than a flat coat. So if that’s your main concern, don’t stress too much over curly versus wavy. Either one should serve you well.
What does change based on coat type is grooming. Curly coats mat faster and need brushing more often, usually every couple of days, plus a trim every 6 to 8 weeks. Wavy coats are a little more forgiving, you can usually stretch brushing to a few times a week without things getting out of hand.
If you’re picking a puppy from a litter and coat type matters to you, ask your breeder what they’re seeing at the time you visit. We always tell people what we’re noticing, curl pattern around the ears, how the coat feels, what the parents and grandparents looked like. It’s not a guarantee, but it gets you pretty close.
And honestly, once they’re home, most families stop caring which one they ended up with. A good Goldendoodle is a good Goldendoodle, curls or no curls.