Cockapoo, Cavapoo, Maltipoo, Labradoodle, Yorkiepoo, Colliepoo to name a few. F1, F2, F3, F1b, F2b. When you look at the puppy and dog breeds today it seems like almost every other dog is some sort of poodle mix. Any of the doodles or poo mixes is a poodle cross of some variety. But what does it all mean?

Whenever we cross two different breeds together to create what is essentially a hybrid we use the terms F1, F2, and so on. I'll explain a little more and for the sake of the example I will use a cocker spaniel and a poodle as the example but it is the same regardless of which breed of dog we cross with the poodle.

The first time we breed a cocker spaniel and a poodle together we get cockerpoos which are known as F1's or first generation. The puppies from this litter can look like either parents in coat type and appearance or as a mixture between the 2. There is no way to guarantee what they will look like as genetics is a very complicated subject and completely random. But at the F1 stage, the appearance of the puppies can range massively from dog to dog and litter to litter.

If we breed an F1 with an F1 we get F2s, or second generation. Now with the F2 the coat type is slightly more predictable but still not guaranteed. If you breed a curly F1 with a curly F1 there is a good chance that you will get the majority of puppies as curly F2s, but there is an effect known as the "granddad effect" where some or all of the puppies could look more like one of the grandparents, i.e a poodle or a spaniel or a mix.

F2 to F2 will give F3s and again the outcome of the litters becomes slightly more predictable with each generation, depending on the parents bred from.

If however, we breed an F1 to an F2 this generation is known as F2's as the number moves up by one from the lowest number. So F2 to F3 gives F2s. F1 to F3 gives F2 and so on.

You may occasionally see a small "b" attached to some of the terms, for example, F1b or F2b. In simple terms, this means that the parents have been bred "back" to one of the original breeds, in this case, a poodle or a cocker spaniel.

So for example an F1 cockerpoo bred back to a poodle would be F1b's and would generally give a tighter, curlier poodletype coat as there is a higher percentage of poodle genetics in the mix. Equally an F1 bred "back" to a spaniel would also be F1b's but may have a straighter spanieltype coat.

Anytime a "b" is in the mix of F1b, F2b, and so on and this is bred to another cockapoo then the b stays. The same rules apply for the Fnumber ie F1 or F2 etc but they would have a "b" on the end. So F1b bred to F1 gives F2b's. F2b bred to F2 gives F3b's and so on, much the same as if we look at the explanation for the generation numbers above.

I hope this helps and explains it in a little more detail. Let us know if you found this video helpful.

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