Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if goldendoodles pick up the cancer gene? We lost our beloved Golden about two years ago. I can’t get another Golden because they all look so similar I’m worried the new dog would remind us too much of our old dog. We considered a Golden doodle but could never find clear answers on the genetic cancer link.
I don’t think there’s necessarily a golden cancer gene. Our golden lived to 13 and I know plenty that have. BUT there was also a significant research study that came out a few years ago saying that the practice of early neutering was significantly increasing the risk of cancer—-they did several variations of the study and the effect was most profound in male goldens (and basically negligible in female toy breeds). So the standard advice now for goldens and similar large breed is to wait until 18-24 months to neuter because of the effects on hormone development (basically they need to go through puberty). I doubt golden doodles are significantly different than goldens in cancer risk but I’m not sure there data on that.