I'm not looking to debate whether breeders are honest, or whether I should rescue vs. buy a puppy. I understand and respect those opinions.
But, I would love to hear opinions and experiences from people with goldendoodles. I had a golden and a poodle and I'd love to know if their temperament is like the golden or a poodle. Anything else you'd like to share would be great.
OP, since the Goldendoodle is not a breed in any sense of the word, you cannot predict what kind of temperament they will have.
A breed is created with a strict breed standard in mind and strict breeding to achieve that breed standard. Careful records are kept of each and every breeding and culling (in old days the killing of puppies, now you would spay or neuter and sell to a pet home) of any dog that did not come close to breed standard.
The doodle dogs are not doing that at all. It is just every breeder for themselves, breeding their goldens to their poodles. Even breeders who say they have h1, h2, etc are not following the proper protocol to establish a breed of dog that breeds true each and every time.
The other drawback to the mixed breeds that are being sold as "designer breeds" is that the breeding stock is usually of puppy mill quality.
All reputable golden and poodle breeders are not going to allow their puppies be sold for creating mixed breed dogs. They are always sold on a spay/neuter contract.
That leaves the doodle breeder having to obtain their breeding stock from puppy mills and backyard breeders. And puppy mill breeders do not put any time or thought into temperament or genetic diseases.
So, you not only cannot predict the temperament because it could be either a poodle or a golden or something in between temperament, you are also dealing with the very possibility of bad temperaments being passed down from the puppy mill parents.
There is no such thing as hybrid vigor when you are dealing with parents already displaying non-typical of the breed temperaments and poor genetic health.
99.999% of the doodle breeders do not do genetic testing nor do they do pre-natal care. Genetic testing is very expensive, so would cut into the profits.
So, you are dealing with a mixed breed dog that you cannot predict what you are going to get, parents of questionable health and temperament backgrounds and insanely expensive and unreasonable fees for the puppies.
I would never get one.
My champion dog, sired by multi-winning parents including best in shows and best in specialties, bred by breeders who have been in the breed for over 40 years and can sit down and tell me, in detail, about every single dog in the pedigree for at least 5 generations only cost me $600.00. The breeder could tell me the health clearances for every dog in the pedigree, could tell me the temperaments of every dog for 5+ generations back. They did all the health clearances for their dogs, did all the prenatal care.
They temperament tested the puppies and since they were so knowledgeable, I was 99% sure of exactly what I was getting.
Why would I pay $2,000 for a poorly bred crapshoot, when I can get a dog whose background has been extensively researched and I know exactly what I am getting for under $1,000.
well bred Golden vs crapshoot? Seems an easy choice.