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Gucci-Poo? The term, designer dogs, confused me when it was first bandied about; what, exactly, do the dogs design? Or, if it's the dog that's designed, where do they stitch the label? But, no. Imagine my surprise to learn that this, in more old fashioned terms, is a popular, purpose-built cross breed.

I have always chosen a cross breed when purchasing a family dog; partly for financial reasons but, also, because they often seem to combine the best of at least two breeds. But then a strange thing happened.

We named him Fred.

Now Fred, being a Labradoodle, happens to fall into that oddly-named category of designer dogs. It was difficult to fathom, as I looked into his eager-to-please eyes, that this dog represented the first of the infamous breeds for whom the now-derogatory term was coined. Although after almost thirty years of a purpose-breeding programme, the Labradoodle is no fly-by-night trend.

Rather, they are well on their way to becoming a registered breed, thanks to the hard work of a growing group of very dedicated people. This group of breeders have joined forces to form The Australian Labradoodle Association. Although I haven't met any of their members, I have met a few of the many four-legged ambassadors they have sent throughout the world, and if their happy, intelligent charm is anything to go by, this is truly a force to be reckoned with. These people want the breed recognised and if they don't get it, they'll probably make us all giggle ourselves immobile and then finish us off with a huge cuddle.

So, what is it about designer dogs, that brings such divided opinion amongst the purists of the dog world?

People seem to forget that all our registered breeds have, at some point in their lineage, been designed by us, their owners. Puppies have been chosen for displaying particular characteristics. Particular adults are bred together for the same reason. If this wasn't the case, wouldn't we be teaching wolves and dingoes to sit?

Don't get me wrong here. Without registered breeders we would have no standard of expectation when purchasing a particular breed, and by far the majority of breeders are kind and responsible. But it does seem to me that dog shows would be pretty boring if no-one had ever designed their own dream dog.

Then there's the media hype; numbers of designer dogs, we were told, were showing up at dog shelters. Sad as this undeniably is, I would have thought it was a logical event; as the numbers rose within the general population, so did they

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