Standard Australian Labradoodle

Feed a food meeting the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) standards, matched to life stage, with water always available. Supplements are a vet's call and not a default: a dog of this size eating a complete diet is already getting what it needs.

Puppy feeding is where this size differs from the other two. The clubs warn that rapid growth in a large dog leads to structural problems, and diet is one of the few levers you actually hold over growth rate. Use a food formulated for large-breed puppies, feed the measured amount rather than free-feeding, and ask your vet whether your dog is growing too fast rather than assuming a big puppy is a healthy one.

Adults do best on two meals a day rather than one. Twelve-hour intervals are easier on the metabolism, they avoid the anxiety and meal-fixation that once-a-day feeding tends to produce, and they mean a deep-chested dog eats less at a sitting, which matters where gastric dilatation-volvulus is a risk.

Keep treats to 10 percent of daily calories and leave table scraps alone.

A Standard carries the most coat of the three sizes, and the weekly comb-out the clubs recommend takes correspondingly longer. Build it into the week rather than fitting it in.

The adolescent transition between about eight and twelve months needs grooming every week without a gap, and on this size a missed fortnight is genuinely hard to recover from. Mats that reach the skin are painful and usually end in a full shave-down.

Comb to the skin in sections rather than brushing the outline, and pay attention to the friction points: behind the ears, the chest where the coat meets the front legs, the trousers and the tail. The standard caps the coat at about four inches, asks that it look even over the body, and specifically says it should not appear overly groomed. Sunning and colour bleaching are expected in an active outdoor dog and are not faults.

Ear canals should be kept free of excessive hair, and a dog this size that swims needs its ears dried and cleaned afterwards as a matter of routine.

A Standard Australian Labradoodle needs about an hour a day and is built for it. The standards describe an effortless, powerful, coordinated trot with good reach in front and drive from behind, and a light, almost silent gait; that is a dog that wants distance.

Hiking, swimming, long walks, fetch and dock diving all suit the size. So does agility, though the clubs' warning about growth is worth heeding first: hold off on hard jumping and repetitive impact until the growth plates have closed, because rapid growth and structural problems are the risk this size actually carries.

Watch how your dog moves behind. The ALCA lists excessive tightness in the hips, which shows up as a stilted action, as a fault, and the club mandates hip screening of every breeding dog. If your dog's rear movement changes, see a vet rather than pushing through it.

Mental work still counts toward the hour.

The ALAA standard calls the breed keen and easy to train, and at this size early training is not optional: a 60-pound dog that has not learned to walk on a leash is a different problem from a 20-pound one. Use positive reinforcement; there is no call for harsh correction. The standard lists any sign of aggression or dominance as a major fault, and timidity as well, so a well-bred Standard should not give you those problems in the first place.

Teach grooming and handling tolerance from the first week home. This dog will be combed weekly for its whole life and lifted onto a grooming table regularly, and consent to that is built in puppyhood or fought over later.

Socialise widely and slowly. The temperament clause asks for a dog that approaches people in a happy, friendly manner and offers eye contact, and the way to get there is unhurried introductions to as many people, dogs and places as you can manage before adolescence.

This is the size most often trained on for assistance work, which follows from the breed's origin: the standard's clause about knowing a handler's emotional state is what made the Australian Labradoodle an excellent dog for people with special needs, in its own words.