Labradoodle: Obamas' Puppy?

President-elect Barack Obama said on ABC's "This Week" that he had narrowed down the puppy he was getting his daughters to two breeds: a Labradoodle and a Portuguese water dog.

A Labradoodle is a cross between a Labrador and a Poodle. The dogs were first bred in the 1980's by Wally Conron, an Australian breeder trying to find a hypoallergenic guide dog.

Labradoodles are very intelligent, easy to train and are very sociable, says Ken Fischer, general manager of the Australian Labradoodle Association of America told USA Today in 2006.

"They can open doors, even sliding doors, pop open baby gates ... having that poodle in them means they use their front paws like hands," Fischer says.

Labradoodle puppies are unpredictable in appearance and behavioral characteristics -- they can look and act more like Labradors or more like poodles.

Oddly enough, the Baltimore Sun declared during the campaign that if the candidates were dogs, Hillary Clinton would be a Labradoodle. Obama would be a Great Dane.

Obama discussing the dog on ABC: