The labradoodle's creator says he "opened a Pandora box and released a Frankenstein monster"


As we get older, looking back on the decisions that make up our lives, it’s only natural to feel some level of regret. This effects all of us differently. War criminals and serial killers may enter old age unrepentant, but the creator of the labradoodle—a curly-furred Labrador/poodle crossbreed whose worst crime is smelling terrible when it’s wet—is apparently plagued by a guilty conscience that has inspired him to speak out about the evils he’s committed.
The New York Times’ Emily S. Rueb and Niraj Chokshi detail the man, Wally Conron, and the background of his grim work. As overblown as some of Conron’s quotes (“I opened a Pandora box and released a Frankenstein monster”) may be, his larger point is a valid one that points to the problems inherent to breeding “designer dogs.” While plenty of people love labradoodles, Conron only bred the dog back in 1989 in order to help “a blind lady whose husband was allergic to dog hair” and says that he doesn’t understand why anyone else would want a pet he describes as “either crazy or [having] a hereditary problem.”