Specific dog species I'm looking for
 

This is kind of hard to search for hence, this post. I pet this one dog at an outdoor concert once that had incredibly soft fur and no doggy odor. It was awesome! It was like combining the best traits of a dog and a cat.

It was a rather small dog, about the size of a poodle but all black. I think it may have been a labradoodle after searching but the info I got about them was that their characteristics are varied. So I'm uncertain.

So my questions are;
what dogs have the above characteristics?
If I were to get a labradoodle, would I be able to tell while its a puppy what kind of fur (and if it sheds; I have allergies) its going to have?

thanks

All dogs are the same species, but different breeds, but I know what you mean. :)

Lab-Poodle cross breeds out many of the allergenic proteins for some reason, and many people allergic to dog fur can have lab x Poodles.

Perhaps "doggy odor" refers to the smell that is typically associated with hounds?
If so, here are a few breeds to avoid:
Beagle
Whippet
Harrier
Saluki
Ridgeback
Plott
and anything with "hound" in its name.

What color and approximate size was the dog that you saw at the concert?

All dogs produce oils from their scalps under their coats of either fur or hair. The oil is what produces the odor associated with dogs (especially when they're not dried properly after getting wet). Any other odors will be from thing introduced, such as licking to clean or getting dirty.

The dog you encountered may have just been washed. I know after I wash and properly dry my beagle, he smells a bit like dog shampoo and doesn't smell of beagle.

Poodles have hair while other types of dogs have fur. This allows lots of people to have an allergy to dog fur or dander to live comfortably with a toy, miniature, or standard poodle. I'm not sure about labradoodles, whether they share this character or not. The geneticist in me, says no. Also labradoodles tend to be larger dogs than the one that you describe.

And as other posters mentioned, all clean dogs smell clean. If you take the time to bathe your dog regularly and keep him inside rather that lying around in the dirt outside, he isn't going to have that 'doggy' smell.

You know - my beagle doesn't have that 'houndy' smell that others do. It's weird. And he's definitely no mixed breed. hmph.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that there are a few breeds that don't have that classic dog smell.

The dog was black, long "permed"ish hair, and just a bit bigger than a big cat except with shortish legs.

Roughly like this but all soft black, and smaller of course
http://www.greatdogsite.com/admin/up...an_terrier.jpg

This is basically correct when it comes to poodles. In fact, labradoodles were bred to be hypoallergenic service dogs for those with allergies. It might take a second-generation breeding to completely eliminate shedding and pet dander.

A labradoodle is the size you would expect of a standard poodle/lab mix. A smaller version is a cocapoo (spelling?). Unfortunately, cocker spaniels are not very intelligent while poodles are the second most intelligent dos, right behind a bordie collie, so that might help the intelligence level.

I have two toy poodles and they are awesome dogs. I like smaller dogs myself these days. However, I am always facinated by standard poodles. The benefits are greatly reduced odor, NO shedding and a very intelligent animal - almost Spock-like if you spend time with them. You do need to have them groomed avery 4-6 weeks because their hair grows like human hair.

Believe it or not, you can find toy, mini and standard poodles through poodle rescue groups.

Poodles are really cool, my only problem with em is that they just look plain silly to me...

What do you mean like human hair? It'll keep growing till it gets cut? If so how come I haven't ever seen any poodles with really really long hair?

Lab-poddle mixes tend to have curlier hair.
What you're describing in conjunction with the picture sounds like a well groomed lhasa apso, or shiz-mix. To me anyway.

It might have been a yorkie/poodle mix. Yorkies have the really silky fur, almost like human hair.