Poodle appreciation

[dontdoodlewithapoodle]

Just wanting to see if there are any other poodle lovers out there who feel like sharing my enthusiasm for this breed?!

I bought a mini poodle 3 years ago knowing that they were an intelligent dog and wanting something fairly easy to train never having had a dog before.

Well she didn't disappoint in the intelligence part but I never expected her to be so funny, so athletic or so loving!

She's such a little clown, loves showing off, literally dances around! Can run so fast and keeps up with us even on long walks over any terrain, loves every second. People are always so surprised when they ask her breed (I don't have her clipped like a traditional poodle) and say they never expected her to run like she does or to be such good fun.

Anyone else got a plain old poodle not a doodle?! Would love to hear about yours! 🐾

Currently trying to work out which breeders are dodgy and which are worth contacting after this gorgeous thread...

Couple of things-

Breed only poodles. Not more than one breed, and no poodleoddledoodles.

I found my yorkie by stalking dog shows. Also champdogs- i looked for someone who looks to be breeding for showing, rather than for sale.

Pedigree- run the kennel club inbreeding coefficient. Google the dogs on the pedigree especially if they have (ch) next to their name. This will bring up any show successes. Stalk social media- is it a slick facebook page or website, with cute photos of puppies for sale? Or more personal about individual dams sires and their personalities? What happens to dogs when they retire? What is the breeders personal page like? Do they have a lot of connections to other breeders?

Once I’d found a few I sent out a very long email with my circumstances and breed knowledge, who I’d had puppies off before, and the breed lines I was interested in. Also asked about the known health issues- one advantage with show breeders is they really can’t have a dog with a collapsing trachea honking round the show ring, or dislocating patella hopping over to the judge on 3 legs..!

I was lucky and found a breeder who had kept 3 of a litter to show herself. One was beautiful but just a tiny bit on the small side for her liking, so she offered him to me as she wouldn’t use him for stud, and also doesn’t think dogs on the small side of breed standard should be encouraged.

We've got a toy poodle who is 1, he's our first dog and he's brill. I found the young puppy stage very hard but I think that was a puppy/first time dog owner thing rather than a poodle issue.

He loves all people and dogs, friendly with everyone and everyone he meets loves him. He knows how we're feeling and if ill or sad he will come and sit right by or on us for as long as we sit. He's amazing that way.

He's not cut like a poodle and people are always surprised as they assume he's a cocker poo or other mix. We keep him fairly short and he's groomed every 6-8 weeks, minimal maintenance in between.

Loves his family and especially when we're all together. Will try and keep us together on walks in that he'll refuse to move if one of us falls too far behind.

Very clever, he often 'talks' to me with his different noises and I feel guilty that I don't always understand! Similar to the poster above he knows what's happening by what I'm wearing, if I've got my work clothes and shoes on he'll mooch about by the front door till I've gone and won't stop mithering when I get in until the work coat and shoes are off so he knows I'm staying. You only have to whisper walkies and he's by your side like a shot.

He likes to bark at birds in the garden which is my least favourite thing that he does. Otherwise he's ace, I don't have experience of other dogs but can't see we'd get anything other than a poodle if we got another dog.

Can I ask how much you all pay at the groomers for the various sizes please?

@XelaM

If you ever want to take him on a plane it would be best to go for miniature

& the winner of today's random comment goes to .....

💐

We have a mini poodle and he's just gorgeous!
Fabulous with kids, energetic but not manic, only growls at squirrels in 'his' garden.
In response to the question about grooming, we pay £38 every 8 weeks.
The photo shows him waiting patiently for food to fall off the worktop

@AlmostSummer21 Well, we had to travel with ours a lot and he was just on the cusp of being over 10kg, so it was always a gamble whether he would be allowed in the cabin or would have to go through the torturous ordeal of getting into a cage and into the luggage compartment. That was a really traumatic experience for our poodle, so if anyone is taking their dogs on a plane it's always better to go with the smaller under 10kg dog

I groom ours myself. It's not difficult if you have the right tools for the job. Standards cost from around £50 or more to have groomed.

Groom for our toy is £25 every 6-8 weeks

Mini poodle boy here, he's nine months and DH's first dog (kids are 10 & 12). We are absolutely smitten, pup is a delight, very advanced, picks up new things quickly, talks (!).
It took me a year after deciding on the breed to find a good breeder not too far away and bring him home, had to do a bit of detective work and we were thoroughly vetted. I have huge respect for the breeder, they ticked every box for me.
After hitting puberty he's started barking a lot in the back garden and sometimes at strangers on walks. We are working on this.

Yep for our mini we pay £38 every 8 weeks too

@bottersnikes how sweet!

[quote XelaM]@AlmostSummer21 Well, we had to travel with ours a lot and he was just on the cusp of being over 10kg, so it was always a gamble whether he would be allowed in the cabin or would have to go through the torturous ordeal of getting into a cage and into the luggage compartment. That was a really traumatic experience for our poodle, so if anyone is taking their dogs on a plane it's always better to go with the smaller under 10kg dog[/quote]
Do you live in America? Is it still
Permitted there?

I haven't heard of dogs being allowed in the cabin for years & years & years. I'm 52, I've been flying regularly since I was a year old and I have never seen a dog in the cabin.
I wish it was more common place though, but with all the dog haters I don't suppose it's likely!

@AlmostSummer21 No, I'm in the UK, but when we had our poodle (many years ago I must say) we lived in Austria and Israel. But in 2019 we flew from Germany to Tenerife and shared the flight with a lovely miniature shih tzu, so I'm sure some airlines still allow it for small dogs.

I haven't heard of dogs being allowed in the cabin for years & years & years. I'm 52, I've been flying regularly since I was a year old and I have never seen a dog in the cabin.
I wish it was more common place though, but with all the dog haters I don't suppose it's likely!

Can you imagine the Mumsnet threads if they were allowed!

I love poodles, they are so underlooked and so intelligent. I have a cavapoo, yes I know, our first dog and she is so loyal and clever. She's also full of health problems - heart murmur from cav mom and epilepsy I think from poodle dad. I am so more clued up for next time buying a health tested dog and would look for a poodle, probably a miniature.

Out of interest, has anyone else experienced epilepsy in their poodle?

Epilepsy is very common in ckc.

Is there any reason you suspect the epilepsy is from the poodle side? Ckc and their head/brain issues would have me assuming it’s more likely to be that...

I didn’t know poodles had a higher than normal susceptibility to seizures, google tells me they do though. Doesn’t sound the brightest idea crossing two breeds with an increased risk of the same disease...unless you’ve carefully tracked pedigrees for incidence and also genetic tested so you know the parent dogs are clear..

Do poodles have any major health issues? Ours was very healthy except for his propensity to injure his legs by jumping inappropriately.

I have a standard poodle and she is amazing! So smart, whitty and full of personality. Loves walks and her favourite game is getting chased. I grew up with a miniature poodle, he never barked unless it was to say he needed outside to the toilet, and was a lovely companion, no ‘neurotic’ personality. Poodles are great.

There are some genetic issues that can affect poodles, just as with any pedigree dogs. Poodles have fewer issues than some other breeds though, and many reputable breeders do genetic testing of parents prior to breeding.

My standard gets groomed every 6 weeks and costs £35

@AgathaX

There are some genetic issues that can affect poodles, just as with any pedigree dogs. Poodles have fewer issues than some other breeds though, and many reputable breeders do genetic testing of parents prior to breeding.

This is true - miniature poodles especially are prone to things such a hip problems, although I once knew of one that could pop their hip back in themselves when it popped out. Of all three types, toys, miniatures and standards, standards are the least affected by genetic issues.

@bluebluezoo I can't say for sure it was the min poodle dad but the neurologist said it was probably inherited from him. The poodle dad died aged 8 yrs (breeders wouldn't say what he died from) and the cav mom lived to an old age. Our friends have a dog from the same litter who is fit and healthy, I guess we were unlucky.

Soo, im going viewing a miniature poodle puppy this week. Considerably sooner than I planned, breeder has 1 puppy they were unable to place due to the people they had arranged to buy the puppy being unable to have one now. (Breeder is very involved with showing dogs and seems perfectly legit, slightly worried about someone having one available straight away, apparently I can meet both parents).

@MargosKaftan

Soo, im going viewing a miniature poodle puppy this week. Considerably sooner than I planned, breeder has 1 puppy they were unable to place due to the people they had arranged to buy the puppy being unable to have one now. (Breeder is very involved with showing dogs and seems perfectly legit, slightly worried about someone having one available straight away, apparently I can meet both parents).

How exciting!