9 month old poodle (cross?) completely untrained - how much of a nightmare would it be?

[feesh]

I've just been to see a 9 month old male poodle at a rescue (possibly a cross, but I'm not sure as he had a very slight, poodle-ish frame under the black curls) and totally fallen in love with him. He's un-neutered but is getting the snip this afternoon.

He's been surrendered due to "allergies" but has had zero training, possibly not even toilet training. I live in the Middle East and I'm taking a guess that a family got him on a whim when he was cute, decided he was too much hassle and surrendered him when he got to the tricky and no longer cute teenage years (sadly a common story over here).

He had a wonderful personality - jumping all over me, licking my face, very energetic and playful as you'd expect for an under stimulated poodle.

Obviously he's bright and would be easy to train, but at 9 months is it too late? Is the neutering too late to help him calm down? They couldn't tell me much about him at all, except that he was very excitable around other dogs and was probably not toilet trained. I plan to bring him home for an afternoon as a trial if I can, to see how reactive he is to other dogs and to the kids.

I'm an experienced dog owner (including rescues), but have always had them from pups.

Any thoughts please?

PS most of my previous experience is with very shy and damaged street dogs, rather than confident and slightly loopy poodles.

It's not too late, just go back to square one as if he was a much younger pup. Poodles are clever so, in theory, he should pick up training quite quickly as long as you're consistent and very very patient :)

I think if you are an experienced dog owner, especially with rescues you will be fine - it will not be easy, but then I have never had a pup who has been easy. Some easier than others and my present one was a nightmare for the first few months.

I hope you find that he just wants to please and good luck

Back to basics and assume he knows nothing and that you are starting out with a younger puppy. Patience and consistency. Rinse and repeat.

Sounds like you have experience and lots of love to give him. Good luck!

Thanks! Very reassuring.

Are there any conditions that (toy? I think…) poodles are prone to?

I’m going to have to assume that, like most small, fluffy, cute dogs over here, he was sourced originally from an east European puppy farm :(

Poodles don't have any huge health issues that I know of. Ours lived to be 16 with no health issues (bar being accident-prone)

Poodles are pretty intelligent so it shouldn't be too hard to get him trained as long as you have plenty of time and patience :)

Poodles can have issues with their anal glands.

Do you know if he has lived with kids previously?

I wouldn't be in a rush to neuter him. I would wait to see if he needs the testosterone, e.g., if he is nervous. The over-the-top behaviour that you describe could be a fear response (fool around) rather than confidence: www.clickertraining.com/node/4226#

If you do decide to neuter him, I would try a reversible chemical castration first to see how it affects his behaviour.

Sorry, just seen that he was being neutered today.

I don't foresee a problem for an experienced owner

In my experience, he'll be fine. We did everything 'right' with our puppy, early socialisation classes, obedience classes,but he was a complete nightmare,couldn't focus and we were asked to leave two classes plus he was deemed untrainable by 3 trainers.
He had the snip late,due to various factors,and we continued to try and train him at home,and he was almost a year old by that point. I can honestly say that he learnt more after that than had ever gone in before. The dog that we couldn't even let off the lead will now walk through our sheep off lead,and pay attention to us,not them.In our case,growing up a bit made managing him easier and his recall is 100% better than the non existent thing it was before.
Good luck,they are clever dogs and all the ones I've come across are very receptive to learning.

@LimitIsUp

I don't foresee a problem for an experienced owner

Me neither.

Just treat him as if you would a new puppy.

They're intelligent dogs and will learn quickly.

As to conditions, some poodles can be prone to seizures, usually it's inherited, which doesn't help if you don't know his background.

It's something I'd ask the rescue about though. Do you know what the allergies are?

If you do decide to bring him home for an afternoon, I would be very careful not to overload him by doing too much with him. You aren't going to see his true personality in an afternoon. It can take longer than 6 months for rescues to settle and show their true personalities.