Wheaten terrier or mini poodle?

[CaptainMorgansMistress]

After losing the bastard beagle this summer (we all loved him very much but he was an untrainable hairy monster) we are now planning our next dog.

Ive been looking for a small- medium breed, low shedding and with the possibility of decent recall (with training obviously).

Narrowed it down to mini poodles who sound great but prone to separation anxiety and seem quite sensitive - physically and psychologically. Or a soft coated wheaten terrier, which sound like they might be a bit more robust?

Would love to hear from people with experience of one or both breeds!

We had a Wheaten many years ago. She was an absolutely beautiful dog, really clever, easy to train, super sociable and literally a take anywhere kind of dog. We did obedience, heelwork to music, a bit of agility and lots of fun training together, you could literally teach her anything and she’d pick it up straight away.

The only downside with Wheatens can be coat care. The English coats tangle and literally soak up water like cotton wool, so you have to be really on top of it and make sure you get them used to grooming very young. Irish coats (the more curly, less fluffy variety) are harder to come by, but less tangly and more weatherproof. The UK club used to run courses to teach owners coat-care and also produced a dvd, which really helped me learn to trim her myself, rather than paying a fortune for regular grooming, but I was childless and only working very part-time back then, so had plenty of time available to keep her coat in top condition.

We decided against having another, mainly because there could never be another to match her for us and it wouldn’t be fair to compare. I did consider it recently, as it’s been well over 10 years since we lost her now, but we discussed it and decided we wanted a dog with very little coat care this time, so went for a short haired, single-coated breed instead.

Thanks Tranquil - she sounds like a wonderful dog! I think I might have read some of your other posts about her on here and it was them that started me thinking about Wheatens!

if you’ve met other Wheatens, how have you found their temperaments? We really loved how cheerful and flexible our old beagle was, always jolly and up for anything and robust enough to cope with unexpected changes.

Ive a family member who has always had poodles and I think they are great. Admittedly she’s an experienced owner but all of hers are fabulous, well trained and they enjoy the training without being too smart that they outwit you, they all have reliable recall (Inc once when stumbling across sheep on a footpath that shouldn’t have been there) calm in the house but will walk all day if you want them too, good with kids and strangers.
Again cost care is important as they can get a touch… wiffy without it. Lovely dogs. She’s never had a bad one!

The ones I’ve met have all been lively, outgoing and confident. There were a couple of strains that were tending towards nervousness back in the 90’s but I have been told that those lines have been bred out now.

I haven’t met that many since we lost ours, as they’re not all that common, but actually bumped into one at the vets the other day. He was an older lad, but still an absolute sweetie.

I think for us our girl was, to use your words, robust, cheerful, flexible and up for anything, meaning we could take her anywhere and do anything with her. I would add though, that she was extensively and very carefully socialised and went through intensive training with me from a young pup, which will have helped lay the right foundations.

I have two mini poodles. Great dogs.
They are more person than dog I think.

One is fine alone but prefers to be in company just like most dogs do. He doesn't like to walk in the rain, or walk in the woods when there are sweet chestnuts on the floor. (He stands until we pick him up!).

The younger one is nervous of people (except her own) and doesn't like busy places. She will cower rather than be snappy. She isn't happy on her own. But as long as she has her poodle brother with her she's ok. They aren't destructive when we are out. Just that she doesn't settle.

Both love their family, have good recall, easily trained, eager to please, live my kids, and are like cats when we all sit down to watch tv and will sit on someone's knee, or as close as they can anyway.

I have just posted about how they enjoy joining powers and destroying their bed. It's not a boredom thing or being alone. Only do it when we are home and playing!

We know a family who have a young man with autism and the Wheaten terrier goes everywhere as an emotional support so I would presume it has a calm and gentle nature.

I have a F1B cavapoo so she’s 75% miniature poodle.
She is lush, easily trainable, sweet, calm, never cries in her crate and has no separation anxiety.

Our wheaten is nearly 2 now and is a lovely calm dog in the house, house trained easily and super at night.
I would say my experience of the breed is that wheatens can be pretty stubborn which makes training rather challenging.
Ours also has a crazy prey drive and when she has a whiff of squirrel a red mist comes over her! I've talked to a couple of other wheaten owners on holiday who confirmed they also found this.
Her recall is reasonable however not bulletproof due to the above so something to bear in mind should you wish to walk off lead.
All in all a super breed with a few quirks!

I've heard that wheatens can have the full gamut of terrier-ness (so train assiduously).

I've known two - both had lovely temperaments.

One of them was regularly clipped short - presumably one solution to grooming issues !

They're a vulnerable native breed, so might be hard to find

We had a wheaten from him being a puppy, absolutely fantastic dog, really lovely nature and happy 24/7. When he saw a ball though (even more than a squirrel) he would chase it and would charge off with it and he was so hard to get back. Fortunately people in our village knew him and we always had spare balls to give to the victims of his crimes! We have a rescue poodle now, much smarter I think and a lovely dog too but not quite as much fun as the wheaten although walks don't involve scanning the distance for balls now which is good😁

I would agree with the stubbornness but, other than that, my girl wasn’t very terrier-ish at all. Her recall was excellent and she didn’t appear to have much of a prey-drive. That may have been down to early training and comprehensive socialisation though I suppose and she was very similar to her mum, so may also have been down to genetics. (Her breeder only ever had one litter though.)

I have another vulnerable native breed now. He most definitely has strong terrier traits and whilst still really clever and trainable and bags of fun, he is absolutely nothing like my Wheaten girl. For example, I don’t think I heard her bark more than twice in almost 15 years, whereas a large majority of terriers love the sound of their own voice!

Re coat care, when my dc came along, I kept her coat clipped quite short, which was much easier to manage.