8 month old poodle - training!

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Hello! I might be welcoming an 8 month old poodle into our family which includes small children. What are people's opinions on how trainable a dog of this age will be? It comes from a good home so hasn't had trauma etc in its life. I like to train dogs to be very obedient, (just for daily life and for fun, not for competing), and am worried that at 8 months I might have missed the golden age of trainability?! What do people think? And a similar question for the dog getting used to small children.... The dog is well natured with a good temperament and follows basic commands fine.

I've had standard poodles and imo they're the best dogs in the world. Certainly don't think you've missed the window.

Poodles make fantastic family dogs and IME have always been brilliant with children.

They're very trainable, but also very very clever. They get bored easily, need a lot of stimulation so if you enjoying training dogs you should be fine but don't underestimate that they do need consistent training. Bit rebellious during adolescence but no more so than other breeds.

Once you go poodle, you don't go back ;)

Standard, mini, toy?

also if it’s from a good home I would be questioning why they are rehoming an 8 month old dog? Ie unforeseen circumstances such as death or illness where they can no longer care for the dog, or is it where they haven’t thought it through? Or something else.

is it private rehome? Through a rescue but direct from home? Is it a breeder where the dog has been returned? Or breeder who decided it wasn’t close enough to the breed standard to be shown?

Dog training is about conditioning, so at 8 months without any significant trauma, I can't see any issues.
I would "train" DC alongside the dog so that they both learn to respect each other.

So if you teach the dog to "sit", get DC to join in and make the dog "sit" ...

I've started Agility training with a 2 year old Poodle X. Absolutely no issues, picked up all vital comands very quickly.
In fact as soon as she sees the equipment, she's keen and ready to go.

I don’t know the breed so well, but dogs I’ve taken on at that age have needed more dedicated consistent training - they’ve been very trainable, but if any bad habits have been allowed you’ll need to be very repetitive and patient to retrain.

Bear in mind that even without trauma, rehoming at this age can be traumatic for them. They might be sullen/depressed initially, and then might go into nutty acting out. Think of them as overtired toddlers and that will help you.

Give the dog its own space - we used a crate that we barely ever shut the door on, kids know to leave dog alone in there, and dog knows it will be left alone there.

Why would someone be re-homing a well natured, well trained 8 month old poodle in the first place?

Is he/she coming from a reputable place?

No, you should be fine. It's socialisation that has a narrow window. My old Lab learned new things as he got older, well into his second decade. Current Lab, now two, is taught a new thing most weeks.

This was my first thought.

But TBH even if it is reputable I can’t imagine any significant training has gone into the dog - I’d be very surprised if it could ‘sit’ when there are distraction outside, or even had basic recall.

Which is fine if you know what you’re doing IME but by 8 months most dogs are entering their ‘I’m a massive twat’ stage and testing boundaries. Experience and commitment will be necessary

I have an 11 month old miniature poodle.

I’ll be honest he’s been much harder to train than I expected. Basic commands he got young (sit etc) but other than that he’s not great. I’m about to get a second trainer for him as the first really didn’t work. I think poodles are very intelligent and mine definitely thinks he’s top dog in our house.

He’s such a social dog though so I do recommend poodles.

Not a problem at all in the slightest to train an 8 month old dog.

I had an18month rescue collie with very little training who went onto compete at Crufts obedience.

Enjoy your new poodle, lovely dogs who will love having new things to learn

If you watch Crufts, there seem to be rescues competing, so I'm guessing it can work.

Thank you everyone. I feel confident about the reasons the poodle is moving on to a new home so no worries there!
@muddyford good point about socialisation.

@Dogdilemma2000 @DancefloorAcrobatics thank you for the children and dog tips! Will take those on board and hope they get off to a good start

X post.🤣