Poodle Thread!!! 🐩

[FunClucks]

The no shedding is a big plus. I read conflicting information about poodle temperament. Some say they are aloof, others say people orientated. It's been a long time since I had a poodle and I only had one. I like Velcro dogs that don't wander or get into too much mischief, but are still smart. I cannot handle hyper any more, but my dogs get plenty of exercise so I don't see that in mine. Aussie are said to need lots of exercise, but that hasn't been my experiences, so not sure how much to trust others experiences with breeds, and their temperaments especially since it seems to vary even between the sizes in poodles.

Yea, I love the no shedding part. You have to research your breeder though - there's a million things to check and look for to make sure you're getting a healthy dog with a good coat, good conformation (leads to healthier dog), and excellent temperament - you would look for a breed preservation breeder. Poorly bred poodles can shed to one degree or another, and for poodle mixes it's a tossup as to what type of coat and shedding they get. Temperament encompasses a lot of things, whether they are people oriented is part of that, and temperament is strongly inherited and largely determined by genetics. A good breeder has parents on-site where you can visit with them and see their temperament, temperament tests the puppies, and does a lot of training with the pups before they leave home at no sooner than about 10 weeks. If you find a good breeder and describe exactly what you're looking for in personality and temperament, the breeder can match you to a puppy based on those criteria. Poodles come in high and low energy, aloof and Velcro, and a range in between. Most of them like people and are loyal, and are extremely smart. They need to have a good temperament to tolerate extensive grooming, among other things. And yes, the toy and miniature poodles can have some temperament issues that the Standards don't, but it depends on the dog.

There's a lot of poodles and poodle mixes in shelters/rescues right now, some of which are very poorly bred and have a number of health and temperament challenges, but some of them are perfectly healthy and well adjusted, but their people died or had health issues or other factors which prevented them from continuing to care for their dogs.

For a rescue dog, you pretty much get what you get and manage it the best you can, and enjoy the dog you turn out to have. I did that for years, and it was fine - we gave homes to so many dogs that owners had abandoned, and enjoyed them all. But at this time in my life, I very much needed a mostly known quantity, or dog ownership just wasn't something I could do. So I'm extremely grateful I was able to find a good breeder who matched us with a puppy that meshes well in our lifestyle.

 

[FunClucks]

How old and what size do you have? Ours are 9 and 10 pounds they just turned 4. This is our first year with chickens, the dogs are fine with them I just have to make sure they don't roll in chicken poop.

Your pups sound adorable! So glad they're leaving the chickens alone, and I'm sorry about the poop rolling! Good luck with that!

I just saw a toy poodle compete in an Agility trial, and he was amazing! And super cute, maybe he was 4 lbs soaking wet, with the cutest modified continental cut. Super tiny!

My dog is 30 lbs and 6 months old. He'll probably be 55-65 lbs full grown. I don't know that he has much of a prey drive, but when they move and make noise and respond to him barking it excites him. He leaves the older hens alone pretty much because they ignore him, but pesters the younger chickens because they fuss and move around in the enclosed run. We're working on getting the younger chickens not to move around so they can be more boring.