All you ever wanted to know about poodles
And more than you probably did about our poodle =)
Last week, Ryan and I got a dog! Maybe you’re just as excited as I am (or… maybe not, and that’s okay too =), but either way, I wanted to jot down a few thoughts about why we chose our pup in case others were interested. In doing research about breeds I feel like there is just so much conflicting information out there, sometimes it’s nice to just get it all down in one place. So here goes!
How did we find Bishop?
We considered every avenue when researching dogs. Did we want to adopt from the SPCA or another rescue organization? Did we want a puppy from a breeder? Did we want an older dog, a younger dog, or a dog that had at least already been spayed or neutered so that it could go to day care? When selecting a pup there are a lot of things to consider…
Age: an 8-week old puppy requires significant time investment for potty training, behavior training, medical intervention with puppy shots, and more, before it can be left home unattended. Most pups aren’t encouraged to be outside in public areas until at least 16 weeks of age and/or after they’ve had their required shots. If you live in a home with a backyard, being outside is a bit easier because you have some control over the cleanliness of your space, but we live on the 3rd floor in a condo in Oakland with no yard except the public sidewalks outside our buildings. For us, age was something we had to seriously consider. We decided our ideal pup would be anywhere from 4 months to 4 years of age.
Breed: while most good books will say that any well-trained dog has the capacity to be the perfect companion, there are some reasons you’d want to select a specific breed over another. Size is a big issue — would you rather have a lap dog or an adventure companion? For us, we wanted a pup with the athletic ability to grow and be our hiking sidekick or crag dog, who we knew we could train to keep up. We also had to consider Ryan’s allergies, so we wanted to look specifically at breeds known to be hypoallergenic. And while we knew that we could in theory train up any breed of dog, we did want to stick to a breed known to have super high intelligence. Put all these things together and we were working with Poodles or Portuguese Water Dogs.
Rescue vs breeder: we spent a few weeks considering our options. We scoured PetFinder and PetHarbor, contacted local SPCAs all across California, and got in contact with the Nor Cal Poodle Rescue. Turns out that getting a well trained, hypoallergenic rescue pup at a young-ish age is pretty hard. There were a few dogs we liked but when we contacted the centers where they were being held, we learned that if we couldn’t be there to meet the pup and take him or her home within a few hours, she’d already be gone. We even fell in love with one dude, Barney, who popped up on the San Francisco SPCA Twitter on a Thursday afternoon, but by the time they got back to me on Friday, he’d already been adopted.
At the same time, we also looked into working with a breeder. There are a ton of poodle and goldendoodle and labradoodle breeders in the Bay Area but choosing a breeder is hard work. All the books we read stressed heavily that finding a breeder who properly cares for and socializes pups in their first 8 weeks is the most important thing you can do in selecting a dog. But many breeders don’t allow visitors to their homes unless a deposit has been paid, their websites across the board are pretty horrible, and unless you are getting a full breed or F1 generation dog, you aren’t really getting the benefits of a hypoallergenic pup.
There are other good things about working with a breeder: most care deeply about the health of their dogs and have done long term background checks on their parentage, plus with the advent of “designer dogs” you can usually find a cross breed that is the perfect size for you. Worried that a 50–70lb Standard Poodle might be too big? Find an F1 litter of a lab cross-bred with a miniature poodle and you can more reliably assume the pup will be closer to 30 pounds. However, not all breeders are this thoughtful and it is possible to end up with a poorly socialized pup bred for money and not temperament.
We never considered getting a pup from a pet store.
Furry Paws: One of my other ideas was to get on contact lists for local breeders who had dogs that might need to be re-homed. Many breeders ask that if you can’t keep your pup for any reason, you return them to the breeder so that they can identify a new family. In the middle of January I was making calls asking about any pups who might need to be re-homed from local trainers, breeders, etc, you name it, when I stumbled across Sara Jane, who runs Furry Paws.
Sara Jane isn’t a breeder herself, but instead has two of her own dogs who act as studs or sires for litters of poodles. Most people offering this service get money once the pups from the litter are sold, but Sara Jane instead takes one or two pups from each litter and then works with local families to train and place service dogs, such as dogs for diabetics. She also offers other puppy and dog training services, and even has a dog she’s trained working as a therapy dog for the Alameda District Attorney’s office (our neighbor Joni is the pups full time mom and also a badass assistant DA working in the Sexual Assault Unit).
Bishop!
When we called Sara Jane she had a pup that she was unable to place available for adoption in a month! He was 10 weeks old when we called, and would be available around 14 weeks… a little younger than our 4-month goal, but we were excited and immediately wanted to hear more. Sara Jane recommended we meet one of her references, our neighbor in Jack London Square Joni, and meet her pup Phoebe. Then a couple of weeks later we visited the pup for the first time and got to meet Sara Jane and assess her techniques. We were hooked!
He was the sweetest little guy, always ready to make eye contact and get his belly rubbed. He already knew sit and down, and just wanted a good cuddle. His breeder originally gave him and his brother the names of Walt and Disney, but Ryan and I had talked and agreed on the name Bishop (a homage to my favorite poet, Elizabeth Bishop -who if you remember wayyy back when I quoted the day Ryan proposed — and one of our favorite places to climb and hike, Bishop, California in the Eastern Sierras.) Sara Jane immediately started calling him Bishop and I swear my heart just about burst. Even before we officially put a deposit down she was texting me saying “Bishop learned to play fetch today” or some other adorable thing. There wasn’t a chance in the world he didn’t come home with us ❤
A short history of poodles
According to the American Kennel Club, poodles are not simply foo-foo show dogs that have puffy ankles for nothing. Instead, they were actually bred in Germany and later France to be working water dogs. But while the AKC still considers the poodle in the non-sporting group, the United Kennel Club officially recognizes them as part of their gun dog group. These breeds hunt for game (typically ducks) then retrieve them for their owners.
Tail Docking
According to some stories, Poodles’ tails were docked to give them more fluidity in the water, and the ends were left fluffy so that keen observers on the shore could keep track of the pups while they retrieved their prey. Most people now think of poodles as show dogs and recognize them primarily for their specific “show clip” haircut (see left).
Today, “The American Kennel Club recognizes that ear cropping, tail docking, and dewclaw removal, as described in certain breed standards, are acceptable practices integral to defining and preserving breed character and/or enhancing good health. Appropriate veterinary care should be provided.”
The standard is debated heavily by breeders in the field, as some see it as simply a cosmetic procedure that hurts the pups for no real gain. Many countries ban the practice outright, as the procedure is typically done without anesthesia. The pups are too young to allow such intervention. You can read more about the legal status of tail docking by country here.
Our pup Bishop had his tail docked somewhere between 3 days and 5 days old. (Sara Jane was not pleased.)
Intelligence
Poodles are characterized as being “proud, active, and very smart” — as I mentioned, one of the main reasons we wanted to get a poodle was that in every single thing we read about them one thing remained consistent… they are super smart. Even though the AKC considers them to be a non-working show breed, many poodles are used as military dogs, assistance dogs, guide dogs, and have even had a consistent presence in circus performance. According to a piece in Gun Dog Magazine:
“truth is, the poodle simply has more talent–more smarts, if you will–than most other breeds, so they can do much more than “just” hunt. They love to be trained, love to entertain and love to please, so they will do anything the boss really wants them to do, whether in the circus ring or duck blind.”
Hypoallergenic
Poodles are considered one of the few hypoallergenic dogs — and one of the primary reason we picked Bishop was because of this. Ryan and his sister Amy struggled with pretty bad asthma and allergies as children so they never had pets. But Amy recently got her own pup, Albus, a West Highland Terrier which is also known to be a more hypoallergenic breed. While both Albus and Bishop will shed, the biggest differences is that they have hair, not fur, and “these dogs have a predictable, non-shedding coat which produces less dander.”
Grooming Quick side note: I didn’t even realize until a few weeks ago that the typical poodle face (see pic of Penny, my friend Catherine’s apricot poodle below) is a result of close shaving by groomers of the poodle snout. I guess I just thought Bishop had more hair on his face than a typical poodle! But no, he just hasn’t had his muzzle shaved ❤
Size
Poodles officially come in three sizes: Standard, Miniature, and Toy. We knew we wanted a dog that could keep up with us on our adventures, so we went with the Standard size. According to the AKC, this means you can expect them to be about 60–70 pounds (male standard), or 40–50 pounds (female standard) depending on the size of both parents. We met Bishop’s dad and he’s about 53 pounds. His mom was about 40 pounds, so we expect Bishop to be about 50 pounds.
When we got to see Bishop for the second time in early Feb (see left below), he had just been to the vet and was about 20 pounds.
It’s been one week now with Bishop and I think Ryan and I would both agree it’s going better than we possibly could have expected! His only struggle at the moment is that he barks to invite play from pups and people on the street, and his bark is so deep that it can be a bit scary for people. We would love to work with him and get him to a point where there is no more barking. Fingers crossed!
Don’t forget you can follow along every day and see videos of Bishop prancing through life on Instagram.
happy saturday friends,
samantha
