Breed hub
Poodles
The second-cleverest dog in the world, in three sizes, with a coat that never stops growing. Everything we've learned about living well with a poodle, from choosing a size to the senior years.
New · interactive handbook
The Complete Poodle Owner’s Handbook
The articles below answer one question each. The handbook puts the whole breed in order: choosing a size, the first 30 days, the health problems of each size, feeding, training the clever and sensitive dog, adolescence and the coat change, separation anxiety and barking, the coat and the hypoallergenic myth, family life and the doodle question, and health by age. Twelve chapters with tools you tap, slide and tick, a breeder checklist, a poodle sign checker, a portion calculator, a grooming map, a true-or-myth test and a certificate.
Before you get one
Honest answers for the thinking-about-it stage.
Are Poodles Good for First-Time Owners? The Honest Answer
Clever, kind, low-shedding and easy to train, with a coat that needs a groomer every four to six weeks for life and a mind that needs a job. The honest pros, cons and costs of a poodle as a first dog.
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Toy, Miniature or Standard Poodle? How to Choose the Right Size
One breed, three bodies. Heights, weights, lifespans, exercise, the health problems each size carries, which suits children and flats, and the health tests to ask for in each.
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Your Poodle Puppy’s First 30 Days: What to Do, in What Order
The first month sets the next fourteen years. A week-by-week plan for a new poodle puppy: sleep, toilet trips, the first brush, the alone-time ladder, the noise game, and the jobs to do before day one.
Read more →The coat, training and behaviour
The things that decide whether a poodle is easy or hard to live with.
Poodle Grooming and Coat Care: Brushing, Clips, Mats and the Hypoallergenic Myth
Hair, not fur. How to brush and comb to the skin, the mat zones, how often to see the groomer, the pet clips, the coat change, ears, nails, and why no poodle is hypoallergenic.
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Training a Poodle: The Clever, Sensitive Dog’s Guide
Poodles learn in three repetitions and take a raised voice to heart. What motivates them, why force-free matters, the five skills every poodle needs, house training by size, and the daily job.
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Poodle Separation Anxiety and Barking: Why It Happens and How to Fix It
Attached, alert and vocal. How to tell separation anxiety from boredom, the alone-time ladder, when medication helps, and how to fix alert, demand and Toy-poodle barking without shouting.
Read more →Body and health
Knees, eyes, Addison's, bloat, feeding, and what to watch at every age.
Poodle Health Problems by Size: Knees, Perthes, Addison’s, Bloat, PRA, Epilepsy and More
What each size is prone to and what it looks like: knees, Perthes, teeth and the windpipe in small poodles; Addison’s, bloat, sebaceous adenitis and hips in Standards; PRA, epilepsy and von Willebrand’s in all three.
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Feeding a Poodle: Portions by Size, the Picky Eater, Weight and Bloat
Three sizes, three appetites. How much to feed, meals by age, blood sugar in Toy puppies, the waist under the curls, the trained picky eater, and the bloat rules for Standards.
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Poodle Health by Age: Puppy, Adult and Senior Care for Toys, Miniatures and Standards
Small poodles live fourteen to sixteen years, Standards eleven to thirteen. What to watch at every stage: puppy teeth and neutering timing, the adult eye, knee and endocrine years, and the senior signs that are not just age.
Read more →Not a poodle question?
Our Dog Language Handbook reads any dog’s eyes, ears, tail and posture, and the plan finder matches one problem to one step-by-step plan.