# Massive personality difference between my two Poodles! Insights welcome!



## BattalionPoodle (Jul 18, 2021)

Hey everyone. My girlfriend and I recently found this website and made this post about our babies possible mix breeds. Looking for insights on what breeds are mixed in my two...

Now we are wondering what people can tell us about their behavior and personality differences.(Other article has info on our babies and pictures for reference.) 

So Charlie (blonde 2yr old male) loves everyone. He is not shy at all and loves people. And snuggles. The other day he was in my neighbour's back yard like it was his own house.

Ruby ( 1yr old black female) can be very shy and nervous around new people and other dogs besides charlie. She often nibbles on a blanket or her paw we think out of nervousness. She isn't as cuddly as charlie. We have noticed her barking seems as if she is scared, we've been working on it. In our yard she used to bark at every noise but it's definitley improved. 

They are well trained and are reliable with all common commands. Sometimes Charlie's recall isn't the best as he is stubborn and has an attitude. LOL. But we're working on it. 

They love eachother so much, we give them lots of love and have a great life with us. We're just wondering if anyone else has similar experiences with their poodles. 

Maybe it's just a female, male thing?

Sorry for all the pics. I couldn't stop they are soooo cute!


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## BattalionPoodle (Jul 18, 2021)

Forgot these two pics


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## Raindrops (Mar 24, 2019)

They both sound like much-loved pups living a great life!

There is a great deal of variety in poodles, so it is common to see variation between individuals. In general standard poodles are loving and close with their owners, relatively biddable, and enjoy learning new things. They tend to be more aloof with strangers but shyness is not a stereotypical breed trait. Variation within the breed, however, means that some have a more happy-go-lucky social butterfly personality and some may be on the opposite side of the spectrum.

Sex differences are slight and there is more variation within sex than between, but in general males may be said to be more clingy, goofy, and slow to mature while females are said to be more independent, serious, and faster to mature.


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## a2girl (Oct 4, 2020)

What a great pair!


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## BattalionPoodle (Jul 18, 2021)

Raindrops said:


> They both sound like much-loved pups living a great life!
> 
> There is a great deal of variety in poodles, so it is common to see variation between individuals. In general standard poodles are loving and close with their owners, relatively biddable, and enjoy learning new things. They tend to be more aloof with strangers but shyness is not a stereotypical breed trait. Variation within the breed, however, means that some have a more happy-go-lucky social butterfly personality and some may be on the opposite side of the spectrum.
> 
> Sex differences are slight and there is more variation within sex than between, but in general males may be said to be more clingy, goofy, and slow to mature while females are said to be more independent, serious, and faster to mature.


Yea that sounds about right! I can't beleive how different they are its night and day. Obviously they share more than they differ but it is a very stark contrast. Thanks so much for the reply.


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## TeamHellhound (Feb 5, 2021)

Just like people, dogs have different personalities. While there is usually an overarching "breed type personality", there is a wide range of individualism inside that range. This is from the AKC standard (sorry, didn't feel like fighting the CKC website): *Temperament:* Carrying himself proudly, very active, intelligent, the Poodle has about him an air of distinction and dignity peculiar to himself. Major fault: shyness or sharpness. So, as long as they are not exceptionally shy (reserved with strangers or taking a bit of time to warm up to them is fine, panicking upon seeing a stranger isn't) or overly sharp (neutrality to strangers is fine, aggression isn't), they are pretty much within the standard temperament. That said, I've always heard that Poodles can be real clowns.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Love the pics!

Your gal‘s drive to guard her home sounds like mine. Part of that could be their femaleness. Has Ruby been spayed? But mostly I think it’s just temperament, which can be influenced by genetics and early life experiences.

I think the dynamics of a multi-dog household can also play a part. My old girl Gracie would alert like crazy when her male “sibling” was around. When I made the decision to rehome him, and he moved in with my parents, she settled right now. But whenever they were back together, that intense urge to protect would creep back in.


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## Basil_the_Spoo (Sep 1, 2020)

Has Ruby had her first heat yet?

They are cute and look very healthy, and you low maintance summer cut... nice.


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## Sarah Poo (Oct 25, 2020)

Just like TeamHellhound said, there is a great range of personalities within a breed. And as Raindrops pointed out, there seems to be sex differences also. My female is definitely more independent and calm than my male, who is way more cuddly and goofy. As in your case, both of my dogs are very different from each other! 

Charlie loves all the people she meets, she is very demonstrative and will try to get everyone to pet her. Everywhere I go, people fall in love with her. She is however very shy with dogs and she is quite selective on which dog she wants to play with. Even though she follows us everywhere, she is independant. She chooses the moments where she wants to get attention and cuddles, but if I try to pet her when she is not feeling it, she will just move away (to my great disappointment lol). She is very sweet, easygoing and her education was a breeze! She was super well behaved very early.

On the other hand, Gustave is not attracted at all to strangers. Most of the time, he will ignore them or smell them a bit, but he is not interested at all. I never thought a puppy (he is only 4 months) could be this uninterested in humans LOL. To be honest, I got him a bit late at 3 months, so a lack of socialisation prior to his adoption could also explain this, we'll never know. But even though he is alouf with stranger, he is FOND of his family and people he knows! He is always asking for cuddles and cuddles and more cuddles. As soon as our hand approaches him, he turns on his back to get belly rubs. He's a real cuddle bug! He is also way more playful than Charlie, he absolutely LOVES to play with other dogs, all kind of dogs, small, big, he doesn't mind. He is more fearful than Charlie though, he often barks at strangers or weird sounds (we're working on this), I suspect it could be related to his lack of socialisation. Everything new must be introduced slowly with a lot of treats. Right now, I'm working on putting on boots in preparation for winter, I must go one step at a time. Otherwise, he will freak out. Charlie is way more easygoing for new things and experiences.

I join a photo of my fur babies, they are similar to yours but in a smaller format!! Charlie (10 months) is also the cream one, but mine is a female! Gustave (4 months) is the black (soon to be grey LOL) one.


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## BattalionPoodle (Jul 18, 2021)

Basil_the_Spoo said:


> Has Ruby had her first heat yet?
> 
> They are cute and look very healthy, and you low maintance summer cut... nice.


She has not had her first heat yet.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

BattalionPoodle said:


> She has not had her first heat yet.


Has Charlie been neutered? If not, this could absolutely be contributing to Ruby’s nerviness.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

I've had only miniatures but have within that variety, had one set of sisters and one set of brothers.

Funnily enough, with each set there's been a life of the party, loves everyone sibling and a shy, even scared one, at least with strangers.

The girls were never very dog oriented and my shy girl did eventually learn the joys of making human friends.

The boys are a bit more dog oriented but an attack last year derailed that. They're still good friends with the dogs they were friends with before but are quite suspicious of new dogs. This last years necessities didn't help in bringing them back to where they were. We're working on it but if they never show interest in new dogs, I'm ok with that. I just have to work on them not being reactive to dogs with a certain energy, possibly even how they look.

The girls each had a favorite person but were happy to be with either of us. They joined our family at almost two years old, which might have been a factor.

The boys came to us at almost nine weeks old and truly are bonded to both my husband and me equally. When we're all sitting down for the evening, there are frequent dealer trades. Sometimes both are with my husband, Sometimes both are with me. Sometimes when snuggling individually, they dealer trade thru the evening. I don't know how often I've looked at my legs to see that I've developed a dark poodle when I was sure there was a light one there .


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## BattalionPoodle (Jul 18, 2021)

PeggyTheParti said:


> Love the pics!
> 
> Your gal‘s drive to guard her home sounds like mine. Part of that could be their femaleness. Has Ruby been spayed? But mostly I think it’s just temperament, which can be influenced by genetics and early life experiences.
> 
> I think the dynamics of a multi-dog household can also play a part. My old girl Gracie would alert like crazy when her male “sibling” was around. When I made the decision to rehome him, and he moved in with my parents, she settled right now. But whenever they were back together, that intense urge to protect would creep back in.


No she is not spayed


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