# Standard poodles most prevalent in problem dog classes?!



## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I haven't had any issues with my poodles, but the training facility I go to is full to the brim with standard poodles in the classes for problem dogs. Lots of them in the shy dogs class! The trainer, who wasn't particularly familiar with poodles before, told me that my poodles are not at all like most of the poodles she sees. When I asked her what she meant, she said that standard poodles were the most prevalent breed in her problem dog classes and in her private lessons classes. The problems ranged from excessive barking to biting to inability to focus to being very hyperactive. I was truly surprised because I love this breed. All I could comment was that poodles are very smart and if the wrong person or family gets one and doesn't know how to handle them, they get bored and in trouble. 

What do you guys think? Right now in the class I am in, there was another standard poodle who sat there barking and barking during class. Her tail was going mad the whole time and I could tell all she wanted to do was play with the other dogs. That poodle also jumps and spins when the owner tries to control it. The trainer told that person she would have to leave our class and get a few private lessons (not sure how she got in there, but the dog is well trained when only around the owner).

It made me sad that this trainer is seeing so much negative behavior with standard poodles.  What's the deal? Mine aren't a problem at all. I haven't done anything differently than most people, I don't think.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

I don't think many people realize how much exercise a working dog or a Poodle needs. I think that is the problem. My sister who is a dog trainer told me that most poodle are crazy... I think she has changed her mind , but that was what she thought.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Maybe there are just a bunch of people who have gotten in over their heads with dogs that are more than they can handle. Certainly when people see a great dog, they want the same and a great poodle is a glorious thing. There are some people near me with standards from a reputable performance breeder in a neighboring state. The people are older and the dogs are both intact males. They used to come to lots of obedience and agility classes at places I train at, but I haven't seen them in almost a year. I wasn't there for it, but I know one of the dogs got into a bad situation (fight?) with another dog. The dogs had lots of potential, but one of the people (the one whose dog got in trouble) just didn't want to take any advise about how to handle the dogs.

While there are definitely neurologically damaged dogs in the world, aren't most of the problems really failures of understanding, training or management committed by us?


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## tokipoke (Sep 3, 2011)

That's unfortunate! Makes me wonder where some of those people got there poodles from. Maybe it's socialization issues. Could be a leadership issue. If the dog, especially a shy one, feels like he has to step up in situations he's uncomfortable with, it can cause a lot of distress in the dog. Louis is not a poodle but when I got him he growled and barked at everything on a walk. Now he doesn't do it anymore because I shush him and let him know I can handle whatever is spooking him. It's sad there are a lot of poodles in the training class, but at least they are getting help. The comment I get a lot from people is they are surprised Leroy is a poodle because he's so friendly. Many spoos I've met are calm and most people would say they are "aloof," but I call it being polite. I wish Leroy would practice more restrain when he meets people, he literally throws himself at them. I always volunteered Leroy whenever the trainer wanted to show corrections on a dog. He took direction very well. I hope the trainer doesn't think what she sees is the norm.


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

There's a reason why poodles get a bad rep.  Smart dogs are prone to get into trouble! Any dog that becomes popular will be overbred and poorly bred. It is very disappointing trying to find a good poodle. (But they are so worth it!)


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

tortoise said:


> There's a reason why poodles get a bad rep.  Smart dogs are prone to get into trouble! Any dog that becomes popular will be overbred and poorly bred. It is very disappointing trying to find a good poodle. (But they are so worth it!)


Also I would add that poodles are sensitive and need to be with people, unlike many other breeds that love their owners but are also independent enough emotionally to do fine on their own quite a bit. And too, all of us have probably seen little behaviours in our dogs that made us go, "whoa, THAT needs to be nipped in the bud!!" But what if we hadn't done anything about it, or the wrong thing, until it spiralled out of control? Just my little observations on this breed.


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

as I read this I am listening to a persistent and continuous "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" "WHEHA" from the squeaky Kong tennis ball... 

Our issue in class is BOREDOM. Oh, wait - that's our issue in life, too... Spike gets plenty of exercise, and left totally unsupervised (ie: home alone) he is absolutely fine. Try working and ignoring him in something other than "Business hours", and he's got the contents of the recycling bin out the dog door in the yard, eats the butter that's left on the counter, steals the sink stopper/drainer (really - I don't even have ONE right now...) 

He is fabulous in class when he is busy - it's the wait time of group lessons and the hope that he'll be allowed to play off leash with all these dogs if he does the right thing - which he totally got on the 3rd time out. We do sit, down, sit. (puppy push ups). by the third time, he does not even wait for the next command, just the treat from the next position... I now know why some people make their poodles learn ballroom dancing... 

I think a lot of people think they will have a poodle and it will be a naturally clean, well-behaved pet. While they do have the desire and the tendency to want to be clean, and to want to please, they still need grooming, guidance and direction. It's not like they come out Grand Champions with Obedience Excellence titles... And it's not like that's something that actually crosses the placenta... 

I know we are judged more harshly for any mishap in class, and in the real world, than the other dogs, because poodles are so smart, and if he's misbehaving in any way one of us is "Out of Control". The usual form of "Misbehaving" is something like "Being a DOG". 

Again, they are not born looking you in the eye, walking off leash, and winning titles.... 

I do wish, though, that there were a few less doodles around here. I'm so tired of explaining that a puppy cut is perfectly fine till they are a year old, and that it's called a sporting cut after that (to my untrained eye they are mostly the same...), and that NO, my dog is NOT a Doodle. And why, they ask, did I choose not to get a doodle? (Because I really could not see paying 3x the money for a mutt, is my answer. - I've gotten a little less nice about it and am almost starting to understand those snooty poodle people....) 

And, while we are on the doodles, and classes, there are just about enough doodles in classes here that are smart enough to get it, eventually, but not so smart they will be bored, ever, that the actual poodles look a bit high strung and deliberately disobedient, by comparison...

sorry for the length - and the tangent... 

sarah


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

People just don't know ... I had Carley at Lowe's the other day and this man got all excited and wanted to see her. He asked me if she was a German Poodle or a French Poodle. I said , They are the same thing . Then he turned to his wife and said, " Poodles are the smartest dogs on the planet, they will hunt anything. You only have to let them smell the scent one time!"


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Carley's Mom said:


> People just don't know ... I had Carley at Lowe's the other day and this man got all excited and wanted to see her. He asked me if she was a German Poodle or a French Poodle. I said , They are the same thing . Then he turned to his wife and said, " Poodles are the smartest dogs on the planet, they will hunt anything. You only have to let them smell the scent one time!"


Oh, I love that. I took Jazz to Lowe's by himself, too (trainer recommended Lowe's- they allow dogs)! A lady came up to tell me how much she loved poodles and compliment my sweet boy. On the flip side, I was walking mine the other day and a lady with a rottweiler came by and her dog growled at mine. She said snootily, "Well, you have froo froo dogs." I said, "They are far from froo froo. You have an overweight, viscious killer." and I huffed off (rather quickly because her dog was nasty looking and Bonnie and Jazz' tails were down). 

I am not being very polite, either, sorry to say.


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## Carley's Mom (Oct 30, 2011)

Outwest, You are my kind of gal! Loved it!!!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

The worst group sit and down I ever had in novice obedience with Lily involved being next to a rottie that got moved out of catalogue order because the handler didn't want him next to a particular dog so he ended up at the end of the line next to us (we should have had one free side). The rottie never stayed totally still during either the sit or the down. There was all sorts of weight shifting, head turning, etc. Lily clearly didn't like the vibe. She turned her head away from the dog during both and laid herself down crooked away from him. I spent the whole time wondering whether I was going to have to dive in to rescue her. He never broke, and I'm not really writing this to complain about rotties (with a wink) I relate the story more to highlight my clever girl's solution to the dilemma at hand. Don't even get me started about doodles, etc......


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

Just sounds like owners didn't do their homework before choosing a breed, didn't socialize, or bought from bad breeders.


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## Melodyp77 (Mar 4, 2012)

I'm afraid that my new pup is one of the ones that should be in the bad class. She is scared of people. she has even bit my husband but he did grab her wrong from behind without her knowing. He knew she was scared and I think that single incident made her worse. We had just moved into a new house when she arrived and I didn't know how to teach her to enjoy people and now it has gotten progressive worse and I want to tackle the issue but how? I live in a rural town so we only have petco or petsmart for classes but I don't see any class that is suitable for her or her age. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't think I'm novice at owning spoos since I have 4 others. Which are all nice and friendly accept to my husband and that is just one dog. I hate that now I am adding to the bad rap poodles may get taken for.


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## sarahmurphy (Mar 22, 2012)

Melodyp77 said:


> I'm afraid that my new pup is one of the ones that should be in the bad class. She is scared of people. she has even bit my husband but he did grab her wrong from behind without her knowing. He knew she was scared and I think that single incident made her worse. We had just moved into a new house when she arrived and I didn't know how to teach her to enjoy people and now it has gotten progressive worse and I want to tackle the issue but how? I live in a rural town so we only have petco or petsmart for classes but I don't see any class that is suitable for her or her age. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't think I'm novice at owning spoos since I have 4 others. Which are all nice and friendly accept to my husband and that is just one dog. I hate that now I am adding to the bad rap poodles may get taken for.


I'd laugh at the thought of an animal behaviorist if I had not seen some of the turn arounds they'd helped people achieve with *some dogs*.... ask around to find a good one locally - preferably one that actually understands poodles...
sarah


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

You might also find some of Patricia McConnell's writings to be useful She is a behaviorist who has a number of good (short and to the point too) books.

How old is your scaredy dog? They do have an adolescent fear period that isn't quite as bad as the puppy fear period, but if something startling happens in that time frame, who knows.... 

Good luck getting things back on track.


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