# Chest Size in a Female Mini Poodle



## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

Here's the written breed standard from The Kennel Club

Poodle (Miniature) | Breed Standards | The Kennel Club 

Excerpts:
*General appearance*
Well balanced, elegant looking with very proud carriage.

*Forequarters*
Well laid back shoulders, strong and muscular. Legs set straight from shoulders, well muscled.

*Body*
Chest deep and moderately wide. Ribs well sprung and rounded. Back short, strong, slightly hollowed; loins broad and muscular.

Illustrations from the AKC breed standard as written by the Poodle Club of America
IllustratedStandard.pdf (poodleclubofthelehighvalley.com) 

Generally, a poodle of any variety will have an athletic build which means leaner overall but still well built. They'll be built differently from the crosses since there will be two different body types genetically mixed. The backcrosses which add more poodle to the mix will likely be built more poodley.

Quoting Raindrops
About weights, poodles tend to be on the lean side of acceptable. A fit poodle will never look like a fit lab and you don't want them to. They are always going to have different body types. Poodles are very athletic dogs and will tend toward having an athletic build which is the sort you see in working pointers and vizslas. Here are some examples.


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## WinnieThePoodle (Sep 1, 2020)

Piper Bear said:


> Hello everyone. I hope this is the right section to post my question. We have an 18-month old female mini. She has a wide, strong, muscled chest that narrows to a small waist. (Her legs are straight and there is space between the front legs.) In comparison to her dog friends (all are doodles) her chest seems bigger in proportion to theirs. I was wondering if there is an ideal proportion it should be for a mini poodle? Thank you for any advice.


Winnie is a mini 15 months old and yes her chest is deep and narrows to a small waist too. 

'Chest deep and moderately wide. Ribs well sprung and rounded' - exactly like this.

I do notice a lot of differences when she stands next to doodles.


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## Piper Bear (Apr 12, 2021)

Rose n Poos said:


> Here's the written breed standard from The Kennel Club
> 
> Poodle (Miniature) | Breed Standards | The Kennel Club
> 
> ...


Hi Rose n Poos,
She definitely fits the breed excerpts you kindly provided, as well as being an athletic “#2”. For being a whopping 12 pounds Piper can outrun and out maneuver any size dog in our neighbourhood. Thank you so much.


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## Piper Bear (Apr 12, 2021)

WinnieThePoodle said:


> Winnie is a mini 15 months old and yes her chest is deep and narrows to a small waist too.
> 
> 'Chest deep and moderately wide. Ribs well sprung and rounded' - exactly like this.
> 
> I do notice a lot of differences when she stands next to doodles.


That’s why I started to wonder about Piper. Her build is different than all the doodles around here, without even getting into her elegance and poodle prance. For a little dog she is tall and slim and very athletic. We have never met another poodle in our neighbourhood so I don’t have another poodle to compare her to. Thank you for your advice.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

Poodles are deep chested dogs with a small waist, which is why a lot of the clothes made for other breeds often won’t fit.


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## WinnieThePoodle (Sep 1, 2020)

Dechi said:


> Poodles are deep chested dogs with a small waist, which is why a lot of the clothes made for other breeds often won’t fit.


So true. This is why I ended up buying about 4 different harnesses before finding the right one that fits perfectly. I have the rest waiting to donate. They often don't fall in to the 'fits all dogs' category.

EDIT: just to add that with mini's, sometimes you have to buy things sized small and sometimes sized medium because of this poodle shape.


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## WinnieThePoodle (Sep 1, 2020)

Piper Bear said:


> That’s why I started to wonder about Piper. Her build is different than all the doodles around here, without even getting into her elegance and poodle prance. For a little dog she is tall and slim and very athletic. We have never met another poodle in our neighbourhood so I don’t have another poodle to compare her to. Thank you for your advice.


We have only ever come across one standard poodle in the woods in just over a year. Plenty of doodles around the neighbourhood but no poodles. When Winnie's hair is longer especially around her muzzle she does get mistaken for a doodle but only because she looks broader in the face like a doodle. With her clip she is clearly different and has a narrow dainty face and then I get asked 'what breed is she?' It's surprising how many people can't recognise a poodle as they are so used to seeing doodles. Not only do they look different they move differently too. Like you said they have an elegance and poodle prance which is definitely missing with doodles. And the tail really gives it away. Whenever my husband sees a dog and asks me what breed I think it is, I can immediately tell by the tail if its not a poodle before I have got near enough to see the rest of the dog.


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