This is a good read.

[bkitchen0406]

There is a famous Dr. who discovered that if you get your puppy when he is 59 days old, that is the best time because at that point he will bound with a human. You also must start training them at that age. He did this research because they were training labs at 2 years old as seeing eye dogs and only had a 20 percent success rate. When they started this early they had them trained in six months at a 90 percent success rate. This is a doctor that is quoted all the time for hunting stuff. I don't know how much of it is true. I am not a doctor though. I got my dog at almost 3 months. He seems to have a good bond with me and easy to train. My grand mother got her one dog when it was a few years old and she did fine. She seemed to train and bond well. I always wonder how much do we really know about our dogs.

[Roland]

I can see the difference between Oden and Zeus, of course it is kinda of an unfair comparison. Poodles were found to be one of the smartest of breeds second only to Bordercollies (but who needs all that shedding), and Zeus is a Greyhound and well............he's really sweet . Oden house broke right away, he learns a new trick on the second or third try, and does not forget where you've hid a toy to keep it away from him.
Zeus was kept in a crate, on a Greyhound farm for the first 2 years of his life, and did not even understand affection when we first got him, everything in the "human" world was new to him. I am suprised how quickly he has bonded to me, and the attempts he makes to do the tricks. But he does not learn as quickly. How much of this is breed difference and how much is the training or lack of training they each recieved as puppys I could not guess.

[bkitchen0406]

It's hard to say.

[zefi]

Considering that 59 days is 8 weeks which is approx when its advised puppies go to their new homes it works out well!

Though I think that as long as poodles (or any breed) get socialized properly, they will bond with you even at an older age (in the case of rescues).