Our first standard poopdle puppy and we are hooked!

[Mo-re]

Hi all,
We are two new moms in the standard poodle world. Having moved from US with two of our cats to NZ, the very first thing that we wanted to do is to get a puppy.
My (Nen) experiences with poodles go back more than twenty years ago when I was a teenager. My first poodle was a parti miniature. She was the sweetest and smartest. The second one was a white toy poodle, the one who still brings tears to my eyes just to think about him. The two of them were always in my heart and for this reason I can only go for a poodle and nothing else. My dream was always a standard poodle, but responsibility is also that much bigger; so I had to wait for almost seventeen years to get my hands on my first standard poodle! And we finally got him our white puppy boy Mo-re. As bouncy and naughty as you can imagine, there was a time that we were thinking may be our boy has ADHD! Until we read some of the posts on poodleroom and found out that if our pup has ADHD may be all standard poodles do!
(Thanks to Zefi for kindly pointing us to the poodle room!)

We’ve only had him for less than two months but both love him to bits, the good times and the bad times. In the good times we are in awe. In the bad times we observe, ready to change our strategy as soon as we find a flaw; otherwise we persist. That is the life with a standard poodle puppy, I guess.
Quite a handful at the moment, we're looking forward to learning as much as possible from the list.

cheers,
Martina and Nen

[Fluffy]

Hi to Martina and Nen and their beautiful baby!  More pics please

[zefi]

Hello and welcome to the poodle room!!!! I have a boy with ADHD... I'm sure of it. Sigh. Even when he's 'quiet' he's moving! 

How old is Mo-re now?

[Mo-re]

Hi,

Thanks Fluffy and Zefi, I just added more pictures of our boy.
Our boy is 17 weeks old. We took him to obedience class last night and today there is no more pulling on his end. Mo-re never let us down when it comes to learning all the tricks. However we found that we are more than a step behind this 17 weeks old pup Our poor little boy....

As Mo-re is our only dog, his main exercise is walking. We usually go for 60-90 minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the evening everyday rain or shine. In the morning after ten minutes of trainning he will have his free style fun time. The best day for us is the day that we can find other dogs whose owner is willing to let them play.(As this is not happening all the time since more owners walk themselves more than walk their dogs and they have no interest to see their dogs play with other dogs and have fun) This is the main reason that we are considering adding another std poodle to our family as Mo-re sister or playmate. Any advice on this? Our mission is to raise the happiest dog so bring it all up guys.
As you can see from the pictures, our boy's only interest is the biggest dog in the park! He usually goes after the biggest dog with the highest energy level and he won't stop unless we pull him out
Believe us the walking can only give us a good one or two hours of peace, but playing with others dogs can spare us up to four hours.

[Michael]

Love the picture with the ducks! Actually, lots of wonderful pics! Thanks! And welcome to the PR!

You will learn about something called MPS - Multiple Poodle Syndrome! I see you're already leaning in that murky direction of no return! Though you will have to weigh things out yourself and make your own decisions on what's best....having two or three dogs often is better than one......that is for the dogs themselves! They have a buddy, are never alone, have more to keep them occupied and keep their attention, etc. There are lots of pluses to having sibling pets, but SPs are big dogs and can make for a lot more work on your part. But, if you have a yard they can run around and keep each other busy, maybe it'd alleviate you having to do all the attention and exercise with him. Lots of pros and cons all around and you're the only one who can make a decision on that. I'll try to find a better list of pros/cons from other sources I can dig up and do a separate topic on that.

But again, welcome to the PR and keep sharing your adventures and questions and anything else...we'll do our best to keep up with you!

[Mo-re]

Hi all,

Thanks Michael, that would be great because we are seriously considering to add one more but will take a very careful step. Let's put it this way, one week after we got Mo-re, there was a time that I (nen) was in doubt if he was a pure std poodle! I told Martina that he seemed more like a "Pissdle" to me. (as he seems to know how to piss me off all the time, pissoff+poodle =.... )
oops! I do not mean to be rude but you know this is the truth that goes on in the first-time std poodle mothers' minds during their first week, at least me! I mean, he chased the cats, he chewed, he bit, he barked, he growled just name it...
I know that you guys will think that he is so cute to behave like that, but hey "cute" I'm afraid is where the whole thing starts
But now I'm hooked, well we both are. When the decission comes it will be for the better of our boy that's for sure 

[zefi]

I just love that photo of him sitting in the corner looking out at the big world.

A couple of things though: a lot of exercise (ie walking long distances) is not recommended for young pups. I'm not sure how much but I know its not.

Also, be careful. Big puppies are prone to injuries.... says the woman who's big boofhead of a puppy pulled a muscle in his shoulder on Saturady playing with his sister in our yard.

But sometimes puppy injuries can come back to haunt you and are hard to get rid of. One of the puppies from my last litter lives with other dogs and playing injured himself on the floorboards in the house. He has had repeated lameness from this and its taken/taking his owners a long time to get him over it. A LONG time. And he's had xrays and everything, its just soft tissue apparently.

So just be careful and dont let him overdo it. I'm of the 'let them be dogs' school and believe that they need to play and run and find themselves, socialise and learn to use their bodies in their own way, naturally. However you do have to find a balance somewhere....

[Mo-re]

Thank you Zefi. Will keep an eye on him and try to avoid too much rough play and too long walks.
By the way, have you had trouble with your puppies humping? I mean, he tried to hump a dog (female) at least two times bigger than him today. Then, even worse, he tried to hump our Siamese cat who is one third of his size (and male).

[Michael]

I don't have concrete information supporting what Zefi said about balancing their activity as pups, but I totally agree with it. Sure, you'd love to just let them play and rough house as much as they want, but that can backlash in bad ways too. Much like not letting them do high jumps or jump off from high spots when they're too young as it can damage or stunt their joint and other development. Again, just going off the top of my head, but the key word that makes the best sense is from what Zefi said "balance" his activity out overall.....so it's enough, but not too much.

On the issue of the humping, it can be a part of the growing up process....but also can be a part of finding the pecking order in the whole pack of his world. It can be a dominance thing....so if a male is doing it to another male....whether dog or cat, it's probably a part of the "I can do this to you, so I'm higher in the pecking order around here" type of thing. If the other dog/cat doesn't allow it....period....then that strikes the pecking order differently. The more animals he interacts with may make this even more complex, but at least take that issue into consideration....that there is probably a bit of him learning about the world and others around him and how he interacts with them. Since he's still growing as well, that stirs up the hormones more too, so it may not be all cut and dried clear on these things. I'll see if I can find any information on that as well and post back here. Haven't had time to look up the other stuff yet, but will hopefully get time by the weekend to do so.

[zefi]

Yes... I have had some issues with humping. I was going to say no straight off because he hasnt tried to hump Billy (my toy poodle), and has only once tried to hump Montana (his sister) and was put in his place instantly.

But then I remembered. He will play and get excited and will hump the couch, me, the pillows. Of course he got told off when he so much as tried to 'grab' me so he doesnt do that any more, but he does still hump a couple of cushions in the dog's room. Both of these are cushions that Montana has been sleeping with and I presume its cause they have her smell... even from when she was in season last.

A friend of mine said not to stress so much if he humps the cushions. I dont encourage it and dont allow it in front of me, but sometimes I hear suspicious movements in the dog room when I'm in the living room. LOL She said he's the bottom of the pack... cant hump/dominate me or Montana or even Billy.... he's reduced to dominating a poor cushion. LOL

As for rough play... sigh.... I'll put it in another thread... sigh ...

[Neo]

fantastic photos! what a charming little guy!!!

and I also think that you should be a bit carefull about how much exorcise he should be doing.
but as long as he chooses it himself (if its playing in the yard by himself) then you should'nt stop him, he does that himself.
but if it's with another dog, or taking walks. he's a baby, he cant stop himself if somethings fun!

[zefi]

Thanks Neo. Thats exactly what I was trying to say... that he choses when to play and when to stop, but on a walk he hasnt got the choice.

[Mo-re]

Hi all,

Thank you so much guys. Thanks Michael, Zefi and Neo for kind advice will take it into practice.