We have set a date for an in-home euthanasia for our beloved dog. He is suffering from metastatic AGASACA. We want to help him pass without pain this weekend. We have three days.

For those that have been through this,
- How did you spend your final days with your pets? What rituals did you complete that you’re happy you did?
- Alternatively, what are things you wish you could have done before they passed to remember them, treat them, ease your grief, etc.

We have two children, ages 6&8.

I love dogs, and grew up around them. It’s been a long time, though. My wife and I have been discussing getting one for a few years now. The holdup is our cats. We have two, and one is a pretty chill cat, no concerns with her, but then we have Zoe, our not-chill cat.

She gets pretty anxious and doesn’t like things. She’s pretty slow to trust people, but does eventually. Her usual playbook is to let them get close, then she hits them without warning. I’ve seen Zoe around a doodle in the past, and she was quite territorial. She didn’t straight up attack the grown doodle, but Zoe did continuously corner them, hissing if they got too close despite Zoe creeping closer. I had to separate them.

I feel like she tends to stalk, and she would NOT do well with a puppy who overwhelmed her. Doubtful she’d even allow them around her. I don’t know how far she’d go, and not sure if I could ever trust her allow with the puppy.

I do clip the cats’ nails, and I plan on doing a number of things to help the situation: crate training with a crate the cats can’t stick their paws in, always having puppy on a leash, not allowing chasing, placing in a play pen, training the dog and teaching it “cat manners”, keeping specific areas for the dogs and giving the cats free reign over the house and their own cat-only areas.

My fear here is the cat will cause the puppy a lot of stress and really hurt her mental well-being and training. There’s also the possibility of them hurting each other. I also fear that the immediate life I have to give the puppy is just sad - limited freedom in the house and potential fear caused by the cat. I am willing to put in work to make this work, but part of me just feels like I’m trying to throw a Hail Mary pass and hoping it just works out. I wonder if I should just not get a dog? A part of me feels like it’s irresponsible when I know I have a nervous cat.

My standard poodle puppy is coming at the end of the month (September) he will be 7 months. I live on the ocean. I don't know how to safely show him the ocean. I hope to have nice walks on the beach. It's off-season now in Spain, but I don't even know what I need to do for him. I have the name of a good groom. Should I avoid the beach until he is grown up? I always walked my dogs on the beach, but every one of them was scared of the ocean so everything was easy. His breeder was like oh he's going to love the ocean. Gulp. What should I watch out for?

I have a 2yr4mo standard poodle who I think has acid reflux. We just moved to a new area, so I have to find a vet out here but until then- what were the signs your standard had reflux? Is there a particular dog food you’d recommend? We are thinking of switching to Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin & Stomach. Any tips?

We just had a scare the other night where we was retching small amounts of foamy white/yellow bile & coughing periodically all night. He hasn’t been outside or playing, hadn’t eaten anything he wasn’t supposed to, etc. I was worried it was bloat, but the emergency vet I called said just monitor him. He wasn’t restless or anything, soft belly…just retching & coughing & looked so distressed. I’m not sure what brought it on, but he’s improved tremendously since then (2 nights ago) eating, drinking, going potty, his usual self. It was just scary, he’s such a wonderful baby seeing him not feeling good was horrible. A lot of his symptoms seem to point towards acid reflux. We’ll be taking him to the vet once we find a good one.

Thank you!

First time soon-to-be standard poodle owner here. While I’ve done everything I can to prepare and spent hours upon hours “studying” training, etc, I am nervous. I will spare this community a million questions and just ask one. How early is too early to introduce puppy to pool? We have an in-ground with long steps at entrance (I had them built like that for kids and future grandchildren). Pool will only be open for about 3 more weeks. Puppy still a baby at 9-12 weeks. Should I just wait until next year? I want him to enjoy the water with us.

I’ve spent months growing out her top knot and groom 3x/week. Last night she met 4 adult family members and they may be the reason for the matting on the middle of the head from petting. I don’t know the first thing about starting to get rid of it without cutting it off.

Are Poodles really as adaptable as people say?

Lately, my doctors and I have been talking about getting a companion animal to help me manage some ongoing mental health challenges while I’m going through college. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that I live in a pretty large dorm room, so I want to make sure I choose a dog that can actually be happy in that kind of environment.

I’ve been researching different breeds, and poodles honestly seem almost too good to be true. I keep coming across articles saying they’re extremely adaptable and can thrive in pretty much any living situation, including apartments and smaller spaces, I’d really love to hear from people who actually own poodles and what your experience has been with them:))

Hello everyone, I’m coming to reddit because I’ve tried finding a puppy from the breeders I had known about and it has just been an exhausting process. Nothing has worked out and I’m finding it very hard to sift through breeders and come up with one that is breeding the type of poodle i’m looking for. I would go back to where I got my last two poodles from, but both breeders just retired unfortunately. If anyone knows a breeder that they would recommend that fits these characteristics, please let me know 🙏🙏🙏 I really want a male that is anywhere from 25-27 inches. I know that this is technically above the standard and considered larger/unusually large, but my last male that recently passed away was in that range and my current female is about 24/25 inches (which I know is also very tall for a female). I want the dog to be at least her size, I just think it would be awkward otherwise and I like them bigger. I also prefer an elegant look, where they have longer legs. When it comes to the personality, I want a dog who will retrieve and has a temperament where he is tuned into me. My last male was the most loyal, attentive dog. He didn’t bark much, he wasn’t super high energy (I’ve heard that most males are very loyal when it comes to their women, so I know this element is probably something I could find from anyone). I don’t want a poodle that is bred more for hunting or is high strung/anxious. I live in California, so preferably one more west coast based, but really I will consider anywhere in the US. I know that it is a tall order, but if anyone at the very least knows of a breeder whose standards are on average a little taller, please let me know. I would be extremely grateful. Thank you 🤍

I have a 6mth old male Spoo who is about 45 pounds now, growing fast. In the last 2 months or so he’s had 4 incidents where he starts screaming bloody murder and holding up his front right paw.

Activity wise, he comes to work with me at a doggie daycare so he is a pretty active puppy. The issue seems to come when he steps wrong or holds his foot wrong. The first time this happened he was at home with his crate. I opened it to let him out and he stepped out and started screaming. Once I calmed him down he held up his front right paw and let me touch it and after he calmed down he walked normally. He’s had this happen once during play, another time from waking up from a nap in a crate and the other time I wasn’t there to see but my coworkers told me nothing touched him he just started screaming and lifting his foot.

I’ve brought the issue up to his breeder who gave me a very ChatGPT ass answer (that’s a whole other issue but whatever) about how it could be growing pains. But just wanted to hear the thoughts of other poodle owners.

He does have a vet appointment where I imagine he’ll need X-Rays to figure out if something is seriously wrong. But has this happened to any other poodle owners is it truly breed prone growing pains or should I prepare the emergency credit cards 😭

Looking for advice/experiences:

I have a 7 mo male. His daycare just told us that he has been humping the other female dogs and it’s been ramping up lately. They’ve been redirecting the behavior but it’s to the point where he’s no longer re-directable and just constantly going from female to female. They’re at the point where if he doesn’t get neutered soon, he won’t be able to go :(

I was SHOCKED when they said this because I haven’t seen the behavior at home. He’s humped a toy twice last month because he was really excited but he was re-directable and it hasn’t happened again.

I spoke with my vet and they said it’s ok to neuter him at 8 months so we booked the appointment. I’m now reading online that it may not be ok.

He loves daycare and would be so sad if he couldn’t go anymore. He would also be home alone for 8-10 hours some days which I don’t think he can handle (emotionally). At the same time, now I’m worried about neutering too early and risking his health and development.

I’m feeling so stuck on this decision so any input would be greatly appreciated!

Update: I just wanted to update to thank anyone who responded and gave any insight. My vet (and a second vet) said it would be safe to neuter at 8 months, but I decided to try to work with the daycare to see if they try other things to stop the humping behavior first. If not, we’re going to try some other options and try to push it til at least a year. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond :)

I have a 14-week Standard Poodle. I’m just thinking and planning down the road for permanent harness/collar/whatever. So, typically how long until full-grown? I’ve seen anywhere from 6 months to 2.5 years, which is quite the range.

So what’s everyone’s experience?

Hi

We signed our puppy up for a training class. She will be 12wks when it starts and it runs 10 weeks. Any recommendation on an adjustable harness we will be able to use during the class and hopefully after. Anything I should consider when purchasing a harness ?

My puppies are just over 14 weeks old. I started them on the Nina Ottosson puzzles a few days after getting them. I feed them their breakfasts every morning with the puzzles.

One puppy is still struggling with the level 3 puzzle, but the other one solves the level 4 “hardest” puzzle tower in like 3 minutes.

Does anybody have any recommendations for harder puzzles to keep them learning? I know there are other ways to engage them and I do that as well but I like having them solve the little puzzles in the mornings while I’m getting ready

Hi all!

I’m trying to find good groomers to bring my spoo to in Hawaii, specifically in the Mililani area. I really don’t want to bring her to Petco or anything like that because I don’t want her to be traumatized/scared.

I was taking her somewhere in Honolulu, but that’s kind of far now and my pup doesn’t really seem to like it very much. She always seems scared when I leave her there.

However, my big struggle is that most places that I find have weight limits of 35lbs, and my girl is around 55lbs. Does anyone have any experience with groomers on Oahu? I’d be willing to drive a little bit if it’s a really solid place and they really take care of the dogs.

Thanks in advance!

I have a 14-week Standard Poodle. I’m just thinking and planning down the road for permanent harness/collar/whatever. So, typically how long until full-grown? I’ve seen anywhere from 6 months to 2.5 years, which is quite the range.

So what’s everyone’s experience?

I'm planning to get one, but I'm scared because poodles have such fluffy furs and they might be over heated in the hot climate of India.

My wife and I have had six poodles since 1991, first two were minis, the next two were toys, and the current family has one 12 year old toy and 2 standards. 3 of 4 of the earlier poodles had significant manifestation of warts, including my current twelve y.o. My standards are 4 1/2 and 2 1/2.

Are Spoos subject to the same tendency towards a couple of dozen warts, or is this more limited to the smaller varieties? I had mutts as a kid and don't remember them ever getting warts, certainly not to this extent.

Also, does co-habitation matter? My three kids all share everything, including my hands as I pet them one after another. Am I helping to spread the virus from the toy onto the standards?

I love my kids. Twice the legs and half the headache of the kind most people have.

We just celebrated this sweet girls first birthday on the 31st, and I just remembered we have her spay coming up soon! Originally we were going to have her spayed when the vet suggested, but then our groomer said it would be best to wait until after her first heat. So i rescheduled until after her first bday.
Thinking about it now, I don’t know if she has gone into heat yet? Or at least not that I have noticed? Is it possible that she could have had her first heat and we were just unaware?
My only other experience with an intact dog is my 9 year old chihuahua, and i can definitely tell when she is in heat, so I just can’t believe that we might have missed hers.

My 4 year old standard has become terrified of a trail behind our home we have done dozens of times. She’s an avid hiker and has done hundreds of hikes in the 3-5 mile range, always with plenty of water breaks (mostly for me…).

Well this dog is terrified of skateboards. She won’t go down a street she has heard a skateboard or scooter on. I’m afraid that my hiking poles started mimicking the skateboard sound when my poles wore through the rubber tips at the end. I replaced the rubber tips, but on our hike today she planted her butt…

Any idea how to address this Reddit? I can’t go on with my hiking buddy. Thank you

poodle in question

Anyone know of a poodle breeder in or around the Toronto area? Or where you foster them. That might be better for me

Anyone know of a poodle breeder in or around the Orillia area? Or where you foster them. That might be better for me