Full size standard poodles are huge!.......
I’m willing to concede that Australian Cattle Dogs and Australian Shepards are at the top of the list. Anybody who has ever worked with these dogs would put them on the top ten list.
And I’m willing to put a bunch of dogs at the bottom.
But Poodles?? Aw, come on! I’d put my westies up again the poodles and Westies surely aren’t in the top ten. (Plus, the whole ‘foo foo’ thing just makes my skin crawl to the point where I don’t even look at poodles as being dogs as much as accessories).
So let me just apologize in advance to all the FR poodle lovers out there. I admit that I am heinously biased. And although I am unapologetic, I’m sure your particular poodle is undeserving of my skepticism. And I’m sure your grandchild is cute as well. (okay, that was just a gratuitious shot but I did mention that I was unrepentent didn’t I?)
Full size standard poodles are huge!.......
Poodles probably hate the foo foo thing too. I knew a herd of standard black untrimmed poodles who lived at a dude ranch we went to for years who were the most delightful intelligent companion animals you could ever want to meet.
I think my Cardigan Welsh Corgi was the smartest dog in the world.
Smartest dog we ever owned was a toy poodle.. none other we have owned has came close... showed her for a few years. She was absolutely brilliant.
It's the Standard Poodles that are pretty smart.
The toy and miniatures have been bred mostly for size, so brains aren't necessarily part of the package. There are some smart ones, but you're just as likely to draw a dumb one.
But while the Standards are smart, they aren't really very good retrievers any more. There is a couple in our hunting retriever club that is trying their hardest to get their Standard Poodles ready for a hunt test. Now, don't get me wrong, these are very smart dogs. But while they were originally gun dogs and water dogs centuries ago, they have lost most of the desire to retrieve, especially in water. They just don't WANT to get in the water to pick up that duck . . . they'll do it, but very reluctantly (while the ruder members of the gallery are hooting and hollering that they don't want to chip their nail polish or mess up their hairdo).
Meanwhile the Labs and Chessies are hitting the water at a dead run with huge splashes and great big grins . . . the problem is keeping them OUT of water.
I guess really the point of all this is that it's easier to get a dog to do what he's been bred for, than to just out of stubbornness or to prove a point try to train a dog to do something he wasn't bred for.
Extremely intelligent dog.
Also very territorial and protective. High energy, too. Not the kind of dog for everyone, but we love him and he takes care of us.
Standard poodles are fantastic dogs, and brilliant. The little ones are terrible.