Hello! - Poodle Forum - Standard Poodle, Toy Poodle, Miniature Poodle Forum ALL Poodle owners too!

VanillaLatte · 11-18-2012, 02:07 PM

I've been doing some research about poodles and stumbled over this forum and I just spent about three hours looking at threads with lots of great information! That pretty much decided me that I should probably sign up even though currently I'm going to be lurking more than posting. Mostly I just wanted to make sure I did my introductory post before I decided to post anywhere. My memory fails most of the time so I need to get it done before I forget.

Let's see. I'm a 24 year old female and I've found the man of my dreams. We're hoping to get married in the next few years and hoping to move. We've been specifically looking at Brattleboro, VT to move to as we have just fallen massively in love with the area.
I am completing my BoS in EC-6 Education (Early Childhood through 6th Grade) and I am doing my internship. Again. Unfortunately I had to quit in the spring due to having surgery to remove one of my ovaries because it was quite literally trying to eat me. Well, it was getting a lot of cysts and it hurt so it had to leave. I'll be graduating on December 15th. I'M SO CLOSE!

The man and I have been discussing the type of dog that we would want because frankly I told him we were having a dog and that was it. We've pretty much decided that a Poodle would be a good fit for us even if we don't quite agree on the size. He wants a Toy while I want a Standard. My whole life I've been raised with big dogs (Rottweiler's, Doberman's, and Staffordshire Terriers) so I pretty much always thought I would have a large dog. I've been researching (which once again is what led me here) the different sizes and I'm relieved that I could still do Agility with the Toy Poodle so I'm coming around.

Currently I've decided
- We're feeding Blue Buffalo. I'd love to try a RAW diet but I'm scared to death I'd get the portions wrong. So I need to research this more. From what I've been reading on here that it would be okay to do a mix of BB and RAW so I might be doing that. =/
- Agility and Obedience Training is going to be a must.
- I am terribly obsessed with the Teddy bear Cut.

What I'm still researching
- How much money do we need before we even THINK of buying a dog. $1000? $3000? $5000? I'm leaning towards the $3000 mark.
- Vets. I'm starting to look at the vet pages in Brattleboro and am probably going to be emailing them. It would be nice if they had a Grooming Salon and did Pocket Pets (we own Rats).
- Groomers. How much money should we budget annually for grooming bills? What are we going to have to do at home so what supplies do we need?

I'm going to stop here because otherwise I'll just keep typing away and end up with a 20 page essay. Long-winded. That's me!

lily cd re · 11-18-2012, 03:27 PM

Wow, that is a very thorough introduction. First, congratulations on all of the good things that are happening in your life. Next, have you thought about a mini? Not too big, not too small. Generally a little bit more like a standard to work with.

I'm glad to see you plan to "work" your dog. Poodles are usually very smart and will be more fun if you give them the jobs you want them to do rather than letting them decide for themselves. Mischief usually follows if that is the case. I have found doing obedience, rally and agility with Lily to be a great reinforcer of our bond.

We feed Blue Buffalo and have found it to be very good. Both dogs like it and they digest it well.

Indiana · 11-18-2012, 08:25 PM

Wow, what an exciting time of life for you! That's awesome. Prices of poodles really depend on where you get them, I've read lots of different prices even on this forum. Generally, if you buy a good quality pup from a reputable breeder who health tests (several are on this forum!), you pay around $1700 - $2000 but that really does vary. If they have a dog that has been returned or they kept it for showing and it didn't turn out the way they hoped, or a dog they retired from their breeding program--sometimes they will sell those dogs for less. The important thing is if you choose a good breeder, you pay more initially but it will save you a lot of heartache later because you will be getting a healthy pup and a life-long relationship with its breeder, which will really be an asset when you have questions about training etc. The first year is expensive because you will have to buy the dog a bed, collars/leashes, a crate, food dishes, pay the initial cost of purchasing the pup, then innoculations, puppy socialization/training/obedience classes, and then spay/neutering. But after that, the costs decrease substantially. If you want to get your dog groomed by a groomer, it costs about $40 for a toy (basic pet clip) and about $75 for a standard poodle; anything fancy is extra. He/she will need grooming about once a month, but you can extend that by doing feet/face/tail yourself at home. If you want to do grooming yourself, it's totally within your grasp to learn it! I recommend finding a groomer who will let you watch while they groom your dog, and answer questions. Some will even let you pay them to watch YOU groom your dog and give you pointers...very valuable! If you decide to groom your dog yourself, you will need to invest in a decent pair of clippers which is probably about $120 - $200; scissors (or shears) have a huge range of cost according to quality but you don't need the best just for doing some scissoring at home on your pet, but you could play with some in the store and see which ones you like best. A hands-free blow dryer with an arm so you can dry your dog without holding the blow dryer is a great asset, but lots of people who groom their own pet poodles don't even blow dry, they just let the dog air dry and then clip them. You don't really need a grooming table, lots of people use something else that is convenient to set the dog on while grooming; the point is to save your back, and it should have a non-slip surface so the dog feels secure. So you see,...there are lots of ways to save money if you want to, once you have the dog. Oh I should say too, you could get a poodle from a rescue; the price to adopt is a lot lower than buying a good quality dog from a breeder, but in that case you'd want to have pet insurance or save $50 a month just for vet bills, because with a rescue the health history is usually unclear. You can search this forum for lots of good info! Hope it goes well! And welcome to the forum, once again

MollyMuiMa · 11-19-2012, 09:46 AM

Holy cow! You definately have all your bases covered! Good job! I hope you find many of your questions answered here

!!! You will find a lot of information from some very knowledgable people here. Welcome to PF!!!!

VanillaLatte · 11-20-2012, 12:52 PM

Thank you all for the great welcome! I've been learning lots of things while lurking =)

The main reason why he wants a Toy is because he wants a dog that is under ten pounds (or around there). Which is fine and I can deal with that even though I'm terrified if I even so much as look at them they're going to break into pieces. I'm not sure what his basis are other than "I want to be able to pick it up with one hand". Which I didn't find as a very good answer so we'll be doing some more research and hopefully some interactions with all three sizes of the breed before we make our 'final' decision.

One of my very few requirements out of a dog is that I would be able to go out and do agility with it. The only small dog I have owned (and he's a senior now) was a Jack Russel/Rat Terrier and that was our exercise through out the day. The only issue with that is it was on a home-made course because my grandparents told me (read that as lied to me) that he wouldn't be allowed into the classes because he was a mix breed. Mostly that was due to the fact that they were DETERMINED that if he was around another dog he was going to get killed in an instant. Guess who has a very socially impaired terrier?! Oh yeah. >.<

And thank you for all the information about grooming! Those are some things that I will have to start looking at. I will go out of my way to find a groomer that will watch me and tell me how I could improve upon my grooming practices. Maybe if I have to I can take some classes? One more class that the man will need to add to the multitude that I want to take.

I am also bound and determined to get the dog from a reputable breeder. The Doberman and the JackRat honestly weren't from that great of breeders and we are having a load of trouble now that they're getting into that senior age. Granted the Dobie had a rough start to begin with (he had both types of Parvo as a puppy and spent his first six months in a vet's cage). While I love rescues and I will happily donate what I can to them I want to be able to have some back-up regarding my dogs health and temperament. I want to know what to expect, not be surprised by something that was genetic later on in life.

lily cd re · 11-20-2012, 02:46 PM

I have great admiration for people who adopt rescues and support them all the way, but I also wanted to do performance sports with my dog(s). Although the AKC now allows "all American" dogs to enter obedience and agility I also wanted to have assurance that I would have a dog that was willing to work with me, so finding a good pup from a breeder was important to me as well. I don't think you have to "apologize" for wanting the best poodle you can get. BTW one of the best agility dogs I know is a toy who runs in a continental clip (quite a sight)!