[Skylar]

I noticed very early on that when Babykins saw a dog that looked like a poodle and moved like a poodle she would get extra excited. I've had other poodle owners come up to me with their poodle saying their dogs felt the same way when they saw Babykins.

My guess is it's something about the movement and maybe the hair?

The class we take to train for competition obedience (open) happens to be the one where everyone who is looking to go to lunch congregates. They chat for awhile, wait to see if anyone in my class wants to join them and they leave their dogs in the crates in this building when they go to lunch. Unbeknown to me, someone with a standard black poodle came in the building and crated their dog.

I was tossing Babykin's dumbbell over the jump. I sent her to retrieve her dumbbell when she did something I wasn't expecting. She took her dumbbell and continued to run with it in her mouth out of the ring and right up to this standard black poodle. I could barely see the black dog in the black crate - but Babykins immediately knew there was a poodle hiding in there. Haha. She had a quick sniff hellos and then back to work. Silly girl,

Does your poodle want to meet and greet other poodles?

 

[MaizieFrosty]

Oh yes, especially Frosty will go NUTS when he sees another poodle, especially a spoo or mini. It's the most exciting thing in the world to him, short of a squirrel or tennis ball.

 

[Skylar]

I wonder if other breeds do this too?

 

[MaizieFrosty]

I think so! Zooey was always happy to meet new Maltese, and Fiona loves to play with other goldens at the dog park.

 

[lily cd re]

For sure I think breed recognition is for real!

 

[Skylar]

Well Babykins sure loves to meet other poodles and similar looking dogs. Fun to see the tail wagging going on between her and the other poodle..... like finding a long lost family member.

 

[Poodlebeguiled]

That's such a cute story about Babykins. Gosh, how amusing.

I think I've noticed something but it's hard to be sure because they seem to like practically every dog all right, especially the little ones, regardless of breed....I think. lol. However, they aren't always that interested in playing with dogs though. They mostly like and gravitate toward humans.

I have also had dogs where I notice distinctly that they have breed preferences and those they clearly don't cotton to. For instance, my Doberman (I know. I'm always mentioning him. I miss him terribly still) loved and I mean LOVED the little toy dogs....didn't matter what breed. He had dachshund friends, a poodle/bichon friend, a pom in obedience class and numerous others. He loved the toy breeds, knew how to play carefully because we had Chihuahuas at the same time and was just sweet. He hated Golden Retrievers and it was consistent. He'd lunge and get ornery...reactive. Some dogs he was neutral to but often reactive. I don't think he liked other Dobes particularly unless they were girls.

It's interesting to think about and try to discern.

Loved your story about Babykins. Has she ever done that where another breed was in a crate or somewhere where she could go up to it and wanted to? Of is it quite clear there was something about this dog being a poodle?

 

[MollyMuiMa]

Breed recognition is real! LOL! When we see other dogs on our walks, for the most part Molly will ignore them and just keep on going....but if they are a poodle of any kind she will stop and wait for them to approach her, and then greet them (if given permission by other dog owner) in doggy fashion of mutual butt sniffs and wagging tails......if they are across the street she will stop dead in her tracks and stare and wait and wait.... until I have to urge her on! The only other dog breed she acknowledges are golden retrievers because they were her first friends when she was a puppy.
Other breeds do this too I think..........my Cairns were breed snobs totally! They would absolutely not socialize with other dogs but the few times I took them to a Cairn meet-up they 'packed up' with the others immediately and wholeheartedly!......Cairns are definitely happier with their own kind!

 

[Skylar]

Loved your story about Babykins. Has she ever done that where another breed was in a crate or somewhere where she could go up to it and wanted to? Of is it quite clear there was something about this dog being a poodle?

She has many friends in classes, dog’s who she clearly loves to see, I see a heightened response to those special friends compared to other dogs. But this is the first time she has ever done this. She has never left the ring to visit another dog before and I hope never again either.

 

[Asta's Mom]

Yes to breed recognition - when I had my springers and brought a new foster in the house it was a melee of joy. Wouldn't pay any attention to other dogs on walks. Asta doesn't have any poodle friends, but bet he would love to have some.

 

[Skylar]

Babykins would love to be friends with Asta.

 

[Jbean]

My first poodle loved pit bulls. Her favorite game was "pit bull tipping". Pits are sort of top heavy and she was a big, agile poodle, so she enjoyed knocking pit bulls over. The funny thing was that they seemed to enjoy being knocked over and would always come back for more. She also loved boxers and standard poodles because they could wrestle while standing on their back feet. She ignored retrievers and herding dogs.

 

[Skylar]

My first poodle loved pit bulls. Her favorite game was "pit bull tipping". Pits are sort of top heavy and she was a big, agile poodle, so she enjoyed knocking pit bulls over. The funny thing was that they seemed to enjoy being knocked over and would always come back for more. She also loved boxers and standard poodles because they could wrestle while standing on their back feet. She ignored retrievers and herding dogs.

I had no idea pit bulls like to be tipped over.

I do know poodles like to play differently from some other breeds - fun to watch them at play.

 

[Asta's Mom]

Asta thinks Babykins is real cute - he is madly in love. Her pictures drive him wild. Now it they could only meet in person!

 

[twyla]

My poodles recognise other poodles or poodle mixes, it is like "My people, my people!" They get very excited no matter the size poodle. They do so get excited to see others dogs their size which they don't see other small dogs often.

 

[Newport]

I think I actively train my dog to recognize poodles by the things I do when I randomly see a poodle. Today I was driving with Navy in the car and saw a girl walking a spoo puppy. I stopped in a parking lot with a good view of the dog and happily puppy gawked. I'm pretty sure I'm training my dog to get excited about other poodles.

 

[Carolinek]

What a cute story, I would have loved to see that!

There are not a lot of poodles in this area so it’s hard to tell. There is a black standard in Gracie’s agility class and they are good friends, Gracie is like the “mini me”.But she also is super friendly to all dogs. She particularly likes dive bombing between the legs of her big dog friends. But she’s just eight months old now, I’ll see who she prefers as she grows older.

 

[BrooklynBonnie]

Absolutely. Mine clearly recognize poodles and poodle mixes. In fact I posted recently about Mochi, who is afraid of and has not played with other dogs since she was 7 months old, just playing with a full grown doodle recently and it completely shocked me.

 

[Skylar]

What a cute story, I would have loved to see that!

There are not a lot of poodles in this area so it’s hard to tell. There is a black standard in Gracie’s agility class and they are good friends, Gracie is like the “mini me”.But she also is super friendly to all dogs. She particularly likes dive bombing between the legs of her big dog friends. But she’s just eight months old now, I’ll see who she prefers as she grows older.

Some one joined our Rally class who has a standard silver poodle - same identical shade of silver as Babykins. The excitement between the two poodles when they saw each other was fabulous. Babykins was truly the mini-me of Pearl the spoo. Sadly they stopped coming to class after the second lesson. Hopefully we'll meet up again. I tried to get photos of the two dogs together, but the class was so busy that we didn't get a chance. I have to say it was mind boggling to see a dog that so closely matched Babykins but was so much larger. It is fun to see mini-me and supersize-me.

 

[Skylar]

Absolutely. Mine clearly recognize poodles and poodle mixes. In fact I posted recently about Mochi, who is afraid of and has not played with other dogs since she was 7 months old, just playing with a full grown doodle recently and it completely shocked me.

I remember when you posted that - has it helped Mochi come out of her shell a little regarding other dogs?