Hello All

baward007 said:

Looking for a poodle to add to my home. A wonderful standard lived with me many years ago. He was truly an exceptional dog. I would like a dog to participate in the dog sports events. Someone suggested that I might prefer a mini to a standard. Does anyone have thoughts that they would share on mini or standard for obedience, rally, agility? Has anyone participated in dock diving with their poodle? Thanks in advance! Barb


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I have a minipoo and we compete in obedience, Rally, agility and nose work. My minipoo is extremely fast, loves to run in agility and I get tons of compliments on her fast recalls into a beautiful front. She has an off switch at home where she practices being the best couch potato.

I love that she only weighs 16 pounds. She’s easy to lift onto the grooming table, and only takes one seat space in the car. If you travel and stay in hotels or relocate to an apartment, some places have a limit on the size of dog. My minipop is always welcome but a standard might be too large.

OTOH when training a standard in obedience, you don’t have to bend down so much in training which you do with a minipoo.

I have a friend with a Belgium Malinois who is one of the top ranked diving dogs. I see amazing, gorgeous photos and videos of her diving. I will never let my dog do that, I’m concerned with her hitting her chest and stomach in a belly flop. My friends dog sometimes does, even with all her training and is sore afterward. This is my personal decision being protective of my dog. Others may feel differently.

Welcome! Both minis and standards can be great in all of the mentioned sports, so I would suggest first choosing the dog that you most want to live with. Meet some well bred minis and maybe some standards to refresh your memory and you'll probably have a feeling for which one you're most excited about.

There are some general differences between them, but these differences pale in comparison to the variation from dog to dog. Minis have a reputation for being more excitable and driven, while standards are more calm and less drivey. But from what I've seen, it is more that in standards, there is more variation between lines (spoo people may correct me). If you want a performance dog, you'll want to look for a breeder who has titled their dogs in performance sports to demonstrate their drive and trainability. I do not think it is hard to find this kind of breeder with standards. For minis, I think you can find performance pups within a lot of litters, whether they be from show breeders or performance breeders. My mini is from a show breeder, but was chosen as the best performance prospect in his litter. His breeder was great with giving the puppies tunnels and unstable surfaces to play in, and she chose my pup based on his drive and attentiveness. So far I am happy with his trainability and drive. But I wanted him primarily as a pet and I see the sports as ways to engage him. So I'm not concerned if he isn't a top competitor... but we will see!

Regardless of which you choose, you will want a breeder who will help you to pick an appropriate pup.

In terms of competitive success for agility, that will depend on the height of the dog as well as its skills. Border collies and shelties tend to be tough competition in their respective height categories, so I think poodles have had more success in the smaller and larger height categories. That isn't to say they can't be good competitors to the herding dogs, but there is certainly a lot harder competition for those heights, so I think some people purposefully avoid them.