[TheWildOne]

Hello,
New here and needing all the advice I can get! 12 months ago husband brought home a ‘shih Tsu poodle mix.’ We don’t have any experience with poodles. He wanted a shih tsu and I warned him that the pup didn’t resemble shih tsus much if at all.
This little fireball is a challenge. Personality wise, she’s intense, inquisitive and often thinking things through. She looks to be a brown miniature poodle so I suspect that she is mixed with something but definitely not 50/50. She’s just started clearing to a cafe au lait? which has been fun to watch.
We adore her but goodness gracious, she is a bit much at times!
Will she ever chill out?! Please tell me this is still just adolescence, lol.

 

[Basil_the_Spoo]

I like to think our poodles have a little extra personality. Are you looking for ideas on mental stimulation for your 12mo old?

If so, check out the trick club threads here:

General Training and Obedience

All training and obedience questions, tips, articles go here

www.poodleforum.com

You can add these to your repertoire.

In addition, a 20-30 minute slow-sniff-stuff walks will tire ware her out. We pet parents don't necessairly need to physically run down our pups daily to ware them out to maintain our sanity. A leisure stroll smelling the neighborhood does wonders.

 

[TheWildOne]

I like to think our poodles have a little extra personality. Are you looking for ideas on mental stimulation for your 12mo old?

If so, check out the trick club threads here:

General Training and Obedience

All training and obedience questions, tips, articles go here

www.poodleforum.com

You can add these to your repertoire.

In addition, a 20-30 minute slow-sniff-stuff walks will tire ware her out. We pet parents don't necessairly need to physically run down our pups daily to ware them out to maintain our sanity. A leisure stroll smelling the neighborhood does wonders.

We need to wear her out for sure, she’s definitely bouncing off the walls and boundary testing. We are also having issues with her bullying my senior spaniel. She’s significantly smarter than him and ambushes him.

 

[PeggyTheParti]

“A bit much at times.”

Lol. Yep. You just described life with a poodle. I agree with @Basil_the_Spoo that focusing on mentally satisfying (and draining!) activities will give you the best results. Peggy also has a good chew habit, so she’ll grab a bone or chew toy when she’s overexcited.

I feel like poodles need to be taught how to cope with their feelings much like toddlers do!

Oh, and yes, you’re very much still working through adolescence. My last girl was half miniature poodle and was still doing occasionally questionable things at 2 years old. By 3 she’d really mellowed.

 

[TheWildOne]

“A bit much at times.”

Lol. Yep. You just described life with a poodle. I agree with @Basil_the_Spoo that focusing on mentally satisfying (and draining!) activities will give you the best results. Peggy also has a good chew habit, so she’ll grab a bone or chew toy when she’s overexcited.

I feel like poodles need to be taught how to cope with their feelings much like toddlers do!

Oh, and yes, you’re very much still working through adolescence. My last girl was half miniature poodle and was still doing occasionally questionable things at 2 years old. By 3 she’d really mellowed.

Okay, glad to hear it’s normal! My spaniel was no where near this difficult but he’s also a dunce. Giving her acceptable things to bite has been something we’ve done that’s helped. I think our biggest challenge is that attention must be on her at all times, if it’s not she either steals electronics or picks on the spaniel.
ETA: First she flirts at the senior spaniel THEN she chomps on his ears 🤦🏻‍♀️