[curlflooffan]

Hi, as I have mentioned before I am on a waiting list for a black mini puppy. The parents aren't ready for mating yet so I have a very long wait ahead of me. Probably around mid to late 2021.

I was wondering, what surprised you about your poodle puppy when you brought it home? especially those of you who were rather experienced with dogs already or who had done your research before bringing your curly fluff home.

 

[Asta's Mom]

Puppy turned my head - The dam was a parti; the sire was a black. As really had no idea and breeder would have given us best puppy if there was a parti male. Well I saw how confident Asta was - I was totally wanting that black.. Asta was supposed to be my pet and/or an ESA. Folks here said he was my service dog and he totally learned some more commands to help with. my bipolar disorder. So I have had so many surprises from his puppy days. I owe so much to have this wonderful puppy and all my mentors here on PF>

 

[PeggyTheParti]

I was both challenged and delighted by the realities of having an extremely intelligent dog. I didn't realize that she would expose (and so quickly!) the limitations of my expertise.

 

[For Want of Poodle]

How different she was from any other dog I have had. She is a lot more dog than I expected her to be. More human like, more challenging to train until I figured her out, always wanting to know EVERYTHING that is going on and trying to predict my next move. I think we are probably close to 100 words and gestures that she knows at 1.5 and she is still learning (not all commands, but she likes to be told where we are going/what we are doing), which is more than any previous dog.

 

[Tierna]

Definitely how intelligent he is, I've had smart dogs all my life I grew up with a collie that could understand us when we talked to her. But Beau is on another level, he will literally "ask" me to tell him what things, noises, etc are. For example about a week ago it started raining really hard and it was pinging and making noise on the air conditioner. Beau ran over to the window and stood there looking then turned and looked at me, and looked back at the window so I told him it was rain. When I take him to the groomer I say "we're going to see miss Flossie", he gets very exited and climbs right in the car. He's also a very curious little dog always has his little nose in whatever we're doing. I swear sometimes he's just like a toddler "mommy, mommy what'cha doin'?"

He has been a little difficult to train he's so smart but he's also pretty stubborn, and we are learning together.