r/Poodle

I am in extreme pain.

Our very first mini poodle, the OG died yesterday. On Monday him and his brother were running around playing barking being happy little dudes and suddenly Tuesday we are in the vets office being told we don’t have much time left for our older boy.

He was 10 years old and passed from Haemangiosarcoma
- I’ve never heard of this condition before, it’s a cruel cancer that works rapidly, we lost him 48 hours after diagnosis. I can’t even process this

Now my stress is doubled because his little brother is a 5 year old toy poodle with terrible anxiety. These two boys have spent every single day together, my older boy was almost the younger ones therapy dog - they were inseparable. One helped calm the other

Thankfully I work from home so 6 days a week the little one will be with me but one day a week I have to go in to the office and he will need to now be alone.

He is afraid of other people and other dogs so having a house sitter or doggy daycare is out of the question

Please help me think of some solutions - its an added stress to an already horrendous week

My apricot spoo, who I have lovingly raised since puppyhood, just turned three today. For her birthday, she decided to fish a giant cat turd out of the litterbox, smear herself in it, then lead me on a five minute chase whilst smearing more of said turd all over the house. Post shower, she still has a turd-eating gleam in her eye. For all who say they magically mellow at three, I respectfully call shenanigans!

Planning to get a dog and considering getting a miniature-toy mix poodle I found with a good breeder nearby. The breeder says it's tracking to grow to about 12-14 inches in height since the father was a toy on the bigger size, but there can always be surprises. One of the main reasons I am getting a dog is to keep me company on my walks - I walk at around 5km/hr and would love for the dog to keep up with me.

My concern is whether this particular dog (when it grows up) will keep up with the pace? Should I chose a larger mini or a standard instead? The internet results are all over the place and the AI answers surely aren't helping.

I’m at a stage right now where I love my puppy but I really don’t like him. He’s a 13 week old mini poodle and I’ve had him for five weeks. His biting is getting worse and worse and I feel like I have tried everything that I read online but nothing is working. Getting enough sleep, redirecting, reverse time outs, plenty of chew toys, I feel like I’ve done it all. He will bite as soon as he wakes up and I take him out of his crate, he will bite when I try and pick him up to bring him back inside after a toilet break, he will bite when I attempt any sort of training or interaction with him. And absolutely forget any sort of cuddling or chilling because he is not capable of that right now. He does not have an off switch I swear. Sometimes I’ll notice he calms down a bit in his pen and then I’ll attempt interaction but it almost instantly hypes him up again and he’ll bite me. The only way I can do neccessity things with him that need to be done like brushing, his ear drops (he has a little ear irritation at the moment for the past couple days but not an infection) wiping his eyes etc I have to have a lick mat or peanut butter smear to distract him.

Will he ever grow out of this and when. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can help him right now because I want him to be my favourite thing in the world but it’s currently so hard when he hurts me so often. I know he’s not aggressive or doing it maliciously but the hurt is still there.

I’m on the search still for the right harness for my one year old standard poodle that both fits her securely and doesn’t cause her discomfort.

Heres what we’ve tried…
- TUG harness from Amazon- fairly regular harness with one strap behind the legs. This was fine until she backed right out of it since she has such a skinny head/neck/shoulders.

- Ruffwear Flagline. Upgraded to this one since it has a second strap behind the legs in hopes it was ‘escape proof’. Well she did still back out once, but more importantly than that she HATED getting it on. I think it caused discomfort, originally I thought it was too close to her legs and rubbing.

- Saker Bomber. I thought this is it! Nearly a $200 harness, surely it will be perfect. Well, no escapes yet, but she also HATES it. She’s dipping her back down and arching uncomfortably when it goes on. It is adjusted so it isnt digging into her legs- but I think the issue is due to her body shape when shes standing its fitted perfectly but when sitting its quite tight around her.

- PHOEPET No Pull Harness. I bought this as a cheap option post-surgery for taking her into our fenced in backyard since its so easy to put on but now it’s become out regular harness most days (unless in public where I used the Saker so she cant slip out). It fits terribly though, i tighten it around her, but then she’ll put her head down and its sliding forward gaping. I think this just isnt meant for the shape of a deep chested dog, also it definitely rubs behind her front legs.

Petsafe Easy Walk. Returned immediately, i tried multiple times and just could not get this to work with her shape. She’d lean forward and it’d be up her neck.

So… I’m looking for a magical harness recommendation that:
- isnt easy to escape
- isnt going to squeeze her stomach uncomfortably when sitting
- doesnt fall forward / actually fits a deep chested dog
- Is relatively safe for the car. If i cant find a harness that works and meets this criteria, I’ll have to look into car crates which is an option but I really like the harness/tether car solution for her.

Any thoughts?! Shes also a puller. We’re working on that, but its difficult to not let her pull when shes about to slip right out of a harness.