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Your Pet, Our Passion.

Poodle (Toy)

The Toy Poodle is an elegant-looking tiny dog with a slender muzzle and long neck. The coat is profuse and curly and is often styled. The Poodle is a clever, loyal companion with an amazing history considering these gorgeous dogs are one of the oldest breeds.

Lifespan
12 – 15 years
Height
Under 28cm
Weight
6.5 - 7.5kg
Colours
Blue, grey, silver, brown, apricot and cream
Size
Small
Kennel Club Groups
Utility
The need-to-know
  • Dog suitable for owners with some experience
  • Extra training required
  • Generally healthy breed
  • Enjoys active walks
  • Needs under an hour of walking a day
  • Small dog
  • Minimum drool
  • Requires grooming every other day
  • Chatty and vocal dog
  • Barks and alerts to visitors/anything unusual
  • Generally friendly with other dogs
  • Gets along with other pets with training
  • May need additional supervision to live with children
  • Needs a small garden
  • Can happily live in the city
  • Can be left occasionally with training
Generally healthy breed

The Toy Poodle breed can suffer from:
- Patellar luxation 
- Legg-Perthes disease 
- Progressive retinal atrophy which is an inherited disorder where part of the eye degenerates and wastes away which can result in blindness.  
- Distichiasis¹ which is an often painful condition where small eyelashes grow from the inside of the eyelid, rubbing on the surface of the eye.

Priority Kennel Club health schemes and testing: 
- Eye screening scheme
- DNA testing for progressive rod cone degeneration- progressive retinal atrophy which tests whether or not a dog has the potential to be affected by this condition.

¹K. Zdzisław et al, 'Co2 Laser Treatment Of Canine Distichiasis', 2014, Eastern European Journal of Veterinary Ophthalmology

Personality

The Poodle is a lively, sociable and affectionate dog who is both intelligent and amusing, and makes a wonderful and fun companion. They love to be included in all family pursuits and can be good watch dogs, announcing visitors without being aggressive. They bond closely to their owners and so do not like to be left home alone.

Did You Know?

Poodles - especially the ones you see in the show ring - seem to have all kinds of crazy hairdos but these often flamboyant-looking styles all started off with a purpose. Poodles were originally water-retrieving dogs but their coats could easily get water-logged and pull them down. The answer was to clip off all their hair but leave some around their vital organs to keep them warm, and around any vulnerable joints to protect from injury.