Dogs are unique animals, they’re companions and overall great company to have around. This is particularly the case with poodles. Poodles are beautiful dogs with three main types of breed: the standard, miniature, and toy. Alongside this, there are over 60 different types of poodle crossbreeds.
As you could imagine, there’s an abundance of information out there to dazzle and confuse your mind between the poodle breed and its crossbreed.
There’s more to you think than its curly hair, playful prance, and all-around cuteness. Poodles are so interesting.
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To shine some light on how amazing poodles are, we’ve curated a list of fantastic poodle facts in this article.
What Will You Learn? 👇
1. Where did the poodle come from?
If you travel a lot, you may notice poodles located worldwide; they’re an incredibly popular dog. This dog originated from Germany, and its name comes from the German word known as “pudel” or “pudelin.” In English, this word means to splash around in the water, which couldn’t be any more true.
This wonderful dog got this name because they were bred to be water retrievers. What this role involved was a poodle retrieving ducks and birds back to their masters, known as a waterfowl hunter. Sometimes, this practice is still in place today!
Later on, this dog went to France and became popular there. It became so popular; the poodle became the national dog of France. It was the vogue dog for France; back then, you’d expect to see many Parisian women walking around with a poodle.
2. What is the typical size of a poodle?
If you want a poodle, you have the option to pick three main breeds: the standard, miniature, and the toy and two unofficial: the moyen/klein and the teacup poodle. While poodle sizes vary on average, their typical sizes are the following:
Standard poodle– 15 inches in height and around 45-70 pounds for a male, 45-60 pounds for a female.
Miniature poodle– 11-15 inches in height and around 15-17 pounds in weight.
Toy poodle- 10 inches in height and around 6-9 pounds in weight.
3. Poodles are highly intelligent dogs.
What’s new? Yes, dogs are very intelligent animals to own. But out of many breeds in the world, a poodle is one that is on the higher end of the spectrum. Part of this is because poodles have an innate intelligence and desire for athletics, which is why you will see many poodles in dog shows and circuses.
Because of their hyper-intelligence, they require a lot of mental stimulation, so they don’t become bored easily. Such ways to stimulate them involve brain games like fetch, problem-solving games like toys filled with food, obstacle courses, games involving their senses, and more.
A great way of utilizing their intelligence is training a poodle. Did we mention that poodles are easy to train? If you don’t train your poodle, it could think of itself as the family’s alpha male and end up dominating everyone in your household.
4. Poodles need to be cleaned frequently.
Poodles are a breed that requires a lot of maintenance and should have their coat brushed every 2-3 times a week. When it comes to washing, though, poodles need to have their coats washing every 3-6 weeks and ideally taken to a groomer.
During this period, should comb them, trim their nails, wash them and their ears cleaned of any wax. Because of the effort to groom a poodle, many people choose to save time and take it to a professional groomer.
5. Poodles love humans
If you’re looking to get a poodle for your home, then this is the perfect breed if you want attention. Poodles love the company of humans and can become very depressed if left on their own.
If you take a poodle out on a walk, most of the time, they will choose to socialize with humans over other poodles too. They’re very friendly and welcoming to strangers, and only on the odd time can they double up as a guard dog, barking at unwanted guests.
6. A poodle’s coat is neverending!
Poodles are unique in the sense that they have hair over hair. The reason why most people refer to their coat as hair is because it never stops growing! The original purpose of a poodle is that they were bred to be hunters. Therefore their hair would grow all year round to protect and keep their bodies warm.
Because of this, if you decide to get a poodle, you must groom it or take it to a professional groomer regularly. It needs to be groomed frequently to keep its skin clean and prevent it from getting bacterial or skin infections. Similarly, it prevents their hair from becoming matted and spiraling out of control.
Plus, a poodle is a breed that’s very self-aware and appreciates being looked after. If you treat it with respect, it will return the respect to you.
7. They’re an ideal dog for families
If you’re looking for a new addition to your family, then the poodle might be the breed for you. This is because they’re easy to train, have great characteristics, and shed very little. First of all, because they’re highly smart dogs, they can learn commands easily and quickly become housetrained, saving you time and unwarranted mess inside your house.
Second, a poodle’s temperament is warm, loving, energetic, and intelligent. This means they’re great to have around with children to play with and a loving dog to cuddle up to at home. Similarly, these dogs are often hypoallergenic, which means they don’t shed much and cause little allergies, meaning they’re a clean and low shedding dog to have in the home.
8. Most Poodles can swim
Did you know poodles were once bred to be a retriever dog and swim in the water? Well, if you didn’t, now you do. Poodles love the water and their excellent swimmers. They have a water-resistant coat, and it only has a single dense layer, making it excellent to swim in the water.
They also have paws that are webbed, which encourages them to be good swimmers. Most of the time, this applies to miniature and toy poodles too. However, now and again, you may find there is a poodle who does not like to swim.
9. They’re mostly a very healthy breed
Whenever you bring a dog into your family, there’s always the risk of contracting certain health conditions. Just like humans, a poodle can find themselves prone to health conditions. Most of the time, this breed is healthy, but you could find them experiencing the following:
Addisons disease: A lack of hormones produced by the poodle’s adrenal gland. As a result, it can cause the poodle to have little appetite and become lazy. It can affect heart function and can, in the worst case, cause death.
Hip dysplasia: Where a poodle’s hip socket does not help the thigh bone ball. Because of this, it can cause a lot of pain and difficulty with its mobility.
Epilepsy: This is where your poodle is prone to having seizures.
Hypothyroidism: An underactive thyroid gland can lead to epilepsy, lethargy, hair loss, skin conditions, and more.
Cushings Disease: When the poodle body produces more cortisol and can cause frequent urination.
Patella Luxation: This is when a poodle’s kneecap can become dislocated, putting them in pain.
Progressive Renal Atrophy: An eye disease where their retina can gradually deteriorate and cause them to become blind.
Bloat: Poodles have a deep chest, and that can cause gas to build up and their stomach to twist. As a result, their blood pressure drops, and they can need urgent medical attention.
Sebaceous Adenitis: This is an inflammatory disease that can result in alopecia in poodles (hair loss).
Von Willebrands disease: This disease is found in dogs that prevents their blood from clotting and sealing blood vessels.
Most of the time, poodles are healthy, but if you own a poodle and feel they may have one of these conditions, take them to a vet for a health check-up.
10. It can have a range of coats.
While there are three main varieties to the poodle breed, they also come in various colors. When looking for a poodle, you can expect their coats to be one of the following solid colors:
Apricot- This color will look like the poodle has a cream coat with a tint of red in their hair. Similarly, with some black spots on their skin, looking like the color of an apricot.
Blue- A poodle with an outer coat of dark blue hair that sometimes gets mistaken for black.
Brown- This poodles coat is deep and dark in brown and has amber eyes.
Cafe Au lait- When a poodle’s coat is shiny and has a color that resembles tan.
Black- A complete black coat with no shades of blue or silver. A black poodle coat does not fade over time either.
Silver beige- A diluted form of brown.
Red- The red color only started to exist in the 1980s. If it’s a true red, the dog will have black points.
Silver- A poodle born a black color and becomes fully silver after 2 years old.
White- A poodle with a pure white coat with the occasional black spotting.
Grey- A poodle born grey and remains grey throughout its life.
Cream- A black nose with a beige coat.
These are the common types of colors you can find on a poodle coat. Over time a poodle’s coat changes from one color to another, and its skin also changing color.
Final Thoughts
Poodles are a fantastic breed, and there are just so many facts out there, we couldn’t have possibly condensed them down into one article alone. Poodles originated from Germany but became popular in France.
Poodles were originally bred to be a water retriever, and if you have a poodle in your home, there is a high chance it might love to swim. Similarly, poodles are highly intelligent dogs and easy to train, making them a great addition to any family.
Marko is the founder and author at PoodleHQ, where he blends profound expertise with formal training in Animal Behavior and Canine Genetics. With multiple generations of poodles under his care, he’s a breed connoisseur, honored with the Canine Care Excellence Award and lauded by the International Pet Enthusiasts Association.
