Hi I'm the new owner of Suzy, a 5 month old creme standard. My name is Lisa and I live in Southern California, close to Disneyland. Suzy's been a great pup so far. I'm not well educated on confirmation, but to me she's gorgeous. She has some good breeding I believe, but after reading some of the earlier postings that confirmed what I already thought (Politicalness of winning champion titles etc) I'm not about to make rush judgements on this. Like all poodles Suzy's learned things really fast, and I try to make life exciting for her and show her new things. She is a bit submissive (Still pee's on the floor of the kitchen when really excited) and still wants to knaw on my hand occasionally. I've had toy and miniature poodles before, but never a standard. On to the questions...

We have 3 different size poodles living all together but seperate. **Is it safe for them all to be together? My Mother tends to watch the vetrinary shows on tv and stresses that my standard (almost 5 months, about 22 inches and 32 pounds) will hurt the smaller pup. (6 month old toy @ about 4 pounds, and a 4 month old Mini @ about 5 pounds) So far they've been kept seperate with supervised meetings. I think if they were kept together more my standard wouldn't be SO excited everytime she saw them like she is now. Any thoughts?

I am trying to decided whether or not to breed Suzy. It's still a long way off. If I do breed her I want to make sure she is in sound health, I am planning to OFA certify her beforehand, and check for any genetic diseases. When we picked each other out I got to meet her Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. She does have some Wycliffe in her background... I hear most every standard poodle does to some extent. **Does Breeding change the female's personality? (We bred a large toy once, she wasn't a very good mother and ended up acting very paranoid afterward) ** Is Wycliffe considered a good line? **And is there anyway I can do more research on her lineage? I have the 4 generation AKC papers, I'd like to find out as much info on her background as I can. Some of her background includes Fullmoon Kennels (Her Breeder), Countryside's, Teller's, and Wycliffe.

Okay, enough for now. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions on Breeding, training, and the "togetherness of 3 different sized pups" Issue.

Thanks Again, Lisa

-- Anonymous, October 11, 1999

Answers

Lisa-You may have solved this for yourself by now, but please allow me to share this experience. We have a Standard-about 50 pounds-and a pug-19 pounds. We have to keep them separated or supervised at all times. The Standard will not hurt the Pug, but uses him as her "chew toy," and this has caused such stress on the Pug that he had a long bout with a stress-related mange. The Pug attempts to defend himself, but his bites and growls make no impression on the irrepressible Poodle. The Poodle is 14 months old-we hope to be able to keep them together more when she matures.

-- Anonymous, February 22, 2000

Aloha Lisa, I also have all three varieties in my home. However, my "small ones" are older than yours. My mini (Cookie) is 8 yrs old, mama toy (Lucy) is 7 yrs, and baby toy (Little Ricki) is 5 yrs. My standard poodle is 18 mos old (Jon Jon), and he just loves the littlest one and is always chasing him around the house. We must supervise Jon Jon and try to keep Little Ricki on one side of the house and Jon Jon on the other. The mini, Cookie, and Jon Jon are buddies and play nicely together, if Jon Jon gets too rough, Cookie will let him know. Mama toy (Lucy), tolerates Jon Jon, and will go after him when he gets too silly with her and she fears for her safety.

Since your dogs are so young, I would recommend you definitely supervise your dogs when they are together. I am an obedience instructor and I always remind my students that they are responsible for the safety of their dogs. The standard can unknowingly and unintentionally harm your smaller dogs, and this would be quite sad if an accident could have been prevented. In time, I'm sure they will all get along as they get older, but even then, watch over your littles always. Good luck to you and your "family".

Aloha Charlene

-- Anonymous, September 04, 2000