Many families in search of the perfect canine addition might consider a standard poodle. This breed may have a reputation for being high maintenance and particular, but also one of the most loyal and loving family dogs available. Poodles as puppies are incredibly intelligent, meaning correct training will result in a loving companion. If you are considering adding a poodle to your family, this article will outline the highlights.
Who Should Own Standard Poodle Puppies?
People with Pet Allergies
Pet dandruff, hair shedding, and even oils from animal skin can cause issues with those who have allergies. While no dogs are fully hypoallergenic, standard poodles rarely shed. When maintained and kept clean, this breed is ideal to keep in the home. Even those with the worst allergies typically do very well alongside standard poodles.
People Who Prefer Independent Dogs
Standard poodles tend to take initiative and ownership in the home. They enjoy becoming acclimated to a routine. This is generally a benefit in dog ownership, but your poodle may, in turn, feel stress and anxiety if their routine changes suddenly. It is good to continue exposing your poodle to new environments and people so they do not settle in a routine that will upset them if disrupted.
What Causes Stress?
Poodles, like most puppies, need constant attention or supervision. They may become destructive if left to their own devices, although this is not unique to poodles. It is beneficial to keep them busy with different toys and a significant amount of space for exercise because a primary contributor to stress may be that they require a more active lifestyle or more things to keep their attention.
Constant Grooming
Poodles are known for their need to be regularly groomed. The hair and fur of standard poodle puppies can quickly become matted, tangled, and in need of brushing. Often, their fur will matte at the skin and must be taken care of by a professional. Understanding the added time and expense of grooming is essential when considering a poodle.
Potential Health Issues
The standard poodle puppies are like most other breeds when it comes to potential health issues, however, there are particular issues unique to poodles that are worth mentioning. Occasionally more extreme conditions, such as epilepsy, could occur.
Gastric-Dilatation Volvulus
This condition can become very serious, especially with standard poodle puppies. Poodles are naturally small animals and have small stomachs and bowels. For this reason, owners of standard poodle puppies need to be particular about the types of food in their diets. Gastric dilatation-volvulus condition allows gasses to build up in the stomach. This prevents the natural digestion of food, which could lead to symptoms from mild discomfort to death. Standard poodle puppies that suffer from this condition could experience inadequate blood flow to the heart, loss of blood flow to the stomach, rupturing of the stomach wall, and pressure on the diaphragm, which would make it difficult to breathe.
Making Your Standard Poodle Puppies Comfortable
You want to create an environment for your standard poodle that is safe and secure. Without this space, they will constantly feel as if they are underfoot and unwanted in the home.
A comfortable place to sleep is the first step. In many cases, a soft and cushioned cuddle dog bed will be a prime choice. These beds have a large side to prevent your standard poodle puppies from falling out while they sleep; they can curl up and feel protected from the outside world and, with a fresh mist of Calming Spray, gently fall asleep, their stress and anxieties drifting away. After doing some initial research, Calming Dog seems to have the best selection for many standard poodle puppies.
Let Them Play With Kids
When creating an environment for your standard poodle puppies, try to have children around. Standard poodle puppies love children. One of the primary reasons poodles love children is their ability to expel energy. Poodles love to run, jump, play, and fetch and if around a body of water, jump in for a swim.
As your children grow up, so will your standard poodle puppies. This connection will be a lifelong experience for everyone; the long-term exposure will help reduce stress and anxiety between children and the puppies and they live alongside each other.
Build Confidence
Standard poodle puppies are very intelligent animals. The trick to training them is to give them confidence and figure things out themselves. One major reason standard poodle puppies become stressed is too much control. You want to train them to understand the rules and not to do damage, however, once they have confidence and understand how things work, they are set to go.
Know They Sense Emotion
Standard poodle puppies will pick up on the emotional states of their owners. If you are scared, anxious, or uncertain then your poodle will feel the same as well. Due to their intelligence, it will be difficult to fake your emotions to them. However, if you have a strong bond and work together, the two of you can raise one another's spirits.
Create an Environment for Play
If space is limited due to living in an apartment or other enclosed environments, it is essential to create an exercise area for your standard poodle puppies. This exercise area doesn’t have to be large. It can be a play area in a room filled with toys or a local dog park to visit regularly on walks. These play and exercise areas will wear your puppies out and give them hours of fun.
Limit Absence to Eight Hours or Less
Standard poodle puppies are very independent but, after an extended period, they begin to become stressed, anxious, and will want to become extremely active. If you are going to be gone for an extended length of time, such as leaving for the night or weekend, you must have someone take care of or sit with your poodle.
Play Music or TV
Your standard poodle puppies will need some type of stimulation. If you have music playing, a television going, or some type of stimulating activity going on in the house, your poodle will enjoy that.
One trick you can use is to have your voice recorded on a tape, or perhaps get a wireless treat dispenser that you can control from a remote location. Many pet owners will set up remote surveillance cameras to look in on their pets. Some of these will even allow you to communicate with them via voice. If you are planning to be gone for extended periods, using this technology can be a comfort for both of you.
Have the Whole Family Pitch In
Anticipation and expectations are going to be a big part of training your standard poodle puppies as well as keeping their stress and anxiety levels down. One thing that you can do is give specific members of the family certain tasks to do. For instance, someone will feed your puppy, another will walk the puppy, and another will groom them.
Creating these roles in the family will help teach responsibility among children and adults and will help train your standard poodle puppies for specific behaviors. One of the drawbacks of not doing this is that your puppies will start to expect things from everyone. When one person leaves, they will expect everyone to leave. Routine and roles are great ways to train them to understand the ways of the household.
Signs of Stress
Understanding general behavior, the behavior of standard poodle puppies, and what constitutes stress and anxiety will go a long way to ensuring there aren’t any issues with them. After living with your poodles for a while, you will pick up on their behaviors. The following will be traits to look out for.
Constant Noises
One of the more favorable aspects of standard poodle puppies is that they are relatively quiet. When you start to hear noises from them that don’t seem to stop or are out of the ordinary, it should raise a level of concern. Barking, whining, crying, and panting are all signs that something could be wrong.
If you begin to see these activities in your standard poodle puppies, it is a good idea that you take notice and take action. Look around your environment to see what could be causing a trigger.
Body Language
Another sign of anxiety and stress is to see a tail tucked between their legs, sitting in unusual postures, and hiding in corners. To help understand the overall behavior of your standard poodle puppies, you will also want to take notes of their general day-to-day activities. If they are typically out of bed and running around at eight in the morning but aren’t moving most of the day, you should become concerned.
Don’t Be Confrontational with Your Poodle
In many situations, dog owners will think that confronting an issue will help them get over it. This is not the case with standard poodle puppies. With standard poodle puppies, you don’t want to confront them with their fears. With standard poodle puppies, they will react negatively to this action. In many cases, they will turn their fear and aggression back on their owners or those that are causing the fear.
This can be a dangerous situation for all, especially children. If you have a small child playing with the poodle, and it becomes scared, the playtime could turn into a serious event. To avoid this, remove the child from the situation and allow the puppy to destress and approach the family on their terms.
Training Your Standard Poodle Puppies Is the Best Solution
Stress and anxiety can be overcome in standard poodle puppies with consistent training methods. Due to their intelligence, poodles are more likely to take to training methods earlier than other breeds. It has also been shown that the earlier you train them, the less likely they will be prone to stress and anxiety.
Teach Name Association
the first step in any training technique is to teach them what their name is and how to react to it. Giving your standard poodle puppies a good name that is easy to pronounce and understand will help them to understand it easily and gain their attention quicker. After they learn their name you want to move on to learn more about actions, positive and negative.
Teach the "Sit" Command
The most basic command any dog can learn is how to "sit". Sitting shows that they understand your command and this will give them a level of confidence to build upon. When training your standard poodle puppies to sit, use a strong voice, speak clearly, and praise them when they perform the command correctly. Another thing you will want to teach them is the word “no”. These two commands will go a long way in your training process.
Teach the "Stay" Command
The next command you will teach them is "stay". Teaching them to stay will have two positive effects. The first will teach them that they need to stop and pay attention. The second is that no harm will come to them if they listen to you.
In the event of you leaving, telling them to stay will be a reinforcement command that everything will be just fine. If they can associate "stay" with pleasure and safety, then telling them to stay as you leave will reduce stress and anxiety.
Teach the "Lay Down" Command
Finally, the third command that they will need to learn is "lay down." This should be a relaxing phrase that tells your standard poodle puppies that they need to relax, calm down, and prepare for sleep.
Expand on Commands
Once you have taught your standard poodle puppies these basic commands, they will have a beginner understanding of what is expected of them. You want to develop new commands for specific levels of behavior. Commands for eating, going into their crate, retrieving items, etc., can all be worked into your training routine.
The goal of your training should be to educate your standard poodle puppies on how to act in the world. Fear and uncertainty are key factors to stress and anxiety. Understanding the outcome of situations with commands will help trigger these memories, and, as a result, limit fear.
Potty Training
Setting and putting your standard poodle puppies on a bathroom schedule will help reduce stress and anxiety. If poodles are uncomfortable or afraid that they may have an accident, this will add to their potential stress and anxiety. Creating a routine will help in this regard.
If your standard poodle puppies have an accident, don’t take it out on them. Rubbing their nose in the mess or yelling at them will have a negative effect. Take your time and keep to your schedules and actions. The better you are in your training, the better your standard poodle puppies will be as well.
Adjust Them To The Neighborhood
Take your standard poodle puppies for a walk in the neighborhood. As they learn the lay of the land, common noises, sights, smells, and other triggers, it will give them a sense of belonging and normality. Understanding when things are right can go a long way with stress. It can also be a benefit to poodle owners when something is wrong. Your standard poodle puppies will act irregularly if they sense an abnormality in their environment.
Give Healthy Treats
Your standard poodle puppies will quickly grow into your home and heart. Understanding all of the aspects of what makes them happy and identifying when they are not is key to a happy relationship. One way that you can treat your standard poodle puppies, and keep them healthy at the same time, is to feed them a healthy treat of Calming Zen chews.
These Chews are great-tasting and have natural compounds that will help with stress and anxiety. You want to try to avoid harsh bones and other treats that you give to larger dogs. With the stomach issues experienced with standard poodle puppies, finding all-natural and more soothing alternatives will go a long way.
Build Your Lifelong Bond
You and your standard poodle puppies have a long road ahead of you. Starting it on the right foot and understanding the temperament and behavior of one another will move the relationship along efficiently. Don’t force your standard poodle puppies. Time, training, and a loving environment will go a long way.