Toy Poodle

There is something of an old royal court in the Poodle, and something of a village landing stage. Before it reached the salons it was a water dog, retrieving from lakes and reed beds, its dense curls keeping out the cold. The French, who hold the standard today, call it caniche, from their word for a duck. The German Pudel comes from splashing about in water.

The FCI describes the breed in standard no. 172, Group IX, Section 2, and recognizes four size varieties: Standard, Medium, Miniature and Toy. The Toy is the smallest, measuring 24 to 28 cm at the withers, with one centimetre of tolerance below. The standard gives no weight, but an adult of this size usually weighs around two to three kilograms.

Yet it is not a miniature Poodle in any ornamental sense. It has the same mind as its larger relatives, the same spring in its step and the same need to be part of a person's day. All of it fits into a body that would sit comfortably in a travel bag.

You know a Poodle by its coat before you take in anything else. The hair is dense, springy and wound into tight curls that grow continuously and do not moult with the seasons, as they do in dogs with an undercoat. The standard also allows a corded coat, but it is rare in family homes. Almost every Toy Poodle wears curls.

Today the FCI standard allows both solid colours and selected two- and multi-coloured patterns. The solid colours are black, white, brown, grey and fawn, with fawn covering a wide range from a pale shade to red and apricot.

The outline is harmonious and compact, close to square in proportion, the neck carried proudly, the movement light and springy, as if the dog were walking on tiptoe. Dark almond eyes look out with attention and a hint of mischief. The pom-pom clip belongs to the show ring. At home a Poodle usually wears a short, soft trim that gives it a plush look and spares its owner a daily battle with mats.

The word teacup sounds like a promise of a dog small enough to fit in porcelain. It is worth knowing what really lies behind it, because at Naomi's a dog like this is not a curiosity from an advertisement. He is a member of the family and the father of our puppies.

A Teacup is not a separate variety recognized by the FCI. It is an informal, commercial term for exceptionally small Poodles, usually smaller and lighter than a typical Toy. The official standard recognizes the Toy Poodle but not a Teacup variety, so there is no single official height or weight that defines the name. Our Mikki weighs 1.7 kg.

Size matters here. Exceptionally small puppies have a narrower margin of safety: they are more exposed to hypoglycaemia, injuries to delicate bones and dental problems, among other things. That is why they need especially attentive care, regular feeding and a safe environment, along with people who remember that someone very small is underfoot.

There is also a line we hold to. A tiny male can be a father, but a tiny female should not be a mother, because pregnancy and birth are too great a risk for so slight a body. In our kennel the Teacup is only ever the father, and the mothers are females of a healthy, full weight. It is also wise to be wary of advertisements promising an adult dog the size of a cup. An adult's weight cannot be guaranteed in an eight-week-old puppy. It can only be honestly predicted from the size of the parents.

A Poodle thinks. It is the first thing anyone notices after even a week together. It learns fast and reads tone of voice and the mood of a house. The Poodle is known for an exceptional ability to learn and to work with people: in Stanley Coren's well-known ranking of working and obedience intelligence it came second, just behind the Border Collie. In the small body of a Toy, that intelligence does not disappear. It simply looks for something to do in a smaller space.

It is cheerful, lively and deeply attached to its people. It joins in everything, from the morning coffee to the evening film, and copes poorly with long hours in an empty flat. In a dog this clever, boredom quickly turns into barking or into games of its own invention, not always welcome ones.

With strangers it can be reserved at first, though never timid. It flourishes under gentle, consistent handling: short sessions, a reward, patience. Shouting and pressure work against you, because a Poodle remembers not only the command but the feeling it was given with.

A Toy Poodle settles wherever someone is waiting for it: a city flat, a couple, older owners, a family whose children already understand that a three-kilogram dog is not a toy to be carried about. It does not need a garden to thrive. It does need daily exercise, walks, play and something to occupy its mind.

It is often chosen by people who mind dog hair on the sofa, because a Poodle does not moult seasonally and little hair is left around the house. Still, no dog is completely hypoallergenic. Allergies are also triggered by proteins in saliva and dander, and the reaction is always individual.

It is fair to say who a Toy Poodle is not for, too. Not a home that stands empty for ten hours a day. Not someone hoping for a dog that needs no upkeep, since the curls demand steady work. And not a family with very young children if the dog is a Teacup, because such a dog is too fragile for careless play.

A Poodle's curls are both its charm and its commitment. Dead hair does not fall out but stays caught in the curl, so the coat needs working through several times a week with a slicker brush and a metal comb, all the way down to the skin. Brushing only the surface gives an appearance of order beneath which mats keep growing.

Every four to six weeks a Poodle needs the groomer: a clip, a bath and a blow-dry that straightens and sets the hair. It pays to introduce a puppy to this in its first months, so that the dryer and the grooming table come to mean calm rather than stress.

The rest of the routine is small but regular. The ears need regular checks and cleaning, with an eye out for redness, an unpleasant smell or excess discharge. How the hair around the ear canal is managed is best decided for the individual dog. Nails are trimmed every few weeks and teeth brushed from puppyhood, because tartar builds up surprisingly fast in small dogs. Light-coloured Poodles also need the area around the eyes wiped daily.

The Poodle is a long-lived breed and with good care often stays with its family well into its teens. A long life still needs supporting from the start, with an eye on what the breed can be prone to.

Health problems seen in small Poodles include luxating patella, eye diseases and some orthopaedic conditions, among them Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease. Poodles can also inherit progressive retinal atrophy (prcd-PRA), for which a genetic test exists. When choosing a breeder, ask not only about the prcd-PRA DNA test but also about eye examinations and patella assessments of the breeding dogs. Add to that the dental problems typical of toy breeds and, in the smallest puppies, a risk of hypoglycaemia.

Feeding is part of health, not a separate subject. A small dog has a fast metabolism and slender reserves, so a puppy eats several times a day and an adult gets small-kibble food in measured portions. At two or three kilograms, every extra hundred grams puts a load on knees that are already one of the breed's weaker points.

In our home the Poodle is not a breed from a catalogue but Mikki: our stud dog, a member of the household and the smallest dog in the family. He lives with us, not in a kennel run, like all our dogs.

Mikki is the father of our Maltipoo puppies, in whom the traits of the Poodle and the Maltese come together. He brings his Poodle genes to each litter, but every puppy's looks, coat texture, size and temperament are its own and can differ even within a single litter. His small size lets us raise litters of petite Maltipoos without reversing the rule described above: the mothers are always females of a healthy, full weight.

You will find his profile below, among our breeding dogs. If you want to know how much Poodle there is in a Maltipoo and what to expect from it, take a look at the Maltipoo page or simply ask us about a particular litter.