Breed consultation
Which Poodle or Doodle is right for your home?
Most people arrive knowing they want a curly dog and not much else. That is a perfectly reasonable place to start. Five questions will get you most of the way to an answer, and you can work through them here without talking to anybody.
Work it out
Five questions that decide it
In roughly this order. The first one matters more than the other four put together, and it is the one most people skip.
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01
Is anyone home during the day?
Poodles and doodles are bred to work alongside people. A house that is empty from nine to six is the most common route to an anxious, destructive dog.
If nobody is home most days, our honest advice is to wait rather than to pick a different size. This question can end the conversation, and sometimes it should.
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02
Flat or independent house?
This decides size more than anything else does. All three Poodle sizes live happily indoors; only one of them is fair to keep in a compact flat.
Flat → Toy or Miniature. Independent house with room → any of the three, and the larger crosses come into play.
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03
Are there young children at home?
Not a temperament question — all of these are good-natured. It is a question of how breakable the dog is, and how easily it can knock a child over.
Toddlers → avoid the smallest and the largest. The middle sizes are the safer call in both directions.
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04
How much grooming will you really commit to?
Every dog on this site needs brushing several times a week and a professional groom roughly every six to eight weeks. For life. There is no low-maintenance option here.
If that is not realistic, the honest answer is a different breed altogether, and we will say so.
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05
Do you need to know how the adult will turn out?
A purebred Poodle comes with a known adult size, a known coat and a recognised standard. A cross is a range of possible outcomes.
Predictability matters most → Poodle. Temperament matters most and you can live with variation → doodle.
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Answered them and still unsure?
That is normal. Send us your five answers and we will tell you what we would suggest, and why.
Send us your answers
The short answer
Where to start, based on your answers
Find the line closest to your household. None of these is a rule — they are the suggestions we give most often, and the reasoning behind each is on the page it points to.
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
| Your situation | Start here |
|---|---|
| Flat, adults only, want the smallest practical dog | Toy Poodle |
| Flat or house, children at home, generally undecided | Miniature Poodle — the most common answer we give |
| Independent house with room, happy to walk twice a day | Standard Poodle |
| Want the softest, most sociable temperament and have the space | Goldendoodle |
| Active household wanting a walking and running companion | Labradoodle |
| Allergy at home is driving the decision | Ask us. No dog is hypoallergenic, but coat type changes a great deal — start with what the generations mean |
| Nobody home during the working day | None of them, for now. This is the one case where we would suggest waiting rather than choosing |
If you would rather just ask
What talking to us actually involves
There is no form to fill in and nothing to pay for a conversation. It is a message or a phone call, usually ten minutes.
- We ask about your home first. Where you live, who is there during the day, children, other pets, and what you can spend on grooming.
- We tell you what we would suggest, and why. Including when the answer is a size you had not considered.
- We tell you what is actually available. Sometimes the right answer for your home is not in front of us this week, and we will say that rather than steer you to what is.
- We will tell you not to buy one. If the household is out all day, or grooming is not realistic, that is the advice you will get.
You are not committing to anything by asking. Plenty of these conversations end with someone deciding to wait a year, and that is a good outcome. A puppy bought into the wrong household is a problem for the next decade and a half.
FAQ
Questions about choosing
Which one is best?
There is no best one, and anybody who answers that question directly is guessing about your household. There is a size and a type that fits your home, your routine and your budget, and that answer is different for a working couple in a Mohali high-rise than for a family in a Panchkula house with a lawn.
What if you do not have the right puppy when I ask?
Then we tell you that. Availability changes week to week, and the honest position is that the puppy suited to your home may not be here right now. We would rather you waited for the right one than took the one in front of you.
Can you help if I am not ready to buy yet?
Yes. A good number of the people we talk to are six months or a year away from being ready, and those are usually the best-prepared owners when they do get there. Ask now and buy later if that suits you.
Should I choose by colour?
Choose by size and temperament first, then take the colour that comes with the right puppy. Colour has no bearing on how a dog lives with you, and choosing on it is the quickest way to end up with the wrong size in your home for the next fifteen years.
Next step
Tell us about your home
Send us your answers to the five questions above and we will tell you what we would suggest. No obligation, and no form to fill in.
Rather read first? Poodle sizes, doodle types, or how buying from us works.