Temperament: More Poodle or Retriever or Others

[ej]

I have been asked this many times.  And I am interested to hear from my fellow DK-ers.

 

Let me start by saying, from what I have read about Standard Poodles, I see more Poodle temperatment in Koda than Retriever.

 

He is bouncy, full of personality and charisma, yet rather standoffish (he greets new people and dogs with 3 seconds of tail wagging and sniffing, then he walks off like he is not too interested). He is friendly and patient with family and friends, but he only shows his love and affection towards DH and myself.  He is very trainable, eager to please us and only us.  Highly in tune with our state of emotion -- e.g. he senses when we are nervous towards meeting a stray dog, he becomes alert and gets into his attack stance, ready to lunge!  I believe he senses "bad" characters too.  He had lunged up and snapped at one of my neighbors, whom we later found out that he is known to be a pretentious and insincere person.

 

[Camilla and Darwin]

Murphy sounds a lot like Darwin!

[De Voeller]

Annie is very much like a golden retreiver to me in her personality. She is very loving and has never shown any agression. She isn't very fearful of things except bigger dogs that have come after her in the dog park. She is very people oriented and loves to be petted which is great because we are working towards therapy work. She is smart and knows her commands but still a distraction can get her off course. She just turned a year old but is still so puppy in her play. Her body is shaped like the standard poodle (when she is shaved and you can see it). She eats when she wants and I can leave the bowl out where as my golden would chow down on anything and overeat if I let him. Everywhere we go she wants to greet people. Love her sweet dispostion like my golden had. De

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri (F1 mini goldendoodle) is more golden in my opinion. She has never met a stranger - the more people, the bigger the party! She will try to please anyone and will follow people everywhere. And the biggest giveaway is that she will retrieve for hours. She goes nuts for a ball and will roll it all over the house by herself for hours. She sees a bird, she stops and points, then tries to pursue. She would be a fabulous bird dog if she had softer jaws! HAHA!
I do see the poodle in her because she is so smart (that is golden of course, also!) - she can problem solve like no other. To watch her get a ball out from under a couch is hysterical - she kicks it to bounce it off the back wall so it will come right to her. Since she has her cut, she has a leaner looking body - long legs, which remind me more of a poodle. But all in all, she is much more golden than poodle IMO!

[2m42srv7vi6sq]

Caeleach is RETREIVER, CJ is more poodle.

Caeleach, at 2 1/2 is still a bundle of energy and has springs in her feet. CJ is less like her mom and more like her Poodle dad. She is calm, playful when you want her to be and very obedient.

Of course both tails wag constantly!

[Leslie J]

I'm not really sure what the specific differences are between Poodles and Labs... can someone tell me?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not sure that you can generalize about all standard poodles, goldens, labs, etc. I think you'll find retrievers who are one person dogs and poodles who love everyone.
But one difference I do see between poodles and most field dogs is their focus. Poodles usually want attention and are not shy about getting it. I have not known any to be "stand-offish", although I'm sure there are some. Poodles seem to be more focused on you when you are speaking to them and in training. The retrievers seem less focused on what you are saying to them, and while they may wag their tails and be friendly, they also seem to be much more easily distracted, looking around at other things, etc. They want to be near you but not necessarily focused on you, whereas a poodle will usually be more interested in you than the surroundings. These are generalizations, I know, but it's what I have personally observed.

[Robyn, Greg and Snickers]

Snickers is DEFINITELY a GR. Our trainer describes Goldendoodles as the crazy uncle John who is always ready for a party and that fits Snicks to a T

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

That would be Peri.....easily distracted LOL!

[Camilla and Darwin]

I agree. Every dog is individual, although, I have noticed that Darwin is easily distracted, and It's always reminded me of the other Goldens I have known, they just get excited by anything. A bird, sound, piece of food, etc...

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

A worm....it's the little things in life...sigh....

[Camilla and Darwin]

LOL

[Leslie J]

Thanks, Karen. I guess Cocoa is really just a "combo" dog... I don't think she consistently displays a poodle or lab personality- she is a bit of both.

Physically she is a bouncy poodle (with doodle hair)- knowing her and watching her has made me an admirer of poodles... maybe someday we'll get her a poodle brother.