Adjusting to Life with a Poodle Washington DC

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Life with a Poodle is wonderful, but there are adjustments to make when you add a new member to your family. You need bowls, beds, toys, and a collar and lead, for starters. You also need to consider where in your home your Poodle will spend his days and nights, and you need to introduce him to other family members, both two- and four-legged. Whether you decide to feed your Poodle commercial dog food, make home-cooked meals, or opt for raw food, make sure you provide your Poodle with a balanced diet that includes the proper proportions of nutrients. Always watch your dog’s weight; extra pounds can lead to arthritis, heart problems, and diabetes. Grooming should also be near the top of your list in terms of Poodle care. Your first task is to create a grooming schedule for your Poodle. With a schedule in place, you can decide whether to groom your Poodle yourself or take him to a professional. Important grooming tasks, no matter who’s holding the clippers, include

Brushing

Bathing

Clipping

Checking your Poodle’s nails, eyes, ears, and teeth

Training and Enjoying Your Poodle
At the top of your “to do” list will be housetraining, and Poodles quickly learn this important lesson. Be consistent, and give your Poodle plenty of opportunities to do the right thing, in the right place. The same intelligence that makes Poodles easy to housetrain also means that without proper training, they’ll try to run their homes themselves. This attitude leads to all kinds of trouble. A yappy, illmannered dog, no matter his size, isn’t cute. Train your Poodle, whether he’s a Standard, Miniature, or Toy. I don’t mean to sound like a puppy drill sergeant. Just because you’re training doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. In fact, training means you can have more fun! The better trained your dog is, the more places you can go and the more activities you can try. For instance, you’ll have an easier time socializing your Poodle. For even more fun, you can consider competing with your Poodle. Some of these include conformation showing, rally, obedience, agility, hunting, and tracking.

Keeping Your Poodle Healthy
Poodles don’t need designer clothes or the latest in video games (although some do get the clothes). Your dog won’t ever ask for a car, and you won’t need to finance his college education (maybe just his obedience education). You won’t spend your time carpooling your dog and his friends (I assume). And you certainly won’t go into debt to pay for his wedding (I hope!). I’m not trying to say that Poodles don’t need care and maintenance. They do. They also cost their owners money, but compared to what a child costs, you’ll spend way less, and you’ll probably worry less, too! According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the annual cost of owning a dog — not including illness or spaying or neutering — is between $420 and $780. If you settle on $600 a year, over a span of 14 years, you’ll spend about $8,400 caring for your Poodle over his lifetime. That covers only half of your child’s sweet 16 car or a year of college tuition! Here are a few important health-maintenance tasks to add to your to-do list after you get a Poodle:

Schedule regular visits with your veterinarian. Keep your dog up-to-date with needed vaccinations.

Spay or neuter your Poodle.

Exercise and examine your Poodle at home on a regular basis. Any dog can have the occasional upset stomach, cut, or bump. You don’t need to panic, but you do need to be aware and react properly. In addition, there are also breed-specific problems, such as patellar luxation in Toys and Miniatures. In an emergency, quick action on your part can help stabilize your Poodle before you make that trip to the vet’s. Senior dogs, just like senior humans, may need a different routine and a different diet to remain happy and healthy.

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

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