I did a lot of research before getting another dog after our English Cockers passed away. I was attracted to Standard Poodles because of their intelligence, temperament and ease of training. They are known to be good family dogs as well as a good watchdog. They also seem to get along very well with other animals as well, sometimes even to the point of being protective of smaller animals.

I have the honor of being owned by three Standard Poodles at the moment, Meg, Bob, and Charley. All three of them have excellent personalities, although they are three totally different personalities.

There is a misconception that females make a better pet and have better personalities, which I too thought was the case at first! Meg, our female Poodle, is very calm, reserved and dignified. She is very loving, but on her own terms. She also tends to be somewhat stubborn at times! Sometimes she acts like, I cant be bothered doing that!

Our males, Bob and Charley, are real clowns! They are more exuberant and want to play all the time. They are more of a get in your face type of dog, always looking for attention and affection.

Our Standard Poodles have excellent temperaments and seem to get along with everyone, kids and adults. My husband and I have made it a point to start socializing them at a very early age, to get them used to people, places, sounds and riding in the car.

Whenever there is a festival or outdoor event in town, we always take them and they are always a big hit. Everyone wants to pet them, take pictures and ask us all about them. They love the attention! Theyre not afraid of crowds or loud noises.

They seem to be able to read your body language and emotions and I swear they can tell when you are sad or happy and react accordingly! When Im sad, they come and put their head on my lap and look at me with those big sad eyes! When Im happy, they jump around smiling and wagging their pompom tails.

They can also be quite humorous at times as well. Our male Bobs favorite spot is sleeping on the couch (not a good thing I know), but Meg and Charley were already on the couch. He looked at them as if to say, Hey, thats my spot, and thought about climbing in between them for a moment. He then looked at a small 16 x 16 inch pillow that Charley had thrown off the couch and decided to try and lay down on it. Now this is a 75 pound large male poodle! He went round and round in circles on top of this pillow and finally tried to curl up in a ball on top of the pillow. It was hilarious!

The Standard Poodle temperament is that of a people pleaser. They will go out of their way to make their humans happy. They generally bond to everyone in their human family instead of one person exclusively.

As long as you have a sense of humor and dont mind a dog that outsmarts you once in a while, a Standard Poodle may be a good choice for you!