Tiny Dog Confidence

SPEAKER_00 0:00

They have no concept of being tiny.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

No, no concept of being tiny at all. They will take on the world.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Yeah, big big dog in a little tiny little body.

Welcome And What We Stand For

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world.

Meet Bobble The Toy Poodle

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Living with a toy dog. Linda Hughes. Yes. What happened? What you're like a hardcore big dog lass. Always. And and what is this grey thing? I took on a challenge. A challenge, alright? I did. I I uh what is he? He's a toy poodle. And how toy? Well he's he doesn't make three kilograms. He's tiny, isn't he? He's tiny, he's more like two kilos, and he lives in a tree house, I've heard.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, he lives with four border collies. And he has and he looks like a sheep. He does because he's he's small and grey and fluffy. He's very, very clever at staying out of the way, you know. So when we're when I'm in the kitchen and I look where Bobble is, his name's Bobble, as in Bobbleat at Foxallsolutions.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

He's so cute. He's so cute. He's he's beyond cute because he's also not like a I I'm personally, I like something a bit different. He's not what is he colour wise? Oh, he's silver. So he's quite unusual.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Unusual, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Well, you told me you got a poodle, I went, okay. And then you went silver and oh, silver poodle. Silver poodle.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

What is yeah? I mean, that was the universe providing backup and reinforcements for white for my grey pack. Um, otherwise there might have been a clash, but in colour, but no, silver's just fine by me.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Apricrop really would have clashed. It would. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Black, but no, black's not a good colour. No, so yeah, he he goes, he goes with the colour scheme. I think you can go gradients. I think you can go black, white, greys. Whites can be a bit stainy, yeah. White around the eyes and the feet and the ears and the bits. These eyes are not brilliant, but yeah.

The Desk Treehouse And Keyboard Chaos

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So yeah, I've got this little toil. What about the tree house? But well, you see, very early on in Bobble's life with me, I would be working at my desk and he would want attention. So I had bought him a little round cat bed, so I stuck it up on my desk and put him in it. And he quite liked that idea. Except when he's doesn't want to sleep, he comes and dances on my keyboard. So I've got a giggle at that. I'm going, get off my keyboard, don't you walk on my keyboard? And he gets out, and I have to push my keyboard under the under the screen house into the keyboard. So he doesn't dance on my keyboard because he does I sometimes I leave my the room and I come back and he's danced on the keyboard and he's all sorts of stuff on the screen. So funny.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So what have you noticed then? Biggest things you have to either consider or adapt or be aware of or think of when you're training a toy toy breed when I'm training a toy breed.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Even owning. Well, so to start with, the biggest challenge was bringing a toy breed into a house that's got four border collies in it. He's gonna get knocked, he's gonna get, you know, if

Safety In A Big Dog Household

SPEAKER_01 3:46

I'm not careful.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, it could get completely flattened and squashed from meaning flat.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, injured in all sorts of ways. They've only got a tread on him, and he could have been a broken bone. Certainly running or anything. No, no, no, it's a no complete no-no early on. So so that had to be monitored a lot. Just the fact that he, you know, he needed steps to get on the sofa because all my dogs are allowed on the sofa.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

He needed a little set of steps to get bobble steps to get on the sofa. Bobble lives here. How about how about things like eating? Like, because I think for me, eating's got to be a conviction.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Right, Mayor. And very early on, he taught me and my husband. I've got some pictures of my husband in his pajamas, kneeling on the kitchen floor with the toy poodle and a spoon, and spoon feeding the toy poodle his breakfast.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Like it just shows, isn't it, in the Hughes household. Um who's still spoon-fed from time who rules this

Walks Recall And Overconfidence

SPEAKER_00 4:49

roost. And okay, tell me something about in terms of toy dogs and just general out and about on other people and other people's dogs. Does that ever make you feel a little bit aware? Because I just feel like I would worry about how other people's dogs behave on my big dogs, let alone with a little dog.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Well, yeah, I don't, as I have a reactive dog, I I tend to be avoiding everybody. So my dogs don't get to actually mix with other dogs that much. Yeah. What has just been transpiring lately, because his lordship is now 18 months old and thinks he's the man, the king of the castle, is if I'm not if I'm not careful, I think I manage the reactive dog and the other dogs and forget about him because he's he's only a toy poodle. And who misbehaved? Who runs across the field? Hi, Lane hasn't generally has a good old shout at whoever it is is over there. Well, it's the toy poodle, and then doesn't come back when called. Tell me a little bit more about clipping. I know you've had to learn a bit of clipping. I have, yeah. This little face. So very, very quick. So they're clipped, as you know, for shows and things. And very early. Very early. Oh, yes, very early. I mean, when they're when silver poodles are are born, they're born black. Which is crazy, isn't it? Like a horse when they're born in different colours. And they're and and the people breeders very quickly clip their faces out, but then shows that they're going to be silver because the undercoat will be the silver colour. So he's had his face clipped out for a long while. And and just for general maintenance, it's easier to keep, I think, to keep his face clipped. But he can't be going to the because it grows in about a week or two, really quickly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I I clip his face and clip his feet and I and clip his bottom around his tail. And then he goes to a groomer every six to eight weeks.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

And you've not had any mishaps clipping? No.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

You're like crazy haircuts. No, I haven't done any crazy haircuts on it. He's still got two balls. He's still got I don't go anywhere near his balls. His balls

Clipping Grooming And Coat Maintenance

SPEAKER_01 6:59

actually have stayed black. So we now have a silver poodle that trots around with big black balls. With two big black balls on show at the back. It's just it's another pretty sight, I tell you.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Actually hilarious. Just too funny. No, on the on the serious front, the clip, the clipping, I mean, it's it's something that you you just have to get them used to and you have to keep doing once what you it's like.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Well, like yeah, I mean, isn't it? I've been talking to Michelle this week, who's got this this small dog herself that needs quite a lot of maintenance of how when you haven't really conditioned them to be maintained, what things you can do that make it tolerable. So he has a little mat that's on on a bench in the dog room, and that's the place I'd put him when I'm going to clip him.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Yes, he knows.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

So he knows that this is grooming, and you know, I might pull it his coat because they get knotted up. Yeah, particularly if you put harnesses on them all. How often do you get to bath him? I don't. Okay. Six to eight weeks at the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Um, unless obviously he's been rolling in something disgusting. Oh, he's a great fan of rolling in.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Well, this morning, I think that and everybody, my whole crew jumped like someone had like died. I was like just catching like Skittle mid-like, you know, when they do the I was like, Skittle! And so everyone went, I was like, What are you doing? Get out! Like, I'm not having this disgusting fox at like coming home. Yeah, I haven't got time for that in my life today. Um, so anyway, she flipped back up again and no more fox. He upends himself, and then I go, boom, stop that, get up, and he lies on his back. He doesn't care, just he doesn't care one bit. Just a different world, they

Knees Fitness Toys And Barking

SPEAKER_00 8:42

are a different world. Okay, so in terms of owning a toy breed, one of the other things we need to consider, I suppose, is actually one of the common things with toy breeds is patellas and knees and problems with like back end sitting and everything else. Anything different you're either going to do or plan to do or have done in that area because I know, for example, the toy breeds I know all of them have to work on this. He's got he's got poor knees. It's so common, it's so common.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Link had the sproze his legs out to compensate for his um lack of hamstrings and glutes and everything else and what else. Yeah, so I've started a programme of fitness for him. Nice. So he's starting to be conditioned to do to do fitness work. He, I mean, all of these poodles dance on the their back legs. I know all the time. No, I it's just a default position. They like to do it, don't they? They do, they do. So I have to be careful with him with that. But he he motors around well enough.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

How about one more toy question for you? What toys does the toy like?

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Well, he toys he likes small toys, yeah, soft toys. Yeah. So to begin with, he had cat toys. Nice. And he likes those ones that have got like crunchy plastic inside that make a crunchy noise when you crunch on them. He does have some. The crunches you are. Yeah. And for for my training, he has a little rabbit chaser. Nice. So and he absolutely move it. Yeah, yeah, moving. So keeping moving, so he can chase and punt it down and and and that sort of thing. Yeah. He's he's he's he has to be managed for barking because that's again default very in them, isn't it, as a breed? Yeah, very in them. So I have to condition him to well, you know, if I say thank you, that'll do. That'll do. He he go he he goes, Oh, okay, you've got it. Okay, man, I'll hand over the reins to you. So yeah, he's um they have no concept of being tiny. No, no concept of being tiny at all. They will take on the world.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Yeah, big big dog in a little tiny little potty. No, he looks lovely. I really I think he's a lot of fun. Well, thank you for sharing him with us. I love that he's got tree house onto your desk. Yes, well, I that was of the the the the bed on the desk.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

He he loved it. So I I put in a little ramp. I love it. He has a tree house. I don't love it. He has a ramp and goes in his bed on my desk. So he doesn't have to be lifted up.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

It's too cute, it's like it's like a proper little like mate. And he and he curls up. Curls up on your desk. I mean, it's cute as hell. Last one before you leave. I just like his little story as to how he got sleeping on the bed.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Oh dear. So I have never allowed dogs to sleep on the bed. I don't like it. I've never liked it. It's not something I mean, it's not that my dogs don't get on the bed every now and

How Bobble Won The Bed

SPEAKER_01 11:44

again, but I don't like them sleeping on the bed. And that we had a little routine where I would I'd get into bed. We myself and my husband, we both read when we go to bed. So Bobble would be on the bed and he'd be reading, I'd be reading, and he'd and then and then Huppy would get up and pick him up and put him in his crate, which is in our bedroom, to go to bed. And he'd he'd go, not night, Linda, by waving Bobble's paw up and down at me. So we had this little sweet little ritual that went on. Anyway, one night Bobble curled himself up between the two pillows. Looking quite cute, just snugged in and silver fox. And I don't know. I'm I'm clearly getting soft in my old age. I said, Oh, leave him there, you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

So cute. So now he's sleeping on my bed. There we go. A few weeks later, Bobble's found home. Yeah, super cute. Well, thank you for sharing Bobble with us. I love that you've got a toy. I love that you've got a tree house, and even better, I love that you've got a toy treehouse lover that sleeps on the bed. That sleeps on the bed. So cannot wait for more of Bobble's adventures.