Poodle Rescue/Adoption

Type "poodle rescue" into an internet search engine, and you'll come up with literally thousands of hits for all kinds of poodle rescue organizations. If the poodle is such a smart, sweet dog, why are so many of them homeless? There are many reasons.

Abuse and Neglect

The poodle might have been removed from the house by police or animal protection officers after the owner abused or neglected. The abuse or neglect may have created behavior problems in the poodle, such as food aggression, making it doubly hard to adopt.

Runaways

Why anyone would spend several hundred dollars on a dog and not take the precaution of having a cyber chip implanted to identify it is a mystery, but many rescue poodles are found wandering in the streets with no contact information about their owners available. It's impossible to know whether the poodle was deliberately abandoned or whether it got away from its owner and got lost.

Behavior Problems

Some owners give up their poodles due to behavior problems. Perhaps the poodle isn't housebroken or perhaps it bites or barks constantly. Owners are not always honest about why they are giving up their dogs, so the person who adopts the poodle may have a nasty surprise when they get it home and discover the problem for themselves.

Health Problems

Poodles are subject to some fairly serious genetic illnesses. A dog with Addison's disease, for instance, requires costly hormone injections every month. The owner might give up the dog because he or she can no longer afford the vet bills.

Failed Breeding Plans

Sometimes owners buy a female poodle planning to breed it and make money. When they realize that an amateur breeding makes little if any money, they may become discouraged and give the poodle up.

Other times a female poodle will get pregnant through design or mistake and the owner gives the puppies up for adoption because he or she can't find good homes for them.

Failed Show Plans

Some owners buy a purebred poodle hoping to show it. They don't realize that the fact that a poodle is purebred does not automatically make it a show dog. In fact, the vast majority of purebred poodles have minor defects that keep them from becoming AKC champions.

These dogs still make excellent pets, but if the owner is more interested in a champion than a pet, he or she may surrender the dog after learning it will never be a prize winner.

Owner Problems

Sometimes the poodle becomes homeless through no fault of its own. Perhaps its owners divorce, or move away, or have a baby and feel they can no longer manage a pet, or simply get bored with the full time responsibility of having a poodle.

Often, people buy poodles because poodle puppies are so adorable. They may get the puppy without adequately researching the breed. The time and attention raising a poodle takes catches them off guard.

If you are considering poodle rescue or poodle adoption, it's important to find out as much as you can about why the poodle was surrendered to a rescue organization. In fact, not asking the right questions is one of the top ten poodle rescue mistakes.

Attention: To discover how YOU can have the Happiest, Healthiest and Best Behaved Poodle, get a copy of this Poodle Guide NOW!