PricklePatch posted 10/1/2020 00:44 AM

We are in our new to us house. My 2 15 or 16 year old fur babies went over the Rainbow, June 11 and then my 5 year old service dog on June 13.

My breeder had no adults. It takes 2 years to train a puppy to be a service dog. It is a crap shoot if it happens, 1 out of 4 make it.

My breeder had just retired more then half her dogs, health crisis. There was a potential, turned out not for 2 more years. I talked to another breeder and she called me and said, she took all her dogs out and would give me a 8 year old in Jan. I am grateful but I would still need to task train her.

Original breeder called said, they had a male stud who is 4 going on 5. He has the same personality as my Mali. My fear is he is a standard poodle and stud dogs are notorious for marking.

Should I skip these and get a puppy from from original breeder or take the stud. The 8 year old just seems to old to work out more then 2 years.

WhatsRight posted 10/1/2020 07:23 AM

I don’t know anything about service dogs, but I don’t think I would want the male.

Are there any other breeders or resources you could check with???

tushnurse posted 10/1/2020 08:12 AM

Has the male been trained?
You can retrain them after Neutering to stop all the marking. It takes consistency, and attention, and an E collar makes it easier.
I have actually worked really hard to prevent my lab who is almost 2 from marking. We have not had him fixed as we hope to breed him at least once, and he is just now old enough to have all the testing done to confirm he is healthy enough to breed.
My female lab was around a lot of males at the duck club when she was young, and she is as bad about marking as a male is.

That said if he has been task trained and is a good sturdy dog, it seems like a no brainer to me.
I actually prefer males to females, I think they tend to be sweeter.

PricklePatch posted 10/1/2020 11:52 AM

The male is obedience trained. He walks loose leash and off leash. He would have to pass canine good citizen, task training can very easy. The ADA requires 3 tasks, it does not specify which they need to be. One thing can be deep compression therapy.

I am thinking Francisco, may be my new man.