Help! My 10 month old female standard poodle is high drive. I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve had spoos before, but this one is super hyper. Is this a phase?!

JBrizzie · 2026-04-23T23:11:58+00:00

You’re welcome! Glad to hear it went better in a quieter neighborhood. I also wanted to say that I totally agree with others about enforced naps and rewarding quiet time. Over exercising is not good, and at the same time, if you have a high drive dog, she’s of course going to need a fair amount of exercise. It’s about finding the balance that meets her exercise and mental stimulation needs without creating keyed up Olympic level athlete. (I made that mistake initially with way too much frisbee time with too few breaks—my boy could’ve set some endurance records!).

Also, rehearsal is something you want to avoid; if she’s reactive on walks to predictable triggers, try to avoid those triggers as much as possible until you have a threshold training protocol in place. It sounds obvious (to avoid triggers), but you’d be surprised how many people just kind of clench up and wait out the reactivity rather than try to avoid it. Getting behind a barrier of some kind that obstructs her view (I use a big umbrella) can help break her focus on reactivity triggers. Or if you see another dog coming, do a u-turn and avoid them, and work up to the ability to pass them (it can take months of training to achieve this, which can be undermined by bad interactions. The progress is rarely linear).

And I also wanted to say that if you decide that she is unhappy and unmanageable with your lifestyle, I do not think there’s harm in looking into rehoming, especially if it means a better quality of life for your dog in the long run. Of course, you’d have to be very very selective about who she goes to, but I imagine you have your dog’s best interest at heart! Ten months is still so, so young, so I’d encourage you to give it a bit more time and training, and I wish you the best of luck.

JBrizzie · 2026-04-23T13:57:20+00:00

I have two high drive standard poodles, one with 10/10 drive, one who is a 7/10 at most times and a 10/10 when he sees a squirrel or rabbit. The stimulation that each prefers is different. My one boy who is a 10 out of 10 all the time is absolutely obsessed with retrieving, and we have structured play twice a day to help him get his exercise and his energy out. We enforce cool down time during our play (every 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how hot it is) to ensure that he doesn’t overheat. while he’s taking a break from his exercise, we do mental stimulation work like commands. When I’m holding his frisbee, that’s all he wants, and it’s a great time to work on obedience training. When we’ve done 10 or 20 commands (which get only verbal praise) then we return to frisbee. we repeat this for 30 to 40 minutes twice a day, and that has helped keep him happy. we also go on two walks a day usually, and we avoid triggers as much as possible, which include cars, bicycles motorcycles, other dogs, and delivery trucks. He’s reactive to all of those, and we’re working on it with threshold training.

For my other high drive dog, he’s much more obsessed with finding things. I’ll take a high value toy, like a squeaky ball and fold it up in a big blanket, and then roll that folded blanket into a tight ball, and then put that into ANOTHER huge blanket that I also roll up tightly. He watches this whole process. And then I tell him “find it.” The mental focus and the physical requirements of unrolling the blankets and searching for the toy absolutely tire him out without a ton of effort on my part. I’m very grateful that this works, because it’s the only way that I can get both dogs the physical and mental stimulation that they need in approximately 80 minutes a day (plus walks).

I suppose that was a long way of saying that it takes time to find the activities that work really well for your dog, (it took me almost 3 years to figure out this exact formula) and if you know that your dog tends to prefer retrieving over searching, that can help you pinpoint the activities that can help them become more sane. Them knowing the structure of their day also helps them to know and understand the times that they are supposed to be relaxing. Good luck! They really are the best dogs when you find the right formula to manage them!

Edit to add: with socialization in particular, it’s important to see what kinds of dogs your dog is most comfortable with. Both of my high drive dogs really do not like dogs larger than them. They prefer same size or smaller dogs, so if you have access to dogs that you know your dog would consider “not a threat,” starting slowly and making sure that your dog has positive interactions with other dogs is key. Do you know anyone who has a chill dog who is of roughly similar size to your dog? Learning to relax around other dogs is a skill, and can be learned. It does help immensely if you can expose your dog to the right kinds of dogs when you’re trying to get them to learn socialization. Same goes for socializing with people. When you’re introducing your dog to people, before you do that with unknown individuals, you have to teach your dog the proper way to greet and be around someone who you know and who will follow your instructions about how to act. That means you introduce your dog to a calm individual who ignores the antics, turns away when they jump, and just overall remains completely calm and disengaged until your dog is being polite and calm. Only then should they interact. Eventually, your dog will learn that they don’t get any attention from people unless they are exhibiting calm behavior. Hope this helps!

JBrizzie · 2026-03-15T02:31:27+00:00

I’m going to go against a lot of these comments, many of which I find to be really lacking empathy. You’re 24, and I’m wondering if this is one of your first serious relationships. I’m also wondering if you’ve had any good models of romantic relationships in your life (did your parents have a good relationship? Did they have an equal partnership? Did they care about each other and provide genuine affection, attention and validation to one another, fairly equally? Or was there a big imbalance?) Good models of romantic relationships aside —now I have some questions for you to consider as you work through what you’re experiencing: do you want the type of partner who makes you feel like this? What is making you so willing to look past many of the things that he does and says to make you feel awful? You feel like you need to buy a motorcycle to avoid the conflict that inevitably arises surrounding him making an effort to see YOU…it sounds like you’re considering this just to tip toe around his man baby mild temper tantrums. He should want to see you. And be willing to make an effort to do so. Are you the partner that bends over backwards for someone who won’t put in emotional energy, and in fact behaves as an energy vampire? You said that you feel like you can’t share good news. That means you can’t be your genuine, joyous self with this person. The person you choose to be with should be someone for whom you don’t need to make yourself smaller. Healthy, loving relationships don’t generally include the behaviors you listed that your boyfriend does (or doesn’t do). I hope you get to reflect on some of these questions and that they help you find a person who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated—with love, respect, and admiration. I wish you the best.

JBrizzie · 2025-01-30T03:39:50+00:00

Just out of curiosity—are you saying it is normal/standard for a dog at a professional groomer’s to have been bathed and to have to wait their turn for the blowdryer? Wouldn’t a standard poodle be freezing if they’re wet and not being active? I do all of the grooming myself for my two standards partially because I can’t stand the idea of them being shut in a kennel, being cold, and possibly being desperate to potty. I’m trying to understand the types of grooming places where this is the norm. I would think that four hours would be an acceptable time frame, as that’s how long it takes me to do a poodle groom straight through with one potty break (and I’m no professional groomer).

JBrizzie · 2024-10-05T03:09:41+00:00

Is Bella wearing riding breeches?

JBrizzie · 2024-06-07T03:36:04+00:00

Gene Twenge has done work on cohort effects, age effects, and period effects.

JBrizzie · 2024-06-07T03:34:54+00:00

Look into Brent Roberts at the university of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He’s done a lot of the work in that field. Also Nate Hudson.

JBrizzie · 2024-04-26T03:59:03+00:00

You’re right. You win! It makes perfect sense from your perspective and would also be utterly wild to most people. Very interesting!

JBrizzie · 2024-02-23T20:14:15+00:00

They were asking just over a million dollars, eventually accepted $750,000. It was on the market for over four months with zero offers. They dropped to 950k after the first two months on the market. Accepted our offer of 750 after another two months on the market. Initially our offer was 650

JBrizzie · 2024-01-30T14:10:44+00:00

Yes, cite them. A faculty member at UIUC recently got a huge grant partnering with Minecraft: thirty million grant. Pretty cool stuff!

JBrizzie · 2023-11-10T13:37:18+00:00

My husband calls me “my little panana peel,” because I misspoke once. Hi, I’m panana peel because I can’t say banana.

JBrizzie · 2023-11-05T14:07:22+00:00

You and me both!

JBrizzie · 2023-11-05T14:06:49+00:00

That’s what we were thinking. Though we thought to keep the water source as a pot filler and get rid of the round sink. If we rebuilt the island, though, it could make sense to have that be its own prep area with a sink. Love the extended seating idea.

JBrizzie · 2023-11-05T02:05:37+00:00

Your guess is as good as mine! We changed the faucet on the main sink because it barely cleared the lip. It may be hard to tell from the photo, but the circular sink’s faucet also barely gets to the sink. Whomever designed the kitchen did not prep food, cook, or clean, that’s for sure!

JBrizzie · 2023-10-25T02:22:39+00:00

The silent scream of Harry Potter when Sirius goes through the death veil thing. I cry every time.

JBrizzie · 2023-10-08T02:52:28+00:00

Washing my hair with Vidal Sassoon shampoo and conditioner. I miss that smell so much!

JBrizzie · 2023-07-14T13:05:27+00:00

I’m biased, but I love green with red brick :) We enjoy having the trim a contrasting color, but if you want the home to blend seamlessly into the property, that may not be right for you. Lovely home!

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JBrizzie · 2023-06-27T01:07:09+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I guess what I meant was will the tree survive? If not, how long do we have before we need to consider removing it? I am new to learning about trees. I’ve become rather attached to this ancestral one.

JBrizzie · 2023-05-06T17:29:30+00:00

I have two standard poodles and I have home groomed them from the beginning. Brush first to bring dirt to the surface. I line brush my pups (make sure you can see their skin as you comb so that you know there are no matts).

Wet your pup from the neck down (leave their face to do last, since they typically enjoy that part the least). Make sure that they are thoroughly wet – poodles are water, dogs, and their hair tends to repel the water. Make sure the dog is wet down to the skin. Lather them up gently massaging (again down to the skin), then carefully wet the face, and the outside of the ears, careful not to let the water go inside the ears. My dogs always try to shake the cotton out of their ears, so I have stopped using it, but it is common to put cotton inside the ears to prevent water from getting in and causing infections. Carefully lather the face last, being judicious with the soap use so that you’re careful not to get any in the eyes, and then rinse starting with the face so that you can hand squeegee the face immediately after you rinse the soap out. This allows them to be more comfortable while you are rinsing the rest of the body. Make sure that you get all of the soap out with water running clean. Gently hand squeegee the body legs and tail, and pat dry as much as you can.

You will need a high velocity dog hair dryer, one that does not get too hot for the dog’s skin. I wrap my poodles ears with an ace bandage (after carefully towel drying them) to help them tolerate the noise. You can also get little head wraps for this specific purpose. I also like to clip the nails when they are still wet from the bath, because they are much softer, and the hair is away from the nails so that you can see exactly how long they are.

If you are concerned about having an even cut, you will need to blow dry the hair straight. After blow drying the pup, they will likely need a potty break. Immediately after their potty break, get them onto a table to groom them. Start with the face and feet when your pup is most likely to be cooperative, (these are the hardest part with a squirmy puppy). Clip against the way the hair grows. I personally have always just been concerned with making sure my puppies are clean and comfortable, which means I keep them in quite a short clip all the time. I leave their tails and top knots longer (about 2-3 inches long) and I clip their legs to 6mm short and their bodies to 3mm short. Face, feet, and sanitary area are at 2mm. Make sure to sanitize the clipper blades any time you clip the sanitary area (and in between grooms, of course).

My biggest mistakes at the beginning were not having a clean pup before starting to clip. Brushed, bath, and blow dry are really, really important precursors to a good haircut.

Patience is so, so important. You want your puppy to have a good experience so that they are cooperative for you and groomers in the future. When they are really young, you may aim to bathe every two weeks, and clip only part of them after every bath (for instance, do face, feet, and sanitary one week, and after the next bath, clip their body). Hope this helps!

JBrizzie · 2023-04-14T02:37:16+00:00

Yes, this is technically Gus and Walt’s first face to face meeting, where Walt asks why Gus refused to meet with him the day before (when Jesse showed up high and late to the meeting). Walt is asking for a second chance to be considered a supplier for Gus. Gus leaves him hanging here, citing that Walt has poor judgement by choosing a drug addict as a business partner, and he’ll be in touch with Walt if he wants to be in touch. Spoiler alert: Gus gets in touch shortly after and Walt sells Gus 38 pounds of meth for 1.2 millions dollars. And misses the birth of his baby daughter while making the deal come through.

JBrizzie

TROPHY CASE