Help, Am I a Bichon/Poodle or Malti/Poo?



Barked: Thu Jan 28, '10 6:41am PST 
When I picked Leia up from the shelter she was listed as a Bichon/Mini Poodle mix. I don't think I buy it. I have family with Bichon/Poodle mixes, and they do not have such straight, fluffy coats. I understand that at 6 months or so she still sports a puppy coat, but there is really no curl at all. Also, at a slight 3.5 pounds, is it more likely that she is toy? Thanks for the input!!!

J&D's not your- steppin' stone
Barked: Thu Feb 25, '10 8:04am PST 
Since you are a mixed breed, the term toy/miniature really can't apply to you because there are certain height requirements in poodles. Toys being 10 inches and under and not concerning weight.

At 3-4 lbs I would consider your dog quite small, Paris is 9 1/2 inches and 6-7 lbs, and is a "true" toy poodle.

I can see dominant maltese in your coat, you could quite possibly be a maltipoo. They are quite common in many areas and are often given up because of the grooming requirements.
Also, because of your size I would guess you are mixed with a tiny maltese, and a tiny toy poodle. Most likely the breeders were trying to sell their puppies as "teacup maltipoos"
Bichons are quite hefty dogs, so I would guess if you had bichon mixed in you would be quite a bit bigger.wink

J&D's not your- steppin' stone
Barked: Thu Feb 25, '10 8:07am PST 
I just realized you are still a puppy.

Even so, with the coat, if it does not curl after you have gone a week without a bath, or were bathed and not blowdried it is definitely maltese.

A true poodle should curl when dirty, and when not properly dried. It's quite difficult to keep a good poodle coat straight, and should require extensive care to do so.

Also you will probably be about 6-8 lbs full grown.
I would still guess you were mixed with toy, and "tiny toy" maltese/poodle.
Even though maltese doesn't come in a "toy" size, many people try to create really tiny maltese by breeding two very small maltese together.