# Is my lifestyle suitable for a cockapoo?



## Dragonfly (Jun 5, 2016)

I'm trying to decide on another dog to add to my family (currently only have one Cocker Spaniel, but the house feels empty, I've normally had at least 2 dogs if not 3 at a time) and I met a lovely Cockapoo at the park which got me thinking. But I want to be sure I can meet its needs.

My current dog is 7.5 years old so has calmed down a fair bit. We normally walk her for roughly half an hour a day round the village, or take her to one of the local parks/fields for a run. In addition we play with her in the garden, she adores playing with my 5 year old or playing fetch, and do some mental exercise, normally just several brief trick training sessions through the day a few days a week. There are days now and again when life gets in the way, and my current dog is fine with skipping the odd day's walk.

Would this be enough exercise for a Cockapoo? We'd be looking for a toy American cockapoo. Presumably the new pup would play with my current dog which would be additional interest and exercise.

Are they snugglers?

Do they have an off-switch? My aunt has a Cockapoo and he's nuttily hyper, will just bounce on the spot like Tigger to roughly 3 feet in the air over and over and over, in spite of hours of walks a day. I enjoy spending time with my dogs but need to be left alone at times whilst I do stuff with my children that isn't dog-friendly - current dog just snoozes behind a babygate during those times.

TIA. It's important to me to get this right.


Just to add: Things I want a dog to do include come out with us on family days out like to village shows etc, where there are lots of strangers and hustle and bustle, so although I will be socialising for this I need a bombproof natural temperament to work with, and get on well with my Cocker - she's lonely since we lost my other dog last year.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

After four years of posting on this site one thing I can tell you is that there is tremendous variation. With a pure bred you can predict things, some dogs are outliers but they follow patterns. With cockapoos the range is way wider. Mine is overly friendly, others are nervous and standoffish. Mine is athletic and rugged, others are tender couch potatoes. Mine is obsessive and dogmatic, others are easy going and laid back. Mine lives to snuggle and cuddle, others simply don't. If you *want* bomb proof then find a reputable breeder who will home by temperament and work diligently on socialization. If you *need* bomb proof then I'd maybe look at a golden retreiver, a lab or a beagle. Others will no doubt disagree with me.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

I agree with you Fairlie. Very true!


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## Dragonfly (Jun 5, 2016)

Thank you Fairlie, that's great advice, and Cat too. Tbh I've moved in purebred circles for some time and there's a LOT more variation there than you'd think, too. There was an interesting study I read, too, that raised several litters of different breeds together as near to identically as possible, and found there was more variation within each litter than between the breeds. I guess bombproof is a want, not a need, but yes, I'm going to be obsessive about socialisation this time!

More importantly, from the dog's point of view, is the exercise requirement of a typical Cockapoo. I can see that you're saying that varies wildly too. I just want to make sure I more than meet the dog's needs.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

The best way to exhaust a cockapoo is to exercise their brains - frankly never get to the bottom of the bouncability doodle dashing zoomy mad 'poo behaviour by just walking anyway!
Dot is approaching 3 now and is slightly less exercise mad than she was this time last year. To be fair my two grew up with a collie so we exercise a lot - at least 2 hours over 3 walks pretty much every day and I do think that to a point they want what they are accustomed to getting, so if your routine is a half hour lead walk plus play in the garden plus the occasional outing to the park then your dog will get used to that.
I know if my dogs are down on exercise - they riot inside, doodle dash around the garden and look for mischief..... my nearly 11 year old collie often starts the riots 
However 10 minutes brain exercise calms them right down 
The happiest sort of poo is the one who gets to be with their owner as much as possible. An under exercised dog left home alone may well amuse themselves destructively.


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## Bananas68 (Apr 8, 2015)

Max is the sweetest thing ever, but he is quite a handful. My mom calls him my ADHD puppy. He is sweet and loving, but he's so hyper despite tons of exercise. He's not much of a cuddler because he is always on the move. He also doesn't do well in crowds, he gets nervous when there's a lot of people around. My parents live by a subway and if he's outside there when a train passes he literally will jump into my arms. 

That said, there was a cockapoo in his training class that was complete opposite, a total couch potato. So it all depends really


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Fairlie has hit the cockapoo nail right on its head  Everybody has a different dog but here is a summary of Poppy, working cocker, miniature poodle cross.

We were used to an older dog who was completely in tune with our lives and habits, she would happily do a decent walk but equally wouldn't be bothered if we could only fit in a quick lead walk one day. She loved her bed, was very obedient and wasn't destructive, so had the run of the house when we were out. She was a little human in a dog's body and she was a member of the family, we loved her more than we even knew. When we lost her in 2013 we'd had a while of caring for a poorly dog, she had a spinal problem which towards the very end meant that she sometimes didn't have much time to alert us to her toilet needs so we got used to flying downstairs at unsociable times when we heard her stir, I became quite a light sleeper. 

When we got Poppy later that year those same carer skills came in very handy for puppy toilet training and to keep an eye on chewing but it was all a big surprise to us just how unrelentless, worrying and all encompassing it was, she was a whirling dervish, on the go from early (only when we got up though, she didn't demand attention until we were down) until about 11pm  She was bitey, mostly blurred and quite destructive for what felt like an age, adult teeth made no difference either. We didn't really enjoy the puppy times, we had rows, we were exhausted (nearly alcoholic ) and I was sometimes tearful  

18 months was a definite calming point but it was all still quite demanding, she often had a badly upset tummy from eating rubbish and she clearly wasn't a 'slot in to your life' kind of a girl  Now, at 3 years it's much more balanced, she can be quite a snoozy poo in the house (although it's mostly one eye open I think because she'll usually jump up when we stand up) but she still loves flying around the fields on our walks although very petulant if she feels the walk wasn't long enough.  She is still very independent and is only a cuddler on her own terms, this is getting to be more frequent as she gets older though. She still has some issues settling when we stop on a walk at a pub or cafe, no matter what distance we've walked. We think possibly this is because she's an attention seeker and in her mind everyone else exists only to love or feed her and so she can't switch off in public places very easily. Eye contact is a powerful thing and if anyone dares to look at her without actually swooning with pleasure at her beauty she makes us all know about it  I think ideally she'd like to be permanently off lead to explore at her leisure before she decides it's time to settle. She is also a terrible scavenger and selectively deaf on recall if she's found something really rank.

Does this all sound rather negative? That may be because I've deliberately left out the fact that she's totally and utterly BRILLIANT, bursting with character and we love her beyond scale of measure!! Passing strangers actually laugh out loud, people cross crowded rooms to worship at the alter of of Poppy. She is joy personified, her tail never stops wagging, her whole body wiggles and she tap dances for her favourite doggy and human friends. She smiles when she runs and takes great pleasure in zooming past you as close as possible without knocking you over. Her enjoyment of the world is a lesson to everyone in how to live life and she makes us laugh and smile constantly. She makes you feel like the most loved person on the planet when you get in from work, parading around with a special proud prance and a cuddly toy or blanket stuffed into her mouth as an offering. She tries hard to be a good girl and cocks her head to one side sometimes, struggling to interpret your words and understand what you want her to do but we now appreciate that distractions are all around and hard to resist, socks and slippers are obviously the devil's work, only put on the earth to be destroyed and rabbits are of course, much more fun than I could ever be  She has no separation anxiety either and so I can relax if I'm slightly late home from work, confident she's fine in her own company which is a huge relief (knowing this can be an issue with cockapoos). She's great with children and other dogs (occasional tellings off to rough puppies and dogs) I must say though it's much better meeting other dogs off the lead, the lead restricts her ability to run about which is what the initial excitement of seeing another dog makes her do and I like to be aware of her stress levels so she doesn't feel fearful or cornered. She's fine in crowds but can have occasional skittish moments with 'out of place things' but nothing bad, she enjoys village shows etc.

So what do you make of that in terms of your criteria? Some very low initial lows along the road to some stratospheric highs, that's been our experience, there's been a lot of compromise and it's been hard work but that work is bearing more and more fruit as time goes on. Other owners, though, seem to have had little bundles of biddable fluff who want nothing more than to cuddle and please from day one. So as Fairlie says, if you need a more bomb proof choice to fit in with your life at the moment, if you really can't compromise things at this point well then given our experience I'd certainly choose another breed (Beagles and Retrievers are fab dogs) rather than risk unhappiness for you and the new pup.

Here is the face that entertains us:


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## Goosey (Aug 22, 2014)

If only ILMC had a ❤ Like fb that face would definetly get one from me


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## Gill57 (Mar 20, 2016)

Love that post about Poppy, Marion - and the photo is absolutely fabulous. x


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Thanks guys! I should have been hoovering the car


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

:love-eyes:
I would cross a crowded room to worship Poppy


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Goosey said:


> If only ILMC had a ❤ Like fb that face would definetly get one from me


You can always add to Mazzapoo's reputation by clicking the scales icon top right of her post - I did


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Aw! Ha! How lovely, thank you Marzi  It won't let me do anymore for you until I spread it around a bit more


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## Dragonfly (Jun 5, 2016)

Mazzapoo, Poppy's puppyhood sounds a bit like my Cocker Spaniel's. Felt like taking her back a couple of times! She didn't settle down till she was about 3 either. She also does the cute happy-dance-with-a-toy thing when Daddy comes home, t'is very cute.

Urgh I don't know. I want to make sure I do the right thing by the dog, of course. Thank you all for information to mull over.


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## Mazzapoo (Jul 28, 2013)

Ah, there you go then, you've been there  Good luck with your decision!


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## barkley (May 4, 2016)

Fairlie is right go get one don't change your mind


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## Grove (Oct 17, 2012)

Ours (English cocker x min poodle) would bounce off the walls at home if he didn't get enough exercise and if he had 30mins a day it wouldn't be enough for him. we have a dog walker (who he now considers a firm friend!) on some days to help give him the full amount of exercise he needs - 1 or 2 hours a day, mostly off lead - and with this he is relaxed at home so we know he is getting the right amount. Perhaps consider if that's something you could do as an extra cost should your young dog end up needing more exercise than the older dog and you cant always do another walk yourself. Consider how much wiggle room is there in your daily routine if the puppy ended up being more time demanding than you have predicted - could you adapt?
You sound like a sensible dog owner anyway  Good luck with whatever you decide.


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