Yeah, we have learned a lot about poodles in the five plus years we've had this guy. The small ones are a different animal altogether. I've started looking at small dogs in general differently too. I think a lot of people don't train their small dogs enough, lots of them will jump on you and have behavior that would just not work with a big dog. Our dog, being big, we don't let him jump on people, but he definitely does a thorough sniff investigation on new people who come over. He's not a food stealer really either, just that if I leave out, say, a delicious rotisserie chicken, even on the kitchen counter, he's so tall that his face is at counter level. He gets very very tempted, and he knows he's not supposed to do it. Very smart guy, very large and yes, he "protects" us all day long from such clear threats as other dogs getting walked down our street, and serious threats like deliveries of mail and packages. Definitely approves people and I don't think he would jump out the window but sometimes I'm surprised more dogs generally speaking don't!
The other thing we like about the standard is that he doesn't leave fur everywhere. In fact, he doesn't leave it anywhere. They don't have "fur" it's more like "hair". And it's curly, if you let it get too long and don't brush it it mats, like one big dreadlock. So when their hairs fall out, they end up just getting stuck to the other hairs on the dog, and we never have fur on any furniture or anything like that.
All in all, he's a good boy and he's learning that he gets our food the next day mixed in with his breakfast.
