The definitive ranking of the UK’s most popular poodle dog types

The poodle is one of the most distinctive and easily recognised dog breeds of all, particularly when you think about the tall standard poodle with their fur trimmed into a traditional lion clip.

There are three individual pedigree poodle breed sizes in itself – but the poodle is also a really popular dog breed used within deliberate hybrid crossings thanks to their high intelligence and wiry, low-shedding coats. This means that poodles and dogs with poodle ancestry are in great demand among people who often find themselves to be allergic to most dogs – because poodles don’t shed hair at the rate that other breeds do.

Today, there are more widely recognised poodle hybrid dog types than there are pedigree poodle breeds themselves – and some of these are even more popular than their pedigree ancestors.

In this article, we will list the six most popular poodle dog types in the UK, in descending order. Read on to learn more.

Number 1: The Cockapoo

The most popular dog type in the UK with poodle parentage is one of the many poodle hybrid crosses – the Cockapoo. The Cockapoo beats all of the pedigree poodle dog sizes bar none, and not only that, they’re the UK’s fourth most popular dog type overall.

A Cockapoo is bred from the deliberate crossing of a poodle of any size – although usually miniature poodles are used – with a cocker spaniel. This means that most cockapoos are on the small side, and will often inherit the highly desirable poodle coat, which doesn’t shed heavily and so, makes them tidy housemates that are less likely than most dogs to trigger allergies in people prone to them.

Number 2: The Cavapoo

The second most popular dog with poodle parentage in the UK is the Cavapoo, and this is another hybrid crossing that this time consists of poodle and Cavalier King Charles spaniel parentage.

The small size of the Cavalier King Charles spaniel and usually, a toy or miniature poodle in the crossing results in the Cavapoo in its turn being a small dog, coming in on average at a few inches shorter than the Cockapoo.

Like the Cockapoo, Cavapoos are usually preferred with a poodle-type coat, and they tend to have a slightly quieter nature than Cockapoos albeit still being a very intelligent dog that is entertaining and fun-loving as well as great company.

Number 3: The Labradoodle

The third most popular poodle type in the UK is the Labradoodle, and the Labradoodle is a dog with poodle and Labrador retriever parentage. It tends to be a standard poodle that is most commonly used in this crossing, although the miniature is preferred in some cases – and as the Labrador retriever itself is a large breed, Labradoodles tend to be on the large side too – particularly if the tall, leggy standard poodle contributes their poodle ancestry.

Labradoodles are fun loving, lively and very intelligent dogs that are highly versatile and prized as much for their temperaments and kind natures as they are for their poodle-type coats. Like all poodle crossings, the poodle coat trait is not a given – and a more Labrador-like coat can be seen within some Labradoodles too.

Number 4: The Toy poodle

The first pedigree poodle to enter the poodle type popularity ranking is the toy poodle, which is the smallest of the three size variants of the poodle breed recognised by The Kennel Club. Toy poodles stand up to around 28cm tall at the withers and weigh just 6kg at the top end, making them very petite and lean little dogs that share all of the same intelligence and temperament traits of their larger relatives.

The toy poodle is the fourth most popular poodle type in the UK, and the 29th most popular breed overall.

Number 5: The miniature poodle

The miniature poodle is the fifth most popular poodle type in the UK, and the 42nd most popular breed overall. Miniature poodles are the variant most widely used in deliberate poodle hybrid crossings, because their size gives them the versatility to be crossed with other dogs of a variety of sizes successfully, creating a lot of options.

Miniature poodles stand between 28-38cm tall at the withers and weigh up to 8kg, making them a small but noticeable degree larger than their toy cousins. As is the case with all three of the pedigree poodle size variants, the tightly curled, low-shedding poodle coat is a given.

Number 6: The standard poodle

The standard poodle is the tallest and largest of all of the three poodle size variants, standing 38cm tall or higher and weighing up to 35kg. This is quite a jump up from the miniature poodle that is the next size down, and while the standard poodle average places them as a medium sized breed, some examples of the breed are tall enough to fall well within the large dog category!

The standard poodle is the 6th most popular poodle type in the UK, and the 44th most popular breed overall, placing them just below the miniature poodle a couple of places higher up.

What do all poodle dog types have in common?

There can be a significant degree of variance across the board when you account for the three pedigree poodle sizes and the various poodle hybrids, which mean that different poodle breed sizes and hybrid crossings are often very different from each other.

However, virtually all pedigree poodles and hybrid poodle types are highly intelligent, friendly and personable, and many will inherit the distinctive poodle coat.

When it comes to hybrid crossings, the coat type and texture can be very different, even across dogs produced from the same parental crossing – and often, poodle hybrids will have a coat more similar to the other pedigree breed in their particular mix.

That said, most people who breed deliberate poodle hybrids breed for the poodle coat variant, and will often remove dogs that don’t inherit this trait from their breeding programs, keeping or selling them as pet dogs only.