Wheaten softness, Poodle curl
The Whoodle crosses a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier with a Poodle. The Wheaten is an Irish farm terrier — a general-purpose working dog used for herding, guarding and vermin control — and it is unusual among terriers for its coat, which is soft, silky and waving rather than harsh and wiry.
The Poodle adds curl, a low shedding tendency and a fast, cooperative mind.
The result is a mid-sized dog with a soft, waving coat and a distinctly cheerful, bouncy manner. Whoodles tend to greet people with their whole body and stay puppyish well into their second year.
The coat is the main event
The Wheaten coat is famous among groomers for one thing: it mats, and it mats close to the skin while the surface still looks perfectly fine. Cross it with a Poodle coat that holds its hair rather than dropping it, and you have a coat that rewards a routine and punishes a gap.
The routine itself is not hard. Work a comb in lines from the skin outward, several times a week, over the whole dog rather than the easy parts. Concentrate on behind the ears, the collar or harness line, the armpits, the back legs and the tail. Add a professional groom on a regular cycle.
There is also a coat change in the first year, when the puppy coat gives way to the adult one. Matting spikes for a few weeks. Everyone who has owned this type of dog has been through it, and it passes if you keep combing.
If that level of upkeep does not suit your week, ask the groomer for a shorter trim year-round. It is a perfectly good answer and much kinder than a coat that has gone past rescuing.
Terrier energy, Poodle brain
Whoodles are lively. Plan for a proper daily walk plus something with structure in it — training, retrieve games with rules, scent searches. Both parents are working breeds and both get inventive when under-occupied.
The terrier contribution shows up as enthusiasm, persistence and a strong interest in small moving things. That last one is worth respecting: build recall on a long line before you rely on it in open ground.
They are also enthusiastic greeters, which is charming at fifteen pounds and less so at forty. Teach four-on-the-floor from the first week and be consistent about it across the whole household.
Training
Bright and willing, with a terrier’s preference for making its own suggestions. Short, upbeat, reward-based sessions work far better than repetition. Keep it varied — this is a dog that gets bored before you do.
Start grooming handling on day one. A puppy that has been combed all over, had its feet held and stood still on a table is an easy adult to groom; one that meets a comb at eight months is not.
Come and meet one
Coat texture and adult size vary between littermates, so it is worth seeing the puppy. Browse the Whoodles in store, read about our breeders, and visit us in Orlando or Nashville. Ask about the warranty and about financing through TerracePets.