Standard Poodle Puppies for Georgia Families

The honest version of the drive

We are a small, family-run breeder in Morganton, North Carolina, and a good number of our puppies have gone home to Georgia families over the years. Georgia is a real trip rather than an afternoon errand, so here is exactly what it involves before you fill in an application.

Morganton sits in the Blue Ridge foothills, just off I-40 in Burke County. From Atlanta the drive is roughly 239 miles and takes about four hours, running up I-85 through the South Carolina upstate. If you have read elsewhere that we are two hours from Atlanta, that was our mistake and we have corrected it — we would far rather you arrived knowing what to expect than felt misled halfway up I-85.

The north Georgia mountains are a different story. From Clayton, Blue Ridge or Blairsville we are only about two to two and a half hours away, and it is a genuinely pretty drive.

Drive times from around Georgia

Plenty of Georgia families make an overnight of it. Morganton is close to Linville Gorge, Lake James and the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Asheville is forty-five minutes west.

Georgia summers are the one thing worth thinking about honestly. A Standard Poodle's single coat handles heat better than a double-coated breed — there is no dense undercoat trapping warmth, and no seasonal shed blowing through the house.

But the coat is hair, and hair keeps growing. For a dog living through an Atlanta August that means a shorter working clip and grooming every six to eight weeks rather than stretching it. Left long in that humidity a poodle coat mats quickly, and a matted coat holds heat against the skin — which is the opposite of what you want.

Georgia families who keep their dogs in a short sporting or kennel clip through summer tend to have a much easier time of it. Budget for a groomer every six to eight weeks for the life of the dog; this is the cost new poodle owners most often underestimate.

The other benefit Georgia families mention often is allergies. The Southeast's pollen season is punishing, and a low-shedding, low-dander dog is far easier to live with when someone in the house is already reacting to everything outside.