Named for Bologna in Italy, though its exact origins are unknown. Dogs of this type appear in 17th-century Flemish tapestries.

The Poodle, Bichon & Water Dogs family. Curly-coated water retrievers and their companion-sized cousins. Their low-shedding coats made the Poodle the parent of most modern 'doodle' mixes, which sit here.

Calm, devoted and shy.

Voice

Barks to alert you, then settles.

With kids

Friendly with kids and usually patient.

Other dogs

Generally sociable with other dogs.

Home

A natural apartment dog.

Exercise. Fairly relaxed: daily walks plus short play sessions. Puppies do better with several short sessions than one long walk, and older dogs need gentler outings.

Training. Trains at an average pace. Reward-based methods and a regular routine work best.

Curly, continuously growing coat: it sheds little but mats easily, so brush several times a week and plan regular professional clips. Barely sheds.

For every dog: trim nails when you can hear them click on the floor, brush teeth daily if you can (a few times a week still helps), and clean ears about once a month, drying them well after baths and swims.

Daily calories

About 240–350 kcal for a healthy adult

Dry food

Roughly 0.5–1 cups a day at ~400 kcal per cup

Puppies eat four small meals a day at 6 to 12 weeks, drop to three somewhere between 3 and 6 months, and move to two meals a day from about 6 months.

Tiny breeds can be prone to low blood sugar, so keep young puppies on regular small meals.

Measure meals and keep an eye on the waistline; you should be able to feel the ribs.

Keep treats, including training treats and table scraps, under 10% of daily calories.

Calories use the resting-energy formula from the Merck Veterinary Manual (70 × body weight in kg^0.75) times a maintenance factor of 1.4 to 1.8, so very active or working dogs may need more. Cups assume about 400 kcal per cup; check your food's label. Treat any feeding chart as a starting point and adjust to body condition.

Typical lifespan is 13–16 years. Our sources don't list breed-specific conditions.

Ask breeders for health-test results from the parents (hips, eyes, and DNA tests where relevant), and schedule yearly vet checkups.

Each link opens a YouTube search in a new tab.

Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under the licenses shown. Only freely licensed photos appear on this site; where none is available, you'll see an illustration.

• Wikipedia: Bolognese (opens in a new tab)
• AKC breed weight chart (opens in a new tab)
• AKC: Puppy feeding fundamentals (opens in a new tab), bloat (opens in a new tab), treats (opens in a new tab) and grooming (opens in a new tab)
• Merck Veterinary Manual: Nutritional requirements of small animals (opens in a new tab)

Ratings for energy, shedding and the like are our own summaries, informed by these sources. Breed facts were checked in October 2026.