Is my puppy a toy poodle or not?

Question
I bought a black male toy poodle at 7/8 weeks old. He is now 5 months old. He is the best dog we could have ever bought! But we are now wondering whether he is a toy poodle as his hair is very shaggy and not curly at all. He has the looks of a poodle but his hair is not. I do not know much about poddles so would appreciate your knowledge on this? I saw papers and his mother. the breeder said his father was a champane colour and his mother was a ginger/brown colour. I bought him without the papers. I att

Answer
Hello Susan,
Since your Poodle puppy is so young yet, he is going to have puppy hair rather than his adult coat.  The puppy hair is soft and wavy, where the adult hair is more curly and course.  Poodles usually get their adult coat around 9-11 months or so.  If you haven't shaved your dogs hair yet, be sure to brush it about 3 times a week.  As the adult hair comes in, it grows up into the puppy coat and can cause serious mats.  If your dog has been shaved, the new hair growth will be adult coat, but there will still be some puppy coat so you still have to be faithful with your brushing.  
When you give your dog a bath, be sure to brush him beforehand, and then let his coat dry on its own rather than brushing and blow-drying it.  If you let it dry naturally, it will curl better.  

If he has papers, then this means that both his father and mother have papers also and are registered Poodles.  They may not be as high quality as show Poodles, but they should still be purebred, and quality Poodles.  
If you would like me to look at your dog, please feel free to send me a Picture of your dog to MsTopkdog@yahoo.com

I hope this helps you some.  If you have other questions for me, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim