The short answer is: although you CAN spin it, I'm not at all convinced that you SHOULD.
For a long time, my skills were not up to spinning poodle fur, because I was dealing with pretty short-staple fibers (about 2.5 inches). But having recently learned (a) the difference between worsted and woolen spinning, and (b) how to properly form a rolag from your handcarders, I suddenly found that I knew how to deal with it. So out came the bag of poodle hair from my uncle, which had sat there for nearly a year before I was ready to take it on. It was mercifully soft and clean, something that cannot be said for the awfully dirty raw fleeces that I got back in August.
When I tried to card it a few months ago I got a fluffy shapeless cloud. At the time I was using a diz to remove it from the carders as you would for woolen spinning, which did not work with such short staple and slippery fibers. This time around I knew to roll it off the carders into rather tight rolags so that the fibers are aligned in the opposite way to how you plan to spin it, which is still counter-intuitive to me, but it works!
The next step was spinning from my rolags. My spinning wheel had a project on it that I didn't want to remove, and I have more control with a slower-paced hand-spindle, so that's what I went with. The spindle I used weighs about 1 oz., and worked totally without a hitch.
Before I knew it, I had a goodly length of spun fiber, and I couldn't resist stopping to ply it just to see what it looked like.
Alright, so time for the pros and cons. The pros: it's strong despite the short staple, and it makes a nice bouncy yarn. It feels nice to card and spin, and it's quite soft and supple.
But the one major con is pretty rough: after I finished spinning and plying, I looked down at myself and realized that I was absolutely covered in tiny dog hairs. All over, and the wiry sort that you can't just shake off. I was also really, really itchy like you get after a haircut, if you aren't properly covered in a smock. I had to make a beeline for the shower to get it all off, and all the clothes went straight into the hamper. Not worth it! Especially since I suspect that anything you'd make out of it would have the same effect.
Since then I've also talked to another person who has tried spinning poodle hair, and she added the con that while it spins up nice, the wiry nature of poodle hair is such that it doesn't retain the twist properly, and the finished product literally just falls apart.
So, I recommend it as a fun thing to try, preferably outdoors. But I wouldn't hang your hopes on starting a new chiengora business with trimmings from your prize poodle.
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