I’ve offered quite a lot of information and videos of poodles who have been trained to service jobs – search and rescue, guide dogs, assistant dogs, etc. There is another class of working poodles (in addition to sheep herding and such, which they also do very well). It is the field and/or hunting dog.

Poodles were originally bred as hunters and retrievers, and their water skills led to a whole different poodle-like breed, the Portuguese Water Dog – of which the Obama family’s “Bo” is currently most famous. Their tendency to tolerate gunshots near them without fear also led to them being among the best of war dogs.

The best site I’ve seen out there on the web for all sorts of information about these sporting poodles – and yes, sports like these are indeed work – is the Working Field Poodle section of the Versatility In Poodles site. They offer excellent information about finding the right trainer, what a good training regime should look like, what things must be covered during that training, and it offers great lists of skills to be earned from the beginning through intermediate and advanced training.

But perhaps more important overall is the good information on choosing just the right poodle puppy for this sort of activity. The first criteria is to choose a driven retriever. Which my beautiful black Kenya proved herself a star. This is a pup who’s always got a ball or stick or toy in his or her mouth, and is constantly trying to get you to throw it. Not only do they chase, they also bring it right back so you can throw again. Kenya would retrieve anything, but her best was a snowball I’d throw into a snowbank. Now, THAT is a committed retriever!

Second on the list of inborn traits you’ll want to look for is a love of water. Not just being unafraid of a bath, but ready, willing and able to jump right into water and swim. If the pup hasn’t yet been exposed to water enough to swim in, a pup that plays in their water dish, chases water from a hose or really enjoys a bath is a bood bet.

You’ll want a pup that likes people and isn’t aggressive to other dogs. You want one that doesn’t act skittish or try to hide at any sudden noise. A pup that will confidently walk with you over unfamiliar terrain is good too, try flattened cardboard boxes or creek bridges.

Poodles are such intelligent dogs that it’s not that difficult to evaluate traits early, even at 6 or 7 weeks of age. Some are better suited to certain tasks than others, though almost any well-bred poodle can be trained to do things other dogs only dream about. Go on over to the Versatility in Poodles website and check out some of their good information about all sorts of poodle jobs!

A website called First Dog Charlie went up on Saturday (April 6) purporting to show the new Presidential First Dog, a Portuguese Water Dog named “Charlie.” It sure looks like the same dog the Obamas were shown getting to know in a photo in the Washington Post on Easter Sunday. Apparently the Obamas wanted to delay the announcement until Tuesday, when the pup is supposed to move into the White House, but the event has generated so much attention worldwide that it was probably inevitable that the news would get ‘broken’ (or… housebroken?) before the due date.

The Post reports that the First Puppy is a gift from water dog-loving Senator Teddy Kennedy of Massachusetts, and that the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia immediately re-named him “Bo.” Not “Beau,” which is a great name for a poodle and my family had just such a giant mutant mountain poodle too, once. Probably sounded too French. Seems that Michelle Obama’s father was known in-house by the fond knickname of “Diddly.” As in… Bo Diddly, get it?

Bo is primarily black, with a white chest, white paws and a white goatee. They call this “tuxedoed,” but basically he looks a lot like a parti poodle. In fact, poodles and Portuguese Water Dogs share an ancestry that dates well back into the time of the Teutonic tribes of northern Germany and rural Russia, when they were famed for their prowess at hunting, retrieving and… you guessed it… riding comfortably on boats of all description. In the provinces the dogs were bred and developed for hunting and in France, for warfare, while in Portugal they took to the sea along with their masters.

The tuxedoed look will no doubt come in handy for Bo in his job of being First Dog and in charge of meet-and-greets of various high level officials, ambassadors and leaders from all over the world.

Here’s to you, Bo! May your life with this lovely family be long and multi-storied.

Barack Obama has been elected to be the next President of the United States! And, as is a standard question for all newly elected Presidents with a lovely wife and children to share the White House with, Obama was asked what kind of puppy he was planning to get for the title of “First Dog.”

And yes, it’s going to have to be a dog, because 10-year old First Daughter Malia has allergies she can’t escape with a cat, but could easily avoid with just the right kind of dog. Plus, as Obama mentioned, the family is going to want a shelter puppy…

“But obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me,” said Obama, in an apparent self-depreciating reference to his mixed race heritage. “So whether we’re going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama household.”

Yet a surprising number of shelter dogs are purebreds. We got our beloved giant mutant mountain poodle Beau (pictured at top) at our county’s animal shelter when he was 6 months old, and his pedigree was a whole lot more impressive than mine! A size-large standard poodle with your basic kennel cut would make a delightful First Dog!

And poodles are, among all dogs, among the few that are certifiably hypoallergenic. The list includes breeds like the Maltese, Bichon Frise, and Shih Tzus, but these are what my daughter calls “yapper punting dogs,” small enough to be utterly unimpressive in a mansion the size of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Even better, there are poodle rescue outfits out there right now with poodles to spare, and some of ‘em are already housebroken!

And if the Obamas are serious about a “mutt like me,” there are a wide variety of poodle crossbreeds invented mostly because a good percentage of them get the benefit of hypoallergenic hair so people with allergies can have a canine companion to love. There are the famous bred-to-be service dogs known as Labradoodles, and an amazing list of other crossbreeds your imagination can run with…

• Saint Berdoodle
• Scoodle (Scottish Terrier + Poodle)
• Eskapoo (for non-allergenic dog sled teams)
• Pugapoo
• Doodleman Pinscher (too scary for the White House!)
• English Boodle (this might be a winner, just for laughs…)

So my advice to the Obama family is to put your feelers out right now to the poodle rescue societies and be open to an interesting poodle ‘mutt’ that looks a whole lot like Winston Churchill!

It’s been noted here and there in posts to this blog that some famous people have been poodle-lovers – including entire regiments in European armies. So in this post I want to set down the list of famous people and their poodles.

The first thing you’ll probably notice is how many of these Poodle People are famous artists, musicians, actors, comedians and such. Thus it’s not difficult to see the poodle as Muse, which might be a more high-brow role in history than just being notorious hunters and dogs of war!

• Winston Churchill’s poodle was named Rufus.
• John Steinbeck had a poodle named Charley, namesake for the book Travels With Charley.
• Jacqueline Susann had a poodle named Joe, who was the subject of her short story Along Came Joe.
• Andrew Wyeth’s poodle was named Eloise.
• Jane Goodall the famous chimpanzee researcher had a poodle named Gigi.
• Julie Nixon’s poodle was Vicky.
• Both Louis XIV and XVI had standard poodles around to pretty-up the palace, and Marie Antoinette had her own poodle who didn’t lose his head.
• Pablo Picasso was a poodle person, so was Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
• Billie Holliday’s beloved poodle was buried in her best mink coat.
• Sammy Davis Jr. named one of his poodles Bojangles.
• Marilyn Monroe received a poodle as a gift from Frank Sinatra. She named it Mafia.

Other famous Poodle People (grouped in no particular order to save list room)…

• Juan Peron, Omar Bradley and Grover Cleveland
• Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace and Katharine Hepburn
• Barbara Walters, Barbara Streisand and Barbara Eden
• Jack Lemon, Betty White, Bob Hope and Cary Grant
• Claudette Colbert, Helen Hayes and Vivian Leigh
• Tallulah Bankhead, Lucille Ball and Liberace
• Joe Garagiola, Patrick Swayze, John Mitchell and Kirk Douglas
• Mariah Carey, Maria Callas and Gypsy Rose Lee
• Ingmar Bergman, Doris Day and Joan Crawford
• Walt Disney, Michael Wilding, John Lehmann and Jack LaLanne
• James Thurber, John Forsythe, Red Buttons and Robert Vaughn
• Ed Sullivan, Robert Mondavi, Walter Lippmann and Oribe.
• Benny Goodman, Gary Cooper and Clare Boothe Luce

Of course, poodles of all colors and sizes are one of the most popular breeds of dog ever since people started breeding dogs for special qualities. This is a (partial) list of just those Poodle People who have earned some fame of their own so readers will recognize their names. If readers have any knowledge of other famous people who loved poodles, contribute in the comments! The poodles’ names if you know them, and any anecdotes you may know about them.

In my post 12 Nifty Things About Poodles, I mentioned those standard poodles who ran the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska for John Suter from 1988 through 1991. He’d begun mushing poodles in the mid-1970s, competing in the 1976 Chungiak Sled Dog Race. In 1992 Suter’s daughter Esther tackled the 154-mile race with her poodles, and other mushers are adding poodles to their teams.

For a grueling race in ice and snow, the dogs need boots even if they’re regular Alaskan Huskies or Husky-Hound crossbreeds. Mushers can be downright snobby about their sled dogs, as is clear from Mark Hamilton’s opinion in the newsletter of the Inuit Sled Dog International, Dog Sled Racing vs. Sled Dog Racing.

Still, as reported by Angus of Alaska in the It’s an alaskan dog’s life, poodles can not only be great sled dogs, they’re also really good for impressing the ladies for their owners down at Koot’s in Anchorage, so they’re definitely double-duty dogs!

As january goes on and on and on, and February’s foreshortened period of white stuff still looming, thinking about poodles who love the snow is good. If ever I take up skiing I’m going to use my poods to get me to the top of the run so I don’t have to pay for a lift ticket!

Check out this article on how to keep those poodles warm during winter.

Links:

Poodle Sled Dog History [John Suter's site]

Poodle History: Draft/sled dogs

How to Train a Winning Dog Sled Racing Team

It’s an alaskan dog’s life

CrazyUnclePaul: The Iditarod Dog Sled Race

Wikipedia: Sled Dog

King of Dogs!

In deference to my new Russian friends, I’ll start off by mentioning that there is some disagreement about where, exactly, the poodle breed originated. Some say northern Germany, others insist they started in Russia or on the steppes of central Asia. I will say that about 90% the people I’ve ever known in the circus/performing world who work with poodles are Russian, and that they’re quite passionate about the intelligence, loyalty and talents of their dogs. Given the intriguing hints that it was Russians who suffered most of the battle scars from Napoleon’s War Dogs, if poodles weren’t originally a Russian breed those Russians were wise enough to appreciate quality when they met it!

That said, there is no disagreement about the specific job poodles were developed to do – they were water retrievers, and this job explains some things about poodles that people may not have known…

1. Poodles first became famous for their performing abilities in Europe with the Commedia del Arte’s Gypsies and Jongleurs in the Middle Ages, moving quite naturally into circus and Vaudeville over the centuries. It was Gypsies (the Rom) who made most creative use of manicuring their poodles’ coats into fanciful and outlandish hair styles to delight audiences, often mimicking the outrageous wig stylings of the pampered aristocracy. They dressed their poodles in costumes to match, too!

2. Poodle hair is thick and tightly curled (on adult dogs), effectively repelling water if it is not allowed to become corded into floor-length dreadlocks. Because their hair grows continually, hunters who relied on poodles to retrieve their prize learned to trim and brush their dogs’ coats to prevent drowning. The poodle breed is related to both Irish and Portugese water dogs, and is popular as a “Yacht Dog” among the wealthy.

3. Those odd poodle haircuts were designed originally for utility in the job of water retrieving. By leaving the coat long over the hips, chest and head, internal organs were protected from the effects of very cold water and helped to buoy the dog with trapped air. Shaving the haunches and feet allowed the poodles to more efficiently swim. By leaving “pom-poms” on the ankles protected these important joints from the effects of cold as well.

4. Poodles can only be shown in English Saddle, Lion or Continental clips unless they are being shown in stud classes. Most pet poodles are trimmed for ease of maintenance, usually a single length all over, slightly shorter on the neck, longer on head and ears, face and feet shaved. Despite the “non-sporting” classification, the acceptable show clips are specific to the sporting function poodles were bred to perform.

5. Poodles do not shed like other dogs do, thus are a good choice for people with allergies to dog hair or who just don’t like to clean up after a shedding dog.

6. While some breeders do offer parti-colored poodles, these are not recognized by show breeders or allowed to compete in kennel club shows. Acceptable poodle colors are black, white, apricot, silver, chocolate or cream.

7. An artist’s favorite subject for hundreds of years, poodles appear in more works of art than any other dog breed.

8. All sizes of poodle are recognized as being a single breed. The standard is the oldest of the three varieties (standard, miniature and toy), which is why it’s called “standard!” In France and elsewhere, very large standard poodles (in the 90-120 pound range) are called “Imperial Poodles.” Imperial is not recognized as a separate variety by the kennel clubs.

9. Poodles are considered among the three breeds of highest intelligence among all dogs. While there is some disagreement about which breed is the smartest, poodles get a lot of votes! Ranking #2 in the top 10, the top 4 (because #3 is disputed) are: Border Collie, Poodle, German Shepherd and Golden Retriever.

10. A team of standard poodles competes in the Alaskan Iditarod dogsled race every year.

11. Torch singer Billie Holiday’s beloved standard poodle was cremated after his death in Billie’s best mink coat.

12. According to Tammy Bruce’s article, current Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero declared the Poodle to now be Spain’s national dog. This might be political hyperbole.

Links:

Historical Information About Poodles

Rick London: Good Things To Know About Poodle History

Alaska, where women win the Iditarod and men mush poodles!

Real French Poodles from the Languedoc

As I recall the story (no, I don’t recall who told it to me), it has to do with Napoleon Bonaparte and his strong martial proclivities. Dogs had long been mascots and soldiers in war, from the time of the Vikings and the early Teutonic wars, primarily wolfhounds and other large breeds. When guns and artillery became standard noisemakers on the battlefields, dogs who would not be shy of the booms or the fire were kept. Among these were the poodle, and Napoleon liked his poodles big.

Known for fierce loyalty, fearlessness and intelligence, the war poodles were known to take part in battles on behalf of their regiments even without specific training for the task. In his memoirs Napoleon praised a poodle who died at the battle of Marengo, licking the face of his fallen Grenadier master. Another poodle named Buff accompanied Lt. Col.Chestmaster during the Peninsula War, while the poodle Moffino got sadly separated from his master while crossing the Berezina River in the Russian campaign. Moffino then traveled from Russia to Italy to find his corporal master, and they were gladly reunited.

One of Napoleon’s enemies, the Duc d’Enghein, took his poodle Mohiloff – a gift from the king of Sweden – with him to prison at the fortress of Vincennes. The dog stayed with his master even as he was shot at dawn and had to be forcibly removed from his grave. The commander of Vincennes adopted Mohiloff, and had him stuffed after he died. A poodle named Moustache became the mascot of a regiment of grenadiers whose standard the dog rescued from the battlefield at Austerlitz. He is also credited with detectiing an Austrian spy and saving a detachment of his company from a surprise attack.

There are many more stories of poodles as war dogs in the Napoleonic campaigns, but the way it was told to me, they actually served in the infantry! Napoleon was a brilliant artillery tactician, and had poodles of his own. While one can make funny, poofy hairdos with poodle hair – which never stops growing – they are finely built dogs of some stature and sport mouths full of sharp teeth they aren’t afraid to use in defense of their masters. The penchant for poodles to be kept and tended by entire regiments meant that their loyalties extended to all members who were kind to them. It is this quality Napoleon put to such good use.

I was told that in some battles he would have his men brush out their poodle’s hair – which had been grown quite long – so that it poofed widely from their bodies and made them look at least twice as big as they really were. Then, on signal as the front lines faced each other across the field, the poodles would leap forward and sprint on their long legs toward the enemy’s line. Teeth bared, eyes blazing, aiming for throats.

Those were the days of muzzle-loaders, long guns that had to be deployed in waves because it took so long to re-load after letting fly a shot. The enemy’s infantry would send a volley toward the attacking monster-dogs, but because their hair belied their true size, those lead balls most often missed their mark and sailed right through the pompadours without leaving a scratch. The dogs were fast and bent on action, the line had no time to reload before they’d be at those infantrymens’ throats.

Meanwhile, while the enemy was busy wasting its shot-volley and panicking as the warrior dogs took them down, Napoleon’s infantry was marching steadily forward. As the dogs burst past the front lines toward the rear, France’s artillery would fire and ravage the enemy’s formations.

This may be mostly legend, or it may be true. Detailed accounts of these poodle regiments were not kept in the Napoleonic wars, even though there are many accounts of the personal companion poodles and battle dogs kept by individual regiments and officers. Poodles did go on to earn their rightful place as France’s National Dog breed, and poodles are still used today in France as police dogs, bomb and drug-sniffing dogs, and as guardian dogs in a number of applications.

It was probably not an accident that Orwell cast Napoleon’s Dogs as enforcers in his novel Animal Farm, for which inspiration he may have drawn upon the fearful legends among the Russian peasantry of Napoleon’s real war dogs in the last fateful Russian campaign.

So don’t be fooled by hype that says poodles can only be prissy companions or trainable guide/service dogs, but look too silly to be effective police or war dogs. Depends on the hairdo, I say, and from the above legend it looks like the frizzier and bigger the hairdo, the better!

Links:

The Poodle History Project: Army Dogs

I’ve spoken a bit about how our family troupe of circus-style performers happened to be gifted with a standard poodle and fall so in love with him that we’ve had standard poodles as members of the family – and the troupe – ever since. I’ve even posted about one of our most successful poodle acts, Championship Poodle Wrestling.

But poodles weren’t actually bred to be delightful performers of tricks on command under the big top (or on the Riverwalk). Poodles originally appeared in Germany rather than France, working in the swamps as water dogs trained to retrieve fallen birds for hunters. They may have developed from rugged Asian herding dogs, and still make excellent herders today. Captured by the Berbers of North Africa, they also held a reputation as lion hunters with excellent tracking skills.

In Roman times through the Middle Ages poodles were popular for use in falconry. Acting as a pointer, the dog would indicate a duck in cover, then remain still and silent until the falconer and the bird of prey positioned themselves. At that point the dog would flush the prey and the falcon would do its work.

Poodles’ scenting skills made them good truffle dogs in Italy, Spain and France, and makes them an excellent choice in the modern world as rescue dogs. They can be found along with the more familiar German Shepherds and Labs working in disaster zones seeking possible survivors in collapsed buildings. This ability also has them working with Customs officials in several countries to search for drugs and explosives at airports. I guess we can call these Police Poodles.

Poodles are also popular as guide dogs for the blind, as their great intelligence and memory make them among the most trainable of guide and nurse dogs. When our daughter developed epilepsy a few years ago, our poodle always knew long before she did that she was going to have a seizure, wouldn’t let her near the stairs and would usually whine until she lay down next to him on the carpet. Maybe saved her life!

Perhaps the most famous (or infamous) work that poodles have been put to in recent years is as sled dogs for racing in Alaska and northern Canada. While they do need to wear booties, most mushers outfit their dogs with booties these days to save wear and tear on paws from sharp ice. Their coats, grown long for insulation against the cold, collect ice and snow, so they need some protection during winter storms. But on nice days they have no trouble keeping up with the huskies. I even read about one dedicated musher whose Siberian Husky fell in love with a standard poodle, so he now runs Huskapoods!

You don’t have to work your poodles, of course. You can just show them off, enjoy their company, love them a lot. It’s just nice to know that despite show restrictions on poodles as “non-working” dogs, that doesn’t keep poodles from earning their keep at many different jobs. Besides the job of being your best friend, that is.

Links:

Versatility in Poodles, Inc.

Languedoc Poodles: Working Dogs

The first official notice of poodles appears on Roman and Greek coins from ~30 a.d., though suspiciously poodle-like hunting dogs are found in the detailed pictorial histories on tomb walls in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Where, legend has it, they were lion-hunters. When they weren’t the pampered pets of the ruling and priestly classes, that is. These would have been the big guys – “Imperials” – that Napoleon favored so highly.

The Romans had learned the value of large, intelligent dogs in the art of warfare from the natives of Britain, Ireland and the Norse and Teutonic warriors who made such strategic use of the fearless Irish Wolfhounds known for removing heads quite readily from soldiers in battle. Legend also has it that mighty Beowolf commanded such a dog, who never left his side and killed more enemies and monsters than the chieftain did.

Poodles were famous through the Middle Ages as exceptional war dogs, though their natural affinity for water allowed them to become famous Navy and yachting dogs. Known as “Water Spaniels” they performed flushing and retriever duties, and never managed to develop the fear of guns that many other dogs harbor. They were familiar companions to generals all the way through World War 2.

They’ve been used in falconry, and as truffle dogs, herders, guide dogs, HEDs and other special skills dogs because they are so intelligent and eager to please. The big standards and imperials were not common sights among the bourgeoisie until modern times, but have been favorites among circus performers and trained dog acts since Medieval times.

For more great information about the history of these wonderful dogs, check out: The Poodle History Project.