Time for A Presidential Poodle!

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!

Continue reading »

Filed under Adoption, History, Poodle Crossbreeds, Poodle Hair, Poodle Rescue, Poodles | Comment (0)

Shaving The Poodle

Grooming Therapy for Poodle-Lovers

In this family of poodle-lovers the issue of grooming has always been a struggle of time versus money. Sometimes we’ve got enough to take the dog to a pro groomer and pay for the service, at other times we’ve been broke and end up having to do it ourselves. When we moved to the mountains - and our poods became “Giant Mutant Mountain Poodles,” grooming became a 100% in-house job. We purchased a couple of pairs of good electric grooming shavers and many blades, a blade sharpener system that never really worked well, and some attachable combs so we could regulate the length of hair being cut.

The combs never really worked either. So the twice-yearly operation became one of simply “shaving the poodle,” and our daughter took on the job as therapy for her emotionally stressful life. She’d tell her friends at work and on the softball team, as well as her then-current boyfriend, that she’d be unavailable for the weekend. She’d set up in a nice shady part of the yard with her comb and brush and shears on a blanket, and get to work.

She got pretty good at it, too. In the spring and again in the fall she’d shave the poodle down to practically nothing, trim the puffs on the tail and head and ears with scissors, clean out and disinfect ears, trim toenails and hair in between the toes. The poodle would be good for about 6 months (when the dreadlocks again had to be dealt with).

Here’s a cool poodle-grooming video that should help any poodle-lover out there thinking about shaving his/her own poodle for a change! Enjoy, and don’t forget that poodles do have particular issues with their feet and ears that require extra attention…

Filed under Grooming, Health, Poodle Hair, Poodle Love, Poodle Skills, Poodle Videos, Poodles | Comment (0)

12 Nifty Things About Poodles

…that you probably didn’t know!

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…

Continue reading »

Filed under History, Poodle Hair, Poodle Lore, Poodle Skills, Poodles, Show Poodles, Sporting, Working | Comments (2)

Putting On The Pood: Sharing the Warmth

Poodle People spend a good deal of their time grooming their friends, and even more time running their fingers lovingly through those soft, curly locks with great delight. An owner can spend a small fortune on professional haircuts, or do what my family’s done - buy a good trimmer and a set of blades and combs. There’s always the ‘extra’ grooming that needs doing (nail clipping, ear hair removal, bathing and brushing), but a basic kennel cut isn’t that hard to accomplish. Poodles are used to the attention, even enjoy it if you are fairly competent.

After a “shave the poodle” weekend at our homestead I’d end up with a couple of brown paper grocery bags full of soft, curly poodle hair I always wanted to spin into yarn for scarves and hats, but I don’t know how to spin. So it was that our poodles’ hair ended up as a flattened felt-like foot-wide mat covered with bark chips from the wood chopping block marking the garden fence line. It’s a pretty good mulch to keep weeds down, it eventually biodegrades, and is a surprisingly effective deterrent against deer, foxes and rabbits getting through the fence to raid the veggies.

After surfing around this past week, I am delighted to report that there are instructions for spinning poodle hair out there on the web, along with more than one enterprise that will spin your poodles’ hair into yarn for you, even do the knitting, crocheting and weaving for a fee!

Continue reading »

Filed under Poodle Accessories, Poodle Hair, Poodle Wear, Poodles, Showing Off | Comments (3)