Happy 4th of July to all, and don’t forget to let your poodle enjoy those fireworks too… just don’t let them bite the rockets as they go off!

Now, just because these parti-colored poodles are intriguing to me, thought I’d post a video of them so you can see what they look like. I did a little research, and found PartiInfo, which informs that while the original sporting (and truffle-hunting) poodles were generally two-toned, the AKC and BKC decided sometime around the turn of the 20th century to limit show participation to solid color poodles only.

Still, parti colored poodles are registered by the AKC, and according to The Parti Poodle now sports champion show dogs with the Multi-Color Poodle Club of America in conjunction with the United Kennel Club. Go to this page and view the photos of these amazingly beautiful dogs! I’m thinking I might just have to have one…

Parti Poodle History shows the many paintings of early poodles. The striking similarity in markings with spaniels will make you do a double take!

This video is Jazmin’s Parti Poodles playing – poetry in motion!

Big Ras Bob our first black standard poodle was a beautiful dog. And among the many notable qualities of the breed – such as beauty, intelligence, non-allergenic coat, minimal shedding and a palpable love of humans – there is also a sort of pride in being what they are. I’ve always called that “Breed-ism.” They know they’re the cream of the crop, and comport themselves accordingly.

We were living in St. Augustine, Florida in a rented duplex near the airport for awhile. Until that house burned down due to faulty wiring in the vacant half, quite the traumatic family event even though the only life lost in the fire were three goldfish. Our next door neighbors had a beautiful purebred black chow they didn’t keep a tight leash on, so it was inevitable that when she went into heat the full roster of neighborhood male-mutts were going to do their best to get their sperm into the mix.

But that girl-chow had eyes only for Bob. She was completely smitten and determined to capture his qualities for her own offspring. She was surprisingly vicious to her other suitors, keeping herself exclusive to the love of her life, and sure enough was soon pregnant with a litter of… um… ChowDoodles? PooChows?

The house burned down before they were born so we never got to see them, but we were quite sure they’d be some very cool dogs. And within the history of purebred dog breeding the exemplars are often crossed-out after developing some considerable genetic infirmities, so as to get “fresh blood” into the system, strengthen the genome, and then those out-crosses are put back into the pedigree tree for producing new, healthier champions a few generations down the line. This has occurred many times in poodles, who are among the oldest of breeds.

I’ve mentioned the genetic (and possibly epigenetic) issues that afflict poodles in our current culture. Our vet told us after having to put down the second of our beloved dogs that with poodles and boxers, if they don’t die getting hit by a car they are almost sure to die of cancer. That’s not a happy situation, not the least because these dogs are so very sweet and loved to excess by their people. I’d sure like to know if those PoodChows lived longer than Bob did, and didn’t develop cancer.

I’ve also mentioned Labradoodles since meeting a golden who immediately stole my heart. I understand that the offspring of the cross can have lab hair or poodle hair, this one was essentially indistinguishable from a poodle and could easily be re-integrated into a championship line for “new blood” grandpups.

I found a list of the most popular current poodle out-breeds over at Pet Lover blog, and simply imagining what these dogs might look like is definitely a fun exercise! Try your imagination out on some of these…

Saint Berdoodle – Saint Bernard + Poodle. A dog smart enough to rescue the skiers, but who drank the brandy on the way.

Scoodle – Scottish Terrier + Poodle. A dog short enough to lick the ground and insists on wearing a kilt.

Eskapoo – American Eskimo Dog + Poodle. The snootiest sled dogs on the trail.

Pugapoo – Pug + Poodle. Why would anybody want to do that to a perfectly good poodle?

Doodleman Pinscher – Doberman + Poodle. Would probably make an excellent regiment of war dogs.

English Boodle – English Bulldog + Poodle. Who put him up to it? How could she stoop so low?

You’ve probably seen examples of the rest of the list, which includes Cockapoos, Schnoodles, Lhasapoos, Pekepoos, Pomapoos and Weimardoodles. Hmmm… I can see that some of these crossbreeds aren’t going to contribute much in the way of desirable genes to the king-breed of Poodle-Poodles. But if anyone’s interested, you’ll find a list of cross-breeders at DoodleFinder. Be sure to exercise your imagination BEFORE you buy, so you won’t be unpleasantly surprised!

“Vell,” the white-haired egghead in the lab coat begins in his thick Austrian accent, “ve taught zem how to drive, and found zey stopped at all ze red lights while proceeding through all ze green lights!”

It’s the cognitive dissonance that makes a joke like this funny. But wait! There’s more, and no, it’s NOT a joke!

Neurologists and cognitive scientists have what they call the “Mirror Test” that is supposed to measure the self-awareness of animals based on whether or not they can recognize themselves in a mirror. Thus far among ‘lesser’ creatures the great apes, some monkeys, dolphins, elephants, rats and octopi are the only ones confirmed to recognize the image in the mirror as themselves, and humans only manage the feat after they’re 18 months to 2 years old.

Dogs thus far have been ruled failures at self-awareness – despite some disagreement in the scientific community as to whether the test can be properly applied to an animal that relies primarily on senses other than sight. In fact, there is considerable debate ongoing in science as to whether this test means anything at all about self-awareness and/or intelligence for any animal.

I must admit that I’ve always thought the mirror test was highly suspect. For instance, as a family of performers mirrors have always been a big item in our home. There’s a wall full of make-up mirrors with lights, and another wall lined with big mirrors used to perfect moves, flourishes, techniques and puppet manipulation so we can see what we’re doing as others will view it.

Thus it was no surprise to us when our grandson, who was born to mirrors and people who made serious use of them, recognized himself in the mirror very well by the time he learned to crawl – 7 months. As soon as he managed to get himself pulled up to a standing position (9 months – he was precocious) and relied upon Uncle Bob the Poodle to support him as he made his unsteady way from point A to point B, His favorite point B was right in front of the floor-to-ceiling wall of mirrors. He and Bob could be found in front of the mirrors quite a lot of the time.

Bob had no problem knowing who the boy reflected in the mirror was, and I’ve no doubt he knew who the reflected poodle was too – in fact, whenever Bob would come home from the groomer’s with a new haircut, he’d go straight to the mirrored wall to admire himself from all angles he could manage.

Now, maybe scientists just haven’t bothered mirror-testing poodles, who are notoriously finicky about their grooming and impressive good looks. Or maybe they’ve never spent any time with performing dogs (and their people) to know how much performers rely upon mirrors to make sure their performances are well timed and well done. And perhaps child psychologists just don’t deal with baby performers, for whom practicing in front of mirrors is taken entirely for granted from birth and availed just as soon as that baby can get himself to a mirror.

Heck, I once stood in the doorway watching 14-month old grandson seriously practicing his fit-throwing – theatrically throwing himself onto the ground, pounding his fists and feet, etc., the basic body language of the “Terrible Twos” early as usual for him. Finally I laughed and he knew I was there. “You’re never going to be able to pull off a decent fit, you know,” I told him with some humor. “Just not spontaneous enough.”

Not surprisingly, he never did become a famous fit-thrower, skipped that stage entirely, having been caught in the act.

Perhaps (my own opinion), cog-sci guys and psychologists just don’t know enough about self-awareness and self-consciousness to measure it. New research from researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria tends to confirm my strong suspicions that dogs are a whole heck of a lot smarter, self-aware and self-conscious than scientists have wanted to admit to this point. Turns out they can differentiate complex colors and images in photographs and on computer screens – even USE computers! – better than anyone previously imagined.

Dogs Can Classify Complex Photos In Categories Like Humans Do is a really interesting article about this research. From that article…

The authors also draw some conclusions on the strength of their methodology: “Using touch-screen computers with dogs opens up a whole world of possibilities on how to test the cognitive abilities of dogs by basically completely controlling any influence from the owner or experimenter.” They add that the method can also be used to test a range of learning strategies and has the potential to allow researchers to compare the cognitive abilities of different species using a single method.

I’m glad they’ve moved beyond mere mirrors and assumptions, all the way to teaching dogs to use touch screen computers so they can communicate their knowledge to researchers who didn’t think they were smart enough to even know they were dogs. Of course, all any of them ever had to do was ask a dog-lover (particularly any Poodle Person). They’d have gotten an earful on how intelligent they are.

Of course, as the joke at the beginning of this post suggests, perhaps no one should be surprised that researchers are surprised that dogs can recognize pictures of dogs, while NOT being surprised that dogs can be taught to use touch screen computers. Go figure…

We “dog-people” have known for awhile that television’s classic “Lassie” was a series of purebred collies (mostly male), trained to do all the tricks dramatized in the long-running series and its spin-offs from the 1950s to the 1970s.

We “Poodle-People” are used to dealing with a particular breed of dog that is so famous for its intelligence and desire to perform that many people on the street see a poodle and think “Circus Dog.” Performer. Actor. “Trick” dog.

I found a great web page this week entitled What is a Trick? written by standard poodle owner and dog trainer Charlene Dunlap. It examines the question of whether what poodles can be trained to do qualifies as actual learned skill, or just “tricks.”

She mentions skills such as climbing ladders, walking unstable surfaces, and crawling under obstacles to be within the skills taught to police dogs, yet for poodles they’re often considered “tricks.” Dunlap notes:

When Frisbee-catching with dogs became a popular sport, extremely athletic dogs began doing flips and amazing leaps as they caught the flying discs. In bygone days one would have seen such acrobatic stunts taught only in ‘trick dog’ acts. Now, these ’stunts’ (tricks) are quite common in disc-dog training.

Best frisbee dog I ever met was a Border Collie named Angus. Who became known to all our local friends and family as “Embassy Dog” after my sister (married to a Foreign Service diplomat) retired him to our mountain acreage. But I had an even more obsessed fetcher-dog who would not just catch and return frisbees, but also golf balls chipped off the top of the driveway into the terraced mountainside below, retrieve any stick any time you cared to toss one, and any snowball in a blizzard off any precipice you cared to throw it off of. Her name was Kenya, and she was a poodle.

No “specialist” here, she’d fetch anything. When the Asplundh guys came with their chain saws and big mulchers to trim everything under the incoming electrical lines, we noticed they were tossing branches into the mulcher while making friends with a curious Kenya. In a panic my daughter ran out to give them a stern low-down – much as you appreciate that beautiful big poodle-dog, she WILL follow that branch right into the mulcher. Make sure she’s in the house before you make mulch.

Heck, I’m pretty sure that if we could engineer speech faculties into poodles, I could train mine to answer the phone and book gigs. Poodles are regularly trained to be guide dogs, police dogs (bomb and drug sniffing), gun dogs, war dogs (their teeth are every bit as sharp as a Shepherd’s and their hair is much more confusing) and “trick” dogs. Those “tricks” are skills. They’re perfectly capable of putting those skills to good use to save their master or obey his directive…

“Go get Gramps!” A poodle knows who Gramps is, and can fetch all day long. But don’t be too surprised if that poodle decides instead to leap through flames to deliver the rope and then pull Timmy from the well.

Links:

Canine Horizons: What is a Trick?

Poodles – Not Just Another Pretty Face

Her AKC registration name was “Kenya Queen Reba Amelia E.” She’s the only giant mutant mountain poodle… er, Imperial-size standard that we ever actually bought. Got her as a black hairball puppy from a couple whose actual business was to breed English Bulldogs in Savannah. The mama was their house pet, an impressive black. Paid $550 for her, had our pick of a litter of 6.

We’d answered an ad for the puppies, checked first to see if there were any close relatives or cousins in her bloodline and Uncle Bob’s. We wanted them to be a pair, and they were quite the pair. Though they never managed to have any pups of their own.

The naming of Kenya was quite the ordeal in a family with strong opinions and favorites. My husband wanted to name her “Queenie,” but only because his parents never let him name one of their dogs Queenie, and he thought it was a great dog name. I thought it was right up there with “Rover” or “Fido” – awful.

Our daughter pushed for “Reba” because she was in a big Reba McIntire phase at the time, and was going to college with Reba’s niece. I thought that name would look better on a redhead, but what do I know? Our son wanted to name her “Kenya,” and that name fit her particularly well. She earned “Amelia E.” on her own, after taking to the habit of flying leaps off the second story roof whenever the deck gate was shut and someone she wanted to meet showed up downstairs.

She had these great long legs, and a natural spring-action landing pattern. Never got hurt, amazed everybody, and by the time she was grown could use that spring action to make spectacular leaps straight up the mountain side or bound terraces after deer just for fun. Kenya Queen Reba Amelia E., The Flying Poodle.

We just called her Kenya. After our son died in an accident we, Bob, Kenya, our daughter and then 2-year old grandson moved to a cabin and acreage in Western North Carolina to start over. The Pup (our son) had been our business partner and a genuine local celebrity in Florida. The newspaper devoted three pages to his memorial service, television crews covered it live, and we got literally thousands of cards and letters from his many young fans. Suddenly no one wanted our clowns at their events anymore. Too sad, I guess.

Starting over was all we could think of. The cabin is a hundred years old, originally built as a sawmill camp cabin. The Southern Railroad used it as a hunting lodge for executives. When it fell into private hands the roof was raised, a loft was built, and a full bathroom was added in the half-cellar. The chestnut logs and siding came from this property, long before the blight wiped them out.

Our young grandson didn’t like the cabin very much, though he did love the land. For the first whole year we lived here he refused to sleep indoors. So we pitched one of those little dome tents on the second story back deck (fully railed, 10 x 12) accessed straight through the sliding glass door. He slept out there with Kenya every night and it didn’t hurt him. No wildlife (other than Kenya and the cats) could reach him, so it worked out well and he did get over it after that year. Learned to sleep indoors fine.

During that first year a good sized black bear with a yearling and a small cub had spent the winter in an old collapsed barn down in the bottomland. First thing in the spring Mama moved on with her small cub in tow, left the male yearling here to fend for himself. And from the size of him he was fending okay. Yet what he really, really wanted to fend most for himself was Kenya. That bear was definitely smitten, thought she was absolutely T-H-E most gorgeous black bear he’d ever hoped to lay eyes on!

He’d seen Kenya get all defensive and listened to her bark ceaselessly at him whenever he came close enough for her to smell him. Boy bears smell pretty bad, though I guess she-bears think it’s sexy. Kenya did not. By the time spring was definitely upon us, that bear was stepping up his courtship considerably.

My husband and I slept in the loft, with windows directly above the porch with our grandson’s little tent. We had gotten quite used to Kenya’s barking at the bear, who showed up below the balcony every morning just at sunrise to sing her praises. He’d taught himself to bark, no doubt thinking that would make her love him, and his bark was not as easy to ignore.

Grandson could sleep through Kenya’s barking too, but liked that bear bark as little as we did. One morning after the two had barked and barked and barked at each other, we heard our sleepy, now 3-year old grandson yell out crossly, “SHUT UP, BEAR!!!”

He figured out for himself that if he’d just move inside to the bedroom, Kenya would still sleep with him but he wouldn’t have to be rudely awakened by a barking bear every morning of his life. So I guess we have the bear to thank for civilizing the kid somewhat.

The bear moved on once the object of his affections moved indoors, though we’d occasionally hear his mournful barking from up on heartbreak ridge at night. And Kenya always dutifully barked right back at him. We like to think he found a lover from his own species and helped to keep the local black bear population going.

We’ve seen a very big male a few times on the back road, probably 700+ pounds. Just the size our bear would be if he’s lived this long. Not the same bear who comes through in the spring to raid the trash bin, in the summer to hit the berry patch, and in the fall to languish under the pear trees to feast on droppings.

But every time I see a bear (male, female, cub or yearling) I think of Kenya Queen Reba Amelia E., the flying poodle. And one seriously lovesick bear who thought she was the most beautiful thing he ever saw.

There’s something about poodles that automatically draws people. Not so much the toys, who are as notorious as any other way undersized dog for yapping and snapping. Or the prissy minis that so often sport the most outrageous of showy clips and puffed frizzy hairdos (when they aren’t also dyed to match their owner’s outfit). Of course, Poodle People never pass up the chance to admire a poodle, no matter what size.

Standards are something else. Unless they’re show dogs, the most popular of clips is the basic kennel cut – where the hair is cut short all over, a little longer on the top of the head and the ears. While you do have to clip a big poodle regularly no matter what hairstyle you like best, the all-over kennel cut shows off the dog AS a dog, and people generally do love to appreciate a fine looking dog.

Poodles get a lot of of attention in public that many other similar sized dogs don’t get, for some reason. When walking our poodles in public, at parks, on trails or on the beach, people will go out of their way to approach us and our dogs, and for some unexplainable reason don’t seem the least bit shy of reaching right out to pet them and stroke them and even (mostly kids) hug them. People will cross the street, run away from dining tables, climb hills or stairs to get to a poodle. Very strange.

Strange because people – including children – are usually a lot more careful of dogs. Big dogs especially. I’ve often wondered what the real draw might be. Is it poodles’ reputations as people-lovers or as the most intelligent among dogs? Nope. Too many of the people who have been drawn to our poodles in this manner come up to ask what kind of dog this beautiful dog is. It’s always amazing to me how many folks in the general public have no idea that poodles get that big. And how many have never encountered one.

Which only exacerbates the problem (if problem it is), and underscores the question asked above. WHY are people so drawn, and how do they know to trust the dog not to bite their face off?

It might be the friendliness of the poodle’s face, or maybe the bright intelligence and tolerant curiosity in the poodle’s eyes. Yet because people will go distances to pet a poodle I think it’s something more visceral and less objective than that. I call it “Poodle Aura.” Poodles aren’t just clairvoyant with their own people to the point of telepathic. I think they project a ‘Presence’ that advertises itself when they’re in a lively public sphere. Luckily with our poodles, the ‘Presence’ has been friendly, with an enthusiasm for the experience that shows in their gait and energy level.

For show folk this particular quality of poodles is of course something to exploit. We met a man years ago who ran a traveling medicine show out west. He had a couple of pet spider monkeys whose sole chore for the troupe was to eat raisins handed to them by children, for which those children’s parents paid a dollar. He had a nice, circus-lettered sign – “Feed the Monkey” – and a little stanchion-and-rope barrier so the kids couldn’t get too close. These, like all monkeys I’ve ever known or heard about, WILL bite for little or no apparent provocation.

When poodles came into our life years later, it was only natural that we borrow the concept for those summertime outdoor gigs at resorts and company picnics and festivals when we’d have lots of clowns present and several different activities going on at the same time. Two would have Clown School going for a group of kids who will later put on a show of skits. A couple more will be painting faces and sculpting balloons. Another doing stroll-around juggling and close-up magic. And another would run the “Pet the Poodle” booth.

You can’t make a living at it, but it goes with the general circus atmosphere of such occasions. It lets people thoroughly indulge in their desire to pet the poodle, and the poodle earns his keep! We inevitably ended up with a small group of child Poodle Fans who stayed close enough to sneak pets or hugs long after their parents moved on to some other attraction. They just fell in love.

And from those appearances we garnered lots of weekend birthday parties for smaller groups of kids who insisted on certain things. MUST bring Noel the magic dove and the poodle. Who doesn’t do any tricks, just comes to the party as a guest. Friend of the family, part of the troupe.

I would very much enjoy hearing from any and all poodle-loving readers out there on this subject. When you’re out in public with your poodle(s), do people go out of their way to come meet them? Do any of them seem surprisingly un-shy of reaching right out to pet them? Do children fall immediately in love?

Maybe there’s a fine research project in the making here!

“They say poodles aren’t ‘real’ dogs. At least, that’s what I tell motel desk people when we’re on the road with our Imperials and they say dogs aren’t allowed. It almost always works. In truth, their intelligence is amazingly human-like. They learn quickly, are highly creative, and love to be stars.”

That’s from the ‘About’ page of this blog. It describes something every ‘Poodle Person’ knows, and it’s honestly isn’t that difficult to convince other people – like your average motel desk clerk – that it’s true.

For a young guy being set up with a blind date, ‘personality’ isn’t necessarily a strong recommendation. Parents attempting to deal with a high-energy, short attention span child who might be better off on Ritalin, ‘personality’ can be a descriptive defense mechanism. The word itself contains the noun ‘person’, which does seem fairly exclusive to human beings. Yet poodles are famous for having personality to spare.

Poodle personalities can vary as much as any individual human’s personalities can, and it’s an interesting observation that – like other dogs – poodles will often reflect and compliment the personality of their human. Poodles can become easily spoiled. They’ve a certain presence and aura of superiority that no doubt comes from their pampered, high-class history. They hold themselves proudly, prance elegantly, and are amazingly intelligent, which helps to explain their affinity with nobility.

The intensive grooming that poodles require, along with the fact that they don’t shed like most other dogs do also helps to give people the general impression that poodles just aren’t all that dog-like. But it’s that famous intelligence that best recommends the poodle personality.

I’ve posted about working poodles to show how versatile these dogs really are. A sled poodle is no more or less intelligent than a circus poodle, who is no more or less intelligent than a guide poodle, who is no more or less intelligent than a hunting poodle… they start out with high intelligence and the ability to learn pretty much whatever their humans want them to learn. And they’re adaptable as well, meaning that they can serve different roles depending on the situation.

Standard poodles need more exercise than toys or miniatures, as they are bigger dogs. But they are fairly mellow, not jumpy or nervous. They love people, including children. When our grandson Josh was born, Uncle Bob the poodle loved nothing better than to lie happily on the floor and let that young’un crawl all over him or sleep snuggled against him. He seemed to understand that Josh might be frightened of him if he stood and towered over him, so he’d crawl along the carpet right along with him, making sure Josh was never more than a few feet away.

Josh also learned to stand and walk early – at 9 months – and that was all Bob’s fault. Bob would let Josh grab hold of his neck, ears or shoulder hair, then actually help him stand! They’d walk around the house looking for things Josh could get into, and the poodle never got tired of it. I’d never seen anything like that in all my life!

Poodles do not do well in cages unless you crate-train them early on. None of ours could abide a cage of any variety, but then, we’d never expected them to. Because we live in a rural area our poodles can come and go from the house at will during the day. We never had to specifically train them not to roam, because they’ve never shown any inclination to roam. They don’t want to be that far away from their humans. They sleep inside with us at night, always have. I’ve had outdoor dogs, but poodles just don’t fit the bill. When we lived in town we’d have to walk them, and standard poodles are big and friendly enough dogs to need leash training no matter where you live. You’ll be taking them places.

Those notorious sled poodles got their job because they love to pull. Standard poodles are strong animals, so if they aren’t properly leash trained you’ll definitely be sorry. Luckily, they care a lot for what you want and need from them, can read your mind, and will pretty much leash train themselves if you just let them know what you want.

And while it’s not strictly a personality issue, poodles take some serious upkeep. They love water, so regular baths usually aren’t a problem. Their hair grows like human hair – it doesn’t stop at a certain length, but will grow all the way to the ground if you let it. It’s curly and soft, so easily matted. You can do the fancy hairdo thing, but that takes brushing at least twice daily. I always liked the basic lamb cut – “shave the poodle” my daughter calls it. Take it all off except for the pom on the tail and some length on the ears and they’re good for two or three months.

Ears are an issue because poodles have hair that doesn’t stop growing in their ears, too. This has to be pulled out, the wax should be softened and removed, and mites find a happy home in there. Best to get your groomer or vet to do these jobs, but you can learn to do them at home.

Oh… and poodles love to go for rides. They’ll jump right into the back of the SUV or into the van, take a seat by the window and pay attention to everything going on. Our big male Beau loved to ride shotgun (that allowed us to strap him in with the shoulder belt), with the window down and goggle sunglasses. Really freaks people out at red lights, particularly when we’d be driving the little TR-4 with the top down, clown in the driver’s seat, human-size poodle with sunglasses in the shotgun position.

Links:

Poodle Personalities

More about poodle personalities