Field and Hunting Poodles

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!

More Search and Rescue Training

In keeping with the SAR Training of two beautiful standard poodles that we’ve followed here since they were mere pups, 15 month old Angelina is shown in this video from searchdogtraining practicing “deep shelter” search, finding a hidden victim by sound clues.

Looks to me like Angelina is going to be a valuable ‘first responder’ in her working life, and perhaps an international star as well!

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…

Search Poodle Training: Socialization

Here is yet another fine video of search and rescue training for standard poodles. If readers are interested in this series, the YouTube channel, where you can subscribe to the ongoing video uplinks, is at searchdogpoodle. I have found the series fascinating, and I think many of you will too!

In this video we get a feel for the Slovakian social life that the poodles-in-training must learn to become accustomed to. This includes transportation, which in northern Europe includes trains a lot more than private cars or trucks. Would that this country had such widespread public transportation systems!

Workout Video for Poodles

…and Poodle People

For all you poodle people out there who are committed to physical fitness and energetic workouts, here’s the perfect workout video for you AND your poodles! It features Mariko Takahashi in a parody of Susan Powter’s first fitness video. It was created by Nagi Noda for Panasonic, one of 10 films made for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Enjoy, and try not to choke while you’re laughing!

A Different Kind of Service Dog…

Here’s a great story about an “Educational Dog” in Oregon, who has been a ’school dog’ since he was just a pup. Our childrens’ classrooms have hosted mice, ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes and ant farms through their primary grades, so what’s wrong with a class poodle?

Should dogs be banned from schools? How about hamsters?

“He was four months old when he started school,” said Witt, who was teaching fifth grade at the time. “I got him specifically as a classroom dog.”

A year later, when Witt began teaching third grade, Rosebud followed.

Students were thrilled to have a dog in class. The animal even serves as an incentive for some students.

“He makes it easier to come to school,” said 8-year-old Madison Canova.

What do you think?

What It Takes to Be A Service Dog

In a previous post and subsequent short videos, we’ve looked at what service dogs can do for people, and a little bit about how they’re trained. Standard poodles are of course a favorite for the service sector due to their high intelligence and trainability, and also for their hypo-allergenic coats. The Australian Labradoodle was originally bred specifically for being service dogs, combining the best qualities of the best dogs.

Not every dog – poodle, labrador, shepherd – is cut out to be trained as a service dog, and most service dog training organizations have strict criteria by which puppies are judged, and programs for finding good homes for all the dogs that don’t quite make the grade for one reason or another. So I thought in this post we should look at the specific criteria used to choose the perfect dogs for training.

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More Puppy Training: Search & Rescue

Another video about training young poodles for a life of service, in this case search & rescue work. This is from searchdogpoodle at YouTube.

Previous Posts About Working Poodles:

Working Poodles: What They’re Best At
“Go Fetch Gramps, Timmy’s In The Well!”
Napoleon’s Dogs: Literary License or Dread History?
Those Cool Alaskan Sled Poodles
What Can a Trained Poodle Do?”
Service Poodle in Action!

Service Poodle in Action!

I found this video by sanprins over at YouTube. It shows service poodle Gautzy Wopper at work, helping with some basic household tasks. I’ll be featuring some further videos of service dogs at work and play in this series, so please enjoy!

What Can a Trained Poodle Do?

Back when we’d first adopted our beloved Beau the black standard from the local animal shelter [A Poodle and His Clown] we were working as directors of a state funded after school program for at-risk and adjudicated young teenagers (12-14) at a local Jr. High school.

Beau was just 6 months old when we got him. He was about 9 months old when a volunteer from the local police force (good outreach) volunteered his time to help us with the kids. He turned out to be a great asset, kept most of the adjudicated kids out of trouble from then on by being their friend and mentor. One afternoon he brought a couple of beautiful German Shepherds – the ‘real’ shepherds that surprise people. Smaller than expected, low-slung in the rear. Seems he’d been promoted to K9 training and these were his babies. He’d trained dogs when in the military, our town was just starting a K9 program. His dogs were the same age as Beau, who as it happened had been to the vet that day so ended up at the school with us for the program that day.

We’d told our young policeman about Beau, of course, and he’d mouthed some platitude he’d learned in the Army about big poodles being excellent service/K9 dogs, but he’d never actually seen or met one. The moment he saw Beau – who was quite hairy at the time and already bigger than either of those shepherds – it was love at first sight. All that he’d heard about giant poodles suddenly clicked in his mind, and within 15 minutes he had Beau joining his pups in the “Obedience Show-Off Game.” He offered to include Beau in his training course for free, just wanted to work with him.

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