The second day of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show wrapped up last night (February 10), with a 10-year old Sussex Spaniel named “Stump” taking the Best of Show honors. For those like me who never heard of a Sussex Spaniel, it’s a medium-sized, short-legged, longish-haired dog with a saggy face and Prince Valiant ears that looks kind of cool – but not nearly as cool as the dreadlocked Puli, which could have masqueraded as a Wild Mutant Mountain Poodle in desperate need of a haircut…

At any rate, the standard poodle took Best of Breed Monday night in the Non-Sporting group. Ch Randenn Tristar Affirmation, a six-year old white lady-poodle of great grace and charm (not to mention big hairdo) took the gold, beating out the French Bulldog who took silver and Bulldog-bulldog who took bronze.

Here is the Video Link from WKC on the poodle-judging, and there are available videos on the site for all breeds and groups, so do spend some time if you missed the show on television. And while you’re at it, do check out that spectacular Puli. I just might have to consider getting me one of those one of these days. If I ever get really tired of poodle-shaving, that is…

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!

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…

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!

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!

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!

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!