Championship Poodle Wrestling

Our poodles have all been big dogs. In the Imperial range, they weighed in at between 60 and 80+ pounds of well-shaped critter. Despite their reputation for intellectual prowess and high-dollar doggie superiority, poodles are like any other dog when it comes to having fun… they love to play.

And anyone who has ever owned and loved a big dog will tell you, wrestling with their masters - in the grass or just on the living room floor - is one of the most favored forms of play. Because we were already show-folk when we were gifted with our first standard poodle, the next step was entirely predictable.

Sure, we might have trained Uncle Bob to dance in a tutu, or ride a horse we didn’t have, or jump through flaming hoops, or maybe just come when we called him. But we thought it was probably a better idea to just make the best commercial use of his natural tendencies. Which, in the case of a weekly riverwalk ‘New Vaudeville Night’ gig in Jacksonville, Florida, turned out to be Championship Poodle Wrestling.

Now, we worked hard on this act. Or, our teenage son did. He’d learned to juggle when he was 12, just out of the hospital from appendicitis, taught by a friend in Tulsa who went by the stage name of “SkyDawg.” He’s the one who gave our son his stage name of “SkyPup,” and who advised us early on that we couldn’t lose if we put kids and/or dogs in the act. We promptly took him up on it.

So Championship Poodle Wrestling became the exclusive territory of Uncle Bob the poodle and the Pup. They practiced every day, for seeming hours. In the yard, in the park, on the carpet. Being naturally athletic (as a good juggler and Kung-Fu black belt should be, despite reaching 6 feet tall at the ripe old age of 15), the Pup soon learned how to flip himself over, take great pratfalls, and generally make it look a lot like that dog had Hulk Hogan’ed him.

Bob just loved to wrestle with his boy. Any time, any place. Since he was also very well-mannered in public and in crowds, we figured we’d need to create a reserved space for the act so he wouldn’t become too self-conscious or shy. We got four of those nifty theater stanchions with the fat, velvet-covered ropes with hooks at the end, and a 10′ square of astro-turf. Set-up was easy, just roll out the carpet, put the stanchions at the corners and attach the ropes. Instant Wrestling Ring!

SkyPup had one of those standard one-piece wrestling suits that look like 1890s bathing suits. Black stretch with a big white “P.” Uncle Bob’s costume was more elaborate. Actual satin shorts (with tail-hole) and big championship belt. White because he was black, the belt was attached fake-leather painted to look 3-D and metallic gold. He also had a fancy robe he’d wear into the ring, where my husband did the emcee announcing to get the crowd all worked up. I often was the bell-ringer, got a nice big bell just for effect.

Both of them had their corner training crews too, there with buckets of water, towels, elaborately outsized first-aid kits, and in Uncle Bob’s corner, a nice poodle-sized futon he could lie down on. He had great fun with this, as Pup would be making a big show of total exhaustion in his corner, Bob would just take a nap. The crowd loved it.

Pup had subtle hand signals that Bob would respond to, standing up to put his front paws on Pup’s shoulders, or do a sideways body-block to the midsection, or, when Pup would throw himself (theatrically, often flipping in the process) down, to pin his shoulders before prancing in victory circles around the ring.

It was one of our most successful crowd-pleasers, and the hat-tip crew often worked it as though they were making real prize-fighting book. The poodle loved every minute of it, and I swear really did believe himself to be the World Heavyweight Poodle Wrestling Champion. SkyPup never won, even once. Bob always pinned him in the end.

There’s just something about a kid and his dog. And as SkyDawg told us, you can’t lose if you’ve got kids and dogs in the act. In my experience of such things, this is true. The act is still legendary among friends who still live there, all grown up and parents themselves now. More than a couple of them have big poodles, and wrestle with them regularly.

Which is just as it should be.

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Filed under Poodle Skills, Poodles, Show Poodles, Showing Off |