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The Perfect Poodle I never really thought much about having a Poodle in my life; that is before I got one. I had always seen Poodles as being high-maintenance dogs and I had always thought of them as being barkers that would probably drive me crazy. That is until I met my first Standard Poodle. Down here in Texas, you don't see many Standard Poodles. These dogs are really too refined for many of the people in our area, most of whom have a cattle dog of some sort and in fact, that was what I was looking for myself. Then I ran across an ad in the newspaper of an elderly lady who had a Standard Poodle she was looking to give away because she couldn't care for it anymore. I thought, "What the heck?" and called her up. When I went over to see the dog, I was awe struck. This was the most unique dog I had ever seen and she was all done up in a continental cut. The lady explained to me that she had been a breeder and that this was her last female. She was just too old to give the dog the kind of attention that she wanted to give her. The dog had even won a few dog shows and I just couldn't help but take her home with me, her name was Julie. Julie is very much a refined dog. She is incredibly intelligent and very well trained. I was lucky in that I didn't have to spend much time on dog obedience training with her and she was nearly impeccable off leash. The lady explained to me that Poodles don't shed and that I didn't have to keep her in a fancy haircut all the time and that I could let it grow out over her body. She told me tons of stories about her Poodles and I knew just about everything there was to know about them by the time we left for the house. It didn't take long for Julie to become the best dog I had ever owned. Her manners were amazing and she would simply sit and watch television with us in the evenings, all proper like a lady. You could give her any command and she would do it on a dime, we even taught her a few little tricks. Eventually I decided that I would try Julie back out in the show ring. We began going to dog obedience training classes together and she was better behaved than some of the other seasoned show dogs that were there. She would pick up on commands and outperform the Labrador's even. We only showed locally, but she was the winner of several blue ribbons. We also competed in a few agility events because she picked up so quickly. Needless to say she was the only Poodle in our club competing in agility! If you're looking for a dog that is large, but also makes the perfect house dog, the Standard Poodle will make a perfect pet. |