I know it is early, but Kate wants me to tell all of you to please have yourselves a Merry Christmas season. This photo was taken by Janet Gray, who graciously gave us permission to use it on our Christmas cards and other marketing materials back in 2002, when Kate was just a "tot". Hard to believe that adorable pup is eleven years old now. Getting a puppy is such a happy time, when we look forward to all the dreams we have of what we will do with our dog. But, things don't always work out just "perfect".  After all, just like people, most dogs aren't perfect, and most of all, life isn't perfect....at least it does not always go the way we have planned. With Kate, since her half-sister had not turned out to be show quality, my hopes were that Kate would be, finally, a Poodle whom I could show in some venue.  We had gotten our first Standard Poodle back in the late 80s and I had always wanted a Poodle to show, since I loved showing my Siberia...

Joey's Journal (by a lovely parti Poodle named "Joey", with a little help from his secretary and Mom, Charlene Dunlap) comes to my in-box each week with news of what Joey and his family (canine and human) have been up to.  This week, the Journal contained wonderful photos of Charlene's Poodles in varying types of winter coats.  When I wrote to ask if I could share her reviews of "Poodle coats", Charlene was kind enough to not only allow me to share this entry, but also suggested that my readers might enjoy one of the articles on her website which actually has instructions for the "prize winning entry" (the best dog coat for Poodles, or at least, when I saw the photos and read about them, it certainly seemed like it would be, far and away, the very best coat for a male Standard Poodle!) You can read and look at the photos and decide which ones you like the best.     Thank you so much Charlene, for these wonderful articles and being the Guest B...

I have been working on an interview with ? - it will be a surprise, but it will definitely be interesting to those of you who love Multi-colored Poodles, yet have trouble finding a breeder who is ethical and does health clearances. In addition, she has absolutely gorgeous dogs who are doing wonderfully well in the show ring and other venues. For now, I thought you might enjoy seeing Hudson's before and after grooming photos. I truly gave it a good try, but was so very grateful that a very talented junior (junior showmanship), Cheyenne Maggart, offered to neaten him up and make him look a bit more like a show groom when we arrived at the show site. Cheyenne, thank you again for all you did to help us. After showing AKC with another breed for over 3 decades, you wouldn't think I would be nervous but I was, terribly, about showing a Poodle for the first time in the UKC ring. And the grooming was the thing that was making me the most jittery, as I have always left the scissorin...

Hudson says he wants me to be able to groom like this when I grow up!  Seriously, isn't my friend Charlene Dunlap, of Canine Horizon s, a lovely groomer?  This is her gorgeous boy "Scotty". You can read Poodle articles (including those about parti-Poodles, which are one of the original Poodle colors!), view training video clips and read many wonderful articles about how Charlene trains her dogs to do amazing behaviors for the Poodle movies she produces on her website: www.caninehorizons.com .  Also, Scotty & Joey, the newest members of the Canine Horizon's crew, have their own website at:   www2.caninehorizons.com . Thank you Charlene, for being the person who introduced me to the beauty of Parti Colored Poodles.

The picture was taken in spa Podebrady - Czech Republic.  Lying poodles are Standard Poodle females - Haky and Fini, and the small one sitting on Adela is female Jessie. Aren't they just absolutely beautiful, both Poodles and their mom?  Thank you  Adéla Hlavatá for sharing this gorgeous photo with Poodle Blog readers!    You can see more beautiful photos of her dogs on her webiste, which is not in English, but still worth taking a few minutes to visit!    www.parti-paws.wbs.cz

We are so happy that Karen Kearney of Ciel Poodle s shared this photo of her boy Chaz in order to bring us a smile for the Fourth of July holiday!  He is quite an accomplished fellow, not just a UKC champion, but in addition to also being shown in AKC, he has performance titles galore, as you can see at the end of his name underneath his photo. Congratultions Karen, on all of his accomplishments and on your lovely creative grooming skills! "Chaz" U-CH UWP URO1 Paux de Deux Ciel, CGC, RN, NA, NAJ, OAJ, OAP, AJP,  CL1, OBT1, WP1 For more about Karen and Chaz, visit her website:   www.cielpoodles.com Thank you Karen, Happy Fourth of July! Note:  Photos on this blog are the property of the individual photographer and are not to be re-used in any form or fashion.  Thank you for respecting our copyright.

Prodigy's Content of Character (Hudson) Thank you to my friend, photographer Veronica Kelso, for all the beautiful photos she took of our sweet parti-colored Poodle boy, "Hudson". Not much news this week, have been glued to the television watching the horrible storm tragedies. Please donate via reputable organizations.  As I mentioned on a Facebook post....some can go, some can donate, all can pray.  So there is something all of us can do. Coming soon to Poodle Blogger - an interview with a well known breeder of both AKC and UKC solid color and parti-colored champions, as well as an article from a Poodle fancier who enjoys agility with her dogs. It has been lots of fun getting to know reputable Poodle breeders on Facebook Poodle groups since Hudson joined our family. I have spread myself a bit thin recently with too many writing projects at once, but I promise to have something interesting for Poodle bloggers to read soon!  Also, I confess, training Mr. ...

Jitka Vlasáková with Poodles shown in Prague, photo courtesy of Millano Photo. When I saw this gorgeous photo, all I could say was "wow"!  Rarely in this country do we have shows where there would be this many "dogs of multi-colors" entered, plus I was impressed that all of them posed so nicely for the photo!   There is one solid colored boy in the back, who happens to be parti-factored (his genes allow him to produce parti-colored Poodles) and he was bred by a well known Poodle breeder in the US, Kathy Esio-King of Jacknic Poodles. 11:11am Adéla Hlavatá , one of my Facebook friends sent me this photo to share on the Poodle blog,  along with the following information about the dogs in the photo: In the middle of the Poodles is Jitka  Vlasáková, who owns the lovely female dog sitting in front of her (Nelly) and Jitka's dog "Jack" is sitting beside Nelly.  Adéla  says the two females on the left are Infinity and Haky, who are Adela's o...

Hudson has now been here at our home approximately a month, but it took this sweet boy only a few days to totally worm his way into my family's heart! My birthday present from my husband this year was paying the expenses for me to go to a dog show weekend where Hudson's breeder flew in and showed him, then this lovely fellow went home with us. It was an extra special weekend not just due to getting to meet his breeder in person but also some good friends of ours, the Kelso family whom we have known for over 15 years, came to the dog show on Saturday to visit. Prodigy's Content of Character "Hudson" Co-owned by Melanie Schlaginhaufen & breeder Heather Bryan of Prodigy Poodles Nest to the wonderful time spent with friends, perhaps the most special birthday present I received was a photo shoot of Hudson by my friend Veronica Kelso.  The one above is one of my favorites! If you enjoy seeing photos of Poodles (of all colors and varieties) and reading ...

What a charming girl this tiny Poodle happens to be!  I met her when she was at the Hickory, North Carolina  UKC dog shows this Spring.  Echo has a delightful "personality", seems to never meet a stranger, her little tail wagged all weekend.   UKC Champion Vonstarr Voices on the Wind Echo's owner is Kate Landon, who was a big help to me when I was trying to figure out the ins and out of UKC shows the weekend where Echo took the win pictured above. I have been showing AKC for many years but had never been to a UKC conformation show until that particular weekend. Echo is a phantom colored Toy Poodle out of solid colored parents. Her sire is a blue and her mom is white. Echo's registered name is Vonstarr Voices on the Wind and she is quickly making her presence known at UKC shows, with many group wins and placements to her credit. Kate reminded me that www.poodlepedigree.com is a great place to start researching pedigrees, so Echo's pedigree can be foun...

If you hear the term "field Poodles", you may think of hunting Poodles, who usually are working near the water, retrieving ducks.  If you have interest in working lines Standard Poodles, I would recommend you check out Louter Creek:   http://www.redhuntingpoodles.com/ .  My friend Kim Tyndall has recently purchased a Poodle from them and gives them the highest of recommendations. Also, they are the ones who had a red Poodle featured on the TV show many folks love - Duck Dynasty!   Red Standard Poodles are very appealing, but if you have interest in this color, please don't just google the internet, please make sure you are working with an ethical breeder who does all the health clearances recommended.  It is very easy for unethical folks who are simply taking advantage of something unique (just like the parti colored Poodles that are fascinatingly beautiful) to take advantage of puppy buyers through the internet.  Please recognize that this wonderful breed ...

Well, I confess. In the Poodle world, I am now 100%, totally, completely politically incorrect! My first Standard Poodle was politically correct .She was purchased as a pet, at the age of six months, from a show breeder who did not wish to keep her because her bite went undershot. We spayed her as soon as we got her home, we loved her, we socialized her and she became an excellent therapy dog who enjoyed nursing home visits as well as helping me with educational programs at schools (for children of all ages). Her name was Figi. We adored her and as best we could tell, she felt the same about us! Figi in her director's chair in front of the sign that says "Please keep dogs out of this area!" During Figi's years with us, other Poodles came and went, because we began to search for a nice Standard Poodle to show, and in addition, we became involved in poodle rescue. A lovely white boy named Teddy was with us for a short time, then went on to become a certified...