Standard Poodle

Poodles are known as a highly intelligent, energetic, and sociable breed. They require both physical and intellectual activities. Of note is this breed's keen sense for instinctive behavior. In particular, marking and hunting drives are more readily observable in Poodles than in most other breeds. A typical poodle should be reserved with strangers upon first introduction, but after a while should slowly reveal a warm and personable disposition. Snappy, vicious behavior is considered a serious fault in the breed.

Standard Poodle

Traditionally the Standard Poodle, the largest of the subtypes, was a retriever or gun dog, used in particular for duck hunting and sometimes upland bird hunting. The breed has been used for fowl hunting in USA and Canada since the early 1990s, in and out of hunting tests. The modern Standard retains many of the traits prized by their original owners: a keen working intelligence that makes the dog easy to command, webbed feet that make it an agile swimmer (all of the poodle's ancestors and descendants had or share the love of water) athletic stamina, and a moisture-resistant, curly coat that acts like a wool jumper in damp conditions. Towards the second half of the nineteenth century their use in hunting declined in favour of their use in circuses and status symbols of the wealthy, so that by the 20th century they were only found as companions or circus dogs.[8] However, in the past 20 years, some breeders in the United States and Canada have been selecting for dogs with drive for birds in order to revive the breed for hunting, with some great success. The Canadian Kennel Club admitted the Standard Poodle for hunting trials in 1996 and the American Kennel Club in 1998, respectively. As of July 2014, the end results of 20 years of breeding to reawaken the hunting instinct have been dogs that are very eager to please their masters. It has resulted in a gun dog with extreme intelligence that requires special training: their aptitude is second only to the British Border Collie and thus the hunting Standard Poodle requires the gunman to be quite specific as to what he wants and how he wants it done, unlike other spaniels and retrievers who require no such input since they won't try to solve the problem themselves without it. Hunting poodles typically are dogs with lightning quick reflexes, sprinting hard on command after the downed bird and having a prodigious ability to remember where the bird fell and (though not as good as the English Pointer) a decent nose to sniff and track a bird hiding in tall grass.

Standard Poodles have been winning titles against the more widely used native breeds like the Chesapeake Bay Retriever , Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, American Water Spaniel and Labrador Retriever. Thus far 13 Standard Poodles have won Master Hunt titles (12 in the United States, 1 in Canada) and several more have won senior and junior titles on both sides of the border. Currently only the United Kennel Club in the US recognizes the Standard Poodle as a Sporting dog, thus in spite of this subtype of poodle being ineligible for field competitions more and more are appearing in the field as waterfowl dogs and hunters of pheasant, the latter especially in the Midwest.

Hunting

in the past 20 years in North America, as has been intimated earlier in this article, Standard Poodles have begun to be put back to their original purpose as duck and game bird hunters.The more commonly acceptable clips seen in the show ring and the local groomer's have proven extremely impractical in action. In the US and Canada, most hunters are male, lower to upper middle class, and strongly dislike being seen with a dog that has had an effete reputation.[30] Dyeing a white Standard Poodle's hair flamboyant colours and putting bows in their hair has been a habit since the days well-to-do French ladies got their hands on them and circus acts made huge profits on them, but is unnecessary in the field for hiding in blinds.

The clips otherwise do not guard against the pitfalls of chasing after ducks, geese, turkey, and pheasant: Continental clips, for example, shave the rump of the dog too close to the skin to provide enough warmth in water below 10 °C in a Quebec or New England winter and the fancier cuts that require the hair to be blown straight can easily get the dog stuck in bramble like a fly in a spiderweb. The lion cut, popular in the UK, is a disaster: an exposed flank makes the dog an easy mark for mosquitoes, black flies, and cuts, and because poodles have lost much bodyfat over the past 150 years, exposed skin in cold weather can make them very sick. Conditions are often muddy, often snowy, and often rugged-the water can get very icy. Either can cause longer hair to become a matted mess or cause ice and slush to become impacted into the fur, not to mention the upkeep of repairing the damage at the groomer's shop becomes prohibitively expensive and time consuming.

Most hunters have their dogs sport a low maintenance modification of the Puppy, Sporting, or Continental clip The cut typically shears the dog all over evenly a quarter inch to an inch and a half off the skin, depending on the time of year, and usually leaves the face shaven so the dog can see well. Some hair on the ankles and on top of the head may be left longer for warmth in the water, and all that is required thereafter is a scrubbing in warm water with a mild soap after a day on the hunt and a little patience to remove the burrs the dog's hair collects in the bushes. An insulated orange jacket in cold weather is preferred and recommended, as the very bright colour makes the dog easily seen from a distance and the insulation compensates for colder temperatures. Inspecting the dog for fleas and ticks is paramount and a shampoo that washes them out and kills them is highly recommended.

Shedding

Unlike most dogs which have double coats, poodles have a single layer coat (no undercoat is present) composed of dense, curly fur that sheds minimally. They could be considered hypoallergenic (though not completely allergen free). The poodle does shed, but instead of the fur coming off the dog, it becomes tangled in the surrounding hair. This can lead to matting without proper care.

A corded Standard Poodle

Texture ranges from coarse and woolly to soft and wavy. Poodle show clips require many hours of brushing and care per week, about 10 hours/week for a Standard Poodle. Poodles are usually clipped down into lower-maintenance cuts as soon as their show careers are over. Pet clips are much less elaborate than show and require much less maintenance. A pet owner can anticipate grooming a poodle every six to eight weeks. Although professional grooming is often costly, poodles are easy to groom at home with the proper equipment.