The Perfect Home:
The Perfect Home by Charlie Binder, SP age 11 month

IMO the perfect home has several requirements. First, love of poodles must be deeply in grained in ALL members of the household. This includes humans as well as other species including, but not limited to: other dogs (not desirable, but if they are already there...), cats, birds, horses, llamas (there are some here in NH).

Second, poodles must have a central role in family life and the daily schedule. For example, any human walks must include poodles; any human social activities (dinner parties, for example), must also include poodles, though not necessarily at the table; errands must be done with poodles in attendance wherever possible; and poodle household members must be greeted before human members when any humans arrive at the home. In addition, common activities such as watching TV or rented movies must be done in a room with comfortable poodle accomodations (preferably not on the floor).

All significant family possessions must be adapted to poodle use. Vehicles, for example, must have comfortable and safe poodle accomodations to allow the frequent transport of poodles to outings of various types (ie. a day at the beach or hiking in the mountains). Swimming pools must have steps, not ladders, to allow easy poodle entrance and egress; at least one float should be of poodle size; and loungers should be of sufficient size for poodles and placed in the shade, as well. Further, household entrances and exits should be adapted to allow the free movement of poodles. This includes liberal use of properly sized dog doors, especially the kind that attach to sliding doors so that poodles can have access to all decks and patios.

In terms of health and nutrition, all poodle food must be approved by the resident poodle, and must be placed in areas easily accessible to the poodle. Snacks, for example, should be placed in low cupboards with easy-open latches so that poodles may have access at will. Water should be readily available on each floor of the home to avoid the indignity of having to drink from a toilet. Ice water (my personal preference) should be available on at least one floor. In addition, petting of poodles, playing with poodles, conversations with poodles and training of poodles must be recognized as requirements for a healthy poodle, and therefore engaged in on a daily basis. Grooming and bathing, while understood as a necessity, must be done at the convenience of the poodle, and only after all other consideration has been given to the poodle.

Lastly, sleeping accomodations (and I understand there has been recent discussion of this topic) must allow for close contact between poodles and humans. This is very important for a few reasons: humans may require the warmth of poodles on cold nights, humans or poodles may have bad dreams or night lonliness which would require the comfort of the other, or humans may require the protection of poodles in case of a home invasion. For those of you with TV's in the bedroom, poodles are also fond of relaxing in front of the TV before bedtime.

To summarize, the perfect poodle home is, quite simply, one that considers the health and enjoyment of the resident poodles above all else.
Kenokids@aol.com

PLaying with our Poodles:
Some of the most wonderful times that I can remember in the past 20 years has been the occassional Sunday mornings when I could stay home, stay in bed with my std Poodles and spend a couple hours of PLAY. Tossing toys for them, hiding under the covers and having them dig me out, hiding their favorite toy under a pillow and them frantically looking for it, then dozing awhile and waking to another wonderful fun romp and play. I have had as many as 6 dogs of various ages involved in these wonderful lazy fun times of just enjoying each other. True bliss!
"Grace L. Blair, M.D." <cpoodle@foothill.net>

Living with more than one poodle: With Anessa gone for the day the silence is deafening. Ava is lost and so am I. That is one drawback with having more than one poodle. When one has to be away no one knows what to do with themselves. Now, living with two poodles requires a king size bed and a very understanding husband. I'm hoping for both in time. When I just had Anessa and wanted to do any work she would follow me. I thought with another poodle in the house she would be too preoccupied to follow me. Not the case. Now both follow me to do the wash. One checks out the washer while the other one checks out the inside of the dryer. It is a game to see which one can grab the neatly folded clothes or pile of socks and run behind the couch. They will play tug of war with socks or stuffed animals. More often than not I have a pile of animals that need sewing. Now I have two dogs that can drag laundry out in front of company.
One thing for sure the noise level at our house is increased. It seems that two dogs cannot do anything quietly. When Anessa would steal candy or food she would take it behind the couch and we wouldn`t know about it. Now with two she is almost always caught because the other will race behind the couch to help eat it. The noise alone gives them away.
bwilkes@ptbo.igs.net (Lynn Wilkes)

Poodles playing with Poodles

The famous Ear Tug -OUCH!!!!!!!!!
Cassie is on the ground, biting Sadie's ear......
Diane Whitehouse <cassie@madnet.net>

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POODLES AND CARS....
Reilly (left)(SP) and Bogie(right) (SP)courtesy of Betsy Poodlehaus@aol.com

Blue loves the car. I used to think it was because he thought we were going to the park, but it is an activity that is wonderful all by itself. I always tke him even for a ride to the store to sit in the lot. He looks at people, things, smells the air, whatever. It's a change of scenery and poodles get bored. If they could only read. The best car for a Standard Poodle? Definitely a Land Rover Discovery. It has 2 sunroofs (one a perfect SP nose height), airconditioning with a seperate control in the back for the hot poodle, and more windows for looking at everything out there than any other car. Rear door is perfect height to show off just how gracefully they jump. We took Blue with us when we went car shopping, to try them on for size. This one won.
Terry and doggy Blue puppy
Terry Gernsheimer <bldbuddy@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>

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.............and just how smart are Poodles anyway?
One of those clever poodles nearly drove me nuts for nearly 14 years...she let my macaw out side, repeatedly opened ALL of the doors in the house, opened the front gate, turned on the lights in my van, opened the refrigerator and most of the drawers in the kitchen and desk, once opened the door to the grooming room and stole the nail grinder then put it in the strawberry bed, was able to slither through a window opening that I thought was dog proof at a tracking test, even locked herself in the bathroom. These problems were solved by keys, padlocks, chains and padlocks and finally (not because of her, but it did solve the problem) moving to a new house with very difficult to open doors and a kennel where she was placed when I wasn't home.
And talk about heart failure...I had 2 puppies (above dog's grandkids) 10 weeks old in an exercise pen outside my motorhome at a campground. Went into the motorhome for a couple minutes and took my eyes off the puppies. When I looked out the window...no puppies in the pen! I bolted out the door to find the two little guys sitting side by side on the bottom step in front of the door looking up at the door patiently. They had somehow gotten out of the pen and then (surprise) come to the door. What a relief!
Grace Blair cpoodle@foothill.net

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Teaching Your Humans to Understand You

The most important signals and movements for any poodle to remember are: eye contact, tail wagging, pawing and barking.
Always look your human in the eye. This gets their attention and precedes all of the other actions. For example: Staring while the human is reading the newspaper is effective if done long enough, but a secondary pawing or barking will assure a quick response. There are times when the "double paw plead", illustrated here, is necessary. When they look at you, always acknowledge their attention. Tail wagging or smiling is an excellent reinforcement.
Here is an example of how this might go at my house. Dad is reading the newspaper. I am hungry or I am bored and I want his attention. I stare. He does not seem to get the message. I paw. He says, "What do you want? Out?" This is the important part. Don't move. Don't stop staring until he guesses what it is that you want. " Pet you?" he asks. Don't move. "More Food?" he suggests. Ah, yes, it would be the food that I am after. Ever so slightly at first; then rapidly, I wag my tail. This lets him know that he is right. Praise in the form of tail wagging, is very important. Your human will know the next time, whether the answer be "out" or "biscuit" or "more food" or even "walk", that they have correctly understood your request.
Barking is saved for last because it is the most powerful teaching tooI. If there is a special "must have" item then barking is the only way to go! ( Must have...bagel, yogurt, meat from plates, cookie) Barking is used as a last resort and less frequently to maintain the seriousness of the signal. Always bark when they leave the house to tell them that you will miss them and bark when they come home to let them know that you did indeed miss them. Bark to let them know that you are excited about something that they want to do, like walk or play "dog" with you.
When you see the light in their eyes that means they have figured out what you want, it is worth every patient moment. You will have a happier human and a much closer relationship. I believe that it is the responsibility of every canine to master these simple basics of human training.
Abby Winer (see more picture of me here)

you can also email me privately about anything on this page.
If you have anything you might want to add to it..let me know..

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