Scanning Around With Gene: Oodles and Oodles of White-House Poodles
I’m ecstatic on a number of levels about the First Family Elect, not the least of which is the promise of a new first-puppy for those two adorable girls. But thanks to Malia’s allergies, the search for a First Dog is limited to hypoallergenic breeds, a rather short list. These days, thanks to designer breeding, that list includes a number of “doodles,” breeds that have been mixed with Poodles. Apparently the Obama kids have their eyes on a Labradoodle, a very popular choice right now, along with the Goldendoodle.
But these designer breeds may exhibit behavior problems and are harder to find at shelters (an Obama preference) so the family may be pressured to consider the original allergy-free breed, the mighty poodle, pure and simple. This week I’ll share poodle images and relay my own experience growing up with one.
Click on any image to see a larger version.
Because my sister also suffered from allergies, we ended up with a pure-bread toy poodle, which we promptly named Pierre. Actually, we officially named him “Pierre Jacque Gahbell,” hoping that sounded more French and would make the neighbors with mutts even more envious of our good fortune and international savoir faire.
Here are poodle pics from the book Poodles by Harry Glover.
Our enthusiasm over the puppy ended pretty quickly when we realized that poodles are a bit, shall we say, high strung? Pierre was small enough that his aggression was pretty harmless, but he did spend a lot of time growling, baring his teeth, and nipping at various body parts. That or humping them.
I know that there are a lot of great poodles out there and I’ve met a few in my time. Many of the problems we had with Pierre stemmed from our ignorance of proper dog raising, and I will admit we teased him unmercifully just to get him riled. Our most infamous trick was placing him in a large fiberglass bowl (which usually held the family mail), plopping it in the swimming pool, and setting him off with a great twist. We re-christened the bowl the “Poodle Spinner,” and it, along with Pierre, is seen here in a tattered snapshot. I suppose it’s no wonder that Monsieur Gahbell was un chien fou.
My wife and I still have that bowl and currently keep our mail in it.
Poodles are a noble breed of hunting dogs; it’s not their fault that they’ve come to look so silly in modern times. Because they don’t shed (thus the hypoallergenic quality), poodles must be groomed to avoid a big curly mess. And grooming dogs is a little like dressing small children: It’s the perfect opportunity to play out fashion fantasies that have nothing to do with reality. Here are a number of paint-by-number poodle pictures from the 1950s.
I once boned up on poodle history when I took Pierre to school for show-and-tell, so I do know that a few of the haircuts given to poodles have some historical point, mainly to keep certain joints warm when swimming after dead fowl in freezing lakes and streams. But it’s been quite a while since the average poodle went hunting for anything other than a warm sofa, so the haircuts are now all about fashion. Here, from a book on poodle clipping, are a number of the more popular styles.
Poodles, like so many breeds, come and go in popularity, though the poodle is always right up there according to the American Kennel Club. I think of poodles as a ’50s icon, not so much that they were more popular then, but that was when they became a symbol of sophistication and wealth.
Here are images from a 1974 Time magazine essay on pets, an Avanti greeting card, a Hallmark card, and an unknown postcard.
There hasn’t been a Presidential Poodle before, though at one time Richard Nixon did own the breed. And of course you don’t have to make them look silly. Give them reasonable haircuts and they look like any number of fluffy curly-haired breeds.
Go to page 2 to see a poodle light switch, and Gene’s favorite poodle cartoons!
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Gene, my experience with toy poodles is that they are similar to many small dog breeds: high-strung and a pain in the butt. That said, full-size poodles that I have known have always been great dogs. Good with kids, easy to live with, intelligent. I’m really not a fan of those crazy haircuts that everybody wants to give them; a poodle with curly hair left alone is a damn fine sight, and they make a nice and fluffy pillow to lay your head on. Full-size poodles are “da-bomb” and make for a great pet. Great article, as per usual. Thanks.
Hi Gene, I have a standard poodle, and he is an awesome, easy-going, layed-back dog, as are many of the larger poodles. They get a bad rap due to the silly haircuts many of then have. But with the longer, puppy cut, they are great-looking, and one of the smartest dogs around! Why go for a ‘doodle’ imitation when you can have the original?
Growing up in the 1970’s, our family had a miniature gray poodle named Jou-Jou. We kids promised my parents we would take care of the dog, but after the novelty wore off, my Dad got stuck with everything. We kept Jou-Jou in the utility room at night because he had a tendency to wander around and destroy things. There was always newspaper spread out on the floor in case he had to go during the night. Jou-Jou didn’t like this arrangement and was very vengeful. Every morning my Dad would go to pick up the paper from the floor, and Jou-Jou had pooped exactly on the edge of the paper, half on the paper and half on the floor.
One morning my Dad was beyond frustrated and started chasing Jou-Jou around the house, calling him a miserable human being. If he’d caught him that morning, I don’t think Jou-Jou would have made it to the ripe old age of 17.
Hi Gene,
Having grown up with poodles, I learned to love them and came to see that if you treated them like yippy, snippy pests, then that’s what they become. But treat them like you would any other dog they are great. They love to play and rough-house (yes, even the little ones) and are, as others have noted, very smart, affectionate, even protective. We’ve had several over the years and I miss them all. We presently have two and it’s like having a couple of 4 year old kids (that’s good AND bad, ha-ha!) Anyway, maybe prez-elect Obama can find his family a nice pooch at a Poodle rescue organization.
Hi Gene – Great poodle images. Never had a family poodle – we had a cockapeekapoo! Thanks for including Lynda Barry’s Poodle with a Mohawk. One of my favorites. Lynda and I used to fight over the copy machine at Urban Press in Seattle during the 80’s. She was doing her cartooning and I was working on logo designs. – J.
I agree that standard poodles do not deserve their reputation as silly and stupid. They are one of the most intelligent dog breeds, and standards are not yappy or hyper (that is true of the smaller poodles, though.) Besides being calm, very loyal and loving the standards are great with kids-much safer than the little ones, which may bite! Although I prefer the “lamb” haircut for them, plain and non-fussy, I admit I am attracted to the great ’50s image of the silly pom-pom cuts, complete with a pink or blue dye job (with a beautiful, fashionable girl at the other end of the leash.) Very retro!
i read your column with amusement. i grew up with a black standard poodle named Pierre. we inherited the name (which we thought was undignified) when my parents adopted him from a family with small kids who could not handle him and the kids. he was a super-smart dog and my parents totally loved him and he their last kid at home when the rest of us had all left for college and they had empty-nest syndrome. For years (until Pierre was finally run over by a car in his great old age) had the very same lynda Barry cartoon, Poodle with a Mohawk, taped on the front of their refrigerator. My parents cried for days after his death. My father was in the US Foreign Service, and Pierre had traveled all over the world with them.