1 |
Are Standard Poodles your original breed? How many years have you been involved with the breed? |
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I had dogs growing up, a border collie rescue from the SPCA, a GSD, an American Cocker. When the kids were old enough and I was home more I got a standard poodle, my husband is allergic and so that settled it.
I am a relative newcomer to the breed, I have been in it about 10 years. |
2 |
Since your involvement have you seen many changes within the breed? |
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Trim styles, less hair and more skillfully trimmed, more tightly scissored. In our area less dogs being showed, hard to say if the economy has any bearing on this. |
3 |
Who do you believe to be the greatest Standard Poodle you have seen? |
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Topscore Contradiction, the image of him in full stride with a long lead and his handler, Michael Nilson running full out behind him is breathtaking. |
4 |
If you had just one dog to incorporate into your breeding program past or present who would it be and why? |
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Puttencove Promise…such an icon. |
5 |
What do you think is the largest misconception about your breed? |
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That they are a fou-fou breed. Poodles can do it all, hunt, herd, obedience, conformation, therapy. The list is endless. |
6 |
Do you see yourself still involved in breeding and showing in five years? |
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Absolutely!! I love the breed and am so impressed with their versitility, anything else is just a dog. |
7 |
What is the most difficult aspect of presenting your breed? |
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For me, it is the hair, it is one of the things that attracts me, but it is hard work to keep. I like my poodles to be dogs and don’t like them to be kenneled because of the hair. My scissoring skills are lacking and it makes it difficult to put a good show trim on a dog. |
8 |
In as few words as possible describe the essence of your breed. |
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Elegant, with a sense of humour, dedicated to their families. |
9 |
When judging a Standard Poodle what advice do you offer judges as being the most important? Least important? |
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Make sure that you look past the hair. Structure and movement is being lost in the breed to the extremes. Overdone rears, straight shoulders, faces too refined. We seem to be making huge reach and drive a priority, when it is not noted in the breed standard. |
10 |
What would be the breeders’ major concerns with breeding Standard Poodles. |
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For me, getting the bitch bred, frozen semen, AI, live cover? Is the stud dog the one we really bred to, is it the right one? Will the pedigrees work together? What about the health of the dog and bitch, and the bloodlines? How about genetic bottlenecks, with being able to ship all over now they will come. In thoughbred horses, live cover only and a limited number of times being bred. Is that something we should consider? |
11 |
Who has been your greatest mentor? |
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Probably my greatest mentors are Ann Rairigh of Litilann’s Poodles in Louisville, KY and Lynne Galloway of Lyric Poodles in Delta, BC. I bought a bitch for my breeding program from Ann and we have co-bred a couple of litters. Ann has done well with my poodles at PCA and showing them to their US Championships. She is always available on the phone and answers the questions I have. Lynne is close to me (distance wise). Lynne is quick to answer my questions, help me evaluate my litters and oh, what a groomer. |
12 |
What words of advice would you give to someone wanting to get involved with your breed? |
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Pay attention, ask lots of questions, do your homework, get used to disappointment. Coat care is a huge commitment. Take care of the physical and mental health of your dog. |
13 |
How do Standard Poodles within your country compare to the breed abroad? |
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I think our Canadian poodles tend to be more moderate, and not so extreme. They have proven to be competitive anywhere in the world. This goes back as far as (maybe further) than Ch. Bibelot’s Tall, Dark and Handsome. |
14 |
Do you think parti colors should continue to be disqualified from competition? |
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Absolutely not, with such a small gene pool, if there are poodles out there with healthy bloodlines, then incorporate them. Color should not be an issue. |
15 |
Would you like to see the Scandinavian trim added to accepted trims in Canada? |
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Although I like the looks of the trim, there is a lot of hand scissoring involved. With that amount of hair it is too easy in my opinion to hide faults. |
16 |
Final thoughts? |
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I love this breed, my hope for the future is that we can find the answers to the health problems plaguing our breed. That we can all be honest with each other for the betterment of the breed. That the next big win is not our goal, but the by-product of a healthy breeding program. |