616 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



Poodles, and not the little woolly dogs which now go by 

 that name. 



Of the four varieties of Poodles, the largest is the Russian, 

 which is quite rare both in this country and England. The 

 usual color is black, but they are sometimes white, or black 

 and white. They are rather leggy dogs; the head long and 

 wedge-shaped, with very little stop. The eyes, in the best 

 specimens, dark-red, but many otherwise good dogs have 

 yellowish eyes. The ears are set on rather high, and lie 

 close to the cheeks. The legs are straight and muscular. 

 The feet rather splayed, and webbed half-way down the 

 toes. The coat is long, coarse, and almost wiry, showing 

 little inclination to curl, and none at all to cord, like that of 

 the German Poodle. This, I think, probably comes from 

 some admixture of Russian Setter blood. These dogs are 

 bold, hardy, and excessively courageous, but inclined to be 

 too excitable and intolerant of restraint in the field. 



The German Poodle, which is really the type of the 

 family, is a powerful, compactly built dog, with a deep, 

 narrow brisket, in shape not unlike that of the Greyhound; 

 a strong loin, slightly arched, with a good square back; 

 powerful hind quarters to propel him through the water, 

 for the Poodle is almost an amphibian; round and com- 

 pact feet, with the toes webbed all the way to the nail. 

 The head is wedge-shaped, like that of the Russian Poodle, 

 but shows more stop and more cheeks; is very broad, and 

 almost flat between the ears, giving the dog great brain 

 capacity, with the " sense-bump, " or occiput, strongly 

 marked. The eyes should be rather small, placed far apart, 

 and should show the greatest intelligence and sprightliness. 

 A stupid expression in a Poodle should, in my opinion, con- 

 demn him at once. 



The ears should be long and pendulous, set rather low 

 on the skull, the leather reaching to the tip of the nose 

 when stretched out, but hanging along the neck when the 

 head is erect. The lips should be close and thin, barely 

 covering the incisors. The nose, in black specimens, should 

 be coal-black; in white ones, a dark, pinkish brown. The 



