268 THE POODLE 



with his quaintly -clipped coat, makes people regard 

 him as a Toy pure and simple. Yet he is far from 

 being that, for he has great muscular power and 

 activity, while a large specimen, scaling perhaps close 

 on 70 lb., would be a nasty customer for a tramp; 

 to tackle. The readiness with which a Poodle may 

 be educated in the acquisition of all sorts of tricks 

 may be imagined by his cleverness on the stage. 

 He is a favourite performing dog, some of his feats 

 being very remarkable. 



Some authorities hold that there are three types 

 the French, with a curly coat, the German, with 

 a coat of woolly texture, and the Russian, or corded. 

 However this may be, all are judged by the same 

 standard of points, with the material exception of 

 coat, which is subdivided into curly and corded. 

 Speaking as an outsider, I cannot see much to 

 recommend the corded variety, the abnormally long 

 ringlets demanded for show purposes undoubtedly 

 interfering with the activity of the animal, and 

 rendering the task of keeping him clean in dirty 

 weather no small one. On the face of it these long 

 cords seem unnatural, for the ends are composed 

 of dead hair, which, in the proper course of things, 

 should be shed. The curly coat, on the other hand, 

 is quite manageable, presenting few difficulties, and 

 in no way overweighting the possessor. The corded 

 variety should be relegated to the show division pure 

 and simple. It is not for the ordinary, every -day 

 person. 



There is now a wide range of colours from which 

 to choose. We get black, white, red, smoke, mouse- 

 grey, blue, silver-grey, cream, &c., and the size also 

 varies considerably, the miniatures measuring under 



