You say "Poodle" Like It's a Bad Word!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

So many times I see people mention that they don’t want their Doodle to look like a Poodle.  I often want to say back, “then why did you pick a dog with Poodle in it?”  My two dogs, in looks, are as different as night and day.  I have never had a Poodle before, but I have had Labrador Retrievers, so I guess that makes me expert enough to say that Fudge is definitely our more “poodley” dog.  Of course, I could pick up a book and read all about Poodles and educate myself with actual facts, but that goes against everything I believe in and just isn’t my way.  No, I prefer to compare what our Labs used to do to what Fudge and Vern do and declare anything the Doodles do that is different than what our Labs did a Poodle trait and move on. My kids will tell you that I am an expert on many topics, if only in my own mind.  Our Fudge is just built differently than any of our Labs.  She is slender and regal and graceful and prances when she walks or runs and all of these traits make her all the more endearing to me.  She could be groomed to look exactly like a show Poodle, but Vern, even on a good day, could not.  Even if I had to sneak him out of the country and his life depended on it, he could not pull off any other look than the Vern look, which so far, seems to be more oversized, dirty mop than anything else.  Sometimes, after Fudge gets groomed, I call her Fifi for a bit, but I never worry that she looks like a Poodle. She is, after all, more Poodle than Lab and the Poodle part has given her lots and lots of beautiful qualities. 

Poodle, Doodle, or Mop??

My niece is Caucasian and her husband is African American.  When they were getting ready to have their third child, a boy, their middle child had lots of questions about the color of babies and how it all works.  He kept wanting to know how a peach lady could have a brown baby and they tried to explain the world of genetics the best they could to a six year old.  Shortly after he met his new little brother, he blurted out, “oh man, I just knew we were going to get a peach baby.”

Brothers sharing a moment!

The story makes me laugh every time I tell it, because he is the same little boy who still refers to Fudge and Vern as the brown dog and the white dog.  He had some of the same questions for me and mostly wanted to know what color their puppies would be and thought it would be fun if they got together and had some.  The kid is full of questions and asked to see my muscles the last time I saw him and when I flexed my arm, he was not impressed and said, "Noodle arm!" which I think I like even less than "Peach lady!"  Anyways, I think I told him that Fudge and Vern couldn’t have babies, but I figured if I went into a lengthy discussion about spaying and neutering all he would say when I was done was, “oh man, I just knew you would say something long, Aunt Laurie.”  Some things are just better left to parents to explain and preventing Fudge and Vern from having puppies and the colors babies come in just seems to fall in those categories.

 

When our daughter told us she was dating a man named Doc, I never thought to ask about his nationality.  My first question was, “Does he hang out in the woods with a woman named Snow White and six dwarfs?” and my second question was my standard, “Is he prepared to marry you and support you, so Dad and I can have a break?”

Turns out, the answer to the first question was his name is actually Doc-Lap and he is Vietnamese and the second answer was no, because she wasn’t completely done depleting our savings for her college education.  Actually, I may be exaggerating just a bit on the last answer, but we did have to explain to her several times while she was in college that the slot she kept trying to insert her ATM card into was our mouth and no money was going to come out when she finished. That lecture was usually accompanied by another that there was a place called a grocery store where supplies could be purchased and that we A) did not offer rebates or refunds B) We did not have shopping carts or baskets C) we didn’t know when the Cheerios would be restocked D) we didn’t have enough plastic or paper bags to bag up all her “purchases” and E) we did not employ a grocery stock boy to carry her bags to the car.  She usually got mad and asked to see the store manager.

 

What does all this mean concerning Poodles and Doodles?  The part about my daughter and her college days absolutely nothing, but it is always fun to re-tell those stories.  The other part about peach babies and my daughter marrying a wonderful man who is Vietnamese a lot. Genetics is all very cool stuff and it makes life unpredictable to some degree.  In the words of my nephew, “peach ladies can most definitely have brown babies,” and in my words, “tall ladies can give birth to children who grow up to be short.”  My daughter has every possibility of having a child that looks nothing like her and everything like her husband.  The same holds true to any dog with the ending of oodle behind their name.  Sometimes, your Doodle may look more like a Poodle, or a Retriever, or a Lab, or maybe a big old mop, but how can that be a bad thing when you picked a dog from two wonderful dog breeds? Personally, I like the unpredictability of babies and puppies, because life could be very dull if we always knew what to expect.

I'll take the one on the  second row, third from the left!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Love your blog! When I was looking for a doodle, someone said to me "Well I guess they're ok - it depends on how much "oodle" is in your doodle." WTD? I love all kinds of dogs, but I think poodles are magnificent. Not too long ago, I was watching a spectacular black standard poodle running and playing in Boston Commons. It was a beautiful thing to watch. He pranced and ran across the lawn area--and it looked as if his feet never touched the ground. One whistle from his owner and the dog came floating back. I grew up with my Aunt and Uncle's standard poodle and she was patient, gentle, and wise --always watching over us kids. Mini Vern (my guy Finney) is more of an adorable mop --whereas Big Vern is so handsome.  I've taken to calling Finn "Bedhead" some days. But I know (from experience) that when you clip him down or he gets wet -- his poodle genes come shining through :)  I love that our doodles are genetic "surprises!" But I find one thing consistent.  They are the most intuitive, loving, people oriented balls of fur.  

LOVE the peach lady comment!  My son used to always bring friends home for the holidays.  We've had a northern Italian, a Pakastani, my step-son is Jewish, several Chinese, a Muslim from Turkey, Swiss folks, and South Africans sitting at our holiday table. We've introduced a lot of cultures to Christmas and it's so much fun. Now he's married to a lovely Thai girl.  He's so blond and she's so dark that I'm sure my grandchildren will be like doodles --full of surprises:) Your nephews are so cute :))

[Bonnie and Kona]

Love all of it, Laurie! 

[Charlotte and Bo]

Cute kids Laurie.  Fudge is a beauty and Vern, mop or not, is a handsome guy.  When you throw that DNA into a blender and hit mix you never know what you are going to get.  Personally I think its good for the gene pool whether human or doodle:-)

[DJ & Chance]

Oh this is just a wonderful, wonderful blog.  Doodle genetics is a crap-shoot but, like some wonderful human blends, that crap-shoot yields wonderful results.  Your nephews are adorable.

And Chance definitely relates to Fudge's post grooming appearance:  his poodle genes just pop out, and I think he looks adorable.

[Kyoko]

 @ Donna LOL!!!

[Kyoko]

I never thought I would have a poodle in my whole entire life.  I had a stereo typing thought about the poodles being "fu-fu" dogs.... Until my supposed to look like a muppet doodle, Charlie turned out that she is much more of the poodle than the muppet doodle... And until I learned more about the breed, and reasonning to why they clip them like that. ( Its not for the looks. Its for the much practical reasons... ) Now I have Pinot Grigio, who is a standard poodle, I can really compare and see how Charlie is much more of a poodle. Her body coat is tighter curls and much more dense even than a real poodle Pinot. Granted, she is F1b, so she is 3/4 poodle. When Charlie barks at the people ( she is very reactive ), I often hear comments like " Yeah, Poodles are mean and rude." Well, excuse me. She is only a part poodle, and this here, true poodle Mr. Pinot Grigio is docile as he can be....

[F, Calla & Luca]

Donna!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, Rex was very handsome. I love black dogs.

Lynda, Thanks for saying Vern is not a mop :) Glad you are enjoying your Doodles :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Donna, LOL...I can tell you and your SIL are very close :) Funny....I always pictured Quincy walking like Vern, not Fudge :)

[Donna K & Quincy]

I really don't get why people who look down on poodles would want a dog that was part poodle. Of course, at the rate they are mixing poodles and other breeds, soon all dogs are going to be part poodle. Quincy walks more like a poodle than a retriever, in fact he's been mistaken for a poodle but never for a retreiver. I've had people say he walks like a show dog, he walks proud and my son says he walks gay. I've seen doodles that look like poodles and poodles that look like doodles, sometimes I can't tell what they are. I think poodles just get a bad rap because of the foo-foo hairdos. A poodle bit my sister-in-law once, I say that was a very smart dog. :>)