POODLE ( Ger. Pi/c1. from Ger. Wein, to splash in water; connected with L(t'er, puddeln, to waddle. Eng. p4/1/e. pudgy person). A breed of long-haired dogs now kept chiefly as pets. The poodle has long been known and appreciated; his quaintly clipped and shaven body is found depicted on Homan sculptures. From Italy lie was introduced into Spain and France. and thence into England. He is not only naturally a good retriever or water-dog. but has the nose and sudden stop of both the pointer and setter; indeed. so keen is his nose that even the inferior kinds, or patched dogs, are employed by the poor natives of Hampshire and Wiltshire in England to hunt for and point out truflles—a faintly smelling fungus formerly much ntleoted as a relish. Ilk remarkable general intelligence is indicated by his predominance in every band of trick and performing dogs in the world. Three varieties are recognized—the red. the white, and the black: and two classes of covering—`coded' and Their weight is divided, for competitive purposes, into three grades: Large size. over 40 pounds; medium. 20 to 40 pounds; small, 20 pounds or under; and the last grade are sometimes called `barbets.' The general appearance is that of a strong. active, stylish. playful. and intelligent dog, well built. and covered with Oki:. close curls of a silky texture, or with strong, hanging. rope-like cords, sometimes measuring 25 inches long, as in the ease of the recent champion 'Nero.' The poodle
has a long, capacious the parts over the eyes well arched: good level teeth; a strong neck: muscular. straight fore legs and hind legs with hocks well let down: strong. well-propor tioned and well-padded feet ; and a tail enrried well up. The ears are long, well set, and lie close to the cheek; and the eyes black and vivacious. The little white-coated, short-haired. curly poodle, with whose covering the least liberties have been taken, is the widest known of the three varieties, although not the most popular on the bench, These are essentially family pets, and their quizzical. whiskered faces are in evi dence in every country from California round the world eastward to China, where this breed is still used in his ancient hunting capacity as 'a water-dog.' See Plate of Does.
Poodles are usually clipped over the larger part of the body, leaving the cords or curl. here and there after a pattern digitated by the caprice of the master. A favorite style has always been to leave the head and foreshoulders unshorn, and this style may have had a reasonable origin in the improvement of the dog for sport by freeing his body from the long coat. That the fashion of clipping has been long continued is evident from this dog's appearance in the pictures of a long range of artists from Van Eyck, Albert Diirer, and Hogarth down.