Poodle

“ He looked at the bull-dog, sleeping dreamlessly on his right. He looked at the poodle, erect and haughty, on his left. Then, without a word of warning, without the shadow of a provocation, he bit that poodle’s near fore-leg, and a yelp of agony rang through the quiet shades of that lobby. ”

“ I did not care much for any dogs in general, but at the sight of a poodle, I grew deathly pale, I trembled from head to foot, and almost fainted for fear. Still I can hardly call it fear, for it was more a kind of loathsomeness, that made me thoroughly sick, than any apprehension of danger.
I have been told that my mother—during her pregnancy—had been frightened by a poodle that my aunt had at that time, and that died shortly afterwards,—still can such a circumstance have produced so great an impression on the fœtus in the earlier stages of gestation? ”

“ See, too, grimacing at all who come to view, like a mulatto at a slave auction, who fancies himself good-looking, the accomplished French poodle, with his peaked nose, woolly wig, leggings, and tail band, and his horrible shaved, salmon-coloured body. He can dance; he can perform gun-drill; he can fall motionless, as though dead, at the word of command; he can climb up a lamp-post, jump over a stick, hop on one leg, carry a basket in his mouth, and run away when he is told that a policeman is coming. ”

“ Now, a poodle is a dog of parts, and it is more likely that you fall in with a sagacious dog than with a sagacious man. The poodle is the thing; you must recount your meeting, his purchase, size, colour, and qualifications, and anecdotes of his sagacity, vouched for by the landlord, and all the garçons of the hotel. As you proceed on your travels, his attachment to you increases, and wind up every third chapter with “your faithful Mouton.” ”

“ The poodle put his front paws round her waist, clasped her tightly, and began to-ing and fro-ing, trying, as it seemed, to bend her down, or to uplift itself high enough to get his prickle into her slit. She tried to shriek, but her voice could hardly be heard, she stretched forth her hands to defend herself, then she finally pushed the loathsome dog away from her. ”

“ At least, so I thought for a moment, and felt as if I had seen a spectre; the resemblance was so exact—in size, in every detail, even to the little clumps of hair about the hind parts, even to the lop of half an ear, this dog might have been the 'doppel-gänger' of the deceased Bingo. I suppose, after all, one black poodle is very like any other black poodle of the same size, but the likeness startled me. ”

“ I said, "he leaves my house at once."
"My poodle," said Celia, "was a lovely dog."
(Of course she was only a child then. She wouldn't know.)
"The point is this," I said firmly, "our puppy is meant for a Pekinese—the pedigree says so. From the look of him it will be touch and go whether he pulls it off. To call him by the name of a late poodle may just be the deciding factor. Now I hate poodles; I hate pet dogs. A Pekinese is not a pet dog; he is an undersized lion. Our puppy may grow into a small lion, or a mastiff, or anything like that; but I will not have him a poodle. ”

“ It was our wedding-day, and at the critical moment the poodle leaped between us and swallowed the ring.... Or we were at the wedding-breakfast, and Bingo, a grizzly black skeleton with flaming eyes, sat on the cake and would not allow Lilian to cut it. Even the rose-tree fancy was reproduced in a distorted form—the tree grew, and every blossom contained a miniature Bingo, which barked; and as I woke I was desperately trying to persuade the Colonel that they were ordinary dog-roses. ”

“ Beneath the cupboard, with its head resting on Vendel's [Pg 251] slippers, lay his favourite curly-haired, tail-clipped poodle, emitting now a half sneeze in its sleep, and now a snarl, as if in sympathy with its master's feelings. ”

“ Here he found that he was master of a chop and a half-eaten leg of chicken. He had eaten the chop and some crusts, as well as the beans, when he became aware of the black poodle, which, being young, still had confidence in human nature, and now, with sense of ownership, thrust his black nose in the pan of lessening viands.
François laughed gaily. The touch of friendly trust gave the lonely boy a thrill of joy, and, with some reluctance doubtless, he gave the dog what was left, feeding him in bits, and talking as a comrade to a comrade. The poodle was clearly satisfied. ”

“ She, feeling herself in security, was indulging in a candid and emphatic expression of opinion respecting her pursuer by growling, spitting, arching her back, swelling out her tail to three or four times its usual size, and now and then striking viciously in his direction with her paw. I imagine this last action was merely meant to relieve her feelings in the same way that fist-shaking relieves those of human beings, for she must have been perfectly well aware that the poodle was quite out of reach from her perch. ”

“ Christina's fleecy poodle stood in the middle of the vast saloon, with his muzzle lowered, in pompous defiance of the three conspirators against the comfort of his mistress. This young lady's claims for him seemed justified; he was an animal of amazingly delicate instincts. ”

“ I hate your smart dressy creatures, as slender as a greyhound and as tender as a gazelle, that look as if they had been stabled in drawing-rooms and taken their turn with the poodle in my lady’s lap. I like to have plenty of bone under me. ”

“ Although the sensation was by no means a disagreeable one, although the tickling sent a thrill through all her body, so loathsome was the touch of the beast that she shivered whith disgust and thrust him away from her.
The poodle stood up again and looked at the young girl with wondering eyes, he seemed to be asking her what she wanted; then he began to frisk about as if to invite her to follow him. She hurried to throw on a dressing-gown and a pair of slippers, then she stood in a trance-like stillness, swayed only hitherwards and thitherwards by some impelling or repellent power. ”

“ The Poodles may also be divided into the hunting and the pet dogs. They are fleecy fellows, often with so thick a coat of hair that it is not easy to tell where poodle begins and coat ends. The most handsome of them is the large black Russian Poodle, well fitted for use in the hunting field. ”

“ Bernard, a few retrievers and Newfoundlands, a boar-hound, a French poodle, with plenty of hair round its head, but mangy about the middle; a bull-dog, a few Lowther Arcade sort of animals, about the size of rats, and a couple of Yorkshire tykes.
There they sat, patient, good, and thoughtful. A solemn peacefulness seemed to reign in that lobby. An air of calmness and resignation—of gentle sadness pervaded the room.
Then a sweet young lady entered, leading a meek-looking little fox-terrier, and left him, chained up there, between the bull-dog and the poodle. ”

“ He is in every sense of the word a larger edition of the toy poodle, but a much more useful dog because of his size and superior intelligence. The poodle is one of the most readily trained dogs in existence today. As a trick dog he has no equals and he may be broken to retrieve from land and water with the same facility as [63] any of the sporting retrievers or spaniels. There are two varieties of the poodle; the corded and the curly. The latter is the more common and also the more practical, for the corded poodle’s coat is the most difficult of any among the canine race, to care for. ”

“ Presently a vagrant poodle dog came idling along, sad at heart, lazy with the summer softness and the quiet, weary of captivity, sighing for change. ”

“ He found a mass of green stems that were thicker than the others, found it by smelling his way and feeling, rather than by sight, and then made himself a sort of nest, by turning around and around before he curled up to lie down.
Nearly all dogs—even the tiny poodle that sleeps on a blue cushion in some lady's parlor—turn around and around on their bed before settling down to go to sleep. ”

“ He sprang over the poodle and vigorously attacked a collie, and the collie woke up, and immediately commenced a fierce and noisy contest with the poodle. Then Foxey came back to his own place, and caught the bull-dog by the ear, and tried to throw him away; and the bull-dog, a curiously impartial animal, went for everything he could reach, including the hall-porter, which gave that dear little terrier the opportunity to enjoy an uninterrupted fight of his own with an equally willing Yorkshire tyke. ”

“ When he came near the young man, he stood on his hind legs, and began to perform all kind of antics; the youth at first laughed and then he fell a-thinking that such a poodle—properly trained—night prove to be a useful acquisition. The dog by his side seemed to guess his thoughts, and—being an ill-bred cur—began to show his small white teeth and snarl viciously. The poodle however was not discomfited, but continued displaying, not only all his graces, but, on one side, his prickle in a state of erection, and, on the other, the gaping brown hole of his anus, all surrounded by a bulgy rim. ”

“ Long before the baby can speak, as soon as it can open and close its tiny hands, it longs for something soft and warm, and, above all, something moving, which it may grasp and pinch at will. No worsted poodle, however cunningly contrived in the toy country, can compete for a moment with a real puppy. ”

“ No, no; a young woman's favorite, sir, before I was born; and a very remarkable dog, too. The vital principle in that poodle, Mr. Kerby, must have been singularly intensified. He lived to a fabulous old age, and he was clever enough to play an important part of his own in what you English call a Romance of Real Life! If I could only have dissected that poodle, I would have put him into my book; he should have headed my chapter on the Vital Principle of Beasts. ”

“ So I have hopes of being better off with my mended trunk than before."
"Let us all hope so," sighed the Tin Poodle Dog. "It's queer how cruel some children are to us. They think, because we are toys, we have no feelings."
"Yes, that is so," said the White Horse. "But Dick, the boy who owns me, is very kind. It was an accident that my leg was broken. Carlo, a poodle dog something like you, my tin friend, only real, ran too close to me and knocked me down the steps," said the Horse to the Tin Poodle Dog.
"Oh, so you are injured, too, are you?" asked the Elephant. ”

“ The spaniel which little Miss Bowles holds in a choking embrace captivates us with his bright eyes, while the delightful poodle over which the baby Princess Sophia creeps divides favor with his young mistress. ”

“ One would not care to say that four centuries later many ladies are not wholly free from a charge of extravagance in their relations with toy dogs, although this is a reproach that cannot be directed against the owners of Poodles, who prefer to treat these intelligent creatures with due regard to their dignity. If in size the miniature Poodle approaches the toys, he still retains the sagacity and sense of his larger brother, who is a sportsman, in spite of the fantastic, not to say grotesque, guise under which he is compelled to masquerade. ”

“ We all appreciate how unpleasant it is to be out walking with our favorite French bulldog, and suddenly have our be-ribboned aristocrat forget the dignity that his long pedigree should give him, and dash from our side to make tufts of hair fly from somebody else's equally be-ribboned poodle. ”

“ The standard calls for dogs under ten pounds in weight for the toy varieties, though there is a large poodle, which, however, does not come within the scope of this group. The toy poodle, while not as hardy as some breeds, can nevertheless stand considerable hardships and when he is reared like his larger brethren and not petted and pampered until health and vitality are gone, he is an easy dog to keep. The greatest objection some have to him is, that because his coat is white he is difficult to care for, which to a certain extent, is the truth. ”

“ It was told me to-day by a lady whom I cross-examined to get full details:—"Some twenty years back we had a poodle—white, with one black ear. After the manner of his race, he was never quite happy unless he carried something in his mouth. He was intelligent and teachable to the last degree. ”

“ It is thus that I came into possession of an ill tempered French poodle called Crapouillot, which the patients in our hospital insisted on clipping like a lion with an anklet, a curl over his nose and a puff at the end of his tail. A most detestable, unfortunate beast, always to be found where not needed, a ribbon in his hair, and despicably bad humoured. ”

“ If you buy a Poodle puppy you will find it like other intelligent and active youngsters, full of mischief. The great secret in training him is first to gain his affection. With firmness, kindness, and perseverance, you can then teach him almost anything. ”

“ Then place such a mongrel by the side of a poodle-dog, descended through many generations from an aristocratic stock, who have lived on delicate food, and heard harmonious voices and music. Do you think the brain of the poodle isn’t very differently developed from that of the mongrel? Yes, you may be sure it is! It’s well-bred poodle-pups like this that jugglers train to perform the most marvellous tricks. A common peasant-cur could never learn anything of the sort—not if he tried till doomsday. ”