Did I ever tell you about the tricks/commands King knows?

Here’s a few of them:

• Sit
• Down
• Heel
• Stay
• Leave it
• Drop it
• Kennel Up
• Visit (if someone wants to pet him, he will greet them)
• Find it (hide a treat and make him look for it)
• Shake
• Go potty
• High Five
• Rollover
• Jump
• Up (this is for getting onto raised areas or cars)
• Whisper (he makes a little whimper)
• Speak (1 Bark)
• “Bon Jour” (2 Barks)
• “Ce La Vie” (3 Barks)
• “Merci Beacoup” (4 barks)
• Paws Up (He’ll stand on a object – bench, counter, cardoor, your arm)
• Through (go between your legs)

He also knows words like “doggie”, “kitty”, “squirrel”, “bird/birdie”, “mommy”
And he rings sleigh bells (we hung by the door) to let us know he needs to potty.

Here are a few he is working on:

• Stand
• Growl (”mean dog”)
• Smile
• Bow
• Spin
• Shame (cover his head when laying down)

Jean

• Table with no skid top
• Grooming arm to secure your Poodle on the Table
• Leash or Grooming Noose
• Pin Brush
• Ultimate Poodle Comb
• Slicker Brush
• Conditioning Spray
• Small Cylindrical Pillow
• Knitting Needle
• Dematting Comb

Set your Poodle on the table. Make sure your Poodle is secured to the table with a  leash attached to the grooming arm. On puppies I use a slip lead looped under one front leg so if the puppy jumps from the table he/she is not damaged by hanging from the neck. Never walk away from a puppy or an untrained adult Poodle while on the table.

Poodles are properly brushed by using the “Line Brushing Method”. This means one brushes one “line” of coat at a time. Start at the base of the leg, hold the coat on the lower leg away from the foot. Spray a bit of conditioning spray so that you don’t damage coat while brushing. Rap your hand around the lower leg to do this action. Then start brushing while releasing a layer of coat at a time. Do this all around that section of the leg. Work your way up to the top of the leg on all four legs. Do the same with the tail starting at the tip.

Once legs and tail are brushed, lay your Poodle on his/her side on the table. You
can put a small round pillow under your Poodle’s head for comfort if you like. To train a Poodle to lie on the table, I will lay them down gently. Then if needed I lay the upper half of my body on them until they feel secure and no longer struggle. Once your Poodle learns this technique he/she will find brushing relaxing and many fall asleep while being brushed.

Start the brushing process by parting the coat at the spine all the way up through the topknot. Use your Pin Brush if brushing long coat or coat that’s growing out for show. Start down by the tail brush from the tips of the hair in using small gentle strokes. Do this all along one side of the part. Use your knitting needle to part off a 1” section along the same line. This is your next section to brush. Do this throughout the torso and under chest.  You can use the same method on the chest area as well. Always use Conditioning Spray as you go, never brushing dry coat. On a show coat, once you get past the areas that require very long coat for show, such as back of neck and down back and sides and topknot you can switch to a Slicker Brush.

Once you get a section of coat done follow up by running a comb through it. I find the easiest way to comb is to start with the Dematting comb and then one more time through with the Ultimate Poodle Comb. Ears should be done with a Pin Brush starting at the back of the ear with the “Line Brushing Method”  one section at a time.

Poodles in short coat don’t have to be lying down to be brushed. Just use the Line Brushing Method on  places such as ears and top knot where the longer coat is and use a Slicker Brush on the short coat being careful not to scrape skin. Be sure to follow up with a comb on all long coat to get any loose hair out and prevent matting.

Now you have fluffy beautiful Poodle! Time to take your Poodle shopping to show off!

Dear Jacki,
Here are the pictures I promised (we will be taking more). Leila is now a full-fledged registered “therapy” dog (visiting dog)!! She is visiting many nursing homes and our local hospital. Talk about truth in advertising, Jacki, when you said that Leila would make a wonderful therapy dog–she is unbelievable! The residents are so blessed by her presence in their lives, and we so enjoy hearing their stories about their love for animals. Leila brings such joy to so many; we are very proud of her and admire and love her more than we can say.  We hope all is well in your world.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jan and Dave
PS the pictures of Dave and myself are  on the badges we wear into the nursing homes and hospitals.

Leila

Leila and her Mommy Jan

Leila and her Daddy Dave

Leila brings love

Leila relaxing

The poodles love our our walks and I love walking with them. Fletcher is in the house with us right now. He’s such a gentleman. He makes sure not to do anything offending while in the house so that he can enjoy his leisure time with us. Adia, our new show puppy, has been learning how fun it is to watch TV and snuggle on our bed. Anja still doesn’t know how her rear end works so I have to lift her onto the bed. Yes, I let poodles in my bed. My trainer says I need to walk Anja over a ladder that’s laying flat on the ground so she’ll get the idea her back end works. Cherri…well Cherri just flies onto the bed like a piece of popcorn popping. Ella thinks she should sleep between Don and me like a third person in the bed. She’s entitled and we don’t mind, she’s just wonderful!!!

Well that’s my update for now. Make sure you check out our new site www.poodlesupply.com -  sooo… many pretty things and we’re not done loading  products so check back often.

Jacki,

You are welcome to use the picture of my boys, they would not mind at all.

Cooper needs to get brushed now and go to the library and lay around and listen to children read. I do not know if I told you he is not only certified as a therapy dog but he has his R.E.A.D (reading assistance education dog) certification also. He is quite the boy. To be honest, it does not take much talent to be a therapy or READ dog, just a calm presence, a real love of strange people petting your head, and of course, a handler willing to take the time and patience be a part of the team. So Cooper is not really any better than other standard poodles, but we as a team are able to show the public how special and absolutely fantastic this breed really can be. You know that is my favorite part of it all. I do so love to share my love for this breed, and the best part is showing people that this is not just a froo froo dog.

I would own a house full of these dogs if my husband would agree but his logic and common sense says that two of them is enough, for now.

Cindy & the boys