Recently I posted a request for photos for the “I Love My E-collar and So Does My Dog” Facebook page. I received a lot of great pictures from our members but was particularly surprised when my inbox had a few photos of Roux, a working Standard Poodle.
I’ve never personally seen a poodle doing field work even though I know that was the original intent of the breed. I couldn’t help but write to Roux’s owner, Ken and express my delight at seeing the photos…well, that sparked conversation and Ken ended up giving me access to the diary he’s been keeping on Roux’s experiences and up bringing!
What a treat!
I asked permission to share an excerpt here on TASC. The following entry was selected because I think it expresses one of those moments we’ve all had when we delight in discovering our dog’s real potential.
Thank you to Ken for sharing Roux with us and it should be noted Roux was only 8 months old when this was written.
Pure joy. 🙂
9/9
That dog can hunt!!!
Roux took me pheasant hunting today. She found and flushed seven! She worked
like she has been doing it for years even though she didn’t want to pick up the
big birds.
She found the first bird of the day on a ridge. I had just started calling her
down from where I thought she was conducting a stupid hunt up on the ridge, when
she charged into some thicket and out came a bird. At the shot, she took off on
a beeline for the bird. She pounced on it, tossed it in the air, but would not
pick it up.
The next bird was holding tight in a bush surrounded by thicket. She knew it was
there and searched for a way to go in. She found it and the bird popped out and
was dropped into another thicket that I couldn’t get into. The bird was moving
when Roux dashed in. A fight ensued, which Roux won. She still would not pick
it up but did drag it to where I could get it.
The next five were pretty routine. She would get birdy, the bird would run and
she would lock on to the scent until it flushed. At the shot she would take off
for the crash site and grab the bird, if it was still alive. But she wouldn’t
pick up any of them. Much bigger than doves!
Mother Cedar can be really proud of her pup! And I have a real bird dog.
Although she can be a snot at home, she was wonderful in the field – sitting on
command up to 40 feet away; coming to the whistle or voice (most of the time);
healing like a show dog and searching fields of 4 foot tall grass like it was a
back lawn. We hunted for 6 hours with a short break and she didn’t want to stop,
but she did sleep on the drive home.
All of that and she is beautiful to boot! If I sound too much like I’m really
proud, I won’t apologize because I am!
I also wanted to point out…she did learn to retrieve, as you can see in the photo below. 🙂 If you’d like to hear more about Roux, let me know and I can post more in the future, or if you have a story of your dog you’d like to share, please send it to me. Robin@ThatsMyDog.com
Happy Training!
What an interesting article and a new discovery…I guess I learn new things everyday. Thanks for the great article!
Mind you it was about 12-13 years ago. I was looking into getting a dog and was heavily researching Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers and reading email list about them but some who hunt in California and Canada would once in a while one would mention that one would be at the hunt test. That was a shock to me, they would always add that that was what they were originally bread for, so I learned it from them. I do think it is need when a dog is used for the work it was bread for as long as it was not dog fighting.
Great story! And what a handsome dog. Yes, many people don’t know that Poodles were originally German hunting dogs. Then then French got ahold of them! It’s nice to see Roux doing what she was breed to do.
I have a client who hunted pheasant for many years with his TOY Poodle. It was before I met them and their current standard. I wish I could have met that dog…
Thanks for sharing!