Poodles

I've just come across this post about poodles.Thought you might be interested.

Confessions of a former Poodle ridiculer
Be careful what you make fun of. It could someday rule your life.
Probably no one ridiculed Poodles more than I did before Misty the alpha Poodle entered my life through a series of unlikely circumstances and put a spell on me.
Nothing has been the same since.
I realized quickly that she understood everything I said…and thought. She can do inductive and deductive reasoning. She’s so smart, it’s scary. She is a good teacher and intelligent enough to be an incredibly charming, eager to please companion.
In my pre-Poodle years, I thought I had a lot of reasons to ridicule them. First is the name. Poodle is just a funny sounding name. Other dogs get to have distinguished place names like Yorkshire Terrier, Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd, Maltese, but the Poodle is named after a pudel, the German word for puddle, something you might find on a sidewalk after a shower.
Several years ago they were officially called French Poodles, with all the courage and valor associated with that particular country. (Sorry Carol) French was dropped when it was established that Poodles originated in Germany and France dropped out of favor.
The word Poodle is associated with lap dog, wimp, someone who carries out the wishes of a more powerful person.
We can’t overlook the “no bad, silly or yappy dogs, only bad, silly or yappy owners” truism that sometimes applies to Poodles. At one time they were the trendy dogs of the day, the spoiled Darlings of the Silly Set.
And of course the Poodle haircut. At first, I considered having her trimmed like a terrier, but I soon understood the historic and totally logical reason that the Poodle clip has been around for thousands of years. I even wrote a post explaining my theory on the origin of the Poodle clip.
However, I still wasn’t a fan of the show clip. There are so many cute and practical pet clips. The show clip seemed to be over the top.
Partly it is the hours and hours of grooming, the sacrifice of puppy hood that the show dog endures while they stand still for endless grooming. What a boring way for human and dog to spend time together.
BUT, to be perfectly honest here, whenever I see a dog show, I fall under the spell of the Show Poodle Presence. In their centuries-old-clip, Poodles are the dogs people notice, the beauty queens, the fairy tale princesses, the Prince Charmings. No other dog can match their unique Poodle-ness, their striking bearing and prancing paws.
That’s when I wonder how much it would cost to have a pet groomer come to my house for a few hours every day…
Then Misty the alpha Poodle smiles at me and says, “Don’t even think about it.”

http://thepoodleanddogblog.typepad.com/the_poodle_and_dog_blog/2008/02/confessions-of.html?PHPSESSID=fpqluved8d0l6hi3a1bjhcqjv1

I've added a comment to their blog about a poodle who saved its owner's life. Ti