Posted on 01/11/2006 7:51:56 AM PST by presidio9
The poodle pranced to the top of the list of Manhattan's most popular dog breeds in 2005.
The poodle edged out the Labrador retriever and dachshund, the American Kennel Club said Tuesday.
Manhattan's standard, miniature and toy poodles snatched No. 1 from the borough's dachshunds, which slid to third from 2004's top spot. The Labrador retriever was ranked No. 2, according to the kennel club, which based the rankings on its national registration statistics broken down by ZIP code.
Next in popularity were the Yorkshire terrier, golden retriever, bulldog, French bulldog, Shih Tzu and Havanese. The 10th spot was shared by the Maltese and the pug.
New to the list for 2005 were the French bulldog and the Havanese, the kennel club said.
"These breeds appeal to sophisticated people who, while they may not have a lot of space in their Manhattan apartment, have plenty of love for a petite canine companion," kennel club spokeswoman Gail Miller said in a news release announcing the rankings.
The American Kennel Club, which was established in 1884, says it aims to advance the study, breeding and exhibition of purebred dogs.
I don't mean really "afraid", just maybe some dogs are sensitive about those hard/heavy thin things hitting their mouths. Can't blame them. Some dogs may just sensibly be wary of things (my dog was just plain afraid, generally, but still curious at what looked like fun).
Of course, it's possible you just have a dog who just plain isn't interested in it. But at $6/pop, it's not a bad thing to try and verify.
The sort of magenta colored ribbons over on the far left are the hard ones to get - USDAA qualifying ribbons. In AKC you can get a qualifying score with as little as 85% (in Novice) but in USDAA you have to have a perfect score of 100% -- no knockdowns of course but also no refusals, off courses, or time faults -- to get a Q even in Starters (the equivalent of Novice). Plus to get your title, you have to have 3 qualifying scores in Standard, plus one each in Jumpers, Gamblers, Snooker, and Pairs Relay. (While we were trying for our one single pitiful Gamblers Q (Gamblers is AWFUL - dog has to work away from the handler over 3-4 obstacles), we got 3 Qs in Jumpers, Snooker & Pairs for those individual titles as well. It took some time to get that Gamblers Q, but we finally did it.)
Logan did obedience, didn't he? (Our trainer told us right out she thought Shelley "would be happier in agility." She was right.)
My daughter adopted a "rescue" poodle -- standard -- from the poodle rescue organization based in Manhatten. He's a wonderful dog -- a black, standard Poodle. However, the Manhatten Poodle Rescue group is not as well organized, or as well run, as Golden Retriever Rescue of Wisconsin, where I got my Golden.
Logan did obedience. He should have done Agility but we didn't have that till he was too old :~D
Logan usually had great moving exercises but (if you remember) would mount the dog next to him in the sits and downs and disqualify. It was pass or fail with him, if he stuck the sit, we were OK but it took a lot of work and cursing and abuse and finally a workable system to get him to stick the sit. He was the most stubborn dog I've ever known :~D
So he needed three of those greens on the left for his CD, and we ended up with one extra because he completed during the first day of a two day show. The green one on the right with the medallion was is only qualifying score for CDX, at a lab specialty, where he won the class. But we weren't able to complete is CDX because he was getting older, and he kept injuring himself over the high jumps. They're so high in obedience, 1.5X his height, and as a relatively heavily-built dog, it was too hard on him to jump him on concrete where most shows are. I tried entering him in only outdoor shows on grass, but once he tore his shoulder he was just too vulnerable. So we gave up.
Shelley MIGHT do the sit now. She sits pretty well now while we walk the agility courses - but I have to turn occasionally and give her the beady eye. She doesn't mind sitting next to other dogs - in fact we have a picture somewhere of her and her good friend Tori the Black Lab sharing an extra pause table while waiting in "sit" for us to complete the walkthrough. They usually sit together and are known as "The Bookends."
(She can do it - she's young still, only 4. But she would have to practice.)
Oh - Logan would sit just fine next to a friend. That's why it was hard to practice. It was all the ~new~ dogs at shows he wanted to make adventure of. And I could neither practice nor discipline him there.
I don't know what Shell would do with strange dogs - although she meets a lot of them at hunt tests and of course I can discipline her on the line - probably she would puppy bow and want to play rather than try to mount them - she's more likely to throw herself at another dog's feet and smile. (Of course that'll get her DQ'ed too!)
Standard poodles do indeed hunt, and very well too. They are big, fast doggies, very good natured. And they can swim too.
Standard poodles do indeed hunt, and very well too. They are big, fast, intelligent doggies, very good natured. And they can swim too.
When I lived in NYC in 1970, I remember lots of people with Afghan hounds. They look like glorified mops.
Awwww, what a sweetie.
But most of them are incredibly stupid, to the point of being almost untrainable.
This article appears to back me up, here's the tail of the list:
Lowest Degree of Working/Obedience Intelligence
70. Shih Tzu
71. Basset Hound
72. Mastiff
Beagle
73. Pekingese
74. Bloodhound
75. Borzoi
76. Chow Chow
77. Bulldog
78. Basenji
79. Afghan Hound
Some friends of mine had a Shih Tzu, they were unable even to housebreak the beast.
Poodles, especially Toy Poodles, are ideal for a place where most folks live in small, expensive apartments.
So they not only look like glorified mops, the basically ARE little more than mops.
I will say that that list has some flaws that are apparent to me. It measures intelligence by speed in learning commands and obeying the command the first time given.
Chessies (Chesapeake Bay Retrievers) are rated way down the list. They are difficult to train, but that's not because they're dumb (they're as smart if not smarter than Labs) but because they are as bullheaded a retriever as you will ever meet. It takes patience and devotion to train a Chessie, but (if you got a good one) once you get him trained he's a magnificent hunting dog. I saw a little dry-grass-color (the rarer color) Chessie bitch working Seasoned at a UKC retriever trial (I was marshalling Seasoned, my dog just passed Started) and she took my breath away, she was so good.
I had a Shih Tzu, he was my first dog as an adult. Housebreaking is the major issue with them. But he was very loving and very popular with every one who came to visit. We used to travel with him everywhere and very devoted to his family. He was a funny little dog and I miss him.
Well, these folks weren't dog people, which didn't help, but I don't think this was a very good Shih Tzu either. I'm not sure where they got him from, but he really was dumb. Like a rock dumb. You looked into his eyes and there was nobody home. I wouldn't be surprised if they got him from a puppy mill or a pet shop.
I get Golden Retriever News, even though I don't have a Golden (it's a great mag) and GRR Wisconsin always has good reports (and was even featured in an article awhile back.) They do run an excellent operation.
I hate those little dogs they carry around in bags...
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