How to Groom Your Poodle Like a Pro: Insights from Expert Angela Cooke

Speaker 2 (00:04.12) Hi, I'm Karen. Welcome back to Poodle People, where we talk about And I'm Elise. Speaker 1 (00:09.878) All things poodles. Speaker 2 (00:15.694) Hi everyone. My guest today is Angela Cook. Angie is a friend of Jodi Paquette's and I got to know Angie when Jodi was doing Alfred's hair at the Bluegrass Classic last year. That was the first year that Jodi and I connected, and Angie was actually the one who did his top knot. And gave him a beautiful bubble and helped me with the spray-up because my spray-up was pretty disastrous. and I really just loved her calm professionalism. And we've seen each other at different shows. And when I ran into her at the Bluegrass Classic again this weekend, this past weekend, I asked her to be on the podcast. she is a professional. Dog groomer and dog handler, and a fantastic breeder of poodles herself. And she also has an interest in sharing her knowledge. She is on Teachable at all things dog college, and she has what I would consider her specialty. She has Shih Tzu Top Knots wrapping and Different techniques for those drop-coated breeds. And that's something I really have no experience with. So I think it's absolutely fascinating to learn from an expert. So I hope you enjoy talking to or listening to my conversation with Angie as much as I look forward to it. Speaker 2 (02:03.096) Hi Angie, it is so nice to have you on the podcast. I'm really excited that you're here with me today and I can't wait to get started. Yeah, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. all us poodle people. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So so, you know, I know you through Jodi Garcini and I I'm wondering if you can kind of back up so I understand a little bit more about you professionally, other than knowing that you create the most beautiful top knots and bubbles. thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. I started showing dogs when I was well, I got my first dog when I was 10. And my parents knew enough like to find a reputable breeder and get me a purebred dog that I could do sports with and things. So I I wanted a border collie. I was 10 years old. I did agility, obedience. I did some junior showmanship. Yeah. Speaker 1 (03:04.52) And and really the whole the whole ploy there was I wanted a horse. So Yeah. So I was like, okay, border collie, then we can get chicken and ducks, then we can get sheep, then we'll have a fence, I can get a horse. So yeah, yeah, that was Okay. I love smart dogs, I love poodles because of how smart they are. But yeah, I really I gravitated towards the poodles very, very quickly. So what did you think about having a border collie? What are they like as a pet? fantastic. they knew every word we said. And like as children, if if our parents told us something to like, go brush your teeth, if we didn't go brush our teeth, our dog would go to our parents and tattle on us and be like, they didn't do it. Like herd us to the bathroom, like so, so smart. So smart. Wow. So as a ten year old, really fun dog to have, also She was always watching me. So Yeah, nice. But as a young kid, I got a C D on a dog. I got both my novice jumpers and standard agility titles on her. it was really great. Yeah. That's wonderful. Speaker 2 (04:23.788) Wonderful. So how did you make the switch into handling and grooming professionally and switching to poodles? yeah. So it just so happened when I was probably like fourteen or fifteen, Jody Piquette moved up the street from me. huh and my parents to this day are still her neighbor. And so I I would like I had market lambs at the time and I would bike my lambs up and down our road to exercise, you know. and s so I was I Whenever she moved in, I was like, I went up there, knocked on her door. It was not the huge place it is now. And was just asked for a job and I that I wanted a show dogs. And it was it's all it's all been great since there. So it really was just very lucky for me, you know, before I even had a license, before I could drive, I was getting involved and it was great. Wow. That is, you know, really such a connection that you had. I didn't realize that you guys went that far back. And your relationship better. That's really lovely. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 (05:36.874) And she helped me get my first poodle. it was it was two thousand nine. I was eighteen and I knew that I wanted a poodle. And I knew I could probably handle a toy with traveling and school and all of that. And so she helped me Camille Lashley, she was a good contact. She helped me get my first dog, you know, at eighteen years old. It's difficult to have, you know, six thousand dollars to buy a great prospect. They all worked with me on you you know, what we could do to get me a poodle to get into it, which I mean everybody ne y at we all know our first dog, we did not brush them correctly. We did not, you know it's a learning process. It is. It's huge. Yeah. Y yeah. So did you get a male or a female? I got a female and and we had a great working relationship with each other. Everyone helped me out. It was just it was awesome. and we had a contract, you know, the first two litters they got a puppy back from, which worked out, you know, just fine for me. You know, I sometimes I hear someone complain about, I have this contract or I have to do this. Well, either you can spend the money up front Or you can work with someone and have the learning experience. That that that bitch only ever had two litters of one puppy apiece. But that is completely fine with me because I learned so much from them and from that whole process, I would do it over a thousand times just like that. Speaker 2 (07:17.548) Yeah. It really is amazing. Like sometimes you just have to accept that if you do not have tons of cash, you might be making trade-offs and the learning curve is so huge. you know, this is actually very similar to horse breeding because often you don't have the 10 or 50,000 or whatever this is. Right. So you full share and that's basically what you're doing here. It's a slightly different how you sell the full, but it's basically a a way to minimize loss and to help other people. Yeah, and it's all about your attitude. You can think you see some people that say, someone took advantage of me, but they did not at all. They gave just as much to you. Yeah, you know, and it's all about having a good attitude and how you approach it to get where you want to go. Yeah. So because you just groomed my puppy Link, who is in a pet home, actually a service home, she has done such a great job with him and I actually sold him as a pet. So I reversed his registration for her so that she would have full rights and be able to show him. And, you know, I I think for me it was just an obvious Speaker 2 (08:40.31) Of course I was going to do it. She's in love with his puppy. He's adorable. You know. so I'm thrilled that they're in the show ring and they're doing really well. Yep. A really nice start. So so so now we're about how old are you? Like you're in your early twenties and learning to groom? Yeah, they're doing great. Speaker 1 (08:59.43) so I in high school I worked for Jody. she helped me get my first toy poodle. And then I went on and they started showing a lot of terriers at the time. Turns out I do not enjoy hand stripping at all. That is I will brush dog's hair all day long. Right. Hand stripping like my worst nightmare. Cannot I I applaud anyone who does that. That is very, very difficult. so I knew that's not what I wanted to do. So I I moved up to Toledo, Ohio, and I worked for Luke and Diane for probably three or four years. And that was a great experience. I learned a lot. I learned exactly what I want to do, which is drop coats, you know, the shih tzues, maltes, yorkies. I I love all of that. I love toy breeds. And and then after that, I moved down to Franklin, Tennessee and worked for Ellen, another handler down there for probably three or four more years. So really the grooming, I do a lot of pet grooming now, but that came along just here recently. but having the knowledge of all different breeds and confirmation and and all that, the pet grooming was just a easy thing for me from there. So do you want to talk a little bit about the difference between pet grooming and show grooming from your perspective? Because there's a huge Sure, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. from my perspective, well, I'll tell you my original. I used to think pet groomers like had to shave down dogs, like fifteen dogs a day, and I thought that's what you had to do to make a living from that. That isn't true at all. Which I think it's like a it's a common misconception, like, grooming's like a second rate job or like it's Speaker 1 (10:58.914) But it's not like that at all. And there are so many absolutely fantastic pet groomers who are just the top of the top ultimate professionals. So that's a misconception even I had, and hopefully people learn that that's not really the case. but really for me, I enjoy the pet grooming, but I personally enjoy when I get to groom purebred dogs that come into the salon. Because there are a lot of, you know, poodle mixes, doodles, things like that. And I still really enjoy when I have quite a few clients and clientele who have purebred poodles and have other, you know, purebred dogs that they still want to look like their breed, which I really appreciate. Right. So tell me a little bit more about you and Jody have a salon now in Yeah, so I groom at Spa for Dogs, which is in Sellersburg, Indiana. And that's expanding now too. they're gonna have daycare there and things like that. You know, they can pay for an ad read on poodle people. We'll just throw that out there now. Like Sounds awesome. We'll make them listen to this later and be like, all right, next week, you let us know when you want your ad read. Speaker 1 (12:27.67) Yeah, no, it's it's good. We there's a lot of good stuff going on. And is Jody involved in that too? Yes, uhhuh. Yep. Yeah. So and then she's got the boarding kennel there in Henryville and in Coridon, Indiana too. She has two, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 2 (12:48.29) Huh. So which is the one where her house is? Is that Corridon or Okay. Henryville. Henryville. Henryville. Yeah. Bree Brie Chapman is out in Coridon and she runs the one out there. Fanta another fantastic. She's actually a Schnauzer person who's been in dogs long, long time. love when you're going to Jody's, like you you drive through the city, you know, you're in like, you know, on an interstate and then all of a sudden you're in the country. Country roads, very country. I love that about that. Yeah. Speaker 1 (13:25.462) Yeah, this area's great. you can get to a dog show in like four hours every direction from here. It's perfect. Yeah. You're even well better situated than I am and I'm, you know, only an hour or about an hour south of Louisville. so so how much time are you spending handling, traveling? How do you kind of manage all of that? Because that to me always seems so intense and daunting when I think about that, even though it's enticing. Uh-huh. Yeah. Speaker 1 (13:59.06) Yeah. I am going to a dog show almost every weekend. and it is tricky sometimes, but my husband, he is amazing. He helps with the dogs, he loves the dogs, so and he also travels a lot. So the two of us kind of tag team who's going where, when, and that really, I am so used to traveling. more than I travel now, that th this is like a good happy medium for me. I I think for anyone, whatever amount of travel works best for you, d do it. Like if you wanna send a dog out with someone, that makes total sense to me. If you want to go every single weekend and show your own dog, that is equally I think whatever works best for someone, yeah, you can make it you can make your goals work for you on what you want to do with your dogs. Yeah, I love that idea. so so when you're traveling, how many dogs might you have? And are you also traveling in a big RV like Jody? I have a tiny R V. I have a Class B camper van. Okay. poodle van life, if you wanna check it out. And I love my little my little van and my little dogs. I always say like, if the dog can't fit in the poodle van, it doesn't come to the dog show with me 'cause I just I I love the little the the drop coated dogs and my own poodles and we have a we have a good time in the little poodle van. And give me an idea of how many dogs you might show, like when you were at the bluegrass cluster, how many dogs were you actually showing yourself? Speaker 1 (15:42.988) Yeah. I showed two Maltese, Shih Tzu, and then my own toy poodle, which here's another piece of advice for people. I I only entered my own dog two days there. And I should have just entered her the whole weekend. So remember if if you don't show you can't win. And yeah. I actually did give that advice to Angel and I said just enter and if you can't make it that's twenty or forty dollars lost. No big deal. Yes. Yes. Yep. Well, sometimes I don't take my own advice, so that's So was the show relatively small for your breeds? Because for poodles there were not that many entered. Was it also kind of quiet for you? it was a big toy entry there. Big toy poodle entry. Speaker 2 (16:36.728) So that's interesting that different breeds just, you know, the entries are so different at different shows. Yes. But I feel like poodle people in general are really, really great about talking to each other and, you know, working together to collaborate on y you know, where we can go, where we can get points together. I I mean, I can't say enough about how helpful people have been and yeah, I I have no problem telling somebody like, well I can enter this and this class here, you know, just so that we can all work together and yeah and finish dogs where we can. Right. I will second that I have always found poodle people to be so helpful and I have always shown generally by myself and not really knowing anyone and someone has always helped me understand what I need to do, what I'm doing wrong, or made suggestions. It's really been quite impressive the generosity that I've been shown. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Pood I feel like poodle people as a whole and again, like you can either have a good attitude towards it or you can have a bad a attitude towards it and you're gonna you're gonna get you know, you're gonna receive what you're given out. So Absolutely. do you have a favorite show? Speaker 1 (17:55.244) Ooh, a favorite show. Yeah, I really love going to. Maybe the Louisville show. just because it's the hometown. Yeah. Right. And and it's so buzzy, you know. it's a great show. I love I love it. Speaker 2 (18:17.75) So you how many breeding poodles do you have right now? Do you just have the one? so living at my house, so I have only one left to finish and that as of right now, and she turns a year October 22nd. So I would like to get her done while she's in puppy trim. and that's all I have as far as young girls. And then I have four girls who live here at my house, but I also have a couple guardian homes. with really great people just around this area. 'cause I I I think all the dogs, they're so precious. Like if they can have a better life than what I can give them, I would love to see them somewhere where, you know, they can do fun sports and things like that with someone. Yeah, just as happy with that as them staying here at my house. So Yeah. And with your schedule it would be very hard to have multiple, you know, more dogs than you already have. It you know, that would be a Which that's another reason why I have toys. I could probably have one standard poodle for like every ten toy poodles. Like Yeah. Speaker 2 (19:31.67) I'm definitely maxed out at my house and my personal capacity with my five. You know, it it's a challenge. just because they all need a lot. and grooming is never that quick on a standard poodle, even when they're not in coat. You know, you still have to do things. And you think about some of these old standard poodle kennels and how many dogs they had and what they produced. And it's like, How did they do that? It's crazy. Yeah. Honestly, I don't know. I mean, I struggle just keeping mine together so that they look decent. and juggling a a job and dogs and you know, a life. It's a lot. so back to the handling, I know I kind of am jumping around and I apologize for that, but I've had some ideas popping in. Yep. Speaker 2 (20:23.81) How long do you think it took you to learn to be a good handler? Or is that a little bit challenging because you were a young adult working or a child even working with dogs so completely? Did that kind of happen pretty naturally? well I'm still continually learning. I will always be learning. I'm always watching handlers I admire. I mean, like I any time I could see cause show a dog, I watched every second of it because the things the little nuanced things that I saw him do were just I will always carry that with me. So I'm I'm always learning and that's really like that's something that I really admire in true professionals. Like You know, Lynn Meyer is a rep now, but whenever Beavers were first getting accepted, me as a very young person and her as like top-of-the-top professional handler, she came and asked me questions about, you know, things related to their top knot and their drop coat and things like that. And that to me just spoke volumes of what a professional she is that even being the best of the best, she will still ask someone questions. She's still trying to learn, like that. I admire that so much and right that that's I try to live the same way. Like I anybody can teach me anything and I will listen and I'll either apply it or I won't apply it, depending on, you know, but I am always trying to learn. So I've been that way since high school and I plan on always anything I can learn from anybody, I'm glad to hear it. Do you still have nerves? Like I have terrible like I'm so nervous and I'm sure I'm doing everything wrong every second. Speaker 1 (22:08.586) Are you like that or is it just me? you know, that's another good lesson you can take from a lot of our top poodle people in the sport. like whenever you watch Anne Reary show a dog, she just always seems cool, collected. Yes, yes. And so Right, yes. yeah. So calm. Speaker 2 (22:36.322) her all the time. I watch her whole team to see what they're doing. And I know, I mean, I have the same problem when I'm showing a horse. I get nervous. So my horse or my dog is reacting to my nerves. And it's a huge barrier. You know, I I mean it's not like I can, you know, take that. Well you just have to you know you just have to channel your inner Anne and just think about what she would do and she She really makes it look so effortless. It's not. It's not And she really is, you know, when she just So I I was trying to explain to Angel that she was moving her dog too slowly and she's like, Well Anne's not going quickly and I was like, She's moving more than you think. Yes, yes. Effortless. Speaker 1 (23:27.436) Like she's just not frantic. Like right. don't see it, but she's moving. Yeah. Yep. And and it's always a learning process. And sometimes I yeah, I'm just trying to emulate what I see other people do that I really like. Same thing for trims. I will screenshot a picture off online of just like I think it's a really pretty trim and then I I try to figure out later, I'll look back at the pictures and be like, what is it about this trim that makes it look so fancy? Yeah. Right. Right. And that's something Miyuki actually taught me. she she was one of the first people whenever I was young who gave me some tips on on trims and stuff with my very first dog and and that was one of the things she told me. She's like, just save pictures of dogs that you really like how they look and figure out what they're doing there. So Speaker 2 (24:25.1) That's another Allison Alexander tip too, you know, having your vision board and saving your pictures and looking at you know, all of these things to remind you of what the perfect dog or a better dog or a dog, you know, that has a beautiful curve around its shoulder that you can't quite scissor as beautifully, but you know, if you save that picture and look at it, you can get closer. Yeah, yep. so how did you become the queen of the bubble? probably just doing hundreds of them day after day, I would say. That's the that's the trick. Yeah. Yeah. So how different is the bubble for a standard poodle versus a Maltese? Speaker 1 (25:12.271) so so different. So talk Okay, a little bit about that how different that that is. Yeah, so with a poodle, you know, you're supposed to have narrow back skull, you know, nice features, chiseling, the more oval eye, whereas with a Maltese, they they have a rounder head, same thing with a shitsu, they're supposed to be like as wide as possible. So the illusion you're trying to build with either one of those, a poodle you're gonna want to be. up and narrow and show off the you know more oval eye whereas a lot of the other toy breeds they're supposed to have a big round head they're supposed to have a big round eye so it's really they're both beautiful but they both are a totally different shape of everything to showcase what that dog has going on. Okay. So I've obviously not I don't pay that much attention to anything other than poodles. I'm completely honest. Like that's the only thing I really know. Sometimes I look at breeds and I'm like, I have no idea what that is. so so when you pull hair for a poodle bubble and you go from corner of the eye to corner of the eye, is that not what you're doing for your toy breeds? Speaker 1 (26:16.91) Okay. Yeah. Speaker 1 (26:35.444) No, nope. A lot of times, because you don't wanna accidentally pull up that corner of the eye 'cause because you wanna keep such a round, big round eye, you go in a little bit more, but then you also make your bubble wider all the way across to show off how wide their head is, which is the opposite of what you wanna do for a poodle. Yeah, that is. Okay, so I'm glad I asked that. I learned something important. But then other parts are very similar, like the teasing on top of the head of like a shihtzu or your your bows on top of your Maltese top knot, those are all to bring everything up, make their neck look longer, and that's the same thing as with poodles, so So when you're showing a toy, is there a breed that you prefer? Is it poodle? definitely, yeah. Poodles are my favorite. Okay. Speaker 2 (27:33.954) I've seen your black poodles. Is that what you breed? Or I have black and brown. I have I do have one blue girl who's in a guardian home. but yeah, mainly black and brown. I thought I would breed black, but I have ended up with all cream or white dogs. but I prefer black. I'm hoping I'll have a black in a litter that I want to keep at some point. Yeah. so Yeah, the black has always been my favorite. I it's just what I'm most drawn to. Me too. My first black poodle my first poodle was black, so and I just, you know, thought he was f fabulous and would love to have another one. So hopefully a future litter. Speaker 1 (28:22.882) So do you have any is what you have now related to your first one at all? Yes, they are. I'm sure there are some people who would criticize me, but when I got Elizabeth, who is related to my first two dogs, Max Lieberman and Jane Austen, when I got Elizabeth, I was not going to breed. I just wanted a dog related to them. And she was the only one I could find. And I searched high and low. and after I had her for a while. I started working with Heather Blakeman. We did CGC and some agility and some sports. And I started thinking that I really liked doing different things and that I perhaps wasn't content being just a pet owner, which I had been in the the past. And I wanted to try confirmation and then it kind of led to wanting to breed her. And I was lucky to find a mentor in Jane Singleton who really helped me a lot. Uh-huh. So having a mentor is so important. And that's something everyone needs to try to find someone who they can go to. My so Jody and Camille, they were always great, any questions I had. And then my current line of poodles that I have now were bred by John and Kathy Quant of Ziggfield Toy Poodles. but and Speaker 1 (29:59.406) Kathy was an amazing mentor to me. She answered all of my questions. She always was just very matter-of-fact, very so helpful. but she passed away. And so from there, it it's just I've been very, very lucky that I've had a lot of different people help me. But having that mentor was one of the best things I could have had to help me. It it helps you so much to talk to someone who has experience, who has champions, and for me when I didn't really even know how I was going to go about, you know, any of this, she understood that I was very far removed from a I mean, I I'm suppose I am a backyard breeder in a sense. But trying to be a professional breeder and a high standard breeder, and making that shift is a challenge, right? You know, it many people were not interested in me at all because they were like, Do you have any champions? No. Okay. you know, they and rightly they were hesitant and protecting their own breeding stock. and Jane just took the time to talk to me and then meet me and people. Speaker 2 (31:17.196) you know, get to know me and my aspirations. And that made such a difference that she was generous with her time enough to get to know me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is tough with poodles because of all the people who want to breed a poodle to any other random dog. But here as your motivational guest here for the week, yeah. Just keep pushing. I that's my advice to everyone. Like just keep doing what you're doing and people will help you and just keep trying to do the best for the breed and that's that's all you can do. Right. And you know, I I am a nobody, it's not like people know me, but I have shown I've shown well. Jody took my young puppy to PCA and she had a great show and the other puppy that has gone to a show home, or service home who has shown is doing well. So I feel like even with just a few litters, I am improving the breed and producing nicer dogs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you can go ahead and quit with the nobody crap. All right. Like you're you're yes, you you keep doing what you're doing, and it's all a process, and all of us put in the blood, sweat, and tears and the hard work. And that's that is where having a good mentor come in whenever you think, my God, this is terrible. This like and your mentor is gonna go, these are living animals, and this is how it goes. So Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 (32:48.714) in some ways it's really nice that I've had a really strong horse bra background, but I've had a very strong horse background in the sense that I am a pretty strong professional and and competent and with dogs I feel like I'm starting over and it's really exciting. But yeah, I'm able to bring a lot of those skills, you know. I I I recognize a lot of things and I'm comfortable with breeding. So that's really nice. 'Cause you just never know what's gonna happen. Like You don't. No. As soon as you think you've got it figured out, something else is gonna happen. That's yeah. No, you don't. Speaker 2 (33:26.742) Yeah. So how much time will you spend, you know, on the road every weekend ongoing? Pretty close. manage that with the shop? Or are you still figured that out? So I don't I don't like to be on the road for like a month at a time. I know some people, you know, maybe like the month of January, they go to Florida, they do the two weeks of Brooksville, they to Ocala that's too much for me. I I like to come home each Sunday night. That's kind of my general rule. And then Yes, that way all the dogs and me can settle back in at home. We have usually at least Monday and Tuesday at home to Nice. Speaker 1 (34:10.658) Do our laundry, recuperate, take a real shower, eat a real meal, the dogs get a real bath here at home. And then and so yeah, I don't I don't travel for like weeks at a time. but it is usually about every weekend. And if we need a break, we take a break. Like this this weekend, it's time for a weekend at home, catch ups on some things. We're doing a little a little poodle fence here, one of those little wrought iron English garden fences in front of our house. It's so precious for the little poodles. So I'm actually considering putting a higher fence up because Emma can jump out of my regular four foot fence. So I have the opposite problem, you know. how tall do I need to make my fencing for Emma? Everyone else is happy to stay in, but Emma waits for me to look away and then my gosh. Yeah, she's naughty. They are. They are. Speaker 1 (35:05.549) Yeah. Speaker 1 (35:13.816) Poodles are smart. Speaker 1 (35:18.156) Yeah, but we we travel a lot and then it it's a equal, you know, as much time as we need at home, we'll take it home and and it's been great because all my puppies get socialized traveling. They all know how to travel, be in a crate, go different places. So that's been really good. That is really nice. I think I underestimated how challenging it would be to have multiple poodles and to try and show because I I really cannot take all of them with me. Yeah. I I don't have an RV, so it it's impossible. And it would be challenging on the road by myself to have five poodles. Perhaps other people would have better management skills, but I can't imagine that personally. Yeah. Speaker 1 (36:07.798) Yeah, it's all figuring out the best way for you to to dog shows or yeah, have them travel with someone. Yeah. So how much exercise do your toy poodles need compared to a standard? they can exercise themselves. which is another th you know, reason I'm I love like German shepherds. I've been around that breed a lot, but the biking them, that's I cannot handle that. Like Right, right. Just me personally, yeah. That is too much exercise for me. Yes. So the good thing is they get a wild hair, they take like Ha ha ha! Speaker 1 (36:51.586) Four laps around the house and then they are happy. And we have a fenced yard, we have a walkout basement with like big sliding glass doors. So we go out in the backyard and then, like I said, we're building out front of our house now a little garden area for them. And yeah, they do not need much at all. Yeah, very different from the demands that a standard poodle has. You still have to think about like surfaces because you want to make sure they keep really strong muscling and that their patellas are strong. And I think sometimes some people have had patella issues that were related to like if they are always on concrete and they're always jumping up and down, that can affect that just as easily as if it was strictly from their parents. So Yeah. That and an injury can happen, things like that. So I think I I feel like letting mine run out in the grass and everything is good for making sure their pastures are strong, their patellas are strong. Speaker 2 (37:59.178) And improving the fascia muscles and tendons that surround those bones. Make sure you don't have random injuries or strains. All of those things. are there any other differences that are notable between poodles and toys? Or standard poodles and toys, sorry. Yeah. Speaker 1 (38:07.894) Yes. Speaker 1 (38:18.458) Yeah, the exercise is a big one. The just sheer amount of hair. I can bathe them, dry them, be fine in no time. But if that happened with a standard crank, that's Yeah. Speaker 2 (38:34.86) Too much. Yeah. So on a daily basis, how much do they eat? so I am bad at math, but like my four girls are all together and I give them a quart a day, roughly. So I don't know what that is, but Okay. Okay. Speaker 2 (39:00.67) visualizing a court in my mind. Okay. So my Yes, I I have the court container carry out containers and they have one of those a day. that's lovely. I love hearing about them. And they they eat as much as they want and th that's that's how I that it works best for them. All of them love each other. They're very much they get along well with each other, they figure out their pack mentality and that's that's another reason why some other breeds weren't a good fit for me, because I I don't think I could deal with a breed that you can't trust or you can't Y you know, I like that if I have someone with someone else I don't have to worry about a fight or anything like that. Right. Speaker 2 (39:52.992) Mine are like a family too and I basically free fed them just like you do until I have a pet Grace and I spayed Grace and like two weeks later she was, you know, packing on the pounds. yeah. So she actually has to be separated to eat her diet food. and she's yeah. Speaker 2 (40:20.92) Th the rest do not get fat, but poor grace. Yeah, yeah. I don't have anyone who's spayed here, so yeah, it would probably be different if I did, but they pretty much all keep up with each other here. Yeah. Yeah, that's nice. Well, I am just thrilled that you had some time to talk to me. It's been really enlightening. I really I love learning that you and Jody have been friends forever. I I really love yeah and I love that. I I have admired your friendship without even knowing that it was so many years long. and that you both grew up in dogs like that. So that's really special. Yeah, it's been great because anything about poodles that I can learn, I just I wanna soak up it all. And just last week Jodi gave me another like vintage book that she found at her place on poodles. So I just I love all that. Speaker 2 (41:21.1) Yeah. It's amazing when you look at those vintage books and you think about what primitive, you know, dryers and clip it's fascinating. It is fascinating. the this one that I'm reading right now, they're talking about like how the toys came from the miniatures and how they got what traits where and they have the pedigrees in there and everything. It is absolutely fascinating. that sounds fabulous. Good read. Cool. well, thank you so much for spending part of your afternoon with me talking about dogs and especially poodles. I really appreciate it and I love learning from you. You're welcome. I'll be back anytime as you're motivational. Like just just keep going. Yeah. Don't stop trying. All you poodle people. Yeah. We we can do this. So We Speaker 2 (42:20.18) Reclaim the poodle as the most important dog. That's right. Yes. We can do it. Positive energy. That's right. Well, it's been a blast talking to you. Great to talk to you and I will talk to you later. Bye bye. Okay. Bye. Okay. Speaker 2 (42:43.726) Thanks for listening and remember a poodle will change your life. Speaker 2 (42:55.416) Remember to like us on your favorite platform or even better, leave a review. We really appreciate it and it helps us get new listeners. And if you have any questions you want me or Elise to answer, send us an email at poodlepeepodcast at gmail.com. Just a reminder, we're not licensed professionals or veterinarians or handlers. We're just poodle people. If you're interested in my breeding program or are ready to be added to my waiting list, please visit my website at Scotch Corner Standard Poodles dot com where you will find all of the relevant information and links. Thanks. Speaker 2 (43:40.312) Thanks for listening to this episode of Poodle People. See ya next week. Resources & Links: All Things Dog College Jody Paquette-Garcini Kathy Quandt’s Ziegfeld Toy Poodles Vintage Poodle Books & Pedigrees