Dirt schmirt

You want to talk dirt? I have run into alot of people who do not like to let their dogs get dirty. My breed of choice - (which means that this is the breed I choose to share my life with, (I happen to love all dogs no matter what their pedigree or lack of pedigree may be)) is the standard poodle. The poodle has long held the worst foofoo stigma a dog can obtain and wrongly so. Many poodle lovers do love the big haired, freshly fluffed look of the poodle but do not be fooled by the exterior beauty of the poodle. Like any other dog they love to get good and dirty and to deny them this priviledge is just well....................wrong in my opinion.

That is one reason I shave my dogs down; they do carry more coat in the winter for warmth but other than that, it's off with the coat, the pompoms and anything else that's use is purely fashion. I am often stopped and asked if my dogs are labra- or goldendoodles because they have no telltale pom poms like a typical poodle. I've even been stopped by poodle people who I'm assuming have never given their dogs a bath because they don't have pom poms when they are wet and you can pretty much see what they truly look like in a wetdown state.

Dogs love to have fun, if you have a pure white samoyed, a hairless xolo, an afghan with beautiful flowing locks, who cares? Everything washes off, and if you are worried about mats? Then cut off the excess hair so that you don't have to deal with mats or other things getting stuck up in your dogs coat. Of course if you have show dogs then you can't just hack off their coat but most breeders do take off the coat as soon as the dog is done their show career. If you want to show then you have to stick to the rules of the game but once you're done you can do what you want.

Dogs love to have fun and if that fun means getting dirty charging through muddy puddles and filling their feet with salt water and sand then I say let'm. Of course I do not want to deal with 2 inch thick mud covered feet on a daily basis, been there done that thank you very much; but on the weekends bring it on.

This statement might have a few of you shuddering as you read it but a dog is a dog is a dog. And I for one love to see a dirty one in any shape or size.