Where'd You Get That Funny Looking Poodle?

by Lisa Frankland
This article first appreared in the September 1993 issue of Kerry Klips.

Let's face it. Part of the fun of owning a relatively rare breed is the attention it generates. We love to hear that familiar, "Ooh, what kind of dog is that!?" Most of the time I'm flattered to introduce people to Kerry Blues and explain why they are not . . . well, mostly Poodles.

I've often joked with other owners of curly coated breeds about forming a "Poodle Lookalike Club." Besides Kerry Blues, we could have Irish Water Spaniels, Portuguese Water Dogs, Bichons, Bedlington Terriers, and probably several others as well. Most of the confusion can be attributed to the perennial popularity of the three varieties of poodles, and the amazing array of clips done on them. Sadly, another reason for this, again due to their popularity, is that many poodles and representatives of other popular breeds bear little resemblance to their breed standards. For example, look at Snoopy of "Peanuts" fame. His fictitious origin from the "Daisy Hill Puppy Mill" probably explains why he looks and acts like no purebred Beagle should! Seriously, with 137 AKC-recognized breeds (editor: 140 as of 1996), and backyard breeders advertising such interesting variations as "rare white Dobermans," "AKC cock-a-poos," "tiny teacup Poodles," and "king Labs" it's no wonder that John Q. Public is confused about what any purebred is supposed to look like. Heck, even the dog people get confused!

Anyway, back to Kerries! At the risk of insulting some Kerry people, as far as I can tell, Kerry coats are virtually identical to Poodle coats. They even clear (though I think Poodle fanciers call it fading) as they get older. My next door neighbor has a black toy Poodle the same age as my Lav (Casey's Lavish Mischief), and he and Sophie are the exact same color. But what about some of the other breeds my dog has been mistaken for? A Bouvier? Well, there were quite a few of them in the area where we used to live, and the way the face is trimmed is similar, especially before I learned not to leave Lav's face so bushy. And before I moved, I did have the satisfaction of hearing a friend of mine relate how somebody had asked her if her two Bouviers were oversize Kerries! A Schnauzer (Giant, I presume)? Okay, they're dark and sport a terrier-like trim. A black Airedale? At least they're in the right group, but do they even come in black? Coat's different, furnishings aren't as profuse, but yeah, I can see it. A Scottie? Well, they're usually dark, the trim is similar, but the Scottie is a short-legged, heavy-bodied dog with prick ears. It's probably due to the popularity of Scottie motifs that I hear Lav identified as this breed more often than any other except for Poodles, but I can't help but think that there must be some pretty poor excuses for Scotties running around!

My favorite case of "mistaken identity," albeit a joking one, didn't even involve another breed of dog. In the summer of 1990, when Lav was still a puppy, my husband and I went on a camping trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. With his silky baby coat, pasted ears, awkward puppy gait, and habit of checking out new situations while standing on his hind legs at the end of a leash, Lav did indeed resemble a miniature version of one of Yellowstone's most famous residents. And our fellow tourists, particularly those with young children, were quick to point this out! To this day, Aaron and I still occasionally call Lav "Baby Bear."

Of course, Kerries aren't the only breed that generates this sort of confusion. For a short time, I fostered a young Shiba Inu until she could be placed in a suitable home. Niko was red, and it was only natural to hear people guessing she was a fox or a "mini-Akita." However, I also heard her called a Spitz, a Klee Kai (a faddish, husky-like breed, whose only current breeding criteria seem to be small size and the presence of a facial mask), a Pomeranian, and even a coyote hybrid! A Finnish Spitz breeder told me that she occasionally receives calls from animal shelters saying they have her breed in custody, only to get there and find out that they are usually Shiba Inus. And the fun of playing "name that breed" certainly isn't limited to unusual breeds. A friend of mine with a very nice, and very large, harlequin Great Dane frequently hears people calling her dog a Dalmatian. Another friend who does own Dalmatians gets people asking the obvious, "Is that a Dalmatian?" Her mother shows Boxers and she and other breeders are alarmed at how often Boxer and Boxer mixes are labeled "pit bulls."

An understandable mix-up which I nevertheless found funny happened a few months ago while Lav and I were out for a walk. We overtook a mother and daughter, also out for a stroll, just as we passed by a house with a couple of brawny Rottweilers (currently, the #2 purebred in terms of AKC registrations) in the yard. The daughter asked her mother what kind of dogs those were, and I heard the mother tell her "Doberman mixes." Gee, and here I always thought it was the other way around!

Don't get me wrong. I usually enjoy hearing people trying to guess what my dog is. It gives me a chance to show off my Kerry and possibly win over another fan to our wonderful breed. The only time I have ever blown my stack was at an agility trial held in a Denver area mall. A disheveled looking woman approached me and asked what kind of a dog Lav was. I told her that he was a Kerry Blue Terrier, but she must have not heard me correctly, because she got sort of a vacant look on her face and said, "Oh, I thought so. We've bred those Baby Blue Terriers, and teacup Chihuahuas and French Poodles, too!" "The lady's a walking puppy mill," I remember thinking to myself. When she asked me where I had gotten Lav, I barely managed to mumble something about a responsible breeder before walking away. I can just picture this woman combing the classifieds for "Baby Blue Terriers." Hmm, maybe I'd better be more careful about what I jokingly refer to Lav as, before people start asking for "Hairy Blue Terrors!"

I almost feel sorry for the owners of such obvious breeds as Poodles and German Shepherds. I'll bet Poodle owners never get people asking them if their dog is a Kerry Blue, and German Shepherd owners never have to explain that their dogs are not Belgian Malinois. They miss out on meeting a lot of nice people that way. I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I take Lav for a walk, freshly bathed, trimmed to the nines, and every inch a proper Kerry Blue, only to have the first people I encounter point and say, "Look, a Poodle with bangs!"

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