The next 25 dog breeds I will be articling will be classified as companion dogs, I believe ALL dog breeds are companion dogs, however because of their size, temperament and specific breeding these 25 pooches are best suited as companion dogs.

Controversially, the origins of this particular breed could have been developed in France, Germany, Denmark, or the ancient Piedmont ? No one is sure but it is certain the poodle is descended from the now nearly extinct French water dog, the barbet.

The personality of the this breed, which makes this the reasons the poodle is an excellent companion dog is its overall good nature, cheerful, sensitive, bold and trainable traits.

In France, this breed is known as caniche, a name derived from canard (duck), amazingly due to its ancestry from the barbet it inherited the outstanding abilities to retrieve game from marshes and lakes.

Its beauty, intelligence and calming personality ranks this companion dog in the top 3, it has excellent hearing and a noteworthy sense of orientation. More than most other dogs. Their love of children and surprisingly ability to understand the spoken word and docile temperament regarding grooming is a big plus for a big family.

The poodle will not accept, however, heavy handed training, so a little tenderness goes along way.

The three types of poodle are:

1) The Standard: Height is about 15 inches or more at the highest point of the shoulder and weight about 49 pounds.

2) The Miniature: Height is about 10 inches and less than 15 inches and weight about 26 pounds.

3) The Toy: Height is under 10 inches and weight is about 15 pounds.

The poodle has a distinguished rectilinear head proportionate to its body. The poodle has a well modeled skull with flat cheeks.  The nose can be black, brown, gray, silver or cream colored. The eye color is usually black or brown with a lively expression and scissor like bite.

They carry their head proudly, the tail is set high and the hair is curly or corded.  it is always unicolored.

For reasons unknown to me the poodle had the reputation of being a snob but if you’ve ever owned one you will soon find out this myth to be false because the poodle is one of the best companion dogs aground.

By Jasmine Beaupre, author