Although, in origin, all poodles must be classified as German dogs, this dwarf version was largely developed in the United States as an urban companion dog. It has sometimes been called the Caniche Toy.
The Toy Poodle was created in the first half of the 20th century as a luxury town dog, being bred down from what are now called Miniature Poodles. It was first recognized as a separate breed in America in 1943. England did not follow suit until 1957.
Creating a dwarf dog by scaling down from a large breed often leads to unfortunate defects, and the development of this dog was no exception. Early Toy Poodles were fre quently misshapen and sometimes even grotesque. But carefully planned breeding programmes were instituted which corrected these faults, and eventually a tiny dog was produced that had all the good qualities of its huge cousin, but none of the abnormal accompaniments of dwarfism. (Attempts to create an even smaller dog, called the Teacup Poodle, did, however, meet with serious genetic problems.)
The perfected Toy Poodle blossomed into a perfect small-scale replica of the large breed and by the 1960s had reached its peak. The breed’s progress was crowned by the award of Best in Show at Crufts in 1966.
These jaunty little dogs are the epitome of canine playfulness and self-confidence. Despite their small size, they fear no man and will courageously defend their mistresses’ honour whenever it appears threatened, even on special occasions when those particular services are not required.
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