If you buy a Poodle puppy you will find it like other intelligent and active youngsters, full of mischief.  The great secret in training him is first to gain his affection.  With firmness, kindness, and perseverance, you can then teach him almost anything.  The most lively and excitable dogs are usually the easiest to train.  It is advantageous to teach your dog when you give him his meal of biscuit, letting him have the food piece by piece as a reward when each trick is duly performed.  Never attempt to teach him two new tricks at a time, and when instructing him in a new trick let him always go through his old ones first.  Make it an invariable rule never to be beaten by him.  If—­as frequently is the case with your dogs—­he declines to perform a trick, do not pass it over or allow him to substitute another he likes better; but, when you see he obstinately refuses, punish him by putting away the coveted food for an hour or two.  If he once sees he can tire you out you will have no further authority over him, while if you are firm he will not hold out against you long.  It is a bad plan to make a dog repeat too frequently a trick which he obviously dislikes, and insistence on your part may do great harm.  The Poodle is exceptionally sensitive, and is far more efficiently taught when treated as a sensible being rather than as a mere quadrupedal automaton.  He will learn twice as quickly if his master can make him understand the reason for performing a task.  The whip is of little use when a lesson is to be taught, as the dog will probably associate his tasks with a thrashing and go through them in that unwilling, cowed, tail-between-legs fashion which too often betrays the unthinking hastiness of the master, and is the chief reason why the Poodle has sometimes been regarded as a spiritless coward.

The Poodle bitch makes a good mother, rarely giving trouble in whelping, and the puppies are not difficult to rear.  Their chief dangers are gastritis and congestion of the lungs, which can be avoided with careful treatment.  It should be remembered that the dense coat of the Poodle takes a long time to dry after being wetted, and that if the dog has been out in the rain, and got his coat soaked, or if he has been washed or allowed to jump into a pond, you must take care not to leave him in a cold place or to lie inactive before he is perfectly dry.

Most Poodles are kept in the house or in enclosed kennels, well protected from draught and moisture, and there is no difficulty in so keeping them, as they are naturally obedient and easily taught to be clean in the house and to be regular in their habits.

The coat of a curly Poodle should be kept fleecy and free from tangle by being periodically combed and brushed.  The grooming keeps the skin clean and healthy, and frequent washing, even for a white dog, is not necessary.  The dog will, of course, require clipping from time to time.  In Paris at present it is the fashion to clip the greater part of the body and hind-quarters, but the English Poodle Club recommends that the coat be left on as far down the body as the last rib, and it is also customary with us to leave a good deal of coat on the hind-quarters.