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Parti Poodle History

	Opposite: Vulcan Champagne Polka-Dot, a parti-color Standard Poodle seen standing under a painting believed to be by Stubbs. Polka was whelped June 21, 1953 and was owned by Ann Coppage of Vulcan Kennels. George Stubbs (1724-1803) was a famous artist whose paintings are in practicallyevery major art gallery in the world. He studied anatomy as well as painting and is credited with being the first British animal painter to depict animals as they really appeared.
Lets take a lo	ok back in time
	Below is an article titled "Particolour Poodles" written by Ann Cambray Coppage of Vulcan Kennels. It first appeared in "Our Poodle, Salute to Britain" edition, August 1977. (Pictures and articles printed with permission from the author.) The true particolour is by no means a Harlequin. The latter label is used to describe the black and white Great Dane, and its markings in no way resemble the perfect markings of the particolour Poodle. Vulcan Polka Dot, standing under a painting of a particolored Standard Poodle (above), is almost perfectly marked. Head and ears black with a white blaze; a black saddle and black over the rump continuing part way down the tail, which ends in a white tip. Some marking on the body and legs, but not obtrusively so, and of course, the characteristic spotting of the skin. "Particolour" came to mean "black & white" -- although in the early days there were brown and white, blue and white, sliver and white, and lemon and white. Many of the early prints depicting Poodles show them as particolour and having descended from the "Waterdogge" and truffle hunters. In Hutchinson's Dog Encyclopedia, there is a reference to the Truffle Poodle and a letter is quoted from Miss Jane Lane of the famous Nunsoe Kennels which relates that a friend of hers in Scotland had some interesting photographs with particolours of the old original Truffle Poodle.
Apparently these dogs were imported into England at the end of the nineteenth century. The photos (also, none were reproduced) showed white Poodles with black heads and tails. Some had a few black spots on the body. Miss Lane's friend showed the particolours on more than one occasion with great success. Special classes were put on for them and they were in great demand. Their owner was just getting them established when the war came and he was unable to keep on with his breeding and importing. The dogs were medium-size and in colour black and white, brown and white, and -- very rarely -- lemon and white. They were remarkable for their tremendous coats of exceptionally harsh texture. Miss Lane saw a photo in an old book of these black and white Poodles hunting truffles, aided by a Dachshund-type dog. The Poodles found the truffles and the Dachshund dug them up. There is an excellent illustration in William Youatt's book The Dog, published in 1854, showing the Poodle as a curly, unclipped animal with black patches very similarly arranged to those of Polka's. No colours are mentioned in the text. Miss Jane Lane bred many particolours, and as most of the Vulcan Champagnes were descended from Nunsoe lines, the particolour blood was strong at the Vulcan Kennels. With many breeders ashamed to admit that their dogs and bitches threw these attractive Poodles, many pups must have been put down at birth. The ignorant novice breeder and owners were told that only solid colours were permissible and that the particolour was a mismark -- a totally untrue statement -- a mismarked Poodle being any solid colour with touches of white, e.g. white toes, a white spot on the front, etc. Thus, sadly, the particolour Poodle was ostracized, except for those few breeders like the late Hon. Mrs. Ionides and her partner, Miss Shirley Walne, who continued to breed them for sheer pleasure. The character of the particolours was always unique; somehow they had an extra dimension -- just that bit more clever, amusing or intelligent than their solid-colour littermates. Naturally enough, it was always they which caught the eye of prospective purchasers -- and often there was a waiting list for the next one expected in a litter. Various colours at Vulcan carried the genes for reproducing these attractive dogs: a strong line through Champion Vulcan Champagne Wopper, who was black: Vulcan Adolphus of Burgois sired several partis to white bitches, and a male silver, Vulcan Champagne Arnorist. All these dogs can be traced back to the white import Duc de la Terasse of Blakeen and Nunsoe Why Not -- a particolour -- was the product of two particolours, Nunsoe The Bawbee and Nunsoe Oo'er.	That particolours were accepted for exhibition in the early days is borne out by a reference in one of my books called Dog Shows and Doggy People, published in 1902. The author writes about the Curly Poodle (the other variety being the Corded Poodle) and how the colours have been extended. When he first judged the breed, white was the prevailing colour whereas now there were black, black and white, blue, blue and white, grey, fawn, brown, and red coloured specimens.

I should be very interested to know if the Duc ever sired particolours in America -- and find it quite fascinating to speculate why it should have come out so strong from mating him to English-bred bitches, when he was white-bred for generations back. The German whites usually had a spotted skin -- in fact Miss Walne tells me that was indeed the correct pigment until someone produced a white Poodle with a silver skin and gradually, as so often happens, this became more fashionable and desirable -- until the spotted skin became looked upon as ugly and wrong.

Bloodlines have become further diluted over the last decade which has introduced a considerable amount of American and Canadian breeding into practically every kennel. To be truthful, I don't think many of the present-day breeders would know what to look for in a particolour, and have been so conditioned to abhor mismarked Poodles that they would find it hard to accept a two-colour dog. Mrs. Ionides caused quite a furor when she exhibited two particolours -- I believe they were Polka Dot and her brother Vulcan Dot and Carry -- at a club show, even though they were entered in "Not for Competition!"

There is no space here for pedigrees of the numerous particolour Poodles in the Vulcan archives, but below are some of the Partis that were registered with the UK Kennel Club from Vulcan Kennels:

Vulcan Champagne Camoflage, (dog, born 7-11-42), Vulcan The Panda (bitch, born 5-6-46), Vulcan Lord Motley and his litter sister Vulcan Lady Tatters (born 5-20-51), Vulcan Champagne Ombre (bitch, born 6-14-51), Vulcan Champagne Curio (bitch, born 8-18-57), Vulcan Camoflage (dog), Vulcan Champagne Captive (dog), Vulcan Champagne Columbine (bitch), and Vulcan Champagne Checkers (bitch), were all litter mates with Curio as
their mother and Vulcan Champagne Stefan (black) was their sire (born 5-12-58) and were all parti-colours. An entire litter: Vulcan Champagne Whiskey (dog, born 12-1-59), Vulcan Champagne Twosome and Tall Story were born March 14, 1961; Vulcan Merry and Gay (bitch, 4-26-63), Vulcan Champagne Fiesta (bitch) and Vulcan Champagne Carnival (dog) were born on Nov. 16, 1964 and were the last particolours bred at Vulcan.

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