# Poodle skin Q.



## jade cat (Sep 22, 2009)

This probably sounds very odd but is it normal for a poodles skin to stretch loads?!! Eddy's skin seems to be very loose I need to hold every bit of his skin when grooming him or it would catch in the clippers. I will try and get a picture to show you.


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## 2719 (Feb 8, 2011)

No it is not odd for the skin to be loose. It is not a desired quality but some poodles do have looser skin. And..you are correct just hold the skin taut to groom.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

I am no expert, but loose skin on a poodle isn't desireable for conformation. They should have tight skin on the underside of their neck without folds, but it isn't a huge conformation fault in an otherwise great dog. Quite a few stunning dogs have a bit too much skin under the necks. They do have looser skin than other dogs, though. For example, whippets have very tight skin with no wrinkles at all. In a whippet folds under the neck is a major fault, but in a poodle a rather minor one that doesn't seem to effect wins in the show ring much (from what I have observed anyway).


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## 2719 (Feb 8, 2011)

outwest said:


> I am no expert, but loose skin on a poodle isn't desireable for conformation. They should have tight skin on the underside of their neck without folds, but it isn't a huge conformation fault in an otherwise great dog.


Yes, you are right. If you look at my signature pic of Teddy you see he has loose folds on his neck...however he is a Canadian Kennel Club Champion.

I had an apricot poodle (Nikkabrik) who I used to take with me to my son's goat club meetings. The goat club owner told me that Nikkabrik would be a fabulous goat because she had loose skin. (Desireable in goats)...Every breed (animal) seems to have their own preferences of ascetic acceptability.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Oh, I didn't even notice Teddy's cute skin folds. Like I said, I have seen a number of dogs with necks like his win, so I don't think it is a big/huge deal, just something to keep in mind when choosing breeding partners to try to minimize it.


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