# Showing a dog - whats a fault?



## Angels Grooming (Oct 8, 2010)

Hi all, 

Forgive my ignorance, but does anyone know why the breed standards say Standard poodles should have a curly coat, (NZ's goes as far as saying an open soft coat WITH NO CURL is a FAULT), and then everyone straightens the coat out to cut it (for obvious reasons) but then it is shown with a straight coat so how does that work? 

How do the judges know if the coat was ever curly?

Just wondering. Thanks for any info you might have on this. 

Ooh also, it says cream dogs can have some colour shading for up to 18months, but whites should be white. So if my new white puppy has off coloured ears, am I wasting my time showing her?

Sorry cant figure out how to do pictures yet


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

On the curly coat, I think a curly coat brushed out straight holds its shape - a straight coat tends to be very soft and floppy (like a typical puppy coat), and doesn't hold shape well.


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## roxy25 (Dec 18, 2008)

Angels Grooming said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Forgive my ignorance, but does anyone know why the breed standards say Standard poodles should have a curly coat, (NZ's goes as far as saying an open soft coat WITH NO CURL is a FAULT), and then everyone straightens the coat out to cut it (for obvious reasons) but then it is shown with a straight coat so how does that work?
> 
> ...


AKC standard :

Coat
(a) Quality--(1) Curly: of naturally harsh texture, dense throughout. (2) Corded: hanging in tight even cords of varying length; longer on mane or body coat, head, and ears; shorter on puffs, bracelets, and pompons.

Fjm is right a good coat will be thick and stand up ! a soft straight coat will flop over and does not feel dense and thick. 

Its just like with some black people's hair we can sport afros just wash blow dry and brush out it will stand up and will have shape ( easy to make all kinds of shapes and interesting hair styles. ) while some races such as Asians and Caucasians that have straight hair it would take so much hair spray and who knows what to make it stand up in shape lol It just depends on texture etc... not all black people have afro thick textured hair and not all white or caucasians have straight hair. But its seen more common with these races than not.

You can straighten black hair and it will not stand up or have shape but as soon as you add moisture or water it springs back to natural shape.

example 
natural unrelaxed afro textured black hair ( basically what my hair looks like LOL) You can easily cord or dread this hair.









Girl with same texture but they relaxed her hair. I used to relax my hair but the stylist that where licensed and seemed to know what they where doing did not know what they where doing so my hair was damaged 










For color it says this AKC:

Color
The coat is an even and solid color at the skin. In blues, grays, silvers, browns, cafe-au-laits, apricots and creams the coat may show varying shades of the same color. This is frequently present in the somewhat darker feathering of the ears and in the tipping of the ruff. While clear colors are definitely preferred, such natural variation in the shading of the coat is not to be considered a fault. Brown and cafe-au-lait Poodles have liver-colored noses, eye-rims and lips, dark toenails and dark amber eyes. Black, blue, gray, silver, cream and white Poodles have black noses, eye-rims and lips, black or self colored toenails and very dark eyes. In the apricots while the foregoing coloring is preferred, liver-colored noses, eye-rims and lips, and amber eyes are permitted but are not desirable. Major fault: color of nose, lips and eye-rims incomplete, or of wrong color for color of dog.

Parti-colored dogs shall be disqualified. The coat of a parti-colored dog is not an even solid color at the skin but is of two or more colors.


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