[oley]

Первоначальное сообщение от EGOR
И окрас - любой (если под "red" подразумевать от крема до коричневого)...
И хвостик - на "пол-второго"...

И не только в Америке ;) Вот такое описание пуделя было сделано Dr. Fitzinger в публикации под названием "Der Hund und Seine Racen". Текст, я подозреваю, был переведен на английский, и опубликован в книге A History and Description of the Modern Dogs of Great Britain and Ireland в 1894 году. Вот так он описывает самую крупную разновидность пуделя:

He is always larger than the largest sized spaniel, which, however, he resembles in form. He is robust in build, and has a peculiarly thick and full covering of hair. His os occipitis is dog, whatever it may do so far as appearance is concerned.

Much more could be written about the poodle
as a sporting dog, but as one of the Modern
Dogs of Great Britain he is used only as a pet and companion, purely a fancy dog and as a performer on the stage, in the circus, or in the streets. He is a "show dog" in the proper acceptation of the term, and although there are other varieties of the canine race taught to perform tricks of various kinds, the poodle is accepted as the performing dog par excellence. It is he who stands on his head, climbs ladders, walks on rolling barrels, turns somersaults both backwards and forwards, feigns death, and performs a host of other accomplishments of which terriers are his imitators. Writers on dogs have always had anecdotes to tell of the sagacious poodle.
Even Colonel Hutchinson, in his excellent work
on " Dog Breaking," cannot pass over the performances in Paris of a celebrated poodle named Domini, who not only made up any number that might be desired by selecting corresponding cards upon which numbers had been written, but told the time by the clock, played a good game at dominoes, and otherwise so astonished the gallant Colonel that he gives two or three pages and well pronounced, his head is round, his forehead is strongly arched, his muzzle is short, high, and stumpy, his neck short and thick; his body is compact and cobby, his legs are comparatively
short and strong, and he is more web-footed than any other breed. The hair over his body is long, thick, soft, woolly, and entirely curled, even over the face, and especially
the mouth, where it forms a decided moustache. On the ears and tail the hair is more knotty and matted. Specimens of this
breed are white, light liver, liver, light grey, dark grey, dark liver, or black. Sometimes the markings are peculiar, inasmuch that,
on a light ground, great irregular dark grey, or black patches occur. When the dogs are liver-coloured or black, there are white spots on their muzzles and throats, on the nape of their necks, on their breasts, bellies, feet, and tail. They are seldom cropped, but are almost invariably docked. The Italians call them can barbone; the French barbels, grands barbels, barbeions caniches; the English denominate them water dogs, water spaniels, finders, and poodles. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans appear to have known these dogs, and the old German authors of the middle ages do not mention them. In the sixteenth century they are, for the first time, mentioned by Conrad Gesner, who, in 1555, gives a description and illustration of these dogs. The great poodle is most easily trained, and his peculiar adaptation for marsh work is not found in any such high degree in any other kind of dog.

His liveliness, attachment, and faithfulness, combined with his good temper, trust, and obedience, make of him a thoroughly
good companion. He always looks for his master, likes to please him, and is never tired of doing all he can to further that end. He is a splendid swimmer, and the best of water
retrievers. He grasps everything he is taught so readily that he is trained very quickly; hence he is a good performer in whatever pursuit his talents may be called into requisition.

Der mittlere Pudel, or medium-sized poodle, is only a variety of the great poodle. He has the same qualities and properties. Size is the only difference between them; he is sometimes two-thirds, and sometimes only half, the size of his greater congener.

... далее описываются мелкие разновидности, но у меня уже нет сил копировать и править форматирование :)