APAW – Poodle Pups for Working Roles

Eclipse is absolutely amazing – every person should be lucky enough to have a dog like Eclipse at least once in their life. He is a complete Mama’s boy, in any environment his focus remains on his person even while he’s relaxing or playing fetch with others… if his person moves or says anything he’s instantly at attention. He has a very strong work ethic and will work hard to accomplish his task or find a solution to the problem. He is very smart and loves to learn anything, especially if there is any retrieving or object-in-mouth involved. The only thing that could be improved regarding his temperament is that he gets a bit anxious if he thinks he is trapped with a stranger – he’d rather hold his own stay or wait on a grooming table than to have his leash held by a stranger while his person does a run-through at a trial. He’s not interested in strangers unless they know how to play fetch, in which case he’s instant best friends; food also buys his heart quickly.

Eclipse has titles in conformation, rally, tricks, parkour and temperament, and has trained a bit for agility though life with kids got in the way of competing. He is also full trained as a service dog and gives demos from time to time, though presentations have dwindled since kids and pandemic.

Eclipse’s health testing results were heartbreaking, as he was expected to be a fantastic stud, being highly genetically diverse and with rare DLA haplotypes. His hips were considered mildly dysplastic, though unlikely to become symptomatic at least until his senior years. He was given the go-ahead for an active life of sports below extreme levels of competition. His eyes also failed due to partial cataracts, though his vision has never been affected – interestingly, he has relatives to have had varying levels of cataracts come and go over the years, and we do not yet know the cause… some have improved after treatment for tick disease, some with changes in diet, some with moves to new houses (different water source??), and some seemingly spontaneously. This is a condition which does not currently have a genetic test available.

Eclipse is kept intact for his long-term health though not intended to be bred, but managed to have a tie in a moment of lapsed judgment. The litter was amazing so we retained ownership of 3 pups to watch them develop and health test as mature dogs to see if any were suitable to carry the line forward (the 3 with the most important genetic diversity traits from Eclipse were selected). All 3 have maintained clear eyes over the years, and two have had their full OFA testing – male Jude has passed everything with Good hips (just shy of 6 years old), and female Jubilee looked all normal with good hip socket coverage, but OFA determined mild arthritis in one hip (at 4.5 years old). Despite being a distinct improvement over Eclipse’s health, Jubilee will not be bred; Jude is planned to be bred to save the unique genes. The other brother will also be tested and if passing will also be bred – he has even more unique genes inherited from Eclipse.

Eclipse is a forever dog here with Jillian, and will hopefully have his turn back in the ring as the younger dogs catch-up on earning titles.