16/11/2025
A huge loss for Poodles this week, with the passing of our wonderful friend and mentor Ann Cambray Coppage.
We were very fortunate to have Ann of the world famous Vulcan Kennels as our Patron and advisor to The Parti Poodle Club.
She very much supported the re-introduction of particolour poodles as she thought they were probably the original foundation from which the breed sprang and a very attractive one at that !
Ann was one of the last breeders to be associated with the Parti colour in the 1960’s and 1970’s and was hugely supportive of the club.
We will miss her infectious enthusiasm for all things poodle,her continued support for the club, as well as her wealth of knowledge.
Ann leaves behind a huge legacy and we will continue to honour this through the club.
Even a few days before her passing ,in typical charismatic Ann style,she was adamant about the importance of the continuation of the club.
A truly remarkable lady, who will be hugely missed by so many.
In 2019 Ann very kindly donated a Best In Show perpetual trophy,which was originally won by one of her dogs.
And a framed copy of her famous photo.
A fabulous connection for the club.
T A L E O F A T R O P H Y !
By Ann Coppage
I was so honoured to be asked by PARTI POODLE CLUB if the Best in Show Trophy could be named after the Vulcan Kennel. The original thought was to have a Shield – but then I offered one of my own trophies which had been packed away with others. This particular one is a little different – being in the shape of a vase and never having been engraved. It had been won by a silver standard male I exported to a French friend “VULCAN PASSING FANCY” became a Champion and Elizabeth sent me some of his trophies. I washed and polished it and it looked good! So – what to call it? A light went on in my head and, after consultation with Sara, it became “THE VULCAN POLKA DOT TROPHY”.
So who was Polka Dot? She was a black and white particolour Standard. When I arrived at the Kennels – then in Buxted Park - to begin a year’s training in 1955! I had a ‘list’ of 5 poodles and 1 Sealyham. One of the poodles was Polka, in full lion trim. She was the first poodle I groomed, bathed and clipped, which probably took a couple of days! The Hon Mrs Ionides, the founder of the kennel, was well known for her love of the particolours. Unlike some other breeders, any partis born in a litter were never put down – there was a WAITING LIST. Polka and her brother, VULCAN DOT AND CARRY, were in a litter of 10 – born in 1953. They were the only partis in the litter – which contained cream, blue, silver and apricot. The sire was blue and the dam white.
Mrs Ionides had a wry sense of humour and entered Polka and her brother – not for competition, at the International Poodle Club’s Championship Show in London at Seymour Hall on 31 August 1954. No crates in those days; all the exhibits had to be benched – so there were these 2 particolour puppies in full view, next to the other seven dogs in the Vulcan Team! I wish I had been there to see the other exhibitors’ faces!
So that’s two reasons why Polka is special – but the third is the photograph that has been reproduced many times in canine press. Mrs Ionides owned an oil painting of a particolour poodle – near life size, not signed but attribute to the School of Stubbs. She commissioned the then top dog photographer, Thomas Fall, to come to Buxted Park and photograph Polka standing underneath the painting. The markings on the dogs are similar. I don‘t have that particular Annual – but I believed this photo was the Vulcan Kennels full page advert that year.
I’m sure both Mrs Ionides and Shirley Walne would thoroughly approve the naming of the Club’s Best in Show trophy – and I also thought that as it is a perpetual trophy – i.e. has to be returned for the next show, it would be nice if the owner of the winning dog received a framed copy of Polka’s photo to keep as a memento. This I intend to present to the Club each year – as long as I am still around!
FOOTNOTE: INT.CH. VULCAN PASSING FANCY and VULCAN POLKA DOT have ancestors in common - even though they were born two decades apart.
Ann Coppage
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.
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.
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.
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 bi***es 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 bi***es, 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 Nusoe Oo'er.
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 bi***es, 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!"
