The place where everyday is filled with Partis - Parti Poodles!!
12/02/2025
The amazing poodle...a little history.
It's Westminster Week! This week, we are featuring Maud Earl's painting of Duc, the first Poodle to win Best in Show at Westminster, and also the first dog with a woman handler to win Best in Show at Westminster!
Known in his day as "The Duke," this standard poodle kicked off the poodle's rise in popularity in the United States where it remains a top five breed registered to the American Kennel Club to this day. Duc arrived in the United States in 1934 having been purchased from Jane Lane of Nunsoe by Charlotte Hayes Blake Hoyt's mother as a gift to her. She reportedly paid £1,000, or about $75,000 by today's standard. He was already a four-way international champion in Switzerland, France, Germany, and England. Hoyt showed him at the Westminster Kennel Club's dog show in 1935 and he took Best in Show, marking the first win for the breed and the first time a woman handled the Best in Show winner.
In the painting by Maud Earl, he is shown among wind-swept cliffs by the sea, highlighting the breed's status as a water retriever. Duc himself revealed his portrait to happy onlookers by pulling on a rubber rat toy that was tied to the fabric draped over the canvas. He was born in Switzerland in 1929 and died in the United States in 1940.
If you're at the show, come say hi to us at our booth!
