Our poodles are certainly flashy workers in the field, with lots of elegance. When you compare the working Lab to a St. Poodle, several things are quickly apparent: Shoulder Angle, Neck and Head Set, and Body Length. All of these things work to our advantage in the show ring, but don't help the dogs for the work of carrying a bird through water or cover. Shoulder Angle: Labs have a very sloped shoulder angle which does not allow for as much freedom of movement in front. What it DOES do is stabilize the neck and front legs. This helps with...

Neck and Head Set: Labs necks are set more in front of their body than the show-ring-desirable Poodle- breeders are always looking for "neck" for a proud head carriage. When the head comes up, carrying power goes down- the muscles along the spine are not as strong when they are stretched over the angle of the withers and the angle of the occiput(back of the head).

Body Length: The shorter body length of our poodles actually helps them compensate for the higher head set- they have to come up underneath themselves behind in order to support a heavier load in front (well, unless they are TOO short, in which case they can't come underneath enough to not interfere with their front end). The Labs, on the other hand, don't need to be shorter-backed because they are well-supported in front- "grounded," so to speak.

So, our Poodles have more of a tendency to leap over things instead of plow through them, since their front ends are quite light. They may have more trouble with a goose since carrying hasn't been a foremost issue with regards to breeding. What they are is a joy to watch, and definitely a lot of brainpower to train!

One other area that needs to be mentioned is jaw strength. Poodles are currently being bred to have a "flat" jaw, i.e., no lower jaw strength. This may prove to be a disadvantage over the longer retrieving distances and with heavier birds.