ABOUT US
Who We Are
We are a small hobby breeder of Standard Poodles located in Northeast Ohio. Our dogs are all raised in our home and are integral members of our family. We look for a balance of temperament, health and structure in our dogs. We believe in breeding well-adjusted family pets with an emphasis on good temperaments and healthy pedigrees.
We do not dock or remove dew claws (click here to find out more about dew claws). Nothing is more beautiful than a poodle in action with its long natural tail flowing behind it.
Our dogs participate and excel in both conformation and performance sports. Most weekends will find us tearing up the agility ring or prancing about the conformation ring.
Our poodles are fully health tested. We examine our dogs and potential mates for a variety of health issues including thyroid, cardiac, eye, hip dysplasia, and genetic diseases like NE and vWD.
We do genetic testing of our dog's immune system to make sure that two parents will produce puppies that are genetically diverse, an important aspect of improving the health of the standard poodle. We analyze the information provided by this genetic testing on the website betterbred.com to determine if a breeding meets our genetic criteria.
We follow a minimal vaccination schedule with our dogs such as the protocol endorsed by Dr. Jean Dodds.
How We Began
Our love of the poodle began with Fran, when as a young girl she developed allergies to all of her furry friends. These allergies triggered her first asthma attack. As a confirmed animal lover, this was quite a blow to her. But then her mother brought home two miniature poodles, Coco and Mickey. These she could hug and love without complications!
This love continued into adulthood when we brought home our first Standard Poodle, Jax. He had such a great temperament and grew up with our two daughters, eagerly participating in all of their shenanigans, including playing dress-up!
Unfortunately, we did not do the proper research when choosing our breeder, and at a young age he developed glaucoma and had to have his eye removed. He was later dubbed one-eyed Jax! He died much too early for us from cancer. This was when we became aware of the importance of finding a breeder who put health as their top priority when choosing their breeding dogs.
Our search led us to Fran's mentor, Rebekah of Shyre Poodles. Her mission is to improve the overall health of standard poodles by increasing the diversity of the breed.
Today, we live with one of her dogs' offspring, our foundation dam, Shyre's Razmataz and Taz's daughters Holly and Cheyenne. We also share our home with our pet standard poodle, Finnian.
Why Diversity Breeding
The Standard Poodle has suffered a prolonged and severe genetic bottleneck. This bottleneck has produced a dramatic reduction in the size of the diversity of the standard poodle population resulting in a decrease in genetic variation. This limited diversity has given rise to a number of health issues in the standard poodle.
More information can be found in this study and at this link.
Genetic Bottleneck
In the United States in the 1940-1970s a particular kennel became very popular for their stunning dogs. This kennel is well known as the "Wycliffe" kennel. Many people chose to breed to this line of dogs, which were linebred. At the time linebreeding (breeding back to the grandsire/dam to produce a certain look/temperament etc) was considered not only safe, but desirable. As a result, the standard poodle went through a genetic bottleneck, decreasing the diversity in our lines and increasing the incidence of health issues, including autoimmune dysfunction.
Consequently, we believe in continuing our mentor's goal to seek out as unique of breedings for our girls as possible.
Visit: The Standard Poodle Project for more information.
About Our Name
The name Perigueux is an old family name from Fran's mother's side of the family. Her great-grandfather was a Frenchman by the name of Perigueux ( The family pronounced it Pair-e-g0). As a nod to her ancestors she decided to adopt this name for her kennel. She also liked the alliteration and the tie to the French, as many people associate the poodle to France. In fact, the poodle is now considered the national dog of France! The French aristocracy's love of the poodle certainly added to its popularity, however it is now generally believed that the poodle originated in Germany and were called Pudels.
We do not breed or endorse the breeding of any kind of poodle mixes.
