Before Leanne came, I had a little red Toy Poodle for a few days. (laugh!)
In the end of March, I was invited to a local pound in Okazaki, where is about 480 miles away from Tokyo. I was there to give them a Gentle Leader seminar. About a week before the seminar, one of the volunteer staffs there called me and said "We have an apricot Toy Poodle puppy who is looking for a good home. Are you interested in it?"
What!? Apricot Toy pup with no home? Since I was (and am still) missing Toys, this really raised my heart. I replied, "Ah well, I'm really interested in seeing her and I may be able to adopt her. But I don't think it is realistic because I'm going to have a new Standard puppy in June. However, I know several people who are looking for a Toy Poodle, I am sure I can find her a good home."
After the seminar, I met that puppy. To my surprise, the puppy was red, a real gorgeous red. She was sooooo cute too and I really wanted to keep her if I can.

OK, the red puppy was cute, but she was really one of the crazy type of Toys too. She is so noisy, too energetic, gets too much excited soon, screams when I am out of her sight, plays real hard, chews and breaks Nanako's toys, chases Nanako around and never gets depressed when being scolded by her, moves her pen from inside to the corner of my kitchen, screams and struggles so bad in a crate, and more.... <headache!> In one word, SHE IS JUST SO BAD!
Believe it or not, I DO LOVE this type of crazy crazy puppy. She's bad but she is cute, so smart and so fun to be with.

I have some friends who are looking for a Poodle puppy. I thought about them. Since the puppy is very energetic and needs much care and love, her owner should be patient and has enough time to take good care of her. I carefully screened candidates and my choice fell on one American family in Yokohama. They had Toy Poodles before and used to tell me they'd like to have one someday again. One of the reasons why I chose them was that they're running a small business at home. This means that this little separation anxiety candidate may have little chance to be left all alone. Another reason is that their environment is good for this energetic puppy. Their house is big and they have a nice fenced garden of turf where a little Toy can run about safely. Also they are living close to me and I can see them anytime.
So, now this little crazy puppy, Donna, is living with them happily and she enjoys running around in their living room.

Well, I say Donna is a Toy and I do believe she is a Toy Poodle, but in reality, she is oversized. Now she is about 13.5" tall (laugh!) but she's just so cute.

When she came back again in July, I did realize that having two young kids really drove me crazy! I'm sure I was absolutely right to give up keeping Donna for me.

In Japan, in these couples of years Standard Poodles seem to be getting popular.
When I had Nanako about 9 years ago, (she came to me when she was 16 months old) SPs were really one of the rare breeds and we seldom could see them even at dog shows. The number of SP registered at JKC in 1990 was only 38, but now, it is over 200.

In these days, Poodles seem to become a fashion. As I wrote above, apricots or reds are so popular and too many people say "I want apricot or red one." Now those colors are the vogue!
In fact, apricot or red puppies are very expensive and recently, I've found that apricot SP puppy was priced over $3,000 on internet. (I don't think this pup is a show prospect.)
I have a feeling that SP also seems to become a vogue.
Too often I receive e-mails or calls saying that "I want a Standard Poodle and I want you to tell me where I can get a puppy."

Well, becoming popular isn't so bad, however, I have seen several breeds being hurt by a vogue.
For example, about 12 years ago, it was Siberian Huskies who were on the top of the fashion list. Everybody had one!
After a while, people soon lose interest and throw them away. Oh, where have all the Siberians gone? After the 'Husky Boom' had gone, next breed was Golden Retrievers. It is sad but history repeats itself. I simply hope that Standard Poodles won't walk the same way those Siberians or Goldens had been through.