Poodle Art
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I get a lot of junk sent to me by email, but every once in a while I get a real beauty, something that makes me laugh out loud at how funny and absurd life can be. The phenomenon of creative canine grooming shows has its home in, you guessed it, the USA. Poodle owners dye, shave, clip and accessorise their pets so they resemble chickens, fairies, underwater sea themes, even American football players. As photographer Ren Netherland has discovered, the extremities of canine grooming have attained cult-like status.
Is it only a matter of time before there’s a new TV show called Poodle Makeover? Not that it’s a new and fleeting craze or anything. Netherland has reportedly been the only professional photographer allowed to take photos by event organisers over the last decade. There’s no doubt this is Art with a capital ‘A’, but an important question remains: is it cruel? Poodles are pretty intelligent creatures in the canine kingdom, are they enjoying behaving like clowns or are their loving owners creating defenceless victims? I wonder what PETA would have to say.
8 comments
dell Tuesday 1 September 2009
Panda poodle. So wrong. Thanks Anna.
Francisco Wednesday 2 September 2009
that panda poodle is hilarious
benconservato Wednesday 2 September 2009
All I can say is poor poodles. As I have lived with a standard poodle in the past. I am wondering how they actually managed to do that without losing a hand.
Clare Hall Wednesday 2 September 2009
agreed. panda bear? hilarious and so wrong!
i wonder if the dye is vegetable based! that’s a lot of colour!
911vettech Sunday 13 September 2009
My Standard loves getting groomed and the attention afterward. Of course it’s not for every dog but those who do like it or they would make it impossible to do. I would say poor dog to the ones who are thrown into the back yard, getting shaved down twice a year and little to no real family connection.
glitzern Monday 22 March 2010
ahhhhh panda poodle come to mummy.
Pamela Rizza Saturday 25 September 2010
Hey all, I’m a groomer! : ) And I promise you, this is *not* cruel! Haha, actually watched the Panda up there get this grooming (along with dozens of other awesome creatively groomed pups) and there were NO objections from the doggies! Given that, and along with hours spent coloring my own dog’s hair while he SLEPT on the grooming table, I can assure you all that this isn’t cruel at all! : ) Some dogs don’t like being groomed, and guess what? They aren’t in the above pictures! : P
Jay from The Depp Effect Saturday 10 December 2011
Doesn’t show a lot of respect for the dogs in my opinion. Yes, it’s all very clever, and no doubt there are dogs who don’t particularly mind, but knowing just how many people are totally incapable of interpreting canine body language and social signals, I bet there are too many ‘victims’ of this type of grooming.
To me, the dog in the last picture looks unhappy. In fact none of the dogs which have had bits attached to complete the illusion look particularly happy. They look resigned, at best. Actually, the panda looks most comfortable, if a little warm – but apart from the colour and a bit of shaping, he’s come away with the most natural look.
Of course, I’m judging from a static picture, which is not the best way to assess the mood of a dog, but good grief… it does make me wonder why people get dogs.