I'm a poodle fan from waaaaaay back! I dog-sit for two lovely black miniature poodles, and sometimes visit a feisty, tiny white toy boy poodle. I agree with the comments about the hair cuts, and love the topiary and religious cult comments!

To add to the discussion of pampered/ spoiled poodles, part of the problem is that poodles can be VERY VERY smart! They learn quickly and do well as performance dogs (remember the circus dogs jumping through hoops etc?) When people treat them like babies, they easily learn the expected behavior, and will play it TO THE MAX! But of course, being dogs, sometimes their canine side has to come out...giving the yapping or nipping or other behavior. And since the humans won't learn how to handle the dog properly, the poodle will manipulate the situation as much as they can. Once again, the problem is most often the human, NOT the dog.

Give your poodle pups a warm hug from me! They are special treasures!!!