Cruella D'ville Owns a Papillon, anyone else?

[AdoreMyDogs]

Hi Sophies Daddy,

I am sorry, I don't have the name of that movie. I don't think I have ever seen it, otherwise I would have remembered it if it had dogs in it

I am actually writing because I wanted to tell you something: You may have learned that I started my dog in agility not too long ago. I go to beginner class early every week and watch the advanced class that starts before my class starts, and there are 2 papillions in that advanced class. I think of you because, although I only know of you from this site, you are the only person I have ever known who owns, and speaks highly of papillions. I was curious to see what other papillion owners thought about the breed and I could not have had a more wonderful description of the breed!

First of all, the papillions are WONDERFUL in agility! They are so cute, fast, graceful and obedient. The papillions are better then any of the other dogs in that class. I never thought they were such a smart breed before I started visiting Pet Talk and learned about you and your little Sophie. On Thursday night before my class started, and as soon as the advanced class ended, I stopped the nice lady with the cutest of the 2 papillions and, first complemented her on her dog's wonderful performance, allertness, and flawlessness, then asked her about the breed in general....here's what she said: "they are so amazingly smart, easy to train, eager to please and adorable, it's a shock more people don't own them. Sometimes they are so smart, they learn quicker then their owners, so the owners have to pay close attention when training so that the dog does not out-smart them." She said her friends often ask her how a dog can be so smart, so obedient, and so adorable together...usually it's either give-or-take with those little guys. She said that the papillions are one of the smartest, easiest to train of all the toy breeds. I have a huge respect for the breed now. I now know that they are not just all looks, there's really a huge brain in that beautiful little head of theirs.

I just thought you'd like to hear about other nice papillion stories. I am in no position to get another dog, nor do I have the desire, I love my 2 babies, but I am pretty sure the papillion will be my next toy breed. My hubby came to the agility class this past Thursday, pointed a finger at the smallest, quickest papillion, and said, "oh my gosh, what IS that adorable thing?" His fav. breed is the GSD, but he melted when he saw the adorable papillions He has a soft spot for small dogs, and YUP he stated that that was the most adorable toy breed he's ever seen (no offence to my pug Cassie, she's as cute as a button but she does not compare to a papillion to my hubby's eyes...don't tell her I told you that tho )

Just thought I'd share some good thoughts on papillions.

-Leslie

[SheltieLover234]

Well sorry i`m not sure about that movie ethier but I wanted to say something about AdoreMyDogs comment :That woman was right my friends Papillons are so very smart,obediant,and even though they are small they have the spirt of big dogs!!!

[Sophies Daddy]

AdoreMyDogs and SheltieLover234,

Thank you for the wonderful info! Sheltielover has previously mentioned her(?) friend's papillons as wonderful dogs and it's fantastic to hear about more from AdoreMyDogs.

I agree with the woman at the agility class that "it's a shock that more people don't own them." Papillons are the number one toy breed in obedience competition as well as doing extremely well in agility. They love to have fun and love to please; after all, fun and pleasing their owners means that they get more attention! The breed is very well known breed in both obedience and agility circles. There is even a popular series of obedience books and videos by Gerianne Darnell and Barbara Cecil titled "Small Dog Fun: Competing with a Small Dog" that has a papillon on every cover (same dog, all different topics). There are many papillons that have multiple titles including conformation (beauty), obedience, agility, and tracking. I don't have time to take Sophie through all of that (and she couldn't do conformation because she is a rescue without a confirmed pedigree), but I have no doubt that she could do it all.

Papillons have even become service dogs for the disabled! Some of you may have seen the television special that highlighted a serice papillon that assisted a woman who was confined to a wheelchair. The dog did all kinds of daily chores including taking her clothes out of the washer and dryer.

They are incredibly smart and wonderful dogs. They are good with kids (as long as the kids don't try to break them) and people, they don't have a high-pitched "yappy" bark, they fit in your lap and want to be there,...wow, I could go on for hours singing their praises!

[ktreva52]

Gee, Dad, too bad you don't care for the breed . I stand corrected on the coat care. I have only been able to observe it at shows and they exaggerate EVERYTHING at the shows. Pity they aren't approved for go-to-ground, that would be fantastic to watch. Bet they're tough little guys.

Do you remember anything more from that movie, like who was in it or anything? Blockbuster (I think it is) has a listing of movies you can look at (in a book) and find all kinds of information about any specific movie, but you have to have more information, I think. Still, you might see if there's a topic of "animals in the movies" or some such. Good luck on your search.

[Sophies Daddy]

I think I found it! I posted a message to the Papillon discussion page, PAP-L, and got several responses.

It appears that the movie is "Heaven and Earth" with Tommy Lee Jones. In the movie, the dogs belong to his mother and he describes them as "the butt-ugliest dogs in the world." Now I am really interested because the movie is not of the type I expected and I am dying to see what an ugly papillon looks like!

I was also informed that there was a papillon in the original Glen Close 101 Dalmations and possibly in the music video "Who Let The Dogs Out." Any opinions?

[lhg0962]

I thought of this post when I just saw Glenn Close and Petey on Regis this morning! He is just precious! Those ears make him look like a gremlin!

[Sophies Daddy]

Guess what? There is a Papillon in the new movie "Family Man." I have yet to see the movie, but the PAP-L discussion forum had some brags about it from the owner. If anyone has seen it, please let me know!