Piccolo's AKC Standard Poodles
Piccolo's AKC Standard Poodles
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A Family Tradition
Our family has decades of canine experience. We began showing Siberian Huskies in AKC conformation in the 1970s. This developed into a passion for competitive sprint sled dog racing with Siberian and Alaskan Huskies. Our family raced and bred sled dogs from 1972-1996 winning numerous awards in the International Sled Dog Racing Association (ISDRA) and Mid-Atlantic Sled Dog Racing Association leading to skill development in kennel management, canine nutrition, veterinary care, physical conditioning, genetic study, and canine behavior. Breeding great sled dogs required carefully bred hybrids collectively known as the Alaskan Husky.
We participated in the Seppala Siberian Sled Dog Project, a select sled dog breeding program to establish a gene pool for future top racing dogs. The program was run by Dr. Roland Lombard DVM, one of the all-time greats of sled dog racing. He was an eight-time winner of the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous and six-time winner of the Fairbanks Open North American Championship in the 1950s and 1960s. Our kennel's foundation breeding was Igloo Pak's Clyde (from Dr. Roland Lombard) X Piccolo's Muttrina (from Terri Killam). The sled dog racing kennel was dissolved in 1996.
Our family began our relationship with Standard Poodles in 1975. One of our foundation dogs purchased in the late 1970's was from the well known Escot kennel owned by Esther Scott. We also purchased dogs from from Shangri-La kennel. Our family began breeding Poodles in the 1980s. Because of our long history with breeding sled dogs, we had a strong focus on genetically creating healthy Poodle puppies from the beginning. In the 1990's, Debbie and Evelyn showed Poodles in AKC obedience earned several CD and CDX titles.
We have shown almost every year at the Poodle Club of American National Specialty from 2005-2016 when the event was relocated to Missouri. In 2010, Evelyn and Debbie completed in the Team obedience class at the PCA National Specialty with Renee Nappier (obedience instructor at Mason Dixon Kennel Club) and Susan Glenn. The team performed very well and won first place. See the video at https://youtu.be/toYYDxM5jT0.
Our foundation has always been AKC formal obedience, but in the 2010's we started branching out into other dog sports and venues including UKC, CDSP, and Therapy Dogs International. We are now also active in rally, conformation, trick dog, and therapy. We are exploring the dog sports of Fast CAT, dock diving, flyball, hunting, coursing, and nose work. In addition to training and shows, we love to take our dogs hiking, swimming, and out to community activities such as farmer's markets, festivals, trick-or-treating, and fairs.
We have been certified as an AKC Breeder of Merit because of our dedication to the Standard Poodle breed, performance show achievements, and commitment to fully health certifying all breeding dogs. We have been recognized as an AKC Breeder with HEART because of our commitment to fully HEALTH certifying all breeding dogs, continuing EDUCATION including advances in canine health, ACCOUNTABILITY for the best care of our dogs, taking RESPONSIBILITY for all our puppies for their life, and supporting the TRADITION of breeding purebred dogs. We are a member of Versatility in Poodles, United Poodle Association, Responsible Dog Owners of Maryland, and AKC Canine Health Foundation. We are a member of the Better Bred breeder community that works toward maintaining diversity while decreasing complex genetic disorders within the Poodle breed. We adhere to the Poodle Club of America Breeder Code of Ethics. We have been awarded the “Excellent” standard by Good Dog which “distinguishes those breeders who demonstrate an exceptionally high commitment to prioritizing the health of their dogs by performing the highest level of health testing on their breeding dogs.”
Debbie
Debbie got her first Siberian Husky in 1970. She showed the Siberian in AKC Novice obedience where she met her first husband Bob. She also showed a white Siberian from the Piccolo's line in AKC conformation earning his Championship title, quite an achievement at the time. She began racing sled dogs in 1972 and was a top 4-dog and 6-dog class competitor for several years in ISDRA and the Mid-Atlantic Sled Dog Racing Association. Debbie bought her first brown Standard Poodle in 1975. She bred Poodles in the 1980's, and she showed Poodles in AKC obedience in the 1990's. She occasionally still showed Siberian Huskies and in 1994, she earned a CD with Piccolo's Super Duper Trooper CD with all scores in the 190s/200.
Debbie purchased Ms Amber Lee Sandra Swartz CDX RAE CDX-C TDI CGC in 2003. Debbie purchased CH Piccolo's Maxwell Edison Swartz CDX RAE CDX-C CGC CHIC in 2007 from Geer's Dogwood Kennels in Spotsylvania, VA. He completed his AKC RN title at 13 months old. Debbie owns Piccolo's Rising Phoenix CD CDX RN CD-C CGC CHIC from Penny's second litter born January 2010. She owns Piccolo's Radiant Ziva from Prada's third litter born July 2016. Ziva successfully delivered her first litter in November 2019, and Debbie kept Piccolo's Iron Forged Harvey from the litter.
Outside of her love of dogs, Debbie is a dental hygienist. She is partially retired and loves the extra time to do activities with the dogs.
Evelyn
Evelyn grew up in an established successful sled dog racing kennel. Her first word was "dog", and she was often found munching on dry dog food in the huge food bins as a child. At the age of 4 years old, Evelyn competed and won her first sled dog race as she "flew like a bird."
Evelyn was a top winner in the ISRDA and Mid-Atlantic Sled Dog Racing Association Pee Wee, 3-dog, and 4-dog classes for 12 years total. One of Evelyn's main responsibilities in the kennel was puppy training which included training puppies to accept the harness and pull light objects in a small team. The goal was to let the puppy enjoy its instinctive behavior of running in a safe environment and learn to associate the harness with fun.
At the age of about 10 years old, Evelyn began training Standard Poodles in competitive AKC obedience. As a young teenager, she swept the AKC Junior Handler category in Obedience with her brown Poodle named Piccolo's Eighties Lady CDX. At the age of 12 years old, Evelyn earned her first CD title, and at 13 years old, she earned her first CDX title with Lady. At the age of 14, she earned a CD with Piccolo's Jumping Jack Flash CD. She also occasionally showed Siberian Huskies in AKC obedience.
Evelyn helped deliver her first Poodle puppy litter by herself as a young teenager. With a focus on becoming a veterinarian, Evelyn interned and worked in several veterinary clinics for 5 years including several years of service at the Animal Heath Clinic of Funkstown in Funkstown, MD with Dr. Virginia Scrivener. In 1998, Evelyn graduated from Boonsboro High School and attended Bridgewater College until graduating in 2002 with a BS in Art and Biology. She earned a Post-Baccalaureate degree in 2003 from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD.
In 2005, Evelyn decided to continue the family tradition and begin searching for a brown Standard Poodle as a foundation female. After much searching, she purchased Piccolo's Pretty Penny CDX RE TKN Achiever Dog CGC TDI VC CHIC in March 2006 from Geer's Dogwood Kennels in Spotsylvania, VA. Penny completed her AKC CD title at 17 months old. Penny successfully delivered her first litter in November 2008, and Evelyn kept URO2 Piccolo's Black Pepper CD RA TKN CGC Achiever Dog TDI VC CHIC from the litter. Pepper earned her AKC RN title at 15 months old. Pepper completed her RA title with a clean sweep of all first place finishes and scores of 96, 95, and 98/100! Pepper delivered her first litter in November 2010, and Evelyn kept URO3 CH Piccolo's Devil Wears Prada BN CD GN RE TKN CGC Achiever Dog CD-C TDI VCX CHIC from the litter. Prada successfully delivered her second litter in August 2015, and Evelyn kept URO3 CH Piccolo's Gilded Paige RA TKN SN-C VCX CHIC from the litter. Paige successfully delivered her first litter in October 2018, and Evelyn kept CH Piccolo's As You Like It CGC TKN. Ziva successfully delivered her first litter in November 2019, and Evelyn kept Piccolo's Picture Perfect from the litter. Phoebe successfully delivered her first litter in October 2021, and Evelyn kept Piccolo's Tuscany Amore from the litter.
Outside of her love of dogs, Evelyn works full-time as a Career Sales Professional with Cutco Cutlery. She started her business in 2001. You can view it here.
Tom
Tom and Evelyn met while attending Bridgewater College in 1998 and married in 2004. He has learned a lot about dogs since then! His main duties are general bathing and grooming, dog show support, building puppy enrichment supplies, photography, helping clean the puppy nursery, and providing socialization for puppies. He loves puppies and enjoys helping raise them!
Tom is a full-time service technician at an international laboratory instrument supplier.
