Standard Poodle - The unsung hero of the Service Dog World.

Many people don't realize that the Standard Poodle has many, many great characteristics other than looking pretty. They are extremely smart, loving, outgoing and so willing to please their people. Recently, on Animal Planet, I watched a show called Dogs with Jobs. This episode dealt with this great Standard named Murray. He is a service dog with a unique ability. His owner has Narcolepsy. This is a sleeping disorder that causes the person to fall asleep without warning. He (Murray), when he was a puppy, showed great aptitude for service work. He was trained to originally help with seizure patients. As he was waiting to be placed, a call came in to the center where he lived and they were looking for a special dog to help this lady with the sleeping disorder. The center decided to try Murray, and after the initial visit, he was placed with her. At the time of the taping of the program, he had saved her life. What happened was that she isn't suppose to use the stove without someone being with her, and she decided that since she had been doing so well, she would fix her some dinner. She started the meat browning on the stove, and went to lay down on the couch. Just as she lay down, she started to have an episode. Murray detected the smoke from the kitchen and tried to wake her by barking. That didn't work, so he started to paw at her arm. Still, that didn't work, so he just took his paw and smacked her really hard in the face, and that woke her. She got up and went to the kitchen and turned the stove off, and she and Murray got out of the house. She said that she would have died had it not been for her Standard Poodle. Murray gets play time with her daughter and son-in-law. They take Murray to the park to play and have an ice cream cone. No matter whether they are a toy, miniature, or standard, poodles are just a fabulous breed of dog.