My very first poodle was a Swedish import, the lovely black lady Ch. Ebony-Eve Midnight Minx alias Minkki who turned out to be The dog of my life: that rare kind of a dog you may come across only once in a lifetime. She was in every way my kind of a poodle, as much by her lovely character as by her beautiful looks. She was also the foundation bitch of Blue Velvet standards and the mother of my first champions.

The first Blue Velvet litter was born already way over 10 years ago but so far we have only had 4 litters, out of 4 different bitches: 15 puppies in all, of which 8 are Finnish Champions, and one even is a multi-Champion, multi-Winner  and also an International Champion.

I have bred in an ordinary home environment, and all our own poodles have stayed with us for a life, so we usually have had at home also the older ones that aren’t bred or shown anymore. Perhaps that’s why it has been impossible to breed as often as one would’ve desired...  After all there is a limit to how many standard poodles one can have in a rather small flat! Thus my breeding slogan could be: “quality, not quantity” and “easy does it”!

More than breeding I’ve been busy with conformation: I have had champions in every litter, and of our own poodles, Minkki and Bondi (Ch. Rodequas Royal Blue Bond) both were the Topwinning Standards of their time. I’ve handled and groomed all our own dogs, and for shows also most of the puppies.

Here in the picture on the right I´m experiencing one of the finest moments as a breeder when yet another of my puppies has just got her ch. title. The latest Blue Velvet champion Blue Velvet Touchy Subject also went BOB in that particular show, under a breed judge winning all our present top-standards.

If you’re interested in learning more about our own poodles, and other Blue Velvets as well, please follow the links above!

A brief history of my prefix Blue Velvet

I’ve had my prefix Blue Velvet since -89. Though I’m a Finn and my mother tongue Finnish,  I specifically wanted an English name as I love the language. I also think that English suits better for poodles, and blue velvet is fairly easy to pronounce the right way, even for us Finns.  As I’m a graphic designer by profession (besides these pages, the golden Blue Velvet logo is designed and also drawn by me) I also wanted a name that would look beautiful in writing. The name Velvet came to my mind as the audience at dog shows so often referred to the clipped coat of Minkki as velvet. And when black is truly black it sort of shimmers blue, doesn’t it!

How poodles became my desire

When I was a little girl I had a neighbour who bred and showed silver miniatures. At that time, in the mid 60s I often had a chance to go to dogshows with her, as some kind of “kennel help”, and we made unforgettable tours around Finland, at least I enjoyed myself. What little girl wouldn’t want to brush and comb a poodle! I think I’ve loved the breed ever since!

In those days we did have a dog at home as well, a tall, lively pointer male, Paatsan Marr, who was an unforgettable personality and a very handsome boy, but hardly a proper dog for a little girl to handle at shows. And the smooth pointer coat didn’t need much brushing, or any combing or scissoring for that matter.

Later, as I grew older we did attend to a few shows with our pointer and he got his CC’s easily. So I had my taste of a little success at dogshows.

Here´s Marr in the picture on the right, with all his ribbons.

But I couldn’t stop dreaming about a dog that could be brushed and combed and scissored, and that would be a little easier to handle than a sporty hunting dog! To be precise: I wanted a poodle! And because in our pointer I had got used to size, I specifically drooled over standard poodles, though I hadn’t seen many, not even at dog shows, as they were so rare those days.

The dream remained just that: a dream for many a year but it was never quite forgotten. And finally, in my 30´s, I decided it was now or never! But, in Finland there were no black puppies available at that moment! Luckily I was advised to turn to Swedish breeders, and found out that in the Northern Sweden they were expecting two litters at Ebony-Eve kennels! All the upcoming puppies were grandchildren to the very famous Tickatee Tam O´Shanter. I was thrilled! And so I got Minkki!

You´ll find more about Minkki on her own page (Our Dogs / All our poodles / more about Minkki).