Most of us are not familiar with the 'parti' poodle.

But writings, drawings and paintings from the 1700's and 1800's have many examples of the parti-color Poodle.

In fact, several historical books about dogs show, under the heading "The Poodle," have a drawing or painting of a Poodle which is parti colored.
A quote from Vero Shaw's The Illustrated Book of the Dog (London: 1879-1887) regarding the Poodle: "The black . . . is best and hardiest, and thus less susceptible to fatigue, hunger and danger . . . the spotted or pied, the best on scent and for intelligence; and the liver colored, the most alert and the best swimmer . . . The jet black dog with white feet stands high in estimation.

From The Illustrated Kennel News (Dec. 1912) an article by Nellie Dagois titled The Poodle and His History: "This race of dogs has the head rather large and round, the cerebral space more developed than in other canine, the frontal sinus expanded, the ears long, the legs rather short, and the body compact; the hair over every part of the animal long, curly, black, or white and black, sometimes rufous (red) ."

From This is the Poodle by Lester H. Martin © 1960, published by T.F.H Publications,
“Before standards were fixed in England, France, Germany, and in the USA, Poodles of all sizes were to be found spotted and white, or white spotted with colours. 
Historically the parti color was common in Poodles.
It was not until around the turn of the 20th century that for some unknown reason Poodle clubs disqualified the parti color.

However, multi-colored Poodles are currently experiencing a strong comeback in the United States and abroad Within the past decade, there has been a resurgence of the parti color Poodle. Partis can be registered with both the American Kennel Club and the United Kennel Club; however, while they may be shown in conformation classes in UKC shows, due to the fact that the Poodle Club of America does not currently recognize the parti color and multi-colored Poodles cannot be shown in AKC *conformation* classes (although they may be shown in any other AKC class). 

In an article by Ann Cambray Coppage (Vulcan Kennels) titled Particolour Poodles which appeared in the August 1977 issue of "Our Poodles, Salute to Britain", she wrote: "The character of the particolours was always unique; somehow they had an extra dimension -- just that bit more clever, amusing or intelligent than their solid-colour littermates. Naturally enough, it was always they which caught the eye of prospective purchasers -- and often there was a waiting list for the next one expected."

Without knowing ANY of that history, I found, and fell in love with, parti standard poodles and I'm SO glad to have added one to my life.

It doesn't get cuter or sweeter than this!