LOVELAND, Colo. -- The thought of a poodle may conjure images of a pampered pooch with poofy hair, but for the last 15 years, a Loveland breeder has been on a one-woman mission to change that.

When Eileen Jaskowski started raising standard poodles, she broke the mold.

"I'm a crazy, neurotic woman, and I'm comfortable with that. My passion is these wonderful dogs," she said. "Of course, poodles are the original sporting dog. They herded. They retrieved. They guarded."

Centuries ago, poodles were the dogs of the nomads, but when French circuses began including them in acts, the proud poodle became a clown.

"So now, poodles basically chase dogs for ladies and run around with frou-frou haircuts and have their nails painted, and to me, that's a waste of a great dog," said Jaskowski.

So Jaskowski has been breeding poodles for more than a decade for the hunt, training dogs five to six days a week.

"It's in their genes. You just have to get it out of them," she said.

Convincing others that poodles are hunting dogs was an uphill battle though, until they saw Jaskowski's poodle, Pie, in action.

"Well, let me put it this way, the first time I went to a hunt test, everybody fell down onto the ground laughing when I got out of the car," she said with a smile.

She would have the last laugh.

The now-famous Pie was the first poodle to become an American Kennel Club Master Hunter.

"He outrun, outdistance, out-everything any of their dogs," she said with a smile.

He has since become the patriarch of a long line of poodles bred to hunt.

"They're very intelligent dogs, and they're team players," said Jeff Jordan, a professional retriever trainer who believes poodles have proven themselves in hunting tests. "I've experienced the mockery and the joking, but then they see the dog run and they say, 'Wow! I take everything back I ever said.'"

Yet, because poodles are classified in the non-sporting group, Jordan said, they have been denied the ultimate recognition -- a chance to compete in the American Kennel Club's official field trials.

"It is the old guard, and I have had people say to me, 'No woman with a poodle is going to compete in my game,'" said Jaskowski. "We will see about that!"

She said she will keep fighting, along with the Poodle Club of America, for her poodles.

"Because in the field trials, the dogs are ranked. For dogs to be in field trials is important because the people who breed will go to the best dogs. There are just a few people who stand in the way," she said.

There is one catch with putting poodles on the hunt. She said poodles have lost the thick layer of fat under the skin, so they don't like to hunt in cold or icy water.

"They are agile, well-sprung, can leap, run and swim, if they want to," said Jaskowski.