The Poodle is a formal dog breed that comes in three varieties:  Standard Poodle, Miniature Poodle, and Toy Poodle. The progenitor of the breed might have also been crossed with the Hungarian Puli. The French name Caniche comes from the word cane (the female of the duck) since this type of breed was used as a water retriever mainly for duck hunting thanks to its swimming ability.The British Kennel Club states that the breed originates in Germany, as do the American Kennel Club and the Canadian Kennel Club, stating: 'Despite the Poodle’s association with France, the breed originated as a duck hunter in Germany...' The Oxford English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary both trace the etymology of Poodle to the German Pudel, which itself comes from Pudelhund. The word Pudel in turn comes from Low German pud(d)eln meaning '[to] splash in water,' cognate with the English word puddle.