I tried them on Google -- and # 3 got me lots of sites with poodles. See how I found dog sites without any references to poodles.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=dogs+-poodles

Can you help with this question?

You want to do a search on the internet
for dogs but do not want pages that
reference poodles. What might you type
into Google to accomplish this?

1. "dogs" poodles
2. dogs or poodles
3. dogs NOT poodles
4. dogs-poodles

wouldn't #3 be the best answer?

You would use dogs-poodles

wouldn't all the sites give poodles?
I tried #3 and #4 and both sites give
poodles. so does #1 and #2. Help, i am confused.

Search for

dogs -poodles

Notice that there's a space after dogs -- but no space between -poodles.

I can definitely help you understand how to search for dogs without including references to poodles. Let's break down each option:

1. "dogs" poodles: This search query will look for web pages that include the exact phrase "dogs" as well as the term "poodles." It will likely include pages about dogs and poodles.

2. dogs or poodles: This query will search for web pages that mention either dogs or poodles. It will include pages about both dogs and poodles.

3. dogs NOT poodles: This search query will look for web pages that mention dogs but exclude any references to poodles. However, sometimes search engines like Google don't always follow the "NOT" operator as accurately as we expect. So using this query may still include some pages about poodles.

4. dogs-poodles: This query will search for web pages that include the term "dogs" but exclude the term "poodles" as a whole word. It should exclude any pages specifically about poodles but may still include pages that mention both dogs and poodles together.

To accomplish your goal of finding web pages about dogs without any references to poodles, you can try the following search query:

dogs -poodles

Make sure to include a space between "dogs" and "-poodles," but no space between "-" and "poodles." This query will instruct the search engine to look for pages that mention dogs but exclude any references to poodles. It should give you results that are more focused on different types of dogs, rather than specifically poodles.

Keep in mind that search engine algorithms can vary, and there may still be some instances where poodles are mentioned in the search results. However, using the dogs -poodles query should help you find more relevant pages about dogs without as much emphasis on poodles.