Einstein Toy

Brie has been given a late Xmas present - a Brain work out toy. I randomly named it her Einstein toy because Brie is going to play with this toy to give that little brain of hers a good work out, so that she can be as clever as Einstein. This clever little toy was designed to be disassembled by dogs to give them a mind work out. But obviously the person who designed this didn't have Brie in mind. She was ecstatic that she got given a new toy, but all she does is just run around carrying it, not destructing it. How not fun is that. Again my high hopes of having an Einstein dog did not come true.

Comfortable spot

Brie loves sleeping on our bed. And not just on the side or the bottom right on the middle. She likes to finds unconventional comfy spots, like this day when we had a pile of cushions on the bed and Brie just decided to nap in it. Considering that it was a humid hot day I find it hard to believe that this could be a comfortable position.

Survival of the Fittest

I was reading the other day that poodles were originally used for hunting and tracking. I've had Brie for over a year now, and I've often wondered how she'd have fared in the primordial landscapes of centuries past. The only prey she's managed to catch is the odd insect unlucky enough to be flying slow and close enough to Brie's mouth.

Whilst her hunting skills are questionable, she does do a good job of tracking me down in the house when I am eating something tasty, trying to get her fill on any crumbs that may fall to the floor. Perhaps pre-historic Brie-like poodles were befriending larger animals (like a lion or a dugong perhaps) to get their recommended dietary intakes.

At last

Hooray the last of the baby canines has come out. And it only took 14 months to get this far. This is a big moment for Brie because she is now a fully grown dog, and her rebellious puppy days are over...

Seat filler

In addition to sleeping on the floor in the office, there is another location in the office she's rather partial to. When I leave to get a coffee or to stretch my legs, Brie will often seize the opportunity to sneak her way onto my office chair. Admittedly, my chair is a bit more comfy than the carpet and wires, but I would appreciate it if my seat wasn't stolen as soon as I leave it unoccupied.

However, I probably shouldn't complain as she does do a good job of keeping my seat warm when I'm away... if only she'd be more willing to give my seat back when I return.

Nine to Five

Brie enjoys joining us in the office when we're busy at work, however as she is only a toy poodle she isn't really able to assist us in the daily duties here at Sniff. So like any smart dog, she exercises effective time managements skills by taking long siestas.

So when Christmas rolled around, we thought Brie would enjoy a nice cushion to nap on for the office corner. However being the dog that she is... she seems to prefer the rustic comfort and charms of the carpet and wires underneath her fur.

Candid Photos

Brie can be photogenic, but there are numerous times where I wished she would just realise that photos are been captured right now and to hold the pose little longer. Brie loves to go to the back garden where my husband left a patch of overgrown lawn (and weeds) due to the change of weather. She loves this area because she has more to explore, such as dandelions. Although I'm not happy with wild foliage in our back garden, I thought I might take a picture of Brie in the dandelions. This is when the accident happened. My little camera is pretty slow to focus and make the shutter go off. So often the photos we find are not what we thought we took. Like this incident here.

Wee Little Poodle

When we were naming Brie we spent a lot of time pondering what name sounds best and what name would not be embarrassing to call out in public. However, Brie ended up getting called a lot of other puppy names such as Poodle, Little Devil, Naughty Poodle, Little Poodle and when this gets shortened it turns into Little Pooh, which then becomes Wee Pooh. Even though this name has developed from affection, when my husband calls out Brie to go toilet, all our neighbours hear is "wee poo toilet, wee poo toilet". I'm sure all of my neighbours found this a little bit amusing in a juvenile kind of way.

Shampoo and Conditioner

Brie gets fully groomed at home, including getting her coat trimmed by me. I really enjoy this because it gives me more control than if I take her to a groomers.

When Brie was a little puppy and I was getting her used to washing, I started using a two in one shampoo. This made the whole process much faster and it worked great as Brie didn't have much hair when she was very small. However as her coat got denser I soon realised I needed to get a separate conditioner. So we found "Earthly Extracts Wild Strawberries puppy and kitten shampoo" and "Silk Conditioning Creme Rinse Concentrate", they both work great, especially the conditioner but it is bit pricey. Brie's coats goes extra soft and it's also easier to brush her for at least a week. I also think it gives her a shiny sheen, and so far we've have had no skin problems from them.

Brie being Coco

Brie has a pseudo friend called Coco. What I mean by this is that she is trying to build up the courage to sniff her and become friends, but is still very shy to approach her. Coco is a 3 year old Golden Retriever, and she is about ten times the size of Brie, and a small shy poodle like Brie is slightly intimidated by her friendly greetings. Coco is a sweet natured dog who loves attention from visitors, and she at the same time she sleeps on her back, taking up pretty much the entire hallway. I think Brie spending time with her will teach her a little more about what dogs do. This is Brie's attempt to be more like a dog.

Poodle in disguise

Brie is mostly fluff, so inside her coat she is really small, not that there is much of her inside. I use a shower head attachment in laundry sink, which is pretty handy for washing Brie as it's the right height for me and the right size for Brie. When we wash Brie and give her a bath she turns into a totally different dog. I always find this quite amusing.

Licking clean

Brie is definitely a licker. When she is held or lying down she will frequently lick a hand or arm, even before she sniffs she will lick first, and she will continue licking for quite a while (usually a couple of minutes). However, when it comes to licking her bowl clean, she isn't a much of licker, as she will leave her plate crumb covered. So today when I was looking through some pictures I had taken, I came across this photo. I never knew her tongue was that long.

Admirer

When we go to beaches Brie is very timid towards other dogs , but she is getting a little better each time. Many doggies comes to sniff and greet Brie. This particular gorgeous Bichon male doggie is especially very affectionate towards Brie, when he spots her on the beach he will be trotting straight towards Brie and doesn't leave her side for while. Even when he gets called he will stay with us and walk beside us for while. I guess he thinks he found a white and fluffy buddy. So his poor owner has to walk all the way over to carry him away. What our Brie does when he comes towards her with wagging tail is walk away and hide behind my husband's leg. Brie I think you broke this poor Bichon's heart. You should let him down a little easier than that he is just trying to be your friend.

Hoarder

Brie loves wood pieces, which she loves to bite and chew on. Ever since we had our deck extended there are little bits of two by four lying around, which Brie finds now and then. She has a very special talent for finding these, and hoards them in the house. We still haven't figured out why she likes them so much but she often uses a piece of wood as a pillow to sleep on, or just lays next to them even though it doesn't look that comfortable.

Spotting the Fake

There is this product which helps keeps teeth clean called Greenies. Brie loves these little green coloured chews, she will often hide hers and chew it for a long time. At the start we didn't know what it was so we picked up what seemed like a Greenie from a pet shop. To our horror, bits of wet chew stuck on Brie's fur and what ever surface Brie decided to it chew on. Which included our jeans and skirts. Considering how popular this product is, I thought this can't be right. So I looked them up on the Internet, and what we picked up wasn't a Greenies branded chew. Enough with the knock off Greenies, we picked a proper one up from the vet, and it was quite different, one side was toothbrush shaped and other was bone shaped, the colour was lot lighter and the material was a lot more solid. And the most important part was that Brie loved it, they are a bit pricey and a bit too big for everyday consumption, so we give Brie one on special occasions.

Newly found joy

Brie has found a new love of puddles on her outings to the beach. This was discovered by my husband, who naively took Brie for a walk on the rocks on the beach thinking she will stay out of the rock pools. But it turned out that she doesn't really care about shallow water, and that she likes to get her paws wet. We assumed that Brie doesn't like the water as she dislikes getting her paws wet on rainy days. However at the rocks she loved the shallow rock pools and decided to get wet. Naturally, her wet fur picked up the loads of sand and turned out to be a right mess.Brie is mostly fluff so when she gets wet she turns into a skinny little dog with dread-like clumps of hair. As she only got wet on her paws, her legs looked skinny as twigs with fluffy thighs. Off course my husband found that very funny but he conveniently assumed that I would wash Brie once she got home.

Beach outing

I like summer as the days are longer and that means I can go on Brie's walk later in the afternoon. Brie did a little more catching up with Phoebe and Beau yesterday at the beach. Beau as always wanted to greet every dog on the beach (I guess he is just being a polite little doggie) and Phoebe never runs out of energy. However Brie was a totally different dog when she arrived at the beach. She went up and sniffed a large doggie, and she even wagged her tail a little. This didn't last very long as she soon got chased by another dog as went back to her old shy self, but my husband and I were over joyed and couldn't believe our eyes.

Thank you Beau and Phoebe for playing with Brie this year we hope you don't mind putting up with Brie next year too.

New Year's Resolutions

When it comes to my own new year's resolutions I am very bad at following through, but for others it is enforced in my household. That means it includes you BRIE!!! As she shows no interest in this subject I will voluntarily come up with three new year's resolutions for her. One: no more accidents in guest's houses, a combination of nervousness and the curiosity of other smells around means that she still has little accidents occasionally. Two: reduce barking and Three: gain more confidence.

I know these are very high expectations and wishes but I don't think its hurts to dream big. But I sense no enthusiasm from Brie so it will probably stay as a dream.