Cold nights

Now that the mornings are a bit colder Brie has come up with her own ways of keeping warm at night. Her personal favourite is to burrow herself deep into the duvet, where she goes hunting for warm spots. But sometimes when she is snuggling under the duvet she gets too hot, and has to emerge to much (self-generated) fanfare. Brie muzzling her way out of the duvet is one of the cutest things she does, and she is always so happy when she finally finds her way out.

Default chewing position

Brie is very fond of her new chewing position, wedging herself between the couch and a cushion. Following her lamb ear, yesterday night she chewed her lick stick which she earned from the Jog the dog event. I still find it very hard to believe that this is a comfortable position to eat your treat Brie!! Anyway the annoying thing was that she didn't want to pick up her treat when she dropped it, instead she just give us a stare while waiting for the treat to be handed back to her, lazy Brie.

Defiant Brie

Brie has shooed away the pesky ants and brought back the peace to her kibble.... well I would like to say that but it is far far far from the truth. Her morning kibble was covered by ants, as she is one of those doggies who take ages to finish their breakfast. She eats a little then leaves it, then she comes back to eat more later on. We have tried removing the bowl straight away but that didn't encourage her to eat in a short time at all. Brie is just hiding away from the ants today. Funny thing is her bum is spilling out from the other side.

ANZAC Day

Brie is getting into the ANZAC day spirit and got herself a poppy yesterday. Her plan was to have a nice day off from her busy schedule and to wear her poppy. But... her poppy went missing!!! The prime suspect was my husband, so he went off looking around in the car where we saw it last. To his surprise, it was left on the hood of the car, outside in the rain. He quickly dried it with a hairdryer, but Brie knows that her poppy was left outside in the rain. She wasn't very impressed.

Invasion

Brie's food bowl has been the victim of a malicious invasion of ants. The situation arose when our brave poodle warrior left some of her breakfast kibble, giving the ants the opportunity to attack. She has yet to notice that her food is being stolen out from under her keen nose, but maybe tomorrow, the poodle strikes back.
To be continued....

At the end of the day

All weekend Brie has been woken up early and has been staying up late to accompany us cheering football matches. On top of that she had a blast playing with our friend, so by Sunday night she was exhausted. Usually she is a light and very picky sleeper, if we were to flinch a muscle while she sleeps on our lap she sighs away sounding very annoyed. However yesterday she was so deep in her sleep that she just didn't wake up, even we put a cushion or her soft toy on top of her. It was rather amusing. Oh and I think she liked it because it kept her warm.

Little trimming

Brie was starting to get a bit difficult to brush so I gave her a wash and trim. When she gets dried with the hair dryer she gets a bit sleepy and she starts to sway from side to side. Today's cut was much like the last one with high and puffy ears and a teddy bear like muzzle, with rounded paws. Oh, and a slight waist to make her less like a log and more like a smart poodle. She's smelling flowery and less like the lawn now.

Guilt trip

Brie's thoughts are very easy to read sometimes (apart from the occasional mixed message). When we are occupied with other things, Brie will try to get our attention by various means. This includes a high pitched yelp or a sequence of whining noises. And when all of her attempts fail, she usually go offs and plays by herself. But yesterday she decided to stick with her guilt trip gaze. Which sadly works so well. Oh Brie you know us so well.

Comfortable chewing.

When it comes to chewing her treats Brie loves to do it on top of things. Sometime it's a foot, or a hand but usually on cushion. Yesterday night she manage to get herself wedged between some cushions and was sitting like a person. Despite how uncomfortable this might be for a dog, she continued with chewing her lamb ear for ages. I am always impressed with how cleverly she uses her paws, I think she can almost anything when food is involved.

French market

More on the weekend's activity; On Saturday Brie, for first time, experienced the French market over in Parnell. Her little nose was on overdrive smelling left right and center. The market was filled with everything she likes, cheese, sausage, and salamis. I think Brie decided to embrace her French heritage by smelling delicious food (she was very disappointed when we had to leave).

Jog the dog

Despite the weather forecast Sunday morning turned out to be perfect weather for Jog the Dog. It was the first time for Brie and she had a really exciting time. The day started with a walk around the park, they had a long and short walk (for small and elder dogs). Brie stuck to the short route as less dogs choose it and when many dogs are around Brie can't concentrate on her walk and starts circling around us instead.They give out one-size-fits all Purina checked bandannas, all the dogs from Newfoundlands to chihuahuas were wearing it with style. The first thing Brie did after receiving it was to take it off and stand on it so her bandanna had distinctive paw prints on it (disappointing manners Brie).Then Brie watched the splash dog competition and the police dog display on my husband's shoulder. It inspired Brie to do a little obstacle course and show off her tricks which she did very well for her first time. Never the less Brie's day was filled with excitement and she got to meet lots of dogs and even politely greeted a handful of them. I think Brie is making progress on becoming a more sociable dog.

Waiting patiently

Brie has a highly accurate internal clock mechanism. She often goes to her waiting position at 5:30 exactly. This involves getting on her watch tower (the back of the couch) to make sure that my husband comes home on time. Then when I open the door she gets really excited and her little fluffy tails moves at very high speed. This high speed tail action is rather lethal, once I was woken up by the fast beating of Brie's tail wagging on my face.

Unimpressed Brie

Brie's day started with some casual lounging on the deck in the morning, however her cheerful day was interrupted by hail by the afternoon. Although she wanted to go outside to have her daily stroll she quickly changed her mind and decided to sulk on the bed instead. Don't worry Brie I'm sure we can go for a walk tomorrow.

Easter outing

Over the Easter weekend we went up to the Western Springs park to let Brie stretch her little legs. She loved the little hills and the bridges, and the rest of it, well so we though. On the way back to the car Brie was spotted by a pukeko who frightened Brie. I'm sure the poor pukeko didn't know what was going on either. Then along came a bunny, which was so appropriate as this was Easter weekend, but as soon as Brie spotted the bunny, she was a bit frightened so she hid behind the our legs and sniffed at it from miles away. Nevertheless, Brie had a exciting time and the park is highly recommended for a afternoon stroll.

Afternoon with Coco

Its been a couple of weeks since Coco was in an accident, and she has been recovering like a super dog. The only problem she is having now is that one of her rear legs is still in recovery, so she has to be on house rest. Coco doesn't believe that this is necessary and has being keen to go out and have a trot around the farm for a week now. So we decided to cheer her up with a little visit. I think both Coco and Brie had a exciting afternoon sniffing around Coco's garden.

Brie's hostile take over.

Brie likes using a pillow when she sleeps. And if she can't she will utilise anything that's available. And if the only thing she has found was a mouse then she will sleep on it.

Well today first she decided to claim the mouse as hers by licking it all over (yes my mouse now officially needs cleaning). Then she decided to cuddle up and sleep on mouse. My husband thought this was so adorable, and kindly reminded me that Brie would be one little annoyed poodle if I wake her up. This is not a cute act, it's a hostile take over of my mouse!!!

And there was none

It has been two weeks since the poor plant was introduced to the mayhem of Brie. The plant was once lively and full of flowers. However when I saw it today most of the flowers were eaten or attacked by a poodle-like predator. Hmm.... I wonder who it could be?

Wash day

Well usually Brie is the sniffer and my husband is the sniffee, but the roles are reversed when it's coming up to wash day. We notice that we are unconsciously sniffing Brie every time she walks past. She usually she is so unaromatic that it is very noticeable when she starts getting a little smelly. Washing Brie is my little task and I thoroughly enjoy it, but Brie is a little uncooperative sometimes. But this time my husband was in the mood of washing Brie and I was a bit preoccupied. It was the first time he has washed Brie but she seemed to enjoy it very much.

Reverse Sneezing!!

Brie has always had random episodes of struggling to breath. I felt a bit helpless as to what to do so we looked it up on the net and it is called “Reverse Sneezing”. It occurs in some small breeds of dog when the soft palate is irritated, they have trouble breathing in from the nose. The concern is that it may result in the dog panicing, but this can be solved by encouraging breathing from the mouth. And this can be achieved by stroking the throat.

And this worked so well that the panic stops instantaneously and I am very happy to be able to help. If the dog was to have reverse sneezing when by themselves it's not a problem because they can sort it out by themselves. The down side is that Brie loves getting her throat stroked so much that she is demanding it all the time. Another cat like behaviour she has acquired.