Out and about

So the next venue Brie scoped out was the local park, where she met another doggie called Flex, and strolled around the lake. She couldn't play fetch like the other dogs, but she had a fun time observing them. Maybe next time Brie.

Large four legged friends

When you are at a farm, you have to meet horses. Well that's what we thought, since other dogs grow up with these large four legged friends, it doesn't faze them at all. But for Brie it was a whole new experience. I'm sure the horse was wondering what this white fluffy lamb like animal is.

Hazel nut orchard

Going to Christchurch and visiting family was an eye opening experience for Brie, as one of the places she visited was a hazel nut orchard, where she run through rows and rows of trees and never got bored of it. With fallen leaves and nuts and zillions of other things to investigate, it was doggie amusement park. Billy and Poppy knew the way around showed all the hot spots to Brie.

Making friends

Brie's mission in Christchurch was to socialise and get used to being around other dogs, which she was definitely able to achieve. One of the dogs she met is a jack russell called Billy. Billy is very friendly and got on well with Brie, even though Brie was a bit shy at first. I was hoping that they would play together, but even through they never really got past the sniffing stage it was is still a success for Brie as her usual behaviour would be to run away with her tail between her legs while squealing. See Brie, other dogs aren't that bad!

Back from holiday

Brie is back from her little trip down south. She loved every bit of her vacation, where she met so many new friends, and improved on her doggie socialising skills. She also worked up some courage with cats. Now she is in full recovery mode, catching up on missed sleep. The adventure filled trip must have been very exhausting for little Brie. More to come on her trip to Christchurch.

3rd time unlucky

Poor poor Brie, her attempt at some quiet sunbathing has failed miserable for the third day in a row. Her favorite spot was soaked, so she just had to make do with next best thing - on the bed. She still gets sunlight and the view, but maybe a little too much for her liking. Brie, do you need sunglasses, you are squinting so much you look like you have your eyes closed.
On the other hand, I have a little new finding about Brie. In past I read that if you yawn, your dog copies, and it is one way to calm the dog down. And it works sometimes, she doesn't calm down, but she definitely copies. So I was wondering that if I wiggle my nose, just like in "Bewitched", she might mimic me. Despite how poor my nose wiggling is, Brie still copies. It's rather fascinating I thought. I'm sure my biased observation isn't very scientific but give it a try!

Poodle in the Wind

To make up for yesterday's lack of sunbathing, Brie went outside this morning to inhale the fresh morning air. Unfortuately, at the same time a huge gust of wind came blowing through the garden which nearly knocked her over. Brie has decided that she doesn't like the wind very much, so she came inside to wait until it was safe outside, but then it started raining. Poor Brie.

Grim and rainy

Brie loves her routine, and when she wakes up in the morning she likes to do a bit of pre-breakfast sunbathing out on the deck, and then some post-breakfast sunbathing. She gazes out to her garden and absorbs the morning sunshine. However, today was one of those typically grim and wet winter days, and her morning routine was canceled. She isn't a happy poodle today.

More on her daily walk

When it comes to walking she isn't picky on the route, so long as she gets to visit the park as that's her favourite destination. When I walk her by myself, she is kept on the leash, so that involves me running along with her, and despite how tiny she is she has a lot more energy then I have, so she has to put up with my slow jog, which she loves but she gets a bit frustrated.

Pee-mail

Brie has a very doggie way of communicating with the other doggies in the neighbourhood - peemail. Her inbox is the letterbox in front of our house, where she likes to check if anyone has left her a mail, and sometimes she has outgoing mail of her own to deliver. This is one of Brie's favourite activities as she loves to keep up with what's going on outside the house.

Walkies Brie??

Brie loves going for a walk, well once she gets going.She doesn't have an enthusiastic response which you expect from dogs. But once she hits the road she is trotting away with joy, and she has her eye set on one destination - her local park. See Brie, aren't you glad I woke you up??

Brie reporting back

Our friendly neighbor Oxo (Labrador retriever) is a role model for Brie, and she always looks up to him. Oxo is very very good at recognising unwanted visitors, so Brie is learning the way of the guard dog from him. When he barks she knows that it's time for her to bark as well, but she warns us about other insignificant things, like some huge leaf on our deck, or a cat in her garden (yes, yes they may be hidden spies from evil land try to steel your cheese Brie).

One of the routine things she does every time she goes for her daily walk is to report to him on the way when she is leaving and when she arrives back. I bet Oxo thinks you are a funny looking fluff ball that's full of character.

Meeting more doggies

Brie had a little encounter with two German shepherd yesterday. Although she acted like a drama queen and overreacted. The poor German shepherd puppy was so scared of this diva fluff ball that he had his tail between his legs. Their dad was very very understanding of Brie and after a little while she was even showing some interest in sniffing around and saying hi. Hopefully we can meet them again soon.A current addiction of Brie's is that she loves it when people talk into her little tube, she gets very excited and wants to see what's going on inside. I know it's a little crazy, but Brie is a little crazy poodle so it kind of make sense in a crazy poodle kind of way.

Cup of tea

Brie gets away with anything when the camera is nearby.. Here she is sampling my cup of tea. Brie! You're not a teacup poodle.

Butterfly

Brie found a new friend today, who she had a great time playing with. But unfortunately for Brie her new friend was a butterfly, who wasn't able to keep up with her rough playing. And she got told off for endangering the butterfly. Maybe you should be playing with someone your own size Brie!

Cute poodle??

When Brie does something cute I usually rush to go and get the camera while trying not to disturb her, but when I run she usually runs along with me and ruins the Kodak moment. But today, Brie was doing a sequence of cute yawns, and the camera was right there, so I thought that I should seize this moment and capture this cute yawning poodle and show it to everyone so that I can say how cute she is. But instead, this is what I got. I think my action photography skills are a bit lacking.

Daddy's little girl

Due to the recent temperature drop, Brie prefers to snuggle up to my husband instead of sleeping by herself when she naps. This is very sweet, but my husband has got it into his head that he is Brie's favourite parent. But I secretly know that he has been buying Brie's affection with cheese, sneaky!!

Brie can be really sweet when she is snuggling up, until she accidentally gets squished, then she is the biggest drama queen ever, expressing her irritation by giving an annoyed sigh.

Survival of the warmest

These cold winter mornings have been very tough for Brie, and she has had to use all of her survival instincts to make it through. Her 'locate the warmest patch to sleep on' instinct has been working on overdrive, and she always manages to lie down exactly where I want to sleep. And just lately, she's also been fine tuning her 'sleeping in' instinct, and has become quite the expert at lazy mornings. Brie, you must be feeling quite proud of your winter abilities.

Oh what's that smell!!

This morning while I was enjoying a nice hot cup of tea Brie curled up on my lap. And to my horror this awful smell lingered around Brie. She was a grass covered, icky stained and very smelly poodle. She must have rubbed something smelly on her back. Since I couldn't wash her right there and then, I put a jumper on her to contain the smell (which worked a little) and so that she couldn't spread that awful smell around the house.

Anyway, by the afternoon I finally had time to wash her, and give her an over due trim. She has more volume on her ears then ever, and the best part is that she is smelling nice and rosy.