Improved hiding

Previously, Brie has been very bad at hiding her treats. But when she received a greenie clone called a 'nylabone', she decided that it required some serious hiding.

Down the side of the TV is Brie's super secret, ultra safe location for keeping classified treats.

She thinks it's a great location, but she noticed us staring at her while she was hiding it, so she had to come back a minute later to move her precious to her next favourite stop, the kitchen floor.

In hiding

Brie is a master of hiding. She thinks she is so clever when she finds a new spot to crawl up in, but we know where she is really. You just have to look for the tell tale signs.

Cheese radar

One of Brie's unique talents is her ability to detect cheese from great distance. She knows when the cheese has been taken out of the fridge from the other end of the house, while sleeping. Very impressive. Once the presence of cheese has been confirmed she begins her routine of good sits.

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.

Toy box

As Brie got older, her stash of toys accumulated. We used to just throw everything into her house where she could nest among her toys. But it got to the point where Brie couldn't even fit into her own house. So we bought a couple boxes for her to store her things.

However, Brie has discovered a new game, which she likes to call 'lets empty out all the toys onto the floor'. It usually begins because she just must have that toy that's right at the bottom, but there are all these other toys in the way.

But it continues, as once she has the toy she has worked so hard to get she then decides that it wasn't the one that she really wanted. So at the end of the night we have one triumphant poodle playing with dozens of toys scattered around the lounge.

Stubborn poodle

Brie is very stubborn and doesn't like getting up in the morning. This is a good example of what happens to a poodle when she doesn't cooperate when I'm trying to make the bed. She usually finds her way out eventually, but she manages to mess up the duvet in the process, so I have to remake the bed.

I just folded those!

Recently my husband has noticed many of the post get put in the "Mischief" category. But I can't put this post in any other category so we just have to add it to mischief, along with all the other misbehaving stories. I think this picture sums up what Brie did today. She had the whole bed all to herself, so I'm not sure why she has to bite her chew on top of the folded clean clothes.

Where is my orange juice??

When Brie is off in another room by herself it usually means one of two things, she is sleeping in the bedroom or she is up to no good. This happened last night and we were wondering were she was. To my horror, Brie was up on the office table looking guilty beside a half empty glass of orange juice!!!! Yes, Brie was drinking orange juice! My husband has a tendency to leave half drunk glasses and mugs around the room, and Brie decided to have a taste of it. I'm not sure who to be annoyed at; Brie who is looking very happy but guilty, or husband who doesn't think it is his fault.

This is a puppy photo of Brie that I just had to take a photo of, Yes I know I should be stopping her immediately instead of taking a picture of it, but it was really funny.

Honesty system

We still give Brie a little treat every time she does goes to the toilet outside. This is something we did for her toilet training and it works well. Still, Brie is easily distracted and sometimes she forgets what she went out to do, we tend to give her the command again to try to get her attention back on the task at hand. Usually Brie prances into the house with joy after doing her business and she does her good sit (yes, she has two alternate sitting positions; lazy sit and the good "I want a treat" sit). But sometimes there are no witnesses to the process of her doing her business so we just go with the honesty system.

And I just have a little feeling that some specific poodle is violating the system lately, and claiming more treats then she deserves.

Neat and tidy.

When I used to take Brie to puppy play school the people there said that chicken necks are a perfect treat as they are cheap, they clean teeth and dogs love them. But this idea was unanimously voted off at our house as the thought of raw chicken necks left behind by Brie on my couch and bed everywhere was not something I was looking forward to. So I decide to give Brie unflavoured cooked lamb bones. Which she loved, still I don’t like the idea of Brie smearing lamb bits everywhere so I tend to give it to her in her crate. This was a huge success, Brie just stayed in the crate chewing away for ages. Then a couple days ago we used them as a staying at home treat, because she has to stay at home by herself. When I got home there was a distinct lamb aroma emanating from the cushions. Hmmm….. I don’t think Brie did her chewing in the crate.

This is technically still staying in the crate according to Brie because the bone is in the crate even though her bum is out.

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?

Gardening Pt II

Over the weekend thanks to the good weather we got a lot of gardening done, and this includes Brie too. Brie might say she is she is an expert at gardening, but I may not use that particular word when I describe Brie's gardening skills. Brie always investigates the new recruit to our garden, and this usually includes extensive sniffing to add the new scent profile to her database.Brie is very fond of our new ground cover. Not only does she enjoy sniffing it, but she decided to munch on the all the little white flowers. By the time we planted them they were all out of flowers. I have to teach her the difference between flowers and the veggies.

My sweet sweet basil.

I compulsively bought some basil seeds thinking that it would be nice to have some herbs in my garden. To my joy it is growing pretty well, I guess this is expected as it is a simple plant, but I'm excited to add them to salad and pasta.

Recently I spotted Brie also attending to the basil, so far she has only sniffed it and had a lick of it but I have a suspicious feeling that when it gets bigger she might munch on it. I guess I should be happy knowing that Brie can't water them or fertilise them because it is placed in a raised pot.

USB Poodle 2.0

This multipurpose, wireless roaming device is compatible with Windows, Mac and selected dog breeds. Features an intense gaze and requires constant attention. Shuts down randomly and requires 18 hours per day to charge. During charging disturbances will be noted and unimpressed glare may result. Runs on two bowls of kibble, but may need some cheese and/or apple pieces to aid refueling. Will conveniently stand on keyboard when you are typing. Must be kept away from food, glasses and tissues while in wireless mode. Comes with an abundance of selective memory. Primary purpose - unknown.

Creature comforts

Brie knows that the only place a poodle should rest is on a nice comfy bed. And in order to feel comfortable on a nice bed a poodle requires certain items. These items include raw hide chews, soft toys and maybe something to eat, like a marrowbone treat. What Brie doesn't realise is that waking up to cold, wet, chewed up bits of raw hide and suspicious crumb patches (that Brie has tried to hide by licking up) isn't very nice. I know it's you Brie so you can stop pretending you're innocent!

Brie's way of appreciation

Brie loves parcels and letters arriving, she always has to investigate them using all her senses. She considers letters a little less exciting as she never received an eatable letter. The most recent parcel that arrived contained a little cushion for Brie amongst other non-Brie related things. As soon as she spotted a fluffy pink Brie-sized cushion she loved it and decided to carry it around everywhere.However later she decided to maul the cushion instead of cuddling up to it. I guess she figured that was more fun. Oh well, Brie seemed like the cushion very much.Especially the ribbons. Who can blame her, all the girls like ribbons, but I'm not sure if other girls would chew on them.

Pet quiz

Recently Pet magazine had a pet quiz to find out what kind of personality your dog has. Of course I tried it and found out that Brie has a dual personality of 'The Controlling Bossy Boots' and 'The Sooky Snuggle Bug'. Which seems to sum up Brie's personality as she can be a bit bossy sometime but at the end of day she just wants a cuddle and a tummy rub. The funny thing was that when my husband did it, Brie was only a Sooky Snuggle Bug. I think this is because Brie has him wrapped around her little paw. He caves in as soon as Brie does those puppy eyes. I think Brie knows that she is the boss of my husband.

Gardening

Brie isn't a very good digger. This is mostly because her little paws lack power, but over the weekend we did a little gardening around our house and Brie was very keen on joining in. But all she ended up doing is sticking her head in a hole in an attempt to scrape up some dirt but ended up filling in the hole. She became the muddiest poodle in town, but she still had a very enjoyable afternoon. After her attempt to smell the water coming out of hose she was immediately picked up and removed from the scene by husband.

Suspicious feeling

Brie isn't a supportive dog when it comes to applying her pad gel. She often thinks that we are playing and she decides to twist her paws away. But yesterday I was applying Brie's pad gel, and the next moment I saw that there was a big chunk of gel missing from the container, I have this suspicious feeling that Brie might have been involved. I guess it's safe to lick so it's probably safe for her to have a little lick, but it's a little bit annoying. I know it's you BRIE!!!