Nosey Neighbour

Brie decide to become an honorable neighbourhood watchdog, but what she is really trying to do is snoop on the neighbours. If she isn't sitting on her watch tower, she is often peeking through the fence, being a nosy neighbour. She has her mysterious hoodie on but she really isn't good at peeking out , so she isn't very good at undercover work.

She also took on the role of welcoming committee, she does a welcoming dance when people come over, this kind gesture goes out to the neighbour as well, she puts her head through the fence and greets him when he comes home. The poor neighbour's doggie has to wait until Brie has had her attention.

Quality time

My husband has taken up the role of pre-bed brushing in order to have quality time with Brie. I find this works because this way she doesn't bring in leaves and seeds which has clung on to her fur onto the bed. She does that enough during the day, today she even decided to bring an entire branch and chewed it into small bits on the bed.

Anyway, she gets bit sleepy when she gets brushed and I think she enjoys her back getting brushed the most. So she sometimes rocks from side to side while she is dosing off, then she looses her footing and falls onto her bum and wakes up. Today she just lay down and started sleeping. I guess it's not her priority to get her tummy or her legs brushed.

Gettin' Dirrrty

We realise summer is just around the corner when we notice excessive growth of our lawn. Of course my husband is in charge of mowing the lawn, and Brie loves the lawnmower, but it's a bit dangerous for little poodles so we keep her locked in while its getting trimmed. This does not mean she waits patiently to be let out, she will look out from the house, to make sure she isn't missing out on fun. This is when everything gets messy, Brie commences her investigation. Brie plus grass clippings is just a recipe for disaster, she rolls around in the grass, and it sticks her mussel fur and other places and she just gets soooo covered in grass. Bits of short grass gets inbeded in her fur and even brushing it can't get them out, often we put clothes on her to prevent her torso region getting covered, but her face and legs are just a mess afterwards. Most of the grass clippings come off when she runs around and plays around the house. She has no idea why I vacuum everyday.

ALL IN!!!

Brie is playful but also a pretty sneaky dog, when we play Trivial Pursuit she will try to steal pies and dice and when we play Scrabble she will try to steal the letters. So when my husband decide to get a poker chip set, Brie went on a mission to steal a chip. Her hustling technique works like this; she waits until someone stands and leaves their chair, then causally sits in the empty chair and joins in conversation, and while everyone is not looking she hides them in her mouth and runs off with it.

Afterwords she has guilty look on her face so we know she did it.
So this is Brie caught red handed in action, hope this will raise the level of public safety around here.

Sleeping Beauty

I guess the end of week is tiring for everyone, and perhaps unsurprisingly... Brie is having a sleepy day too. She skipped breakfast, and has been sleeping all day. I guess if my schedule was as hectic as Brie's; doing the odd trick for a tasty treat, the occasional brisk walk around the block, and frequent power napping... it must be difficult for a little poodle like Brie.

Her busy day thus far has consisted of taking a long nap in her house, a short siesta on the couch cuddled up to jumper lying about, and sleeping some more on our bed. In fact, that is what she is doing right now.

Something that I have noticed about Brie is that she loves to sleep on people's clothes, if I have left clean washing out to put away, she will undoubtedly nest in the clothes bundle. Or if I lay my clothes out to wear after my shower, I'll find them ruffled up in a fashion that only a small dog can manage. I guess she feels a little left out, so she snuggles up to our clothes for comfort, Honestly, I mean does she have to do that with my freshly washed clothes? I really don't mind if Brie did that with my husband's clothing though... did you get that Brie?

"zzzZZZZ"

I'll take that as a yes.

Brushing teeth.

Another doggie teeth issue, keeping those teeth clean so they don't get cavities. As Brie has just acquired her new adult teeth we want to keep them clean, and also by keeping her teeth clean it gives her fresh breath (so I heard). I decide to go to the pet store to buy her tooth paste, in I go and asking for dog toothbrush and dog toothpaste, I get a puzzled gaze with a hint of a crazy woman look from the shop assistant. Since I did my research I knew such a thing existed, so despite the ignorance of this shop assistance I kindly explained and off he went to find another shop assistant. She was very helpful and explained that dogs love the poultry flavoured toothpaste. Poultry flavour??? Does that mean chicken flavour? Hmmm that sounded OK and I gave it a sniff thinking it would probably smell like chicken chips. Well it just wasn't. It smelled like yeasty chicken oxo gone bad, and since Brie likes stinky stuff I figured this will do. Unfortunately they didn't sell a toothbrush there so we picked one from the vet and we had a try. The doggie tooth brush type that was rated easy to use on web was the finger toothbrush type.

Although keeping it playful and fun to make her like her teeth being brushed, the result was more licking off the toothpaste and less brushing the teeth. My husband is in charge of this duty, and Brie now gets excited when he puts on the toothbrush and she waits for it sitting down, she is slowly getting used to the side of her canines being brushed, but she still licks the toothpaste off afterwards. And as for the fresh breath, well it's full of a rich poultry aroma. She is currently waiting for a recruiting agent to contact her to get into a toothpaste ad for dogs.

Bi-Canined Dog

There are so many products out there to make the life of puppy's and their owners a little bit easier during teething, but what Brie has is TOO MANY TEETH at one time. When her adult teeth starting to come out and replace the baby teeth I was thinking "oh Brie is going up so fast" with some tears in my eyes. But then the adult canines came through, but baby canines seemed to just stay put. She spent a good two months being an eight canined dog. She had a little bit of a problem getting food stuck between two canines, as well as shock you get when she yawns exposing eight canines.

So I did what any hypochondriac parent would do - consult a vet. And she recommended to wait a while because they may come out by them self, or if it doesn't they have to removed them. As I'm not a big fan of the dentist, I figured I'd go with first option. So we decided to wait a month, then two, thinking that we may need to get them pulled out. However, a couple days later, my husband spotted her chewing something small, and despite Brie's lack of co-operation he got it off her and there it was, her FIRST baby canine. I was so ecstatic that I decided to congratulate Brie and even thought she had no clue what she did right, she demanded a treat as she got praised. I was so sure this would open the flood gates, but despite my hopes the next one came out month later, then another a month later again. Yes she still has one more to go, but I guess the thought of having one canine pulled out is lot less scary then four. Despite my concerns Brie is having a lazy day today.

Identity crisis.

As I mentioned before, I'm convinced that Brie has an identity crisis. She has no idea that she's a female toy poodle. She is a dog that prefers people over other doggies, and she hates getting her bum smelt by other dogs. And if we're lucky we may see her smell other dogs noses????? yes very questionable behaviour for a dog.

In her spare time she like to graze on grass like a sheep, I noticed her noticing a family of sheep the other day. She may think that they are her own kind. Another alarming habit that she picked up lately is that she does her business while lifting up one leg like a male dog. And last but not least she uses pillows when she goes to sleep like people!! After carefully analysing the data collected by me, I have come to the conclusion she think she is a male half human half sheep monster. And I have to emphasise this point clearly that she didn't get this trait from me. I blame my husband.

Brie and Tube

There is nothing that Brie likes more then a tube, yes a tube, rolled up cardboard that resembles a hollow cylinder, she loves tubes. Empty glad wrap tubes, toilet roll paper tubes, fax paper tubes, tubes of any size, she isn't picky when it comes to sizes. The other day I was cleaning up wrapping paper looking for any left over Xmas wrapping paper I can use from last year. I must say Xmas wrapping paper is a huge scam as it's wrapping paper that can only be used for one festive event. But I always end up buying several since you don't want all the presents to look same in the same wrapping paper.
Anyway, as my husband is the kind of person who put the empty ketchup bottle back in the fridge, there were empty wrapping paper rolls with the other paper. As soon as Brie spotted this over one meter tube, she was jumping up in joy with stars in her eyes knowing that she is entitled to get this tube.

So ignorant me decided to give Brie the tube thinking she will not be able to carry it around and will probably just get bored with it. I could not be any more wrong. She decided to drag it around the house banging it on walls and doors and anything else came in her and the tube's way. Just because her new toy is over sized doesn't mean it stops Brie from going about her daily activities. If I sat and watched TV on the couch she would chew it on my lap, while the other end obstructs my view or worse, banging it on me. Luckily now this tube is half the original size due to Brie's doing. I am scripting a plan right now as to how I'm going to smuggle out the empty tubes post Xmas without Brie spotting and repeating this mayhem.

Eye Lotion

When we decided to get a lighter coloured poodle we knew that tear staining would be a concern. And being a hypochondriac doggie parent I consulted the vet, she said that it's purely an aesthetic issue rather then a health concern, so we left it there thinking it wouldn't bother us. Plus it 'contours' her face, adding depth and character.

Then, a couple months ago, Brie finally made her first poodle friend. This was a huge joy for me (I'm convinced that she has an identity crisis) and her friend's parents use an eye lotion to get rid of those tear stains. It was working well for her so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Who knew there were so many products out there for removing tear stains. There are the cotton bud type, the cotton pad type which are pre-soaked in lotion which seemed useful but a bit over priced, and the bottled lotion type which all looked the same. As I was weighing up the pros and cons of each product and having an indecisive pondering session, my husband decided to speed up the process by picking one that sad "Treats and controls tear staining in POODLES and other breeds" purely because it mentioned poodles. The product was "Bright eye- EYE LOTION- for cats and dogs" for $7.50.

After the first couple of uses we weren't sure it was working, but after a week or so the stained area seemed to lighten up. This doesn't mean its completely gone but its definitely a lot better then before (I think).

Next Top Dog Model

When it comes to SNIFF Brie is both muse and diva model. She sometimes inspires us with great ideas as well as being a treat-demanding-easily-bored-high-maintenance-diva model. I'm sure Tyra Banks would be utterly disappointed with her lack of fierce gaze, instead she looks baffled thinking about when her next treat is coming. One great thing about Brie being the dog model is that she is comfortable in clothes and she will happily change into the next outfit, and also she doesn't require make up. So I thought it would be interesting to put up some out-takes from last seasons shoot.

Area patrolled by poodle.

We have to say we recieve all kinds of gifts for Brie from our families and friends, but this one is definately a laugh out loud funny type of gift. It is a plastic A4 size sign to put on the wall.

I really don't know where my mother finds these presents, its just crazy but we love it. Brie unfortunetely lives up to the sign and guards the property. Since our property is fully fenced there aren't many gaps for her to stick her little face out to guard the coast, but she still manages.

Happy 1st Birthday

Our little pup is now one year old, we find it hard to believe, since we haven't covered all the MUST learns in her first year, like the list they give you at puppy school. We still have lots more work to do but Brie is still a doggie in training to become a well behaved dog.

So anyway we figured this was a great occasion to throw a party since it is a celebratory event. I even made a look-a-like cake, notice a resemblance. Also due to my newly acquired passion for soccer, or as the English like to call it 'footie', Brie acquired an English hooligan shirt - a Tottenham Hotspur shirt. Who would have thought that they cater for dogs! She is probably the worst behaved hooligan in all of New Zealand.

This is our devil in disguise.

Brie is a sweet little poodle, BUT..... in her spare time she pulls out tissues from the rubbish bin and brings in leaves and branches from outside. Many people think that it's spelt Bree, like the anal retentive housewife from Desperate Housewives. I admit my addiction to this TV program is not healthy, but we didn't name her after the character. We've named her after the cheese because she is white like brie and that was only name me and my husband agreed on.

The other misconception is about her breed - she is an off-white toy poodle, although most people think she is a Bichon since she is clipped in the so called "Teddy bear cut".

Welcome!!

We want to expand the dog community in New Zealand so here we go. We are hoping this space will help us spread doggie related news and also share our struggle in parenting our self centered but affectionate poodle.