For Jeanne and her Poodle list friends who recently gave her the gift of puppy love, to help heal her heart from the recent loss of her beloved Kate.  I think this picture says it all!  Welcome home, Cole!

Come on, admit it--dog people can be a tad snobby, as we think our dogs are the BEST, period. And purebred dogs are very special dogs but I have to confess to you that at our house, Kate the Standard Poodle is no longer the queen. She was just fine with having Suzie Q. Bean, an elderly Dachshund rescued from a shelter last year, come in and take over. I honestly think that Kate thinks it is a bit humorous when the little weenie dog runs over to get the first treat, or tries to take over watchdog duties when someone knocks on the door. For many years, we only owned two kinds of dogs - Poodles in the house, and Siberian Husky show dogs who had their own quarters involving indoor/outdoor runs and a big fenced yard. After recently losing our oldest Poodle, the numbers of purebred dogs in our home has decreased.  But we are not lacking in dogs!  "Ewok" the Siberian shares her quarters with an Aussie, two mixed breeds and a recently adopted Beagle, all shelter dogs except the Aus...

Many thanks to my talented friend Charlene Dunlap of Canine Horizons, for this limerick and drawing of her parti-colored pair. For hours of entertainment (training articles, Poodle articles, Poodle videos and more), visit Charlene's website at www.caninehorizons.com! Two fluffy young Poodles from town Jumped into every mud puddle they found. Then said with delight "This seems so right," Till their groomer cried, "Baths all around!"

I have sat where you are sitting. I have stood where you are standing. I have stood frozen with my hand on the door because I dreaded opening it--I did not want to go into a house that was missing the dog I so deeply loved. A friend of mine is today, as I write this, watching her elderly dog fail. He is a sweet, kind soul and it is the first dog she has ever lost so it is particularly difficult. I want to share something with you what I just shared with my friend. Almost three years ago, our lovely Standard Poodle Lizzie was diagnosed with lymphoma. We spent the summer that year driving her back and forth to a wonderful veterinarian that was almost an hour and a half from our home. She did not respond to the treatments as well as we had hoped. Often her blood count would drop dangerously low, and she would have to miss a week before the next treatment, until she was stronger. We were told that dogs do not lose their hair from chemotherapy treatments. But Lizzie did...