My baby sister

Mia is a small giant Poodle (there is nothing 'standard' about us, thanks) and she just LOVES her cuddly toys.

Mia's human took this photo last night.

Meet our brother!

This is Babalou, our handsome brother. Babalou and I were born together although I don't know who is the oldest between us. Mia has never met him even though he's her half-brother. I think a family meeting would be in order one day soon!

Babalou is a very well groomed boy because he goes to lots of events and shows.

Working the camera

In my youth I did some film and magazine work. In fact, I could do it more regularly but that means maintaining full on pompom mode just in case I'm needed in front of the camera.

These days, with my 'do' in rough 'n ready mode my humans take advantage of any photo op I offer them. This photo was taken yesterday. I really gave it my best malt-flavour doggie toothpaste smile, don't you think?

Mia's new toy, Apie

Mia got this new toy on Friday. She just loves her toys, keeping toy 'du jour' with her almost always. This is a monkey on a ring and it's perfect for the two of us to play tug of war with. I think there are probably picture of us doing the same with her other toy, Beertjie.

Apie has already lost it's tail, buttons and a hand. How long before we decimate this one I wonder?

Haven't been to this beach for a while

This is a lovely beach - and really not a busy one. We used to walk here a lot last year and I love it. So many interesting things to sniff on the beach. Often I find dry sand sharks and perlemoen meat. It drives the humans wild when I grab a sand shark and zip off across the beach. I think they think I'll get sick or something. Not sure why the humans stopped coming here with me.

The weather is beautiful today, so I asked my human to take this photo of me on the beach with Table Mountain in the background. Where we live in Cape Town we have the picture postcard view of our famous landmark.

If this photo was scratch and sniff, you'd smell that I am sporting citronella essential oils to try and keep the fleas at bay. I smell like an outdoor candle! If you notice that the horizon tilts to the left blame the human photographer, not the subject matter.

Pooches, post parlour

Well, this is Mia (on the chair) and I, after the parlour today. The photo was taken this evening when my humans came to pick me up after they finished at gym. The lovely parlour people only put one ribbon in our hair - can you believe it? Must be something to do with what the humans refer to as 'recession'. Heck, I can type and use a computer but the concept of recession is beyond my Poodle brain :-)

We were dipped, combed, washed and dried and had our nails done. A real head to toe for us gals. In fact, so much so that the nice lady at the parlour suggested we come mid-week next time as we take so long.

Both of us are so happy to see everyone that the humans found it frustrating to take photos - we were moving around so much. Proof of Poodle happiness is evident in this photo where my tail is wagging so fast it's a blur!

My avian sister, Daisy

When I was a puppy and new to my human household, I was fascinated by the flying, noisy, yellow thing called Daisy. Even though I'm now used to having her around and we don't bother each other so much, every now and then my instincts kick in and I get this urge to play with her.

Here I am staring her down this morning. I followed her around the coffee table a bit while she made chirrupy noises. I wonder what cockatiel tastes like?

Aloe, aloe, aloe

Although originally of European origin, as a South African born Poodle, I'd like to share with my readers some of the beauty of my home. It's winter time here in the southern hemisphere and although spring is traditionally when the wild flowers go ballistic, now is the time for aloes to show their thing.

Aloes are funny plants. They tend to be the same size or in many cases, much bigger than a Standard Poodle and they have triangular fleshy leaves with lots of spikey things, so we stay well clear of them on our walks. We have to walk between the ones in the photo here on the way to the beach from home; and we do that twice a day - morning and evening walk. The big spikey thing in the background (above the aloe flowers), is a palm tree.

Look how beautiful the flowers are. The aloes are flowering all over the place at the moment. I think the humans use the sap from the leaves as a natural remedy for many things skin related. Some even drink the juice! Yuk! Give me a bowl of fresh water any day!

Rough and tumble in the sand

There is nothing Mia and I love more than to run around the beach together. We Poodle box, jump, chase and very often run into the breaking waves. The humans have to deal with sand in the home for days afterwards.

Just add egg

More for those interested in Poodle behaviour. Watch us magically make egg yolk on kibbles disappear in just over a minute!