I have been reading the beautiful stories in the book my wonderful mentor Lonna gave to me, and lo and behold last night the story was about the loyalty of friends with more than two feet. I have to say that the one friend that I always can count on is my marvelous roommate Angel. It doesn't make any difference how good or bad my day has been, when she emerges from her crate when I get home she absolutely knows how I feel and she adapts her "welcome" to that. If I'm down and feeling a bit blue, she is the happiest dog you ever saw and lifts my spirits by showing me how happy she is to see me. If I am tired or have had a really tough situation to deal with, she is content to cuddle and lets me know that I can talk to her if I need someone to listen. If I come home in a great and glorious mood, we will play for a time before I need to settle in.
Angel is a huge 3½ pound poodle. She is fully classified as a "tiny toy" or "teacup" because she weighs in at less than 4 pounds. It is quite a site to see her at the vet's office getting on a scale that is big enough to weigh a St. Bernard. For you chefs out there, it is like measuring a ¼ cup of liquid in an 8 cup measuring cup. There have been times when she weighs different based on where she stands on the scale and whether or not I have her collar on. Add a leash and she jumps up past the 4 pound mark, so at her size every ounce makes a big difference.
I got Angel from a breeder just as I got to Kansas 3 years ago. She was 3 months old and just under 2 pounds. As I picked her up and held her up close to my shoulder, she just cuddled into my neck like she was supposed to be and stay there. We still quite often will lay in my easy chair with her cuddling me the same way. She has been a good dog for me and a great friend. She was crate trained at 7 months when she got stepped on by a mailman and broke her leg. The vet couldn't pin her leg because he didn't have a pin small enough and he couldn't cast it because it was above the hock (the"knee" on the hind leg). He told me I had to restrict her movement for 3 weeks, so one of my church friends supplied me with the perfect sized crate for her, and for the next 3 weeks it was either me holding her or she was in her crate.
Her size has also allowed me to "paper train" her, which makes it nice for those times when I have a 24 hour shift. I leave her crate door open in the bathroom with a doggie "training pad" down and close the door to the bathroom. When I get home, she will emerge from her crate and the results of the times she has had to "do her business" is there on the training pad. It is nice not to have to have someone come and walk her so that she can "do her business."
Here are some of her pictures:
Standing on the dash of my car next to a commuter mug.
A close-up of her beautiful face.
Her mommy playing around with some graphics software putting Angel in the middle of a stained glass window.
Angel sitting in my lap. I have a pen hanging from an eyeglass necklace that gives you a good idea of how big she really is.
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