My elder daughter has been asking me for a pet dog for years now and more so when her friends have pets themselves.  I grew up without pets.  We had a little puppy when I was a little girl (can’t remember how old I was then) but it died after only a few days.  I don’t remember much of that little puppy, not even his name!  So I was very, very reluctant to get one because I have absolutely no idea how to care for one and to be honest I just didn’t know if I could handle the extra time caring for another living thing when I have 2 small children to care for without any family and friends around to help me.  As it is we were already struggling to cope.

However, the girls are older now and less dependent on us to do everything for them.  We went down to Victoria after Christmas just recently and we stayed with my beautiful friend, Sonia who is also a photographer.  They have a big property and a menagerie of animals – a pony, 2 cats, 3 dogs, 3 guinea pigs, 3 chooks (hmm… magic number must be 3 because they have 3 sons!) and 2 sheep.  I think that’s all? Might have missed out some!  Anyway, that story is another blog post!  One of their dogs is a little Yorkshire Terrier named Maia.  She is tiny and very cute!  Needless to say my girls love her especially my elder one.  She kept telling anyone who cares to listen to her how I didn’t want to get a puppy for her.  Yes, I am the “bad” mummy.

So we came home last Wednesday and for some reason which I cannot explain a seed has been planted in my head. I begin to entertain thoughts of maybe giving in and getting a puppy for her, a small dog, one that doesn’t shed hair, one that is smart enough to train …  I know I need to act quickly otherwise I will chicken out and change my mind!

So thanks to the internet and friends on the internet and IRL I embarked on a search for the most appropriate breed of small dogs that would be suitable for us. Boy, did I open up a can of worms!  It is so confusing!  Long story short, some friends and especially Alicia helped me to sort through facts from myth and by Saturday evening, we have ourselves a little miniature poodle!  His name is Theo.

I named him after the cute and chubby chipmunk, Theodore from Alvin & The Chipmunk movies.  The girls have been watching the movies so it was foremost in my mind! There were other names thrown in – Bow, Bon, Ella (from my younger daughter – darling, he is a boy, not girl!) to Cheesepuff (from hubby! OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!)!

He is cute, he is adorable (of course I am bias!) and he is all ours now   He follows my elder daughter around whenever she goes just like her shadow