by Gretchen Corpe Ellinger
For me, as for many people, life without a dog feels incomplete, and I have lived my life with standard poodles. My grandparents and my parents had them, all my aunts and uncles had them, then my sister and my cousins and I grew up and got them, raised our kids with them. There were other dogs along the way, a rescued Queensland heeler, a German shepherd mix that came home with my youngest son, but those “other” dogs were always secondary to the elegant, loyal, predictable, protective and intelligent standard poodles.
My white standard poodle, Katie, helped me to change gears, build a house in Mexico, and eventually retire there. We learned Spanish together. She helped me with my real estate business. Except for the fact that dogs are not always welcome where I need or want to go, Katie was the perfect constant companion. She was with me for 12 years, and my heart was broken when I lost her.
My well-intentioned friends gave me a teeny tiny white poodle puppy. While I loved them for trying to help me heal from my loss, I was not ready for any dog, and certainly not a yappy high-strung heel-biting teeny tiny poodle. Of course, after an appropriate time, I would find another standard poodle. However, I couldn’t figure out how not to keep this tiny puppy without hurting my friends’ feelings, and now, more than a year later, she more than fills those big dog paws. My tiny toy poodle has none of those little dog behaviors that I cannot stand, probably because she is a quick learner, and very eager to please me.
As was Katie, Luna is an ambassador who attracts attention and helps me to meet new people. What’s more, she is every bit as smart, friendly, loving, athletic and protective as the standard poodles I have had, plus…there are lots of pluses…she eats less, grooming her is much less expensive, she is much easier to clean up after, and at about 5 pounds, she fits into a purse-size carrier and goes anywhere I want to take her. Luna is already an old hand at shopping, restaurants, client meetings, even flying. Left to my own devices, I would never have considered a small dog, and now I cannot imagine going back to the big dogs…Luna turns out to be the perfect retirement dog!