She has led a long, exuberant, adventuresome life as a little dog. She still has bouts of energetic enthusiasm. We still take her out daily for hour-long rambles in the woods. She is sometimes joyful although seldom really playful. Playful was never part of her character. She has always been standoffish, reserved, not given to displays of affection, other than when she was a puppy.

She was the last of her litter to go. It must have been difficult for her as a puppy to find herself suddenly alone, her siblings all gone to homes and she left on her own, waiting for someone to adopt her. Her colouration was marred by grey appearing at certain places where she should have been all black. She isn't a pure-bred poodle, but a poodle-Pomeranian mix.

We were always concerned with her health and exercise always played a large part in her daily life, as it has done with ours. She has a companion, but he, a smaller pure-bred poodle (not as highly intelligent as she, but hugely affectionate) has a temperament quite unlike hers. He was introduced into the household when she was already past seven years of age, and she never expressed any interest in his existence, although by now, with the passage of a dozen years, she has accepted his presence.

For the first dozen years of her life and then his, they had their teeth brushed every day, then every other day, then twice weekly. Which, while helping to keep them healthy, did not serve to protect them against losing some of their teeth. At eighteen-and-a-half, we can no longer brush her teeth, she won't allow it. And her gums have a tendency to become infected, making her very ill indeed.

The veterinarian recommended a protocol whereby we give her oral antibiotic drops for a week twice daily, then cease for a month, then re-commence. Since we began this protocol she has never again come down with the severe illness she first suffered last year, when we feared we would lose her. Pain and suffering caused by a gum infection that could have spread to her heart and other internal organs.

She may be aged, but she's ageless in her remaining energy which outdistances her smaller companion in endurance and enthusiasm, though she has her moments. Her heart and lungs are in great condition, we're told by the veterinarian. She has memory lapses, but then so do we.