Our two small American- and Canadian-Kennel Club-registered toy poodles are anything but 'toy'. Toy poodles are very small, our two are not very small. They are, in fact, at six months of age, the size of miniature poodles. They're rangy, tall and extraordinarily flexible They are able to stretch the length of their bodies astonishingly, and this enables them to reach surfaces you'd never imagine them to be capable of. They're little predators, especially Jillie. Jackie is more of a follower.

And he is, as my husband points out with great amusement, a real Mama's boy. He worries if I'm not around in easy accessibility range. Jillie is a lot more relaxed about it. Jillie is the initiator of all their mischief, and Jackie an enthusiastic accomplice. They may have exited their puppy-chewing stage, but you'd never know it; anytime they're out of doors they spend all their time ferreting out bits and pieces of natural detritus, and at this time of year there's ample for the picking. We do our best to keep them from eating all this garbage, but it's a mug's game. For every bit of dry stems or foliage we take away from them, an equal measure is swiftly consumed.

This, on top of the gargantuan amount of food they eat. It's quite a natural phenomenon. Jillie will now ask to go outside, but not yet to relieve herself; her goal is to get out there for more fun-and-forage. Because of their proclivity to mouth and chew away at everything, including whatever is beginning to come up in the garden; violets, hyacinths shoots, my husband has been busy uprooting as many lilies as he finds since they're toxic to dogs. We never had these problems before with Button and Riley.

Last night we had a series of glorious thunderstorms entertaining us; loud clapping and banging up there in the heavens above, a drama that we both love. But this was their first introduction to thunderstorms; Jackie just barked every time a clap of thunder reverberated through the house. Jillie looked nervously up at the ceiling, trying to determine what was happening, what was making such a din, and she was excitedly upset.

Life's newly discovered adventures and alarums alike.