Partially it's because they're still in their puppy-stage, at just a year and a half, and likely partly because there are two of them, and they're a breed that is frantically active, they seem incapable of being still, always on the move. And since there are two, they seem to feed off one another's energy, constantly challenging one another to races, to bouts of pugilistic tourneys that might be the envy of professional wrestlers and boxers, translated into human action.

Jillie (left) Jackie (right)

They do provide us with opportunities to enjoy life in a different way. Their antics and their curiosity leading them to do things that surely by now they understand we'd prefer them not to, brings laughter to us. Their presence has a balancing effect on our lives.

And of course their physical well-being is always of concern to us, that they be healthy and develop into a beneficial maturity to enhance their lives and our own.

Jillie

Their appearance is not, to me, 'cute'. They might have been if they were smaller, more cuddly in appearance. They're registered formally with the Canadian and American kennel clubs as toy poodles, but I doubt anyone has ever seen that breed grow to the size that ours has. Even when they were three months of age they looked like miniature poodles. But, we were taken by them, and decided, since there were but two in the litter, to take them both home with us.

Jackie

As for 'cute', try to convey that in photographs. They simply are not photogenic. And it's almost impossible to impress upon them the need to remain still for a moment in time so a photograph with a bare hint of verisimilitude can be taken. They look gangly and ill groomed. Partly, I suppose, because I'm their groomer; they've never been professionally groomed. 

They are playmates and enjoy one another, yet they are not that deeply devoted that they cannot be separated. They seem to take everything in stride. Separations have been brief, but surprising to us since we anticipated that they would pine for one another, but nothing of the kind happened when we once had Jackie, the little male, stay overnight in hospital. Nor did they greet one another with the kind of puzzled ecstasy they reserve for us when we're absent for a bit having left them home alone (admittedly a rare occasion).

Jillie (left) Jackie (right)

Their expressions, particularly the manner in which their eyes scrutinize and deliver messages, real or imagined on our part, seem to tell us much, but how can we really know? It's clear enough that they are entirely dependent on us, Jackie and his sister Jillie, even though we'd prefer them to be a little more independent and resilient, but it isn't going to happen.

In the meantime, we share our lives with them, and they theirs with us, and for the time being that satisfies all of us.