It soon became apparent to us when we first brought Jackie and Jillie home to live with us as three-month-old puppies -- (we think they were a 'hard sell' because though they are toy poodles {officially registered with the American and Canadian kennel clubs for what that's worth} their breed is obvious in their breed-specific characteristics of personality, but is not reflected by their size; they're the size of miniature poodles and anyone wanting a toy poodle would just have rejected them) -- that Jillie had an iron constitution and Jackie had a really weak gut.

His stomach would on occasion be upset, and he would be in obvious distress for periods of time lasting a day or two when he would refuse to eat. We ended up giving them different diets; her, the one we chose as the most trustworthy and healthy, him one formulated specifically for little dogs with sensitive stomachs. A year later we were able to transfer Jackie to Jillie's diet with no adverse consequences. We were hoping that his stomach had matured enough so he would no longer be plagued by these incidents of feeling ill and refusing food.

The chopped vegetable salad we introduced as part of their diet along with fruits of various kinds proved to be enormously popular with them, for they both seem to value those vegetables in equal measure, far more than they do their quality kibble and the chicken that I cook for them. And although Jackie's gut seems to have settled down and he has far fewer incidents of illness, he does still on occasion experience them.

During the summer months they seem to be far less interested in outdoor browsing, but come fall, it picks up again and we've got to be vigilant. Even so, they pick up indigestible matter that disagrees with them; not so much Jillie as Jackie. They may appear to others as carbon copies of one another as twins, the only ones in their litter, but they are as different as night and day in personality and physiognomy.

Jackie has just been through one of his more prolonged lapses into refusing meals. Breakfast this morning represented the third consecutive meal he has spurned and that worries us, even though we should be accustomed to going through this by now. Yet he is such a high-energy little creature, restless, with boundless curiosity and action-oriented, that we fear for him. The situation was nicely put in perspective this morning.

He spurned the little pieces of cheddar cheese both usually gobble up before their breakfast, as appetizers and the same with the morning cantaloupe. But Sunday mornings we often have something like French toast and sausages for breakfast and this was one of those mornings. Although Jackie refused his kibble, he hung around for their usual Sunday-morning post-breakfast 'treat' of finely cut French toast and sausage.

So yes, he's spoiled and we worry for no transparent reason whatsoever.

A year ago, at age two, he'd had to be hospitalized because he picked up mould-covered apples from the forest floor, chomped on them and in short order it became obvious that his nervous system had been affected; he was woozy and could barely stand. His stomach had to be pumped and he was watched overnight before coming back home with us. Ever since, we've been aware of this kind of incident possibly recurring.

Both of them have long acquired a habit we have been unable to break them of, of picking up woody detritus from the ground to nibble on. Our reasoning with the vegetable salad was that having it would 'cure' them of this habit, but neither that nor our constant reminders to them to 'drop' the twigs and evergreen needles they chew on has worked to our advantage.

Jillie (left) Jackie right