feral poodle

The feral poodle is getting on, I've had her for twelve years and she was at least two years old when she arrived into our family.

Her puppy-hood was not the best; she had suffered starvation and beatings, just skin, bones and mattered hair when she arrived here. This left a lasting legacy; she would flinch if anyone picked up a stick or yelled since she is not by nature a shy dog it is out of character.

She was a handy cattle dog till her blindness got the better of her two years ago, we discovery that her sight was failing when we were rounding up some Angus cows and calves. She stood in the paddock and kept barking at this black object in the grass, on closer inspection we found that it was a stump.

Her work ethic is great her eyesight terrible.

Since then she has steadily declined, she is now virtually blind, the arthritis is playing up and she has recurring bladder problems but this has not stopped her from patrolling the house yard, greeting visitors and general dog duties.

She can no long jump into the farm paddock basher so she waits patiently to be lifted in and sits in regal splendour on the front seat.

She was not a dog that I would have usually had on the farm, this woe begotten toy poodle but she has brought great joy to all the family over her many years.

We did the Australian thing and gave her a fair go sure there were problems, have you ever tried to clean a poodle that has rolled in some long dead animal and stinks to high heaven, but the benefits greatly outweighed the disadvantages.

We are all richer for having known her.

For the poodle's point of view see the song It's Hard To Be a Poodle with a Cowboy by Your Side in the Music from the North Coast sidebar.