When I was a youngster we had a dog. I never took it for a walk because it was a bloody toy poodle. There's no street cred for a teenager to be seen taking a tiny white poodle for a walk (well not in the 1960s anyway).
By and large, I used to ignore this poodle whose name was Penny. It was a vicious little thing. If anyone went near my mother the dog would show its teeth, growl and try to bite them. Eventually when it was getting old in dog years it had to have its teeth out. But it could still give you a nasty suck.
Penny was very thin as opposed to my grandmother's poodle Sally who was large like a barrel and waddled rather than walked. At least Sally didn't try to savage anyone that got near her.
After the demise of both poodles, there was no further family dogs.
But somehow over the years I have come to love dogs. I seem to get on best with dogs and children which makes a mockery of the "never work with children and animals" idea.
The crazy thing is that dogs of mixed breed used to be called mongrels or Heinz 57 Varieties. It wasn't cool to have one. Now they have fancy names like Labradoodles and are much sought after and most of them are breeds crossed with (yes you've guessed it) poodles. Poodles are now heralded for their friendliness and easy-going characters. I bet they never met my Penny!
The dog referred to at the start of this blog is our grand-dog (is that a word?) Reggie who is a cross between a poodle and something else (I know not what). He is jet black with a couple of white bits, has so much hair that most of the time you can't see his face. Basically he is a ball of fur. His bottom lip doesn't quite cover his top which means you can see his teeth and it looks as if he is smiling at you.
And he is one cheeky dog who likes nothing more than to rifle through a bag, grab a glove or something else and then chase around the house with adults in hot pursuit. He knows exactly what he is doing. I am rather boisterous around him, continually winding him up which he enjoys. The point is he is marvellous fun, very gentle and very friendly. He wouldn't hurt a fly, although he might carry one round in his mouth. But that doesn't stop him leaping at my head and then trying to lick me to death.
And the thing is I'm quite happy taking him for a walk!