Princess Blair

Female Apricot Standard Poodle

Date Whelped: 06/26/98

Date to Rainbow Bridge: 10/30/09

Breeder: Julia K. Robertson & Lynn P.

Gormley

Sire: CH King's Champagne Taste (BLK)

Dam: Apple Blossom Samantha

Jane (APCT)

It happened like this...I subscribe to the Poodle-L List and the following post caught my eye:

"Apricot standard, female puppy, excellent pedigree,

fabulous temperament and very, very pretty. Blair is

10 ½ months old. The puppy is in Yakima, WA (Central

Washington State). Owner is to be reimbursed for

spaying and shipping will be the new owners expense.

The owner must place the puppy because of health

problems. For more information contact Foster Mom

**** ***** at ***- ***-****. Thank you very much."

I immediately contacted the Foster Mom and after a lengthy conversation as to whether we had children at home, a fenced yard, other dogs, etc., we passed the first "screening" and were asked to furnish the name and number of our vet for a reference. After our reference was checked we anxiously awaited the call to see if we had been selected to provide a home for Blair. The call came and we drove to Yakima to meet the Foster Mom, her husband and their three beautiful standard poodles. Blair went right to Sheri, but we were told that she didn't like men, so I let her sniff me, but didn't make any overt moves toward her. Before we reached Lakewood, Blair was my firm friend and was lying in my lap as I drove. Like all the standards I have known, she gives complete affection and loyalty.

She was born into a large litter of 12 or 13 puppies and each of them was named after a county of Washington. Fortunately, she was given the name of Blair and not Klickitat or Okanoogan. We have had some second thoughts about renaming her. She is a light apricot which looks a lot like a champagne blond, has beautiful long curled eyelashes (something we had never encountered in standard poodles before), and has a definite swish and sway of her rear end and tail when she walks. We thought for a while, we should name her Marilyn, since she has all the seductive qualities of MM and steals the hearts of all the men she meets. She is quite a flirt. At first we thought it was just the puppy in her that made her run so hard when she was let outside, but have now decided that she is just a born runner. I have never seen a standard poodle that could run like she does. She is powerfully built and has strong hindquarters. When she runs the grass flies up in tuffs like a novice teeing off on the golf course. We almost changed her name to "Zoomie Bloomers." She loves to sit in recliners. We have a large 4' x4' ottoman in the great room that she immediately went to and claimed as her personal throne (this is what she is sitting on in her picture). We registered her as "Princess Blair" as this seems to fit her elegant manner and walk.

Another good name for Princess Blair would have been "Leapin' Lizzie" because of the way she leaps when she runs. Our home is an old one-story brick rambler built in the middle of two lots with lots of lawn, trees and shrubbery around it. Blair loved her new yard and had to make at least three laps around the house at breakneck speed every time she was let out. Inside the property fence I have planted bushes and flower gardens all around the perimeter. After replacing several bushes and plants that got trampled in the poodles mad dash for squirrels running up the big oak trees, I bought two foot high wire fencing that is green plastic coated and placed that between the curbscapes and the perimeter plantings in a attempt to keep the poodle pack out of the bushes. I used green bamboo stakes to hold the two-foot fencing in placed. It worked fine with Peaches and Blueberry, but Leapin' Lizzie Blair just sailed right over the fence and sometimes the bushes in her mad dash to chase the squirrels up the trees. Before too many weeks went by, her mad dashes followed by Peaches and Blueberry in hot pursuit wore a dirt path all around the house where there used to be lush green lawn. Now we are in the process of another project and have fenced off the circular drive that runs all the way across the north end of the property as a large dog run. It is asphalt paved and helps keep their nails worn down and gives me much less area to do the poodle doodle pickup 2-3 times a day.

Blair lets Blueberry be the alpha dog and feels comfortable using him as a pillow whenever she pleases. At first, she was a little taken back by his boisterous barking and jumping around when we rough house, but has lately been joining in with the rough housing, but still doesn't do any of the loud barking. She and Peaches have similar faces and look like they could be sisters, although Peaches doesn't have that elegant elongated body that Blair has. Their big joy is playing tag until they both flop down exhausted and panting. Peaches has always rough housed with me by standing up on her hind legs and batting at me with her fore paws and growling and now Blair is doing it too----only she snorts instead of growling. They will both be standing up on their hind legs with one of the pawing on my back and the other in front of me pawing at my chest. It is their favorite part of the day.

Blair is our happy girl.

She always wakes up happy. When we are trying to get ready in the mornings, she lays on her back in the bed twitches and wiggles while snorting to get our attention. She is waiting for her kisses and tummy lovin'. She makes even the dreariest day special as she runs into the Poodle Room and waits impatiently for her "Breakfast Bone" to start the day.

It is our youngest poodle girl's birthday and she is 11 or 77 in human years. Unfortunately, we also had a bad visit to the Vets to celebrate. Her weight had dropped from 72 lbs to 56 lbs since her last visit and she had been having an unproductive hoarse cough that would not go away. After an exam and testing, the Vet determined that she has heart disease and that fluid buildup was pressing against her lungs and causing her to cough. He also noticed how she favors one of her hind feet when she gets up. She is now on 75 mg of Lasix twice a day, 1500 mg of Glucosamine and a Centrum Silver vitamin/mineral supplement every day. We have put all the poos back on the diet we had for Blueberry when he was failing from cancer. Sheri cooks up chicken and rice and we add in corn, green beans and dry dog food. They all love it and are eating better and it makes it easier to grind up their pills and sprinkle them in the food. The Vet said we need to give them each a Centrum Silver pill each day, so now the whole family takes Centrum Silver. :-) Growing older is a challenge for us all.

Breathing is an increasingly difficult task for Blair and it hurts to watch her labored breathing. We made the difficult decision to have her put to sleep at the Vet's. My head tells me this is the best compassionate and responsible decision to make for our beautiful girl, but my heart is screaming, "No, no, no!" The sun is shining brightly and Blair is slowly following me around in the yard as I pick up fallen debris from the storm the night before. The first place Blair heads for is Blueberry's grave. She stands on it for awhile and turns around and looks at me and I know she is telling me it is time. She runs a little ways thru the leaves and then sits down to catch her breath and stick her nose up and smell the fresh breeze blowing the leaves around. I ask, "Where's my pretty girl?" and she gets up slowly and comes to me wagging her tail, like she hasn't done in months. We go inside and I brush her and comb out the long beautiful ears for the last time. When we go out to the car, she puts her front paws on the bumper and patiently waits for me to lift her up. Mom and I are both having a hard time seeing as the tears

keep welling up and rolling down our cheeks. Blair is smiling and happy to be going Ridin' once again. I roll the window in the back seat down for her and she stands and sticks her head out, enjoying the breeze blowing

around her ears. After about a block she is too short of breath to keep standing and lays down, enjoying the breeze blowing over her. We are desperately trying not to let her know how upset we are because she has always had a fear of the Vet's office and starts violent trembling when we arrive. Today, when I open the door she hops out and marches into the office without a single shiver. It is time and she is ready, even though we are not. It is mercifully over quickly and she has taken a piece of our

hearts with her. Now she rests with Clyde Pierre and Blueberry Muffin in the yard she loved so well. We are thankful for the love and joy she brought into our lives, but will always be saddened that the time was so brief. Rest in peace our Poodle Angel.

Don & Sheri Winfrey - owned by 3 Standard Poodles (Snoodles)