I‘m rather tall and elegant with a shortly cropped strawberry blonde coiffure. With my regal bearing and queenly gait, I look like a real princess. The name given me is Lulubella, but that was promptly shortened to Lulu. How very appropriate as it means ‘precious’ in Swahili. However, I have been told that Lulu best describes my character— that of being a bit lulu. Well, I never claimed to be typical. After all, royalty is certainly not typical, is it? Very rarely do I get called by my full name and then only to impress guests AND if I have performed a command to ‘sit’ or ‘ be quiet’. Obeying is not one of my stronger points, so I rarely hear Lulubella.
My family welcomed me into their home when I was 6 months old. I was so darn cute, they were immediately enchanted. I was the runt of the litter and the last to be sold. Even though I am a purebred Standard Poodle, the super deal on my cost should have been a clue to my ‘specialness’. My new family, being somewhat dull, missed the hint as to my true nature.
Naturally I was, and still am, very handsome, precocious, and with a mind of my own. It did not take me long to figure out that this family would serve my every whim – with a little training, that is. My intuition has proven correct. I run the show! The first bedtime in my new home, I neatly snuggled into my owners’ bed and got away with it. When I ate a sock and then regurgitated it onto our shared bed, my family forgave me. When I did it a second and third time, my charm was slightly tarnished, but only briefly. I still retained my area on the bed. The sock-eating-vomiting game was short-lived as socks were now put directly into the hamper after wearing. No fun at all!
However, I discovered that eating the discarded, somewhat stiff socks of one of the teenage males in the home, who did not believe in bathing unless threatened with expulsion, was not even considered. I am very discerning.
As time went on, I grew until I was oversized, not what my family anticipated. People have commented on the gracefulness of my gait, very like a Royal Lipizzaner Stallion’s or ‘mare’ in my case. I just will not reduce myself to dashing around like an everyday mutt. My size also meant that I now took up more than half the bed, so it was determined that I, not one of the humans, should sleep elsewhere. Can you believe it? I was reduced to sleeping on a giant cushion. Make no bones about it, my humans know by my loud noises that I am not pleased with their very selfish decision. They are still yet to be forgiven.
