Mary_Logue-5Pete and I have had two toy poodles: Rene and Jacques. Rene died a couple years ago at age 17 and Jacques is still perking along, turning fifteen this April.
We picked poodles because they’re hyperallergenic and don’t make either of us sneeze. Rene came first and was very aristocratic–he could have been a contender in the show dog world. When Rene went into high anxiety when we left him alone, I decided it was time to get another dog. And so Jacques entered our life when Rene was four and he was a very small pup of eight weeks. He could fit in Peter’s shirt pocket. Rene had a large vocabulary and loved to watch the toilet when it flushed (we have no idea why). Jacques was much more of a peasant and did whatever Rene did, so he didn’t acquire many language skills. But Jacques was our hunter–he would go outside in the winter, listen in the snow beneath the bird feeder, dive into the snow and pluck a vole out of the snow and fling it into the air, not really knowing what to do with it.
They have both been huge joys in our lives, making us laugh so often with their antics.
 
Mary
Mary Logue is an award-winning poet and mystery writer. She was born and raised in Minnesota. She has been an editor at The Village Voice, Simon & Schuster, Graywolf Press, Mid-List Press, and The Creative Company. She has taught for many years at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and at Hamline University in St. Paul. She lives with writer Pete Hautman in Minnesota and Wisconsin.