Experts say that the standard poodle is the best family dog to have, hands down. Smarter than Labs, less apt to jump and easier with small kids.

Eventually, we will have one.

They're the only dog I like as much as I like cats, and I want Lillian to understand that not all dogs are annoying little yapfests like her paternal grandparents' freaking Westie.

We always had mutts in my family. Which I think could be a result of my mom growing up with a cocker spaniel that liked to bite people. It put her off pure breeds.

ETA: Also, I'm watching the GH marathon on SoapNet and I see that 75% of the city is getting on the same train to go to Manhattan. So now I'm wondering...who's gonna die in the inevitable train crash?

EATA: HA! I was SO right. Train crash.

We had standard poodles when I was growing up. They were wonderful except for the fact that they are smart and obdience training is a challenge for the lazy owner! We never put them in the lame poodle cuts except once 'cause my Mom wanted to see what it would look like. Totally hilarious! We mocked the dogs for months. When we bought our house we were going to get a standard poodle but I went to a greyhound rescue presentation and I was hooked. Our greyhound was the most mellow, wonderful dog to have. I still miss her. When we move back into a house, I'm thinking that we'll get a standard poodle and another greyhound.

Huh. Greyhound rescue. I just posted this in Natter:

This makes me sad....

Greyhounds can't outrun hard truth

The decline of racing in Wisconsin claims yet another track, and 250 dogs must now find new homes.

Any Midwestern Buffistas or friends/family need a dog?

Aw man, that's sad. All those dogs needing homes. Thankfully, according to the article they won't euthanise them, but boy what a job to place them. I can say that all of the greyhounds that I've met (that's quite a few since we belonged to Greyhound Pets of America) are really good housepets. BUT they take patience at first, especially a track dog. They don't know what stairs are, or what furniture is and most aren't housebroken. It was amusing and frustrating to try and get ours to use the dog door at first --- you have to picture my husband half in and half out of the door, trying to get her to come through. But they learn fast and just want some love. They really are big couch potatoes.

This face! [link] Schnauzer eyes are so expressive.

I watched the pilot of Profit. Damn, he's a bad man. He snogged Olivia. I wish I hadn't known he slept in the box, but I can't work out how I did. From here, no doubt.

The lighting looks weird, but the colour registration might just be off on my DVD player. Looks like they're lit from the side by neon blue, and it really highlights skin problems.

I remember loving Profit, but it's been years since I've seen it.

I'm play-by-playing it for my father (to mitigate my disbelief) and he's pretty amused. I need to go rec it to some folks at krav next week. I really need to know how Greenie was going to make it to episode 100.

eta: Ha!

I finished disk 1, and switched to Grey's Anatomy, and my father said "Wait, is this the same thing?" I told him no. "But it can't end like that! There has to be more! The innocent man's in jail for a crime that doesn't exist!" Poor guy. Me, I'm on bn.com buying the set.

Standard poodles are just cool dogs.

Plus they are hunting dogs, rather than punting dogs (aka yippy toy poodles).

The black puggle in the link was dedly cute.