Diagnosis: Infected right eye
(Vet: “Puppies can pick up anything.”)

FILE UNDER: picture album / new dog / oddities

Toy poodle, black
14 weeks old
2.4 kg

Name: Mighty Baxter
(aka Houdini, aka Antoine Batiste, terms of endearment: Poveretto, Piccirillo)
Traits: Cheerful, playful, willful, needy, grubby, but not greedy
Loves: Chewing/nibbling/tearing — paper, cardboard, cloth; sleeping in company
Hates: Being left alone; the leash
Trick: Yawns with a mewling sound, like a cat

Eating: Beef mince cooked in stock with spinach, carrot and brown rice (devised by Constant Gardener) with tiny amounts of bran; dry dog biscuits
Chewing: Pigs’ ears, “green” bones, rope
House training: good one!