This is my adorable Chinese Crested Powderpuff puppy when we brought her home.  Tallulah loves my kids, and loves to be right by my side all the time.  I'm hoping to eventually find one of those carrying cases at the Salvation Army one of these days.  She's so quiet and demure all the time.  She accepts pets from everyone, and is just a wonderful animal.

The other pics I have of her include her "sister" Kei, who's a (comparative) giant.  They love to chase eachother around the yard and wrestle!  I adore those pups.  BUT all the good pics are on my phone and I don't have unlimited texts (wah!)

I was searching the 'net today for grooming information, or breed info, or any info on Chinese Crested Powderpuff dogs in general.  I found almost nothing.  There's the AKC and UKC standards on the respective home pages, but nothing much about personality.

I'm dedicating this page to my Tallulah for just such a reason.

She's fantastic with kids.  You would think that a small breed dog would not do well with a toddler.  However, she's extremely food motivated.  A toddler running around does nothing if not dribble food everywhere.  Ergo, toddlers = food = why growl at him for pulling my ears or hair?  She loves to go out adventuring with my 7 yr old.  White dog. Adventuring in the yard with a tween who loves to dig up worms and pretend to be an explorer.  White dog = loves to get dirty = lots of grooming.  I'm considering grooming her to look like a hairless, but will wait until the frosty weather passes in about six months (lol).

She fears almost nothing.  Big dogs make her nervous, but only during that initial meeting.  Small dogs she's instantly friends with.  She's afraid of loud traffic, and living in the city, she just has to get over it. She is making progress. She's afraid of tall strangers, unless she's picked up.  She seems to just tolerate the strange people, then gets caught giving them kisses before they stop petting her ;)  She loves to chase the leaves blowing around the yard, and loves to make me nervous by running off.  She only ever runs to the front door, and I think she does it to see that look on my face.  The, "oh my goodness, I thought you were gone for good" look.

She still has double canines, but until they give her trouble, the vet thinks it's best to just leave them be.  It's awesome, and I will get a close up sometime - she looks like the angry wolf from The Neverending Story, lol, except white ;)  Plus, she's still only 10 months old this month.  She's got time to lose them.

She doesn't eat much, less than a half cup of puppy food, but I'm sure that's inaccurate, since Dexter finds every excuse to share his food with her, and she finds every excuse to snitch it. "What? I'm not supposed to eat the nugget in his hand?"  or "I thought that hit the ground already."  Always with that look of, "What? I didn't do it" thrown in for good measure. Frankly, I don't know how much food either of them is getting.  I assume since neither one is losing weight, it's all good.

She's just as happy snuggling on the couch under the blankies as she is on the floor cuddled up next to our feet.  She's extremely smart, and will do anything for attention (like run off, haha!)

As a breed, they are great with kids, a pain in the behind to groom, easy to train but stubborn.  They will make their own entertainment if bored.  They are easy to keep in a small space, but still need a sweater to get through the colder weather.  My particular pup's ears do not stand up, which is considered a fault (I've heard.  I don't see how that faults a dog.  She is still beautiful to me!!).  I did read a site where someone detailed the process of taping the ears to get them up, but I think I'm past that deadline, and I honestly don't care about perky ears, lol.  They aren't a dog that belongs outside.  Hawks, larger dogs, owls - the outside world is fraught with danger.  They also absolutely require grooming.  You have to clip the paws so snow balls don't gather between the toes, and so they get better traction snow or not.  They require clipping around the behind, so feces aren't tracked through the house.  Everything else is open to debate on a Powderpuff.  I am kinda loving the shaggy look, but am happy to make a change once in a while (half the fun, IMHO).

The main drawback would be the attachment level to the owners and family.  She HATES to be alone.  She's anxious whenever we leave her, so she needs to be crated or she will destroy stuff.  (I still haven't owned up about the Wiimote nunchuck cord getting chucked - but I know who did it, and I know I have to replace it before Volde misses it!!).  If you're a SAHM or a bachelor or bachelorette, widower, or retired, this is the breed for you.  The kids thing is the biggest draw for me with this breed.  I've never seen such a small dog be so good with kids!

I'll put pics up later, hopefully... ;)

Okay, I live in MI, the state with the highest unemployment rating for the past three years.

If you were our pres. elect, why on earth would you do this?!

It even says in the article, "Although Michigan has led the nation in unemployment for nearly three years, largely because of the ailing auto industry, Granholm was tapped several times by the Obama campaign during the presidential election to speak about the need to create new alternative energy jobs."

Are you kidding me?  As soon as we can afford it, we're moving to another state. Hopefully one that's a little less economically strapped.

Ugh.  Who could be advising this guy on his choices?  Just wait, the entire US of A is doomed to look like MI - unless he's asking her what NOT to do to the economy...

Sorry.  It seems lately this is a political blog.  I don't mean to offend.  We're working on finishing our workbooks every day, and studying a lot of politics and economics here, in addition to the other schoolwork we need to do to pass third grade. ;)