This is Daisy Marie, cockapoo extraordinaire.

A friend of a friend told me that she knew someone that wanted to sell her three-months-old Bichon Frise. The dog was perfect, but the owner had been diagnosed with throat cancer. She was a single Mom, working full time with two kids. She just couldn't handle a pup, kids and a job on top of radiation treatments. My friend knew I love dogs and that I'd mentioned how much I'd like to buy a Bichon Frise.

It was a below freezing evening in December when my friend of a friend took me to a house on another side of town to see the puppy. The wind was biting and there was a fine mist of sleet in air.


Inside the puppy owner's house it was warm and tidy. In her quiet, shy voice the lady of the house assured me that the dog, who was now at my feet, belly up for a scratching, was indeed a purebred Bichon Frise. She said that she had the AKC papers attesting to the dog's lineage, she just couldn't locate them at the moment. She told me that as soon as she found the papers, she'd call me so I could pick them up. I wrote her a check, delighted to be getting a cute, white fuzzball of a Bichon Frise.

You've probably already guessed the "rest of the story." The lady never found the papers because the papers never existed. The sweet little white dog I named Daisy is not a Bichon Frise in any way, shape or form.

My daughters were the first to say that they thought Daisy didn't look quite right to be a Bichon. After a little web surfing of dog sites, it's a one hundred percent chance that Daisy is a cockapoo - a cross between a poodle and a cocker spaniel.


Although my family still likes to rib me about my "Bichon," we all love her and wouldn't trade her for a hundred pedigreed dogs.


Oh, and the Christmas we bought Daisy? We delivered lots and lots of clothes and toys from "Santa" for Daisy's former home, including things for the Mom. All because of Daisy, it was a Christmas season I'll never forget.


We have two other dogs: Shorty is a pound find and he is a cross between a Shetland Sheepdog and a Pomeranian. He's one of the prettiest dogs I've ever seen in form and coloring. His name perfectly suits his personality and Napoleonic complex. We've been loving him for seven years now.


Piglet is a full blooded Pomeranian. I bought him from a young mother who was trying to take care of a small dog and a toddler in the same house. He was originally supposed to be a puppy producer, but instead of being the "runt" of the litter, Piggy was the opposite - he grew bigger than the Pom standard and so ruined his future as a father of AKC champions. For our family, he's just the perfect size. He is just big enough to jump into our laps and he is a lot of dog in a compact package.

One of these days I'll write about each in more detail and I'll talk about the two Keeshonds we shared our lives with before these three little characters came to stay.