X is for my cousin Xena

I know I've talked about my cousins in Atlanta before - Bristol the Doberman and Bella the Min Pin.  Some of you even know about the cat in the family (who I don't get along with) called Cowgirl, but although I've mentioned Aunty Anna the poodle expert before, one thing I haven't talked about is my actual poodle family that lives in Australia - where mom's from.  It's a big family!  There's a standard poodle called Darcy, a mini (like me) called Winston and then there are three toy poodles: Ruby, Astro and Xena.  

Xena (back) and Astro 

They don't all belong to Aunt Anna, just Asto and Xena do.  The rest belong to the grandparents with funny accents and although I've never actually met any of them before, I know all about them and they know about me.  Our parents talk about us and sometimes we get to see each other on Skype.  There's a lot to say about Xena in particular because she's had an action-packed life!  (And also because it's letter X day).

Xena is a 'chocolate' colored poodle, that's a fancy breeder's word for brown.  She's almost four years old (like me) and when she was a year and a half, she had a horrible fall in her backyard and broke her leg in three places!  According to Aunt Anna, she 'snapped the radius and got two breaks in the ulnar.'  I don't know what that all means, but it sounds very bad!  It took Xena months and months to recover.  She had to wear a cast and everything.  Now she's okay: full of life and back to normal.  

Xena with her first cast

Xena after they changed her cast

Mommy says we have a lot in common because we both love hide and seek, (although Xena likes to hide under the bed and I'm too big to fit under ours) and we both love expensive cheeses!  Plus, we were around the same age when our parents brought siblings into our homes - I got a brown little sister and Xena got an 'apricot' (cream) little brother!  So now both our families have brown girls and cream boys.  

Xena with Astro

Another thing about Xena is that her mama is actually Ruby!  (Anna's parent's poodle) and I know you all love baby photos so because I don't have any of my own - I thought I'd share some of Xena's.  Even I admit it, she was cute!

Xena, 2 hours old

Here she is a little older

There were three puppies in Ruby's litter
Xena was the first born 

One more thing we have in common is that we both like to lounge around the same way. Neither of our mommys can figure out how dogs as small as Xena and me can take up so much space:

And she's okay with wearing clothes, all day any day, but just like me she doesn't like hats!