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Cruisin' Canines

Marley!

as told by Marley’s parents:

Marley is a Minature Poodle, born on June 21, 2004 on a farm northeast of Ithaca, NY.   Which makes her 15 years old – but her attitude is still “15 years young”.

It was her mother’s last litter – 3 females – born on the Summer Solstice.  The puppies were named:  Summer Sun, Summer Breeze, and Summer Rain.  Marley (aka Summer Rain) was the smallest of the three, but she had the most visible attitude and personality – ready for action and play at all times.

She came home with us, via airplane, to Winnetka, IL where she met Nellie our 95 lb white German Shepherd.  Nellie made it her job to keep our household in line, and to provide a watchful eye of over our two daughters. She immediately included Marley as part of her workload – schooling and looking after a tiny poodle puppy. – When we would lose Marley under the couch – she was tiny and hard to see – Nellie would let us know exactly where she was.  She also shared her chew bones with Marley, who much preferred the large bones to the small, proper sized chews for her mouth.  To this day Marley opts for larger toys – preferring to carry and fetch a heavier rope toy or to catch a full sized Frisbee.

Marley let us know early on that she wanted to play fetch by bringing toys to us and dropping them at our feet, or – if we didn’t get the hint – she’d put them on our lap or hit them against our legs.  In the house fetch quickly moved to outdoor fetch where she loved testing herself against the Frisbee.

Often one of the smaller dogs at the park, Marley always gets attention for her athletic ability – she’s fast!  And she is awesome at tracking and catching Frisbees – even now at her older age – although she takes more breaks these days.

Marley’s “fetch” routine includes violently shaking her rope toy and growling. She enthusiastically tracks her toy, retrieves it, shakes it hard and throws it into the air, reclaiming it before bringing it back to be thrown again.  She often does this routine when we have guests over, a true entertainer who makes people laugh and applaud her for her efforts!

Almost eight years ago we moved into Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, and shortly after that got connected with Cruisin’ Canines.  Over the years Marley has enjoyed numerous walks and extended sleepovers with the Cruisin’ Canines crew.

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