The Life of Poodle

Learning by Doing

Poodle, the hamster, is of the Siberian (also known as the Winter White) variety, but I prefer Phodopus sungoris sungoris. SMIRK. Even the scientific name is cute :D They’re supposed to be the dwarves of hamsterkind, but Poodle is a wonderful exception because he’s not really that small; well, still smaller than other breeds but bigger than normal. Actually, he’s rather fat – he just loves those dried sunflower seeds, so much that he even eats them from my hand now :)

This isn’t a hobby; what started as an interesting experiment has become something really interesting and wonderful.

He lives in a bowl – well, an aquarium – because I didn’t have the heart to watch him go crazy gnawing away at the bars of his cage (so now he just basically slides around), and he loves to burrow under the wood shavings scattered all over his little home. It used to be a problem because I didn’t have a water bottle, and would just put a dish inside the aquarium, and he’d always end up spilling it all over the place. Now the water bottle hangs overhead, tied to one of the sides of his old cage. Yes, McGuyver be my name :)

This isn’t a hobby; what started as an interesting experiment has become something really interesting and wonderful. I’ve really grown attached to the little guy, and not just because he was supposed to be my Christmas gift to Jean. When I decided to keep him despite the breakup, I considered him a test: having grown up with dogs (literally – there is NO POINT in my life that I can recall where I wasn’t surrounded by dogs, even in college) I think I’ve begun to take unconditional love for granted. I saw it as a given, and never really thought of it as something I actually ahve to work for. Dogs love you no matter what, even if yours is not the hand that feeds them; you just need to be in the periphery somewhere. Poodle, on the other hand, I can’t even bribe with food.

I’ve since discovered that hamsters are, by nature, afraid of anything that is not a hamster, and require a lot of patience and care. I actually need to WORK for Poodle’s trust; even harder for his love. I am of course hoping that Poodle will teach me something.

In writing this post, though, I’ve discovered that he already has, and it’s something I’ve known for a long time but have taken for granted: love doesn’t have to be a two way street for it to make you happy.