Pepé Le Pew

Happy Tuesday Night Everyone!!

Short post tonight...I had an incredible walk but then, this happened!

:-(

Domeek and I walk into the house, she leans down to take off my leash and harness, when...POW...she's blown back by (her words) "the most putrid thing that she's ever smelt"!

Who me???

Why, thank you! :-D I did, after all, roll around in some wonderful chicken poop!

But Domeek doesn't think it was that, since I've done that loads of times...she doesn't have a clue what I rolled in, but she knows where I rolled in it. So now she says that we can't walk past there for a while, just in case whatever I rolled in is still there!

WaaWaa!!!

I was not impressed with the random bath though!! Boo to you Domeek!!

Check out my newly washed, crazy furs!! Hehehe!

I'll leave you with me sticking my tongue out at Domeek! :-D

Night everyone!!

Spring Cleaning Started Early This Year...

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

On Sunday Domeek decided that the Christmas tree should be taken down. Now normally she would have it up for another week or so, but since Little Bit was happily climbing the tree everyday, all day long, she thought it was best to strip the tree herself! ;-)

We weren't exactly thrilled to see the ornaments and decorations go, but that sadly wasn't the worst of it!

She decided that Spring cleaning was going to come early this year, which meant that the entire living room got rearranged, reorganized, and redecorated! Gasp!! I know, what was she thinking???

It took two days, but we finally have a complete and left-alone living room! Thank Dog!

After all, us pups and kittens don't really appreciate change!

Now there's more room to run inside and play ball!! Woohoo!

My brothers are ecstatic that their favorite bench is now in the living room too! :-D

Now that everything is back to the "new" normal, I can now relax and enjoy my pig's ear! Yum!!

Agility Time

Happy Monday my friends! :-)

Well, yesterday was my very first agility class...I was a bit nervous, but I ended up having a pretty darn fun time!

My instructor, Miss Rachel, is super nice, way up-beat, and totally knows what she's talking about! My class was full with 8 pups in total: there was a hound, a cattle/lab, a sheepdog (who was soooo smart and got everything on the first try...hm, showoff!), a corgi-basset, a pittie, a doodle (that looked exactly like my friend, Murphy), and a pretty retriever mix!! I was definitely the smallest pup there, but not the youngest! ;-)

We have a lot of over-achievers in class, so I have a lot to catch up on and practice!

There wasn't enough time to take photos in class, but this one is from their website and shows the continuing agility class (the one after mine). Just look at that pup!! :-D

Miss Rachel has an interesting philosophy, she says that agility must be the dog's idea! So everything that we do and learn must be initiated by us...certainly different from obedience class, cause if that was their way, I would have just eaten the bag of treats and sat my butt on the ground! ;-)

That's Pepper's (the sheepdog) Pop

So, the first thing that we practiced was the "table", but since we didn't have more than one table, this meant that we used Kuranda doggie beds instead. All Domeek was supposed to do was to stand by the "table" and just wait for me to either look at, touch, or get on the "table", then throw a treat on the "table"...needless to say, since she didn't use a word or lure me into position, it took a couple of minutes for me to get it (I've also never stood on one of those beds, which was kind of weird feeling under my paws). By the end of that part of class though, I was hoping on the "table" and sitting for a treat!! Most of my other classmates, hm ok all of them, were in a down position by the end of the session, but I don't do down! ;-) That's the terrier in me! :-P

Then we had to practice agility walking/trotting; apparently by the end of the five weeks we should be able to go in straight and curved lines and on both sides of our parent! This meant that we all looked like idiots, trotting around in circles and then switching directions (which was a little complicated for my poor, pathetic Domeek and not for me, hahaha)! The thing with agility is that it's a modest sport (Miss Rachel's words), cause pups aren't supposed to look at their human's butt (muahahaha)...we should always be in the eye sight of our parent!

I helped to clean up after class

Domeek and me, this week, have to work on both the "table" (actually a mat or a towel at home) and walking for homework...sounds pretty easy, but I'm sure it will be more difficult than expected, especially when I don't want to do it! Hehehe!

We will be learning a new apparatus each week, more if the class progresses quickly, and by the end we will know how to correctly go through 5 different stations, walk in different directions, and two different paths! WooHoo! I can't wait!

I'm a bit worried about a couple of the jumping ones, cause of the bad knee, but we'll play it by ear and hope that my knee behaves itself! :-D

Have an awesome day everyone!!

Dreaming In Black and White

Happy Sunday Everyone!!

Beautiful and sunshiny weather seems to be only a dream away...we are in the midst of blistery, cold, and gloomy days! :-(

I'm spending my day lying on the couch and sighing...but, this afternoon is my very first agility class!! I can't wait!!!

I'll let you all know about it tomorrow! :-D

Phew - Chores Sure Are Hard!

Happy Friday and Saturday Everyone!!

TGIF, huh?! It might have been a holiday week, but it sure felt long! :-/

Luckily for us the weather was absolutely gorgeous today; we had sun, it was as clear as anything, and the temperature warmed up over 55 degrees (thank goodness!)! Beautiful day overall!!

Unfortunately though, this meant that Domeek had a slew of chores and assignments for all of us! :-/ Man! I was assigned outside duty...including weeding, raking, and trimming! Urg!!

So, Domeek went and grabbed all of the necessary tools: rake, shovel, shears, pruner, giant compost garbage bin, and broom! While I prepared myself for working!

Yep, I immediately started to...find sticks!

Man oh man, was I the greatest stick finder...ever!!

I'm pretty proud of myself for that one, look how huge it is!! :-D

I tell you, by the end of those couple hours in the front yard, there wasn't a stick to be had, I got them all!! Domeek was actually pretty impressed with all the work that I'd done (and she was surprised that she had to do all the 'real' work, hehehe)! 

I was so exhausted that by the time we went inside, I couldn't part with the couch for the rest of the night! I even turned my nose up to the idea of a walk! I know, the insanity!! 

Domeek claims that the weather is going to be all rainy tomorrow, but that still wasn't enough enticement! 

Needless to say, it's definitely going to be an early night for me! ;-)

Sleep tight everyone!!

Let's Start The Year Off Right!

Well my friends, I might be a day late, but I still think that this is an incredibly important reminder to all us pups, kittens, and humans!

January 2nd was the official National Pet Travel Safety Day!

Now, unfortunately the auto safety industry doesn't keep records on how many pets are injured or killed in car accidents in each year...but I'm pretty sure that that number is higher than we like to think! :-( Which is why educating all our pet parents is incredibly important!!

I'm sure that we've all seen dogs doing this...

:-/ Hm...do we think that this is the safest way to travel? That's correct - Nope!!!

As the pups over at Go Pet Friendly say, if You wear a seat belt and your Kids wear a seat belt, then why on earth wouldn't you put your pup or kitten in a seat belt/restraint?? That's a great question!!

Luckily we have humans standing up for us! First off, in 2011, AAA in partnership with Kurgo, asked their readers to complete a pet safety survey. Here we discovered that only 16% of respondents stated that they used any kind of pet restraint at all (uh oh!), 17% stated that they allowed their pups to sit on their laps while driving, and 3% took photos of their pets while driving (OMD, don't do that!!)!!!

Just to let you know: “An unrestrained 10-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph will exert roughly 300 pounds of pressure, while an unrestrained 80-pound dog in a crash at only 30 mph will exert approximately 2,400 pounds of pressure. Imagine the devastation that can cause to your pet and anyone in its path (via Jennifer Huebner-Davidson, AAA National, Traffic Safety Programs manager)!" Those are some scary facts, huh?!

Due to these survey results, AAA created a booklet called Traveling with Your Pet: The AAA PetBook that gives pet parents lots of great tips and information for traveling! They also provided discounts for all Kurgo safety products and for Target products as well!

Six states (Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island) have now enacted pet car safety laws too, with New Jersey having one of the most strict laws!

So...what to do...

hm, try again...

Hahaha, omd, that poor thing!! NO!!!

As much as most of us hate the idea, we all need to be in restraints! :-/ Which means: chilling in a crate, using a doggie safety belt, or sitting in a doggie car seat! There's tons of options out there, so finding one that suits both you and your parent shouldn't be a terrible experience! Now, not all safety restraints are created equally, meaning that some are safer than others...but if you do your research and watch those awful crash safety films, you should be able to decipher what works and is safe for you!

I personally use the RC Canine Friendly harness vest that has been independently crash tested and certified (for dogs up to 85 pounds) in Canada. Domeek and I were impressed with their facts and video, so we decided to get it! Thankfully we haven't been in a car accident since buying it, but we have been impressed when braking in all that Bay Area commute traffic! :-D

I also use the Snoozer large Lookout doggie car seat in conjunction with my safety harness! This is more of a comfort thing (at least for me) than a safety thing; but I do like to look out the window, so this allows me to safely sit my tush down and be a nosy puppy! ;-) As a reminder, if you want your pup or kitty to sit in the front seat, make sure that you can turn off your passenger airbags, as this can be even more dangerous in a car accident!!

My brothers all use crates to ride in the car, even though they would rather sit in my car seat!

There you go, as you can all see, there are tons of options for each and every puppy and kitten out there! For more travel product reviews, check out my friend Chloe at Dog Jaunt as she has seen and reviewed them all! ;-) I don't want you all to be worried when driving, but it's definitely worth the time and the effort to make sure that you are safe before starting that engine!

Thank goodness for animal days like this one, cause otherwise we would forget about the little things!

So, how do you travel in the car???

Wordless Wednesday - My First Play of 2013

Happy Happy New Year One And All!!! :-D

I hope that you have had an awesome 2013 so far...after all, there's only been 2 days so far! Hehe!

Well, I've already hung out at the dog park and had dinner with my cousin, Pippi, so I can't complain! :-D

FYI, I'm not snarling...we're just playing...terrier teeth style! ;-)

Bat Dog?! ;-)

I got to try Chicken Kiev at Pippi's house and we even got a smidgen of New Year's cake (woohoo!!), needless to say, I constantly want to go over to her house now!! Hehe!

Have a great day everyone!! :-D