There Goes My Hero

2011-12-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Holiday greetings to all my dog blog friends!

Phoebe at 14 weeks

2011-11-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Pretty soon this blog will need to be revamped to make room for my awesome menace of a sister. Phoebe is doing great though she can be a bit of a nosy wiggly butt sometimes. She loves carrying sticks, gnawing on her Uncle Tagpi, and ruining all my perfect retrieves. I let the monster get away with a lot for now since she's still just a baby, but her puppy license won't last forever. Honestly, I don't get what's so great about puppies as everyone seems to go crazy when they meet little Phoebe. Mom reassures me that I'm still her handsome boy and the bestest absorutest cutest puppy in the world, so I don't mind if Phoebe gets a lot of attention as long as I'm still top dog for my mom.

Here are a few recent pics of the little menace and as you can see she's a handful. She is doing very well in her training though and is learning pretty quickly even though her brain is probably the size of my pinky toe. She certainly acts like it is half the time. I've posted a short video of some of the things Phoebe has learned in the first 3 1/2 months of her life. We'll have to record another video to show the rest. Mom can't believe that we forgot to record our favorite of her tricks: kiss. Today she learned leave it, which I think will come to great use when it comes to leaving MY toys alone. Puppies... bleh. I'm glad I was never one.

I'm a big brother!

2011-09-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting in a while, but me and my hoomans have been super busy preparing for a big change in our lives. This past Sunday our family got a new addition. Her name is Phoebe and she's an English Cocker Spaniel. She's an amazing little girl who loves to run and romp and give the best kisses. She's a very rambunctious puppy, but she's showing great promise in that she's already planting her nose to the ground for a good sniff and making a few short retrieves. Tennis balls are already a favorite with her as is the baby flirt pole the hoomans use for little chase games with her. We hope she grows up to enjoy retrieving as much as I do so that the both of us can train together once Tagpi goes back to his original owners next summer. Once she's older she'll also be a show dog. We hope she matures into a beautiful girl who will make her breeder proud.

For now we're just letting her sleep, feast, explore, and play like all puppies should. One thing she's already really good at is snuggling.

Introducing Kelly

2011-07-18T15:34:00.001-07:00

Mom was off today so the both of us woke up early and went to one of our neighborhood beaches. Today we did water retrieves with my Avery dummy and the both of us had an amazing time!

In other news, I have someone I'd like to introduce to you all. Right now my family is fostering a Pekingese for the Potomac Valley Pekingese Rescue. Her name is Kelly and she's settled in so well into our home that she thinks she's the queen of me and Tagpi! Mom says that she's only here temporarily until she gets spayed and is put up for adoption. I'm glad that Kelly out of the pound, but honestly I can't wait till she's found her forever home. Even though she likes to steal my bed and was mean when she first came into our home, I must admit she is pretty cute. If anyone in the Virginia, MD, DC area is interested in adopting Kelly please visit the website linked above.

2011-06-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

FINALLY, the water is warm enough for water retrieves! As you can see I've been having a blast retrieving my new dummies.

Usually my hoomans want to go home after about an hour of nonstop retrieving, but the spaniel eyes usually earns me a few more throws before we have to go home.

Even Tagpi is enjoying this beach though he has to wear a life vest all the time since he's just about the worst swimmer in the world. He still likes to do water retrieves out of sheer terrier tenacity.

Mom ordered me this dummy thinking it was going to be much smaller. She was prepared to send it back until I proved to her that size doesn't matter to me. Besides, if I were retrieving real birds they'd be about this size anyway.

Those last two were for my hoomans' amusement. I don't understand how hoomans can get such pleasure out of torturing pups like this.

Finally, these last pics are of Tagpi and I doing what we do best: looking bootiful.

I hope everyone is having fun this summer! Make sure you head out to the beach sometime if you can. The water is amazing!

My 4rth Barkday!

2010-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today, at approximately one year of age, I found my forever home with my hoomans. Here I am on that very first day:

And here I am today!!!

For my barkday I got to go to both Petsmart and Petco. I got a few toys, kisses from two sweet little girls, and a very nice compliment from a man who recognized what breed I was.

Afterwards I went for a walk with Tagpi at the Naval Academy and played fetch for about an hour at the park. Once at home I ate a delicious barkday dinner and ended the night with a liver and cheese biscuit my mom baked just for me and some vanilla ice cream. I can't believe I have to wait another whole year for my next barkday, but Tagpi's is coming up soon so I have that to hold me over until the next time my special day rolls around.

One last birthday surprise I got was finding out that Tagpi and I are Christmas models!

More Urban gun dog training

2010-11-10T03:55:00.000-08:00

Geez. I can't believe it's been so long since I've written in my blog. My mom has just been so busy with work and I've been super busy playing and doing urban gun dog training with my hoomans that I forget to write in here and read about all my friends' adventures. Thankfully my mom has a four day weekend coming up so maybe we can use that time to rectify this problem.

Anyway here's a quick update with my training progress. Since my last post my mom has gotten me a retrieving dummy, which I LOVE! Unfortunately, I only get to play with it when we're training, but I think that's one of the reason why I love it so much. There's a lot of rules I have to follow when I play with my dummy, like sitting and being steady when it's thrown, heeling off leash, and retrieving it to hand, but that's all part of the fun.

So far I'm really good at memory/marked retrieves and we're now moving on to blind retrieves, which is why my mom has introduced me to whistle training. I'm really good at taking directions from hand signals, but now my mom is training me with a whistle so we can both learn better control over a greater distance. So far I've aced my recall and hup (sit) commands over a great distance and here is a quick video showing my progress while playing at one of our beaches.

My mom and dad never really got the chance to work on my recall when we lived in the Azores since there weren't many safe places to train, but in Annapolis there are many safe and wide open areas. Now we have no excuse to not work on perfecting my recall and we've been having a great time working on it. Just about a week ago my training proved its worth when I took off after a squirrel in our driveway and immediately came back to the whistle instead of continuing the chase into our neighbors yard. And a few days ago I found a pile of fish scales and decomposing fish parts that some fishermen left on the banks of the river and though it smelled wonderful and I was already kneeling to roll around in it, once I heard my mom blow the whistle I knew I had to come back right away.

Smelling like decomposing fish or catching that squirrel would have been awesome, but seeing how proud my mom and dad are when I come running back to them always makes my day!

2010-08-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

I've got loads to blog about, but for now Tagpi and I are just going to share some videos with you. Since we live so close to the water my mom and dad have been busy training me to be an urban gun dog. One of the things we've been working on is getting me to have a reliable and unfailing adherence to the "take" and "hold" command. I already knew "take," but "hold" was a new concept to me that took me some time to master, especially since my hoomans would sometimes make me hold things in my mouth that I didn't really want to. Holding a tennis ball in my mouth all day comes naturally, but holding a hot dog and not eating it truly is a true test of character. In the beginning of the video my mom is checking my bite to make sure I'm not being hard-mouthed. Later on we involve Tagpi in my training, who did extremely well! After our test we were both rewarded with a generous helping of hot dog.

Another thing we've been working on is being steady until being sent to retrieve. This was a rule my hoomans never enforced before, but I picked it up very quickly and love the anticipation it builds for the retrieve. Tagpi hasn't quite mastered this part of our urban gun dog training, but I'm sure he'll catch on soon. I've also gotten very good at honoring the retrieve while Tagpi is sent out, but Tagpi doesn't like paying the same courtesy to me. Here's a quick video of me going to my river for training and being steady to ball, throw, and fall:

Maybe after Tagpi and I complete our urban gun dog training he can teach me how to be an earth dog.

2010-07-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here I am showing off my sad spaniel eyes to my mom, because I wanted her to turn on the garden hose. Who could ever resist such a look?

2010-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

We've got great news! Tagpi's condition has dramatically improved and it looks like he'll be keeping his tail! He doesn't hold it straight up all the time yet, but it does stand up like normal when he's happy and excited about something. Right now he tends to hold it parallel to his body and he's able to wag it. The skin at the tip of the tail is still a healthy pink so we're pretty sure everything is going to be okay. The vet said it would take a while for his injury to completely heal so Tagpi we will have to refrain from certain activities that involves intense tail action like swimming (in the water his tail spins like a propeller). He still has to finish all the medicine he was prescribed, but we're all happy to see that my brother is feeling better and should be back to normal soon. We have noticed a kink in his tail that wasn't there before so we're wondering if that will be a permanent reminder of his accident. Thanks for showing all your support for my brother!

2010-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today's post is strictly about Tagpi, because my poor brother has suffered from an unfortunate accident. Usually Tagpi holds his tail up, but as you can see in these pics it's hanging limp to the ground.

Yesterday my dad accidentally stepped on Tagpi and though he seemed okay after the accident, we noticed this morning that he was holding his tail differently and wasn't wagging his tail like he usually does. My mom and dad felt Tagpi's bum and Tagpi whimpered and immediately sat down whenever they tried to lift his tail. He had the same reaction while being examined by the vet and so had to be taken away for x-rays. I didn't get to go to the vet with him, but mom and dad told me that they could hear him yelp while he was in the back with the vet techs.

From the x-ray we discovered that the actual tail is fine, but that the point where the spine becomes the tail is bent at a severe angle. Tagpi has been put on steroids and an intense course of antibiotics and we have to check back with the vet on Friday. If he still isn't moving his tail by then and if the skin of the tail appears to be changing colors, then we might have to move onto discussing possibly amputating it. Hopefully it won't come to that. The vet is concerned that there could be nerve damage and that the tail may die. My dad feels awful about what happened and I feel bad for my brother. He didn't have much of a tail to begin with so it would be sad to lose what little he has left.

2010-06-05T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends! I know I promised that I would be writing more, but right after finishing my last post my hoomans and I finally found a house!!! We moved in the second week of April and have been busy fixing up the house and unpacking all of the hooman junk. Of course, all of my things came in the express shipment so I had all my toys right away.

I love my new house and yard and am so happy to be out of that hotel room. Can you believe that we lived in a hotel for 4 months! Now I have my own house with a big deck and a great yard. Our neighborhood has three private beaches and right down the road from my house is a park with a dog park. My favorite park here, Quiet Waters, is about 10 minutes away and the Naval Academy is even closer, which is great because the Academy grounds has tons of secret places by the water and nature trails!

When we first moved here there was a lot of painting walls and navigating around boxes...

BUT now that we're more settled I've gotten to explore my neighborhood. I get to go to the beach and swim a few times a week and every time we come back from swimming I get to play with the garden hose in our yard!

This is what I usually look like in the afternoons: soaked to the bone and showing off my helicopter tail.

Here are some more pictures of Tagpi and I since the last time we posted:

Tagpi after rolling around in the dirt.

Here I am swimming in the Little Magothy river. Mom didn't bring Tagpi this time, because he usually only runs to the edge of the water then starts screaming and crying, because he doesn't like to swim out to get the ball. Instead he waits for me to swim out to retrieve it then snatches it from my mouth when I get back to land. Sometimes it's nice to have a break from my brother. Spaniels are typically used as upland game hunters, but being that we live so close to the water and I love swimming so much, Mom figures we can still work on water retrieves. Of course, we don't have a bird, but a ball is a great substitute. Right now we're working on perfecting the hup command, which is quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to learn! It's difficult holding a good sit-stay when you've got a ball soaring overhead and you're trembling in anticipation!

This is Tagpi and I playing in the biggest of our community's beaches. We get some really great views of the Chesapeake bay here. You can see the usual sequence of events when we go to the beach:

First, mom or dad throw the ball into the water and I swim out to retrieve it.

Next, Tagpi runs around screaming, because he doesn't want to swim out. Then he waits at the edge for me to come back with the ball.

Here is Tagpi stealing the ball from me when we both went swimming in the Little Magothy.

SOMETIMES, Tagpi will go into the water, but he usually ends up looking quite upset as he remembers how much he dislikes swimming and rushes back to the shore.

Since Tagpi kept trying to steal my ball, my mom and dad messed around with him a bit and made him do a sit-stay while they made him into a beautiful mermaid!

We spent a long time swimming that day and I wasn't wearing a life vest so I was extra tired when we got home that night. When I've worked really hard swimming I usually turn in for the night 2 hours early at 9pm.

Here I am proudly displaying 2 of the holes I've dug into my Lolo's garden. I have a third one under the deck and another one next to one of his prized hydrangeas!

Tagpi and I really love our new yard, because the tiered landscaping means that we have to jump and climb everywhere when we play ball.

We get to go into the Academy quite frequently and have gone for walks on the beautiful grounds. There is a tiny stretch of sand in the Academy that I like to play in that overlooks the Naval Academy bridge.

On the other side of the Severn river is more land owned by the Academy. Not many people go there, except for those in the military or who work for the Academy so oftentimes, when we go to the parks over there, we get the whole place to ourselves! My families and I love to have picnics there because of the view we get of the Academy across the river and since it's so secluded, Tagpi and I get to chase after the ball off-leash.

As you can see, Tagpi and I have been having a great time settling into our new home and exploring this beautiful city. I've come to the conclusion that Annapolis is a GREAT place to be if you love the water as much as I do! I'll leave you with one last picture of Tagpi being humiliated by my hoomans. This was the picture they took of him during our Easter picnic in the Academy nature reserve to send to his family in Japan. He's such a good sport when it comes to these things.

2010-02-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for disappearing off blogger for a while. So much has changed since the last time I posted an entry. We've moved from our island paradise in the Azores, we're now living in Annapolis, Maryland, we've gone house hunting and FINALLY found a home, and Tagpi celebrated his 9th birthday. Now that things have finally settled down a bit I intend of being much more regular about posting and visiting all my friends' blogs. I've missed you all and can't wait to catch up with all your blogs!

Since my hoomans have so many things they've been carting around for the 27 years they've been stationed overseas it took over a week for the packers to get all our things! Unfortunately, since my hoomans were so busy trying to get everything ready for the pack out none of my hoomans had any time to buy Christmas presents for each other. Of course, they didn't forget us pups so Tagpi and I had plenty of presents to unwrap and play with. We also got a big surprise when my Lolo was told that our local kennel loved our photo with Santa so much that they chose our picture to be used in the advertisement for next year's photo shoot!

Even though my hoomans had a lot of things they were busy with they still took some time to take Tagpi and I out so that we could enjoy our last few days on the island of Terceira. We went to the beach and the boardwalk too many times to count and went to a few parks to run around and explore. Although Terceira is a tiny island, it possess a great wealth of natural beauty. There were so many places for my hoomans to escape and for me and Tagpi to explore. My family and I already miss living there.

Tagpi and I did very well during our flight to the states. Tagpi has already flown at least twice before and on much longer flights than what we had to do to get from Terceira to the states. Although I am top dog in this family I have to respect Tagpi's age and experience. Having him around during the flight assured me that everything was alright. My mom wasn't there to pick me up at the airport, because she had flown a day earlier than us, but when my dad got me out of the crate I was too excited about the new sights and smells that I totally forgot to greet him! I also did the same thing when I was reunited with my mom after we drove to Maryland. I was so excited about all the snow that it took me a while to remember that it had been a whole day since I last saw my mom. Instead of jumping on her and giving her kisses I was lying on my belly and enjoying my very first time playing in the snow.

For our first few days in the states we stayed at a friends' house. I met a lovely chocolate Labrador Retriever named Jada and now we're great friends.

Eventually we moved to a hotel suite and we'll be staying here until we can move into our new house. We also have had a lot of fun with all the snowfall that has hit Maryland recently. Tagpi gets very cold easily so he avoids the snow, but I love lying on it and digging it up!

I even helped my mom dig up her new car when it got covered up by all the snow from the last snowstorm. The snow drift completely covered up my mom's car so my mom put me up on the hood and I helped dig out car. My mom says that I was more efficient at digging with my two paws than my dad was with a shovel!

We've also gotten to go to Petco and Petsmart many times. Mom said that my spaniel eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw all the toys they had! I love going to both Petco and Petsmart and I love how proud my mom and dad are of me since I'm always on my best behavior when we go. I've met a few dogs on my visits, but I prefer the attention of all the people there. Being in a building full of animal lovers is great! Sometimes the store employees try to be extra nice and feed me treats, but they're always surprised when my mom tells them that I don't take food from anyone that's not family and I prove her right every single time. Usually when we go to Petsmart mom gets Tagpi and I bully sticks to gnaw on. Bully sticks are my new favorite treat.

Tagpi also celebrated his 9th birthday this past January and mom and dad had a great time shopping for him at Petco. Here he is with all his birthday presents.

Quiet Waters Park is also close by our hotel so we've gone there a few times and enjoyed the pretty trails there. I've also gone to the dog park there, but not many people seem to bring their smaller dogs to the park since I've only met one other dog at the small dog area. There's a park with a dog park right down the road from our new house so I'm excited to meet all the neighborhood pups and make some new friends!

Life in the states is very different for the life we had in Terceira, but I'm excited about this latest adventure!

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

We've been too busy packing out our things for our big move, but we still had time for a photoshoot with Santa Paws! I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

It's my Barkday!

2009-12-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

Today is my third barkday! Technically today is my gotcha day, since it was two years ago today that my hoomans picked me up from the pound, but since the people at the pound said I was about a year old we just say that my gotcha day is my barkday. Here is a picture of me on my very first day home. I can't believe how scrawny I was back then! Mom says that back then Tagpi outweighed me by at least 5 pounds, which is a crazy thought since I'm now twice his weight.

My barkday celebration began this past Sunday when my hoomans and I went back to the pound where I came from and donated five bags of dog food. I didn't get to see any of my old friends in the pound, but I definitely heard all their barking and crying. Mom spent most of her time inside with the dogs. She said that she saw some dogs who looked like some of my dog blog friends and it made her sad seeing their sad faces behind the fence. There are still some dogs there who I knew when I was there, but we're still holding on to hope that one day they'll find their forever homes.

My real barkday started at midnight when my mom and dad woke me up with snuggles and kisses. After the early barkday greetings I quickly fell back asleep, because Dad said we had a very busy day up ahead and that I'd need my sleep. For breakfast I got a big raw meaty bone to gnaw on then after waiting around for my hoomans to do the silly pointless things hoomans do we finally went off for our big adventure! We drove into the interior of our island and went to Algar do Carvão. Algar do Carvão is actually a big lava tube that hoomans like to visit, but we took the road less traveled and explored the land that lay around the tourist attraction. This land is mostly used as grazing land for the bulls used in the bull runs and bull fights, but today the bulls were far off in a different plot of land. Thankfully in Portugal, the bulls are never killed and spend most of their lives grazing freely in this area. They only have to worry about a few days a year when they're loaded into trucks to be taken to the neighborhood bull runs and get to chase after silly hoomans for 30 minutes, before being taken back to their fields. I think those bulls are extremely lucky to call this wide open landscape home.

We spent about an hour and a half trudging over moss and heather and Mom and Dad were exhausted after hiking up all the hills there. Tagpi and I had a great time running around and smelling all the cow patties and rabbit droppings. Last time I went here I found a decomposing rabbit and got a real good roll in it before my mom snatched me away. Unfortunately I didn't find any decomposing rabbits this time. That would have been a great barkday present.

After Algar do Carvão we went back to Praia da Vitoria and played on the beach. Mom thinks I look like a little puppy in this picture.

Of course, I spent a great deal of time sculpting holes in the sand...

... and running around like crazy....

and of course, Tagpi spent all of his time playing tug with his leash.

Before we left Dad scratched a barkday message to me in the sand.

When we got home we only had about an hour to get ready before Abbey, the Irish Setter, came over for my barkday pawty. Her Mom and Dad dropped her off at 4 and she went with Tagpi and I for our evening walk. We ended our walk with a lot of bum sniffing and ball chasing in the basketball court. Abbey is 11 years old, but still managed to steal the ball away from me a couple of times. Well... I only made it look like she managed to steal it from me since I'm such a nice guy.

Later in the night we had a ginormous feast. As an appetizer we had liver and cheese biscuits that my mom baked last night. For dinner we had steak and mashed sweet potatoes with cheese sprinkled on top. Abbey finished her plate right away. I always thought Tagpi was a fast eater, but Abbey put him to shame. Of course, being the gentleman that I am, I took my time savoring the flavors. For dessert we had vanilla ice cream with a bit of peanut butter and honey biscuits crumbled on top. This time Tagpi was the first to finish.

After eating mom made us wear our party hats for pictures. We all thought that Tagpi looked super cute in his hat.

After the photo session I got to open my presents! Abbey gave me a Dozgilla toy and from my family I got 2 different squeaky toys and a rubber dumbbell toy that I have to work treats out of.

Today has been a very busy and exciting day. I wish barkdays happened more than once a year!

2009-11-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for not updating in a while and for not being as good about reading and commenting on your posts. My hoomans and I now know for sure that we'll be leaving on December 30 so we've been super busy going through all our things. This past weekend my hoomans spent nearly 3 hours selling a lot of clothes at a flea market and made over $1,000! Hopefully some of that money will be put towards my barkday bash. I'm celebrating my third barkday next Tuesday and I'm super excited about what my hoomans have planned. I know for sure that my Irish Setter friend, Abbey, will be over to celebrate the occasion. I also know that my hoomans plan on donating food and blankets to the shelter where I came from. This week is the last week my mom will be working before the big move so having her all to myself all day will be a great present!

Since my last post I've had a few adventures. I went to Porto Martins with my hoomans and visited the boardwalk there. The boardwalk I normally go to in Praia da Vitoria is longer and has bigger beaches, but Porto Martins has a much prettier view.

There was a tiny little beach there, but the water was very cold and Tagpi wasn't too keen on getting wet that day.

After walking the boardwalk we went down to explore the lava rocks.

A couple of times a week my mom and dad let Tagpi and I run around in the basketball court, but a few days ago they let us play with our volleyball in Fontinhas. Tagpi had a harder time rolling around the ball in the grass, but we still had a great time wrestling for it.

Yesterday my Lolo and Dad had to go to the harbor to ship our big truck to the states and while my mom and I waited for them to finish we got to run around and play on the beach. I'll miss living so close to the beach.

In other news, my very good friends Stella and her mom wrote to my mom about making a sweater for Tagpi since he's been feeling the cold and we've lost his old sweater. My mom is terrible at knitting and there isn't enough time to order a new sweater so Stella's mom told her how to make a no sew sweater out of an old hooman sweatshirt. Here is Tagpi wearing his new sweater:

I think he looks pretty cool in his sweater and Tagpi likes it since he doesn't shiver as much when we go out in the morning. Thanks again, Stella and Jo!

Big News!!

2009-11-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

I've got two big news to share with you all. First, it's official now that Tagpi is going to be staying with my family. My Lolo is very fond of Tagpi, and even though we had plans to deliver Tagpi to one of our family friends in the states who would have loved to take him in, my Lolo now can't bear to part with him and he's going to stay with us until his family returns from Japan in a couple of years. Tagpi has always been my best pal, but now I can officially call him my brother!

My second big news is that my family and I now have official word that we're moving to Annapolis, Maryland! This is going to be a very big move for my family, because this will be the first time in 27 years that they'll be living stateside. It will be a very fast move and we should be in the states sometime in December so we've all been very busy sorting through our things. I can't wait to see snow for the very first time. Hopefully I can handle the big weather change. My island always stays quite warm year round so I'm excited about getting my first blast of real winter. The only bad thing is that I won't be able to go swimming as often and so late into the year like I do here.

Just three days ago Tagpi and I got to go swimming in Saguiros again. Tagpi's life vest finally came in last week so we were all eager to see him wear it. Mom was really happy about the life vest, because it made swimming so much easier for Tagpi. His legs are so short that he has to work extra hard to keep afloat, but now that he has his own vest he doesn't have to work as hard to swim. Usually when Tagpi swims his bottom half is underwater and the water is all frothed up around him, because he has to move his legs so fast to get anywhere. Now with his vest he glides quite gracefully through the water. He's still not very good about doing water retrieves, but maybe one day he'll get the hang of it.

This is what I'd look like if I had short legs like Tagpi.

Mom threw my toy really far away this time so I got to swim through really deep water.

After all our swimming Tagpi and I shook out the water. Mom and Dad think I look goofier than Tagpi.

After swimming so far for all those water retrieves I felt kind of tired. Mom and Dad could tell, because I sat around for a bit with my eyes kind of half-lidded. Of course, I only felt tired for about two minutes and then I was ready to play!

After Mom and Dad took off our vests, Tagpi and I had a great time playing and drying off. I played soccer.

And Tagpi played tug with his leash.

Mom says that there's a dog beach near where we'll be moving, but I wonder if it will be as fun as my beach and water holes on my island. I'm always ready for an adventure and I have a feeling that this move is going to be a very big one for my family and I.

2009-11-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

Today Mom and Dad took Tagpi and I to the beach. We thought we were going to go for a walk on the newly constructed boardwalk, but we were having so much fun playing at the beach that we didn't go for a walk. I didn't mind though as I got to run around and dig in the sand.

Eventually we did go for a walk along the beach.

I chased the waves and Tagpi didn't seem to mind getting his toes wet.

When I realized that it was time to go home I laid down in the sand and used my sad spaniel eyes to win a few extra minutes of play time. Works like a charm.

Sometime last week we did go for a walk on the boardwalk. Usually we go at night, but this last time we went in the late afternoon. This is what Praia da Vitoria looks like. In the picture you can see the beach we walked on today.

At the beginning of the boardwalk there is a big area with a lot of grass and sand dunes. I like to hang out there to dig in the sand and to do some other things that dogs shouldn't do while walking on the boardwalk.

When we walk the boardwalk Mom and Dad usually let us play on one of the smaller beaches. It was sprinkling on and off that day so I got to pose underneath a rainbow.

Tagpi wasn't expecting the wave to come up so high and he tried to save at least one foot from getting wet.

Before going home, Mom made me pose for a picture. Do you like my windblown look?

Happy Howloween!

2009-10-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

This Howloween Mom carved a jack-o-lantern for Tagpi and I. Dad could only find one good pumpkin at the store so we had the share the same pumpkin.

This year Lola bought me a demon costume, Tagpi got to wear a Trick or Treat shirt, and Dad dressed up as Jason from Friday the 13th. Both Tagpi and I helped Mom and Dad greet the kids and Tagpi made sure to alert Dad whenever some candy dropped on the ground.

Since my family and all the other Americans living in the Azores are here with the military, Howloween is run a little different than in some other places. On my island the American kids and their families get to trick or treat for the first hour and then the gates to our housing area is opened to allow all the Azorean children in. The first hour was very organized and calm, but once the gates were opened to allow everyone else in we were mobbed by children. Our normally quiet streets were swarmed by crowds of people and everywhere kids and their parents were pressing against each other in search of houses that were participating this year.

Most were very polite and some even dressed up in costumes. My family thinks it's great that the children here get to experience this holiday, because in their last duty station none of the local nationals were allowed to come on base to trick or treat unless they were someone's guest. We always make sure to get a lot of candy every year, but there are so many people that come that we only ever last about 30 minutes once the Azorean children are allowed in. Here's a sped up video (a little dark & no audio) so you can see how busy our Howloween is. This is about three minutes of kids swarming our front porch so you can imagine how overwhelmed my Mom and Dad were handing out candy to so many kids over a 30 minute period. Tagpi and I were glad that we only had to lie down and look pretty for the kids.

2009-10-23T15:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Mom and Dad gave Tagpi and I an old volleyball to play with. We went to the basketball court and had a great time with it. Before our evening walk today we went back to the basketball court for more fun time with the volleyball. Here is a video clip of Tagpi and I having fun together:

Tagpi is really great at rolling the ball around to try to keep it away from me. I used my super bark on him, but that didn't seem to work very well so I eventually used my weight advantage to get the ball. Being twice his weight definitely has some advantages. Eventually I let Tagpi have the ball and he went crazy trying to maul the thing to death. We spent about half an hour playing with the ball and were pretty tired after that, but we still had to go on our walk.

We usually go for our walks in a place where there are a lot of open fields so that Tagpi and I are free to roam around and explore. I love all the wide open grassy areas, because it means that I have a lot of places to sniff and roll around in. The big fence in the pictures separates the housing from the Azorean farmland. Every day I get to see and smell the sea,horses, and cows and for the past year I've watched those cows in the picture grow up from tiny calves. Most of them are males so they've probably only got another year before I won't be seeing them anymore... unless it's in my food dish. Tapgi can't wait.

2009-10-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up to clear skies and a peaceful blue ocean and decided that today we should go swimming. Mom and Dad thought it was a wonderful idea and in the afternoon we set out for a swimming adventure in Saguiros. All over my island are water holes carved out of concrete and stone so that people can enjoy the sea with little fear of being dragged out into open water. Today I got to swim in a water hole for the very first time.

Mom would throw out my favorite ring toy with a ball stuffed in the center and I'd swim out to get it back. The water was a little cold, but your body adjusts and the longer we stayed the more the sun warmed the water. Mom and Dad went into the water, but Mom didn't last long after she felt some fish rubbing up against her leg.

Tagpi brought his yellow squeaky ball, but would whine and cry whenever it fell into the water hole. Most of the time he would lean over the edge of the steps and cry for his ball.

Here I am bringing my ring toy back and Tagpi is still whining for his toy.

Eventually he did step into the water to get it.

After a while I took a break from swimming and played chase and fetch with Tagpi.

Then we posed for pictures for my mom.

After two hours playing in Saguiros my Mom and Dad started packing up to leave, but then Tagpi lost his ball to the water again and started to whine and cry. The ball quickly floated too far away for my Mom and Dad to reach so I had to come to the rescue. Tagpi owes me big time.

2009-10-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday mom and dad took us to Fontinhas to play in the forest. It's not a long drive there from our home and mom was torn about whether we should go to the beach or the forest, but chose Fontinhas since we haven't been there in a while. Here I am still inside the car, but taking in all the smells at the park entrance.

First Tagpi and I went crazy sniffing and marking everything. Then we watched a herd of goats that a farmer had let loose to free feed on the fields. Eventually Tagpi and I ran around in an adjacent field and played fetch. After about half an hour we ended up looking like this:

During my cool down period I also spent a lot of time rolling around in the grass. Here's my attempt at a photo collage like the ones my pals, the Dughallmor Beagles, are so good at making.

We had a great time playing in the forest and I hope it won't be so long before we get to go again!

2009-10-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last month our very good friend, Stella, nominated one of our photos for photo of the month. About a week ago we found out that our photo won and is now featured on the Dogs with Blogs homepage. Thank you Stella for thinking of us and nominating our photo and thanks to everyone who voted for our picture!

Today we got a package in the mail that mom ordered for us a while ago. I was already pretty excited about the cardboard box so you can imagine how much more excited I was about the beef tendons and beef tracheas inside of the box. Mom split one trachea in half and gave Tagpi and I a piece. Tagpi is a heavy chewer so he gnawed his down in no time, but it took me about 2 hours to finish my piece. I wonder when she's going to let us have a go at the beef tendons?

2009-10-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

Today mom and I had fun with this program we found called, AndreaMosaic. Using this fun little program you can take a bunch of your pictures on your computer and the AndreaMosaic fits them all together so that they look like another picture. It's free and it puts together the mosaic quickly so we recommend it to all of our dog blogging friends.

Most of my mosaic is made from pictures of me, though there are a few pics of friends and favorite places in there as well.

Most of Tagpi's mosaic is made up of me and his bunny sister, Alice.

2009-10-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last night Tagpi and I got to walk on the boardwalk for our evening walk. We met 3 stray poodles and ran around on the beach. Mom didn't take any pictures, because it was dark, but here are pictures of when we went to the beach on Friday. My new life vest came in last week, but we couldn't use it for a few days, because the waves were too strong and choppy. On Friday we finally got some decent weather so we all rushed to the beach for some fun.

We played in the waves...

and I dug in the sand...

And Tagpi got dirty, because he got in the way

I modeled my life jacket...

I ran on the shore...

and Tagpi and Dad ran too...

We fetched our toys and ball from the waves...

and I tried to play fetch with this ball, but it kept crumbling whenever I touched it.

I tried out my new life vest and did some serious swimming in the Atlantic...

Tagpi didn't as much swimming since he doesn't have a vest, but he still got to enjoy the water.

We had a lot of fun together...

and we can't wait to go back.

2009-10-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

The month of October is Adopt-A-Dog month and all around the globe homeless pups are hoping that one day they'll find their forever home. Nearly two years ago I was one of those pound pups and although I have found health and happiness with my family I still worry for my friends who are still living in the pound.

The one no-kill shelter on my island is capable of housing up to 70 dogs, but there are so many strays, neglected, and unwanted dogs here that they are almost always filled past that mark. The shelter staff work very hard to take care of all the dogs, but it is very difficult since they have very little financial support and always have so many new dogs coming in. It saddens my hoomans and I thinking of how poorly some dogs are treated here and elsewhere, but seeing the love and hard work the shelter staff give towards the dogs' plight offers us some consolation.

I was in the pound for 6 months, but I was cared for and I was loved. I had roamed the streets and been stuffed in the trash by some mean hooman, but those people rescued me and made sure that I was ready when my family finally found me. I will never forget how wonderful it was finding a family of my own and I hope that one day my friends at my shelter will one day experience that joy. If you're thinking about adding another dog to your home, please consider a pound pup.

Here is a picture of the very first time I smiled and laughed while playing with my hoomans. It was taken 6 days after my adoption. This was the moment when it finally started hitting me that this was real and that it was forever.

2009-09-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Today Tagpi and I got to share our walk with one of my dearest friends in the world, Abbey the Irish Setter. It's been a while since I've seen Abbey so my tail was wagging furiously when I first saw her on her front porch. I haven't seen her since before the passing of her nephew and my other dear friend Corey, whose picture you can see on my side menu. Abbey has just recovered from surgery where she had a tumor removed from her neck. She's doing fine now and has a very faint scar where here stitches used to be. I thought she still looks like a goddess. Apparently Tagpi thought so too, because he was very friendly with her throughout our walk. Here is a picture of the three of us together before we dropped her back home.

Today Mom found some old pictures in her cameras. Here are a few shots I'd like to share:
Here I am chasing after my mom in Villa Nova.

Playing with the sprinkler.

Taking a nap on my Lolo and Lola's bed.

Falling asleep with my Glow Ball.

2009-09-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

I've always loved to snuggle, but I think I can now say that my pal, Tagpi, is starting to become a fan of it as well.

2009-09-14T11:13:00.001-07:00

Beach season for hoomans is over and beach season for dogs has finally begun! All the no dogs allowed signs have been taken down and Tagpi and I have wasted no time having fun at the beach.

The other night Tagpi and I got to walk the boardwalk and we played at the beach, but it was too dark for mom to take any pictures. Last night, instead of going on our walk around the neighborhood, mom and dad took us to the beach for a whole 2 1/2 hours! When we first went down to the beach I ran around like crazy and rushed into the water. Then I dove into the sand and started working on my favorite type of sand sculptures: a deep dark hole. Tagpi usually isn't a fan of the water so he played tug-o-war with his leash then sat around for a while looking old and bored.

Eventually Tagpi played fetch with one of my toy duck stuffies. I kept at my hole until the duck stuffie got thrown into the ocean and Tagpi ran into the water then a split second later realized that he's not a big fan of water. Tagpi kind of panicked after he realized where he was and my mom had to run in there and scoop him out. All the while the duck stuffie was floating away. Dad got the duck stuffie that time, but the second time it went into the water both Tagpi and I went after it. It's a little harder for Tagpi to do water retrieves since he doesn't like water and because he has munchkin legs, but he sure tried hard that second time. I'm glad that Tagpi is learning why I love water so much.

After playing in the water I went back to digging and Tagpi played fetch so more. By the time we left the beach we were covered in sand.

Mom and dad brushed as much sand as they could out of our coats, but we still ended up getting a rinse off in the bath tub. I don't think I've ever had to share a bath with anyone before.

Today mom ordered a life jacket for me since there is a sale for jackets just my size. If you're your looking for a life jacket or want some neat puzzle toys have your hoomans look at PPE Pet Supplies, because they're having a nice sale over there.

2009-09-09T06:22:00.001-07:00

I never was a pup to be excited about or motivated by food, but since Tagpi has moved in I've found myself reverting back to a more primal state. Before treats weren't much use when my mom first started training me. Before there would be days when I just wasn't interested in eating. There were even a few times when my mom would offer me certain types of cheese and I'd snub my nose at her and walk away with a huff. Now that Tagpi is here I find myself much more interested in my meals (though I still take my sweet time sniffing and slowly nibbling at it) and I'm much more interested in chews and treats and protecting those little treasures from the jaws and stomach of Tagpi. Tagpi has always loved food. In fact, I think he loves food more than he loves chasing his ball, which is saying a lot. Knowing his great love for food and his bad habit of stealing things I've learned that I've got to enforce my role as top dog with a growl and the occasional super bark if I'm ever going to enjoy my treats in peace.

Sometimes to keep Tagpi and I occupied my mom puts some kibble and other treats in our treat dispensing toys. We have the Dogzilla Dumbbell toy and the Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball. My hoomans also stick treats in boxes for me to work out.

I usually go for the Dogzilla Dumbbell first. I've found that the best way to get treats out of this toy is to pick it up at one end and flip it over so that the treats fall over the floor. It's fun, but the fun doesn't last for long since you can't stuff a lot of treats in this toy. Tagpi just likes to gnaw at one end in an attempt to bite his way through to the treats inside.

The Omega Paw Tricky Treat Ball is a lot of fun, because you get to roll it around the house with your nose and treats magically fall out. I don't like it towards the end though, because no matter how much I roll it the last bits of kibble just won't come out. My hoomans get frustrated too, because they can't even get it out for me sometimes.

Tagpi really likes this toy, but he doesn't get a chance to play with it until I've had my fill. While he waits for his chance to roll it he follows me around the house and dashes in to gobble down the kibble and treats that fall out before I get a chance to. When I notice him I always stare him down or I bark in his face and he slinks off, but he's always sure to come back to sneak a few more nibbles. Today he finally got his chance to roll the ball when I had to go outside to do my business.

The Dogzilla Dumbbell and the Tricky Treat ball are great fun, but I think my absolute favorite has to be the treat stuffed in a box. My hoomans roll up the box and fold it up tight so that it's a little harder to work the treat out. With the box I get to tear up cardboard and paper, eat the treat, AND I get to have bits of paper to carry around the house after I'm all done. Neither the Dogzilla Dumbbell nor the Tricky Treat Ball can offer as much fun.

Ranking our favorite ways of getting treats mine would have to be:

1. a box
2. the Tricky Treat Ball
3. the Dogzilla

Tagpi's would be:

1. free handouts or stealing food from right under my nose
2. the Tricky Treat Ball
3. the Dogzilla

If you know of any other fun ways to get treats let us know!

2009-09-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

Tagpi and I have been very busy the past few days. First off, Tagpi went to the vet this past Wednesday, because my hoomans noticed that there was this swollen area between his toes on one of his back feet. The military vet tech thinks it could be a bug bite, but she also thinks that it might be fungus. If it doesn't heal within a couple of days we have to take him to the local vet. Right now it looks as if its scabbing over and its not as swollen anymore so it could have been just a bug bite. We also found out that Tagpi has gained a little over a pound since his last vet visit about a month ago. Since we can now easily feel his ribs we know that he's gained at least a pound of pure muscle. This is great news as my hoomans have been working on getting Tagpi fit and trim. Tagpi has a lot more stamina now and has a lot of muscle definition on his legs. Our other hooman friends also think he looks lean and longer in body compared to what he looked like before. Congrats to Tagpi!

Tagpi and I have also been going on a lot of adventures with my family. On Thursday we went on a picnic and spent the evening running through a wide open field, sniffing through a forest and a tree nursery, and I even got to roll around in a decomposing rabbit! The night ended with me getting a very soapy bath.

On Friday we had another picnic, but this time on the top of Serra do Cume so we could look out over the island.

After eating my mom and I walked around the peak and enjoyed the view of the sea and rolling farmland. This is the view from one side of the mountain.

Once it started getting dark we had ice cream in Praia da Vitoria and mom shared some of his vanilla ice cream with me. Before going home we checked out the newly built boardwalk. It was a beautiful night and a lot of people were walking, enjoying the view of the moon hanging over the still waters of the harbor. Before going back in the car I saw what looked to be some freak deer/dog hybrid and I started tensing up and growling. It was dark and this strange scary creature kept coming closer to me and my hoomans. I didn't like it at all. Mom made me stop before the strange animal came next to us, but I still stared it down just in case it had any bad intentions. Mom later explained to me that that strange animal was a dog called a Podeco Canario. I meet a lot of strange looking dogs on my evening walks, but that one sure did freak me out. I've never seen anything quite like it before. Tagpi thought he was pretty strange looking too.

Yesterday we went on a picnic with some of hooman friends. We wanted to go to this place that our Azorean hooman friend told us about, but we didn't know where it was so we called him up and asked him to show us. Before that though, he wanted to show us his mother-in-laws house. Tagpi and I had to stay outside, but my hoomans had a great time going inside a traditional Azorean house. Outside the house, the family's farm dog was tied up since he wasn't busy working the cattle. Most of the farm dogs on his island are Cão de Fila de São Miguel or the Sao Miguel Cattle dog (Cão pronounced as "cow" means dog in Portuguese), and this dog looked like he was one too, though he didn't have the usual brindle coat pattern we see on most other farm dogs. I see these dogs all the time working with the farmers or riding on the back of pickups as the farmer travels around, but I've never seen one lounging around and enjoying the sunshine like this one was doing. I guess even busy farm dogs need a day of rest.

Before leaving our Azorean friends gave us corn, cantaloupe, and watermelon from their gardens. We are very lucky to have found such great friends like them. The place they took us to for our picnic is a park with a bullring and it stands on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Eventually there will be a stairway leading down the cliff where a new swimming hole is being built. Hopefully they'll finish that swimming hole soon so we can take a dip in it. Here is a picture of the bullring. In the left side where all the trees are is where my hoomans and I had our picnic.

Mom and I had a great time exploring the area. We went up and down the bull ring steps many many times and I was one tired pup. We also found a lookout where you can look at the surrounding cliffs and out over the ocean. This is the one very fuzzy and lopsided picture my mom took of me and at the lookout.

After eating our share of burgers and hotdogs, Tagpi and I got to play inside the bull ring! We played fetch and I got to dig in the dirt. My dad cheered us on from the stands before coming down to play with us in the ring. I was too busy digging up dirt by the doors that let out the bull so mom only got a picture of Tagpi in the ring. She did record a video of us racing around in the ring so later on she might post it.

Today has been a day of rest, but I'm hoping that tomorrow we can have another adventure since this weekend is supposed to be longer than usual. I hope all you other pups are having a great Labor Day weekend!

2009-08-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

I finally have my whole family back together! Since July my family has been separated for various reasons. First my Lolo, Lola, and Dad flew to the states and stayed there for two weeks. Then my Lolo and Dad came back, but Lolo had to fly to Germany the next day for business. Then a week later my Lolo came back, but flew to the states a week later. My Lolo stayed in the states for a few days and flew back with my Lola who has been in the states for the entire time. I was so happy when my family was finally all together at the airport when my Lolo and Lola flew in. It's nice having things back to normal in the house.

In other news, my collar that I've had for about a year and a half finally died on me. Now I get to wear a nice red leather collar that my Lola bought for me last Christmas. Red is my favorite and my mom's favorite collar so I don't miss my old collar too much.

I also got a bath and instead of getting soaked in the bathtub my mom and dad let me get soaked with the garden house. Tagpi also joined in the fun.

Look how different I look once my hair is soaked with water. Sometimes my mom and dad forget how skinny I actually am underneath all that hair.

After getting rubbed down with icky berry smelling shampoo and getting soaked again with the hose my mom and dad dried me off using the sun's rays and a hairdryer. Mom said that my top knot was long overdue for a haircut and that I was starting to look more like a sheepdog than a spaniel. My dad loves the crazy hair look, but since it was starting to fall into my eyes it was best to have it trimmed.

After getting all that hair cut off I was reminded of how nice it was not having hair hanging down and blowing in my face.

After brushing me out some more, mom and dad let the sun dry off the rest of my hair. Once again I'm a big hairy beast and I'm rockin' my awesome new mohawk.

2009-08-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's been really hot and sunny this past week so Tagpi and I haven't been out on any adventures. Our good car is also in the shop so we can't go very far anyway. Our days are usually spent playing inside the house and late at night when it's colder we get to go out and have fun. This is how we usually enjoy all the sunshine beating down on our little island.

Today Tagpi took a bath and he thought it was the end of the world. What a drama queen.

I came in to check on him every once in a while. Mom says my bath will be in a few days, right before my Lolo and Lola come back from their visit to the states. Mom and Dad want me looking super handsome when I go to greet Lolo and Lola and the airport.

Tagpi and I also got to play with the garden hose today. Usually Tagpi hates water, as you can see in his bath pictures, but after living with me he's learned how much fun it can be.

After mom put away the garden hose we enjoyed the weather again by stretching out on the ground and baking ourselves in the afternoon sun. I got a new ball today called the Glow Ball that is highly recommended by my friends at The Portuguese Water Blog. Once the sun goes down tonight we're heading out to the basketball court to play fetch in the dark. I can't wait!

2009-08-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

My good friend, Blue, has tagged me for a really fun photo game. The rules are:

1) open the folder that has your pet pics in it
2) choose one you haven't posted before
3) tell it's story
4) tag 5 friends

It's hard to pick just one picture since my hoomans think I make the best model and have taken over 4,000 pictures of just me so we decided to pick a picture that happened about a year ago from today.

Doesn't it look like I'm being electrocuted? This is a picture of me chasing after the garden hose at Corey and Abbey's house. Last summer my hoomans watched over Corey and Abbey (2 Irish Setters) for a little over two months and I got to play with the sprinklers and garden hose nearly every day, because they had such a huge garden. Corey and Abbey don't like water as much as I do so they'd sit and watch me from their favorite shaded spots under the trees. The summer of 2008 is one I'll never forget as I met two great friends in Corey and Abbey.

My mom also found some photos of Tagpi that were taken in August last year so he gets to play too.

Tagpi's hooman sister likes to watch anime and one that she enjoys is Naruto. She has a leaf village head band, just like the one that Naruto has and thought it would be cute if Tagpi became a ninja. My hoomans were over at her house and took pictures of ninja Tagpi.

I've seen quite a few other bloggers play this game so I'm going to cheat a bit and say that if you haven't played it before, consider yourself tagged.

Tagpi is a sissy

2009-07-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today was another very hot and sunny day so my Mom and Dad decided to try a new beach for me and Tagpi to play at. They had heard about another beach close to where we live that isn't a very popular place for people to go since it's by the industrial sector. The drive was awesome as always, but I was disappointed, because we didn't end up finding the beach. My mom will have to ask for better directions next time.

My disappointment didn't last for long though as mom set up the sprinklers for me to play with. I love to prance about like a little puppy under the stream of water and I love to bite at the spraying water. Tagpi is a big sissy and doesn't like playing with water so he sat at the sidelines, trying to keep his new squeaky toy from getting wet.

Unfortunately, Mom never lets me play with the sprinklers for long, because she doesn't want me to drink too much water. If we were playing with the hose I could play much longer since she doesn't let me bite the water spray so much. I only got to play for a few minutes before she shut the water off and I was left taking turns staring at the faucet and the sprinklers, silently willing the water to come back. Tagpi wandered over for a bit to check out what I was staring at, but quickly ran away just in case the water came back.

My intense staring didn't get the water to come back on, but I figured out another way to get what I wanted. I have a little hole my yard where I'm allowed to dig and after getting sprayed by the sprinklers, I discovered that my hole had become a mud pit! I started digging and spraying mud everywhere, making sure to get mud in between my toes and stuck in my feathering. My plan worked and mom ended up turning on the garden hose to spray me down. Tagpi ended up getting a little wet after all my fun and games, but he didn't seem to mind much once my mom started playing fetch with him. I had gotten really wet, but my coat is great in that it dries off super quickly. We discovered today that Tagpi's coat isn't like mine and that he needs a lot of towel drying to completely dry off even when only getting slightly damp versus my completely soaked.

Once it got cooler in the day Tagpi and I went for our long evening walk and spent quite a long time running around like crazy in the basketball court. We were exhausted when we got home and quickly settled down for a nap. After our naps my mom cuddled with Tagpi and discovered that all our walks and running around in the basketball court has worn his nails down so short that they've reached the quick and are bleeding a bit. My nails are fine, but I guess Tagpi's gets worn down really quickly because he skids around the court whereas I gallop about and spend a lot of time airborne. The basketball court is the only safe place we have where we can run around and get really exhausted so I don't want to limit our visits there just because of Tagpi's prissy nails. Do any of you know about anything we can do to protect Tagpi's nails?

2009-07-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks it's just been me, Tagpi, and my mom in the house. My Lolo, Lola, and Dad were in the states while we stayed behind. On Saturday my Lolo and Dad came back while my Lola stayed behind. I was so happy to see part of my family back home, but I was also excited about all the presents I knew my Dad had bought for me. I got a new stuffy, a KONG ball, a tug toy, and a squeaky ball. Tagpi took an instant liking to the squeaky ball and has claimed it for himself. I know Dad got me a lot more toys, but I think he's hiding them from me for a special occasion. Yesterday we got to play with two of our toys at the basketball court:

This afternoon we played with our toys again in the backyard then settled down for some serious sunbathing. It was really hot and sunny today and Tagpi and I had a great time napping together. I'm hoping that when it's cooler later tonight we can have another game of fetch at the basketball court.

2009-07-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is Tagpi again taking over Hero's blog. I figure I have a right to write in here on occasion since I've claimed pretty much everything that he owns as mine. I read Hero's list of complaints about me and decided to make up my own little list about living here with my best friend:

-I have to suffer daily grooming! So what if my hair likes to randomly explode all over the carpet and furniture? Hero has more hair and he only gets a light brushing. Instead I have to get attacked by the shedding blade every day and something called the Furminator. It's all so unfair.

-Hero eats more than I do. So I've finally learned to sit and wait for my food and still Hero gets served first and gets a bigger portion. What more do these hoomans want me to do?

-Hero is such a little saint. It makes me look bad! So I beg for food, and I whine for everything, and I pull on the lead. It's hard to break the habit after 9 years.

-Though Hero is usually a nice guy, he can be bully. Sometimes I'll be working my teeth on a chew treat or a toy and then he comes staring me down until I let him have it. Of course he never wants anything to do with those toys until he sees how much fun I'm having with them. Sometimes I'll just be standing around minding my own business and he'll come strutting by and shove me aside on his way to wherever. It's not that hard to walk around me. It's not like I take up that much space.

Besides what I listed here, life is pretty good living with Hero:

-I get to sleep on the furniture and on his mom's bed since I hardly shed now what with all the grooming. It's hard to get it into my little head that I'm allowed on the couch and Hero does his very best to show me just how great sleeping on the sofa can be.

-Since moving in I've eaten turkey, beef, pork, sardines, salmon, eggs, and string cheese! His mom even lets me eat the raw turkey necks. Hero doesn't like raw meat so I get to eat them all by myself! I've also discovered how incredibly tasty cottage cheese is. I guess I can forgive smaller portions if the food I'm getting is of good quality. I also find that I'm able to last a little longer when playing fetch at the basketball court now that Hero's mom is so strict with my portions.

As for living with a saint/bully... I think when you've got as good a friend as Hero, you learn to love them for the good and the bad.

2009-07-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

Look at that face. He looks sooooo angelic, but I have seen the monster that hides beneath that innocent facade. After a month of having Tagpi around I now know the truth about my best friend and I have a few serious complaints about my new house mate.

Mom says that it's always like this when you first start living with someone. All the things that didn't bother you so much before are suddenly amplified, because you're always together. She says that eventually you learn to live with it, but I find that hard to believe. Here is my list of complaints:

1. He whines about EVERYTHING! He whines from the moment he wakes up in the morning. He whines for brunch and dinner and whenever he sees or smells food. He whines whenever my mom even glances at him. He whines when we're getting ready to go out or go home. He whines when I take my toys back from him. They are my toys after all!

*My suggestion for Tagpi: Man up! Stop being such a sissy dog and bottle up all your emotions. Besides, the girls like the strong silent types. Which is why I ALWAYS get the most attention whenever we met big girls on our walks.

2. He's soooooo slow!! I thought Jack Russells were supposed to be crazy active. Granted, Tagpi is 9 and isn't used to such long walks twice a day, but his pace is just pathetic. Not even halfway through our walk he's dragging behind and I have to slow down or come to a full stop to wait for him. For the whole walk all I ever hear is, "Hero, WAIT!" *stops and stands around waiting for mom and Tagpi to catch up* or "Hero, STOP!" *plants butt on ground and doesn't move until mom says I can*. It's all very frustrating. How am I to let out pent up energy when I have to stop and sit every 10 feet? At least mom makes sure I get some extra running time at the basketball court.

*My suggestion for Tagpi: Stop being greedy and trying to eat so much. You still have 2-3 more pounds you could lose. Listen to mom when she tells you to "leave it" so we can keep a steady pace. Keep your eye on the prize. Remember, at the end of our walks we get to play fetch at the court and the sooner we get there the more time we get to run around.

3. He chews up my toys. He hasn't outright destroyed anything yet, but nearly all of my toys (except the tug toys) were in pristine condition and now a few of them have holes and are missing limbs and ears. Mom tries to be diligent, confiscating toys and giving him appropriate things to chew on. My toys, however, still bear the scars and I feel that I have yet to be avenged! Perhaps I should chew his ear off...

*My suggestion for Tagpi: Try chewing on your nylabones instead of chewing on MY THINGS. Toys are for carrying in your mouth or playing fetch with, not for destroying.

4. He steals all of my things. The other morning I jumped off my mom's bed and found Tagpi sleeping in MY crate! I gave him the cold shoulder for the rest of the morning, because of that. Sometimes he tries to steal toys I'm playing with. Usually I'm too nice to say or do anything, but if it's something I really like I'm not above rearing up and snarling to prove who's top dog in this house. He also steals my mom's attentions. I act like it doesn't bother me much, but deep inside the seed of jealousy has been planted.

The one thing I don't mind him stealing is my food, which my mom gets a little mad about since Tagpi is the one who needs to get back in shape and shouldn't be eating any more than he has to.

*My suggestion for Tagpi: You have your own bed! You have your own toys! Try using them sometime.

2009-07-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

Today my mom took Tagpi and I out for a car ride. We got to ride in the big truck so I was more excited than usual at the beginning of the trip. We went to Villa Nova and got to play around in the picnic area. Don't we look like a goofy pair?

Today was a cool day so my mom thought it would be nice to have an afternoon adventure. Lately it's been too hot so we've been stuck inside the house with the AC blasting. We've been having our walks and visits to the b-ball court at a later time, which I don't mind so much as we have less rude dogs barking at us when we pass by them.

Our good friend, Chef tagged us. Thanks again, Chef!

The rules of the game:

1. Go to your photo files and select the sixth folder.
2. Select the sixth photo in that folder.
3. Post the photo along with the story behind it.
4. Tag five friends to do the same thing.

Here's my picture:

This was taken on February 2007. I had been with my family for about three months. I still look like a scrawny pup, but by this time my new and improved coat was growing fast. I was also starting to muscle up and by this time my hoomans couldn't feel my spine anymore and just a tiny bit of my hip bones.

And since I'm such a nice guy and Tagpi has his own picture folder he gets to play too:

This is from the very first set of photos my hoomans took of Tagpi. This was taken in August 2006 during a picnic in Seretta. I was still waiting for my hoomans to discover me in the pound at that time.

And the friends we're tagging are:
The Portuguese Water Blog, Maggie, Pipa, Nessa, and Tuffy.

Tagpi

2009-07-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hero is asleep in his crate right now so I'm taking over his blog for a bit in order to introduce myself.

My name is Tagpi, which means "Patch" in Tagalog. Sometimes those who love me call me "Abomination" in joking, because that's what some snotty people think of me what with my puddin/shortie legs. I take all the teasing in stride, but I make sure to threaten them with some serious face eating lest they go overboard. I make have little legs, but I can jump high enough to do some serious damage.

My family found me in a pet store in Belgium and I was the last puppy from my litter. I've lived in Germany and California before coming to the Azores and was a brother to Tala, the Podengo medio, and Alice the dwarf rabbit, before coming to stay with my best friend, Hero.

I'm an expert whiner, chewer, and beggar. I live and breathe for a far thrown ball. I don't know how to dig. I love to have my bum scratched and make laughing hyena noises when just the right spot is scratched. I've killed a groundhog and taken on a Mastiff and a herd of cows. My favorite colors are red and yellow. I am a traitor - meaning I hold no loyalty to anyone and will ditch you in a second if some stranger offers to throw a ball for me. I don't like cuddling with hoomans, unless I'm too tired to protest.

So far I've been having an awesome time at Hero's. I get to go on two long walks every day and I get to run around like crazy at the basketball court at least once a day. My 9 long years on this earth and my super short legs make me a bit slower and cut down on my stamina, but I think with time I'll soon be neck and neck with my best pal. On the 4th of July, Hero and I went on a hike with his mom and dad and I kept up a very good pace. I'm looking forward to going on all the adventures Hero gets to have with his hoomans.

At home, Hero is nice enough to share all his toys and even his bed. Sometimes I get carried away when playing with his toys so I've had many of them confiscated before I've gotten the chance to do any serious damage. A lot of stuffy ears and paws have been amputated since my arrival and I intend on destuffing most of them before I leave.

I don't know how long I'll be staying here, but it kind of looks like someone in the heavens wants me to stay a little longer than originally intended. I'm excited about going to the states, but in the meantime I'm loving my time here. Hero has told me a lot of great things about his dog blog friends. I love making friends too so whenever Hero gets up I'm going to read about the lives of all his blogging friends that he goes on about so much.

Happy Fourth of July!

2009-07-04T16:20:00.001-07:00

I'm Back!

2009-07-01T16:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry to have been away for so long. My hoomans and I have been super busy these past few weeks, because our favorite pack of hoomans were set to leave this island and we wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. For the past two years this pack of hoomans have been like family to my hoomans and I was lucky to find two really great friends in the four-legged members of the pack, Tagpi and Alice. One of the bonding experiences I had with my friends was a little photoshoot with Tagpi and Alice.

Tagpi's hoomans left for the states last Saturday and my hoomans have been feeling all sad and mopey, because they already miss them very much. I miss them as well as the whole family loved dogs and always made me feel super handsome and special. I'm not as sad as I could be though, because they left a little bit of them behind in the the form of my bestest pal in the whole wide world: TAGPI!! Here we are being bandanna brothers:

Tagpi will be staying with me until he can catch a flight to the states where he'll be living in a new home in Virginia. We're still unsure when he'll be able to fly out, but in the meantime him and I have been having a great time together. Tagpi is learning the rules of my house, which include LOTS of snuggling and no barking at the door. I don't mind sharing my toys with my best friend and Tagpi has been kind enough not to destroy any of my things as of yet. Last night my mom took some rather compromising photos of Tagpi and I together.

I think most other dogs would be embarrassed, but I'm not ashamed to say that I love snuggling and that my best pal makes a good snuggle buddy.

2009-06-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Sometime last week my hoomans had a picnic at Villa Nova. After exploring and playing with my ball my mom and I went down to the water hole at the bottom of the cliff. We were hoping to play in the water, but didn't get to, because the beach was littered with dead Portuguese Man-o-Wars and there were still some alive in the water. It was a very windy day so they probably got blown in from the ocean.

There were also many jellyfish swimming in the water hole.

So there was absolutely no play time in the water, but I did get to explore the many rocks and watch the crashing waves.

Last weekend I went on another picnic with my family to a new park that just got built. It's huge and has so many different areas waiting to be explored. First we had a little barbecue in the picnic area, which is in the forest and next to the playground. Then I got to explore the rest of the forest with my mom and discovered that half of the park was a wide open field with gently rolling hills. This was a great find for me and my mom, because there are very few places in my island where there are wide open grassy areas open to the public. I had an amazing time playing fetch and rolling around in the grass.

While at the park I met another dog that we guess belonged to a farmer who lived nearby. The strays and abandoned dogs are always in very bad shape, but this dog was lean, not skinny, and had a good shiny coat. He was a very friendly and playful dog, but he got on my nerves a bit, because he kept acting like a whiny puppy and wouldn't stop shoving his bum in my face. My dad eventually had to put a leash on him, because he wouldn't stop pestering me. We relaxed together for a while and he presented his belly to my dad for some awesome belly rubs.

He stayed with us till we left then wandered away down the path, probably on his way back home. It's always nice making new friends.

2009-05-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a park that I've never been to before. It was a fantastic day and I got to see and smell so many new things. It's kind of late right now so I'm too tired to write about it all and post all the pictures, but I'll at least post two pictures my mom took. I love carrying things in my mouth so when I'm in the forest I find sticks, leaves, and flowers to tote around. Today I carried around a leaf in a way I've never tried before. For some reason my hoomans thought this new way was very funny and took many pictures of me trying out my new technique.

2009-05-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Caldeira with all my hoomans. My Lolo wanted to find some plants to cook with and while he did that my mom and dad took me out for some exploring. I scrambled over a lot of rocks and looked out over the wide blue ocean.

After getting a bit wet from all the splashing waves, I found a trail that was an easier way back to the car.

Before going out on my little adventure I was busy playing with two new toys I got in the mail. Today I received a package from my pals, the Dughallmor Beagles. Here I am posing with the two cool toys they sent. It was difficult sitting still for this picture, because I wanted to play with them so bad.

Since coming back from my adventure I've been carrying around my little plush bird nonstop. Here's a video of me playing with one of the toys they sent:

I also have two random videos I wanted to post. The first is very short and shows me jumping over the new baby gate my hoomans got, thinking they could put me in exile. My hoomans assumed a baby gate would be high enough to deter me, but boy were they wrong. They forget that when I really want something I make the effort to jump and get it. One time I easily hopped over a 4 foot stone wall to teach rude little Pogo the poodle a lesson. What makes them think a little baby gate could stop me?

The next one is of me trying to eat some grass. I love to graze, but my hoomans don't like me to eat grass, because a lot of worm infested stray cats and dogs wander around our neighborhood. To keep me from grazing like a cow, my hoomans find one long blade of grass and I spend more time licking and slurping than actually eating.

2009-05-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that both of my paws are completely healed! I don't have to wear any stupid bandages anymore and I don't have to walk around with silly baby socks. My hoomans want to wait a little bit longer before going on any hikes or playing any fast and furious games with my tennis ball, but for now I'm content with walks around my neighborhood and long games of soccer.

I just got back from a nice evening with my best pal, Tagpi, and his family. His bunny sister, Alice, was roaming around the house and my mom tried to get pictures of us together. Both Tagpi and I love the hunt and enjoy tracking and giving chase like any other hunting dog , but we know that Alice isn't like the bunnies that live in the forest. Tagpi once killed a groundhog before and is very snappy with the birds he finds to be a bit on the slow and daring side, but he has impressed us all by being the perfect gentleman with his bunny sister. Mom wasn't very surprised at how well-behaved I was since I'm always eager to make her proud. I know the difference between the hunt and killing, but even when Alice is bounding away the urge to give chase is extinguished by the stronger desire to make my hoomans happy. Isn't Alice super adorable?

Tagpi is more interested in his ball than in Alice.

For some reason Alice likes to put her little paws on my butt and get in my face while I'm lying in my bed. I just sniff back at her and go back to sleep when she hops away.

Last Wednesday my mom and dad took me to Villa Nova to play with my soccer ball. Till then I had not seen my soccer ball in a long time so spent a lot of time carrying it around and ignoring my tennis ball.

Here I am standing on the wall and looking at all the sea foam. Mom says that my hair looks kind of scruffy in this picture. I'm trying to convince her otherwise, because I am not looking forward to another round with the Mars Coat King.

Now that my paws are all better I get to spend more time in my backyard. We're getting a lot of nice and sunny days so I've doing a lot of sunbathing to try to get my bleached blonde looks back to their full glory.

I also get to dig again and to celebrate my recovery I made a mess of my Lolo's garden. He wasn't too bothered since I didn't dig up any of his plants. Sorry Lolo, but I just couldn't help myself. This really wouldn't be an issue if he hadn't filled up my favorite digging spot and planted veggies there. Now where am I supposed to dig?

2009-05-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have so many adventures I've been meaning to write about, but my busy busy schedule has been abruptly and temporarily disrupted by a very annoying and at one point very painful inconvenience. Last Thursday, while out on one of my adventures with my hoomans, I injured two of my paws. My front left foot has a little hole where a bit of my paw was ripped out. That probably happened while running around on the rocks. My back left paw has a very deep and ugly cut that probably was caused by glass that some nasty hoomans broke and left behind. My hoomans always check to make sure that there aren't any nasty nails or glass where we play, but I guess there might have been some hiding in the water that got me.

I've been to the vets two times already and have another appointment this Thursday to make sure everything is healing right. Since the accident I've been walking around with bandaged up feet and ridiculous looking baby socks that don't make me feel manly at all despite the trucks and baseballs stitched into some of them. Since I haven't been able to go on any adventures or even any long walks I am one BORED puppy. Usually I get two hour long walks every day with nonstop soccer/fetch with my tennis balls throughout the day, but now I spend most of my time lazing about with my stupid socks. My mom seems to have lost the photos she took of me since the accident so those will have to wait till my next post. Here are photos of the adventures I had before being doomed to utter boredom:

This set is from a picnic I had with my hoomans, their friends, and my best pal, Tagpi. First we took some pictures by the coast then we went to a place called Santa Barbara and had a great feast and lots of fun in a wonderful park situated on the bottom of the tallest mountain on my island. After the picnic I went with the hoomans to the cheese factory. Unfortunately, dogs weren't allowed inside, but I didn't care much as I was swarmed by a gang of pretty little girls who couldn't get enough of my mohawk and my sweet spaniel charm. My mom and I saw this great big dog on a farm next to the factory that looked like he was a Collie crossed with a bear. He was HUGE and very handsome. Too bad I wasn't allowed to introduce myself to him.

Mom took some pictures of me playing fetch after a walk and got some silly shots.

Early last week I went on a two hour walk around the military base near my home. There are a lot of hills on the base so it was very exhausting for my hoomans, but tons of fun for me. Here I am showing my hoomans that stairs are for sissies.

A day or two after our walk around the base I was going to have another hike in the woods, but since the park in Fontinhas had opened up again after being closed down for maintenance, my hoomans and I ended up going there instead. I found plenty of sticks to carry around and got to roll around on a rotten potato and some goat poo! Unfortunately, after all that fun I ended up getting a bath.

On Thursday, I went to Saguiros with my mom and dad and spent a lot of time chasing my ball and playing in the water. This is where I injured my paws. I've played in that very same place many times before, but I don't know if mom is keen on letting me roam around as much as I did on Thursday. Next time my hoomans go there they might go armed with trash bags to ensure that the beauty of the place is preserved and that there aren't any nasty things like broken glass lying around to injure the children or dogs that like to play in that area.

2009-04-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today was not the best of days for me. First off, early this morning my mom tortured me by trimming my ear and toe hair and cutting my toe nails. I squirmed on a few occasions during the nail cutting and even got one good kick in my mom's face. Because my toenails are black my mom has to eye my nails real close to make sure she's not getting too close to the quick and that's when I take the opportunity to show her how I really feel about all this silly grooming. The kick in the face didn't end the nail cutting session, but it sure did make me feel better. I soon fell to sleep after that.

This afternoon I thought I was going out for an adventure, but instead my mom and dad brought me to the vet. I was jabbed with needles and things were stuck up my bum. I'm already quite sensitive about my bum as I flinch whenever someone just randomly touches it, but having things stuck up inside of it was a horrifying experience. I was also tested for heartworm and apparently was what my hoomans call a "big baby" when the vet tech drew my blood. I was tired and a little sore after getting my shots and anal probing so I bummed around the house for a while before going out for a walk and a game of fetch. Unfortunately, the game of fetch only lasted maybe two minutes, because my silly dad hit my ball with a stick and my ball flew into a grove of cacti. It was awful. Truly one of the saddest and most disappointing moments in my life. Of course I still have over 20 tennis balls in in my toy basket, but I'll forever miss that one that I lost today.

To end the day I got seriously spooked by a series of very loud and very close fireworks during my evening walk. It's that time of year again when I have to live in perpetual fear, because of all the stupid fireworks people randomly set off every day. What a great way to end a terrible day.

Yesterday was much more fun. My family and I went on a picnic with 3 other families and my best pal, Tagpi, was there there! Tagpi and I explored the fishing pier and water hole for a bit then got our own share of the barbecue feast. After filling our bellies it was time for the games to begin.

Tagpi completely forgot about his real family once another group of people at the next picnic table started throwing his tennis ball for him. What a traitor. There was a very cute black Labrador there as well. She fit my criteria for big chunky girls so I was besotted the second I saw her. We played for a bit, but then had to go back to our families. Later she tried to play with Tagpi, but Tagpi hates being interrupted while he's playing ball so he chased her off. I sniffed her bum and assured her that Tagpi is just one crazy dog who hasn't got his priorities straight. I'd trade my ball for a sweet chunky girl like her any day. I wish my mom had taken a picture of her so you could see just how big and gorgeous she was.

Tagpi also got into serious trouble when he rushed at a young Mastiff that a couple were taking for a walk. After that incident Tagpi was put into exile and tied to a tree while I happily mingled with the hoomans. The worst part was that Tagpi's tree was on a hill so his ball kept rolling out of his reach. HA HA! Tagpi doesn't seem to get that it pays to be a good boy.

I went off with my mom and Lolo and explored the rocks by the ocean.

My ball fell into a water pool left by the low tide and although I've done water retrieves in the past, I had the hardest time getting my ball that time, because the stale sea water tasted so gross!

My hoomans thought it was funny how I'd try to grab the ball then drop it and stick my tongue out in disgust. Eventually I got tired of trying and sat down and gave puppy eyes so that my mom would get it for me.

Here I am giving puppy eyes again when my ball got lodged in between some rocks.

We then explored the beach a bit and discovered that the whole cliff side was made of clay.

A lot of people had carved their names into the clay so I did the same. Now a bit of my legacy will remain on this island even after my family and I move away, whenever that may be.

So Sunday was great (would have been spectacular if it had not have ended in a bath and me smelling like berries) and today wasn't all that great. I wonder what tomorrow holds?

2009-04-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

I went on a serious mostly uphill 2 hour hike today so I can barely keep my eyes open right now. Sorry for not updating in a bit, but I've been one busy pup. Since my last post I've been on a 2 hour hike in Fontinhas:

I've been to the beach:

I had a play date with my best pal, Tagpi:

Of course we played our favorite game of keep away. I often use my height advantage to keep the ball away from him.

Since Tagpi is 7 years my senior he got tired pretty quickly so I ended up playing fetch on my own. Afterwards the two of us spent the rest of our time just enjoying each other's company.

I got an Easter bunny that my Lolo captured during his second business trip to Germany:

And I went on that hike today with my mom and dad. Here I am showing my hoomans which way to go. I follow my nose, but the hoomans used the little yellow and red markers painted on the trees to find their way.

Towards the end of our hike my mom wet my head and my belly, because the sun had come out from behind the clouds and it was getting hot. The water weighed down my mohawk so for the rest of the hike I looked like I was bald. I guess the camera didn't like my new look, because all but one of pictures of me with the bald look came out unfocused.

Since my last post I've also had to have various parts of my body washed on three different occasions. The first was just my feet, because I trudge through a lot of cow poo on my first hike. The second was my face, neck, and back, because when my mom wasn't looking I found some dead baby birds and rolled all over them. The third was this morning when my mom had to wash my bum for reasons I really don't need to go into detail for you to guess. I wonder if I'll have to have a serious bath this month since it seems like every part of me has been recently washed. I hope not. I love water, but not when it involves getting rubbed down with nasty shampoos that make me smell like berries!

2009-04-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately on my little island there a lot of homeless dogs. Some have been born to a life on the streets, some get lost because some hoomans are irresponsible and let their dogs run loose, and others have been completely abandoned by their hoomans. I was once one of those dogs, but the circumstances that led to my imprisonment in puppy prison are still a mystery to my hoomans as I like to keep my secrets.

My hoomans have so far picked up two super sweet strays they've found wandering around. Crush had a very happy ending and my hoomans and I still sometimes see him hanging out on his balcony with his forever family. The other dog we found who we called Gimp, because of her teeny tiny size and her bad leg, is still waiting for just the right family at the shelter where I came from. My best friend, Tagpi and his family, got Tala from the shelter and she was picked up as a tiny pup on the streets of Praia, the city closest to where we all live.

A few months ago my Irish Setter buddy, Abbey, and her mom and dad went for a drive around the island and found this skinny abandoned dog lurking around a popular picnic area. The dog had obviously been dropped off by someone as the park is quite away from any town and is in the middle of the woods. He was very sweet and incredibly starved so Abbey's parents brought him home. The dog was so weak and emaciated that he had trouble walking and stumbled on curbs on his first walk around my neighborhood. Here's a picture of him on his first visit to the vet. Notice how skinny and timid he was.

They called him Orphan Boy or OB for short and once he was strong enough and potty trained he was put up for adoption. It would have been nice for him to be adopted by a family in our neighborhood so that we could see him around and watch him grow, but fate had bigger plans for OB. Here is the picture of OB that was put on his adoption ad. Doesn't he look handsome and so proud and confident?

On the second day after his adoption ad was posted, Abbey's mom got a call on the phone from a man from the Portuguese military stationed on our island. He said that he worked with the K9 Rescue team and his boss all the way in Lisbon saw OB's adoption ad online and called him to tell him that OB was exactly the sort of dog that the team was looking for! The next day one of the big green military trucks I often see going around my neighborhood pulled into Abbey's driveway and the man and his Golden Retriever that was already a member of the GNR K9 Rescue Team took OB so that he could be trained and begin his career as a true working dog. We can't imagine a happier ending.

Here's a slide show of Portugal's GNR K-9 Rescue Team. OB certainly is destined for great things.

2009-03-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

I've been one busy pup since my last post. A couple of days ago my Lolo (grandfather) came back from a trip to Germany and brought me back some super cool presents called Wall Street Journal and Big Mac. I only got a small bit of the Big Mac, because I had to share with my mom, but I got the Wall Street Journal all to myself!

My mom and dad also gave me a gift after a trip to the supermarket. Here I am sporting my brand new Benfica scarf! Even though I'm of English descent and belong to an American family, I still need to support the country of my birth!

I also went on a few adventures since my last blog post. One was a quest for branches for my Lola so she could decorate our house for Easter. I first found this stick, but my mom said it was too flimsy.

We then went to the woods where I found this other "stick," but my mom said it was too thick and heavy.

Eventually I found some sticks that my mom said were just right, but to make sure of their quality I checked them over with my beastly pearly whites.

Yesterday I went out with my family to a place called Saguiros. The waves were too strong for swimming, but we took a lot of pictures and I got to race after my ball and play in the grass.

Here's an award I got from my very cool friend, Chef. Thanks again, Chef!

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows who he or she is. Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including ones who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!

The 7 blogs I wish to pass this award to are:
-Velcro
-Rudolf and Goofy
-Thor
-Niamh
-Aki
-The Barkalot Boyz
-The Dughallmor Beagles

10 honest things about me:

1. Sometimes when I'm playing I hear these mini explosions coming out of my butt. They freak me out every time! For some reason my hoomans only laugh at me while I investigate where it's coming from.

2. Sometimes when a dog has been in puppy prison for far too long he does things that he normally wouldn't have done in the free world. Those memories will haunt me forever.

3. I like to play with rabbits - as in play bowing, displaying my belly, and acting like a fool to get the bunny to stop nibbling and start playing. Some hunter I am.

4. I seem to be going through my terrible teenage years, because my mom found my very first blackhead on my neck and I gave my dad a little attitude when he told me to sit before entering the house after a walk. I can feel the teenage angst boiling over.

5. I instantly fall head over heels in puppy love for BIG chunky girls! For some reason girls 30lbs and under just aren't my type.

6. When I first met my very best friend in the whole world, Tagpi, I got scared and ran to the comfort of my mom and dad's arms, because stupid Tagpi bit my ear when I tried to say hello while he was playing with his ball. Now I'm too big for Tagpi to be picking on me anymore! Look how tiny I used to be compared to Tagpi:

7. I'm a very spoiled pup. Every time my hoomans come home holding plastic bags I immediately go into a quick sit and tremble violently while I wait to see what goodies they've brought home for me. Sometimes they have toys, but they always have cardboard or papers for me to rip up!

8. I'm terrified of fireworks! Whenever I hear one I always run for cover under a table or into my crate. The worst part is that on my island people randomly set off fireworks so my hoomans can never tell when one might go off while I'm out for a walk.

9. I love my ball so much that sometimes I can't bear to be parted from it even while sleeping.

10. NOTHING gets past my nose. My mom and dad try to hide new toys and balls from me to hand out on special occasions, but I always manage to find them even if they're wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed in the back of a drawer or if they're sealed in a plastic container and hidden in a cabinet.

2009-03-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got a brand new collar in the mail. There's a possibility that my hoomans and I may be moving sometime this year so in preparation for my first time flying my mom and Lola wanted to get me a new collar that they could trust wouldn't get caught in the wiring of my crate and choke me. After a little bit of online searching they found the perfect collar at Tazlab. They liked their safety collars best, because they don't break apart like breakaway collars so they can still grab my collar and keep control of me just in case they need to. I also really like the cool red/orange color combo. After tearing open the package it came in I tried on my new Tazlab collar and found it to be a perfect fit. It also stretched out and slipped right off like it said it would when my mom's fingers pretended to be crate bars latched onto my ID tags.

After getting my new collar my family and I went out for an afternoon picnic. We went to a really pretty place that overlooked the sea and was surrounded by calle lillies. There was a nice field where I ran around and tried to eat grass without much success. My mom kept chasing after me whenever I tried to. Bleh. She thought she'd try to be clever and distract me by throwing a ball, but I showed her by chasing the ball, picking it up, then promptly dropping it so I could snack on a few sweet blades of grass. As always, my mom made sure to take pictures of our little adventure? Can you see me wearing my cool new Tazlab collar?

After we ate my Lolo went off to pick some calle lillies for my Lola and my mom led me to a bamboo groove where I got to pick my very own bamboo pole to bring to my Lolo. Of course I picked the longest one I could find. Here's a short video clip of me running down the hill to show my Lolo my bamboo pole.

In other news, my best friend Tagpi had to say goodbye to his little Portuguese Podengo sister, Tala. Tagpi's family will be moving to Japan in the summer and won't be able to bring any dogs with them. Tagpi will be staying with a family relative in the states while he waits for his family to come back, but the family decided to find a new home for Tala before they move away. It was a difficult decision, but it's the best thing for Tala.

Tala found a new forever home last week with a nice couple who already have an older dog. Tagpi says that she's settled in just fine and has even come back for a visit. I have to admit that Tala wasn't exactly my favorite pup as she was a bit too unruly and bitey for me, but it is kind of sad how Tagpi had to lose his little sister. She came from the exact same pound as me so I think we had a bit of a bond in that regard. The last time her and I met we got along a lot better and we even played a little game of chase. This is the only picture I have of me and Tala together.

I'm glad that Tagpi's family adopted Tala and took the time to find a new family for her. Once upon a time she was a lost little pup dumped on the streets of Praia with her little sister and now she's a spoiled rotten pup that has the hearts of two different families in her little paws. I wish her the best and hope that I get to see her at least once before we all move away from our beautiful little island.

2009-03-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Usually I'm not a very big fan of food so I surprised my mom and my Lola when I eagerly accepted an offering of fried fish heads. I got a few as an afternoon treat and left a stray fish eyeball rolling around on the kitchen floor. My mom thought I was gross, but I thought it was delicious.

The one food item that I seriously go crazy for is cheese, especially the cheddar variety. I'm really good with the "leave it" command and will do a nice sit, stay, leave it for cheese, but have never been tested to the extreme. Here's a short video of my mom and dad testing to see whether I'd obey despite having my favorite treat in the world literally shoved in my face. It was pure torture so I don't think my mom and dad are cruel enough to test me like that again.

Two days ago my mom noted that my back was getting a little fuzzy so she took out her torture grooming tool and I had to endure 30 minutes of suffering as she stripped my back. She says that the Mars Coat King is the greatest thing in the world, but I say that it was designed for the sole purpose of making my life miserable. Here's a picture of what my mom says is a very fuzzy puppy back:

This is what I looked like after getting my coat stripped. Okay, so my coat is a less rough around the edges and has a little more shine, but I still don't see the point to it all. Mom says that after my next bath the grooming/torture session will continue with the thinning shears. lame.

After getting groomed I said goodbye to my fuzzy beast hair and mom got inspired by Maggie and Mitch's woolies and made a crude ugly version of me. hoomans are so strange.

Yesterday my mom took some pics and video clips of me during my walk. I met a cute and very excited island dog named Tikki and spent some time roaching in the grass. I was trying to get rid of the nasty Ginger root and pink grapefruit doggy cologne my mom sprayed on me after having my coat stripped.

Afterwards we went to the basketball court and I played fetch for a while.

I wanted to play soccer, but there was nothing to hold in my mouth so my mom lent me her camera case. Playing soccer is my absolute favorite thing to do, because it combines two loves: having something in my mouth and playing with my tennis ball. I like to pass it around with my mom and dad, but sometimes I play all by myself when my mom is still sleeping in the morning or when I'm by myself in the living room. I was a little tired after playing fetch, but I still had fun dribbling the ball with my feet.

2009-03-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Today my mom and dad took me to the basketball court to run around. I did the usually running around like crazy, but also practiced some dance moves with my favorite partner in the whole wide world: my ball. My ball has some pretty awesome moves and can jump and twirl like a real professional, but I managed to keep up with it. It really helps that my ears give me some extra lift. Here I am getting ready for take off:

And here is the rest of our ballet inspired routine:

After all that dancing and flying I was a little tired, but not tired enough to turn down the opportunity to try out one of the puppy obstacle courses I just discovered. This one is a nice course, because it has two slides and a scary bridge to tackle.

The bridge is scary, because usually I don't like walking on things that have slits or holes in them like sewer grates. However, when I'm bent on getting my ball I can do pretty much anything including walking, or in this case, crawling over wooden slats.

Since most of the people I know and love here are in the military I figured it's about time that I start my basic training and follow in their footsteps. Here's a video my mom made of my first time going through this puppy obstacle course.

2009-03-04T12:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting in a while, but my mom has been super sick for the past 2 weeks. Usually I make sure to give her extra cuddles when she's sick in bed, but ever since I got my new big boy crate I spend more and more time there instead of cuddled up next to my feverish sniffling mom. My old crate was okay when I was younger, but it has since gotten too small for me to stretch out in and turn around inside so I made the big jump from a medium to intermediate! Mom says she hates my new crate, because it means that I spend less time snuggling with her on her bed, but I love it! Can you see my tongue sticking out? I always stick my tongue out when I'm really comfortable while sleeping.

Before my mom got sick from a nasty stomach virus and a cold, I went on a few adventures with my family. I had a barbecue with my mom and dad by Villa Nova and even got my own plate complete with a mini burger and half of a hot dog!

After that I went to another barbecue and got to play and relax in a field of yellow flowers.

I even went to the beach again! It wasn't a very warm day so I didn't play in the water, but of course I made sure to make at least one very deep hole sculpture.

My mom is finally starting to feel better so she went with me and my dad for my afternoon walk. We didn't walk far as she's still kind of weak from being ill for so long, but we did spend quite a while playing ball in the basketball court. My mom took a short video clip of me playing. At the end you can see me catch a ball with my front paws and play soccer for a few short seconds. Maybe later my mom can help me post a longer video showcasing my super cool soccer skills.

Here's another short video clip my mom made of me yesterday. Usually I'm a very quiet dog that never barks unless I sense a disturbance in the force (99% of the time it's a stray cat outside), but I will bark if I hear strange ghost dogs inside my house. It's weird, because I can hear them, but I can't find them. I bark and howl back, but they never come out to play. At 17 seconds I let out a really drawn out bark/howl.

2009-02-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been having a lot of seaside adventures. The other day I went on an afternoon picnic with Mom, Dad, and my Lola. We ate at a picnic site on top of a cliff that overlooks the wide blue horizon. While there I got to investigate the picnic site, play fetch, and scare off some chickens just by looking at them. I wasn't really interested in them, but it's still nice to know that I possess such power with just one look. After all the fun times my mom and I went down to check out the water holes. The water was too rough for swimming so we just took pictures and checked out the scenery.

On Valentine's Day I went to the beach with my mom and dad. They want to make sure that I have a lot of fun at the beach before the season starts and the dreaded NO DOGS ALLOWED sign is put up. I played fetch with my ball for a bit then we all built our own sand sculptures. Dad's isn't pictured (he made a grave site), but my mom made a sleeping spaniel, and I made a hole. I like my sculpture the best. In fact I liked it so much that I decided to sculpt 5 other holes before we left!

After being beach artists we played in the water. The spot we picked had calm and warm waters so I spent a lot of time retrieving my toys my from the waves.

Eventually it started to get hotter so I spent some time drying off and sunbathing in the sand. My mohawk is starting to look insanely awesome again, but I need to put in more sunbathing hours to get my bleached blonde look back.

After a while I went back to making more sand sculptures. This is my soulful artist look:

This is the "Feet" sculpture I did with the help of my mom and dad.

Every once in a while I would take a quick break to eye my artwork and look handsome for the camera.

But it was never long before I dove back into my work.

2009-02-10T15:30:00.001-08:00

I've had a lot of adventures these past few days, but have been very bad about not posting about them. The weather has finally improved and even when the weather wasn't very nice, my family made sure that I got to spend time with fellow canine pals and go for rushed walks when the wind died down. I even spent some time with Tala, who is my best bud's Portuguese Podengo puppy sister. Look at those ears! And I thought my ears were big! She just lost her first baby tooth so congrats to Tala for being on her way to being a big girl.

Tala and I get along now for the most part as she's stopped trying to bite my ears and tail, but Tagpi will always be my best pal. He went on a walk with me just two days ago.

Last Tuesday I got to go to the beach where I ran around and got seriously dirty.

The next day I figured out that the reason for the beach adventure was because I was going to get tortured at the groomers. I haven't been to the groomers since August, so I guess I can't complain too much. Here's a before:

And the after:

My mom uses a striping blade on my back, which keeps the hair there in good shape, but my feathering needed some serious trimming. Sometimes after my adventures I'd find out later that I had brought mementos home stuck in my leg feathers. I also had the inside of my ears shaved down, my throat cleaned up, and my chest and tail trimmed. My mom really liked this particular groomer's work and let her take pictures of me to put in her portfolio. Mom says I look less manly, because my mohawk and chest hair have been tamed, but just give me a few weeks and I promise you I'll be back to being a windblown super hairy beast.

Yesterday my mom and dad took me to the Fontinhas park where I explored the woods then played fetch in the fields.

Mom also brought a soccer ball that I usually like to chase and carry around, but I was too distracted at the park. I'd chase the ball, tackle it, then wander away to eat grass. Mom told me to stop, but I was stubborn as always. Every time she kicked the ball I'd sneak a few grass blades. This morning I paid the price when I left a little surprise for my mom when she came back from work. I coughed up a perfect little ball of compressed grass right onto her bedroom rug. Surprisingly she actually thought it was quite a funny present.

This afternoon I got to go back to the beach and got even wetter and dirtier than before. I dug so many holes and played fetch with my mom. The water is starting to warm up now so I even waded in a bit with my mom.

Thank you for all your kind words about my good friend, Corey. I visited his family a few days ago and the entire house has such a somber mood to it. Abbey is still looking for him so my mom and dad want to start taking her on more walks with me so she won't feel so lonely. Her and Corey have been together since she was 7 months old and he was a little pup so his loss has been difficult for her. My mom and dad have taken many pictures of Corey after having spent two summers taking care of him. They gave copies to Corey's mom and dad and they were so happy to have more mementos of him. Now we look at his pictures and his old half eaten balls and only remember all the happy times we had together.

Passing of a dear friend

2009-02-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

Today has been a very sad day for me and my family. When my mom came home from work this afternoon she had some terrible news to share with my dad and me. My Irish Setter buddy, Corey, unexpectedly passed away this past Wednesday. He was only 10 years old and was still an active dog that loved his family and loved life. I only got to know Corey last summer, but the summer before that my mom and dad spent nearly 3 months taking care of him and his "aunt" Abbey while their owners were away on vacation. My parents had never taken care of dogs for such a long period of time and during that first summer learned a lot about the responsibilities and joy that comes with sharing your life with dogs. It was after that summer that they decided that they were ready for a dog of their own, which eventually led to my adoption.

Corey was a good friend to me and I know that my mom and dad loved him less than a millimeter less than they love me. His tail was ALWAYS wagging, which led to some problems when one summer while left in a kennel, the kennel attendants didn't realize that his tail was whacking the concrete walls so much that it was a blood stump. When my mom and dad first met him the very tip of his tail was a dead "rat tail," because of what happened that one summer. That incident is the reason why his owners made sure that Corey and Abbey were never left at the kennels again.

Corey LOVED his tennis ball and loved it when my mom or my dad would hurl the ball in a long and high arc across his huge backyard. He never learned to "drop it" so people always had to exchange balls to keep the game of fetch going. He had a knack for losing balls in the bushes and finding and retrieving a huge stash of long lost balls a few weeks later.

My mom and dad especially loved how beastly he looked when catching balls. I've tried to use Corey as a model for looking positively beastly, but I'm too "cute" to take after the master.

Corey was a handsome and such a funny and sweet-natured boy. His beauty and grace were one of the reasons why my family got me, because even in my emaciated scraggly state, they knew that with time and care I'd gain muscles and a beautiful coat and look like a miniature Corey with big floppy ears. Since I'm heavier in build and have a longer body than Cockers, people always think I'm an Irish Setter/Cocker Spaniel mix so it was kind of neat when I'd go out for walks with Corey and Abbey. Prancing next to them I looked like their little liver coated Dumbo son.

Corey brought such joy to the lives of his family and to the lives of my own family. Without him and Abbey my family might never have decided to adopt a dog so I'm eternally grateful that Corey and Abbey crossed paths with my mom and dad. I'm grateful for the wonderful moments I had with him and my family and I will treasure those moments forever in our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

2009-01-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday I had another fun adventure with my family. My Lolo (grandpa) runs a store and on Sundays he has to go in to make sure that everything is working fine to keep the food fresh. I don't care to check all the machines and look at numbers, but I tag along, because the store has HUGE aisles where I can run as fast as I can and chase and fetch balls. After a good game of fetch and chasing after my mom through the aisles I had more fun in the parking lot as my mom and I waited for my Lolo to finish doing some errands. My mom found a big reed and I had a great time chasing after it then carrying it around the parking lot. Eventually I settled down on the ground and got down to some serious destruction.

Once Lolo was done we all hopped into the car and picked up my Lola and my Dad so we could go off on a serious adventure. About a year ago my family took me to a place on my island called Seretta. They had only had me for about 2 months and I was still a scrawny pound pup weighing 20 nothing pounds. Even though I still looked pretty pathetic my family took some pretty pictures of me with all the Japanese Roses that had fallen on the ground.

Now that it's about the time of the year when the Japanese Roses are in bloom they wanted to make sure that I go back for another photoshoot and a fun day exploring the forest. I kept picking up random things, because I feel best when I'm carrying something plus I was trying to play a game of soccer and I have to have something in my mouth when I kick the ball around.

We went to the Seretta a little too early, because there weren't many blossoms littering the forest floor, but there were still enough for some nice pictures. After all the pictures I got to explore the forest with my mom and dad. It was a fantastic day and I can't wait to go back!

2009-01-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

Lately I haven't been able to go out on many adventures, because the weather hasn't been all that good. Some days the sun will be out and you think it would be a nice day, but the second I step out I nearly get blown away by the strong winds beating down on my tiny island. I try to assure my mom that even if I do get blown away I can always fly my way home with my big spaniel ears, but she insists that it's too windy for long walks. Instead I only go out for rushed walks around my neighborhood for pee pee breaks and then I plop down beside the glass sliding doors to sun bathe. My mom cut some of my mohawk off and since I haven't been able to play outside as much as I usually do I'm starting to lose the bleached blonde look. How am I ever to keep up my rocker image without the bleached blonde locks?

I did get a break a few days ago when my family set off on an adventure to a place called Serra do Cume, which is probably the best place to get a good look at my island.

After posing for pictures and looking out at the valley, the sea, and all the cows, my mom let me run around for a bit and explore. Unfortunately I didn't find any birds or bunnies while up there, but I did get to sniff lots of cow poo!

We took the long way back home and drove through lots of fields where I got to see more cows and smell more cow poo.

Mmmmmmmmm... yummy cow poo!!

I hope the weather improves soon so that I can have more adventures like the one I had at Serra do Cume.

2009-01-15T12:53:00.000-08:00

Last week I went on a drive with my family to check out the Christmas lights in my home city. Before going back home we stopped somewhere so I could have a have a pee pee break before the drive home. The old Spanish fort (from the 15th century) was nearby so me and my mom explored a bit. While roaming around I could smell something strange in the air and heard some strange noises, but my mom just thought it was a bat and told me to leave it. When we were walking back to the car a little brown thing charged at us and I let out my lion roar bark, which stopped the thing in its tracks. It ended up being a little brown stray dog that was excited to meet possible friends.

She always kept one of her back legs held up, but that didn't stop her from running around the field and investigating the scent marks I had left behind. Mom put me in the car and coaxed the little dog over with some of my treats. She quickly devoured the treats then leaned into my mom's leg for some much needed hooman affection. She was a sweet and friendly stray, but I was still a little mad when my mom picked her up and carried her into the car. We sniffed then I acted in my usual snobby fashion by huffing then lying down with my back turned to her. My family wanted to drop her off at the pound, but it was closed and there were big mean strays running around so we brought her home.

The dog got a bath and got all her fleas combed out then the next day my family took her to the vets to have her bad leg checked out. The vet took an x-ray and said that one leg was shorter than the other and could have been from a previous injury where the femur broke, was never set, and fused together wrong. The dog gets around fine and isn't in any pain so the vet said that her leg didn't need any treatment. She got dewormed and treated for fleas then was sent home. My Lola called the pound that morning to see if they had room for her, but they had over 60 dogs and couldn't accommodate anymore. We would have to keep her for a few days until space opened up for her.

In the meantime my family got to know the little dog and grew fond of her and felt that they should try adopting her out themselves before the pound took her. She was such a sweet little dog that loved to sit on my mom's lap and cuddle. She was so calm and never barked and only whined for a little bit when left alone before going into my old crate and falling asleep. She loved playing fetch and going for walks and could even keep up with me when walking over uneven terrain. She never let her bad leg stop her from enjoying life and she deserved a loving home instead of a life roaming the streets.

We advertised her during her stay in our home, but unfortunately we never heard from anyone expressing interest. It was a little sad when the pound said they had room for her, but at least we know that the people there will treat her well and that she'll make new friends and have regular meals. The people at the pound said that they think she'll be adopted quickly, because she's so small and cute. My family and I hope that proves true.

Hero on the hunt

2009-01-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't been very successful hunting birds I've decided to change my prey of choice to something a little more exotic:

2009-01-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

2008-12-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful time this Christmas! I got a new collar, new dog bowls, some squeaky toys, and LOTS of wrapping paper to tear apart! That last bit was my favorite part. I was also given away as a present in a way, because my mom painted portraits of me to give to my Lolo Buddha, Lola, and my Dad. I wish Christmas came more than once a year.

2008-12-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

2008-12-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

It was a very nice day today so I got to spend some time outside in my backyard. When I wasn't running around chasing after my ball I was busy helping turn the dirt in my Lolo's garden.

2008-12-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

So far I'm really enjoying this holiday season. My Lola has been wrapping a lot of presents and I get to play with the oversized cardboard rolls once she's used up all the wrapping paper. Here I am making a big mess with my cardboard rolls and my toys. My Lola used to think that either my mom or dad were the ones scattering my toys around everywhere until she realized that I'm the one taking them out one by one. Sometimes it's hard to decide which toy to play with so I've got to take some out to get a better look at my selection.

I'm also the only one in my family who has a handmade ornament with my name on it hanging on the christmas tree. My Lolo Buddha has been taking a metal embossing class and for one of his projects he made an ornament just for me! I've got the greatest grandparents ever!

2008-12-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy barkday! Since I didn't get to go on a hike on my barkday, because of bad weather, my mom and dad made sure that I got to go hiking today. It was a clear and cool day and we had a 2 hour hike through the forest. I had a great time and so did my mom and dad.

2008-12-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my 2nd barkday! Not everything went as planned, but I still had a great time! The celebration started at exactly midnight when my mom and dad gave me extra kisses and cuddles. Then in the morning my family and I went for a ride to my home city, Angra do Heroismo. The car is the best way to see and smell my island. We drove to my shelter and met up with the president of the shelter and another lady who worked there. They were so nice to me and even called me "lindo," which means beautiful in Portuguese. The president of the shelter said that she remembered me and was amazed at how big I had gotten. My family wanted to go to the shelter for my special day to show the people who work there how much I've changed and also to donate food to the dogs. The shelter only gets 5,000 euro a year from the government so they rely a lot on donations. I didn't get to see any of the dogs inside, but mom says that a few of the dogs I knew as a pup are still there. There is even one dog that has been there for 8 years! The people who volunteer their time there truly have hearts of gold and my family and I are so grateful for the job that they do.

After the shelter we drove around for another hour and then when we got home it was time to go on our hike. Guess who got to come along... none other than my bestest pal, Tagpi!

My mom drove us to the forest, but it had just rained so everything was wet and muddy. Unfortunately we couldn't go hiking because of the wet conditions so instead my mom and dad took us by the sea. Tagpi and I got to scramble over rocks, run through fields, smell horse and cow poo, and look out over the wide grey-blue horizon.

When we got home I got to play with the garden hose. Tagpi doesn't really like playing with water so he stayed inside.

Mom made sure that I didn't get too wet so I dried off quickly even though it wasn't a very sunny day. I enjoyed getting a rubdown with a towel and then played with Tagpi. Afterwards my mom and dad called us into the kitchen for my cake. My mom made a little bone shaped meat loaf cake and mini meat muffins. I was pretty hungry and I could smell all the cheddar cheese on top of the cake. As always, Tagpi was ready to eat. To the surprise of my mom Tagpi and I finished everything and I was just as eager about feasting as Tagpi, which is so unlike me. My family rarely ever sees my food dishes licked clean so you can imagine their surprise when all that was left of my birthday feast were the empty plates.

Then dad took out a plastic bag that had a surprise that he's been saving up for a long time. Inside were many many toilet paper rolls, which I love carrying around in my mouth and tearing up. I couldn't decide which one to pick up first. Tagpi didn't understand what was such the big deal.

Afterwards my dad gave me my presents to tear open. I got a tug toy, a plush toy, and 3 different air kongs. I loved the air kongs best, because they smell and feel like tennis balls. I tried to play soccer with the ring shaped one, but that didn't work out very well. Tagpi loved the air kongs too and probably had more fun discovering my new toys than I did.

When we brought Tagpi home we gave him a squeeky toy and gave him some more mini meat muffins to snack on and to give to his baby sister, Tala who couldn't come to the party. Later that night Tagpi's mom called asking about the meat muffins, because apparently she didn't know they were for the dogs and had eaten two. I didn't mind if she wanted to share in the feasting.

After Tagpi left I got to play with all my toys in peace and got even more snuggles and cuddles with my family. Here's a pic of me holding my new football shaped air kong in my mouth. My mom says that I look like a snake when they dislocate their jaws to swallow big things.

Today was a great day full of fun, adventure, feasting, and snuggles and I can't wait for my next barkday!

2008-11-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting any sooner, but I've been so busy planning for my barkday celebration tomorrow that I forgot about my blog.

On Thanksgiving I went on a little adventure with my mom and dad. We drove around looking for leaves that my Lola could use to decorate the house for the big party. Here I am making sure that the leaves are up to my Lola's standards.

Later that night a lot of people came over to my house for some serious feasting, but I chose not to take any part and instead spent most of my time chillin' in my mom's room. Sometimes I'd come down to check out how things were, but I'd soon get bored and go back for some nap time in my crate. Later on I got some roasted pork and ham, but I couldn't eat any turkey as that upsets my tummy almost as much as chicken does.

Today I went on an adventure with my family to a camp site not too far away from my home. Last time I went there was with my best friend, Tagpi, back in June or July. When I first got there I spent a lot of time trying to get my ball out of the water.

I also posed a bit for my mom as she made sure to bring her fancy camera instead of just using her camera phone like she usually does.

Then I played a good game of fetch and soccer. My favorite game to play is soccer. I figured out how to play this game all by myself and can dribble the ball with both feet, block, and maneuvre around objects. I always have to have something in my mouth when I play otherwise I'm tempted to pick the ball up in my mouth. At first I kept trying to pick up nasty bits of seaweed, but after having my mom and dad flip out a few times I chose to bite my bandana instead.

We were playing on an incline so my ball kept rolling over to the water and I had to get it back, because it was too slippery with seaweed slime for my mom and dad to get it. Normally I love wading in water, but today the water was very very cold so I didn't want to get too wet.

Today was a great day and it's hard to imagine tomorrow could be any better, but I'm sure that my hoomans will prove me wrong. Tomorrow will be my 2nd barkday and being that it is a national holiday my dad and my Lolo Buddha both have the day off to spend with me. Tomorrow morning my mom and dad are getting up early to get me some presents since they couldn't get any before things closed down for Thanksgiving. Then we're off to my beautiful city, Angro do Heroismo, to go to the shelter where I came from to donate dog food in my name. Here is a picture that my mom took of my city.

Afterwards I'm hoping that we go to a place where there are many things to smell and roll around in. Tagpi is coming along too so after all the exploring I hope there is a lot of feasting for his sake.