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Sahara's new fetish.

Sahara has a new addiction. Buoys. One had come ashore at St Kilda yesterday, and another doggie walked past proudly holding it in his mouth - until Sahara saw it, and then it was a lost cause. I have had to leave it in my car to stop her playing with it - she pounces on it, runs with it like a soccer ball and generally worships it, while squeaking at it and making strange hysterical yelps, because it's too big to pick up with her teeth.
Strange dog.

...birthday wishes

How sweet! Sahara was wished happy birthday by the doggies at Beneful. Not that I would ever feed my dog that scag, but I have them registered on their dog blog thingy. They sent me a printable birthday hat, which for some reason won't upload to share with you.

Dogster, my favorite doggy forum, sent Sahara 25 bones (like a cute way of telling a dog you think they're pretty!) and a rosette in the shape of a birthday cake. Awww!

She seemed to enjoy her doggie choc chip cookies, and I see Finn & Sootie have their special doggie donuts in store - looks like I will be making a trip to Kew tomorrow morning!

Same old, same old...

my wake up call, as usual.


Happy 1st Birthday to my gorgeous girl.

Ham & Chicken flavored cake is on the menu this morning.

Yum.

My little Baby is growing up.

It's Sahara's first birthday tomorrow, and I'm getting a little anxious as to what to do about it. I don't want to be a crazy doggy mommy as I always fear, and go all out with a cake (which I will obviously end up eating it, unless I make it out of mincemeat and meaty bites or something), nor do I want to let the occasion go unmarked.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the Queen of the Under Prepared?

(I did find these doggy candles in case I decided to go through with the cake idea, but they look rather phallic to me).

Ouchies!

I went to visit my brother for his birthday yesterday. I think he particularly enjoyed Sahara - she's met her match in him; someone who gives as good as she does, and retaliates even better. And yes, that's my 'blow up man' in the right of the shot - he has no appendages, he is merely for comic value when the religious people knock at the door/when entertaining guests. As you can see, Phoenix was loving the attention (from Mum, not Clinton, the blow up man), and giving his best 'my mother beats me' type smack of the paw, indicating he wants some lovin' because he's just so neglected. Ha. Mum and I took them for a lovely walk through the wetlands, and as she has some neurotic fear they will eat small children, I kept them on leash (with many warnings Sahara likes playing in bogs and will quite happily drag one in after her) and Phoenix was sporting his new choke chain. I wondered why he kept getting a dirty patch on his neck, and on closer inspection realized it had BURNED A HOLE IN HIS NECK (see photo evidence below). It took off around an 8cm strip, complete hair loss and red raw skin. It doesn't seem to bother him, and he's lapping up all the attention I'm giving him for being such a mean puppy mummy.
On the long drive home, I asked Chef to tape a show on called 'Millionaire Dogs', which I watched this morning. Other than how callous they were about how many dogs are euthanized each day in NYC, and showing pet stores with puppies for sale in a somewhat encouraging way, it was pretty darn good - although hit a little too close to home with the whole 'I do that...' and 'If I had the money Sahara would have those' type moments.

Doing what she does best.

My little slurry :)

Snapshots

When I woke up all snuffly and putrid this morning, I asked D for an extra blanket, which he duly fetched. As he was tucking my up into a cocoon, I noticed he was carefully doing the same to Sahara and Phoenix, who were happily cuddled up beside me. It got me wondering who was the top priority in this family. I then started thinking about the first few days and weeks we had Sahara, when D would rush home to see how she was liking her new food/how many puddles she'd made on the carpet/just how violently she had ripped apart the swimming pool and my belongings.




So, of course, I started going through my happy snaps of her when she was oh so tiny. All 1700+ of them. And I thought I'd share with the world just how adorable she was, way back when, when her ears didn't stand up and she was almost pure white with orange ears...

1 & 2: The first two photos of my darling, when she first came home from the pet shop and I was presented with my beautiful puppy, who I'd begged for after seeing all alone in a pet shop for weeks...(and yes, I know all about puppy mills, back yard breeders and such, but like hell I was going to leave my soul mate in a tiny glass cage to rot).




3 & 4: Day trips to the beach over Xmas, and driving around with my new pooch, who had attitude from day one...

5 & 6 The first two photos of her ears standing up! Doesn't she look like an alien??



7: Trying to cool off on a nasty Summer day in the shower.



and 8: my all time favorite photo of my little bug :)

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Totally adorable, is she not?

Killer Whipper Snipper

I don't know which is more amusing to me - Phoenix attacking a whipper snipper, or the vast amounts of smoke issuing from it.

Also - in my previous post - here - I mentioned The Paws Store and all it's doggy brilliance, and I see there was a very similar article in the Sunday Herald Sun this week. I should so totally be given a job by them now.

...gag

Last night as I was watching CSI, D randomly yelled "He's gonna be sick!". Now, I was a little preoccupied with drooling over CSI Stokes (phoar! tasty!) and to be honest, wasn't really paying any attention to anything D was saying. That is, of course, until I heard it. Yep, Phoenix started gagging. His sides started heaving. There was drool. Knowing what he's like, there was a mad scramble to remove him from upholstered objects, and as I knew there wouldn't be time to make it to the back door (and I didn't fancy unchewed Meaty Bites all over my front step) I did the only thing a dirty, country bred girl could do. I grabbed the plate we were eating dinner off, and shoved it under his gob while he barfed.

Now, let me tell you when I first had an issue with vomit. When my family dog, Babe, spewed, she did it well. I came home one day to an entire laundry full of sick, which smelt so vile, and was covered in a green foamy substance, it has been burned into my mind forever more. It took me AGES to clean up - stuck in that stinky room will half masticated rib eye, sloshing around in a pool of grass, stomach acid and string. Yeah, I don't know where that came from, but she had a real fetish for it.

So, of course, the first time Sahara vomitted in the car, so did I. It's like a chain reaction - she starts heaving, I see her go and it sets me off, and there's never quite enough time to pull over.

Last night was no different. But, to give me credit, I had managed to fully disinfect the plate and make the decision to never eat from it again before I upchucked. And I managed to be far, far away from any rug, couch or doona cover, which is more than I can say for the dogs usually.

... for my lovely banner :)


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Not Impressed Vol: 2

Not impressed...

This is the state of my fence...

...all the various holes my estate agent has had 4 months to fix...
















...and below is what happens when I have to lock the dogs inside, due to fucking ridiculous lack of fence...

Sahara's bed. Egg cartons. Milk. Pancake Mix in the kitchen...and then Phoenix's bed, door knobs and all the sticky tape holding the shower door shut in the bathroom, as can be seen in the video above.












Stay tuned for What Happens When Katie Gets Mad At Having No Fence, VOLUME II: Getting Real Estate Agents Fined And Ass Whooped For Being Unprofessional, Overpaid Twats.

A trifle disconcerting...

I found some doggy quotes that were supposedly meant to make people laugh, but make me a little worried because they are disturbingly very close to the mark...

You've just spent $60 on groceries and realize none of it is for yourself...

You often claim that it was love at first sight with you and your dog...

You justify the addition of a significant other in your life so you can have
someone to
hold the dogs when you're out walking in town and want to run into a store
to buy coffee or ice cream...

You keep eating even after finding a dog hair in your pasta.

You have *two* dog doors between the house and the fenced yard, so the
doggies can run circles, half inside, half outside.

You have 32 different names for your dog. Most make no sense, but the dog
understands them all.

You have a bad day and decide that your dog is the best "person" to talk it
over with.

You can't see out the passenger side of the windshield because there are
nose-prints all over the inside.

You carry dog biscuits in your purse or pocket at all times.

You carry pictures of your dog in your wallet instead of pictures of your
parents, siblings, significant other, or anyone else remotely human.

You carry plastic "pick-up" bags and an extra kennel lead in your purse,
pocket, and car at all times.


I actually even forget to take doggy treats out of my pockets after training, so whenever I pull out a $5 note at the milk bar or my phone, several lumps of slightly green and furry cheese and something that once resembled liver fall out, along with the 'poo bag'.

And yes. I keep spare leads in my car, D's car, at my mothers, and next to the bed in case there's a fire and we need to escape quickly.

Puppy Play Date

Phoenix, Sahara, Bruza, Maccas, Kaos, Mayhem, Kai, Jack & Xander (and some random Labs) get their beach on yesterday evening...

Puppia

http://www.puppyco.com.au/


I have totally fallen in love with the new range by Puppia. I spent the morning looking at rescue pups needing homes in Victoria, which I know I shouldn't do - I only end up emailing people in rage for their idiotic and downright cruel reasons for dumping their 'loved companions', and then spending lots and lots of money on my own two mutts, as some kind of show of affection. Not very productive, and soon I am going to end up with about 7 dogs because I simply cannot forget about them and the horrible fate that awaits them, because of human ignorance.

So, onto the Puppia range. They had some totally cute shirts at Count Dogula, and show some really original designs, and are grey for both boy dogs, and little hussy's like Sahara. They even go up to Phoenix's size, which is not a common occurance.





So now I need to decide whether to get Sahara a new collar, or be a naughty puppy mummy and get her that gorgeous coat.

Whatever I decide, I am definitely getting them a style of harness they produce. When I am feeling lazy and the dogs are going insane, I strap them up, put my rollerblades on and head down the St Kilda waterfront, and unleash the fury, and basically go an terrifying speeds along the pavement until they are nicely exhausted. I've been looking for a harness that will be soft enough and durable (the clips on Phoenix's tend to unbuckle at inopportune moments) and evenly distribute the weight of me being dragged behind.
Oh yes. And they are adorable.

http://www.thepawsstore.com.au/newsEvents.cfm

So, I was searching for a nice new (and very sparkly) collar for my little possum, and found this website for Paws Store, which happens to be in Williamstown...and I was hooked. Puppachinos? Doga and Pawlates? Poochercise and matching 'peticures' for you and your pup? I think it might be considered a little sad to have the same shade of nail varnish as my dog*. But I have to say - I've already booked in for the Petarazzi Photo Shoot day, where the best shot from your pooches shoot is super imposed on a magazine cover...Sahara would love it! She's such a little flirt (dirty slurry would be more appropriate..) and she had a barrel of laughs at her last shoot, at Count Dogula in Moonee Ponds. Yes, I know. Irresponsible dog ownership and all that. Using her for my own amusement, blah blah blah. But if strange men are going to abuse me in public for having no control over my children, I may as well have some fun with her on lead!

And yes, I found some weird and wonder...no, just weird doggie fetishes from a place called Fuppies, in Brisbane. I mean...even I wouldn't do this to Phoenix.







* Alright. I admit it. The only reason Sahara and I don't have a manicure in matching hue is simply because she licks it all off before 'tis dry.

On Leash Aggression - Human version.

Not a brilliant day - decided to take Phoenix rabbiting to wear him out, and he managed to run out of view down a bank, and get himself entirely tangled in brambles and blackberries, and sat yelping for us to get him out. Hmm. D managed to find a place to climb up to him, and eventually got him untangled and removed all embedded thorns, whilst I found a lovely patch of stinging nettles and landed in them, with my usual utter grace. As we were walking back to the car after washing our various cuts in the Yarra, what can only be described as an arrogant twat and his family came walking towards us, so I attempted to put Phoenix and Sahara on leash. Just as I was slipping the collar over Sahara's head, she side stepped (cheeky thing!) and trotted up to the mans Lab pup, and gave him a good sniff, to which the wife made a strange squealing noise, jumped backward and the man started yelling our dogs were clearly out of control, and should be leashed as we had no effect over them. Now, I've never seen D yell, or really even particularly mad - his defense mechanism is to simply apply the silent treatment. So it's fair to say I was completely and utterly shocked he offered to rearrange this guys face, as he was so unimpressed with this guys blatantly out of order comment. Sure, Sahara should have listened and let me leash her without skipping off. True, she was pretty wet and got close to this dog. But... she's a pup; she's real, she is not a robot and I understand she makes mistakes, and doesn't always listen. It was my fault I wasn't prepared, but having said that, it was an off leash area of the park, and I was, to be honest, only leashing them because we were coming to the end of the park. The dog was at least 5-6 months old, a solid Lab, and wasn't looking remotely unhappy with some doggy attention. Thinking back, I wish I had of let them play like anyone elses dog in the off leash park, and this guy would have actually had a reason to scream insults at me.