Sahara, SuperStar Vol II.

It was only a matter of time. And remember folks, you saw her here first.

Sahara's true potential has been realized.

She's starring in her first catwalk on the 25th November for Count Dogula's.

The only thing is, she's such a little hussy even now. She's going to be unbearable after this. All that flirting and attention is going to go straight to her head.


Let us admire some one of the photo's of her from her photo shoot, and one of my favorites of her at 4months old, still looking like an alien with those Gigantor Ears.

Drum Roll Please...

Phoenix has been my main man since Anzac Day (25th April) this year.

He's come a long way in that time. He now knows what a tennis ball is. He will let his belly be rubbed. He drools even more.

And yesterday, he achieved something for the first time that we are all very proud of.

He cocked his leg!

Yes, that is correct. He did indeed lift his leg to pee, like the gentleman he is.

I only wish I caught it on camera for proof.

{It really is rather sad what I get excited about these days}

Chai Latte

This is my friend Alex's dog, Chai. She was a rescue from RSPCA; apparently she'd been dumped in a bin somewhere at 6 weeks old. Luckily she came home with us! She was supposed to be a Mastiff X, but looks more like a Lab X Staghound, with a bit of Border Collie thrown in, amongst other things. I know I usually babble about my own two darling mutts, but this was my 'first' dog, back when Alex and & I were seeing each other, and we named her after our favorite tea. Chai lives with Alex and an evil American Spaniel named Bobe, who wee's on everything. Her birthday is the day in between our own birthdays, she's the most gorgeous natured pup, and has the softest fur I've ever cuddled.
She's also so black and shiny she hardly shows up in photos :)

Smooches and slip ups.

My little pudding is a little bit unhappy at the moment. D took them walking yesterday afternoon - pretty much for the first time ever without me - and my Sahara landed on a rock or some broken glass in the river and sliced half of the pad on her paw off. D bandaged her all up, and since then, she's been a little indifferent to me due to not being there to console her.
It's been strange taking a bit of a back seat to D with the dogs, since I've been sick this week he's been walking them and feeding them a little more, and there's been a massive difference in my relationship with Sahara. She doesn't snuggle up with me in the mornings as much, and doesn't crawl all over me on the couch at night for smooches. I miss her :(

Although it's kind of funny to wake up and see D tucking the dogs up in a blanket and giving Phoenix a big kiss before leaving for work. He's gone from saying Phoenix 'wasn't his type of dog' when I brought him home, to realizing how much better he works for him and enjoying his training - and now big smooches when he thinks I'm not looking :)

Wise Doggy Say...

Wise Dog Say:
My mummy sucks at Blogger layouts & photos, so ignore the lack of text in blog entry below.
Occupy yourself with simply adoring me.

Sahara Now & Then

Congrats X 2

Sahara joins Phoenix in Level 6 :)

(She's gone from 'Silver' to 'Gold' and working towards 'Platinum')

Starfishy Vol II

<-- Eating these causes this -->

(Phoenix in a drug induced euphoria)

Stafishs and happy snaps.

As Phoenix is in a starfish induced delirium (yep, he got peckish at Mt Eliza beach yesterday, and hasn't been the same since. Blank stares, drunkly prancing around the house, constant squeaking noises...I don't know whether to laugh or rush him to the vet.
I'm also about to shoot D - he'd been using my rechargeable batteries in his remote control car (and terrifying the dogs with it) and 'forgot' to a) recharge them and b)put them back in my camera, so when I was about to secure several more road trip happy snaps from yesterday of my darling pooches...my camera was lifeless. Grr.



So, here's a few old snaps to enjoy :)


1. Phoenix's teeth the day he came home. We were both a little in shock how big those biters are.

2. Sahara and I spending the final moments in my old house. I needed a bit of loving, and got a bit of an attack. I love this photo :)

3. Sahara the bush pig. Doing what she does best - getting muddy and wet, and hallucinating about catching fishes.

4. The first moments Phoenix and Sahara spent together - I was busy taking photos and sending them to D, saying 'can we have him? he's really sweet!'. I couldn't see his teeth in the photo, as I was sitting in bright sun :)

...hurrah!

Phoenix passed into Level 6 at Australian Dog Training last night! Level 6, as in the second from the top! As in Gold, in a Platinum level structure! This, the dog who couldn't walk on a leash properly when he first came home. The dog who'd never been taught how to 'drop' or 'heel', to not savage other dogs, or any basic form of obedience whatsoever. The dog who came home and we worried if we'd made a huge mistake - terrified what we'd do when we groomed him, had clearly never had the joys of a bath, was too highly strung to play with toys, was petrified of the beach, and couldn't make out what to do with a bone. And now, 4 months on, he's slowly losing the fear of being patted on the head, rolls onto his back willingly, doesn't lash out when asked to face a wall, and mastered the art of formal and informal recall, heel at 15 paces and 3 about turns, and general doggy wonderfulness. I am SO proud of him!

While all this was going on? Sahara had to be removed to the Sin Bin (back of the car) in Time Out for the rest of the session, due to her massive attack of the sook's, as she wasn't allowed to play with Phoenix for a whole hour. I'm considering enrolling her in Agility properly this week, and giving her more independent outlets for her to unleash her fury and to give her training in a more entertaining environment for her. Who said girls are drama queens?!

...Also got Phoenix's 'photoshoot' photos back this week, and I think you'll agree, he looks like a star :)

Paws with your Pal

Yesterday was a barrel of laughs - we went to Paws with your Pal, in aid of the AAPS shelter where Phoenix (& Bruza) came home from, and it gave Sahara and big boy a good opportunity to chase tennis balls/other dogs allllll morning. We won 2 vouchers for puppy day care, which involves a whole lot of other stuff like workouts for the dogs and general play dates with other pups, and a 5kg gift of dog meat, along with all the other treats Sahara consumed throughout the day. She wore her new pink shirt and a huge smile all day. Afterwards we carried on to Australian Dog Training, which was much improved by A) Being daylight and there being no strange men lurking in bushes for Sahara to get sidetracked by and B) they were so wrecked from their morning activities they were performing 'heel' without even trying :)

And yes, I forgot my camera. Again.

raver doggy

I just had a quick squiz at martingale collars online - flat collars wreck Sahara's fluffy neck, and the chokers either burn holes in Phoenix (as posted here) or go rusty and make Sahara orange. As I was browsing the great website I found - Topdog - I found the reflective collars and leads. I've been contemplating getting some for a while now, as we a) live right near a main road and have no fence, and I've been known to let them out for a wee and get sidetracked and b) I do a fair bit of walking at dusk, and quite often around roads or in the bush where I cant quite see the mutts. I used to have LED flashing lights on their collars, but Sahara lost hers in a river and Phoenix's fell off somewhere between home and the park. I don't repDogs - I found a great selection of flashing collarsally like those tacky collars with the flashing stars; I want a collar that is functional by night and not hideous by day. It flashes red at night, and is standard yellow reflective by day. Does anyone want to tell me to stop being obsessive compulsive about being hit by a stray car before I go buy all this stuff?


Speaking of OCD, I also want to get the leg bands - they're brilliant on horses on the road at night, and Sahara doesn't mind things on her legs (yes. I've dressed her up as a gangster and put arm bands on her before. My bad). but I think Phoenix will tear them off and eat them.

Yes. Um. Riiight.

Phoenix and I had a bit of a snuggle tonight, and there's nothing I enjoy more than a good photo op. My only problem is...which is the more hilarious?!

heffalumps.

Just a quick, random update: I weighed the darlings yesterday in preparation for their tri-monthly worming tablet, and I was shocked at how heavy they are. I always joke Sahara is my little heffalump, but she'd actually put on 3kg since the last time I weighed her - she's not a whopping 28.1kg.

As for Phoenix; since 25th April, when he came home at 29.2kg... he has finally filled out, got some condition and is weighing in at 36.8kg. That's over 7kilo, and he's still on the thin side!

Good to know the mass amounts of food they receive three time daily is going somewhere.
This morning they had pasta, their usual dry food, beef casserole, beans, carrot, cauliflower and broccoli, and porridge, washed over with brown onion gravy to make it smell more appetizing.
The bloody things eat so much better than I do, it's not funny.

Sahara, SuperStar.

I got the photos back from Sahara's "photoshoot", and didn't look at the ones on the CD I received - what a little poser! Phoenix's shall arrive tomorrow hopefully, but he's not quite in the same league as Sahara - she totally knows how to work the camera, hussy that she is.



I don't mean to take away from the shining brilliance that is my dog, and put my ugly mug on here - but this photo just took SO long to take, both dogs sitting and looking in the same direction - nightmare!