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!

clicketty click

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- thanks to Seah for the link :) Keep clicking!

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 :)

.

Totally adorable, is she not?