Bike riding and blue stuff.

The kids and I are going bike riding with Bruza and Macca's tonight - this will be a laugh. Sahara is beyond terrified of the bike, and as Phoenix is a bit dense, he feels no pain when he runs in front of the tires, so it's always a bit of an adventure. Usually I harness them up and take them roller blading, but there's very few paths that go for our minimum 10-15km that are sealed around our new area. And gravel rash is never fun.
Tonight we're going to Sahara's favorite place - it incorporates The Bog Of Eternal Stench II, and Blue Heaven. (When I went away for two days to the wedding, my mum took the dogs here with Sarah, to give them some exercise. Sahara, inevitably, found the blackberries, and apparently spent a few merry minutes getting entirely covered in juice, and emerging a slightly different color, which my mother then had to wash off in the bath with her (Sahara's, not mum's) special whitening shampoo with added light reflective stuff, so I wouldn't have an absolute fit when I saw her).

I will be taking some photos hopefully, as you may have noticed I've been a bit slack lately, as we haven't been on many road trips lately.

Puppy Update

Yep - we're back! The dogs have had a wonderful month - their new garden has lots of lovely new smells, great bushes for playing hide and seek in, and mummy's prized rockery to dig up. Sahara is still breaking hearts, Phoenix still makes idiotic noises instead of barking, and both have discovered Baxter park - over 7 football ovals and muddy bog to run through at their hearts content, with 8+ other pups while all the mummy's and daddy's power walk around the perimeter in an attempt to get fit.

For the first time in over a year - since the day my darling Sahara came home to me - I had to spend a night without her when Chef & I attended his brothers wedding. My mother was installed in the spare bedroom, with strict instructions and several emergency contact numbers/vets/Lost Dogs Home etc. I liked to think they were happy with a mini-vacay of their own, yet were still pining slightly and listening for my footsteps with pricked ears, but to be honest I think they were more than happy romping and shedding large amounts of hair over my new queen size bed.

It's been so...I think relaxing is the word?... being able to leave them in the back garden (do we recall the fence drama at the last house? Which, incidentally, was never fixed and I was still unable to leave the dogs outside for more than an hour?) while I'm out. It took me a while to be able to leave them - hell, I've been practically attached to them 24/7 for the past 8 months - but they're more than happy sunbaking in the rockery and taunting the dogs next door while I go shopping.

On Sunday, we attended the RSPCA All Creatures Day - we helped out at the BBQ - and I had a wander around the grounds and found an amazing couture collar shop, called Empawrium - I was blown away! I've been looking for a collar for Sahara dripping with bling and sparkles, and I have finally found it! I'm also entering the kids in to be Pet of the Month and try and get some more traffic here - the dogs do love the attention :)

Speaking of which...it's breakfast time, and there's two big juicy bones with my kids names on :)

Phoenix is still his usual self and demanding attention in his own special way.

Australia Day Doggy Style

Friday was spent down the beach...

And on Saturday we spent the day having a barbeque while the dogs had a puppy play date...

Bruza showing off his Happy Face...

And Mac shows off his watermelon smile!

The brothers and Mac squash themselves in the kennel.

Here is Sahara enjoying her impromptu bath on Australia Day...

Cuddles after a night on the town.

Oh my Dog! Phoenix tries slippin' me some tongue.

I have no idea why these came out so badly pixelated.

Gee Haw!

Makes sense to us...sort of.

Sahara & Phoenix had their puppy pals over for a play date last night - and mainly sat and ate the lamb shanks the lovely Sarah provided them with. They're so anti-social sometimes.
After dinner and much chasing with brooms and yelling for them to remain away from the table, they all came in and got harnessed up and we were soon brainstorming and chatting away about how we're going to build our cart. We spent a lot of time scribbling ideas and attaching broom poles to the dogs to attempt demonstrations, and the dogs were all very good with it all. I think they're going to have a wonderful time being chariot dogs!

Phoenix & Sahara demonstrate with a broom.

This afternoon is going to be spent attaching a pole to their harness and somehow attemping to make long lines like reins, and teach them left (Gee!) and right (Haw!). Apparently Mush is rarely used but for movies, if you go by the Iditarod Sled Dog voice commands, and the correct term is "Hike Up!".

Sahara & Sarah have a cuddle.

We're hoping to have our first cart to have 4 wheels, brakes, suspension and a cute little flag on the back, and if we can somehow managed to flog them off, we figure we need a snappy name like 'K9 KruiserS' (Go, Sarah!) to advertise with on the back of the sulky. We also want to be able to snap more dogs on - it needs to just have the one or two dogs when we're exercising alone, but have the ability to have 6 dogs + when we want to be show offs and for puppy play dates. Me thinkies this is going to be a blast, and the dogs are going to love it!

Swanky Pup?

Both pooshes have been super busy lately, but not doing a whole lot of anything interesting. We've all been testing out new parks around {hopefully} our new home (there's an off leash park literally across the road from {hopefully} the new place) and driving hundreds of kilometers in the meantime, searching for our perfect house. They've had a wonderful reference written for them to add to our house applications, and they've also been learning to 'speak' to show their appreciation for our current estate agent (please note the use of sarcasm). I needn't have worried - Sahara's not her number one fan as it is, and happily bared her fangs when the agent held an open inspection at our house last night.

Sahara is going to be entered for Swanky Pup Of The Week on The Swanky Pup today, so fingers crossed she will be a star as of next Thursday! I just need to choose a photo of her... any suggestions are welcome!

She's loving her new Fuzzyard Crush Proof Hot Ball - she's finding it nigh on indestructable, and as it's a glowing orange in color, it's super easy to spot when she gets sidetracked and leaves it in the boggy scrub.

I will update tomorrow - hopefully with some more exciting news after we spend this afternoon in the city doing some stuff for the RSPCA - they had a ball walking through the CBD and having full attention when we last went in December. And I might even locate my camera (I think it's gone walkabout in my car) and take some photos.

Mush!

A while back on a sunny afternoon visit to Seah's, we discussed the possibility of welding together a sort of dog cart for the boys to pull (Phoenix & his brother, Bruza), and since then I've often thought of it - especially when riding my bike up steep hills or ending up on my knees when roller blading with the dogs. Last night over the batch of cupcakes we were making, we had a bit more of a chat, and on the way home Chef & I really got to business, throwing around ideas about what sort of tires, brakes and harnesses we would need, and the lightest possible materials we could make it with.

Generally, when it comes to my ideas, I'm considered somewhat mad. So it's nice to get together with with Dog People, because it usually means someone's thought of it first. See here.

There's hundreds of sites for cart driving construction (and instruction), weight ratios for what the dog is able to pull (apparently three times the dogs weight is maximum, which is great considering I only weigh 6kg more than Phoenix), harness requirements and motivation for the dog. It's wonderful! I have visions of myself racing along the foreshore with my big boof of a dog, tongue lolling and saliva flying while I'm in my little sulky, complete with my own little numberplate and flag on the back, yelling such exciting things as 'haw' and 'gee'. I obviously can't be instructing him to 'mush', as that's his release word to eat.

Don't you think they'd make a brilliant sled dog team?

Fuzzyard (blatant plug)

Phoenix's brother - Bruza - has a lovely mummy, Seah. Seah is now working for a lovely pet product company named Fuzzyard.

If anyone's after some quality Australian made products to pamper their pooch with, head to the site and find your nearest stockist!

I had a nice little browse at their website, and so far today I have bought Sahara the Hot Balls, which are apparently 'crush proof' tennis balls for the uber chewer, and a gorgeous pet tag I have had my eye on for a while - she somehow managed to chew through her stainless steel one, and is need of some funky new I.D to match the adorable new collar I just bought her.

Phoenix is the lucky recipient of their Organic Aromatherapy Spray, although I'm debating which 'flavour' to get him - Immunity, Uplifting, Calming or Refreshing. I think I may choose the Uplifting, and hope it fills him with some happiness and light. He's not a happy camper in this weather.

They had a wonderful midnight romp in the surf last night; it got to 11pm and none of us could sleep, so we were soon splashing about in the ocean with an 8 week old Bull Terrier we met down there. Heaven.

Itty Bitty Biting Critters

When Cleo the kitten came home, she bought a whole party of little friends with her. I'd just spent nearly $100 on flea treatment for the dogs, and nearly had hysterics when I noticed they had little jumping things on them. I immediately called the company from which our flea stuff is from, and was getting ready to have an all in war over the fact they had uninvited guests, but I had the loveliest lady on the phone - she actually knew what she was talking about, was brilliant at her job, and spent a good twenty minutes discussing the flea cycles and their product. It somewhat reminded me of all those house I spent in Horse Studies at school, writing up assignments on bot flies. Anyway, it turns out if I see a flea on the dogs, I need to investigate what cycle it is in, how energetic it is etc to establish if it is a juvenille flea or starting a new cycle. Or something. So she offered to send our free samples to top up their monthly dosage. I was worried if the flea side of the product was wearing off so quickly, it would affect their heartworm & intestinal worm treatment. And hell, it was bloody expensive. So I was delighted to receive 3 free products in the mail today - one for Phoenix (45kg +) one for Sahara (35kg+) and one for little Cleo, whom isn't old enough for any of the products on the market yet. I was also extremely impressed with the free tennis balls she through in - I think I mentioned the fact I have to bathe Sahara regularly as she's a fiend for playing ball, and likes swimming in The Bog Of Eternal Stench to dunk them for added taste. I used the comb she sent, and found several fleas on Sahara - my poor girl! - and one on Phoenix. I washed Cleo yesterday - the bleeding on my arm has finally stopped from her tiny but effective claws - and now I'm wondering whether to bath the dogs now, or wait until this evening. It's 41 degrees, and I'm seriously considering making a pilgrimage to the water and spending the rest of the day immersed in the ocean with the dogs.

I have an absolute fear of fleas. I groom Sahara daily (and I've finally located her actual brush, which is handy as I just packed all my horse grooming gear I'd been using on her) and give her little massages to check for lumps and bumps and so on, and I have never one found a flea on her. Phoenix has a skin condition and is constantly scratching, and he is bathed weekly in a special solution and used to receive steroids, but when he first came home we went through a few days of intensive parasite control with him. It's not the fleas that bother me particularly - it's that the blood thirsty suckers bother the dogs. I'd hate to be eaten alive daily by irritating insects - hence my deep seated and unnatural fear of mosquito's. So I feel horrible guilty for the poor things knowing they've got their little infestation, yet I know with the hot temperatures and long grass it's a fact of life. Still, I plan on making more complaints to companies and getting more samples, as $93 for a month of treatment is ridiculous.

New Years Day

I'm going to overlook the fact I've done something strange to my banner, and instead focus on more interesting things. Or at least add some photos.

New Years Day dawned as revoltingly hot as the night before...

So I did something that comes naturally to me. I hit the beach, with my two faithful steeds in tow. Sahara did some hot-man-without-a-shirt watching like the pervert she is, and Phoenix committed to roasting himself evenly on both sides. Lots of swimming and frolicking in the surf was had by all.

And then Phoenix gently but firmly told me the sand was too hot for hit bot, so we made the trek home and watched tennis in front of the fan and consuming anything that was still frozen in the freezer. Ah, Summer!

oops.

I have somehow just managed to completely ruin the layout of my blog.

No more HTML for me.

I'll be back later to attempt fixing it. Sigh.

Christmas beach romps.

Sahara and Phoenix had a blast this Christmas. Sahara had already managed to steal half her presents from under the tree (well, in the fireplace, where they were this year) so she didn't get as many as she should. They also got some lovely treats from Mum, and enjoyed all the roast turkey scraps. Luckily they quite like sleeping in the tent - I think they enjoy any excuse to lay all over me and attempt to steal my pillows, but even more, they loved their days down the beach. They didn't get a chance to come surfing - there were several thousand other people on the beach, and didn't think it was wise to see how they reacted alone on the beach.

I was given a nice mountain bike, and after riding it around the back garden a few times, I'm beginning to realize it may be somewhat dangerous to be riding it with the dogs either side, if the psychotic barking is anything to go by.

puppy lovin'. Awww.

I love this photo. Love it.
And below we have evidence of what happens moments after Phoenix is feeling lovey dovey. He gets a little crazy. And eats my hair.

...There was no love from Sahara. She's too interested in her little stand-offs with her new kitty friend. It's going to end in tears, I know it.

Christmas party's and kittens

Yesterday we had a wander around the Australian Dog Training Christmas Party. We haven't trained with them for a long time, due to all sorts of reasons and a bit of laziness, so we thought we'd better pretend we were still active members. Sahara wore her cute little pink jumper, and Phoenix donned his Security vest, but there were plenty of dogs wrapped in tinsel and so on. There was agility rounds, and free barbeque, and that was about it - so we followed S & her dogs, and enjoyed lunch at a dog friendly outdoor cafe in Mt Eliza before heading to the dog park and enjoying some games. Well, the dogs enjoyed some games, centered around tennis balls and running lots - a perfect way to wear them out. After dinner, my new arrival arrived - Cindi the Kitty - and the dogs are yet to even notice her. Although she slept next to my bed, I was up all night sick, and that and their crazy ball chasing exhaustion meant there was no time for inquisitive sniffing. I think it's only a matter of time until they notice the sardine cocktail in the bowl in the laundry, but having said that, there's a large, slimy grey fish thawing out in the kitchen and they're none the wiser.
I again forgot my camera, so I shall be relying on photos being sent via S of the day (and lots of photos of kitty, although some rather bad ones can be viewed on my Made In Melbourne blog). Enjoy :0)

friends and photos

Phoenix loved BB. Loved her.

And showed her his appreciation accordingly - looking adoringly at her whilst smacking her with his paw and rubbing his drooling lips on her shorts.


We all went to the city - on the train. They took it quite well after the first few minutes of finding their legs. Phoenix was soon sleeping soundly, drooling on the floor, whilst Sahara attempted flirting with any one who looked her way. As usual. I then took them along to Federation Square, and along the river banks, which they seemed to enjoy.




Yesterday we headed to my mums, and they were adored some more and watched me open some early Christmas presents.