Sticker Boy

Mugshot of the Treat Thief
Mum thought I've been trying to be real funny by stealing treats and goodies lately. It was time for my mugshot to be taken. In the midst of her packing, I helped myself to stuff, and became so intrigued with this stuff called the sticker. It attaches itself to my muzzle or fur and it won't come off. I tried to use my tongue to lick and flick it away, but it just won't budge. I found it extremely amusing.
Here, I'm "attacking" the sticker on my muzzle. Mum says these things are good to keep me busy while she's packing away. Smart Mummy.

Packing In High Gear

Recently, the packing of our stuff has kicked into high gear. Mum and Dad realized that the move is less than 4 weeks away, and we've got lots to pack. No weekend should be wasted. Almost the entire Sunday was spent packing, and poor me, I didn't get to play at all. I just sat watching the commotion and Mum told me to stay out of trouble. This was after I chewed through a USB cable in Dad's study.

Dad got upset with me and told Mum to secure me outside of the study. So I just sat there and watch Daddy pack the study.

The Artistic Collection

This is my natural "stacking" position. Mum doesn't need to adjust my legs and stuff (like how handlers fuss and meddle with the show dogs on TV), she tells me to "Stand" and I lock up. I was standing here waiting for my treat, as I normally get treats when I do my drills, but no, she takes out her camera and goes trigger happy. I wait and I wait and then I break my "Stand" command. Finally she gets me a Merrick G.I bone. These things are great. I go whammy crazy for these things because I'm teething now. I get engrossed in these bones for 15-30 mins at a time, nothing can get my attention like these Merrick bones. Yummy.. Aunty Lydia was the one who introduced mum to Merrick Bones. What a delightful Aunty she is.

Don't mess with my bone. Yup, don't even think about it!

Stealing Treats Again

Ever since I turned 15 weeks old, which was about a week ago, I've discovered a new talent I have for stealing treats. Well, I stole treats even was I was little, but now I'm reaching for new heights. (Literally). I'm taller and there are some places which used to bewilder me, but no more. The clothes cabinet in mum and dad's bedroom are low and they keep dried beef liver treats there. I absolutely love them. Well, they are mostly out of my reach except for yesterday, when I leapt up to try to reach it.
My parents have been spending the weekend days packing and throwing out stuff, and putting aside stuff to donate to charities. See, I'm so bored when they tie me in a corner so that I can watch them pack our things into boxes for our upcoming move to the new house.

The Mystery of the Missing Baguette

Today, mum took me on a shopping errand. Her first stop was Costco, and she bought a heap of items, which included a roasted chicken and a bag of baguettes. The smell of freshly roasted chicken was intoxicating and I snooped around hoping to find it. But mum was smart, she kept it right at the bottom so I couldn't reach it. She said, "hey stop it" and I listened. When she was driving to the next location, I pretended to be uninterested. But then she let me wait in the jeep while she quickly rushed to buy some wrapping materials. Ha Ha... the devil then told me, "hey if you can't reach the chicken, how about a baguette?"
When mum got back to the car, she found the baguette bag torn open, and a half eaten baguette laying at my feet. #(%**$%&$* she said. Oh but it wasn't my fault I protested! It wasn't me.

Then mum took the bag of baguettes away and drove back home. She let me eat the remainder of the baguette and ooh, its delicious. Fortunately, she didn't scold me or do anything. Good Mummy.

Everyday Life at Home

The living room is sometimes converted into my playground. I scatter all my toys around and mum sets up my tunnel where I play 'Dragon and the Cave'. I take my toys in and hide it in there, like hiding special treasures. Then I shake them really hard, and I add in some growls too, because a dragon has to kill its prey. I run in one end, and then run out the other end. It is so much fun. Sometimes, mum sneaks in and steals my toys and hides them, and I must go look for them, when she says "Where's the doggie toy?" That's when I have to look for my blue doggie soft toy. I know she's being so naughty stealing the dragon's food.

After a while of playing, mum says its time to go out to pee. I walk to the door and then I pee outside. I haven't made a mistake in the house for many days now, I think mum's really happy. Then I wait for her to open the door and say "ok, come in". I can't come in until she says so. Then we play some more.

But what good is a cave tunnel when I can't be a REAL dragon? I was being so funny today. Guess what? I stole a bag of treats. Yup, mum keeps a secret stash of fantastic treats in a ziplock bag in her carrying bag. I found the bag on the floor today, so I dug my head in, and searched around for it. Woaw, I found the bag, carried it and ran down the flight of steps with mum chasing behind me shouting, "Kimi, oh my goodness!". Of course I didn't stop, I could see her coming up close from the corner of my eyes. I quickly dashed and ducked into the tunnel. I sat around nicely, with my stolen treasure, and gave mum a wink. She didn't scold me, so I just feasted on my treats. Yummy.

These are my portraits

Everyday, I go out with mum on her numerous errands, shopping, visiting Daddy in his office with lunch, going to training, the post office, yada yada yada. I normally chill out at the back of her jeep in my bagel bed. (Yup, mum had the genuis idea to move my bagel bed into the jeep) I have loads of toys back there. I love it. I ride very well in the jeep or in Daddy's Touareg. No car sickness, no misbehaving, no pee or poop accidents, nada. I'm the perfect dog in a car.

Sunday at Marymoor and Juan's

Last Sunday 11th Mar 06, I turned 15 weeks old. Mum and Dad decided I was big enough to visit the Famous Dog Park on the Eastside (15 mins of Seattle), Marymoor offleash dog park. It has 40 acres of dog haven. Wow, I saw so many dogs there, it was quite impressive. Every dog was running off leash (ok, almost all), and their owners were closeby, and I got sniffed by many dogs, and I tried sniffing them to say hi too.

I wasn't scared of anyone, even the big dogs, but I was a bit overwhelmed at times, and Mum would say, "Ok, let's go, let's move on". You've got to remember that I see big dogs at my training school all the time, so seeing big dogs don't bother me one bit. I even found a tennis ball and carried it around in my mouth, hoping someone would chase me.

From meeting other dogs, starting at a young age, I learn doggie manners. Mum says its very important for me to learn good doggie manners and be a good Airedale that everyone will be proud of.

There was even a river that cut across the park and I saw dogs jumping in and swimming to retrieve things their owners threw for them to fetch. Such fun. Wow.

After that, we went to Starbucks and while I was on a "Climb" command on the chair, I met more dogs. Juan's watching over me. Then we all went to Juan's home to chill out. Dad and Juan were playing records on this thing they call a turntable, I couldn't be bothered, I just wanted to sleep after all that playing in the park.

Chilling out at Juan's cool bachelor pad

Goodnight, I'm off to dreamland

I Hurt My Nose

The weather turned freakily cold today, with snow coming down in flurries at our house. It is still snowing right now and its 8pm, and I bet mum felt really guilty for grooming me yesterday when the sun was shining. Off went my fur and I started shivering the whole day. I had the shakes and so mum rushed us off to Petsmart to buy me a jersey to keep my body warm. I'm starting to lose my teeth and I haven't been feeling extremely strong so mum just wanted to keep me happy and cosy. I've got the best mum ever.

Do you like me in my blue jersey? Its fabulous.

After training today, mum let me go offleash to play a little bit with Vit and Vit is a big dog (Australian Cattle Dog I think). We roughed and tumbled and I got scratched on my nose somehow. It hurt so much so I yelped and I bled a little. No one made a fuss, though I wish mum did, and I had to stay on a "Down" next to Vit so I don't get scared of him in future. But I was fine, later on I still went on to play with other puppies my size at a puppy party, so I'm not bothered, but don't you think I look like I need some hugs?

Note the dried up blood and open scratch. Poor me.

Today, I lost my first tooth, one of my front teeth fell out.

Training at my School

Mum took me in for extra drills today at my training school in Cascade K9. My trainers are excellent people, they understand dogs and know how to make us be good. Mum feels that the training provided at Cascade K9 is above and beyond what is expected. A lot of explanations, reasoning and logic are provided to the humans, to help them understand how we dogs think and be. They allow mum and I to drop by anytime to use the facilities (at no extra charge), and hang out with them, and there aren't hard and fast rules to make us feel unwelcomed.

This is me on the "Climb" platform. See my other doggie friends on their "Climb" platforms too?

Michael, his wife Pascale and Lisa are really sweet and nice people too. The lessons I've learnt at Cascade K9 will stay with me for life, because I've been attending class weekly since I was 9 weeks old, and recently, because I've been naughtier, mum has been bringing me in a bit more frequently during weekdays, in addition to drills training at home. And the best part is my trainers don't mind us crashing in. In fact, Lisa and Michael have been so nice to help me with my "Climb" command. Everyone thinks I can't do it nicely now because my body is not as coordinated as I wish it to be. I can't seem to jump up yet, I crawl up.

I am quite good with walking on leash, "Sit", "Down", "Watch", "Stand"and "Wait", but I'm not good with coordinating how to jump up. This is called the "Climb". I have to jump up onto a raised area, be it a chair, a bench, a table, anything. And the special thing about the "Climb" is I'm trained not to get down unless given by the special release command "Free" given by the person who put me on the "Climb". Mum thinks its one of the most useful commands ever. When I am on the "Climb", as long as I stay up there, I can do whatever I like, that includes sleeping.

Ear Glueing for the First Time

Today, something very special happened to me. Early in the morning, mum fed me my breakfast, and before she even showered or brushed her teeth, she started taking out all the usual items used for grooming. But wait, hey, I'm still tidy and good looking... what's up? You can imagine my apprehension, check out my face in the before picture on the left. The right picture is after the grooming is almost done.

She put me on my "Climb" platform, which is actually an IKEA side table. This is normally my training table, where I practice my obedience commands, you know, so I was really confused.

Next thing I know, mum whips out the blue buzzer and hands me a treat. Ok, I know the drill, she's going to clipper me just like what we did the first time she groomed me. So ok, I stay still and cooperate. Mum says I'm a very good boy when she grooms me. Two hours later, and a few potty breaks, check out the new me. And the fur...

Then, that's not the end, Mum whips me into the car and we drive off to Aunty Lydia's place. We went there for a party some weeks back, and I met Stella and Alice. As you can remember, Stella is my littermate.

I found out from mum, Aunt Lydia has been so gracious to agree to glue my ears for the very first time. The glue will help my ear leather fit into the desired look and will make me more handsome than I already am. Well, ok mum, if you say so. Stella had just had her ears glued too. Stella said its a very scary thing to have ears glued, but when Aunt Lydia took those treats out, all my fears flew out of my head. I just let her fondle and grope at my ears as much as she liked. Mum just stood by and watched, and said really sweet things to me. It wasn't that bad at all. But do I really have to wear that PINK doctors bandwrap? I look so girly. And I couldn't see a thing because the wrap was covering my eyes.

This is the end result after glueing. I think we look good. I've got much bigger ear flaps than Stella.

Alice comes by to say hi.

The best part about coming to Aunt Lydia's house is we get loads of treats. Check out Stella helping herself to Aunty Lydia's treat bag.

Another best part about coming to Aunty Lydia's house is Alice has tonnes of toys. Her house is doggie heaven. We get to run and tumble and play all the time. Its wonderful.

Tracker Digger

I love to romp in open plains and run in mud, and make my whole snout and beard muddy. I imagine I am a treasure hunter, digging through the earth for some precious find, such as a long forsaken bone. I track through the fields pretending to be an adventuror like Indiana Jones and the Muddy Crusade. I play pretend when there isn't any doggie friend around to play with. And it isn't bad at all. Getting my paws dirty is one of my favorite things to do.

Suddenly, mum exclaimed, "Alamak! How come there's broken glass on the floor? Which inconsiderate person left it here? So dangerous." Being mummy's helper, of course I had to come and investigate. But mum kept shoving me away "shoo, shoo" because she said I might get cut. But I wouldn't go away so I just stood there and watched her pick all the glass shards up and throw them away. Indeed, how could people not have any sense of civic consciousness? How thoughtless some people are.. tsk tsk...

After the glass fiasco, I continued to romp and play in the open fields behind our house. The sunshine was glorious, and thank goodness for bad irrigation.

Somehow, I always find myself being the only dog there. Where have all the doggies gone? I hear that there is a dog park in the neighbourhood, but Mum never ever brings me there. Why not? I ask. She says I'm not old enough yet, I have to be 16 weeks old to be allowed in there. Who made this stupid rule anyway? I'm a big boy, and I can stand my ground. But mum said this was for health reasons. Although I am brought up the holistic way, I still need some puppy shots and because some people are concerned about sharing things called viruses, everyone's extremely cautious. Fortunately for me, mum believes that some amount of risk needs to be taken so that I can be properly socialized. Besides, how boring can it get to keep me cooped up in the house all day long for 2 months? No way jose. I'd tear up the house and give mum no peace. I love the fresh air out here, I love the wind and the breeze and even the rain too.

The most important thing to make sure is that I don't get too frivolous and think all dog friends are safe. That's not true, but Washington is a fairly safe place, and most humans are educated about dog health here. It is a very doggie friendly state. I like it here.

The end.