Settling In At Home

Finally my parents are reunited with me and we're settling in at home again after almost 2 weeks of being away in Colorado. Being at Camp Lydia's was fun, but I miss my parents (not too much, but I'm just saying it to make mum happy) and I'm glad to be home again. Being home means I get to be mummy's boy again.

Who goes there?

It is very difficult being as adorable as I am... but someone's gotta do it.

Mum says that in Colorado, the sun shines about 300 days every year, but it can still be cold in winter. She decided to show me how she was dressed, and dressed me up to give me a better picture.

Its a good thing I'm a boy, cos I am convinced that if I was a girl, Mum would put bows and flowers in my hair (as shown in pic).

Whenever I come back from Nanny Lydia's, I take about 1-2 days to recuperate. I run so much, and play so much, that it takes me time to get back to 100% strength again.

Playing with my favorite toy of the moment, the yellow monkey

Daddy, are you going to play with me? Yippeeee..

Love,
Kimi

Airedales at Nanny Lydia's

My parents are currently in Colorado for a ski trip, and I get to go to Camp Lydia's as usual. Its the best! Fortunately, my old time friend Sophie also came to Camp Lydia's. There were 4 of us dales together, all under the same roof. Can you imagine the ruckus? From left, old dame Alice, Sophie on a down, me, and Dave

We get to play together all day and night, but we also learn to behave and listen. Can you imagine us posing nicely for this photo to be taken? Yup, it does happen, but that's because at Camp Lydia's, nanny is the boss, and we all listen.

Love,
Kimi

Exploring in a Weird Landscape

Remember when I mentioned earlier in an older post that one of my favorite places to go to is Rattlesnake Lake? Yes, and this time, one of my good friends Beastly came with me on a playdate. His mum Jane and my mum get along very well, and Beastly and I are actually classmates at Agility class in our dog school.

Rattlesnake lake is a very beautiful but odd looking place. You'll see why later. Here I am, chewing on a stick which I found along the shores of the lake.

Beastly is a Flat Coated Retriever. His coat is black, shiny and luxurious. We took turns finding sticks and branches, then we brought it to each other and shared the chewing. It was really fun, because we also tried to get our Mums to throw the sticks into the lake for us to fetch.

Running with Beastly

The odd landscape at Rattlesnake lake looks almost other-worldly. At the other end of the lake, there are many tree stumps sticking out of the water. They were probably old trees that were cut down. Why? I do not know, but it does create a very strange looking landscape. Almost eerie. Mum being an avid LOTR fan, said it resembled something that would come out of Middle Earth, in the dark lands of Mordor.

Beastly and I, exploring along the lakeshore that looks eerie.
All the white dots in the picture above are snow drops, as it started to snow while we were out exploring along the lakeshore.

Suddenly, we saw 3 other dogs that came from the opposite side of the lake. There was a brown lab, a golden retriever and a noisy cocker spaniel. We said all our hellos, and proceeded to play chase. We ran around and took turns chasing each other. It was fun.

Hey Mum, I'm having fun.

Me running on water? No, the lake is very shallow at some parts, so I could actually pounce and run along, making it look like I could run on water. Mum said I look very funny when I do my zoomies. I tuck my tail low and hop around like a bunny.

Exploring old roots in the shallow lake

I can't swim, so I relied on Beastly to swim out into the lake to fetch the thrown sticks, while I wait close to the shore to grab the sticks from him.

Exploring together

Beastly and I playing with a stick along the shore. Look at the beautiful evergreen trees in the forests, and the distant snow capped mountains in the background. I love Washington because it is so beautiful, and there's always something for me to do, somewhere to go explore.

Hey Beastly, thanks for bringing back the stick, let's play!

A game of tug on the shore with Beastly.

Following Beastly as we walk along the lake together. Beastly has patches of blue on his tongue, can you spot it?

Me

Mum and me

I love my Mummy, for taking me out on regular explorations. Here are some kisses and licks for you Mum. Ok, now when we will start hiking again? Spring is almost upon us...

Love,
Kimi

A New Guest

A new friend dropped by last week to spend a day with me and Mum. He had come specially to get groomed by Mum, and his name is Joey. Joey is an Australian Terrier, his breed is fairly rare as a pet in the Northwest. You don't see an Aussie Terrier walking down the sidewalk any common day, so I was very excited to get to know him. At first, Joey came to my garden and we got to know each other nicely. He just turned 1, and Mum said he's been 'fixed' just like me. Joey standing on his hind legs to look at me. He is very much smaller than I am, but he sure does have a feisty character. Then what happened next really shocked me. He started humping me almost non stop. He would grab one of my legs and start humping his bottom on me. I tolerated it as much as I could, being as gentle as I am, and I tried to play nice. After a while of his irritating humping, I got fed up, and I told him off.

A picture of me, telling Joey that humping me and stamping his dominance on me wasn't cool.
I started to let him know this wasn't polite in doggie manners and social skills, and I held his muzzle and neck in my mouth, and at first he would understand, but then he'd start humping again.

Joey humping me again

I also tried to show Joey my huge beef knuckle bone that I had been gnawing on for the last couple of days, and he took one sniff, and said "yuck". He wasn't interested in my toys or bones, he just wanted to hump.

Eventually, Mum took him and started her makeover work on him. I just laid down by her side and watched them. Joey, being a terrier like me, hated having his nails done, or even having his feet touched. He squirmed and snapped, yelled and growled, bit Mum many times and struggled non stop. He scratched the muzzle away (because Mum didn't want to get bitten), and he just wouldn't co-operate. He was not being nice at all, but that was because he had never been groomed by anyone before. Eventually, even Daddy had to help hold him to get his nails trimmed. After the makeover, Joey looked completely different.

Joey's makeover picture

Joey's dad came to pick him up, and he looked happy to see that Joey had been transformed. I hear Mummy tell me that Joey will be back in the fall to get groomed again. I wonder what adventures he'll be up to then.

Love,
Kimi