Fuzzy Bear Ewok Look

When my fur grows out, I start to morph into a hairy ewok. For those of you who don't know what an ewok is, watch Starwars and you'll know. Daddy says I am a hybrid between an ewok and a teddy bear, Mum just thinks I'm messy but still hug-able. Uh-oh, you know what that means? Here are some close up shots of me taken today, as Mum was playing around with adjusting aperture and shutter speeds on her SLR.

Eyebrows covering my eyes make me look sleepy. Ewok head.

One of the benefits of eating raw food is that I don't have to endure teeth brushing. My teeth stays mostly white and clean, with no tartar on my teeth or nasty stuff in my gums. For a dog who is almost 3 years old, I think my teeth are doing surprisingly well. About once a month, Mum uses a dental scaler to remove any from my back molars, and that's it. Crunching and gnawing on bones provide good massage for my teeth and gums, which encourages good blood circulation to my gums, and strengthen dental roots. The tendons on intact meat on bones act like floss, cleaning out between my teeth.

Here are 2 photos of my shiny white teeth. You like?

My Mummy is very proud of my teeth.

Love,
Kimi

Playdate Time

On Tuesday, Mummy and I headed to Seattle to spend a morning with Nanny Lydia, and it gave me an opportunity to kick butt and play with Dave and Alice again. My Nanny is a great woman, and I don't give her enough kudos for all she's done for me and all the other Airepals of mine. From left, Alice, Dave, Nanny Lydia and me

One of the best traits of Nanny Lydia's? Treat-making. Nanny Lydia makes the best doggie cookies and treats. Some are made with fish, others with different kinds of meat but the best thing is that they are oh so delicious. Since she makes them herself, she isn't too stingy with them and gives them out often as long as we are good, or we do commands for them.

Alice does the 'beg' command, as Dave and I watch on patiently. Can you see the grin on Dave's face?

Chilling out while the parents chit chat over tea and human cookies

Airedale puddle

Mummy points out that even though we are all Airedales, our faces are all distinctly different. Just like human faces are similar, yet all uniquely different. Our faces show our personalities, moods and temperaments. Can you tell from our faces above, what kinds of personalities we have?

• Alice is always chill, she's the boss lady, queen of all dales, confident, assertive, kind and caring, smart, obedient, sometimes not so patient with rowdy young punks. (note her paw over Dave's, very subtle but a sure sign to say she's boss)
  
• Dave is strong, robust, intense, intelligent, very attentive, sharp, loving/kisser, enthusiastic, fun, comical, playful and a hoot to play chase with. He and I gang up on Cedar sometimes. (Cedar is a Sheltie who comes often to Nanny Lydia's)
• I am easy going, a follower, funny, loving, great sense of humor (I parade around with Mum's lacy panty when there are guests), obedient, attentive to parents, caring and sharing (I share everything with everyone), intelligent, enthusiastic, and most of all, a real Mama's boy.
  

Here are a few of the most precious photos of me and my Nanny Lydia

As you can probably tell, I love my Nanny heaps, and she loves me too. When I stay at her house, she takes me out on walks, we go to the field to play and run offleash, and she plays with us, she feeds us, cleans us, sometimes even does a bit of grooming (like grinding nails), and gives us lots of love, kisses and hugs. And treats too.

Under table face wrestling with Dave

Dave kissing his Mummy

Dave has a very photogenic handsome face

Nanny Lydia shows my Mum how to use a pumice stone to strip out the edges of the ear leather. I look on as Dave moans in ecstatic delight.

Alice comes around to see if she's missing out on any of the fun, as she hears Dave make joyful noises and grunts.... yikes, Alice hates handstripping, and won't stay around for that! Good thing she's clipped.

Dave smiles for Mum's camera, while I chill out on my fav dog pillow under the dining table and try to get the peanut butter out from the kong.

Here's a funny pic of Alice and her boot.
She had scratched the left side of her cheek, and in order to stop her from making the wounds worse, Nanny Lydia put a boot on her so she won't be able to scratch her face anymore. She was walking in a very retarded funny way. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry..

Alas, my playdate ended quickly, and the weather was horrid. We ran around for a little bit in the backyard but our Mums felt cold outside and hurried inside to stay warm with tea. So we all followed them in. Good thing we did, cos we got treats...

Love,
Kimi

Zzzzzzzz....

Every Airedale loves to sleep in comfortable places. I have many areas in my house where I go to Dreamland, and I thought perhaps I could do a blog entry about that. Every night, I sleep in my parents' room. I have my own donut bed which is made of suede and it is very comfortable. It has a super soft middle cushion area and a thicker ring around it where I love to lean my neck on or hang my head over (as shown in pic). Under my donut bed, I have a super thick special orthopedic mattress, nothing wrong with me, but Mummy says it'll give me extra support. So why not.. my bed is right next to my parents' bed, and I go to my bed on my own every night when Mum or Dad tells me to "Go Sleep".

I also have a blue comforter in my bed, which I sometimes like to shift around and do this 'nesting' thing.

In the daytime, I like to steal naps on my parents' bed. I jump up on my own, and if I get caught, my parents don't make too much of a fuss. They just let me lay there and snooze...

I make myself very very comfortable as you can see. I live the good life! Oh hi Mum...

Ever since I was little, I've learnt how to sleep on the pillow. Its simple, the head goes on the pillow. All you doggie friends should definitely try it. Ooh how comfy it is.

In the daytime, I also stay close to mum, and if she's in her study, that means I sleep next to her on the daybed. That's MY daybed. I've also invited some of my other doggie friends to come up to the daybed together with me. Mum allows it, but I suspect that's because I am very well behaved.

Love,
Kimi

Landscaping Work

After a long time of talking and planning, my parents finally mustered up enough motivation to get the front lawn landscaped. The grass was overgrown and it looked nasty so Mum's friend Rob came over to help out. I was told to stay in the garage and watch, so that I don't run around and disturb anyone, but I found it very hard to stay still. Can you blame me? So here I was, surrounded by all these strange things, they made loud noises and smelled funny too. There was this thing called 'manure' that I couldn't resist rolling my body in, and when I tried it again, Mum yelled "Kimi, No!". So I stopped and went to lay down in the garage again. I'll just have to get to the deodorant when she isn't watching me like a hawk.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed because all this new stuff around me made me feel uncomfortable. What a mess! The garage isn't normally like this. Pails, rakes, spades, tools, hammers... all the noise clanging away. My parents and Rob were working very hard. I really wanted to help them dig a few holes, but Daddy was not happy about that.

Here's a little raking tool on my paw, are you sure I can't help you a little Daddy?

Eventually Mummy let me come out closer to keep an eye on the work. After all, every Airedale needs to supervise the humans, to make sure everything was being done right. My Daddy says all his past Airedales just liked to stick their noses into every business that was going on around the house, and I was no different. The only condition I had to be allowed outside to watch them was that I had to stay in a 'down'. So I said "cool its a deal".

Sitting outside was way more fun than being stuck in the garage at a distance. Out here, I can see what's happening on the street and if there were doggies out and about. Rob and Daddy definitely needed my supervision. Mummy was toiling in the dirt too, but every now and then, she'd turn into the "Pupparazzi".

Very soon, they'll have to do something about the backyard and the side of the property as well. Wow, so many changes this spring!!

Love,
Kimi

Having New Friends Over

Two very new friends came over last Friday for a romp with me at my house. Chester is 10 and Hamilton is my age, 2+ and we hung out like carrots and peas. As you can tell from the photos, Chester and Ham are both Airedales like me. Coincidentally, they are also raw fed like me. What are the odds? I'm so happy that their Mums allowed them to come hang out with me and my Mum. My new friends Chester and Ham.

It was no easy task getting all 3 of us to lay down side by side to pose for a photo, because I just wanted to nibble on Ham's ear. Chester and Ham are well trained like me, but they don't seem to have a release command, so when we were all on a 'down', suddenly either of them would just get up and walk to get treats, so it was extremely difficult to have all of us laying together. Ha ha. Nonetheless, we decided to humor the humans and pose for a few. (Those darn treats are just too good to resist)

Ham and I get along much more because he's around the same age as I am. Chester's an older chap and he didn't really want to jump around and playbite with me too much. I respected him though, because if I got too rowdy with him, he would warn me with a growl and a side-ward glance, as if saying "hey kid, respect my space", and I would. So I took many toys and went to Ham and we would play together.

Chester walking away from the ruckus, which is Ham and me, playing and wrestling in my dining area.

I got to know Chester and Ham when my parents took me to Marymoor Park, it was so great seeing both of them together, because Airedales aren't too common here in Washington. But I've already gotten to know so many in the area..

Alice, Dave, my sis Stella, Sophie, Ruffian, Mattie, and a few others whom aren't too close to me, so there's really quite a few of us up here who are Aire-friends. Could you just imagine how much fun it would be if my parents organized an Airedale get together this summer for all of us friends? Cool... ok, so Mum, that's a hint, when is it going to happen?


Love,
Kimi