Christmas is almost here!

Well, the tree's up, the presents are appearing under the tree, and my Humans have been busy wrapping presents for the past few days. Yep, Christmas is coming!

I didn't have anything to leave under the tree, so I did the next best thing and left a Golden Offering.

Anyway, for Momma's Christmas gift this year, Pops did something different and donated some money to the SPCA instead. He said that Momma would much rather have the money spent on looking after some dogs without forever homes, rather than getting something for herself.

So I decided to do something similar too. My Humans and I went through all of my old toys and towels, and decided to donate them all to dogs without forever homes. It's the first time I'm giving away something other than Golden Offerings and Poop Nuggets, so it feels quite different for me. I like the feeling though. I didn't like it at first, because I wanted to play with all my old toys again (even though I haven't touched them for a long time), but now I feel good about being so generous.

We are also trying to find forever homes for the kittens that live in our garden. Pops is going to try to take nicer photos of them today.

Happy holidays, doggy pals!

My Humans are back from Bali!

So just to get things up to date, I've spent the last 10 days in misery. Well, it's nice to hang out with my grandparents and all, but they don't pamper me the way my Momma and Pops do. And they definitely don't let me sleep in their bedroom either.

When I smelled my Humans coming through the door, I was so happy that I farted three times in a row! And then pooped twice, but not in row.

It was so wonderful to have them back! I ran around in circles, I pounced on Momma over and over again, and I even occasionally showed my Pops some attention (when Momma insisted). Then they started unpacking, and that's when I noticed something was wrong, and maybe my Humans didn't love me as much as I love them.

Momma... where are my presents?

They didn't buy me anything from Bali.

No snacks, no toys... not anything. I thought maybe that was just a little mistake. But things got worse!

After 10 days away, the first thing my Pops does for me is to take me into the torture chamber and give me a bath! Why would he do that? I've been grooming my doggy smell for the past week, just to be all nice and smelly for them. Sure I had some pee-paw action going on, but that's no big deal, right?

I hiew-hiewed a lot in the shower, and did my best to hide in corners and keep away from my Pops. He got annoyed at my antics, and started telling me how lucky I was to have someone pick out my dingleberries for me, when the dogs in Bali didn't get proper baths and were poor, dirty, and hungry.

Pops says that the dogs in Bali are hungry
and poor, and I should feel very lucky.

So that was that. I didn't get any presents, and I got showered. But not everything is all bad though....

At least I get to sleep on their feet again. I like snuggling up to my Humans when I sleep.

I'm 2 years old!

This post is a little bit late, and the person to blame is of course, my Pops. But anyway, last Sunday was my birthday! I'm now 2 years old, and in dog years that would make me a teenager now!

I'm a big dog now!

Unfortunately, my Momma and Pops were away on a weekend getaway... but at least my grandparents and Aunt Mainey were around to keep my company. So I wasn't left alone or anything, and it gave me some time to think about the things that have changed since I was a little puppy.

I used to be afraid of The Great Outside, and would hide behind the door. I used to need Momma and Pops to carry me up and down the stairs, but now I can climb up and down by myself... and I'm even faster than they are!

In fact, I am completely independent now, and can do pretty much everything myself. The only things I need my Humans for are:

1. Taking a bath (though I think I can get by without ever taking one)
2. Filling my food bowl
3. Cleaning my food bowl
4. Filling my water bowl
5. Cleaning off my dingleberries
6. Traveling to Knuckles' place
7. Brushing my fur
8. Dabbing my paws clean after I pee-paw myself
9. Opening the Big Gate to the Great Outside
10. Going for a walk in the Great Outside
11. Getting onto my Humans' bed
12. Cleaning up my Golden Offerings
13. Buying more toys for me
14. Buying more food for me
15. Putting on or taking off my collar
16. Updating this blog
17. Switching on the TV so I can watch Bones
18. Protecting me from Dobermans and cat ambushes
19. Opening the container with all my treats
20. Fishing out my treats when they roll under the bed
21. Reaching for my toys when I toss them onto the table
22. Opening room doors
23. Pulling my bed out of my crate
24. Packing my toys away (not that I should need to)
25. Belly rubs!

But other than that, I can do everything by myself cos I'm a big dog!

What are some things you guys need help with?

My evening outside

Last evening was awesome! First, I got to go on a rare car ride to pick Momma up from work! There was the usual cool stuff, like sticking my head out the window to get some wind in the face and greet the strangers on the road.

Then when we got home, some neighborhood dogs were out for a walk, and my Humans allowed me to go out the Big Gate and meet some new friends! There was Tia and Buffy, who were really big, and then there was another little dog whose name I forgot. They were all girl dogs too, so hopefully I didn't catch cooties.

Unfortunately, it was too dark for my Humans' iPhones to get any decent pictures. Silly iPhones...

Then there was this awful old lady who yelled at my Pops to take me away. I know I wasn't leashed or anything, but we were just outside our house! Anyway, I'm sure she's just bitter and lonely because she was brought up by cats.

Spurred on by the awful old lady, I decided to do poopy outside the Big Gate... and ended up with dingleberries. Momma cleaned them off, and then took a pair of scissors to my tail fur.

My tail is not floofy anymore...

hiew hiew hiew!

Quick recap of the past week

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged! My nasty Pops has been so busy with things that he's refused to help me blog. I've angrily left Golden Offerings under his desk a few times to show my disgust with him, but it just makes him angrier. Hiew hiew!

Well, at least I'm able to get on now and fill you guys in on what's been going on. Last week, my Humans played a trick on me and took me to the vet! Apparently it wasn't enough that they stuck me in the Cone of Shame, but they had to bring me to the vet as well.

Oh no! Not the vet!

On the bright side, there wasn't really all too much discomfort at the vet. They stuck some fluffy sticks in my ears to check, but there was also a metal pokey stick into the skin on my back. That kinda stung a bit. You know, like when your poopy is a bit stubborn.

I also saw a card on the wall, and it looked a lot like my friend Tanuki Maxx! Hey Maxx, is this you?

Is that Tanuki Maxx?

On August 9, it was National Day in Singapore, which pretty much means it's our country's bark day. We celebrated the weekend holiday by going over to great grandma's place. Knuckles and Tails were there too, and we played together a lot. I celebrated by wearing my red collar and leash (white and red are Singapore's national colors). Though as the Beagle from down the road pointed out, it's really quite ironic to be celebrating a day of independence with a collar and leash. I'll have to talk to my Humans about that next year.

Then there was this time when Momma and Pops were alone at home, and my grandparents were out of the house. So Momma and Pops tried to play kissy-face and wrestle on the couch. But you know what? It's MY couch. So I chased them away and reclaimed my couch! Pops called me a "clock broker" or something. I have no idea what he means though.

This is MY couch!

Oh, and while Pops might be a total slacker when it comes to my blog, he's at least helped me start a Twitter account! So now you guys on Twitter can follow all my silliness at twitter.com/sonicthedoggy

Hope to see you on Twitter soon!

April Fools!

Recently, the Beagle from down the road told me about this pawsome event called "April Fools". Basically, for the entire month of April, you can make fools out of your humans! I was really excited, so I went and peed on my Pops' shoes, I peed on Momma's leg, and then I did poopy in Aunt Mainey's room. And these weren't the little marking pees like when Momma sprays her perfume... these were the nice long "lift your leg for a good 10 seconds" pees!

Of course, my Humans were really really upset with me. I didn't know why, of course, since it's April Fools and I'm allowed to. Besides, it's Pops' job to clean up after me. He should be happy that I've given him things to do!

Oops...

Then I found out from Tooky the Wise Turtle that April Fools doesn't work like that. In fact, it's only the first day of April and not the whole month. So that's why my Humans are so upset. Oops!

BC Attack

Yesterday at class, my brother Knuckles got a little bit too irritating with a big Border Collie, and the BC just snapped and bullied Knuckles. Poor Knuckles got a shock, but nobody was more freaked out than Aunt Jol. Luckily, the BC's human was there to break up the fight and Knuckles didn't get injured much at all, but the two of us were definitely quite spooked and edgy after that. We just went back to Grandmother's place and hid quietly for a bit.

Nope, no Border Collies outside Grandmother's place

This morning, I'm still feeling a bit antsy. I was a bit afraid of going out into the Great Outside, even if it was just the garden. I was also so nervous, I did wet poopy.

I think I'd better not mess around with the big dogs for a while.

Gotta keep looking over my shoulder, just to be sure

Miserable wet poopies

Since Friday night, my tummy's been feeling lousy and I've been doing wet poopies. Momma and Pops have been quite worried, and they've been waking up several times in the middle of the night or the early morning to clean up my smelly wet poop. I mean, normally my poop doesn't smell bad, but even I think these ones are really gross.

I think I'll skip on the pictures, cos I don't think anybody wants to see that.

Then this morning, Pops woke up at about 5am and had to do wet poopies of his own. Hahaha! Silly Pops... always copying me because he gets jealous of all the affection I get from Momma!

Fridge Cleaning Time

Okay, can you guys keep a secret? Of course you can! You're dogs - the most loyal and trustworthy animals in the world!

Grandma's ridiculously packed fridge

Anyway, my grandma likes to hoard food. Like, a lot of food. She'll buy a lot of food, stick it in the fridge and around the kitchen, and basically not eat it. Not only is it really gross to keep food that's off, but it means there's never any space in the fridge for when Momma buys ice-cream and Pops wants to keep his beer cold and stuff. When Pops says to throw something out, grandma will say something like "no, you can keep this stuff past the expiry date as long as it's in the fridge".

So whenever my grandparents go off on a holiday, Momma and Pops will raid the fridge and secretly throw out all the expired food. It's a real challenge, because we can't throw out too much food, otherwise grandma might get suspicious when she gets back. So Momma will do some special stacking and rearranging to make the kitchen look like it's still full of stuff.

You can find all kinds of crazy stuff when you go through my grandma's kitchen. Sometimes, you can find really old stuff. Last year, Momma found something that dates back to 2003 or something - that's like 40 dog years old! The Beagle from down the road said we could probably sell that on eBay Antiques.

Pops says home-made means no preservatives,
which means that's SOOOOO GROSS!

Other times, you can find things that you won't even recognize. Really gross things, like strange prunes or preserved cat poop or something.

What is this? I'm a dog, and
even I wouldn't try to eat that!

One good thing about having me around is that sometimes the expiration date would have faded from the boxes and stuff, so my Humans will ask me to use my super dog-nose to sniff the food and let them know if it's gone bad or not. It's not a really fun job, because the food that's gone bad pretty much smells that way, but it's an important job so a dog's gotta do what a dog's gotta do.

My nose is the ultimate smell tester

Well, my grandparents get back tonight. Let's hope that grandma doesn't notice anything wrong!

Rainy Mornings and piano poops

I think there's nothing quite like the smell of a rainy morning. Like, when you wake up, and it's pouring rain outside, but the rain is over by the time your Humans let you outside. The grass smells nicer, the air is fresher, it's like the whole world just got a bath, but you were lucky enough to be hiding in your crib while it happened.

Our garden, after the rain

In Singapore, when it rains in the afternoon, it's really horrible cos it gets all nasty and sticky, and the air is hot and humid. But in the mornings and evenings, the sun isn't so bad, so you feel cooler, and there's usually a nice cool breeze to catch on your face. It's awesome!

But maybe it might get a bit too chilly. I noticed that sometimes Aunt Mainey wears her socks while she's playing the piano, so that must mean her feet get cold. Aunt Mainey plays really nice music on the piano, so the other day I decided to show her how much I like her music by leaving her a hot fudgey sausage near the pedals to warm her feet.

I don't think Aunt Mainey liked it though, because she went crazy when she stepped on it. She even changed her socks! She didn't yell at me or anything, but I still get the feeling she wasn't happy with me.

Warm fudge sausage #2

I don't get it... so this morning I tried again by leaving her another sausage. Hopefully she'll be happier with this one.

Update: She didn't step into the second sausage. But she wasn't too impressed either!

Don't Dogs Deserve Birthdays?

Pops' birthday cake. Will I get one too?

I overheard Uncle Qian talking to my Pops about my birthday the other day, and what he had to say was a bit iffy. It went something like this:

Pops: Sonic's birthday is just a few weeks away.
Uncle Qian: What are you guys gonna do?
Pops: Jo wants to throw a party. You know, get a doggy cake, invite some friends.
Uncle Qian: Good grief! You know, his name is SON-ic but he's not actually your son.
Pops: Yeah, but it'll be fun. Besides, it's also Knuckle's birthday so there's another reason to celebrate.
Uncle Qian: Two fur-kids don't make a real kid.

I'm sure Uncle Qian didn't mean for me to overhear that, but I guess humans often forget that dogs have super-hearing. Maybe Knuckles and I aren't human puppies, but we're just as lovable and we deserve a birthday! We make humans much happier than human puppies, because we don't wail and cry all day long, and honestly... our poop smells a whole lot better.

My Big Day Out

Yesterday was a really nice day! Firstly, my Pops foolishly went to school not realizing that his term break starts this week. After that, he came back and scooped me up into his car for a car ride!

We went all the way over to the East side (but not East enough to visit Knuckles and Tails) and met up with Uncle Aaron's momma, who was delivering some presents for Pops and Momma all the way from Australia. The presents were in really big boxes, and I was so excited about what could be hiding underneath. Maybe it's something I can chew!

After that we headed back out West to visit Uncle Javad. When we got there, Uncle Javad was in the middle of a boss fight in something called World of Warcraft. When Momma does craft, that means she's knitting a scarf or painting some bookmarks. I thought maybe Uncle Javad was sewing a chew toy for me, but he was just at his computer yelling "stack, you morons!" I don't know what that means.

Even though it was a new place for me, I behaved myself and decided not to leave any Golden Offerings in Uncle Javad's room.

But he did take me out for a walk around his front yard, and I got to sniff and smell lots of crazy new things... and then pee-pee on them.

Uncle Javad's place was pretty big, so it was awesome to walk up and down, and pee on so many new things. There was even this garbage bag that smelled so much, I had to pee not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES on it in a row. Remember, doggy friends: there's no such thing as over-kill... only caution! 

Third time's a charm!

Then I did poopy in the grass, and Uncle Javad said I had "dingleberries". Now I have no idea what he meant by that, but my butt sure felt icky. Maybe dingleberries are funny plants in the grass that makes your butt feel icky. The humans quickly got me back inside, where my Pops wiped my butt down with some wet tissues.

After that, we played DJ Hero for a bit in Uncle Javad's room. Uncle Javad didn't have an Xbox though. Instead, he had something that looked like a black and fat DVD player. Oh well...

Now DJ Hero is fun! Most of my Pops' games is played on those controllers that are anything BUT dog-friendly, or on those plastic drum sets and guitars that are just way too big for me. But DJ Hero is something even a dog could play, so I recommend that you guys start barking at your humans and asking them to get you DJ Hero. I hope Santa Paws gets me one next year!

Then it was time to leave, but I suddenly spotted something outside Uncle Javad's room. It was something they called a "Possum Pelt". Now I've never met a Pelt before, but it definitely looked sneaky. After all, it was crouched in hiding on a handrail, keeping all silent and stuff. When something furry is keeping still and quiet, that means it's got something to hide and is up to no good... like a cat!



After the Pelt scare, Pops and I went home and I just snoozed all the way! That was a fun adventure! The Beagle from down the road told me that a really really old human once said: "I came. I sniffed. I peed."

That pretty much sums up my day.

Farts are really Poop Bubbles

The other night, my Momma found a dried piece of poop stuck to my poopy hole fur and she had to clean it off. It was really uncomfortable and embarrassing, especially when my Pops was taking photos and laughing. But Momma got it out eventually, and I was left to wonder... how did this happen?

Momma's cleaning my poopy hole

The next day, I was talking to my friend the Beagle from down the road, and we saw these two human puppies walking down the street blowing gummy bubbles from their mouths. Suddenly, one of the bubbles popped and made a loud sound. That's when we realized that maybe farts are kinda like poop bubbles!

I mean, think about it. When you need to fart, you have to push air from your tummy out your poopy hole, right? And when you push enough air out, then it pops and makes a sound, just like a gum bubble. If there's not enough air, the fart just deflates and goes back inside in your tummy, with no smell and no sound... just like a gum bubble! But there's no gum in our poopy holes, so our fart bubbles must be made of poop!

The Beagle and I spent about 15 minutes trying to watch each other fart to check if it's true, but we couldn't squeeze out any farts. That's when we learned that a watched dog never farts. Later that day, I farted, but I couldn't see if there was a poop bubble because my legs and tail were in the way. I checked my humans' farts (Pops is a reliable source of farts), but they're always wearing pants so I can't see.

What about you guys? Do you know the truth about poop bubbles?

PS The presents are finally appearing under the tree! I can't wait to see what I got for Christmas!!!

Walkie Walkie

My humans are asleep, so I can sneak in another post on the computer.

My humans took me for a nice walk tonight. Momma had gone jogging earlier, so Pops took me out to meet her in the Great Outside after dinner. Luckily for me, Momma didn't smell like Missy the Westie like she normally does after a jog. When we walked out the front gate, we bumped into our neighbor Dame, a very furry Maltese. I rarely get to meet Dame; usually we just see her barking from her high balcony, like that Rapunzel girl.

We met quite a few friends tonight, like Tess the long-legged wheezy dog, and Cocoa and Chewie, the chihuahua couple. As usual, Cocoa was quite flirty with me, and Chewie got pretty angry about that. I guess Cocoa must've heard about my secret identity as the Dog Knight, and girls dig that stuff. Luckily for Chewie, I'm still wary of cooties so I'm not gonna flirt back with Cocoa. Cooties are gross!

At the bottom of the hill, we got barked at by... yes of course, the Hill-Bottom Twins. Well, at least one of them. I'm not sure what happened to the other one. As much as it makes me jump every time they start barking out of nowhere, I really hope nothing bad has happened to the other one.

When we got home, the new puppy from the house next to us started barking again. Well, not really barking... more like whining. If I thought I was whiney, then this puppy is even worse. The thing is, nobody in my family has ever seen this puppy before, so we don't know what kinda puppy it is. We can hear it, but we can't see it. It's like a fart. So I'm going to nickname him "Small-Fart" until I figure out his real name.

One weird thing did happen during my walk. I found a nice spot to poop, and just when I'm all crouched and ready to go... nothing happened! It's so strange! I walked a couple of steps down and tried again, but it was as if the poop wasn't ready to leave home. I got quite embarrassed when my humans started looking at me funny and giggling, and just walked it off. I hope that doesn't happen again.

I'm a celebrity... sort of.

My Momma was sniffing around the Internet, and she found this blog where a guy draws a dog every day. Anyway, just recently he tried to draw Sonic the Dog! Wow! That's like... me!!!

Picture courtesy of Dr Salt

Okay, maybe the whole pooping thing is kinda embarrassing, but I guess he's not all wrong. Cos I err... I left some of the really really smelly stuff for Momma to clean up last night. Not my proudest moment, but my tummy just wasn't feeling well.

Still, I feel like a celebrity, even though I really shouldn't be one. Just like Kevin Federline!

Garden fun

Now that I'm not so young and fragile anymore, my Humans have been regularly taking me out to the garden for me to run around and leave Golden Offerings on Grandma's plants. While I'm out here, I can also sniff out the Evil Cat's pee, and then pee over it. I'm telling you, that cat sure gets around!

They let me out in the mornings before they head out to work/school, and again when they get back. And after meals too. It's a pretty good routine, and I love it!

The garden is not as big as the park that I went to the other week, but it's got that nice green grass stuff and I can run around and around without slipping and sliding. It's sweet, and it's got this nice breeze and I can stick my face out and get some wind in the face. It's not as nice as the wind I get during my car rides, but it's like a gentler, more relaxing version.



There's also a rocky path that I have to be careful while crossing... those pebbles might hurt my paw if I'm not too careful, I think. It's pretty dangerous looking, but luckily I'm a brave dog and I'm awesome enough to hop from stepping stone to stepping stone. Just to remind this pebbly path who's the boss, I pwned it with some poop.

Staying home with Momma

For the last few weeks, Momma's been able to stay at home a lot to play with me. I LOVE IT! Normally, she has to go to work in the morning, and then only play with me when Pops and I pick her up from the train station in the evening, but this routine has changed lately. It's great!

We get to chill at home, watch TV, practice my new tricks (I know how to stand by her side and run around her now!) and nap! Not only that, but she's been taking me out for walks almost every day. It's so awesome!

Lemme take you through an average walk. First, we head out to the gate, and Momma makes me sit and wait patiently first (I'm not allowed to run outside without permission). Then when I behave myself, she opens the little gate and I can go outside.

Waiting for Momma to open the gate.

The start of a new adventure!

Usually we go for a little round, but since I've started going on regular walks I've been getting stronger so we can walk further around the block. I get to sniff stuff, meet other dogs (there are so many dogs in this neighborhood... including this big dog named Parker that's ten times my weight!). My favorite part is when I sniff some messages and notes that other dogs leave in the grass and trees, and then if I'm well-behaved, Momma will let me leave a reply. It's like emailing, except liquid!

Walking around the Great Outside is such an exciting time. I get to feel the wind in my face, breathe in the fresh air, and I get to poop anywhere I want! I mean, if I see a patch of grass that I don't like, I can just hop onto it and leave a few hot nuggets, or when I have more time, I can even squeeze out a hot sausage. I feel so libral libeara liberat free to do anything!

There's one big problem with walking though: the big hill at the end of the journey. Because our home is near the top of a hill, the end of a walk usually involves going up that big hill. And if Momma thinks that its tough for her long legs to climb that hill... imagine what it takes for my little legs to climb it!

The view from the bottom of the hill

But I still love my walks though. I hope Momma will keep taking me out everyday. I love my Momma soooooo much!

I smell with my little nose...

Sometimes having a great sense of smell
isn't the best thing in the world.

You humans don't know this because you've got those low-grade noses that aren't worth the money Koreans pay to get them adjusted (I'm not sure what that means exactly, but the Beagle from down the road said it once and it made the other dogs laugh), but we dogs have discovered something really weird about humans.

When you live in the same house for long enough, your poop eventually synchronizes itself so that it all smells the same. I'm not sure why this happens, but it does. You can't really tell, but us dogs can detect the subtle changes in the smell.

That said, my Pops must've lived with horses at some point in his life, because his poop smells really bad. Momma's on the other hand, smells like roses. Okay, that's not entirely true, but I was told that if I wrote that, I'll get some extra treats tonight (yum!).