I've got a couple of awards!

Wow! I've just received a couple of awards from Toby the Guide Dog in Training, and they're awesome!  First up is the Happy 101 Award.

The rules for this award are simple: You have to post up the image on your blog. List 10 things that make you happy. Do one of those things. Send this award to 10 of your friends that make you happy.

Well that's easy enough! Here are my 10 things:
1) Sniffing smelly socks
2) Getting some wind in my face during car rides
3) Cuddling up with my Momma
4) Chasing my Pops around the coffee table
5) Take a nap while snuggling GG the Giraffe
6) Getting a snack
7) Going for walkies in the Great Outside
8) Eating pork
9) Playing fetch and wrestling with Leo the Leopard
10) Dragging Ms Crab into my crate for some private time when my Humans aren't looking

The other award is the Sunshine Award.

This one has much easier rules. Just post it up on your blog, and then award it to 12 other bloggers. Oh, and you have to leave comments on their blogs to let them know they've got an award.

So to make things easier, I'll just do what Toby did and award these 2 awards to 12 dog bloggers. Here are my picks (though I'm sure many of them have already gotten these awards before, it never hurts to get more than one award), in no particular order:

1. The Thundering Herd
2. Dog Daze
3. Lorenza
4. Tank
5. The Army of Four
6. Twink
7. Bruschi
8. Santa & 9. Minnie
10. Patsy from Dragonfly Interiors
11. Maggie & Mitch the living plushies
12. Salinger the Pug

While I have your attention, I'd also like to congratulate Toby for reaching his goals before he has to return to school. If you guys helped out, then there's a big thank you for you!!!

I got Tagged!

I was scoping out Twinks' blog (did you guys see the post where she's in a bikini?) and apparently she's been tagged by some funny pee-mail thing. And not only that, but she went on and tagged me too!

So anyway, this is what I have to do now:

1. Open my first photo folder
2. Scroll down to the tenth photo
3. Post the photo and tell the story behind it
4. Tag 5 more people

Sounds easy, enough, let's start!

The 10th pic of my first photo folder

This is one of the first pictures my Humans ever took of me. This was taken the night I was brought back to my Furever Home. As you can see, I was a very different looking dog back then... my fur was brown, my ears were droopy, and I was tiny! I'm almost as small as GG the Giraffe! I really don't recognize myself at all!

I was also really really timid, and I was scared of just about everything (I think you can tell from my posture in the photo). I went to hide under my Momma a lot. Even from the beginning, I could tell that this Human loved me and would protect me. 

Anyway, there's my comfy blue blankie that I sleep with every night (from the very beginning!), my orange bed (which has since moved downstairs to become my day-bed) and my very first toy, Mr Elephant!

Guess there wasn't too much story to tell, so now for the next 5 tags!

1: Maggie and Mitch (who are so cute they look no different from their plushies)
2: Tank (the Beagle from down the road's number 1 fan)
3: Jazz and Dixie (because beagles are cool)
4: Dennis the Vizsla (knowing Dennis, the picture is bound to be random and weird!)
5: Bruschi (hope the icky meds are working!)

PS I just heard Momma's voice on the phone! I miss her so much!

Growth Chart: 13 months

Oh no! I think I've had my growth spurt already and it's over. I don't think I've grown much over the last couple of months! In fact, I think I'm getting skinnier. Hmm... I'd better start eating more. Pops, you should feed me more snacks!

Now that I'm a year old, I think I've stopped growing...

It's sad that I'm not growing anymore... but I guess at least it means I'm not a puppy, but a full-grown dog now!

My new Apple Bed!

The other night, I kinda chewed a hole in my bed cushion, and tore out some of the stuffies inside. My Momma was pretty upset, so she stuffed everything back in and tried to put it back together. It didn't work so well. So two nights ago, she buys me a new Apple Bed! I don't think I've told you guys before, but apples are my all-time favorite fruit snacks. My Pops doesn't like fruits much, but he does like apples, and I think I learned that from him.

Anyway, it was about 10pm when they unwrapped the new bed and gave it to me.

10:00pm, 23rd February, 2010

"Is this really an apple? It doesn't
look or smell like an apple..."

Anyway, I started making the apple bed feel welcomed by tossing it around and roughing with it. I think my old toys like GG and Miss Crab got a bit jealous. Momma was happy with her purchase!

Then this was what she found the next morning after she came out of the shower:

7:30am, 24th February, 2010

Oh no! What happened to my new Apple Bed? It looked like someone has mistaken the apple core for an eye and ripped it open! Momma immediately blamed me, but I tried to tell her that it wasn't me. It was... erm... it was a Doberman! One of those nasty Dobermans broke into our room while she was showering and attacked my new Apple Bed. It probably would've attacked Pops in his sleep and then ambushed Momma too, except that I bravely chased it back out the window.

"It wasn't me, Momma! It was the Doberman!"

I don't think Momma believes me though. If only I could work the flashy box myself, I'd have proof! Then instead of being upset, she'd be proud of my bravery.

Tails update

Poor Tails...

Sad news, everyone! We just heard from Aunt Cheryl that Tails isn't taking well to his medicine. Apparently it makes him vomit and stuff! I can sorta understand, because I think medicine tastes really bad too, but it hasn't made me vomit... yet. The poor guy probably hasn't taken any medicine before. I don't think he's even been to the vet before!

I mean, I hate going to the vet and I hate eating medicine too, but I guess it's what humans make you do when they love you a lot. Speaking of icky things humans do when they love you a lot, I'm still getting my ears cleaned by Momma every morning and every night because of my ear infection. I hate it!

I can't stand it when Momma cleans my ears!

Lately I learnt a new trick, where I bury my head between Momma's lap so she can't reach my ears with the pokey sticks. The Beagle from down the road calls it the "ostrich trick". I asked him what an ostrich is, and he said it's like a giraffe with wings. I imagine what GG would look like with wings, and it's really funny! I think it's another one of the Beagle from down the road's imaginary creatures, like merlions (a lion with a fish-tail - as if!), Jawas (giant rats that collect rubbish - like what?) and dalmatians (dogs with polka dots - yeah right!).

My morning routine

I have a pretty regular routine in the mornings. Every morning, I'll wake up at about 6am, and then lounge around for about 10-15 mins till I hear one of two things: my humans waking up, or that beeping thing that wakes my Momma up (but somehow only my Momma, and not my Pops). When I hear this stuff, then I'll start whining for attention (I've learnt that whining before these noises doesn't do anything).

At this point, Momma will wake up and play with me a bit, before getting ready for work. She'll take a shower, do her hair (sometimes with that scary noisy hairdryer thing) and put stuff on her face. I'll hang out in the bathroom with her for a while, and usually I'll drag my toys like GG and Miss Crab in here with me. Sometimes though, they leave their clothes on the floor and I'll snuggle into them and then have a good chew (though Momma hates it when I chew up her dresses).

Around 7-ish, I'll get a bit bored and try to wake Pops up. Pops isn't as easy to wake up as Momma, and I'll have to whine and whine and hiew-hiew for at least 20 minutes before he gets up. Sometimes, if his arms or legs dangle over the bed, I'll go and nibble those and it usually helps.



After Pops wakes up, he'll take me downstairs and out to the garden when I can check if the Evil Cat or the Squirrels are around, and then leave my Golden Offerings to keep them away. Momma then comes down for a quick breakfast, and then comes my favorite part: THE CAR RIDE! Pops drives Momma to the train station every morning, and I get to go along with them. 

I don't have any new pictures of the car ride now, but you can check some old pics here. I love getting wind in my face!

After that, I come home with my Pops and he'll get ready for class, and then when he goes off I can write my morning blog post.

And that's how I start my days. Except a couple of times a week, when my humans don't need to go to work and stuff, and then they sleep in till really late. I hate those days. I like playing in the mornings!

Growth Chart: 11 months

Interested in seeing how much I've grown? Well here I am with GG the giraffe again, at 11 months old! Sad to say, I think my growth is slowing down. I'm pretty sure I've grown a bit, but I haven't gotten that much bigger since last month.

At this rate, I'm not sure if I'll be able to grow as big as a husky like Khyra. I hope I'll be able to grow to the same size as the Beagle from down the road though. Can't fight Dobermans head on if I'm still so small!

This is me, after 11 months of growing.

My brother Knuckles on the other hand, is getting pretty big. But he's kinda growing outward and he's getting kinda porky. Aunt Jol feeds him a lot more than my Momma feeds me, I think.

PS My aunt Mainey got her results, and she totally aced her exams this semester! Congratulations, Aunt Mainey!

Meet the Toys: Leo the Leopard

My Grandma went to Australia to visit Aunt Mainey and Uncle Eff a few months ago, and she came back with a new toy for me that I just instantly became BFFs with. This toy was Leo the Leopard!



Leo might be based on a cat, but that's okay because he doesn't purr and meow at all. In fact, the only noise he makes is the squeaking sound when I bite into his body. I love that squeaking sound!

Leo is great because he's a bit bigger than GG, but he's got those flailing arms and legs just like GG, so I can pick him up and toss him around over and over again. It's like so totally fun. Lately he's become my sparring buddy while I train to become the Dog Knight. I still toss GG around too, but Leo is a bit more like my own size now (and he has that squeaking sound).



I know you're technically not supposed to have two BFFs, but I love them both the same. So they take shifts being my BFF. During the day, when my humans are out, I'll play with Leo. But when my humans come back and I'm snuggling with them and getting ready for bed, that's GG's time.



Well, I'm going to go and play with Leo now. See you guys later!

Random Photo Moment

Here are some pics that my humans snapped of me while I was sleeping... or at least trying to sleep. When I snooze, they get so caught up on how cute I am that they wanna snap some photos of it. Sometimes, I'm just too cute for my own good!

Tucked in with Miss Crab

Being woken up by Pops and his camera.

PS Uncle Eff went back to Melbourne last night. But Aunt Mainey is in town now to spend 3 months with me. It seems like my family is always rearranging themselves. Oh well... as long as there's always someone around to coddle me and pamper me!

Pup Bros

Knuckles and I have had quite a childhood together. It seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. We still tussle each other upon contact, to the point where I'll get really sick of him and just try to hide away from him... but I'll get so excited about seeing him the very next day. We'll fight over the same toys, fight over attention (we both hate it when our humans show the other dog some attention), and fight over peeing rights.

Anyway, I thought I'd put up some pics of us when we were puppies, just to show how little things have changed.

Here we are, fighting over snacks.
Can you spot GG?

Fighting for no reason...

It gets pretty rough sometimes...

But we always end up as pals again.

A long day of fighting always results in some heavy napping!

So yeah, we're both 10 months old now, we're both different colors now... but as you can see not much else has changed!

Growth Chart: 10 months

Okay, time to check out how much I've grown by comparing myself with GG again! This is so exciting... I think I'm gonna be a big strong dog one day, and I'll be able to reach all the hard to find snacks, leap over chihuahuas and maybe even bark down those Hill-Bottom Twins.

Though... I'm not sure if I've grown much since last month. I hope I haven't reached my maximum size cos I feel that I've got a lot more to grow!

This is me, 10 months old!

Compare this with last month's pic.

Meet the Toys: GG the Giraffe!

Okay everyone, I want to introduce you to my favorite Best Toy Forever! Her name is GG the Giraffe, and she's been my bedtime cuddle buddy for as long as I can remember. GG was originally a present for Momma from Santa Paws, but I liked GG so much that Momma gave her to me as a toy.



Since then, I've been cuddling with her, play-fighting with her, and my humans and I will play fetch with her too. She used to be the same size as me, but she seems to be getting smaller and smaller. These days, she's become just the right size for me to rest my head on.



Momma's been trying to train me to "Fetch GG!" and I think I'm getting there... though I'll sometimes forget how humans say GG and fetch the wrong toy instead. But I'm getting the hang of it, cos I'm really smart!

Anyway, now that you've met GG, I'm going to go and nap with her now!

I'm not the dog you're looking for

I had such a good dream this morning. In my dream, I left a Golden Offering under my Pops' desk, and then my humans confronted me about it.

Momma: Someone just peed under your Pops' desk. Let us see your paws, Sonic!
Sonic: Hiew hiew hiew!
Pops: We don't need to see his paws.
Sonic: Hiew hiew!
Pops: He's not the dog we're looking for.
Sonic: Hiew hiew hiew hiew.
Pops: You can go about your business.
Sonic: Hiew hiew hiew!
Pops: Move along, move along!

After that, Momma made Pops clean up the pee while she watched TV. That was such a sweet dream! I was like so awesome! I'm think that I'm destined to have these powers. I'm going to go and practice on GG.

Growth Chart: 9 months

The Beagle from down the road told me that human puppies keep track of their growth by drawing marks on their closets. I don't have a closet, so I'm going to keep track of how big I'm growing by measuring myself against GG the Giraffe.

3 months old

7 months old

9 months old

Meeting new friends!

I started this evening with a big shock. Normally, Pops would take me for an evening drive to pick Momma up from the station. Imagine my surprise when instead of leading me to the car, he put me back into the playpen! I was so confused, so I whined and whined, but Pops just left without me. I sat in my playpen and hiew-hiewed for a while, thinking about how much better life was when I was the cutest dog in the world.

Later in the evening, Momma and Pops came home and I realized that Pops had gone to the groomer cos his hair was much shorter, like mine! Then after dinner, they took me for a walk in the Great Outside, where I made some new friends! Unfortunately Pops' phone was out of batteries, so I didn't get any photos of my adventures.

The first dogs I bumped into were the Hill-Bottom Twins. Well, I didn't really bump into them because they're always stuck behind a big gate. The Hill-Bottom Twins are these two big dogs that keep barking and barking whenever anyone, human or dog, walks past their yard at the bottom of the hill. They're pretty scary, and if it wasn't for the big gate keeping them in, I'd go the long way around them because I don't think even Pops can fight them off. Luckily there's that gate, so I feel safe enough to leave my mark on the trees outside.

Just past the scary house, we saw a big leggy dog named Tess. Tess has these really really long legs, like the humans in Momma's girly magazines. But I remember the most is her weezing. It's quite creepy the way she breathes loudly, as if she's either going to attack me or have a heart attack. But her human said it's normal for her, so I dared to sniff her butt.

Around the corner, we bumped into another older lady dog, except this one was around my size. Her name is Cotton, and she's so white and fluffy. I think she can fly, because I've seen big fluffy white things like her floating in the sky before. She didn't fly tonight though... probably because she gets her flying powers from the sun's energy.

After Cotton left, I bumped into yet another two dogs. This time, it was a couple named Cocoa and Chewy. They were these two tiny yapping chihuahuas, and Ive never seen dogs so small before. They're like the size of GG my toy Giraffe! I think I must've really gotten Chewy jealous or something, because he wasn't too happy about me chatting to his girlfriend.  Little guy kept growling at me the whole time. It's kinda funny, really. Little yap dogs hahahaha!
Then I finally got home. I almost made it around the block, but I needed Momma to carry me around the last corner. I hope I don't catch cooties from meeting so many girl dogs.

Crap!!! Momma just found the Golden Offerings I left next to her bed. I have to go hide!

I'm getting so big and strong!

So here I was, sitting in my play pen and basking in my own cuteness when I started chewing on Mr Elephant, a toy that I haven't chewed on for a while. It was then that a thought popped into my furry little puppy head: I've really grown and things are changing! Mr Elephant was the first proper toy I ever got, and he is so much smaller now than I remember him to be. I looked over to Leo the Leopard and even though I've only had him for a few months, even he's starting to feel smaller.

I started thinking about how things are changing in my life... obviously size was the biggest change. My toys are getting smaller, and I'm able to fling them higher and further. One time, I managed to throw GG the Giraffe onto my humans' bed! I'm also unable to squeeze under the couch and into all those places that I used to love crawling through (squeezing through things is a hobby of mine, especially that gap behind my Pops' back when he sits against the wall). My Momma, being the clever human that she is, made sure to get me a large enough crate when she adopted me, so luckily my room is still quite comfortable.

Oh and the stairs! I remember being so afraid of them and totally had to rely on my humans to carry me up and down, even though I hate being carried. Then I learnt how to climb them, and a few weeks after that I could go down them too. These days I'm faster than anyone in the household on those stairs!

Since I just saw Knuckles on the weekend, I thought about our relationship too. We didn't used to get along too well and fought a lot, but now that we're a bit older and more mature (well, at least I am) I don't need to pin that crazy boy down and growl at him as much anymore. He's still nuts though...

Anyway, it's coming up to my favorite time of the day when my humans get home, so I'm going to wag my tail and wait for the sound of them unlocking the door. I love that sound; it gets my heart pumping!