Kenji's birthday party

Last night, Pops came home and instead of just taking me outside to pee, he took me to the Great Outside! I went on a car ride to a place that, well, to be honest it smelled a little bit turdley. I'll explain that later.

Anyway, Pops took me for a walk through a crowded area, and there were lots of people walking and shopping. I went on a special elevator just for dogs, and went up to the rooftop of a mall.

A special elevator!

Then Pops took me to a doggy cafe, where Kenji, Baby, Alfie and this other dog that I've never met were all gathered! It was a birthday party for Kenji!

It was so cool, because dogs were allowed to run around and jump onto chairs and couches. There was a birthday cake, but I didn't really care. Pops tried to feed me, but I was too distracted by my friends to eat!

Mainly it was just sniffing each other, a few snarls so I don't want to bore you guys with the details. Instead, I'll just show you some pictures.

Kenji's birthday cake

A welcoming dog!

Me and my aunt Annabelle

I'm not interested in food, Pops!

The birthday gang

Oh wait! Something interesting did happen! For no reason, Alfie decided to pee on my uncle's girlfriend's foot! Her jeans and shoe was wet with pee!

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?

New Years and Pops' birthday

When it comes to the end of the year, we celebrate two things at our home: the coming of the new year, and Pops' birthday. My Pops was born on the last day of the year, so Momma always teases him about having only 24 hours to celebrate being a certain age before he has to start counting down to being older again.

This year, he turns about... 500,000 dog years old. Yep, he's a pretty old human.

Can you see me staring down Cousin Tails?

So anyway, that meant that lots of people came over to party, including Turdley Uncle Qian (who didn't give me a Christmas present this year) and Cousin Tails. This year, we didn't really get into any fights, although there was a peeing contest that the humans didn't really enjoy.

The humans ate a lot of food, played Xbox, and made a lot of noise. I tried to beg for scraps, but didn't do very well. I think I have to work on my whining a bit. The Beagle from down the road says I've been getting complase complica compute lazy.

Here you can see me trying to beg for food from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Alex. Uncle Alex is like the biggest human I've ever seen, so his head was accidentally cropped from the photo.

Whine whine whine

Then it was time for cake! This year, Momma went and got Pops the bestest birthday cake he's ever gotten.

Stormtrooper cake!

It was a custom-made Stormtrooper cake! Basically, it was a really sugary and sweet cake - or so I heard. Cos I wasn't allowed to eat any of it. Hiew hiew hiew...

Happy birthday, Pops!

After that, it was more messing around with Cousin Tails, and receiving lots of attention from the humans. I like guests. Guests always pamper the dogs.

Stand-off on the stairs

Look how big my nose is!

Hope you all had a good start to 2011! Happy new year!

Birthday photos from the park

Last Saturday, the whole family (except Grandpa, who had something else on) took Knuckles and I to the park for our birthday. It was tons of fun, and there was cake, snacks (like real honest-to-goodness meat bones!) and presents!

Our birthday cake

When we got there, there was a huge crowd of children who are here on a vacation from China! I don't know where China is, but I'm sure it's somewhere near Chinatown. Anyway, these kids were all dressed up in red, and when they saw Knuckles and I, they went berserk and started taking so many photos of us! We were like celebrity dogs, and we couldn't look anywhere without a flash going off in our face.

There were many many more kids
than just the ones in this picture

Then we cut the cake, and ran around. Aunt Mainey's friend came along and she gave me a plushie that she'd purposely fished out of those toy-catching machines at the video arcade. There was just so much going on! At one point, it started raining and Momma was really upset that the day would be ruined, but the rain only lasted a few minutes and we got to run around some more.

Oooh cake!

Running with Momma and Aunt Jol

My new present: Marie Cat!

Later in the day, this human puppy started playing with us. She just couldn't resist our fluffiness and kept wanting to touch our fur. She was really cute, and ran around with us too. But Knuckles and I were too fast for her to catch up. Still, we'd stop and let her touch us once in a while.

The human puppy loved to run with us

The human puppy did the Vulcan nerve pinch
on Knuckles. I want to learn that trick too!

By the end of the day, we were both really really tired. We could barely keep our eyes opened for photos!

Yawn!

Double yawn!

Oh, and check out the Photoshop magic that Momma did on our photos to make them look nicer. Momma just learned how to do something called a vignette (sounds like Italian food). I think it was worth the wait!

This is me, looking handsome

And here's Knuckles, looking pretty handsome too

After the park, we just went home and slept. I love birthdays! I wish I could have one every year!

It's my bday!

Shhh... My Humans are still asleep, so I have to be quiet while I write out this quick post. Today is my birthday, and my Humans couldn't wait to give me my new presents so they gave them to me late last night. I got new snacks and my own Xbox controller!

My birthday gifts!

I've never had a birthday before, but it's so awesome! I mean, I get presents! It's like Christmas all over again, except this time I'm special!

Momma fed me my new snacks, and I loved them all.

 

Waiting for the command to EAT!

Yes, I'm very happy now!

Pops was so happy about the Xbox controller, because now it means we have the same toy. But first, he had to teach me to tell which one is mine and which is his. But I'm smart! I know which one's mine!

Xbox controller plushy!

I'm really happy with my new Xbox controller, but who is Pops kidding? The Beagle from down the road says it's cruel to get a puppy an Xbox controller for his birthday, when there isn't a working Xbox in the house! Hurry up and fix or replace your Xbox, Pops!

My brother Knuckles and Aunt Jol is coming over later, and we're going to go to the park! Momma says she's got a surprise for me there! I'm so excited!

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.

Happy birthday, Pops!

I know the big news is New Years and all, but for us the last day of the year is also my Pops' birthday! He turned 30... in dog years that would mean he'd date back to when dogs rode around on horses and wore metal suits of armor!

So we've been celebrating lots of things, which is why I've been too tired to blog for the past couple of days. Anyway, I've rested up lots so here's a quick recap.

A bunch of friends and relatives came over on the 30th, and grandma cooked a huge dinner (which I didn't get to eat... again). Pops got quite a few cool presents, but the coolest was a few pairs of lightsaber chopsticks from Aunt Mainey.

The lightsaber chopsticks

 

Momma and Pops messing around

Pops and Momma messed around with the lighsabers a bit too, because they just couldn't resist. Pops also got a vintage R2D2 playset, and a little version of the Boba Fett blaster. Yep... everyone knows that my Pops is "cool".

Then they went and played Guitar Hero: Van Houten and a movie trivia game called Scene It. Pops won big at the movie game, but that's probably because the others were letting the birthday boy win.

Aunt Jeanette, Momma, and me!

Anyway, the birthday excitement got me thinking about my own birthday, which is just a few weeks away!!! I'm so looking forward to it!!!

The Official Golden Shower Tree and more!

Last weekend, Momma and Pops wanted to take me to West Coast Park to run around. However, Pops took a wrong turn on a road somewhere, and we ended up at Kent Ridge Park instead. Still, it's not too bad, because it was really, really high up! We spent ages in the car just winding up and up this big hill, and when we got there the view was soooooo sweet!



There was also this big tank there. I've marked lots of cars before, but never a tank! I just went over to the tank treads, lifted my leg and peed. It was so awesome! I hope that one of these days, I get to pwn a giant transforming robot or something.

Pops and me, with the soon-to-be pwned tank

Okay, maybe I wasn't supposed to pee on the tank, but I saw this tree that totally invited me to pee on it. The sign on it said it was a "Cassia Fistula" and that it was also known as a Golden Shower tree. Ah well, gotta do what the sign says, right?

The Golden Shower Tree

But you know what the worst thing about going to a high place is? All those damned stairs! I mean, whoever designed this park was obsessed with stairs! It was like he hated ramps and stuff. Maybe he thinks he's the Stair-Master or something. But anyway, there were a lot of stairs, and after about two flights, Momma and I were pretty tired already.





I tell you, climbing the stairs made my humans and me really tired. So we decided to quit, and just stayed at the top of the hill. We found this tree-top walkway, and it was really cool. It was like a bunch of walkways near the tree tops, and you can just walk around. There were a lot of flying bugs though, so Momma ran away. Momma had a bunch of bad experiences with a lot of bugs flying into her face. It's okay though, cos I totally protected her from the bugs with my awesome cuteness.

Protecting Momma from the flying bugs

So we got ready to go home, as the sun was so hot and I was baking under my fur. On the way back, we saw some human puppies celebrating someone's birthday! Birthday parties look like tons of fun, so I can't wait till next year when I can celebrate my birthday too. Momma has promised me a yummy birthday cake!