Food & style

I am a dog, so I must admit I am not very picky when it comes to food. I eat almost everything. I am choosy when it comes to other things, though. Like the leashes and collars I wear – I love it when they have matching colors (yes we dogs do see color, not fifty shades of grey). I think one has to be stylish, always.

That is why I am so pleased with the new thing M has for storing my food. They feed me raw meat, which comes in an icy cold pack in the form of a sausage. This is were she keeps it in:

It is a storage thing especially made for bubbles. Which means: me!!! Awesome.

Play

I love to play. Dogs play a lot together. We like it rough, so sometimes humans think we are fighting, as I explained in this blog. This is because when we play we have fun but we measure forces, too.

We also like to play with our humans. In a way this is measuring forces, for instance when we play tug of war. In this game we test how strong you are! Dogs play tug of war together too, you know. When I was little, I really liked to tug at a large stick held by a strong dog. Preferably a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler, because they are such a good sport. Of course I was not strong enough to carry this stick on my own, but that was not the point. The point was that these large dogs got very distressed, they wanted to snap at me but they could not, because then they would have to drop the stick. So in the end I would tug at the stick and they would hold the other end of it, growling and looking bewildered because this puppy tried to challenge them. Nice game.

There are some special games we only do with humans and these games are just for fun. I play a lot with M and P. For instance they hide some doggy snacks in an egg carton and I have to get the snacks out (easy). Or they hide something in the house and I have to find it. When it is on the floor I bring it back to them, when it is on a table or something I point my nose towards it, for them to see it. Actually it is a silly game, because why should I help them finding something they hid it in the first place… but well, we like playing together.

Of course we do ball games and a lot of other fun stuff, too. M managed to take a picture of one of my favorite games. Do you know what it is? Dancing!

 

 

I’m back!

Hello there, I am back! M and P returned from their holiday and Nicoline brought me home. There were some interesting new smells in the house, coming from the luggage of M and P. I smelled lobster and sunshine. I really, really want to go with them next time, because lobster and sunshine are two of my favorite things! I can’t believe they enjoyed it without me.

But I won’t be cross for too long, because I had a good time with Nicoline. We were a huge pack, I was together with twelve other dogs! Some of them became my friends. I played a lot with Boss, a big mean German Shepherd Dog. He is still growing and getting stronger every day. I really like to challenge him. This is a picture of him, together with the older German Shepherd in our pack:

Boss is the one on the right. In this picture they were singing, I don’t have a clue why, it was absolutely horrible to hear. I bumped into Boss to stop him and he resumed playing with me.

Another dog I really like is Flynn. This is him:

He can give you a very odd look, as you can see. I discovered the right response to this look:

I had a good time, but I am glad to be back home. At least I have my own bed now (at Nicolines place we swop beds all the time), with my very own snoozebag. And I can blog again! Like I predicted, Nicoline did not allow me on the computer. She thinks dogs shouldn’t blog, tssss.

Good & bad news

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that M and P are going on a holiday without me. I can’t believe they are doing this, but the inconvenient truth is: they are. Their bags are packed and ready. The good news is I am going on a holiday too and stay with my personal trainer, Nicoline. I will stay with her and her dogs. It will be fun, we will go to the beach and the forest every day, for hours and hours!

I am afraid I will not blog during this holiday. Nicoline is an old fashioned person: she thinks dogs should eat well, sleep well and be outdoors a lot of time. She won’t allow me to work on the computer. So I am sorry, but you will not hear from me for some time. The good news is I will have a lot of fun and probably have loads of nice pics to share with you after my holiday, because Nicoline is very good at making pictures. Like the one above (this was last year, with my Staffordshire friend Dibbus).

I am sure I’ll have an awesome holiday with Nicoline. I’ll tell you all about it when I am back home!

On the lookout

I am a guarding dog. Actually, I am a hunting dog, my ancestors were hunting dogs to the ancient Greek nobility. But I can guard too. It is absolutely necessary for any dog to do some guarding, you know. Even Bichons guard when the stakes are high. There are three subjects a dog has to guard: food, home and its human(s). This sounds easy, but it is not. Because, you see, all three of them come in different situations.

Food can be anywhere (luckily!): in your house, the car, the forest, the beach, you name it. Your human moves all the time, so you have to protect her in very different circumstances: at home, on the road, in a shop.  It takes a lot of skill to do this correctly. It can be a bit confusing, too. I for instance always protect M. When we go out, I am on the lookout for her, to see whether there is some danger about. If there is, I have to take measures, like leading her on another, safer path:

She appreciates me doing this. But sometimes she does not and that is the confusing part. When we go on a long walk M takes some food with her and we picnic along the road. This means double guarding duty for me: I have to protect food and my human. When a nasty man approaches us, I show my teeth and he backs off. This happened more than once and M was proud of me. But, and this is the confusing part, she was angry with me when we were in what she calls a bar and I did exactly the same thing to a guy approaching us. I still don’t get it. But maybe I will understand when I am a bit older. I could ask my friend Boet, she told me she has some bar experience.

The third very important subject to guard is home. This is not easy either, because a home can move. Like our home in the holidays. We are in a new spot almost every day and I have to work really hard, protecting it in new surroundings all the time:

It can be very tiring. That is why I prefer guarding our house. It doesn’t move and I have an excellent spot for guarding: my favorite chair on the second floor. From there I have a good view of the front of the house, where most of the action is and where I suspect possible danger will come from (at the back of the house is our garden, only cats and pigeons there – very important, too, don’t get me wrong. But not concerning guarding):

I am very successful in guarding our house. Humans walk to our house, they see me and walk on. Easy! Occasionally someone walks to our door and rings the bell. Then M and I go downstairs, she opens the door and I stand right behind her, ready to attack in case the person calling is not friendly. I show my white, sheeny teeth, just to make sure. When required I add a firm, menacing growl (I learned a really convincing one from my German Shepherd friends).

Until now I did not have to bite anyone. Which frankly is a disappointment, because I wonder what nasty people taste like. Pigeon? Sausages? Socks? What do you think?