For George

As many of you have probably read, our furiend George, of Welsh Terrier fame, was just entered in an informal sort of dog show by his well meaning, but perhaps a little misguided, Dad. It seems that dog shows have not, so far, been the best venue for George to shine. George did not win. Or place. He came in last. This is incomprehensible to Franklin and me both. George is a Terrier of so many talents. Not only does he have a super terrific blog, he's just a wonderful travel writer. He's a  Morris dancer. We only learned what a Morris dancer was from George, so there you go! He's an educator, too. That's just scratching the surface, I'm sure, but on top of this multitude of abilities, George remains a regular dude and will accompany his Dad to the pub for a pint any time at all. Plus, he's very good looking, don't you think?

 

Well, we know that George is Best of Breed in our hearts so we are presenting him with our own blue ribbon for first place. We hope he'll accept it in the spirit in which it's given.

 

George, you're the best! 

Sunday Book Review : You Had Me At Woof

You Had Me At Woof

How Dogs Taught Me the Secrets of Happiness

by Julie Klam

This is the first Sunday Book Review in a series of...well, of one. Yes, this is pretty much the whole series. We were sent a copy of this delightful book with an invitation to review it. It's the only one I, Lola, have ever received. Blog Mom says that back in the day, when the family had a used book and record store they'd get them sometimes, and her Mom would do some reviews for the local paper. That was way before my time. Maybe before yours, too. Since that time she has not heard a thing from any publishers until now.

We are very happy to be able to give two tails up to the one and only book we're reviewing. We laughed and we cried. What put it over the top for us is that we laughed much more than we cried. Julie Klam takes us through the important stages of her adult life from single with no dog to single with one dog all the way  to married with one child and too many dogs to fit easily into New York City apartment life. 

Before she meets the man of her dreams the author meets the dog of her dreams - quite literally. She dreamed her Boston Terrier, Otto, before she found him. Her relationship with Otto has a profound and positive influence on all the rest of her life. It's that relationship that sets her free from worries that she can't be giving enough for marriage and motherhood and eventually leads her into involvement with breed rescue and fostering. All from the comfort of what is described as a small NYC apartment. 

Any dog lover will no doubt enjoy this fun, fast read. People who aren't such dog lovers would benefit from it greatly, but it's probably too much to hope that a lot of them will read it. It comes to bookstores on October 28th and can be pre-ordered on Amazon and other booksellers on the web. You'll want one for yourself and it's a title to keep in mind if there are dog people on your holiday gift list because they'll enjoy it very much and will think what a clever and thoughtful gift giver you are. 

  

One More Sad Good-Bye

Well, we logged on, thinking about posting something light and silly and catching up with everyone, but the first thing we saw on our blogroll was HEARTBREAK,  posted at The Poupounette. We went there, knowing what we were going to find. Yuu-Chan has gone to the bridge. We are so sad right now, there are no words. He was so young and so loved by his human and four legged family. His blog family was rooting for him through this illness, but our pawsitive vibes didn't help this time. The only thing we can think right now is that his life, short though it was, was good and full of love and the best care he could have.

RIP Yuu-Chan. We hope you're running free and living in beautiful sunshine every day. Our hearts go out to his family and particularly his #1.

Wordless Wednesday -9/22/10

Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable Pet Week

If not for our friends we wouldn't know anything these days. First Twinkie tells us about National Dog Week and now Mayzie tells us it's also Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable Pet Week. I wasn't sure that I could really address that issue. I'm a purebred and a member of a breed that was the rarest in the whole world for a bit. I mean, you can't get any more adoptable than that, can you? Well, not so fast, according to some folks. My personal hero, Sean Casey, Animal Rescuer told my Moms that Shar Pei were not quick to be adopted. It seems we have a reputation. "Bad rap" is what Mr. Casey said. Also, it's been rather rudely pointed out that I was well into middle age at the time of my adoption. Not a senior, though. I just want that on the record. I did not yet have my AARP (Association for the Advancement of Retired Pets) card at that point. I don't think it helps with Pei adoption that some rescue agencies and shelters recommend their Peis only to experienced Pei owners. All well and good, but how does one become an experienced Pei owner to begin with if only experienced owners should have us?

Franklin - Cute at times, demonic at times, goofy all the time.

When the Moms got Franklin there was much happiness in the shelter that he was going to be adopted by a family that included no children and a Pei. The fact is that he came from a family with children and his previous owner marked down on his surrender forms that he's good with kids, but no kids for him because he's a Pei. No matter. He's got me, Lola, and that's enough to make him happy. Oh, and the humans, too, but mostly me. But he was kind of lucky that just the right family came along for him. Between the pretty much not so necessary "no kids" caveat and his eyes he might not have been first choice for just everyone. We're still trying to get a photo that really shows what a funny looking guy he is. This one doesn't capture the demonic look, but it does give you something of an idea of the state his eyes are in, after drastic entropion surgery. He can see, but not all that well. Mostly you wouldn't notice, but it really shows when he's trying to chase a ball, which he loves to do. What he can't do is follow where it's going, even if it's a straight line. He ran right over the one that Daddy threw the other day and had no idea. It's OK, though. We doggies don't really absolutely need to see all that well or even at all if we have someone to take good care of us.

Differently abled animals can make the best pets in the world. The aforementioned Twinkie has only three good legs. Gentle Ben, another blog furiend is doing just fine on three legs and some dogs make do quite well with fewer than that. Adoptapet.com's blog has an post up titled Blind Dogs, Deaf Dogs, Wonderful Dogs!. and the article referenced mentions that some people who have adopted blind or deaf dogs can't imagine having any other sort of pet. I'd bet the same goes for kitties, too.  Now you all know all this already and I do, too, but we should probably do what we can to get the word out to those who think that Pitties or Peis are mean dogs or that dogs or kitties who lack a limb or so, or vision or hearing can't be happy pets.

Everyone have a truly great National Dog Week, too. Extra treats! Extra cheese!

Twinkie's National Dog Week Show Us Your Tongue Contest

Twinkie is having a giveaway contest to celebrate National Dog Week.  She asked for suggestions  for what kind of contest but didn't get a lot, and finally came up with "Show Us Your Tongue" as a theme for the competition. Sounds easy, right? Not for us so much. We keep our tongues firmly in our cheeks most of the time. Oh, mine comes out to apply generous licks to my humans, or any humans who stand still long enough for that matter. But it's hard to take a picture while you're being licked. The rest of the time all you get is a glimpse of my tongue. There are like three existant photos that include a decent image of my tongue. This is probably the best of them. It's an action shot, as  you can see.

 

I don't know if it's a breed thing, but  it might be. We're not even sure we've really seen Franklin's tongue. He seems to have been taught not to lick by his former humans. I'm working on unteaching him. Now I get an occasional kiss from him and once in a while he'll lay a quick one on one of the humans, but not often. That's a shame, because we Pei are very good at kisses. We approach it very seriously. As for our mostly hidden tongues, I think it might be that our mouths have plenty of room for our tongues so even if we're panting  the most you'll usually see of it is just the tip. So, even though I can't really compete with some of the world class doggy tongues out there, this is my modest submisison - the best I can do.

Saturday Thises and Thatses

Look what came in my Pei Mail yesterday:

This is Master. He's a Collie Pei. I don't think he's a designer dog. More likely a love child. But if they all came out like this I'd have to endorse this hybrid. Is he gorgeous or what? It's probably just as well that he's way down in Dallas, because we just don't have room for another doggy bed in this place, or the green papers to support another one in the style to which we've become accustomed and Blog Mom can't stop looking at his photo. He's Pet of the Week in yesterday's Dallas Voice and available for adoption at .the Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center. If you're anywhere near Dallas and are lacking for a Shar Pei and/or a Collie, you really can't go wrong here. I'm sure he'll herd your sheep, rescue Timmy from the well and....

Oh, this is a bit humiliatling. After wittily listing a couple of things that Collies do I can't really come up with anything that we Shar Pei do. We are champions at being housebroken. You won't find a breed in the world that can beat us for that. I'm not sure that qualifies as an activity, though. We are wonderful companions. It's hard to explain why we're so good at that, because being good companions is really a major schtick for the whole canine population. All's I can say is that having one of us around is kind of like having an attentive, but not overly demanding, human around most of the time. That is not exactly an activity on the order of well rescuing or sheep herding either, though. We have a strong prey drive (except for Franklin) but it doesn't really come to anything. We don't track anything much or run vermin to ground.  We certainly don't retrieve. We will encourage YOU to retrieve. Does that count for anything? We must do something.... I know! We grunt! We are not the only grunting breed, but I think we can hold our own with any of them. In fact, I think that for those big doggy shows they have they should open up a new category. The Grunting Group. Right now we're in Non-Sporting Group which only serves to highlight what could be construed by the unenglightened as our lack of function. Anyhoo, someone's going to get a great dog with Master, but I recommend changing the name. Calling your dog Master has just got to set up the wrong dynamic for the whole relationship.

 And having nothing to do with any of the above, I was leaving a comment on Corbin's blog the other day and this was my squiggly word.

Doggem! I'm telling you - there some kind of secret code thing going on here. Any code breaking dogs around?

Write A Post, Help a Dog

 It's a movement, fellow doggies! Pedigree is making it so easy to help our fellow dogs in shelters. For every one of us who becomes a fan of or likes The Pedigree Adoption Drive on Facebook, then Pedigree will donate a bowl of food to a shelter. AND, for every blog post we write about it, they'll donate a twenty pound bag of their Healthy Longevity food. What's not to like about that? Nothing is what. Donations of food help shelters take care of more of us and help to give us more time to find our perfect forever home.  This page on Pedigree's site will tell you lots of different things we can do. The blogging drive  kicks off today, Thursday, September 16th and goes through Sunday, so time is shortish to get your post in.



 I know I don't have to tell you about all the dogs who wind up in shelters ( like yours truly and Franklin and so many of our friends, too.) or how adopting one of us transforms lives, but there are some points that should be driven home during this event:

• Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs 
• This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a “Fan” or “Likes” The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1 million bowls have been donated.
• Special for BlogPaws West: For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive through September 19th, PEDIGREE® will donate a bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide. It’s simple: Write a post, help a dog.
   

Now, I learned about this from three different blogger friends. It was posted on Cooking With Dogs, Bocci's Beefs and Life With Dogs, so thank you to all of them. You can leave a link to your post at Life With Dogs'Special Edition Blog Hop starting this morning to make sure your post gets counted.

Wordless Wednesday - Kitty Style

 

Fashion Statements and Birthday Boys

DRESS TO EXPRESS

I assume we all know that it's Fashion Week in NYC. No, I didn't attend any of the shows. All my invitations must have been lost in the mail, plus we were busy with other things. Anyway, the more interesting New York Fashion Week was in August. That was Pet Fashion Week. Uh...we didn't go to that either, but it looks like a lot more fun than the human version, doesn't it? Still, those NY celebrepets have nothing on our own fashionistas, like Lorenza, for instance. But then  she's got her own pawsonal designer and seamstress right at home. Ha! Beat that, Paris Hilton's chihuahua!

We Pei are better off keeping it simple, however. A Pei in a dress just wouldn't look the same as a doxie or a yorkie. My wardrobe generally consists of a collar and sometimes a bandana. Harness and leash come into the equation if we're going out, of course. The same formula works just as well for Franklin. With this very limited palette with which to work, we needed to give careful thought to our Fall 2010 looks.  What did we want to say with our collars this year? Well, we decided that what I wanted to say was that I'm a girl. There's sometimes a little confusion on that front. I think it's the very short ears. So, we decided to think pink.

No one's going to ask "What's HIS name now?", am I right?

See the little bitty bones? It's those little details that are so impawtent.

 Now Franklin has a different issue to deal with. There's the little problem of his looking a tad demonic. You don't see it in the photos that Blog Mom has taken so much. She likes to take photos that flatter him and she sees him as totally adorable. You know how Moms are. But when viewed straight on his face can be just a little startling and the red rims around his eyes aren't getting any less red after two months. This together with the fact that we're bred to look a little stern so some people are afraid of us to begin with means that we had to give some thought to Franklin's image when planning his wardrobe. So...Woofstock for Franklin. It really does reflect his attitude much better than his rather deep bark does.

Peace, love and Puperoni, dudes!

Also, it serves to remind one that it's much more likely that a red eyed individual is peacefully stoned than possessed by a demon.

Stay away from the brown cheese, pawple!

BIRTHDAY BOYS

I mostly gave up doing posts for furiends' special days because it was just impawsible to keep up with all the birthdays and Gotcha Days. But this past week has been remarkable for the number of important days our furiends are celebrating. It started with Hero's birthday on the 6th. He turned 4. Oh, to be 4 again! What a wonderful age!  And then there's Pip's very special day on September 11th. And then it turns out that today is Bolo's birthday and also Buddy's! All's I can say is that September has given us some great doggies and I'm so glad to know all of them and if you haven't said Happy Birthday to them, well, it's never too late.

Adoptapalooza

If you're in NYC today you will probably be at Adoptapalooza, no? I know I would. It is simply going to be THE event of the year is all. I won't be able to attend, (maybe next year, if Blog Mom has two functioning legs, we can do it.) but my alma mater will be there fur sure. It's at Washington Square Park in the Village. All doggies are invited. You don't have to be up for adoption to go. AND, you can bring your humans, too.  There is something for everydog there including a fashion show, massages, training demos - just all kinds of things to do and experience. What's not to like? And of course, there will be masses of adorable, adoptable pets there. That's the main point, isn't it?

Remembering September 11th, 2001

From the World Trade Center's Heroic Dog Yearbook. They came from all over the country to help, both humans and dogs. We always want to be where we're needed. That's something worth remembering along with the horror of the day.

The Great Rearrangement Continues

Hi. Remember me, Lola? The forecast here is for continued slow blogging until either the end of time or until Blog Mom runs out of projects she can do, or make Daddy do, in the house whichever comes first.  See that photo above? I don't even look like that anymore. I have my new fall collar and not a single decent photo of it yet. It's pink with silver bones on it, by the way. Maybe you'll get to see it sometime, if we get our priorities straight.

Of course some of these home improvements do show the right attitude. See that bed that Franklin's on? That's my ratty old bed that had been retired but was recalled to duty when Franklin moved in.  That's history. Blog Mom came home from one of her expeditions with a new one, but we don't have a picture of it, do we? Actually, we're not sure we like it all that much. It's a little too fluffy for our taste. We prefer something in a flatter bed, but we're starting to use it. And at least she was thinking of the dogs while she was out that time.  She claims it all has a lot to do with us. She says that the house was never properly set up to accomodate a Pei centered family and now that there are two of us, it's more Pei centered than ever. Whatever.

Blog Mom has really got the bit in her teeth now. It all started, as far as I can tell, with her deciding that she just had to do something about where the cats eat, which was largely on the kitchen table. Because of the Pei, of course. It's actually the only dining table they currently have as the dining room has been pressed into service for other things, so it was pretty inconvenient to have the cats on the kitchen table entirely aside from the impression that makes on any normal people who might sneak into the house.  Anyhoo, there's an old hutch in the kitchen and she thought of clearing it off and giving it to the cats for their dining area. One thing leads to another. When you empty a space you have to put the things that were there other places. And if you're going to move the microwave you might as well get a new one, etc, etc.  Long, long story short - the kitchen had to be totally reorganized. And while we were at it, wasn't it about time we got a new kitchen table? Apparently it was.

Simone got it right away. It took Happy a little longer to remember where to look for his food and he still has to be put there sometimes. They both seem very pleased by the change, I have to admit. Happy sleeps there a lot during the day and both of them seem to enjoy having a dining/napping space that is exclusively theirs. But they did stay away the day the new table came. That was just too much change and commotion for them and they hid out in the bedroom until they were overcome with hunger. By then the table was in place and they could see it wasn't really dangerous at all.

Blog Mom almost satisfied with the kitchen for now, except for a few finishing touches she has in mind. It needs a new floor as does the front hall, but that's going to have to wait until there's a budget for it, and DIY is pretty much out of the question. It's for the best, believe me. However, this aggression did not stop at the kitchen door. She's begun the living room and one idea leads to another. Somehow we've gone to making a place for the kitties to eat to researching the pros and cons of gel burning fireplaces. After the living room she's already got a to-do list for the hall bathroom. And she's thinking up things she wants to do next Spring, too! We did get some new area rugs for the living room. There was a going out of business sale right on the way to the supermarket it seems. I like the rugs and am doing my best to infuse them with a nice, homey essence of Pei.

 I have to admit that despite the fact that some humans were not giving us undivided attention and there was all this upheaval going on, Franklin and I had a very nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend. The weather was beautiful and there were plenty of people around to let us in and out and out and in and see to our every need and most of our wants, too. We napped in the sun and played in the shade had treats and Franklin barked at the neighbors some and all in all, from a doggy point of view it was pretty nice even though Alpha Mom went to the Hampton Classic and didn't take us. She says she's taking us next year for sure. I hope you all had a great one.

Good-bye For Now, Dear Molly

Oh, it was such a sad shock to log on this afternoon and learn about the passing of our dear friend Molly. Of course, her Mom did give us a gentle warning that it might be her time, but it's easy to just sort of skip over that part of things when you're not right there to see how sick she must have been. We didn't know her for all that long but I know most of us will always miss her. She was so brave and she lived her life to the fullest possible even though she wasn't well. She had what we all need - love and care from her wonderful family . That's the most important thing that any of us could ever ask for. You go to the Bridge when it's your time and we don't any of us really know if that's going to be in years and years or tomorrow. So, good-bye for now, Molly. We'll see you when it's our time to get on that bridge, but we'll always remember you with love in the meantime.

Just A Quick Note About the Auction

I just want to let the doggies who bought my items know that J.D., Max and their Mom have sent your info and we'll be sending them out very soon. Of course my not too bright mom didn't think about going and getting the packaging ahead of time, so we have to do that first, but if we don't really have a bad hurricane we should be all over it on the weekend.

Well, No Time Left for a Real Post, But How About a Dance?

It looks like my post about the awards is going to have to wait another day or even two. There are a number of excuses reasons that Blog Mom is having such a hard time getting up to date here. One of them is that she hasn't been able to do much of anything since really injuring her leg earlier this summer. Now it's gotten to the point where she can function a little better. The ankle is not normal sized yet and the calf is still weak and she needs a cane to balance, but that's a big improvement from where she was, believe it or not. Sooo...she's had lots of catching up to do and she's on a tear in the house. She just went through the kitchen and the living room is next on her list for a fall cleaning and minor face lift. She says it's past time that we have to "beat back the crazy". More about that if there's anything interesting to report there.

What's important is that it's a happy day in the dogiverse, because Miss Molly's Mom is reporting much improvement on that front and Mona's Mommy posted a happy update on Shelby. It's enough to make a doggy want to dance. As it happens, my wonderful Aunt Donna sent us a link to a video of a very talented Merengue dancing dog, so we though we'd share that one with you. It sure did get all four of my feet tapping.





Now I have about an hour before bed, so I'm going to use that time to try to catch up with some of my furiends.