COMING SOON!

Hello friends! I'm sorry for not keeping up and commenting on everyone's blogs. We have been very busy here. I stayed with my friend Rosie this weekend because my parents went to St. Louis for their anniversary - I'll tell you more about that later.



It has been really sunny and warm here, and sometimes when my people let me outside to 'go' I just plop down and sunbathe, and I won't come in. It feels so good!

And I have been OVERWHELMED with entries for the Paw-Limpic Games! It is incredible. I can't believe how many talented bloggers there are out there. We are still accepting entries through Thursday, and then the judging will take place this weekend. My mom recruited some of her dog-loving friends to be the judging panel, and it's going to be a VERY difficult job for them! There have literally been hundreds of entries.

There is a new category - "Stick!" Send me your picture carrying a stick, or doing something else with it. Thank you Chef the Boxer for that suggestion.

Some of you had so many great pictures that you sent in a few for one category. If this is the case, my mom tried to put the different pictures into two different categories, if possible (like wrestling and bitey-face, for example). If that didn't work, my dad is serving as the preliminary qualifying round judge. He is looking at the entries and selecting the best one to represent that dog in the event.



Did you know that my grandparents went to the human Winter Olympics two years ago? They went to Torino, Italy.



They got to watch hockey, some downhill skiing, and they saw Joey Cheek win the gold medal in speed-skating! We like Joey Cheek because he co-founded and is the president of the group Team Darfur - a group of athletes raising awareness to help the people of Darfur.

My 100th Post!

This is my 100th blog post! Thank you to all of my visitors and friends for reading my blog!

Thank you to my buddy Toffee for this great Arte-y-Pico Award!

Here are the rules of the Arte-y-Pico Award:

1) You have to pick FIVE blogs that you consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting material and also contribute to the blogger community regardless of language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award itself.

4) Award winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the "Arte-y-Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of the award.

5) In compliance with said RULES, the award winner must show the RULES.

I would like to share this award with Pacco, the 4 B-Boys at Secret Schnoodle, and my Spanish-speaking friends Girasol, Verdi y Gaucho, and new friend Yogui. Thank you for this honor, Toffee!

I got tagged by Maggie and Mitch for a really fun game, sent to them from Blue. She's a radio fan & BBC Radio 4, has a looooooooooooong standing programme called 'Dessert Island Discs'. To those of you, not familiar with this long running programme, says Blue, the concept's simple. The presenter has a fresh celebrity guest each week, who's given the scenario of being stranded on a desert island & then asked to choose the 8 records they would have to take with them. He/She then has to save just one from being swept away by the waves, select a book to take - the Bible & Complete Works of Shakespeare are a given; & a luxury item, which must be inanimate. We get to hear the music & their reasons for choosing the tracks.

So M&M let their mom help with the choices, and since I don't have my own i-Pawd, I'm going to let my mom help too.

1. My mom said she couldn't survive without Abbey Road. She loves the Beatles and this is her favorite album. She also likes Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which she thinks is the most influential album of all time (and she'll argue with you Beach Boys Pet Sounds fans!), but Abbey Road is her favorite. I think Pet Sounds might be more my style, for obvious reasons!

2. Rocky is my mom's favorite movie and essential running music. She likes this particular Rocky Balboa album because it has all the best songs from the previous five Rocky movies, along with some quotes from the movies.

3. Apparently my mom also wouldn't survive without a comprehensive collection of Motown artists. This is clearly cheating, Mom. This is several disks in one. She loves the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and especially all of the girl groups. And she sings along in the car.

4. Harry Connick, Jr.'s "We Are In Love" album. The song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" is on this CD, and that is my parents' song. They danced to it at their wedding. They love this kind of jazz and my dad even sang two songs to my mom that day. His voice is ALMOST as good as Harry's.

5. So how about some classical? You might know my mom is a flutist, and Emmanuel Pahud is the greatest flutist on Earth, if you listen to her. (Is it his playing, or his good looks, Mom?) And his recording of the Mozart Flute Concerti is her all-time favorite classical album.

6. Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. These are light and fun and my mom likes to listen to them at work. She has the recording of George Szell conducting the Cleveland Orchestra, a REALLY long time ago. He was kind of a mean conductor (like he would throw his baton at musicians) but he made great recordings.

7. Again, she's cheating. There's no way that all nine Beethoven Symphonies would fit on to ONE CD! Her favorites are #6 and #9. I recommend the recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. After all, I'm named for him!

8. If she could, my mom would bring a bootleg recording of my dad's concert with the big orchestra in Indianapolis this past winter. It was a really fun concert, and the orchestra was of course fantastic. They played Bernstein's "Candide" Overture and Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique."

My Book - My mom is having a hard time with this one, but she would pick "The Great Gatsby." I would pick "Dear Mrs. LaRue: Letters from Obedience School" by Mark Teague.

My Luxury - My darling orange Spider Stuffy.

Thanks for the fun tag, Maggie and Mitch! I would like to tag Jackson, Eric, Molly and Taffy, because they're from the UK too - maybe they've heard this on the BBC!

Thank you Kirby!!!

First of all, I want to thank everyone for your nice birthday wishes. Thanks especially to Maggie and Mitch for my box of goodies, and for my friends Jackson and the Hudson pups for sending me these great e-cards!



I had a great birthday and I got to eat a LOT of treats.

But the party keeps on going!
Yesterday I got a big box in the mail from my Airedale buddy KIRBY! Kirby's second birthday was on Monday, so stop by his blog to send him some good wishes!


How exciting. Something smelled really good in the box.


Kirby sent a really nice card - that SINGS! I couldn't figure it out. You open it, and it sings music - the song from Toy Story "You've Got a Friend in Me." It was really cool.


This is an extra-tough plush squeaky frisbee that is supposed to be chew-proof...we'll see! :) My dad has always wanted to play frisbee with me, but the plastic ones kind of scare me, so he is excited about trying this one out with me.


That delicious smell was coming from a big bag of cinnamon/pumpkin treats!!! And they are totally organic and vegetarian so I can eat them every single day, not just special occasions. Thanks for remembering about my itchies, Kirby! These are so good! My crazy dad ate a couple too - he thought they were delicious. I'm going to have to hide them from him.


And finally, Kirby sent this awesome hiking boot stuffy! It has a shoelace and everything! We love hiking so it is just perfect. I really like it.

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Kirby! It was so fun to get your package in the mail. I hope you had a fantastic birthday too and that your party goes on all week.

P.S. I guess I should clarify from my last post - I really only have one 'boy bit.' They chopped the other ones off a long time ago. Just thought I'd share for accuracy's sake. ;)

Personal Problems

NO PICTURES for this post! Too embarrassing.

I had to go to the vet today. I didn't see my normal vet; I saw a different lady who's only seen me once before. (She was the one several months ago who over-reacted a little about my swollen glands and thought I had cancer, incorrectly.) The good news is that she just started playing violin in my dad's orchestra! Despite the acquaintance, I still would have preferred my ordinary MALE vet today.

Why? I am having problems with my 'boy bits.'

I got poked and prodded in very personal places!! And I was prescribed ointment. Really? No pills? Anything easier and less touchy-feely? No. OINTMENT!!!

On top of that, I had to get a Bordatella shot. Not a good day.

Paw-Limpic Games Updates

Thank you SO MUCH to my friend Girasol for this fantastic promotional video for the Paw-Limpic Games!

(¡Muchas gracias a mi amiga Girasol por hacer este vídeo promocional fantástico por los juegos de las Pata-Olimpiadas!) - Did I bark that right, Girasol?

I just want to remind everyone that the photo entries are due July 31st, so you still have a few weeks left. Please email your photos to: Pawlimpics (at) gmail (dot) com. I am getting so excited!

Here is the list of all of the events for the Games:

Swimming
Diving
High Jump
Track (Running)
Hurdles
Wrestling
Gymnastics
Dancing
Ball (any kind of ball game)
Boating
Pee-Mail
Roaching
Sleeping
Making a mess
Begging face
At Work
Being a nuisance
Tug-of-War
Barking/Singing/Howling
Kissing
Bitey-Face
Sticking tongue out/Panting

If you have any more suggestions for events, please feel free to submit them and your photo for that event. When you submit photos, please also remember to send me your blog address!

There have been a few questions about teams and individual entries. If you live with other dogs, you may each enter your own photo entry for an event, and you may also submit a group photo for the event.

Also, my mom is helping get ready for the World Bone Relay. Everyone who participates will have their picture on the blog, carrying the bone through their area of the world. You do not need to submit a photo for this - my mom is trying to take care of that. Just let us know if you would like to sign up, and what area of the world you live in. Right now, I think this is everyone who has said that they want to carry the bone:

Agatha & Archie
Arabella
Asta (NYC)
Biggie-Z
Bolo
Brandy and the gang
The Bumpass Hounds
Buster
Butchy & Snickers
Charlie Daniels
Clover
Eric
Faya
Georgeous
Gus (WFT)
Gus and Louie
Happy
Jake & Just Harry
Kirby
Mack
Maggie & Mitch
Molly & Taffy
Noah, Willow, Tess & Lucy
Oorvi
Pearl
Randi
Ruby Bleu
Rudy
Rusty
Sam, Zorra & Katie
Scruffy, Lacie & Stanley
Simba (Manchester Terrier)
Stella
Sweepy
Toffee
Yuki

If I have left you off the list and you already told me you wanted to participate, I am sorry! I am trying to stay organized. Please let me know if you are not on the Bone Relay list and you want to be. (Just leave a comment or email me!)

Keep on training and see you soon at the 2008 Games of the DWB Paw-Limpics!

More vacation!

One night all the people played with sparklers out by the campfire. I stayed in and snoozed, but they still included me in on the fun, in spirit. I missed out on the marshmallows, though.


One day, I went with my parents and my mom's dad to climb a mountain in New Hampshire!


Back when we lived in NH, about 4 years ago, we used to go hiking all the time, and I loved it. This time, I did not have as much energy as I used to when we got close to the top - I must be getting OLD! But no one had to carry me. It's a good thing we didn't bring Walter the weiner dog because he would definitely need to be carried. It was a tough mountain (Mt. Israel).


The scenery was gorgeous. It was definitely worth the hike up.


My people really miss living in NH - there aren't many mountains where we are in Indiana!

And of course, we went to Boston and saw Agatha & Archie, Toffee & Riley! You've already seen those pictures, but here I am, Big City Dog.


After a wonderful week we had to drive back home. On our second driving day, my parents decided to take a little detour to a place called Niagara Falls.


I did not like this place. There was water in the air, and it was so noisy. It sounded EXACTLY like the bathtub - but HUGE! My mom tried to pick me up and I tried to run away - I thought she was going to throw me in.





So we made it home safe and sound, and I have had a lot of energy since we got back. It was definitely a relaxing and refreshing trip!

I am looking forward to this evening - we are going to a cookout! There are going to be two dogs there - Jenga, a puppy, and Scout, who is about 2 and just got neutered on Wednesday. I think he might be a little cranky. The people who are hosting the cookout are dog-sitting for them, and they also happen to be our judges for the Paw-Limpic Games! They are my parents' friends, objective dog-lovers. They are not getting any sneak previews of entries, I promise.

And I am excited that tomorrow I am turning a very wise and mature-sounding ten years old. :) It's my grandpa's birthday too - he's even more mature-sounding. (But in dog years, I am much older than him.)

Pawlimpics updates coming SOON!

Happy Birthday!

I want to wish a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend, the lovely Airedale Maggie. She is ten years old today!

Maggie was one of my earliest buddies on DWB, and we have a special connection because we are almost twins! (except for the whole breed thing...) Maggie was born exactly two days before me.

I have not been very good lately about remembering everyone's birthdays (vacation kind of messed me up) but I did remember to send Maggie a birthday card. But she and her brother Mitch sent me a huge early birthday package full of pawsome gifts. I am so lucky!!!

The box arrived Tuesday and my dad didn't mention it until 10 p.m.!!! He said, "Hey, who's Maggie? She sent you something." He is so clueless sometimes. (When we went to Boston to the park, he asked Agatha and Archie's PLs what "roaching" was, WHILE we were roaching! How embarrassing. He just doesn't pay enough attention sometimes.)

Wow, that smells DELICIOUS! What's in there?!?

These are the amazing things that I have read about and seen on blogs but NEVER HAD!! A MOOZLE! A Moo Tube! A Rollo! And liver treats!


They sent a funny card too!

But wait - what's this?

Do you believe in love at first sight?


Ah, the Spider Stuffie. How beautiful, furry, and squeaky you are. The Spider rattles. When you chew on it, its belly grunts. Its head squeaks. And four of its legs have squeakers too! It is simply amazing.


I think my mom was even more excited than I was, though! Look what Maggie and Mitch's mom sent for her! It looks just like me, don't you think?


My dad thought since everyone else got a present, he should get the Moozle. I don't think so.

I have had a few liver treats but they are making me wait until Friday and Saturday to eat the "big stuff." My actual birthday is Saturday and we are going to a cook-out on Friday. Two dogs I have never met will be there!

Also, Saturday is my parents' 5th anniversary, so we will have to celebrate that a little bit too.


Maggie, my parents don't give me enough allowance to buy you a big box of goodies, but I did send plenty o' wiry kisses in the card! (Though I hear now that dogs can get an American Express card....hmmm....) Thank you for making my birthday special and I hope that yours is fantastic.

My vacation

Well, I have an apology to make. I thought the title of my last post was a clever twist on "Boston Tea Party" - the historical event of 1773. It didn't occur to me that it sounded like I was meeting up with Boston Terriers! That would have made our get-together even better, if Ruby and Joe and Tanner and my other B-T buddies could have been there. I am not so clever after all.

Let me tell you about the rest of my vacation. So after being in the car for two straight days, we finally got to my grandparents' house, and met up with Walter, the weiner dog. The people put us right back in the car because we were off to camp for the weekend while they went to my mom's sister's wedding.



This is the sign we saw when we arrived at camp. I knew right away I would like this place!!!

The owner used to breed foxies like me, and the whole office was covered in terrier pawraphenalia. This was my favorite item:



But Walter also felt right at home - there was also a dachshund greeting us at the front door, and two other dachshunds boarding there.



It was a nice place. They took good care of us while the people went to the big party.


Here's my grandparents at the rehearsal dinner, having fun without me and Walter. They didn't even save any leftovers for us.


Here's my parents at the wedding. My mom was in the wedding party so she wore a fancy dress.


And this is my aunt and my new uncle! Congratulations Annie and John!

Once they got back from the wedding, they came and got us and we all went to the lake in Maine! There were 12 people and 2 dogs staying in the house, so it was pretty packed.


I enjoyed some relaxation, floating around with my mom and nana.
Look what they did to poor Walter before he got on a boat:



He fell in the water once, so it was a good thing he was wearing his life preserver. He's not used to swimming.

And neither am I, but my dad didn't get the message.



I HATE BEING WET!!!



My people have a family Olympics ever summer that inspired the Paw-Limpic Games!



Don't forget to email me your entries for the different events! They are due by July 31st. Also, if you want to be in the world bone relay, let me know too.

I will share the rest of my vacation pics tomorrow, along with more Pawlimpics info, and pictures of my early BIRTHDAY PRESENTS that arrived yesterday from two very special Airedales!!!