Congratulations...Pacco!

In the human Olympics, there was one athlete who stood out from the crowd, rose to the challenge, and took home more medals than any other athlete in history - Michael Phelps.

In the Paw-limpics, one dog stood head and shoulders above the rest. Only one could compare to the great Michael Phelps (as she proved on her blog!).

Congratulations to Pacco de Mongrel, who won the most medals at the 2008 Summer Paw-limpic Games!

Pacco won a total of six medals (two bronze, two silver, and two gold) and an honorable mention award! She is truly a great athlete.

Her Hurdles (above) earned her a bronze medal.

She also won a bronze medal in the Gymnastics event.

Her Diving entry received an honorable mention.

Her impassioned Howling earned her the silver medal.

Her second silver medal was in the Begging Face event.

Pacco was a gold medalist when it came to being a Nuisance.

And of course, she was the champion gold medalist in her favorite and best event, the HIGH JUMP!

In recognition of her outstanding athletic achievement in the 2008 DWB Summer Pawlimpic Games, Opy and Charlie and their people behind Dogs With Blogs (Greg and Brooke) are awarding Pacco with a pawesome Dogs With Blogs t-shirt! How cool is that?

Pacco is a shining example of all of the talent of our Pawlimpic athletes. Congratulations and thank you to everyone for being a part of this great DWB event!

I moved!

So, during the Paw-Limpics, my family moved!

We used to live in a crummy little 'student' apartment. We lived there for four years. We were only supposed to live there two years, but my humans got stuck in Indiana after my dad graduated from grad school.

Everything went wrong with the old apartment. The landlords pulled a switcheroo when we moved in and we got no dishwasher. (They installed one eventually.) There was a pile of dirt - literally - in the closet, and some sketchy items that I won't describe sitting around in the apartment. I got fleas. And that was just the first weekend. The closet flooded and never stopped dripping. The neighbors upstairs had a fire, filling our apartment with smoke and making everything smell bad. And the washer and dryer were in the basement, which was constantly flooded and moldy and infested with large insects. Plus you had to go outside and down some slippery steps to get to it. I was too scared to venture down there.

But it was cheap and only a mile away from school. My people kept being hopeful that a big opportunity would come along and that we would be moving away before too long. Just one more year. Just one more year. But we couldn't take it anymore. So now we live in a nice apartment, for however long we will stay in Indiana. My people got OK jobs, so for the moment there is nothing else better out there.

The new place has a big kitchen, so I have more room to maneuver and scavenge for dropped things while my dad is cooking. There are two bathrooms, which is convenient if I am thirsty and away from my water bowl - they both have large white drinking bowls. There is a big long hallway that I get to do laps in (go Lenny go!) for exercise. And, I have kind of a backyard. We have a little patio which leads out on to the grass and to the woods. It's really nice and there are a ton of great roaching spots. I think my people are a lot happier there too.

Now if they would just finish unpacking!

In other news, stay tuned on Friday for a big Paw-Limpics announcement and award!

My new little uncle

I have a new relative!

My nana got a new dog to be a brother for my Uncle Walter, the weenie dog. My grandpa was away for a week and came home to a big surprise! Nana went to the pound and found Andy, a Pomeranian mix.

They don't know how old Andy is, but he's a senior like me. He's somewhere between 8-10 years old. He was a stray and the people at the pound had named him "Mr. Winkers." How undignified.

So my nana changed his name to Andy, which is short for Anderson....
Anderson Pooper!

(No resemblance to the CNN guy.)

The end, and thank you!

Sadly, friends, we have come to the end of the 2008 Summer DWB Pawlimpic Games. This has been so much fun and I can't thank everybody enough for sending in their photos, carrying the bone in the relay, for voting for Dogs' Choice awards, and for all of your kind words.

I have a few very special people I would also like to thank.

First, thank you to our esteemed judges, G and R! They are a little camera-shy and they didn't want me to post their picture on here. Also, they wanted to remain anonymous. (But if you click here, my mom did a post on her own blog a long time ago with their picture on it. Scroll about halfway down - they're both wearing red. Hee hee!) :) Thank you also to my dad, who served as preliminary judge and tie-breaker during the judging.

Thank you so much to Girasol, who made the beautiful medals, and the Pawlimpics promotional video!

Thank you so much to Verdi and Gaucho, who shared their beautiful pictures of the opening and closing ceremonies, and made the beautiful torch to pass!

Thank you so much to Asta, Molly, and Taffy, who awarded me my very own medal. What an honor!

Thank you so much to Charlie and Opy and their wonderful people for putting all the information about the Pawlimpics on the Dogs With Blogs website, and for making the PAWESOME Pawlimpics button for everyone to put on their blog!

Thank you to everyone who bought Pawlimpics merchandise from the Cafe Press site. We are sending a nice check to help the Search Dogs Foundation, thanks to you! (The search dogs have been working hard helping with the hurricanes!)

Thank you to all of the wonderful athletes and bone carriers!

And thank you to everyone who voted for the Pawlimpics Bone Relay as Post of the Month! What a great honor - I was so happy!

Who do you think won the most medals during the Games? I will soon reveal that. There were a lot of very impressive dogs! Congratulations to all of the medalists and award winners, and to all of the pawesome athletes!

I really hope I am not forgetting anybody. I really enjoyed meeting new dogs around the world and learning how talented all of my friends are! I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Dogs' Choice Award - Wrestling

Congratulations again to CHARLIE DANIELS, winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Wrestling event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Synchronized

Congratulations to CHARLIE DANIELS, who posed his way to winning the Dogs' Choice Award in the Synchronized event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Stick

Congratulations to CHEF, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Stick category!

Dogs' Choice Awards - Barking/Singing/Howling

Congratulations to JACKSON, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Barking/Singing/Howling event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Begging Face

Congratulations to CHARLIE DANIELS, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Begging Face category!

Dogs' Choice Award - Team Sleeping

Congratulations to NOAH AND WILLOW, the winners of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Team Sleeping event!

Dogs' Choice Award - At Work

Congratulations to JACKSON, mailman extraordinaire and winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the At Work event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Ball

Congratulations to GIRASOL, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Roaching event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Gymnastics

Congratulations to MAGGIE, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Gymnastics event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Tongue

Congratulations to LORENZA, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Tongue event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Making a Mess

Congratulations to CHARLIE DANIELS, winner of the Dogs' Choice Award for the Making a Mess event!

Dogs' Choice Award - High Jump

Congratulations to BRODY, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award for the High Jump event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Swimming

Congratulations to MAX, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Swimming event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Bitey Face

Congratulations to BRODY AND BENSON, the winners of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Bitey Face event!

Dogs' Choice Award - Sleeping Event

Congratulations to LUNA, the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the singles Sleeping event!

Dogs' Choice Award: Tug-of-War

Congratulations to MAGGIE AND MITCH, the winners of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Tug-of-War event!

And finally...

Today I am pleased to be announcing the winners of the DOGS' CHOICE AWARDS based on your votes. I will roll them out throughout the day.

I am pleased to announce that SPARKY is the winner of the Dogs' Choice Award in the Track event. Congratulations!

Exhibition Event

I apologize for being gone from the blog!

My parents decided they could just up and leave and take a trip this weekend without me, leaving me without blog access.

We had WONDERFUL entries in the Photoshop/made with human assistance category. They are for various events, so it was too difficult to judge between them. They are very distinct. But I would like to recognize their excellence! Here they are, for your viewing pleasure!

I have been totally in awe of George's photoshopping skills. Have you seen his blog? It is really impressive. Here are his entries:

Asta reminded us of some of the fun times we have all had together in a group:

Agatha and Archie showed off their synchronized figure skating. I am sensing that they will have an edge in the 2010 Winter Games...!

The Hounds in Heaven were suited up and ready to go on the mission:

Eric sent some really creative entries. My favorite is the leg-warmers picture.

I have a lot of reading to catch up on, and I am behind on things in wrapping up the Paw-Limpics and updating on news. I hope you all had a great weekend!