My Mango

"MAYA! What is WRONG with you?"

That's Mum. She's upset because I found this delicious-smelling thing to roll in just now. Mum had just finished brushing me in the back yard, so it was perfect roll time.

Delicious thing is, according to Mum, 'Rotten Mango'

Mum was decidedly not happy with me. She grumbled the whole time she cleaned the delicious smell off my coat with a sponge and some shampoo. I still don't see what the big deal was... 

What'd I do?

Hmmm... I wonder if the delicious rotten mango will be there tomorrow? I had better check...

Christmas and Boxing Day

It was a busy week over Christmas! Mum was very busy at Work, so hopefully lots of dogs... and the cats, I suppose... got Christmas toys and treats this year.

Mum and I were busy getting ready for Christmas, too, I helped her put up decorations and wrap presents. I wasn't allowed to help with one present though because Mum said I wouldn't be surprised when I opened it.

The day after Christmas which the humans for some reason call 'Boxing Day' Mum went right back to Work, and I got to go too!

Do I get a locker?

 
We did lots of fun things at Work, besides letting people give me pats and attention. This is a photo of me helping Mum stock up Fancy Feast. That's cat food... I don't know why we couldn't put away dog food instead. Or maybe treats. I'd be good at helping with treats. I also wouldn't mind doing a demo of the toys. You know, to show people how good they work.

 This is me with my Christmas present! Both Zeke and I got new toys. Mine is a ball called a 'Grinz' which Mum seems to think is hilarious. I don't see what's so funny, just because it sort of has a smile on the ball... it is a fun ball to snack on. Mum also puts treats inside for me. Yum. Treats.

Anyway, I hope everybody had a good Christmas, and got a present they liked just as much as my Grinz ball. I even snuggle up to it when it's bedtime... 

Busy Beach

On days when she goes to Work, Mum does not usually get home before the sun goes to sleep, but she did today - so we went to the beach! It was very busy so I wasn't allowed off-lead, though. I don't know why, all I wanted to do was run and swim with the other dogs! 

Sigh. Life is so tough.

We did all the fun things we usually did at the beach, like swimming (Mum comes in the water with us! It isn't that deep, Zeke can swim, I can swim in big waves, and Mum gets about waist-high in the water) climbing Lookout Rock, and rolling in the sand. Well, only I did that last one.

I had to do some more boring stuff as well, like sit, drop and come, and I got chicken for doing well. After the beach, Mum sits me on a green box up on the grass and dries me with a special dog towel. She stops a lot to wring water out of the towel. Eventually, she proclaims me dry enough to get in the car, then we drive home!

The Golden Girl

Today we got a visit from one of Mum's friends who I hadn't seen since I was a puppy! Eleanor looks shorter than I remember, or maybe I just grew? But after her visit, I got to go on a car ride when we dropped her off at home. Then, we went for a quick visit to Grandma's place. 
A few posts ago I mentioned that Grandma has gotten a new dog, who is named Goldie. I was a bit jealous because she got to go on a LONG car ride last week to visit Aunty Jess, Uncle John and Cousin Stirling for a big birthday party. Mum said she wished we could go as well, but she had to go to Work instead. I thought Work was so much fun, but it turns out, sometimes Work stops you from doing other things that would also be fun. 

Meeting Goldie

So, Goldie was pretty excited to see me visit her. (Who isn't?) She has not had all her needles yet and so she hasn't been allowed to play with many dogs. I did have to growl at her a couple times because she does not have good manners yet. She jumped all over my face... it was very annoying. However I knew Mum wanted me to be a Good Dog so I put up with the jumpy puppy and eventually she settled down and I played a little with her. 

Goldie did get a little worried when I ran around with her though, since she is very small and I am very big. I am used to playing with littlier puppies though.  

See?

Anyway, after all that playing and running and jumping, I needed a break. Goldie has a shell pool a bit like mine, so I had a swim. She wanted to get in as well, but I told her there was no room. 

 After we left Grandma's place we went to Work, since Mum was running low on treats for me and Zeke... I mean, she only has about ten bags and tubs of treats left!! Couldn't let them run out. I got some pats and attention from the nice people who come to Work to buy dog treats, and also from some of the other nice ladies who Work with Mum. I think Mum also might have brought a new toy, but she said I wouldn't find out what it was until Christmas... hmmm. I wonder if it's in one of those crinkly, wrapped-up packages under the Christmas tree...

 

Austin's Birthday Beach BBQ!

Today was a special day, because very-best-friend Austin turned two whole years old! To celebrate, us and the humans had a beach BBQ. Met some new dogs - Toby, who I have seen before when me and Mum have been at special events like Million Paws Walk, and Austin's puppy friends, Kobie, who is a Very Spotty Dog, and Lily, who is a Small Husky.



Mum brought Austin a toy, so of course I had to play with it first just to remind him that since MY mum brought it for him, he has to share it with me. Got told off when I growled at Austin to tell him this, then the toy got taken off me. 

Austin and I made up though cause we're best friends.

 
Humans were all very happy, all of us got lots of pats and attention, and there was lots of delicious food. Kobie came over to play with me. I liked Kobie very much, he had very good manners. 

Kobie and his good manners (He is saying that he is fine with me being boss)

After eating, we went down to the beach. Mum even let me off lead! Had a very nice swim then a very nice run then a very fun play with Austin and Kobie. It was so much fun with lots of other dogs there!

 

Everybody made a really big fuss when I went to the bathroom though. I don't know why everybody was laughing, and Mum was so embarrassed. I mean, I went in the water, so that Mum didn't have to go get a bag to pick up after me! I guess some humans don't appreciate what us dogs do for them. Austin and I also thought one of the yards up at the edge of the beach would be fun to explore. Mum was cross with me for not coming when I was called though (What? I couldn't hear her because there was sand in my ears...)  

I went back on-lead after that.

When we were all finished playing, we had a SPECIAL CAKE just for dogs. The cake had bacon in it! I never would have thought of that. I wonder if Mum could make me a bacon-cake. 

Yuum. Bacon-cake.

We also got special hats to wear. I kept mine on, but Kobie shook and shook his head until his hat came off, then he started eating the hat. Kobie is a very fun dog to be around!

Me and Austin in our special hats.

After that I was getting a little sleepy, and everybody started to pack up to go home. It was a very fun day at the beach, even better than our usual Beach Trips. When we went home, I had a dream about bacon cakes...

It really was a very tasty cake.

Adventurous Afternoon - off to work, meeting Goldie, Night market night!

Had such a long Adventure today, me and Mum were away from home for a whole afternoon. First, we stopped by Work, and I got lots of pats and attention. Mum gave aunt Julie a present, and lots of hugs, and everybody seemed a bit sad. I cheered them up by being in this photo with Mum, aunty Julie and aunty Lana.

After everyone was done patting me, we put some of the dog treats in the car for me to look after, and some of the much more boring cat stuff in the boot. 

I wonder if Mum would notice if one of these went missing...

Then we went to Other Work to drop them off, and  I got more pats and attention! I thought we would go home after that, but instead we went to Grandma's place and I met the new puppy there, Goldie. She is very small. Mostly polite, but I did have to growl at her once then she was very polite. 

We stayed at Grandma's place for a while longer, and there are some more photos I will put up another day. After we left, we went to the Strand for Night Market Night! This is one of my favourite nights because of all the pats and attention that I get. Although it was a little bit sad because this is the last Night Market for a long time. Mum says it will be past my birthday next year before we get another one.

Stopping to do some work before we hit the Night Markets!

It was a very busy, very fun night. After we walked around for everybody to admire me, Mum brought some chips and sat down to eat them by the beach. (Dogs are not allowed on the beach at the Strand, which is very unfair!). I got to eat one chip, usually I do not get to eat very much people-food!

We also sat down on our favourite small hill (so all the people can see me properly) just before it got dark and listened to people singing. I will miss Night Market Night a lot. 

When we were almost home we made one last stop so Mum could buy some ice-cream. This photo is of me waiting outside, since dogs aren't allowed in. I was pretty tired after all our Adventures!

North Shore walk with Austin!

Last night's adventure was at North Shore, which is a nice place to go for a walk - plus, as a bonus, we have to take a car ride (yay!) to get there. Also, as a double bonus, Mum's friend Dani came walking with us, and so did my very-best-friend-Austin! Have not seen Austin in a while. I wonder if I am getting bigger or he's getting smaller? Never tell Austin he is small though. He is the BIGGEST small dog you will ever meet and he isn't afraid of ANYONE. Maybe that's why we're best friends, we're alike in that way.

I have no idea why humans have to spend so much time chattering like birds, but as usual, that's what Mum and Dani did while Austin, me and Zeke strolled along enjoying the smooth path and breathing in the fresh air, smelling like clean water and fresh plants. Until the path stopped quite suddenly! I guess Mum and Dani didn't want to walk on the grass because we went back them. On the way back to the car, we passed Koda's house and she was in the backyard (Koda is a Shetland Sheepdog we know from the dog park - I am not the furriest dog when Koda is there, because she has even longer fur than I do). Koda barked that she really wished she was out walking with us! 

A picture of me, Koda and Austin from a year ago!

We said goodbye to Austin when it began to get dark, and Mum let me into the dog park for a quick play because I was such a good girl. (I don't know why we can't go to the dog park ALL the time since I'm always a good girl...) There was a Happy Lab I didn't know and also another dog I didn't know, a German-Shepherd-with-Toy. Happy Lab seemed to be in three places at once, and German-Shepherd-with-Toy only wanted to chase his Toy. But then Soldier came in, I have not seen Soldier since he was small puppy sized. Soldier is no longer small puppy sized - he had turned one year old and he was as tall as me, just with smaller muscles and less fur. (He is a Rhodesian Ridgeback.) Even though he smelled the same I did not recognize him at first.   

Last time I saw them Soldier and Victor were only this big!

Solider was also not with his brother, Victor, but it turns out that's because Victor broke his leg being silly in the backyard, and he has to stay at home until it's better. Soldier and I played for a while, and I could tell he really wished his brother was there, too. Hopefully Victor's leg gets better soon. It must be awful to be stuck at home and not be able to go on Adventures. 

Today Soldier is this big. Not quite as big as me. But close.

Mum says that me, her and Zeke are all invited to Austin's birthday in a fortnight, and that sounds like a pretty good Adventure to me - I can't wait!
 

Strands and Presents

Today's adventure took place at the Strand, which is one of my favourite places. We did Rollerblading again! (The photo at the top is me waiting for Mum to put her rollerblades on. They are more complicated to put on that shoes that don't have wheels.)

Much to my delight, my spa bath has water in it again! It was red water though, which was a bit weird. Still, I had a very nice spa bath. I don't know my people - even Mum - laugh so much when I have my spa. Another thing that made people laugh was when we stopped for a rest and Mum sat on a bench, and I climbed up to sit with her. Mum complained that I had 'dog breath' - when we're both sitting down I am taller than she is - then after I turned my head and accidentally dripped a little bit of drool on her shoulder, she pushed me off the bench! Clearly it was an accident so I don't see why it was so funny.

This photo is when we stopped for a drink break - well, one of them, we stop for lots of drink breaks. Even though we rollerblade at night, we both get pretty thirsty. We also stopped to do some work, where I have to sit, drop and come. Some nice kids watched and thought I was very clever, and I got pats and attention afterwards. 

At the far end of the Strand is the Waterpark. Tonight the water was still running and lots of kids were playing in it, but Mum still wouldn't let me go in! Life really is unfair sometimes when you're an Anatolian. 
The other thing that happened at the Strand was that a puppy walked by me who nobody had obviously taught any manners too, because she stared right at me (which is bad manners, if you a dog meeting another dog for the first time). So I growled at the puppy and Mum told me to be polite!! I WAS being polite. I politely growled and let her know that I was the boss around here, thank you very much. What's so wrong with that? 

On the way home we stopped at an ice-cream place Mum likes, which is called 'Baskin Robbins'. I don't know why I have to wait outside with my leash clipped to a table, I mean, I could be a really good floor-cleaner-uperer in a place like that. After Mum brought some ice-cream (Mmmm... ice-cream...) we went home and found out that Dad had a roast chicken cooking for us!
Mmm. Chicken.

Tonight, Mum pulled out all sorts of supplies - paper, and tape, scissors, stickers, and bags of stuff. Then she spread all the stuff over the floor, muttered to herself about what was for who, then hid all the stuff in paper so you couldn't see it anymore. I think this happened last year, too - Mum calls it 'wrapping presents'. I didn't see any presents for me though, so it wasn't very interesting.
 

I still helped, though.

Fun with Flick and Coolie

Mum has not been taking me to the dogpark much lately because she says I need to be concentrating on my training, and she seems to think I get distracted at the dog park... today though I did get a quick dog park visit and Flick and Coolie were there!! Flick and Coolie are the next-fastest dogs at the dog park, after me.

Me and Flick racing

 They are a lot of fun, even if they do gang up on me and fight dirty. I mean, two verses one, that's not very fair! 

Anatolian down! Anatolian down!

Now, I'm not saying that Flick (She is the very lean white dog with the brown patch, her sister Coolie is fawn like me, except with with brindle.) is faster than me, because NOBODY is faster than me, but Flick can keep running for a very very long time. So Coolie and me stood up on the dog ramp which Flick doesn't like very much. 

Is the coast clear now Coolie?

CLEAR! 

So Flick and Coolie and me had a run and a play, which I would have won except they didn't fought fair. I had to practice come when called, which is quite difficult because Mum always wants to me to come right when something interesting is happening, like a dog outside the fence. Mum said I was a good girl today though. After the dog park we went for a walk around North Shore. The paths, rivers and plants around North Shore are much nicer than when we walk around home, and I think it would be a nice place to live, except that the little yards are too small for an Anatolian.
The rivers had a little bit more water in them than last time, but not enough for Mum to let me swim. Just as we were crossing over the little bridge right by the water, I looked down and smelt all the delicious mud, and I went to step off the bridge to roll in it (it is only a very short step down) - but no sooner did one of my paws so much as TOUCH the mud, Mum pulled me back and called me a naughty dog! HOW does she always know? 

Dog park days are such good fun.