Tag Archives: bella

Cleared for takeoff

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Bella has big ears.  I like to think of it as her wingspan.  I’m lucky she can’t understand me… when I call her “big ears,” she just wags and goes back to whatever she was doing.

Also, as usual, it’s time for another K9 Kamp update!  This week’s challenge was called Jump Around – it was definitely more complicated than any of the earlier ones.  How did we do?

PhotobucketThis week, I hang my head in shame.  (Bella, however, feels just fine
about the whole thing.)  We tried to do the jumping challenge, but Bella
wasn’t having any of it.

It just wasn’t her thing, I guess – and it
was a good reminder that I really need to work on obedience stuff with
her.

So, after trying (and failing) to get her to jump over stuff, we
ended up reverting to an old standby.  That’s right… it was rope bone
time. We repeated the Tug & Tone challenge, and I tried to convince
her to jump to get the rope bone while we were doing it.

Also, as if to
mock me, last week she also jumped over one of the baby gates while I
wasn’t home so she could go upstairs instead of being confined to her
usual area.  Apparently she’s happy to jump, just not when I want her to
do so.  (Although in the past, I’ve noticed that she often
miscalculates when jumping and doesn’t always make it.  She’s an odd
pup.)

Be sure to check out Peggy’s Pet Place and Kol’s Notes today for more updates, and visit them tomorrow for information on Challenge #5.


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Caption this photo: Are you watching?

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While I was visiting my dad, Roscoe decided to wrestle with Emmy (another of my dad’s dogs).  Think you can beat my caption?  Give it a shot in the comments.

Speaking of getting a workout… it’s time for another K9 Kamp update!  This week’s challenge was called Tug & Tone – it involved doing lunges, squats, and other exercises while playing a game of tug, as well as racing your dog.

PhotobucketThis week’s challenge was a bit of a mixed bag… Bella’s
favorite game is tug, so that part of the challenge was a piece of cake. 

Racing her was
moderately successful – she tends to get distracted easily, but I was able to
regain her focus by reminding her we had a good tug game going. 

Part of the challenge did involve getting in push up position; however, I have wrist issues and had to make a modification. I did some extra lunges instead – Bella didn’t seem to notice my substitutions.

Be sure to check out Peggy’s Pet Place and Kol’s Notes today for more updates, and visit them tomorrow for information on Challenge #4.


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Does your dog "help" you rake leaves?

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It’s almost that time again… soon the leaves will change and start to fall from the trees, which means lots of raking in my future.  Last year, I think we ended up raking enough leaves to fill 75 bags.  Yes, we have a lot of trees…

Raking leaves always makes me think of my childhood dog Scotti.  She loved to chase leaves.  We’d rake up a pile, and then Scotti, my sister and I would jump into the pile and play for hours.  Those are some of my favorite memories.

Last year was our first autumn in the new house.  We were no longer in an apartment, so Bella got her first exposure to this whole raking thing.  We tried to convince her to play in the leaves, but she wasn’t very interested.  We even (gently) tossed her into a pile of leaves, but she didn’t see the fun in that.  I’ll just have to live vicariously through videos of dogs playing in leaves instead:

Tell me… does your dog play in the leaves or “help” you with the raking?

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Another trip down Memory Lane for #My7Links

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Last month, I was notified by Katie from Tripbase that I had been nominated to take part in My 7 Links.  (A huge and belated thanks to Kim from This One Wild Life for the nomination – sadly, it took me this long to write the post.  Oops…)

The goal of My 7 Links?  “To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share
lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts
that deserve to see the light of day again.”  Sounds like fun, right?  Here we go…

1.  My most beautiful post

This was kind of a tough call – I think that a lot of the photos I’ve shared of Bella are quite beautiful. (I’m biased, I know.)  However, I decided to go with something a bit wordier: “Lend me your eyes and I’ll write you a blog.” 

2.  My most popular post

According to my stats, my most popular post (based on page views) was one from my recent series recapping the BlogPaws pet blogger conference.  Specifically, the post entitled “BlogPaws Episode 2: Say hello to my not so little friends,” in which I discussed listening to the guys from Rescue Ink give the keynote on the first day of the conference.

(My photo post “Leave(s) it to Bella” was a very close second in the page views category, while I received the most comments on “Take a look at me now,” a post I did as part of the Pet Blogger challenge reflecting on my blogging experience.)

3.  My most controversial post

I’m not the most controversial of bloggers. (I love puppies and cupcakes and spend way too much time talking about pop culture, after all.)  However, I think that the post that qualifies as most controversial is probably “Dogs in hot cars: when will it stop?”  The story I shared in that post was horrifying on so many levels and did inspire some debate.

4.  My most helpful post

I’m not sure I’m that helpful either.  However, I was a bit torn on which post to list here – some of my recent BlogPaws posts have contained some useful information, but I wanted to go with something a bit older.  I do think that “Bella: the Great Houndini” was a pretty useful post – I shared some of our methods of Bella containment and I think that the ideas there would be helpful for others dealing with their own crafty canines.

5.  A post whose success surprised me

As you may know, I have a regular feature that I call No Frown Friday.  These posts are kind of a hodgepodge of things depending on what I have on the brain that week.  I never really know which ones will strike a chord and which ones will fly under the radar.  I find it interesting that the most popular of these posts has such an unassuming title: “That’s one way to stay cool.”

(Also interesting – the most commented on Friday post was “Appreciate a squirrel today.”  Guess it’s not always puppies around here.)

6.  A post I feel didn’t get the attention it deserved

This one was kind of a tough call.  There are many posts from the early days of the blog that never really saw much traffic.  If I had to pick one, I’d probably choose “She’s cute, but…”  This post is a perfect introduction to Bella.

7.  The post that I am the most proud of

I knew that the post I selected for this category would be one where I was blogging the change for animals or sharing an important cause.  I think I’ve settled on this one: “Blog the Change: Pets of the Homeless” (the first time I mentioned that particular cause on the blog).  I think that this is a really important organization, and I’m dedicated to spreading the word about it.  (I discussed it again as part of the recent Pay it Forward blog hop.)

So, those are my links.  Now, for the fun part – nominating five others to participate!  After checking the list of bloggers nominated so far, I think I’m not duplicating… if so, my apologies.  Anyway, I’m nominating these great bloggers:

Happy Monday!

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Sleeping Dog #1 & K9 Kamp Challenge #2

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You may remember my dad’s dog, Roscoe.  His cuteness has been documented on the blog before.  I went to visit my dad this weekend (sans Bella – she and the hub stayed home).  On the technology front, it was a recipe for blogger withdrawal – dial-up Internet and a crappy cell signal.  Regardless, it was nice to spend some time with my family, and I still had puppies for entertainment!  One of those puppies was Roscoe, who managed to be insanely cute while taking a nap:

I’ll share more photos from my trip another day – I think this photo stands on its own.  Do you ever find your dogs sleeping in funny positions?

Oh, and I also wanted to update you on this week’s K9 Kamp challenge. This week, we were supposed to incorporate fetch into our workout.  However, there was a twist – after throwing the toy, Bella and I raced to get it!  (As you know, Bella and I already broke out the rope toy in order to
complete last week’s challenge.  So, of course that’s the toy we used
for the fetch challenge as well.)

Photobucket This week’s challenge was definitely more intense than
our walking from last week.  Bella’s pretty fast when she’s got her eye
on a rope toy.  However, she also tires out relatively quickly, so we
broke it up into several chunks of 10 minutes or so each.  (Also,
probably a good thing it wasn’t me asking her to fetch the rope bone and
bring it to me… she’s never quite mastered that game.  She always
takes the toys back to Toy Corner instead.  She’s like a homing pigeon.)  It was a fun challenge!

Be sure to check out Peggy’s Pet Place and Kol’s Notes today for more updates, and swing by tomorrow for information on Challenge #3.

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My mixtape to you: 5 dog song parodies

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I recently read Something Wagging’s post on 15 Ways to Tell if You’re Dog Crazy and it got me thinking.  In particular, number 15 on that list is “when you sing around the house, you change the lyrics so they’re about your dog.”  I have a long and storied history of changing lyrics (for both dog and non-dog related purposes). It’s a disease for which I have not sought professional help. 

Today you shall get the benefit of my crazy.  I present a sampling (a blog mixtape, if you will) of songs I’ve changed the lyrics of to sing to or about Bella.  She gets to experience my performances live on a regular basis (it’s like I have a show in Vegas, but it’s at my house and no one pays to see me).  Feel free to work these songs into your daily life – I won’t even ask you to pay royalties.

5.  “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi – this whole song is perfect, but it begins, “Rolling in stuff, and you’re too blame… Bella, you give dogs a bad name.”

4.  “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil – As in, “oh Bella, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind – hey Bella!”

3.  “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath – Short and to the point: “You… are… Bella dog.  Do do do do do do do… you’re a dog.”  This one is subject to multiple variations during live performances.

2. “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga – this one may be familiar to you: “”Open the dog food can, I’ll follow you until you walk me, pupper, pupperazzi.  Baby, there’s no other pet owner for me, my pupper, pupperazzi.  Promise I will whine, until that toy is mine.  Maybe you should feed me, I’ll chase you down until you feed me, pupper, pupperazzi…”

Finally, my personal favorite:

1.  “Karma Chameleon” by Culture Club – sing it with me: “Bella Bella Bella Bella Bella Chameleon…. you come and go, you come and go-oh. Walking would be easy if you would stop zigzagging… just walk calmly, just walk calmly-eeee…” (And remember, it’s pronounced “Cha-me-lee-on.”)

There are many (MANY) more I could share with you.  However, I figure I should leave you wanting more.  So… do you want more?  If so, perhaps I’ll post more of these another day. 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I’m in the process of participating in a 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Challenge.  Today’s task was to compose a list post… hence the format.  I do enjoy a good list, and I sometimes forget how fun they can be!  For other list-type posts I’ve done in the past, check out these:  favorite posts, bath tips, favorite tv episodes, parody TV shows and parody movie pitches.  I also utilize the list format for No Frown Friday and sometimes add smaller lists in other posts (like this BlogPaws recap ). Do you use list posts?  What do you think about them?  Tell me about it in the comments!

   

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K9 Kamp Challenge #1: Make it work

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PhotobucketThis week’s challenge?  Walk it off.

The first K9 Kamp task was to walk for 60 minutes this week.  Given the fact that it feels like it’s been raining here for a month, I had a feeling that completing this challenge would be… well, a challenge.

We did manage to get in two good walks outside.  For the first walk, we had some company.  Bella had a play date with our friends’ new dog, Dozer.  (Photos below.)  It was the first time the two had met, so we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood together before letting them run around in the backyard.  (In addition to our walk, Bella got plenty of running and romping in that day as well.  She was one sleepy pup that evening!)

For our second walk, we managed to get out during one of the rare sunny spells.  However, to complete our final minutes for the week, I had to get creative.  Things here have felt sort of like a monsoon – going outside was not a great option, so I decided to improvise.  Bella and I did some laps around the house instead.  I’m sure anyone looking through my windows would think I’d finally gone insane.  In any event, I convinced Bella to follow me around the first floor by carrying her favorite rope bone.  It ultimately became a walk/tug hybrid, but I think we did the best we could given the circumstances.

Be sure to check in with Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place today to read more recaps of the first challenge, and then check them out tomorrow for Challenge #2.  To tide you over until then, I leave you with a few photos from Bella’s play date…

I’m not sure what’s up with Bella’s face in that last photo… she
managed to get stuff stuck to her face during the course of the play
date.  I removed it, of course – but not without taking a quick photo
first!

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You give cats… a bad name

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Time for some Friday linkage!  Sadly, I cannot herald the beginning of another three-day weekend.  If only…

  1. We begin, as always, with punny pet names:  Bryan Waggams, Jon Bone Jovi, Richard Barx, and Madogga.
  2. On a related note, have you ever wondered what your favorite ’80s band says about you?  (I kind of hope that one of you is a huge fan of Richard Marx or The Smiths.  Mine wasn’t quite as funny – I’m a big REM fan.)
  3. Speaking of music, artist James Walker does some pretty cool stuff about subjects ranging from border collies to punk rock.
  4. Up next, a rockstar dog: Harbor the Coonhound was just awarded the Guiness World Record for having the longest ears.   
  5. Maybe having a cone of shame is cool now… at least that’s what I have to conclude Dexter thought when creating his own, MacGyver-style.
  6. Apparently Bella’s sock addiction is in no way unique. 
  7. Puppies in sweaters. I die.
  8. In slightly creepy/unconventional news… would your lap dog like a substitute lap when you’re not available?  
  9. I think a palette cleanser is needed after that last link… sometimes, you just have to share the pretty.

Finally, this week’s video.  If you went to middle school with this cat, he would totally take your lunch money.  And then stuff you in a locker.



(via Jezebel)

Looking for something to do this weekend?  If you’re in the DC metro area, consider checking out the Third Annual Doggie Day Swim tomorrow afternoon or swinging by a happy hour to support the Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART) tomorrow night.

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K9 Kamp begins – will you join us?

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Photobucket

I thought about using a quote from Troop Beverly Hills as the title of this post, but somehow “shopping is our greatest thrill” didn’t really seem on point.  Not that the lack of relevance has stopped me from singing it to myself and looking up more quotes.  Ah, the Internet… waster of time and enabler of nostalgia.  What did I ever do without it?  


Anyway, welcome to K9 Kamp! As I mentioned last week, I’m a featured blogger in this great challenge sponsored by Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place. You may be wondering what this is all about, why I’m participating, and what’s in it for you. Allow me to explain…

K9 Kamp is designed to encourage getting fit while spending time with your dog.  I agreed to be a featured blogger for a few reasons: (1) Kol’s Notes and Peggy’s Pet Place are awesome blogs; (2) I was extremely flattered to be invited to participate; (3) although I started jogging in the spring and do yoga from time to time, I allowed myself to be a bit lazy over the summer (it was so hot out… and stuff); (4) Bella tends to be a lazy pup herself, and is more likely to nap than go for a run; (5) even if I could convince Bella to go for a run, she has a tendency to run in a zigzag pattern rather than a straight line, making things somewhat difficult; (7) the challenges take approximately an hour per week, which seems right up Bella’s alley; (7) K9 Kamp sounded like a great opportunity to get some new fitness ideas for both me and Bella; and (8) it wouldn’t hurt Bella to practice some obedience skills either.

So… that’s all well and good, but what’s in it for you?  In a word… prizes!  There are over $1000 in prizes up for grabs in a series of weekly giveaways, as well as a grand prize (go visit our Kamp counselors for the details – there are lots of ways to enter – and to check out some of the sponsors).  Getting fit, hanging out with your pup, and possibly winning some swag?  Sounds like a win-win to me.  I’ll be updating you from time to time on my progress here – we’ll see if I can convince Bella to get out of her cave and get into my car… er, into some workout gear.

Will you be participating?  Let me know in the comments, and then join in today’s blog hop and tell everyone why you’re heading to K9 Kamp.  You can also follow the #K9Kamp hashtag on Twitter for additional updates.

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