water! water everywhere!

since i got here, i've discovered a new thing!

it's called a beach! it's made up of sand - which is the ground under your feet. it's strange. sometimes it's dry and difficult to walk on, as it keeps running in between your toes. then sometimes it's wet and very firm. then it doesn't run in between your toes. it feels like any normal ground surface.

then there's water! now as far as i know, water either comes from a pipe or tap like when i was at my little house, or it comes from the skies. i've never seen water that just stays there...and it's a lot of water! it's called the sea, dad says. here's a picture of the sea just before we get to one of my favourite beaches.

when it's not that much water, it's called a river. but there's no sand at the river. it's just very sticky stuff that gets my feet all black. mum doesn't like it when my feet are black. she calls me 'mucky' when that happens.

i'm not sure i like the sea...it's fun when it's hot and i get myself halfway into the water to cool down. but the sea doesn't taste like the river. the sea water is salty while the river water is like the water i get at home. i've been to a few different beaches.

we usually go to mission bay - that's where i get the cold, sweet stuff called ice-cream! at first, dad and mum would give me bits of it with a kind of biscuit, but lately, they've been putting the ice-cream into a tub and i get the whole tub to myself! they really spoil me, but dad says that i'm worth it. i don't go onto the beach that often when we're at mission bay, i usually walk on the path or on a wall. here's a picture of me on the wall.

i've been to kakamatua beach - this was actually my first experience of a beach. i wasn't impressed, as there were no smells to explore. and i didn't know that i was supposed to go into the sea, so it was quite boring for me. there were other dogs at this beach, but they weren't that friendly, so i kept to myself. we've only been there once, and haven't been back there since.

there's muriwai beach - it was quite a drive away and when we got there, we didn't even see any other dogs! it was a BIG sea, and very different from the other beaches. there was a lot of white stuff that came in with the sea and actually, it was quite scary. the wind was blowing so strongly that i couldn't even hear dad call me. i didn't go into the sea, but the sea came out at me! it was far away from me, so i thought it was safe, then all of a sudden, it came rushing up to me and it came up to my chest! got a fright there, so i kept safely out of the sea after that.

here's a picture of me and dad at mission bay beach.

my weekend routine

my favourite times are weekends...because it means that mum and dad spend their whole day with me at home!

and i get to go on my BIG walk in a huge park. here's me at my big park. that's where there are a lot of dogs as well as different smells from the other park. i've made a few friends at the park.

first of all, there's jackson. he's a border collie, black and brown. he's fun and obviously friends with EVERYBODY! everyone tells me that he's Top Dog at the park. i like chasing him round the park...so do the other dogs actually. i've seen his mum and dad too, and they both seem very nice.
i also like rosie, who's a small white and brown jack russell. she only has a dad, and no mum. she's much smaller than me and we like to run around together. she's really bossy, and tells other dogs what to do.

benji looks very similar to me - he's a basenji, a dog of egyptian origins. he's light brown and has a tail that's all curled up on his back, instead of sticking straight up in the air like mine. he tells me that he can't bark - i wonder how he speaks to his owner! he said that he used to have a mum, but she's gone away and now he only has a dad.

i've seen a number of huskies - i like them. it's those eyeeeeeesss....they're very hypnotic aren't they?! there's also an older jack russell that goes to the park with her dad...who smells funny and talks funny. but she's friendly.

what i don't like is other dogs running up to me. it makes me feel threatened, so as soon as they run up, i snipe at them to warn them to stay away. i also don't like are pit bulls and most labs - most of them are unfriendly (although there are one or two lab puppies that i don't mind) and think that they can bully me just because i'm smaller than them. i tell them not to come near me or my mum and dad. they're the gangsters of the dog world...and there are so many of them, they're a dime a dozen. boring!

now me...i'm interesting. at least that's what dad tells me all the time. he says that other dads and mums stop to ask him about me. they tell me that i'm a lovely dog. dad says that i'm handsome! i don't know what those words mean, but i think they're good words. we're still trying to work out what i am, although dad thinks that i've got border collie in me because of my colouring. but mum says that there are no border collies back in malaysia, so i can't be a mix of border collie.


a few weeks ago, we found this orange thing that flies. dad or mum throws it in the air and then it flies for a bit before landing on the ground. i chase it, pick it up and run away with it before they can get it back. sometimes they beat me to it and then they throw it again. i try to catch it in the air before it lands, but it's quite difficult and very tiring.

i also like to roll around on the ground to cool myself on the grass. or if there's an itch on my back that needs scratching. here's a picture of my rolling around with my orange flying thing next to me. mum and dad think that it's funny when i do that.

we went to another park once, but it was quite boring. there were no other dogs there, and mum and dad said that they didn't want to go back there. mum made me take this picture with her - it looks like she's strangling me, but she's not, really. we took this picture at the boring park. dad and mum kept throwing the orange thing for me to run after, while they sat down! how lazy.

my weekday routine

i get to go for walks here every single day in my new house! it's amazing! i've got quite a routine with dad and mum now.

every morning, dad comes downstairs and takes me for a short walk so that i can go to the toilet. sometimes we see a cat or two, but dad won't let me chase them. it's quite annoying, and sometimes i go in a huff with him. but i don't have a very long memory, so i don't stay angry for long. when we get back into the house, we watch this big thing called a 'teevee'. sounds come out of it (i got quite a fright the first time dad put it on!), sometimes i hear dogs barking from the teevee and i think that they're real dogs, but then dad and mum will tell me that it's from the teevee and to stop barking. there are moving pictures on it too!

he gets me fresh water in my big bowl, and new biscuits in my small bowl. sometimes i feel like eating them, sometimes i leave them for later in the day. dad also has a bowl of food in the morning while watching the teevee. he sometimes calls the teevee a 'telly'. i'm allowed to get onto the sofa in the mornings to watch the telly with dad. i think he likes it when i put my head on his lap...i get scratched under my chin and that puts me to sleep.

then dad goes upstairs to shower and change into his 'work' clothes (dad's wearing his work clothes in this picture). this usually means that i'm not supposed to jump up on him or mum, and that they're going to be out of the house for the whole day. i don't see mum until a while after dad has gone upstairs. she doesn't have a bowl of food like dad, but she sometimes gets things out from this metal thing. it's cold, and sometimes i get good stuff from it. things called chocolate - yum (mum and dad keep telling me that i have a sweet tooth)! that's also where they keep my other food.

when both of them are downstairs, i'll do some tricks to get food from them. it's not real food, more like a snack...but they're yummy, so i do what they ask me to do. they've been teaching me more and more things to do in the mornings. i can't remember all the tricks, so sometimes i just try all of them until i get the snack from them! the easiest one to do is 'paw'...they put their hand out, and i put one paw on it. easy!

when they're gone, i laze around the house. most of the time, i sleep. i need all the rest that i can get for my long walk when dad and mum get back. sometimes these two chinese women come in and disrupt my routine, so i get annoyed and shout at them to stop. but they just scream and hide behind something - usually a piece of furniture. i don't know what hiding behind the furniture does, to be honest. i wish they'd listen to me when i tell them to stop making all the noise with the red thing, and then swishing some long stick around the floors.

when mum and dad are back, they change out of their work clothes and into their walking clothes. i know it's time to go for my walk when they either put on their black walking jacket, or when they bring out my blue collar. blue's my favourite colour! i get very excited about my long walk, and usually try to squeeze myself out from behind their legs. i try to rush past them and tell them to hurry up...but it doesn't seem to make them any faster. i'm always the first one at the front door, but when i look over my shoulder, they're nowhere to be found. so sigh...i have to trot back to get them. that means that i allow dad to pick up the blue string trailing behind me.

we're on this long walk for ages and ages. we walk from the house to the park, and then we walk round the park a few times. i lose count, as i'm up and about, or round here and there, or off on a new smell while dad and mum walk round on the hard path. i don't like following them on the path all the time, but they bring snacks with them you see. so i go and get some snacks from them every now and then. usually if i go to them when they say 'come', i get a snack. and sometimes, even if they don't call me, i just go up to them and sit down, and then they give me a snack too! this is me in my 'sit' position. my left eye looks a bit strange in this picture, but i'll tell you about this later.

we sometimes see other dogs in the park - some of them are really nice and friendly, they come over and tell me stories about what they've done for the week. some of them aren't friendly, so i warn them that i don't like them. if they don't listen to my warning, there's trouble. there's lots of exciting and different smells in this park, and it goes uphill and downhill too - but not as bad as the other long walk back in the hot country. it's nicer here - i don't pant and drool so much because it's cooler. there was a period when it was very, very cold and i had to grow extra fur to protect myself from the cold...then it got warmer and i had to get rid of the extra fur. mum kept bringing out the red noisy thing to clean away the extra fur.

anyway, after this long walk, we go back and it's time for dinner! i get food from this long tube. sometimes i get food from a packet - the food is much nicer from the packet, but i don't get it all the time. only times when dad and mum are going out. i think they feel bad for leaving me alone at home, so they give me the good food! sometimes i get food from dad and mum too. their food usually taste good...i've been trying to tell them that i prefer their food (i do this by staring very intently at their plates when there's food in it), but they keep telling me 'no'. it's not fair...why can't they share their food? i'd share mine if they wanted it!

when we watch the telly at night, dad gets out this tub from the cold metal thing. he eats most of it, but when he's almost finished, he gives me whatever is left in the tub. it's really yummy!!! they sometimes laugh at me when i'm eating this tub thing...but i don't know why, i usually ignore them, as it's sooo good that i usually squint my eyes close to savour the taste.

dad and mum watch a lot of telly! i have to wait for them to finish watching their telly before they'll take me out at night. it's for my late night toilet walk...and when we go back to the house, i have a big drink (sometimes i have leftover biscuits from the morning if i'm a bit hungry) and then i get into bed. i like my bed, but i also have a blanket on the sofa and i get to choose which one i want to sleep on. mum or dad will tuck me with my blue blanket and then they'll go upstairs to sleep. this is me with dad on my blanket...i know, i know, it's leopard print, but hey, i didn't choose it!

that's my week day...it's good stuff!