A place called Singapore

After a long time in the small place, we are now in a proper big house. I didn't like the small place anyway, so I won't talk about it. I'll tell you about my new big house...it's much bigger than the other house that I left behind. It's different. More steps, no jungle in front, no wood deck in front or at the back, and no water thing in front. But there is more space for me to run around in.

My other house only had one big floor to run around and there wasn't that much floor either. But in this new house, I got a proper kitchen where I eat my breakfast and dinner. And then there is two different floors - one just outside the kitchen and then another up a few steps. We usually spend a lot of time there - I have all my beds in that room, and that's where we all sit down at night to watch the telly. Here's a picture of me standing up at the place with my beds and telly. Everything else that we had in the other house is now in this big house, so I'm very happy because now I have so much more room to play catch and tug with Dad and Mum.

As for walkies, Dad and Mum bring me to a BIG garden every day. We meet lots and lots of dogs there - big ones like Huskies (I LOVE Huskies!), medium ones like Beagles, small ones like those dogs I left behind (they're called Joey and Cleo). But all of us are always on leads, we don't get to run around free because there are so many people and children walking around. Here we are at the gardens. There's plenty of smells there, and sometimes if there are not so many people in there at night, Dad lets me off the lead and I can run around as much as I want. Dad told me that as long as I listen to him and Mum when they tell me to 'Come', then I can be let off the lead. So now I mostly go to them when they say 'Come'. Unless I'm investigating a very interesting smell of course. Then I have to finish my investigation first, before I go over.

But you know what is new? I've learnt how to swim! Yes! All those times that Mum and Dad tried to get me to go into the water when we were in the other place and I refused? Well, who would go into the water there? It's always so cold! But now that the water we go to is much warmer, I realised that I really like swimming! Dad and Mum take turn to throw my toy - the Frisbee - into the water, then I swim out to get it and bring it back. I also like wallowing in the sand. Here are photos of me swimming and wallowing in the sand. I could go in and out of the water for quite a long time.

We were going to this 'beach' first, and there weren't so many dogs there. Dad would sometimes to into the water with me, but then one day, the water was very dirty and there were all these black things that stuck to my fur, and got all over Mum and Dad's feet. They had to cut out a few tufts of my hair because the black things were all sticky and wouldn't wash off. So we stopped going to that beach. We now go to another beach, where there are more dogs. Not that I'm really that interested in them, because I'm only there to go swimming, not to make friends, really.

But in this new beach, Mum and Dad go into the water with me. That is quite nice, because Dad and I race each other to get the Frisbee first. Sometimes he wins, but most times I win. If he gets to the Frisbee first, he'll hide it under the water and won't show me. He thinks that I don't know that he's hidden it, but I actually do. I just pretend that I don't. It's more fun that way. I just circle him in the water "like a shark" Mum says, until he shows me the Frisbee. Sometimes he throws it even further out, sometimes I steal it from his mouth and sometimes I just sneak it out from his hands. I LOVE going to the beach. It's one of my favourite things to do EVER. I could spend hours and hours (I think that means a long time) on the beach. Well, in the water.

Recently, Mum and Dad threw out my old bed. Mum said that it was was starting to smell more like a dog than I do! Then they bought me a new bed. It's a HUGE bed, I have so much room in there. I also got a new pillow and a new blanket. Here's a picture of me in my new bed. I like this new bed because it's much bigger, but the pillow doesn't scrunch up into a ball, and no matter how much I try to scratch and scrunch the pillow, it keeps going back into the flat shape. Fortunately the blanket scrunches up, so I have to scrunch that up into a kind of prop to lie on.

There's a dog that lives next door to us, and I just don't like her. She was unfriendly to me the first time we met, and always growls at me even when I tried to be friends with her. So I decided that I wasn't going to be friendly with her anymore. I'm always on the watchout for her. I lie in front of the window at the telly area to see if I can see her walking around. Sometimes I see a cat or two, sometimes a stranger or two. Either way, I don't like anyone walking near my house, so I always warn them to stay away.

So, this is my new house. The best thing is just that Mum and Dad and I are together. We like to watch the telly together, even though I usually fall asleep. Sometimes Mum falls asleep too! But I'm a very lucky dog. I get my three walks in the morning, I get good biscuits in the morning and dinners at night. I've got a good bed - actually, I have a bed, a blanket on the settee and a blanket on the floor. I get plenty of sunshine and exercise. I do quite like this new place called Singapore.