Happy Christmas to all

 So long since I've posted about Peppa's life. But I can't resist showing this photo of her in doggie heaven, having the best Christmas ever. Her most beloved man is home for the day from the nursing home, celebrating Christmas in his own sleepy way. 

She's on the job, keeping him safe from any dangers. 

She does see him regularly, at the home,  but that's not as good as having him here, of course.

Have a happy Christmas and seasonal celebration, everyone and everydog.

Christmas Kong toy for Penny

I intended to begin this post by reporting that for the first time in Penny's 14 years I succumbed to the commercialism of Christmas and bought her a gift, but on looking back through my blogs I see that I did the same in 2011.

This time I decided it was years since Penny had a new toy, and it's never too late to liven up an old dog's life with something novel.

She loved it and immediately hunched possessively over it.

So of course I couldn't resist trying to get it from her. But no way!

After a while I could have sneaked up to steal it while she was sleeping, but she did have her paws resting on it, so I thought I'd leave her in peace.

The instructions say it should only be used under supervision, so I'll put it up on a shelf when I'm not there to watch her.

sunset and fruit bats

Two days ago, Penny and I strolled down the road to enjoy the beautiful summer sunset. Well, I enjoyed the sky and Penny enjoyed the smells on the ground.

Tonight, we set off with Penny's Other Human for a Christmas Eve walk, and I predicted that the sky wouldn't be interesting, because there weren't any clouds.

Was I ever wrong! The sky was filled with thousands (dare I say perhaps hundreds of thousands?) of fruit bats gliding past in surprising silence, headed who-knows-where? Pity the poor fruit farmer if his orchard was their destination!

It was the most amazing experience to see so many of these little mammals streaming across the sky for such a long time. We watched for about twenty minutes and they were still soaring across the night sky. I was interested, but as you can see, Penny thought it was totally uninteresting.

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Happy Doggy Christmas

It's nearly Christmas here in Australia and Cindy's Walking Group has already celebrated! The sun shone gently (thank goodness for cool weather), the dogs had fun, and...

... Father Christmas arrived, bringing gifts for all the dogs.

Penny loved the treats in Santa's basket, yummy liver brownies from our favorite recipe book, Feed Your Best Friend Better.

The humans had plenty to eat also.

And, best of all, from Penny's point of view: when I wasn't watching, one human scraped onto the ground the left-overs from the plate in the foreground and Penny scoffed them. I wasn't watching her too closely because I knew I was in the company of ultra-responsible dog owners and sure enough, the human treats were fine for dogs - beetroot crisps.

Merry Christmas to all our blogging friends, and, if you celebrate a different holiday from the one we do, we wish you a peaceful, joyful and loving time amongst your loved ones.

Honey's new online store

Honey is over her surgery to deal with her glaucoma and she's out and about again! Hooray!

And in other news, Hsin-Yi is starting an online store, which you can visit here.

The merchandise looks great so far, but I'm hoping Hsin-Yi will branch out into items that relate to all sorts of dogs and not just Great Danes - though Great Danes are wonderful, lol

I've already suggested the number one on my list for Christmas 2013 would be Christmas tree baubles that are dog-safe. We can't have any baubles in our house because Penny might grab them, thinking they are balls. After all, she pinches the plums from our plum tree each year and stores them up for future games.

So we limit ourselves to a small ornament on a table, up out of reach.

We like it, but it would be great if Hsin-Yi designs something we could use on a full-sized tree next year.

the last day of Christmas

We believe Christmas is over on the 6th of January, because twelve days of Christmas have gone by, so we're taking the decorations off the Wollemi pine that was our Christmas tree this year. Of course I started singing the old song about the Twelve Days of Christmas as I did so.



I was wondering why we sing 'four colly birds', when most people these days sing 'four calling birds', and discovered the word colly means black and so the song's about blackbirds.

And then I came across a couple of references to collie dogs, so naturally I couldn't resist having a look at those sites. It seems the breed might be named for the black-faced sheep they used to herd in Scotland, or maybe they are named because the dogs themselves were black.

Here's a quote from The Border Collie Museum:

Combe goes on the say that "some say that the collie, or colley in its [early] English spelling, got it's name from the breed of sheep it herded." She posits that the black-faced sheep may have been called "coaley" for black. This idea is also promoted by the often quoted reference in Chaucer's Nonnes Tale "Ran Colle our dogge...", the implication being that he was a black dog, and that's why his name was Colle (like "Blackie").

Merriam-Webster online dictionary seems to agree with Combe. Their entries for "colly" and "collie" seem to support the idea of a coal-black origin

more about Christmas gifts for dog lovers

I've just seen a great Christmas gift idea for dog-owning friends. It's on a Kodak site. You print out a book of vouchers offering to do things for them. The example on the page is a voucher for five dog walks. A great idea if you have to come up with something in a hurry and don't want to face the madness in the shops - and, if you're in Melbourne, the uncomfortable summer heat.

The printables are free.

I reckon it could include things like a dog wash, or an offer to walk along with the human and pick up dog poo - or maybe even a play date with your own dog.

Oh, I just thought of another one...
If you are a competent photographer, you could offer to go on a walk with your friend and take a photo of them with the dog, and they could choose the best one to be framed.

There are endless possibilities.

a Christmas gift for Penny the dog

Just yesterday I was boasting that I had never bought a Christmas present for Penny. 'She's a dog!' I said to a friend on the phone. 'She doesn't even know it's Christmas.'

I will admit I have sometimes bought gifts for other people's dogs. But we all know they are really gifts for the humans, so they can have the joy of sharing them with their beloved companion.

But pride comes before a fall...

I've succumbed. I just bought Penny a gift.

A friend has set up a new business importing Polish tableware to Australia and I've come home with a pottery bowl for Penny.

Here's the story:

Hmmm...what's this in my eating spot? Is it edible?


No, it seems to be something shiny and hard. Not food.


Beats me what it is.


Nope, still no clue. Seems to be shaped like my old food bowls, but no food smell here.


Oh, well. At least this paper looks quite interesting.


Note from parlance - the tableware is gorgeous. When my friend gets her website organised, I'll post a link to it for any Australians who would like to check it out. (I don't ever do advertising, but when a close friend has made the brave move to set up an import company, I just have to give her all the support I can! It's all hand-painted pottery from a small family business in Poland.)

a dog game made from a Christmas present

I was just about to throw out this empty chocolate box when I realised it would make a great little dog activity.



It has all the features recommended for an interactive game (as on the Fun-For-Dogs site): the inner box slides out, treats can be placed in the inner pull-out box, and, best of all, it has a little ribbon attached so Penny can pull the drawer out with her teeth.

By the way...the chocolates were delicious.