I got an award!

I am delighted and honoured to share that I have been awarded a Liebster Blog Award from Pebbles. You can read more about it here....

http://www.pebblesthepuppy.co.uk/so-i-got-a-liebster-blog-award-from-little-groucho/

Pebbles is a lovely West Highland White Terrier with a fantastic blog. There is also a link to this blog on the right.

Apparently The German word "Liebster" translates to English as "beloved" or "favourite", and this award is given to new, up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. I am so excited to receive this award and even more excited to pass it on. I have to choose 5 blogs to give the Liebster Blog Award to.

There are many blogs that deserve this award, but here are a few of my favourites.

CONGRATULATIONS TO:

3 Aussie Cats
http://www.3aussiecats.com/

Billy The Pig
http://pemery.blogspot.com.au/

Cali Cavy Collective
http://calicavycollective.blogspot.com.au/

Hieki The GSP
http://hieki.blogspot.com.au/

Pixel's Tails of Adventure
http://pixelblueeyes.blogspot.com.au/

I recommend you check these blogs out.

I've never won anything before!

Thanks again to Pebbles for thinking of me.

Left in The Dark

Dad was unpacking the shopping in the kitchen. Mum and I were standing just outside the front door. Suddenly all the lights went out and it was pitch-dark.

"What did you do?" This was Dad calling out immediately, assuming that Mum and I had caused the blackout. I think Mum and I would have preferred "Are you O.K?" to have been the first thing he said, not the second.

We soon realised that it was not just our house (unlike the other night when we blew a fuse temporarily!)..... the whole street was in complete darkness.

Only half an hour earlier Mum and Dad had bought a big torch, thinking that it would be perfect for situations just like this. Great. But where was it? After a few minutes of rummaging, Dad found it in a shopping bag. Great. But it needed batteries.... and a series of complicated clips had to be removed before the batteries could be installed.

We soon realised trying to work the torch out by the faint glow of a lighter was not ideal. So Dad went out to the garage and looked at it under the light in the car.

Meanwhile as I was standing in the dark near the front door, I heard Mum call out to me, worried that I was scared. Before I knew it, I was being picked up awkwardly but instead of the usual comfort of being in Mum's arms, I found myself being lifted by my two back legs causing me to do a handstand but in Mum's arms. Luckily Mum realised that I didn't "feel" right and picked me up the right way so I didn't have to be up side down for very long at all.

We went over to Mima in case he was scared too. Thank Dogness for Mum's phone which served as a mini torch while we waited for Dad.

Dad eventually got the torch working so we were able to find and light some candles around the room. It was quite cosy really if not a bit cold, but cuddling up to Mum and Dad made it better.

The light eventually came back on in about 2 hours. We now have an emergency box handy in case of another blackout and firewood close by so we can light the fire easily.

This was all I could see....

Your nose isn't wet... you sick?

Does anyone else have a fussy, over protective Mum that keeps checking their nose to see if it's wet?

  



What is that about? When I'm having a lazy relaxed day and calmer quieter than usual, you can guarantee a finger will be on my nose quicker than you can bark at Jack Robinson. 

This morning I decided to be a caring sister and feel Mima, my piggy brother's nose with my paw. (Don't worry, I was gentle! I heard all your gasps from over here.) Mima was not appreciative of my concern for his health at all and told me that this was a myth! He went on to explain that this was another word for weird things Mums and Dads believe in.

So I did some research of my own and it appears that Mima could be right. Basically, don't trust my nose! It could mean anything. A cold, wet nose doesn’t necessarily indicate good health and vice versa. It's best to look for other signs as well or check with a vet if unsure.

During my arduous research I found another "myth". Dr. Stanley Coren, author of What Dogs Know, offers an interesting explanation for why our noses are usually cold and wet. Apparently a long, long time ago, someone called Noah asked the dogs to keep watch on his Ark and keep the other animals safe. One day, while sniffing around, the dogs discovered a coin-sized hole in the ark. One dog quickly plugged the leak with his nose while the other ran for help. Noah patched the hole in time and everyone was saved. God gave the dog a cold, wet nose as a reward for his quick thinking.

Hmm... whatever the reason, I hope this will keep Mum's finger off my nose. Oh and another piece of advice... don't swallow any chewing gum! It will take seven years to pass through your digestive system.

“Good Fences Make Good Neighbours”

I’m sorry for the long pause between blogs but moving house is very time consuming! We're finally here but have been busy unpacking and setting everything up. I've also spent time exploring my new garden and going for walks around the neighbourhood, meeting the local dogs.

It's so good to be here.... away from nasty Body Corporates and mean neighbours. My new neighbours have been extremely welcoming and charming.

After my first weekend here, I found out that a little dog lives 2 doors down from me. The lovely lady next door told me about him and said he looked just like me!

I was very excited to meet him and my Mum was keen for us to be mates, until his Mum came over to say hi and told us he was a grumpy old man who only liked cats. Joshua is also a Chihuahua cross Fox Terrier like me, except he is brown.

I refuse to believe that someone could not like me, so popped over to his house for a quick sniff and hello. Well, my Mum was very pleased that Joshua was on the other side of the fence as he was clearly not the Head of the Welcome Committee!

I am going to make it my mission to turn his crankiness around. Maybe if I meowed like a cat?

Stay tuned for updates on Operation Joshua.

There are many sun puddles to choose from.

Exploring the garden.

Puppy's rights

Children screaming. People running past. Chatting while waiting for the lift. Thump. Bump.

All these things happen right outside my front door. All these things make me curious and I bark. Mum and Dad shhhh me and I stop.

Four days a week Mum and Dad go to work and I'm home alone. I'm lucky Dad gets a day off during the week and Mum gets weekends off. While they're at work I sleep, I play and I probably do bark occasionally. Mum knows this because she has recorded me. (Privacy, anyone?)

We live in an apartment  building where they had a vote and decided that I can't live here. Even though I'm never on common property or cause any problems. So my Mum and Dad sold this apartment and bought us a lovely house with a beautiful garden. Even this is not enough. We just got an email today saying that I have to go straight away even though we are moving in 3 days. The man who looks after the building has threatened to call the RSPCA and tell them I'm left alone during the day and therefore neglected and distressed unless my Mum and Dad "remove" me immediately.

Luckily for me, my Mum and Dad love me and are not going to throw me out of the house. We are just going to ignore the unreasonable people and hope the next few days go by quickly. I can't wait to move to our new house where I can just be me.

Mum's Little Helper

Mum is busy packing at the moment. It seems to be never ending. Our lounge room is filled with boxes! All clearly labelled with a number and what room it belongs to, which correlates to a colour coded floor plan. (anal retentive anyone?) Did I mention there is also a spreadsheet with a detailed list of contents?

Dad and I are in trouble for not helping as much as we can. In Dad's defence he is working weekends so he can't help much then. As for me... I have no idea what Mum is on about. I have been moving boxes as well as the packing tape. I didn't realise the boxes weren't supposed to end up in tiny pieces or that Mum needed to know where the packing tape was. Why did she put it down then?

Nobody told me that when Mum packs socks into a box, I'm not supposed to run off with it. It was fun running off with them and hiding from Mum.

Mum also thought that it would be nice to get the carpets cleaned for the new owners. I figured since the carpet man was cleaning them anyway, it wouldn't matter if I did a poo in the spare bedroom. Well the silly man ended up vacuuming over my poo, spreading it out all over the carpet! Luckily for him (and me), he had some super amazing carpet cleaner that magically made the horrible stain disappear.

All this "helping" is exhausting. I've decided that it would be easier (and safer) to just keep out of the way and have a nap. Unfortunately for Dad, that might not be an option for him.