Holiday Monday

Stuffed with Thanksgiving turkey dinner, sleeping in with my humans, what a great way to start my holiday Monday! What could make it better? How about meeting new friends!

A new family movied into my neighbourhood, and they have TWO dogs! A Rottie named Thunder (when you hear him bark, you know why!) and a Jack Russell Terrier named Chili. She has springs in her feet, she can jump soooo high!

So I met them a few weeks ago, but haven't seen them since. But this morning, coming back from my walk, we ran into them! What fun! We tore up the back field doing zoomies all over the place! Thunder didn't really appreciate my speed while chasing Chili and kept trying to body check me as I ran by! BOL! But I was just too fast for him! Chili and I got a bit banged up as we were running soooo fast in circle we knocked into each other a few times! Man was that ever fun!!!

what will the rest of the day hold for me?? Well, right now, a nap...maybe another trip to the dog park, definitely some cookies. :o)

Happy Monday pups!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here in Canada, it's Thanksgiving. So I'd like to dedicate this post to all that I'm thankful for.

1. That out of all the breeds and all the puppies out there, my human parents chose me!
2. That I have such pawesome pup pals, such as Denali, Starr, Mimi, Cosmo and Zoe!
3. Also, that I have some pawesome online blogging pup pals too! Special shout out to Bosco, Finn, Fig, Molly, Jackson and Johann! Go check them out and tell them Simba sent you!

I hope you all have a pawesome Thanksgiving (even if you don't celebrate it yet!) and don't forget to be thankful for all the things in your life that make you happy and healthy!

[photo credit]

One of the Guys

Not sure how you pups are with your humans, but I love mine both in different ways. My human mom takes me on my off-leash adventures, and snuggles with me in the evening. She gets my breakfast and dinner ready, makes sure I always have fresh water, and wear a sweater when it's cold.

My human dad takes me for walks during the day and I get to snuggle with him on the couch while he plays video games. I LOVE it when he comes home from work, cause he gets me all riled up and spends some time rough-housing with me! I'm just one of the guys.

My human mom is always running around with me, and she is always surprised when I'm home alone with my human dad, and she asks what we did all day, and he says, we just sat on the couch and chilled. Just one of the guys, she says, surprised that I am content to do that, but only with him.

See I get to do all kinds of fun stuff with my human mom...but what I love is the special time I get to just hang out with my human dad. We don't need to "do" anything. Just being one of the guys is enough.

More Dogpark Fun!

Spent the afternoon at the dogpark with my fur-cousin, Daisy. She's a Golden Doodle (Golden Retriever/Standard Poodle mix). I love that even though she's bigger than me, I'm still the boss! Hehe!

Investigating all the good smells!

Big dog, little dog

My fur-cousin, Daisy

Cooling off in the creek

I did a 5k for the cure!

Hellllooooo pups! What a beautiful Sunday! The weather is just pawesome in the northeast today!

I was very proud to be part of Team Dane Train as we all participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure, in support of The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation!

We were a team consisting of 7 Great Dane's, 1 Pug, 1 Corgi mix, a Chihuahua and Chihuahua mix and of course, ME (oh yeah, and our humans!).

We attracted a lot of people to our little group...the Dane's being so big, and the Chi's so small! What fun! And for such a great cause! The run was happening all across Canada today, and in our little region, we raised $500,000 today!!! Paws up to everyone!

Also, Lin, Dane Train's group organizer made all us pups special collars that had pink ribbons to support the Breast Cancer cause! Visit her pawesome website to order yours! Proceeds go to The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation!

Our team!

relaxing before the 5k!

Team Berner Buddies: Bernese Mountain Dogs and their humans

Me and my human mom!

On the walk

Dog Days: Pawesome New Book!

Dog Days, a new coffee table book about to be released (October, 2007), showcases the photography of Gandee Vasan and is absolutely stunning. You can check out some of her work on her website (just click Dog Days). Definitely a great gift idea for the upcoming holiday season!

[photo credit]

A Dog's Breed Is NOT Its Destiny!

I love bully breeds. My human has socialized me since I was a puppy to as many kinds of dogs as she could, so I would not be timid or afraid of dogs I might encounter on our daily walks. From the time I was a puppy in daycare, my best friend was a Pit Bull named Titan. Back when I was only 10-14lbs, the daycare workers would tell my human that I was the alpha in the daycare...even over Titan!! He was the sweetest pup, and just like Cesar mentions in this article, it's all about positive experiences and proper education and care to have a balanced dog. Here in Ontario, all Pit Bull/Staffie breed must wear a muzzle when going outside or risk being taken away to a shelter. We have a saying around here: Ban the Deed, NOT the Breed.

This article is taken from Yahoo! Pets columnist, Cesar Milan. Regardless of your attitudes towards his style of training, this is a good article, and perhaps if you see a bully breed on a walk with their human, don't be so afraid to stop and sniff and say hello!
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Millions and millions of human beings in this world understand what it's like to struggle under the weight of a negative stereotype. That's why many human societies are finally evolving past racism, sexism, religious intolerance, and other forms of bigotry. So why is it that most people don't think twice when they make the sweeping assumption that all pit bulls and all Rottweilers are vicious killing machines, or that all Jack Russell Terriers are non-stop, hyperactive balls of energy?

The truth is that although inborn breed traits can indeed be a powerful influence on a dog's behavior, they are absolutely not the driving behavioral factors of a dog that is balanced and has a strong, consistent pack leader! In most dogs (those that have not been irreparably damaged by human cruelty), the darker traits of any breed can be overcome by consistently fulfilling the dog physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I've met many people who are conditioned to fear pit bulls, and who assume the strongest drive in all pit bulls is the instinct to attack and kill. But if my mellow pit bull Daddy were the first pit bull you'd ever met, you'd have no reason to believe that at all. The tendency of a dog to engage in breed-related destructive behavior is usually just a reaction to a lack of physical and mental stimulation. Like any other breed, pit bulls have the capacity to be family-friendly, loving, mellow animals. I'd argue that any pit bull would rather reach its potential as a calm, submissive family pet than as the belligerent gladiator that dog fighters try and breed them to be.

So how did my pal Daddy become this shining ambassador for the pit bull breed? A steady regimen of exercise, discipline, and affection -- begun when he was only four months old -- took advantage of his inborn desire for leadership and structure. And even some of the pit bulls that come to my pack as survivors of terrible dog-fighting culture abuse have been -- with consistent attention paid to fulfilling their basic needs -- able to shed their breed stereotypes and simply relax and enjoy life as dogs.

I often say that a dog is animal first, then dog, then breed, then name. So if a dog's breed is only his "suit," as it were, then you as the owner have the responsibility to take control over the "outfit" your dog puts on every morning.

A Manchester Moment

Well, it's been a really slow week, just the usual, going for walks, hanging out at the dog park, sniffing the dogs in my neighbourhood.

Enjoy this Manchester photo Moment.

Juice Boxes and Chip Crumbs

Sorry pups, for the delay in posting...life's been kinda boring the last few days! What's with the title you ask? Well, as you know, I live beside an elementary school. I get to go run off-leash in the back field during my morning and sometimes night-time walks. But since school has started again, my human's been limiting my off-leash fun there!

Why you ask? Juice boxes and chip crumbs! It seems the children use the field during lunch and recess, and instead of taking their trash to the bins, many decide to just leave it where they've finished it, in the field! So when I go running through the field, I find these goodies, and my human spends lots of time trying to catch or coerce me back to her so she can throw them away.

Why would she want to do that? Have you ever played with a juice box?? It's soooooo much fun! You can squeeze it, toss it, rip it AND you get a sweet tasting of leftover juice in the box!! YUM! (Human's can be such pawty poopers!)

There also seems to be an excessive amount of plastic baggies with various chip and cracker crumbs from snack time. Again, I enjoy the crumbs...why not go with the flow? Hrrmmmphf! Humans are funny sometimes. But I do enjoy the game of chase I put on when she's trying to get the baggie from me! Arrooooo! So much fun!

Dock Dud...

Sooooo, my first experience with jumping off a dock didn't go that well. My human did expect that I wouldn't jump, and well, her expectation was met.

I went up there about 4 times, and I will say I got closer each time...but the pool is just sooooo big!! It looked really deep too!!

So we sat in the bleachers and watched the other dogs jump. MAN–were they amamzing!! I saw Forrest Gumpy (the Parson Russell Terrier) jump 17 feet!!! Apparently he was having an "off" day! BOL! He was just my size, so he gave my human some hope for me!

An awesome Border Collie named Diesel jumped 22 feet!!!

I walked to the ramp and sipped at the water.

Well, tomorrow is a new day, we didn't compete in our wave today just did some practice time, so we're going back tomorrow to try again. I'm probably going to get to go to the beach for some water practice today! That's definitely an upside!