My thanks ...

Thank you very much Checkers. Am very honored by your award.

I like your blog too!

Also my thanks goes to Scooby for featuring this TOP DOG in his blog. ;)

Three Words ...

... that sets any Dog Woods canine - TOP DOG or otherwise cowering is when the Big Chief discovers something she deems a 'misdemeanor' of graphically undisputed canine work (drat those chew marks and scratches) is the glowering :-


'WHO DID THIS?!?'

Wooo! Now that's enough to send shivers down any Dog Woods Canine spine - guilty or otherwise we find ourselves scooting for cover!



When the Chief raises her voice A mere TONE it's as if someone's suddenly turned the volume of the audio speakers FULL BLAST. While a mere tone would not be much to the human ears but to a dog of highly developed hearing, it's not only startling, it's terribly unnerving. Makes the pitter-patter of our doggy hearts race big time - not in a very pleasant way.

It's worst when anyone of us is caught red-paw-ded in the act. The guilty would have the embarassing 'honour' of having his or her name used in as ONE of those THREE (dreaded) Words i.e.:-


'(Insert Guilty Dog WOods Canine's name)!!!! That's ENOUGGGHHHHHH!!!!'

Yesterday evening, it was Joe. He discovered his toy rubber bone that the Chief confiscated for fear of him chewing and swallowing the toy. Thrilled with his precious discovery he didn't want any of us Dog Woods Pack within 5 feet proximity from him and his precious toy. This TOP DOG unfortunately is not very good at estimating spatial distance. It turns out from Joe's point of measurement Tuffy Lord of Dog Woods happen to be 4 ft away ...


Joe chewing on very very robust doggy dumbell


Needless to say, yours dog-gedly got jumped on. If it had not been for the Chief's appalling loud yell and her intervention (the water hose clears out any canine disputes in a jiffy!) .. Joe would have gone on thumping innocent bystander me. The Chief's has again confiscated the toy bone which has been the cause of Joe's aggressive outburst. This time it's kept under lock and key!

So! If those three words are so scary, why has it not deterred us Dog Woods Pack from committing further misdemeanors? Well... simply ... we can't help it! Treats simply must be gobbled down, immaculate landscapes be dug up and well, some pup will eventually be thumped - whether he deserves it or not. It's what we canines do ... and sometimes there's simply no justifying our actions. We are canines after all and we operate according to the canine means of programming not humans.

It's a good thing the Chief uses her decibel prowess quite sparingly - else with the number canine of misdemeanors happening daily, other Cat City inhabitants strolling by Dog WOods would think the Chief's gone barkingly mad !

All ended well yesterday. I was rattled but unscathed. Didn't have much time to feel sorry for myself because the Chief gave me some yummy beef jerky treats to calm my nerves. Wrroooo! :)

Earth Hour Weekend

The much awaited weekend had fallen on the world at large. Unlike the air of carnival and wild stampeding that almost always pervades the green grounds of Dog Woods, it was strangely quiet.... any 'visitor' would have thought that Dog Woods inhabitants - 2 & 4 legged, had moved out and left the realm empty.

But such 'visitors' would regret ever intruding into Dog Woods ... quiet as it may be, they would soon discover themselves being surrounded by NINE ferocious canines, all fiercely guarding their precious loot of juicy bones.

It was BIG Bone weekend this week. The Chief had decided in addition to our usual meals we were each to be given a couple of BIG juicy bones to chew on.

The Dog Woods TOP DOG looking real pleased ...

This TOP DOG's got to admit, the Chief may be real bossy sometimes and have got loads to say about our hips (usually about it's rate of expansion), our 'appalling' landscaping works, our rough and tumbling games that almost always leaves some pup howling for the Chief to intervene; when that happens game is usual over and we'd sheepishly sidle back to our Den (just to show how deeply contrite we are) while the Chief menacingly demands to know 'WHO DID THIS?!?' and does a once over on the supposed 'injured'...

Snoopy & Anna : Happily Chomping away ...

But really, her bark is worst than her bite.

The extra-special treats of Juicy Bones was to celebrate Earth Hour ... the evening the Big Chief turns out all the lights for an hour.

Actually, this TOP DOG would proudly like to report that lights at Dog Woods were turned off for more than an hour ... that was because we were so busy gnawing on our yummy bones we forgot to remind the Chief who was caught up trying to take pictures in the dark with some three legged contraption she terms the tripod, that the hour was up.

Dexter gnawing away ...

So that's TWO hours of lights out at Dog Woods ... hopefully that would somehow, in our small way, contribute to the collective global efforts of reducing our carbon footprints and the effects of global warming.

Ya know, maybe we could do this every night. It's loads of fun running around by candle light ...

Twinge of Nostalgia

Aroooo there!


I have to admit, this Dog Father is feeling somewhat nostalgic today. I found some old photos the Chief took of the Fur Kids up to no good. They made me chuckle ... and they made me think of the Fur Kids that have gone to their new Furever Homes.


Sure I complain about them being irritating and how they get in my way all the time but its just my gruff macho TOP DOG way of saying ' I wuv you..'

Fur Kids at 3 months

They've grown so quickly ... much TOO quickly, I have to add. Where did ALL that time go!?Once a brief moment ago, they were tiny little bundles of fur ... waddling all over the place. All tails and licks. Getting into the Pack's ears, mouth, eyes, your lags ...



This TOP DOG remembers quite fondly how the Chief could fit and carry all NINE of them in a basket. Their first outing out of the Den ... it seemed like only yesterday they were wee helpless puppers mewing for their Momma. Such a stark contrast ... looking at how the Chief struggles and staggers just to lift ONE pup into the showers ... judging at how fast they are growing, they'll soon be uncarry-able ... by the Chief's standards.



The Fur Kids today are nearly as big, if not bigger than I am (thanks to their Momma's Dobie genes), run faster than Snoopy and I (can't help its, Bassets have short legs...), and have barks that this Dog Father, their Momma and the Dog Woods Pack are very proud off! At the rate they are progressing I'd soon have to field them into the Dog Woods Pack proper!



I suppose on the comforting side, am glad I still have FOUR of my Fur Kids with me. Not quite as many licks and wags but I sure wuv them to bits and no I've not stopped loving the other Kids that have since found new homes. Speaking of which, I must give my other Fur Kids living with their new families a holler-woo just to see how they're doing and keep them updated with the happenings at Dog Woods.

Fur Kids and a visiting Fur Friend

The thing about the Weather

Hello!

It's Thursday with Snoopy this week.

Let me tell you a thing or two about the weather in our neck of the woods. While it may be the envy of some (who's presently experiencing cold, wet weather), the level of humidity of the tropics is not only giving us heat prone canines a hard time but also the for some pups who've got sensitive-r skin than others (like yours truly), it's a real pain!

Damp-ness and canine skin folds are rich breeding ground for pesky itch, somefin about yeast ...?

I once had long velvety ears as a wee pup but that sadly have been a thing of the past. To date, I've had more tests, pokes, prods and jabs from the V-E-T than all Dog Woods Pack put together. He's since concluded, apart from the yeast infection, I also have a certain allergy to the Grass! How terrible ... when that's the nicest thing to roll about in!

The Chief too has tried her best to get my ears back to what it once was. She's tied my ears up (like a wabbit I looked!) when I had my meals, she even got me special tall food bowls, changed my diet, got me special shampoos, powders ... I won't say her efforts were not in vain, the other angry red itchy folds around my body have since healed but sadly, not my ears. *Boo Hoo!*


What the Chief's not tried yet is change the weather at Dog Woods ... making it less humid. That would mean keeping me in the air-conditioned rooms indoors 24/7 and I don't think I like that at all ! I love running around out doors unleashed, wrestling with Tuffy, lolling about with the Fur Kids way too much!

Beautiful long velvety ears or Freedom? I'd choose Freedom any time!! I've accepted the fact that I'll never be SHOW DOG material ... but I sure am a Happy Basset!



Arf! I blink-ed!

Give a dog a Towel ...

This be Dog Woods Pack's philosophy ... when a day gives you heat, have a Shower paw-ty!

And as all shower paw-ties, there's always the towels involved. Give a dog a chamois towel and we'd squeeze plenty of creative play out of it ...

Anywoos ... this be some of the various other canine uses of a towel (apart from drying) ...

a) A Sarong!

Sarong Paw-ty Top Dog strutting his stuff ...

b) Towel Ear Plugs

- Tubby on the art of selective hearing as Wally yaps on ....

c) A Cape ...

-for any Budding Puppy Hero

d) A Saddle ... for any Puppy who thinks he's a race horse-y

e) A Wig ... for any puppy who fancies having long blonde princess-y locks (like Brandi..)

e) A Tent .... For any pup to hide away in, in case of troubling mischief ...

Fur Kids: New Home

We once had NINE Fur Kids running about Dog Woods but FIVE of them have since found Families of their Own.

With heavy and sad hearts the Dog Woods Pack especially their Momma Dobie-Anna, Doting Aunty Snoopy and TO DOG, I have let them go. I have to admit, it's not an easy thing to let go of Kids you've nurtured and love ...

If this TOP DOG had his way, I'd have all my Fur Kids with me. Dog Woods is big enough for every dog and human ... have an even bigger Dog Woods Pack (not that its already big enough ... but one could do with BIGGER!). But I suppose every dog or TOP DOG no matter how silly or sentimental would eventually come to terms with practicalities.

Nine Fur Kids and Five Dog Woods Pack would be a little too much to handle ... as it is, I have trouble walking without being swamped by barrage of overly affectionate licks and wriggles. I know my Fur Kids mean well ... but it sure gets a little irritating sometimes when they get into path (I've tripped on them more than once), food, fur and water. We have space, yes we do ... but why is it that we canines all insist on huddling up (i.e. fur in one's mouth, someone's paw up one's butt) in one tiny spot!

Coming to that decision of allowing my Fur Kids to be adopted was a hard one. The other very hard decision was WHICH Fur Kid ... ohhhh, believe you me, their Momma and I agonized for weeks!

Being a very concerned Dog Father I made sure I did a good long sniff on the prospective new families' background. To be doubly sure, I hired the K9-Bureau-of -Investigation (KBI) to dig into their backgrounds. Looks like the families who the Kids have gone too are clean, canine loving humans ... no matter how sad we are to see them leave, it's a comfort to know that they have found good homes.

The Fur Kids that have found themselves happy new homes are :-

a) Zsa Zsa and Pinto - the first pair to leave us ... they have been happily wrecking havoc in their new doting family's manicured gardens (me glads to note they too have the Dog Woods landscaper's gene...)

b) Baxter (left) Dexter's twin - who's the only 'child' of his new family who spoils him rotten

c) Eva - who now have two furry Labrador brothers in her new family and apparently has worked her paw up to being TOP DOG

d) Buddy - who's now have 3 human brothers and has more fun than he has ever imagined!

Good luck kids! Don't forget to remember us at Dog Woods sometimes. I know we think of you all all the time!

Treat-ful Moments

...the Chief may be eee-viiilll but she's not really a gone case ... can't help this canine loyalty streak. I adore my humans no matter how eee-vil they are!

She sent her 'Special Assistant' to amuse us over the weekend with a bag of 'Greenies' which we scoffed down in no time. Apparently they're good for one's teeth ... so we, Pack and Fur Kids had a couple each.

Actually, that not quite right. Snoopy Smart Cookie had more than a couple ... she cunningly bullied the kids into surrendering their share of 'Greenies'. But fortunately, the 'Special Assistant' who was supervising our Treat-ful Moments came to the Fur Kids rescue.

More than a few Greenies were actually pried out of Snoopy's already stuffed mouth ... (how she got so many in is a wonder ...!) and returned to the 'rightful mouths'. Then the Kids got into a fight - each trying to bully the other into surrendering their 'Greenies' (puppy see, puppy do ... Snoopy can sometimes be a bad influence when it comes to Treat-ful Moments!) which again required the Special Assistance's intervention.

But all too soon, our Treat-Ful moment came to and abrupt end, no fault of the humans though. We made our plea for more ... but we were shown we had already scoffed down TWO bagful in one sitting!

'CHEW not GOBBLE!' the Special Assistant squeals in exasperation ...

Apparently, from the human point of view, THAT's suppose to make our Treats last longer... From this TOP DOG's sees it, the only way Treats are to 'last longer' is to increase its QUANTITY(ies)!

Honestly, humans!

Bark-day Pitch (II) From the Chief to the Dog Woods Canine

Hello there!

This be what the Chief wrote to us today regarding the Couple of Bark-day Paw-ties Per Week Pitch. I had Snoopy to analyse the letter and the smart cookie says there's nothing to analyze.
Request DENIED. :P

But somehow it doesn't feel so bad. At least we still get to paw-ty daily! Woooo!!!

___________________________________________________________________

Dear Roly-Polies,

Am afraid having at least a couple of bark-day pawties a human week complete with Bark-day Cakes, treats and all is simply out of the question.

Have you measured the size of your expanding hips lately? Your diet obviously is NOT working, judging from the fact that you all almost always succeed in manipulating me to give you treats in between your meals.

Besides, at the rate you roly-poly pupper-ties are paw-tying i.e. running around unleashed daily, wrecking havoc in the gardens, dig, wrestle, tear, chew and chase each other for the entire day almost and then collapse in a happy contented furry heap in hopefully anticipation of treats or the next meal; For any Bark-day Paw-ty celebration to be 'felt' in Dog Woods'Pack daily gala of a time instance, you'd all have to have to undergo a drastic change of lifestyle i.e. be confine in some kind of space where you're unable to do much demolition work, have a reduction of treats and meals, play alot less ...

I don't think that lifestyle would do very well with the Dog Woods Pack especially since you poochies are accustom to Daily Paw-tying.

Now, please don't inteprete it as my loving you any less. Just from a health point of view a couple of Bark-day Cakes and more treats a week is a little too much for you poochies. But having said that, that doesn't rule out a occassional Bark-day Cakes and special treats a year. While the Paw-tying (i.e. the mad wild stampeding about) and demolition work I believe (quite resignedly) I can deal with ...

Deal?

Yours lovingly,

The Big Chief

Bark-day Pitch

I simply can't seem to shrug off what I read the other day in one of the fabulous dog blogs.

I have to admit, this TOP DOG's sold on the argument that since ONE human year equals five dog years or even seven - depending on the breed of the day, that would mean in ONE human year any dog ought to have at least FIVE barkdays to celebrate.

Now that's Bark-a-tis-tic!!

FIVE bark-days! FIVE very good reasons to throw a Pawty! Let's make 'em move-able feasts. Ok, ok, let's make it SEVEN move-able feast. The more the merrier!

And while there are at least Nine of us at Dog Woods ... let's see now Nine times Seven ... that's wooah! SIXTY THREE Dog Woods Barkdays to be celebrated.

That's at least ONE and a little more ...Ok, let's round it out and make it TWO Dog Woods barkday pawty to be celebrated ever week of the Human year!!

Ohh, just the thought of it is making me barkingly excited .... not that we're not having fun already, but the prospect of life at Dog Woods being FUN-er!

I simply MUST persuade the Chief to see things from the Canine bark-day point of view. This would definitely be an opportunity to turn Dog Woods into Bark-day Paw-ty Central!

And since that Chief is quite a creative cook and baker, that would put her baking skills to even greater use - making us a couple of bark-day cakes per week on top of all the extra treats that come along with the Bark-day spread ... Yum yum! All this talk of Paw-ties and Feasting is making me hungry .... *drool*slurp*

Better scoot by the Chief to pitch my bark-a-tas-tic pawty proposal before the hungries affect my ingenious proposal!

Will be right back to report!

Caterpillar Cadets

We've made some new very clever furry friends at Dog Woods recently. It's interesting that they only appear on occassions when the cicadas are out in force ... (I tell you that buzzing din is enough to drown us Dog Woods concerted howls!).


Being nice, cute and furry like us canines at Dog Woods (minus the bark), our new clever furry friends have taught us all a thing or two about the 'Wriggling Crawling Formation.

In fact, in their short time at Dog Woods they've succeessfully formed the 'Caterpillar Cadets' known for its proud marches into all things green and leafy and leaving bare branches and wasting greens in its wake. There was serious talk about inviting us canines at Dog Woods to join since we more or less do similar landscaping/gardening work. However, being a proud old movement, the our clever furry caterpillar friends have insisted that in order to be properly fielded in as the FIRST Canine Caterpillar Cadets we had to learn to pass the 'Caterpilar Initiation Test'.

Now, the Initiation test requires the proud prospective cadet to perform what Caterpillars do best - a Wriggly Crawl! My Fur Kids were the most excited. This was something they DEFINITELY could do - fairly naturally too. In fact, they went so far as to have a competition amongst themselves who can do the silliest wriggling crawl!

This be Tubby wriggling down the slopes of Dog Woods

While this here be Dexter doing his own version of the side wriggle...


This here be Brandi and Dexter doing the 'Caterpillar Extension' while I supervised

That be flamboyant Wally attempt to crawl down the side of the tree ... he would have succeeded had it not been for gravity :p

That be Wally again, on his second wriggly crawly attempt, this time he chose something less flamboyant

This .... well, this be Brandi ... the potential junior Caterpillar cadet who thinks it's an earthworm!

And FINALLY, topping it all, this be the TOP DOG's version of 'Caterpillar Crawlies'.

'Crawling along, crawling along ...'

My furry caterpillar friends who were also the judges of the crawling contest were most impressed. In fact, they went on to conclude that at the rate we're showing such ingenious versions of Caterpillar wriggling crawls (including the 'deluded earthworm'), we'd all definitely pass our Initiation test and be fielded in as the FIRST Canine Caterpillar Cadets! Bow-wow-wow!!

Pee.Ess. The Chief thinks that Furry Caterpillars causes one to itch - how is that so?! Me thinks the fur's gotten to her brains ...

Dog-xer-cise: Chomping Chews!

In addition to all the frantic to-ing and fro-ing chasing all manners of possible intruders from the two legged to the four furry legged that we, Dog Woods Pack do to keep trim and fit; this, gentle readers, is one of our favourite dog-xer-cises - well at least in this TOP DOG's books. I call 'em the 'Chomping Chews!'

I use a doggy dumbell in Dog Woods but if you don't have one you could use any of your favourite toy or plastic bottle ...

Wagging Warm Ups

The most important step before any dog-xer-cise is the warm ups. Now, warm-ups are very important because we don't want to end up straining or injuring any of our hunky ripped muscles.

The simplest and possibly the best warm-ups in the sphere of dog-xer-cise is wagging one's tail. So, fur friends out there, wag ya tail to your heart's content! Good way to jump start your metabolic rate too esp. when your human's have made more than many jibes about your weight (I hear ya vo-lup-chew-us Suzuki!).

When we're nicely warm and limber ... (when are we ever not?!), the next step comes the actual dog-xer-cise!


First, position the dumbell (or toy or plastic bottle) to the left of snout, open wide and sink your pearly whites in and CHEW! That's it. Chew! Chomp to the left! Work those jaw muscles now ... Chomp 1 and 2 and 3 and 4! and ...

Chomping chew to the left

...Change sides! Chew RIGHT! Chomp 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 ... That's it... Work those right jaw muscles now!

Chomping Chew to the Right

Now, chew on your sides!! Chomp 1, Chomp 2, Chomp 3 ... and flip over to the other side and Chew! Chomp 1 & Chomp 2 & Chomp 3 ...

Chomping on one's side

Now (huff-puff-pant-pant...) , last set chomping is to Chew Up-side Down! And ....Chomp 1, Chomp 2, Chomp 3 ...

Chewing Up-side Down!

Phew!! ... now that's quite a chewing wor- out, I'd say! You would like to repeat if don't think you're not working your muscles enough... but usually a complete set of chomping chews for this TOP DOG is enough to keep my handsome face and jaw muscles looking trim and sleek. ;)

Fur Kids Lessons

Arf! Arf! Helloooo there!

(Left to Right) : Dexter & Wally

These a couple of my Fur Kids practicing what they learnt from their astutely wise Dog Father, TOP DOG of Dog Woods.

Incase, you're wondering, today's lesson was on the 'art of looking sad'....

Now gentle readers, you may all be wondering of all lessons a Dog Father is to teach his Fur Kids, why dwell on looking sad ...? Shouldn't looking sad come as naturally as looking happy? What is there to teach, any ways ...?

But ah! You see, its all got to do with Dog-gee-psy-woo-logy. It's all part and parcel of how to twist your human round one's paws. Like getting the Chief to give you more treats for example ... now those faces are perfect specimens of 'boo-hoo-hoo-poor-little-doggy-me-ohh-you-'re-bound-to-pity-me-and-give-me-a-treat-or-two-to-cheer-me-up' look!

Anyhows, they showed the Chief the 'look' yesterday and she did agree they looked very moanful about something (yay!). But then she went on to ask ' are you ill?! are you in pain? Maybe we should call the V-E-T to find out what's wrong ...' (boo!)

Well, I guess they (the Furry Little Ones) have got a long way to go on perfecting the 'boo-hoo-hoo-poor-little-doggy-me-ohhh-you're-bound-to-pity-me-and-give-me-a-treat-or-two-to-cheer-me-up' look.

Bow-wow Motor Woofs

Woof there!

Giving the Bow-wow Motor Woofs a good sniffing service

Didn't paw in blog yesterday because this TOP DOG Tuffy was busy. Preoccupied with me car and all things mechanical... like any full blooded male. Canine or human.

Anyhoos. I was just giving the Bow-wow Motor Woofs (- that's what BMW stands for in Dog Woods' Canine terms) a monthly sniff over service ... just to make sure its Motors are in running order and that there are no creepy crawlies, like mices and squirrels hiding underneath.

Under carriage inspection

Brandi being a pain in the b*** ....

My Fur Kid tried to help but Brandi (that's her name) got more in the way than anything else!! She didn't even know where or what the tools were even if I had patiently described them for her from under the car ...

As you can see from the photos I am very thorough with my sniffy works. Not only does the under carriage gets inspected, even the headlights, tyres and what-macha-callit gets a run down.

Giving the wat-macha-callit and tyres thorough inspection

Anyways, am pleased to report that car is in tip top condition and ready to be driven- thanks to my extra-ordinary canine mechanical abilities ... but since am admittedly a wee bit short (my legs can't reach those pedals!!), I have a very abled chauffer to drive me and the Dog Woods Pack around.

Ah, yes ... here she comes ...'Hullo Chief! Take me to the Pet Mart!'