Ohhh, Monday.

I don't care if you think that it is going to be a glorious new week.

I am not coming out of my tub until Friday.

Really.

Turns out, I am a WEEKEND kind of dog.

Don't like Mondays puppers.

Just don't like 'em.

It's definitely Monday...

Good Morning. Duncan's Mom here.  D wanted me to let you know that he is not going to be able to blog today.  He is on strike.  When I got out of the shower this morning and reached for my towel, it was gone.  D had grabbed it and was lounging comfortably (yes, he really did manage to cover himself up with it like a blankie as shown in the photo) as though a new week had not even started.  Denial at it's finest.  He is thinking if he lounges like it's Sunday and does not write a Monday blog, it will extend the weekend.

But the week HAS started.  And I am not sure how good this one is gonna be, to be honest.  My towel was dognapped.  My dog is on strike.  My picture loaded sideways.  Three "arghhhs" already and it's pretty early in the day.

Here's hoping the morning is only a fluke and not a precursor to the whole week!

Sign me,

Cautious Mama

Now THAT is a dog gate!

We first saw this here.

In my house, it took about 16 months and  30 seconds for me to figure out that NO means NO.

Really.

So how about THIS dog gate.  I think it would probably stop me dead in my tracks. Four on the floor, as we like to say.

At least the first time.

That NO looks like it means it!

To learn more about it go here.

Sign me,
Screeching to a halt

Tiny Dog Speakers: Two Paws Up

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Typing to the tune of  "Who let the dogs out ...."

Well CHECK ME OUT.

I am so cute, they made a speaker out of me.  A tiny little portable speaker hand made out of apricot wood.  Cute, yes?  They are rechargeable via a USB port and have a standard jack to attach to audio devices. Perfect for playlist playing at puppy patio pawties.

NO, I did not get a free set for modeling for them.  YES, I will be adding them to my holiday wish list.

Note to Mom ... you can get them for me here.

Dogs are Forever

Or at least this one is:

Allow me to introduce Owney, The Postal Dog.  Wonder Dog here is now a forever dog, or at least a forever stamp, anyhow.

According to the USPS website .... "In the 1880s, during the height of the Railway Mail Service, clerks in the Post Office in Albany, New York, took a liking to a terrier mix named Owney. Fond of riding in postal wagons, Owney followed mailbags onto trains and soon became a good-luck charm to Railway Mail Service employees, who made him their unofficial mascot. Working in the Railway Mail Service was highly dangerous: According to the National Postal Museum, more than 80 mail clerks were killed in train wrecks and more than 2,000 were injured between 1890 and 1900. However, it was said that no train ever met with trouble while Owney was aboard."

Ok, sounds like he is worthy of being on a stamp, me thinks.  That's really saying something as we all well know that I hardly think anybody is more worthy than me.  For anythinng.  Ever.

I've also heard they liked the pupper so much they kept him after his demise (uh, huh, really) and you can see him on display at The Smithsonian.

Note to mom:  I don't need to be on display, no matter how much they beg.

Or, you could just buy some stamps, if that would be easier.

Maybe I'll try modeling???

IMAGE VIA BEAST



IMAGE VIA BEAST



















So  check out these dudes.  THEY ARE MODELS.  The pics here are all about the HATS and not the PUPPERS.

Given the "all about moi" mind set that I generally wake up with every morning, I had a conflicted reaction when I ran across these shots.  Such good looking dogs and they are not the be all end all here????

But then, wait for it ..... BRILLIANT. 

Next thing you know, we are gonna be on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, pups. The Next Top Model, if you will.

These pictures were shot by Joseph Dawson and Jonathan Paine. (All the caps are available now at The Chimp Store.)  I am thinking of giving the photographers a call. If you've been reading for long, you know that I once had aspirations to become an Olympic diver.  If you have not been reading for long, then you know by the fact that you have never heard of this particular career of mine that it never really took off.  Or made a big splash, if you will.

Anywoof, I am still looking for a way to keep myself in the higher quality puppy chow I feel I so deserve and am thinking modeling may be the way to go. Yes???

Fun for a cause

So over the weekend Mom and I decided to do some fun stuff we have heard about and share it with you on the blog this week.

For instance, studies have shown that some of the happiest dog and owner pairs share similar features, personality traits, even body types.

That's why The Pedigree Adoption Drive and NEC developed Doggelgänger; human to canine pairing software, designed to connect homeless dogs to their human doubles.

(Those two blurbs were stolen directly from the website, by the way.)

The way it works is that you upload a picture of a human face and then they run this cool program to find a dog that looks like you ... a dog and their human,  you know.

Imagine my surprise when this is what turned up with Mom's picture:

I guess there must not have been any Westies that needed homes, because otherwise surely Mom would have gotten paired up with a moi dog, yes???

The program operates in New Zealand, but maybe they will come up with something similar here soon. 

Fun, fun, puppers.

Lesson From My Dog

If you stare at someone long enough, eventually you will get what you want.

This week we are doing a series called All I Need to Know About Life I Learned From My Dog.  Stay tuned for another life lesson tomorrow ...

Not seeing enough of Duncan?

Worried that you have not laid eyes on the white dog himself enough in the past few posts???

Have no fear ... he is going to be here in person each and every day next week.

Stayed tuned for EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM MY DOG starting on Monday.

Happy Weekend, Puppers!

NO NO FRIDAY

Heads up, puppers.

When your mama has made a rare attempt at being frugal and minding the family budget by checking out a book from the library rather than buying it the minute it hits the stands ... DON'T EAT THE BOOK.

Apparently said consumption results in a fine which might actually be higher than the cost of going out and buying the book in the first place.

You mean to tell me the library doesn't get a volume discount??? 

Anywoof, stay away from the loaners, puppers.  Stay away from the loaners.

And another thing ....

If you are a dog and your owner suggests you wear a sweater ... suggest that he wear a tail.

~ Fran Liebowitz

Meet Minnie the Westie!

Allow me to introduce our new friend Minnie. 

Gorgeous, yes???  I mean, those eyes.  WOWZA..

Guess what ... Minnie has a blog like we do.  And she's writing a book.  You can meet her yourself right here, and sign up for her monthly cartoon while you're there.

Crazy fun, doggers, crazy fun!

Friday thoughts ...

Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.

~ Dave Barry

For the Brits among us ....

Ok, you Brits ... this one is for you.

I don't know how exactly we got on to this topic today, but here's a few things Union Jack that we thought you might enjoy.

THE LEASH can be found at Nola and Spencer on etsy right here. 

THE RETRACTABLE LEASH can be found at Reese's Room right here.

The T-SHIRT comes in black or red and you can order it here.

Dang, dang, dangity dang, dang.  We love this pillow, and now we can't figure out where we found it.  If it's you or you recognize it, please let us know and we'll give you full credit for your image and send our folks your way!

The great Union Jack DOGBED can be found right here at Rockstar Puppy.

The COLLAR CHARM by Diva Dog (and modeled by my handsome self above) can be found here.

We found all this and more.  Maybe next week, we'll go Italian!

Pet Collars: Greatest Gift Ever

Well, carrying on in the weekend tradition of it's all about me, check out my new collar up there.

You know, by now, that I am quite the collar changer.

Check out this fancy neckwear my girl Sophie sent me.

It's hard to find a collar manly enough for a stud such as myself, but she did it.

You can get yourself one here if you don't have a traveling fan club bringing you one.

Call me lucky, puppers.

Lucky and loved!

What a Wonderful Weekend!

My new BFF, Shannon

A weekend all about moi????

Indeed!

A great group of friends came all the way from TEXAS to hang with me this weekend.

Yep, pretty sure they were here for me, and me only.

Never mind all the surfing and shopping and dining and celebrities they talked about.

Never mind all the time mom spent away from home with them.

Pretty sure I was pretty much all the celebrity they needed this weekend.  The party always ended at my house, doggers.

Yep, all the celebrity anybody can handle right here at our house. 

Bo Obama ain't got nothing on me.

Seriously, has Shannon ever gone to DC to visit him???  She came all the way from Texas to hang with moi.  Yep, got a new BFF, and an amazing one at that. 

Call me lucky puppers, call me lucky!

Pet Pillows: Finding the right one

You know how sometimes you just really, really need the right pillow to get exactly perfectly comfortable???

You know how Mom sometimes like to channel her "inner Martha?"

Well. We got on this pillow kick around here recently.  Yep.  We were gonna sew some dog themed pillows.  Mom got in her Mighty-Martha Mode and got out the sewing machine and everything.

There's a first time for everything, right???

But, smart dog that I am, I kind of was thinking I knew how this might turn out so I hopped onto the internet and did my own kind of pillow research.

Allow me to introduce some of my favorite pet themed pillows:

not pictured:  any of the ones mom tried to sew sewed 

Number one:  from Naked Decor and the obvious favorite, find it here

Number two: head over tail in love with the shapes of these, from Pillow Pillow Pillow and found here

Number three: from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child and found here

Number four: Crypton makes some stain, moisture and odor resistant (thus so very much to my liking) great looking dog theme pillows ... find them at www.cryptonfabric.com.  The one shown is the "doodle dog" pillow.

Here's hoping today's blog made you perfectly comfortable, puppers!

PET ID TAGS: Another option

Well, we have to admit, as proud as we were of our tags yesterday, we don't even come close to these cool PET ID tags from blanketID.  Seriously good design.  Seriously good concept.  Check it out here.

When you buy your (seriously stylish) tag you register your pet's pertinent info and activate your membership (first year is included in purchase price.)

Should your dog pull a fast one (who moi?) and get lost, report him to blanketID and they'll alert the SPCA, animal hospitals, shelters and other nearby blanketID members to be on the lookout.  Everybody has full access to your pet's info and picture.  When your pet is found, the finder enters the blanketID tag number on the website and, WOOF, you and your pup are reconnected.

And, as if that wasn't enough, more than 15% of the company's profits go into a fund to help animals in need. 

Sylishly safe, just the way we like it around here.

Handmade gifts for pets

Sorry you didn't hear from us yesterday ... we were crafting.  Yes, that's right, CRAFTING!!!!!

I know.  Go figure.

We originally saw this idea on another blog we follow which you should check out if you have any inclination toward crafting and tutorials: One Pretty Thing.  She posts all sorts of great lists, but the fact that she was posting about pet id tags and how to make them yourself really caught our eye.  So did the fact that Martha Stewart was involved (original Martha pet ID tag tutorial here.)

So, anywoof, we thought we'd give it a try.  It went something like this:

Step One:  Remove dog from workspace.

Not sure why this picture will only load sideways, but you get the point!!!

Step Two:

Order your Shrinky Dinks here.  "Shrinky Dinks" are printable plastic sheets that you print on with your inkjet printer and then stick in the oven to create a whole host of small plastic goodies.  Since we got the idea from Martha Stewart, we went with her Pet ID Tag concept and printed her template, which we got here. 

Step Three:

Input whatever data you want to onto the template and print it out on a Shrinky Dink sheet.  We changed things up a bit from the original idea, and created pet gift bag tags and pet lover gift tags.  The designs start out really big.

Oh, and pardon the crinkles in the paper there.  My bad.

Step 4:

Preheat the oven to 275 - 300 degrees and cut out your designs and put them on a cookie sheet with brown paper underneath.  Don't forget to punch a hole in your cut outs -- you'll need a bigger one than you think as the hole shrinks too.  We used a regular hole punch and it worked out perfectly.

A few notes about this (learning lessons, as we like to say around here):  The tags will come out exactly as you cut them ... if you have a rough edge when you cut out your design, your finished Pet ID tag will have one too.  And, the paper is a bit rigid.  We got a crack in our blue tag when we cut it, and it did not "heal" when we shrank it.

And, again, I have no idea why this picture will not load the right way, but as always ... you get the idea .......

Step five: 

Bake your Pet ID tags, pet gift tags or whatever pet goodies you've decided to create for about 3 to 5 minutes in the oven.

A few more notes here:  They crinkle when they start heating up.  Kind of freaked us out!  We thought this was gonna be a bust but flattened ours by pressing gently with a pot holder during the cooking.  As they continued to heat, they flattened out again.  Whew.   They really do shrink alot in the process, and they get harder and thicker than you'd think.

Last step:  Attach a string, ribbon, cord, metal ring, whatever you have on hand and voila, pet gift tag, pet lover gift tag, pet ID tag and what have you, puppers.

Overall, we LOVE the shrinky dink concept.  As mentioned earlier, the little details such as how fine you cut your pieces out do show.  We've got a few more sheets and a few more ideas, so we're gonna practice a bit and we'll be back again soon to show you what else we come up with!

Puppy Tweets: Is it for you?

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It's here, it's here ... Twitter for Dogs! 

And we quote "Ever wonder what your dog is doing while you're away?  Whenever your dog moves or barks, The Puppy Tweets tag detects it and sends a Tweet via Twitter.  You can follow your dog's Twitter feed on your computer or smart phone all day.  Puppy Tweets is a great way to brighten any pet owner's day."

We may have to put this one on our wish list.  You can check it out for yourselves here.

I am pretty sure my tweets would go something like this for the entire day:

@ mom: I am in my tub playing with my ball.

@mom: I am in my tub playing with my ball

@mom: I am in my tub playing with my ball.

I think we're all starting to get a pretty clear picture of an average day around here.

Anybody gonna try it???  Let us know!