One year old, 10kgs

Happy Birthday to me ♬ ♩♪♩♪

Happy Birthday to me ♬ ♩♪ ♩♪ ♪

Happy Birthday, Dear Carlie ♬ ♩♪♩♪ ♪

Happy Birthday to me ♬ ♩♪♩♪

Six weeks old and I already knew the 'sad eyes' trick (doesn't work these days though)

7 weeks and I knew how to pose for the camera

8 weeks and putting on weight

9 weeks and loving my sleepzzzzzz.......

12 weeks and I knew how to read

Took them over 3 months to discover I was a girl ...! So Charlie became Carlie. Doh!

4 months old and I could feed myself. Now where's the CHICKEN ...

5 months old and LOVING the water!

6 months old and going shopping

7 months old and on holiday, seeing the sights

8 months old, still loving my sleepzzzzz

9 months old and SO energetic

10 months old and still loving my childhood friends

11 months and loving Christmas presents

nearly 12 months old and fully grown up (well I think so anyway)

Now, where did that pebble go...?

Have YOU taken my pebble?

No, I haven't. Can't you see I'm busy?

Now let me think...

Well it's definitely not here!

And they wonder why I get so tired.....

There is a ball game I love to play called ‘Drop It’, and the beauty is it can be played indoors or out.

This is how it works:

Get ready and watch the ball very closely...

The secret is...

... to keep your eyes on the ball at ALL times!

...then go for the ball as fast as you can!

and when you catch it, you're supposed to 'drop it' on command...

Ball? What ball...?

Happy New Year, with love from me and teddy xx

The Forgotten Dog’s Christmas Poem

Twas the night before Christmas
when all thru the house

Not a creature was stirring
not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nick soon would be there.

The children all nestled snug in their beds
With no thought of the dog filling their head.

And mom in her kerchief and I in my cap
Knew the dog was cold, but didn’t care about that.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash
Figuring the dog was free of his chain and into the trash.

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow
gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But Santa Clause with his eyes full of tears.

He unchained the dog once so lively and quick
Last year’s Christmas present now painfully sick.

More rapid than eagles he called the dog’s name
and the dog ran to him despite all his pain.

Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen
On Comet on Cupid on Donner and Blitzen.

To the top of the porch to the top of the wall
Let’s find this dog a home where he will be loved by all.

I knew in an instant there would be no gifts this year
For Santa had made one thing quite clear.

The gift of a dog is not just for the season
We had gotten the dog for all the wrong reasons.

In our haste to think of the kids a gift
There was one important thing we missed

A dog should be family, and cared for the same
You don’t give a gift, then put it on a chain.

And I heard him explain as he rode out of sight,
“You weren’t given a gift, you were given a life.”

Author Unknown

9 Months Old, 10Kg

I LOVE running through the woods!

Turning this way...

Flying through the air like a deer...

Sneaking around like a ninja...

Oops, right turn ahead...

No, back this way...

Emergency brake...

Creeping like a lion...

Nearly missed it...

Ah, here's the stone I was looking for!

11.11.11.11.11 In Remembrance of all Our Heroes.

No blogging fora month.... hmmph!

So mum has joined this thing called NaNoWriMo where she has to complete a novel of 50,000 words in the month of November.

Hmmph..! Do you know what that means to me..? It means I won’t be able to get on the computer to do my dog blogging, that’s what that means…!

So I’d better get a few photos of me in now before she takes over the computer. Enjoy xx

Oh well - more time for sleep then..

I can sleep here when it's really cold..

Or I can take a nap here...

Please, Dad - can I have some more...?

My cousin Russell is SO cool, I want to be just like him when I grow up.

Not only is he fast enough to catch squirrels in his garden and in the woods (and once in his home) but he’s also been talent spotted by the media, to appear in an advertising campaign for some pet insurance (but not catching a squirrel!)

Oh how the other half do live….

Russell during the photo shoot

He's such a star!

My Famous Cousin Russell

I’m now 8 months old and weigh nine and a half kilos – no thanks to the fake dried meatballs they still keep feeding me. But I have broadened my diet and now I also eat fruit (grapes, peaches, pears and apples) and nuts (yum!) and any food that I can wangle from mum and dad’s dinner table (why does their food always taste SO much better than my own..?)

PLEASE can I have some.....?

Mum and dad went away for a month to somewhere called England, to see their other darlings. Hmmph! I SO wanted to go and meet them, and meet my cousins Russell and Austin too – but mum and dad made some excuse about not being able to take me on the aeroplane. I am such an excellent traveller though, I don’t know why I couldn’t have gone! So I stayed behind with my designated foster parents, which was quite fun actually. They weren’t quite used to my routines and so I was able to make them up as I went along. I tried to cadge some CHICKEN and extra food and treats, but it didn’t always work.

I walked all the way to the top of this mountain to visit Afyon Castle

When mum and dad came back they took me on my own little holiday in the car and we went into the country and visited some historic sites.

I love travelling in the car and seeing all the new things. Although I’ve got my own special blanket on the back seat, I prefer to perch myself on the armrest between mum and dad. They think I’m taking in the sights but really I’m keeping my eye on the driving. And if I see any animals – like cows, sheep, goats or real live CHICKENS – then I leap up to the open window, pop my head out and bark away at them. I’ll show them who’s Top Dog!

At the top of the castle

The trip to the country was great and we stayed in some hotels. We even stayed in a villa with its own Turkish Bath, where the water came directly from an underground spa. My fur was so soft and silky after taking a swim in the HUGE bath.

It was nice to get back to my own bed though and although it’s too cold to swim in the sea now, I still love running along the beach or up and down the woods chasing after pebbles, feeling the wind in my fur with my tail wagging away.

Loving the Woods

My New Little Friend

Ahhh, it’s such a dog’s life!