mad labs and hug dogs

Turning 24!

2011-01-12T15:11:00.005+10:30

Happy Birthday Achilles!!

You are our greatest gift
And just because you are here
It is already more than enough reason for rejoicing

Happy 3rd birthday Aki!
You are now 24
But that doesn’t mean you can leave us and be independent

Remember: this house knows no legal emancipation
I guess that means you are stuck:
You are forced to have us forever :D

We love you so much our dearest boy!

To our very special friend, Cocoa

2010-06-25T14:19:00.006+09:30

March 2, 2006 - June 16, 2010

If dogs had tears, then there would be rain here in the Philippines.

He was, is and will always be our favorite Beagle. I must admit, even I, would sometimes feel a little jealous of manang's grave interest in him and his brother, Barley. I don't feel that now. Cocoa is like the brother I never had. He was the beagle my hooman sister never had. He was that wonderful blog buddy that would always make mine, Poopie's and my manang's day complete. Now he is gone and we miss him so so much.

To our friend Barley, we know busy schedules prevented you from blogging all these times, but now that you finally did, we wished it was otherwise or maybe, it was under different circumstances. Our hearts break as we write this. If only we can encapsulate in so many sentences how much you guys mean to us.

We love you both so much and our hearts break for you and your family. Good bye our darling friend, Cocoa. We missed you and we will continue to miss you everyday. Continue to watch over Barley and your mum from the Rainbow Bridge. We know that they really miss you a lot.

Farewell and we hope and pray that you will truly be happy. Thank you for sharing your life with us.

Missing you always,

Aki, Poopie and family

Aki's 2nd Birthday Pawty

2010-01-13T18:16:00.012+10:30

I am so happy! Is it obvious?

Well, yesterday was such a special day for me for 4 reasons.

First: I started my first post for 2010 (woofy!) and got to visit some of my blogging buddies!
Second: Our lovebirds’ second egg hatched.
Third: It was my second birthday.
Fourth: I finally got one of my long time wish list staple!

Here are some snippets of yesterday’s mini celebration.

Ms. Khyra mentioned there should be khake, so I got to have a purple one on my birthday. How cool is that? I also wanted vanilla sundae but Manang said it was too cold for ice cream since it was raining ;(

I offer this to all of my puppy friends- cakes for all!

And of course, in almost all birthdays, it is customary to blow the candle and make a wish.

After eating, I was made to open all of my pressies- yay!!

Looks like Poopie wants to give my Fleecy rope a go as well... ;p

As for my red Patento Pet dog collar, It’s surely going to be my ultimate fashion statement this year, don’t you pups agree?

I also earned a pack of Zuke’s Jerky Naturals, which was unfortunately, not allowed to be given to me since I still had lots of treats in my doggie bin *sulks*

And of course, my ultimate favorite, my long time must-have…

An XL Kong Wubba!!!

Turning two sure is lots of fun! I can’t wait for my next birthday!!!

Thank you so much to all my friends who greeted me on my barkday, I love you all!!!

drooly kisses,

Aki

Lost and Found: Birthday Boy

2010-01-12T15:10:00.017+10:30

My Speech teacher taught me before never to start a speech, or in this case, a post, with an apology, so allow me to first say a big woofy, furry, slobbery Thank You to every pup, hammie and kitty who wished us a Merry Christmas!! We are sorry for not being able to come up with a Christmas card on time because we were too busy (evidence below).

We promise to make it all up to you for your kindness and friendship somehow.

The year 2009 had not been too kind on us bloggie-wise so I made Manang promise to keep one very important New Year’s Resolution: To NOT neglect my bloggie and visit all our blogging friends at least twice a week. In relation, Poopie and I also made a resolution to continue to pester her to update our blog and visit our friends. :) I hope that would put and end to this dry blogging spell.

The last few months had been momentous, inspirational and heartbreaking for us.

We witnessed the joys of having one of our dearest friend, sweet Scarlet, finally raise the needed funds to realize her wheelchair dreams. Thanks to all of you who prayed, donated and spread the word, it will now be a matter of time before she will finally realize her lifelong dream to somehow live a normal pup’s life.

We (i.e. Poopie and the hoomans) witnessed a near breakdown when I got too busy trying to make a breakaway days before Christmas and gave my paws and leg a nasty cut. Manang and Manong felt so hopeless, having gone to their hometown already while I was left here at the care of my Veterinarian nanny.

We witnessed how fragile and uncertain life really is. How one day everything can seem perfect and seemingly endless and the next day, one is left with nothing but a series of whys, hows, whens and only an endless stream of precious memories. Within two days before and after the close of the year, we were involuntarily given two angels in the Rainbow Bridge.

Gen. Askalon
January 3, 2007 – December 30, 2009

Attorney 1
January 3, 2009

But just as there are sure sunsets in everyone’s lifetime, we always believe that brighter days are likewise sure to come. Though it will never erase nor heal the pain of the loss, time would make us more used to the pain and eventually, allow us to learn to live with it.

Because each day we witness little miracles. In a nutshell,

these are the healing of physical wounds and the ever growing bonds of love and friendship

The simple satisfaction of a little treat

The unexplainable joy derived from sharing our blessings

The joys of parenthood

And the conception of little miracles

And today, we are set to celebrate another day, another year. We are blessed with another opportunity to once again, be mad, laugh, cry and experience all these all over again.

Happy New Year everyone and

A Happy 2nd Birthday to me!!

Please Make Life Better for Scarlet

2009-11-21T00:07:00.016+10:30

This is Scarlet. She is roughly a one and a half year old Labrador Retriever just like me. She leads a happy contented life in the care of one of my favorite persons in the world- The Secretary and The Animal Doctor!

Unlike Poopie and myself though, Scarlet has a little secret. Those who had been to their bloggie know this already but for those of you who don’t allow me to tell you what little I know about this wonderful, beautiful puppy who owns one of the biggest heart I know!

Scarlet first came to the life of my Mommi Lilli- the Secretary about a year ago. By that time, she was not yet officially part of their family but a patient.

Scarlet’s case was a case of neglect. She started out with an injury after her leg got stuck in her cage’s matting. She was not immediately brought to the vet after then. Her ex-mom only brought her for a check-up at The Animal Doctor’s clinic after her legs already started to atrophy. It was a complicated case and it entailed a lot of expenses for her ex-parents. Realizing the gravity of Scarlet’s condition, her parents decided to just bring her home and let nature take its course.

It was at that time that an angel tapped The Secretary and told her to not give up on Scarlet. What started as a temporary agreement between The Secretary and Scarlet became a permanent set-up as the weeks go by. Scarlet’s ex-parents communicated less, paid even less and soon enough gathered enough sense and left her in the care of her new loving family.

At that time, only her hind legs were affected and she was still able to make full use of her fore arms. Despite this little piece of good news, Scarlet was already unable to do things that most of us enjoy doing- do zoomies, gallop like silly horses, wrestle with our peers, etc.

In the past year, Scarlet dealt with so many problems. She had been unable to move her bowel for so many months, her spinal cord had become deformed in the middle and there is a sort of mass just underneath the arc.

The Secretary, who was a lawyer by profession, took the role of an architect cum engineer and designed for her a wheelie. Unfortunately her forelimbs started to atrophy as well, making it more difficult for her to maneuver the equipment.

Scarlet was left with no choice but to move using her belly.

Despite all these, Scarlet never gave up. She lives her life as normally as she can.

She takes baths like most labs and loves every minute of it

She chews on her toys, treats and siblings…

She plays with her siblings in the only way she knew how

She even managed to go and meet with less fortunate stray dogs and share with them a warm, hearty meal for Christmas.

I would say that Scarlet lives her life with passion. She lives it as if she’s no different from any other dog in her family. She is a special dog who came to live with The Secretary because of her special needs. And as I think about it more, I realized that that’s what she really is. In one word, Scarlet is indeed “Special”.

A few weeks back, The Secretary shared with us an exciting news. A wonderful lady from an organization called Labrador Life Line (LLL) had volunteered to bring Scarlet’s plea and ask LLL to give it a kinder look. With the organization’s help, they would be able to get a full quad cart for Scarlet and finally allow her to live a more normal life.

The full quad cart would however cost between US$800 – US$1,300, exclusive of shipping charges since the cart would be built in the U.S. and shipped to the Philippines. As of November 17, 2009, LLL had approved US$500 for Scarlet’s quad. That leaves her with US$800 more to raise in order to afford a complete set of working legs.

Considering the state of the ‘conomy these days, The Secretary and The Animal Doctor have proposed to cover all kind donations with free medical services to less fortunate dogs in the Philippines:
* 50$ neuter of male cat

* 100$- spay of female cat, neuter of male dog
* 200$ spay of female dog.

At the end of our fund raising campaign, we will conduct a one day feeding of dogs and cats in Brgy. Sto Tomas, Pasig City which was badly hit by the recent flood. We are sure that the animals would enjoy a fresh home cooked meal of rice and assorted meat.

We know the importance and value of every single penny and centavo nowadays. We too, are experiencing the adverse effects of the dwindling ‘conomy.

We posted this to take a chance and shamelessly appeal to those who have a few more pennies to spare. Please take time to visit Scarlet here.

To quote our beautiful friend,

Dear God in Dog Heaven,

Please, pretty please make her dreams of a wheelchair come true.

thank you all in advance,

Aki and Poopie

Wordless Wednesdays: George's Dilemma

2009-11-11T19:46:00.007+10:30

happy Wednesday everypup!

Howloween Special

2009-10-30T15:14:00.017+10:30

When asked which part of my body defines me the most, the hoomans would always give different answers. Some would say my floppy ears, others- my humongous paws, others still- my doe like brown eyes. For me, however, my nose is my greatest asset. Why?

Because it was so black and button like (in a big way) and definitely adds a punch to all of my pleading looks.

Why, I can no longer count the number of times that the hoomans melt everytime I give them these looks.

All thanks to the nose, among others, of course!

Recently though, I noticed that my ultra dark snooter had faded a little (see evidence below).

So, again, and despite my reservations, I decided to consult with the Doctor Girl (mostly out of pity since nobody would really trust her with real health issues. BOL!) and she gave me this…

Perwoll Black Liquid Detergent with Black Fixant…?

Hmmm…. I’m not really too sure about this and I don’t really know what a Liquid Detergent is, but hey, I do see a word that I like! I mean one can’t possibly go wrong with anything that has the word Black on it right?

It does say that it helps retain the color of black clothes. Hence, applying the rule of parallelism, I’m sure it would work wonders on my nose!

And since we’re at it, I think I now know what I want to be for Halloween…

Happy Howloween everyone!!!

It is going to be a long weekend here, so before we go, allow us to share with you our first ever Halloween video!

Enjoy and stay safe always!!

Karancho Beach Resort

2009-10-28T11:37:00.009+10:30

Aki here. For those who asked if we were able to go to the beach last Sunday, Yes, we did. And yes, the weather was terrific! Thank you so much for those who helped us in praying for good weather. :)

We went to Karancho Beach Resort, which is among the series of resorts lining Marigondon in Lapu-Lapu City.

For a normal Sunday, it was a little too crowded but then it was such an experience because we met with our old friends and made new friends as well. There were lots of dogs in the place too: their resident Great Dane, Scooby (who was too shy to even show us a glimpse of his fur); a German Shepherd, Miniature Pinscher and of course, our frenemy Belo the Poodle.

However, the best part in this entire beach trip for me is that Poopie, yeppers, The Pooper Scooper herself, finally shed all her inhibitions and for the first time, had the time of her life at the Beach! (We sure did not see that coming!)

We hope you’ll enjoy watching our humble slideshow. We promise to post our favorite videos once the hoomans figure out how to save it into a readable format *rolls eyes*

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Poopie Rx

2009-10-23T14:42:00.009+10:30

In his earlier posts, my good buddy Huskee Boy had been having problems with his new ‘do’ after a recent visit to the groomer.

I found that his excessively trimmed fur had already affected his confidence to pose for pictures (If you’ve noticed, there has been a shortage of Huskees and instead, we’ve been seeing more and more of the Black and White one)

For someone who had to contend with having short fur for his entire existence, I felt that more research is in order if I intend to help out in regaining my buddy’s confidence.

I proceeded to ask my brother Guan Long, who, last Christmas, had a terrible skin problem and had to be shaved off of his handsome locks but now looks amazing!

Thankfully, he was able to share with me a few secrets:

For coarse and/or thinning fur all over the body, we can always rely on a daily dose of Coat Shine or Fish Oil.

For less serious conditions, a good shirt always hits the nail when wanting to cover up unwanted body fur appearance (or the lack of it).

In the case of Huskee, however, he made mention of his ears appearing as if it were chopped off aside from being sort of “nekkid”. Having assumed her new role as Doctor Girl, Poopie suggested that Huskee needed to do some volumizing (if there is such a word)…

So she rummaged through my stuffies and decided to innovate a little…

And this is what she ended up with…

What do you think Huskee? Does it hit the nail right on its head or shall we aim the hammer somewhere else?

Aki’s Postscripts:

The hoomans happily shared with us a wonderful news. We were told to pack our favorite squeaky ball, towels and an extra set of harness and psych ourselves for something exciting this Sunday…. Hmmm…. Do we smell ocean breeze? Please pray that Typhoon Lupit won’t rain on our ‘parade’!

Until next post everybuddy!! Cheers.

White, Blue and Avocado

2009-10-12T13:44:00.000+10:30

Almost a week ago, the hoomans came home with a little more than their usual contraband- from porcelain bowls, cat(!) toys, miniature furniture and weird looking bags of kibbles. Thankfully not everything was alien to us.

They did manage to bring us a piece of delish Kenny Roger’s Roaster’s muffin for dinner which we had to, unfortunately, earn by doing the usual boring tricks.

Aki was required to balance the entire thing on his nose, but he got too excited and by the time the flashy box snapped, Mr. Roger’s muffin went from his nose to…

Of course, the hoomans had to let him do it again

Although Mr. Roger’s muffin doesn’t look as appealing any more :(

Thankfully, manong did remember to save me a piece before my humongous brother swallowed the entire thing (again!).

After the bribe… erm.. treat, the hoomans revealed to us an important news: Our family is expanding!

This handsome sable diluted violet male fischer is Attorney 1

While this pretty dark factor violet female fischer is Attorney 2

Like us, they also live inside our house in a fancy mini apartment of their own. How cool is that?

And finally, we were brought to a very familiar house which we haven’t seen for almost a month already. Honestly, it looked almost the same, except for a few extra items inside…

(Aki then whispers to Poopie)

Oh! You mean that is not a tree décor?

Welcome home George!

This has been

, reporting.

manang’s note: Yes, 5 days ago, Aki, Poopie and our entire family welcomed George back into our lives. He is a 7-8 month old Indian Ring Neck Parrot (which George would have been now) whom we finally took home after weeks of trying to arrange a meeting with the Aviary. Although it might be weird for some, we still decided to name him George in honor of our little angel George. As expected it has been a trying first week and we’re starting from scratch again, but hey! At least, we’re Starting…. :)

Better Days Keep Coming

2009-10-06T11:27:00.011+10:30

Hellow there puppies!

It has been a busy two weeks back here. First, we had typhoon Ketsana and then less than a week after, typhoon Parma entered the country. Although we live many nautical miles away from the scene of devastation, Poopie and I both feel that it is incumbent upon us to help our unfortunate brothers and sisters.

Last Monday, we sent our hooman to Makati in Metro Manila to inspect the place and let us know the extent of damage in the affected areas. Five days after, she came back with no updates/ news that were any different from the ones in the TV screens. We were informed though, that to this date, many are still stranded in their homes with water levels up to their waists (Filipinos are relatively shorter than most Caucasians and Asians, so it might be a few inches lower for most of your hoomans).

Poopie and I remembered that the hooman had a handy life vest hidden somewhere in the cupboards, so we both decided to give it a try before volunteering in the rescue operations. Capt. Jack Sparrow’s rubber boat would have greatly helped, but it was not for rent so we are really left without much options.

After fitting the hooman’s vest, any illusions of being a Baywatch babe/stud vanished into thin air.

Well, Poopie sure was no Pamela Anderson…

And let’s just say that I looked more like a hotdog (and I don't mean our good friend Lorenza and Hailey :) ) than a beach stud…

Aside from the lack of lifesaving paraphernalia, Poopie and I also had to consider flying an hour at 434 knots (308 nautical miles) in order to reach Manila before we can assist in the rescue/relief operations.

Accepting our limitations, we finally struck a deal with manang. Instead of buying for us “pasalubong” (gifts) from her business trip, we decided that a simple double dose of TLC in exchange for some grocery money for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) is more than enough for Poopie and myself.

We know that it is not enough to feed and clothe the 64,975 families who were either left homeless or stranded in their homes, but we do hope that it would somehow help tide them over in the coming days.

In my personal opinion, during times of tragedies, there are no lines of divisiveness, a helping hand and helping paw both relay the same message and that is what I would call Love.

On a brighter note, allow us to share with all of you some good news.

First, our bloggie is a finalist in the Philippine Blog Awards under the Best Recreation/ Hobby Blog Category!! Yayyy!!! Can you believe it?

Thank you Mommy Lilli for letting us know about the contest. We are exhilarated to be part of this prestigious award and we can’t wait to watch the awards night live (via video streaming that is) on October 8. Wish us luck puppies!

And finally, more great news… erm… shall we say great “paws”! For now though, we’ll just keep it under the code: White, Blue and Avocado! :)

Chirping with happiness,

Aki and Poopie

Typhoon Ketsana hits Manila

2009-09-28T00:39:00.008+09:30

Today, typhoon Ketsana had already left the country, but not without leaving our countrymen an experience, and perhaps, a painful lesson, we will never forget.

As sourced from www.abs-cbnnews.com, tropical storm Ondoy (typhoon Ketsana) hit a great part of Luzon, leaving 27 provinces and the National Capital Region in the state of calamity.

As of today, death tolls have now reached 73, with more than 300,000 people affected by the onslaught of strong winds, huge rainfalls and flash floods within the metro.

According to PAG-ASA, about 34.1 cm of rain fell on Metro Manila in just six hours, close to the 39.2 cm. average for the entire month of September. The previous record was 33.4 cm. recorded during a 24-hour period in June 1967.

We heard that Pasig, where our Mommy Lilli and the Animal Doctor, together with our buddies, MoyMoy, Scarlet, Jappy and Trudis live, is also affected by the flood. We did try to call Mommy Lilli this morning, but all phone lines were dead. We are just glad, though, that auntie Jenny informed us that Mommy Lilli and co. are doing well. Thank goodness!!

However, in some areas, other people are not so fortunate. Some even had to go to the rooftops of their houses because the water level had already risen so high that they needed to be rescued by pump boats.

We even read that San Miguel Corp. is willing to buy 50 pump boats to help hasten the rescues. If only, I could give them Capt. Jack Sparrow’s boat, it would have helped save more people. Alas, I could only hope and pray for better days... or maybe exchange my kibbles for some pesos for donation.

We are sad to note that a lot of people and animals are still out there, waiting for rescuers to get to them. In some video clips that we saw, we had seen numerous dogs being rescued together with their hoomans. Some, however, were not so fortunate- it breaks our hearts.

Today is a day of major concern. We are one with those who had lost family members and those who had lost their properties and sources of living. We can all continue to hope that the sun continues to shine in the coming days (esp. that manang is supposed to go to Manila tomorrow night).

To the rescuers, volunteers, businessmen and media personalities who had given their time, money and service to help our fellowmen and keep all of us continually informed, our hats go off to all of you! The selflessness of rescuers and continued outpouring of assistance and donations are so overwhelming it inspires us. It gives us hope, that indeed, we can work as one nation.

In my young Labrador life, no day makes me more proud to be a Filipino.

Godspeed everyone and may this new day, though difficult, be a new start for all of us.

Be safe everyone and keep dry!

Drooly kisses,

Aki

Thank you and Batista Update

2009-09-17T19:14:00.004+09:30

To those who left sweet messages on our earlier post Thank You So So Much!!!! Your words of encouragement and prayers means a lot to us.

We have already started with Bat-Bat's medication and tomorrow, I will be sending over his meds for Ehrilichia treatment so they can start giving it when needed. For the meantime, we will be working on his liver since his SGPT level was at 300+! :( After a week's treatment, we can decide whether to start with Doxycycline or to continue further with liver treatment.

For now, we are are taking things in stride. My conversation with Doc Geoff (Aki's Mommy Lilli's husband) was enlightening. Although, I must admit that it broke my heart when he said that my dear boy 'might' not recover. Nevertheless, we will not give up without a fight. And for as long as my brothers tell me that he is active, happy and appears to be well, we will do everything that we can to help him recover.

Despite the clouds of doubt on what lies ahead of us, I am still happy and thankful- for every day that the Lord gives my little brown barky brother.

To all our DWB friends, to those who left inspiring words and encouraging messages, again, Thank you so much. It sure makes us feel a whole lot better. I know our little boy would be very happy to know that a lot of doggies and hoomans are praying for him.

We love you all so much!!

Manang

Power of the Paw Needed

2009-09-14T15:24:00.003+09:30

It has been a rough two weeks.

The hoomans are still somehow in denial over the loss of George, who went missing on August 30, while they were in Hongkong. Somehow, we still hope that one day George will turn up. Every time a bird chirps, they would always look up, hoping that it would be our fat, avocado-colored brother. But it never had been. And we don’t know if it will ever be.

Poopie and I wanted to make this post the moment the hoomans came back last September 4. But we never could. Doing so would make things final. We still hoped that he would turn up. Although the reality is, George didn’t stand much of a chance since his wings were clipped. He was a hopping parrot, not a flying one. And with Gring Gring and a gazillion other cats in the neighborhood, I shudder to think at the 2 hours that my other hoomans failed to realize that he was already missing.

Every night I would dream bad dreams. Really really bad dreams about George. Maybe that is why when manang first learned that George was gone, she asked Poopie to comfort her. Who wouldn’t need comforting? Knowing that your brother, even if for two months, had gone missing and you don’t even know if he is alive, well or already at the Rainbow Bridge.

Last Sunday manang saw a black butterfly continually swooping down on a certain spot near my day time kennel and she was almost already convinced that it was George, it was still difficult to accept that he was gone. But each time a bird chirps and we can hear the fluttering of wings, a spark of hope flickers within us.

I never knew until then that there were so many birds around us. Beautiful birds. Lively birds. Living birds.

But that was not the end of it. We had delayed this post intentionally because we didn’t really know how to start, or where to start. Learning what happened and how it happened was not easy. But we choose not to think about it. But now we had to, because apart from George, another brother needs your help. And it breaks our heart into tinier pieces everyday.

My brother Batista is sick.

Batista was with Poopie when manang bought her Pet Taxi as they prepared to travel from Bacolod to here. He was this little tan mini pinscher boy with a big bark but an even bigger heart.

Last Thursday manang’s brother brought him to the vet for a check-up because Bat-Bat was not behaving like his normal self. His blood test results were very low. :(( He failed in all categories except for his WBC.

The vet said he had blood parasites or ehrlichia. Poopie and I searched it over the internet and it didn’t sound too good. Mommy Lilli said that if both RBC and platelets were low, he might already be in stage 3 if he does not respond to his medicines.

By some divine intervention manang will be going to Manila today for work. She would then be able to buy his medicines there since they were out of stock where Batista is.

Please everypup, please please pray for our dear brother Batista. He needs your help. Poopie still needs him. She will be going home again on December and she wants to see him and Kim Tzi there.

My sister loves him so much, and even if I had not spend any time with him, I also love him. He makes my sister happy and knowing that alone makes me happy as well.

Please Dear Lord, make my brother Batista well again.

In all fours and paws,

Aki and Poopie

Silence of the Lab

2009-08-27T10:12:00.005+09:30

The coming weeks might be a little too quiet again. The hoomans have announced to Poopie and myself that they are leaving us (again) for almost 2 weeks. We were told that they will be going to a place called Hong Kong.

Hmmm.. Do you suppose there are lots of Red XL Kongs there? Message to self: make a three-pager list of stuffies/ treats/ things for the hoomans to buy for Poopie and myself. :)

To all our puppy friends, we love you all so much and we will miss you a lot!!

Poopie update: it’s that time of year again! The diapers are on for the almost 2 weeks now. We hope her heat cycle would end within the supposed 28 days otherwise the hoomans and I will go absolutely bonkers warding Choy Choy off. Mind you, it’s no fun being a big adolescent boy during these times.

When they get back and assuming Poopie’s cycle is over, the hoomans have decided to make a schedule with the V-E-T about something called ‘spaying’. Of course, they needed to be counseled with regards to the matter. I’ve heard that the operation is a little delicate since it involves “invasive surgery”. We do hope that whatever they decide on would be for the best of all of us, most especially Poopie.

The Gring Files

2009-08-19T10:42:00.017+09:30

It was a Sunday afternoon, I woke up rather late after wasting away the night watching reruns from my laptop. I stretched myself like I normally would. Manang said I might still grow taller if I continue to do so. I don’t believe her really, nevertheless I developed the habit. My body felt good after stretching.

“Poopie?” I yawned, noticing that my sister was not in sight.

I paced our apartment, making sure that I covered every room, cabinet and crevice. Poopie was gone.

Hushed stirring sounds slowly emerged as I headed down to the kitchen.

Peering closely, I saw Poopie intently focused on the TV rack.

As I drew closer, I spotted a blurry orange figure at the corner of my eye.

Feigning injury, it managed to draw my sister dangerously closer.

I am perturbed. Why would my sister even think of going near that wretched thing. My inner gutt tells me NEVER to trust anything with glowing eyes.

Before I could have even moved a muscle, they both broke out into a full-blown fur brawl.

Is this the so-called skhiwrrel Khyra kept talking about?

I surmised, a few more seconds and Poopie would be a goner. So I hurriedly roused the hoomans for them to aptly deal with this new perpetrator.

“Manang, Manang, please hurry!! Poopie needs our help! Another alien has come to attack us!”

Startled and still cranky, the hooman dragged her feet to see what the commotion was all about.

“There it is manang… “ words fumbled out of my mouth. “There is Poopie’s attacker!”

The hooman followed the direction I was pointing at. Her eyes started to chink as she let out a good hearty laugh.

“It’s just Gring Gring!” she said as she drew some kibbles from our kibble bin and led the creature out. “he just came in for some food.” ... and then she dared give it a face scratch!!

With that, the hooman disappeared back into the snoozing room.

Truth is, I was disappointed- both at Poopie and the hoomans. So foolish of them to be so credulous. I may still not know what a “Gring Gring” is but I sure don’t trust it.

Only the frail minded would think it purportedly entered our house for the food.

Even mulling over the day’s events for the entire day would not set my mind at peace. I decided then, it was time to consult with my Aki cam.

The succeeding events left me dumbfounded.

Where was it going?

More aptly, what is it planning to do?

That fiend!

How crude. That was so not classy. Not classy at all.

Please tell me this bloggie is not going to the Gring Gring.

A very disturbed,

Aki

URGENT!!: Please Help Us Save the Greyhounds!!!

2009-08-14T11:00:00.001+09:30

Dear friends,

Today, allow us to shamelessy solicit for your help/ support.

A few weeks ago, our emails have been flooded with news about various congressmen and a senator pushing for the enactment of two house bills: House Bill 5291 http://www.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=14&q=HBN-5291 and 5648 which aims to legalize the creation and operation of a greyhound racing facility in Mandaue City and Rizal/Pampanga/Laguna, respectively. What alarms us most is the fact that such an inhumane proposition is getting much support from the local government as posted in these articles (please take time to read).

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20090731-218084/Nothing-cruel-about-dog-racing-in-Mdaue

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20090807-219134/Mandaue-City-Council-open-to-dog-racing

We never had nor met a greyhound personally but more than the breed, dogs or any animal at that, be they mongrels or pedigrees, have a right to life and should not be in any way treated as a commodity or instrument for meaningless entertainment. There is far too much hurt and pain in this world. What we need is more people to spread more love.

We believe that there are more significant and productive activities worthy of the funds being planned to be poured in this bloody and meaningless so-called-sport. However, if such individuals- the proponents and its benefactors find delight in such pitiful activities then they should really consider finding for themselves a life.

Please help us stop the enactment of these housebills. Greyhounds are living beings worthy of a chance to live in loving homes and families who understand their needs. They deserve more than a life muzzled up and behind kennels, if not running in the race tracks. If we were blessed to have been given the chance to live with loving pawrents who treat us as integral members of their family, why can’t they?

For more information please visit the following sites:

http://www.mefindhome.org/

We were informed that House Bill 5291 had already passed Congress and is already now in the Senate for a second reading and is in danger of becoming a law very soon.

As of latest, only 11 senators have committed to vote NO against the passing of this bill: (Thank you very much!)
1. Senator Chiz Escudero
2. Senator Gringo Honasan
3. Senator Pia Cayetano
4. Senator Miguel Zubiri
5. Senator Jamby Madrigal
6. Senator Manny Villar
7. Senator Rodolfo Biazon
8. Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
9. Senator Mar Roxas
10. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano
11. Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III

However, we still need to convince more than half of these senators:

Sen. Ping Lacson - ospml@yahoo.com
Sen. Lito Lapid - sen.litolapid@senate.gov.ph
Sen. Loren Legarda - loren_b_legarda@yahoo.com
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan - kilosko2004@yahoo.com, kikopangilinan@gmail.com, kikopangilinan@kiko.ph

Sen. Bong Revilla - senbongrevilla@senate.gov.ph
Sen. Antonio Trillanes - senateoffice@trillanes.com.ph
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile - senator_enrile@senate.gov.ph
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada - senjinggoyestrada@senate.gov.ph
Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago - senmds@yahoo.com
Sen. Dick Gordon - rjgordon@senate.gov.ph
Sen. Ed Angara - edgardo_angara@hotmail.com
Sen. Joker Arroyo - office_sen_jokerarroyo@yahoo.com

You can also sign up in this petitionsite:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-philippines-from-greyhound-racing

We would like to encourage that emails to the remaining senators be made so as to let our voices be heard faster. Just this morning, we were told that it is around this time that the Senate will vote on the House Bill. Please help us amass support to show these senators that the world does not need another "burial site" for greyhounds.

Thank you very much and we hope that, united, we can put a stop to this abuse to one of God’s greatest creations.

If loving these animals is too difficult to do, we, at least ask that they be given respect.

I am a Bad Dog...

2009-08-10T13:42:00.014+09:30

Does it show? *cough cough* Please ignore the torn pieces of foam, chewed furniture and scattered toys in the background…

For some very odd reasons, the hoomans said I had been quite a bad boy last July.

For one, I did this to manong…

Not on purpose of course (apparently the rough playing went a little too rough)… And yes, I did say sorry many many times.

As penance, Poopie and I had to endure the discomfort of being permanently clothed.

Seeing as this is a compilation of July, I would like to point out that such pictures were taken sometime early July and was supposed to be our way to show support for Phantom. Sorry it took us this long to post these…

Clearly, Poopie and I were not happy.

But then again, that is what empathizing is all about. We are just glad that to-date, Phantom is doing well and is once again, shirt-free!

As for George, he had finally moved residence. That is, from manong’s room he now moved to our living area.

And oh, though I am sad to report that he still does not know how to bark *tsk tsk* he now makes Poopie-like whining sounds and has learned to perch on hooman fingers,

and erm… hooman heads…

The end of July also marked the culmination of the hooman’s Biggest Loser Home Edition-1-month-only contest, and here are the results:

Manang- lost 1 kilo
Manong- lost ½ kilo
Manang Tin- lost ½ kilo
Manang R- lost 1 kilo
Manang Clavel- lost 2 kilos
Aki- gained 1 ½ kilo *cough cough*
Poopie- gained 2 kilos (finally!!!)

Umm… perchance, you pups know of any biggest gainer contest somewhere? These application forms are all filled out and ready!

All in all, July was a good month. If only, we had blogged more about it, instead of going through all these paper works. It was too troublesome that I had even volunteered to help sort out the mess in exchange for an extra helping of kibbles.

There are still lots to share, but for now, let me end with this. Next time, we will post about manang’s new discovery- our new doggie heaven: Bow&Wow, our new favorite treats, more tales of destruction and probably a new video!

As an end note, I would like to dedicate this handsome photo of myself to Aunty Shane…this is my version of the “Hershey-sleeping-on-the-belly-look”

Happy Belated Birthday Aunt Shane!!

Hope you will have a splendid vacation! We love you lots!

Drooly kisses,

Aki, the big boy

We Officially Introduce...

2009-07-16T19:10:00.008+09:30

MR. GEORGE KEBAB MENGNHANI

Pee-ees: We noticed that our camera is getting grainier pictures/ videos, so please bear with us. Maybe in the coming weeks Aki and I will convince the hoomans to break our piggy banks so as to update the flashy box and get our existing one into retirement, until then, expect more grainy videos. We love you and have a happy weekend!!

2 Months in Rewind...

2009-07-10T18:33:00.022+09:30

Hello dear puppies!!

No more room for apologies here. Instead, we’d like to give you glimpses of significant events that transpired in the last 2 months…

1st:
On June 12, our country’s Independence day, manang and manong went home to visit their families in Bacolod. Manang stayed there for three days and joined our sister, Yan Tzi and brother, General Askalon in the pre-Father’s Day dog show on the 14th.

Yan Tzi, managed to win 3rd prize in the puppy category, despite her limping in the middle of her walk.

While our brother Askalon, failed to win the Best in Breed for the American Bulldog breed. However, we would like to stress that he was, is and will always be the best American Bulldog in the world, and he is already a winner for us. We love you dear brother!!!

(manang: Just for the record, let me say that he was very very good and was very confident and it hurt me cos after hearing that he did not win, he sulked in one corner and laid his head low (which was very unusual of him). We all though he would win because the other dog was pulling, sitting and throwing tantrums the entire walk and Askalon had already reached the end of the ring whereas the otherdog was still at the start. Anyway, we all gave him lots of hugs, pats and kisses and of course, a big fluffy and meaty siopao as a reward for a job well done!)

Our (especially Poopie’s) favorite sister Kim Tzi joined our hooman brother and father in sending off manang to the airport.

2nd:
We received 3 different parcels from our buddies Addie, Lucie and Hailey (2 parcels) and Chow Chow.

Thank you very much guys, we enjoyed all the lovely toys and yummy treats and the wonderful personalized photo frame with a photo of Poopie and myself (we don't have a picture of the said frame 'cos manang took it and is displaying it proudly in her office!).

4th:

We had a nice intimate dinner for 9 (Poopie, the mystery guest and myself, included) during manong’s birthday. My manangs (sisters) surprised him with lots of balloons and a birthday cake at exactly 12 MN of June 22. Too bad he was too tired from his business trip that he only managed to blow the candle and zonked out immediately thereafter.

The hoomans had pizza, pancit palabok, cake and carbonara fettuccini. Poopie and I were only allowed to eat pizza and palabok and some icing and marsh mallow from the smores chocolate cake, while our guest had the specialty of the night- Australian bird seed mix… yum!

4th:
Meet our newest family member…

Mr. George Kebab Mengnhani (pron. ‘mengnaanee’)

Our new brother/sister (gender is yet undetermined; the boy parrot develops a pronounced ring around his neck at the age of 1) George is a 5-month old Indian Ringneck Parrot. He arrived on June 20 in time for manong’s birthday.

He is a very weird creature who loves to feed on seeds and peck on tree barks. His dwelling place is full of tree branches and a miniature swing and he loves to make funny noises in the morning, just about the same hour that I rouse the hooman from bed.

Before we bid adieu for the day, allow us to share some more news:

Poopie got herself 2 new pretty collars (the other one was a brown leather collar with bones on it) and a too-small-to-fit shirt.

Meanwhile, the wretched hoomans decided to give me a makeover as…

A devilishly dashing cowdog

And as my mama dog (since we look almost the same!)

I think I heard them say this won’t be the end of it. Do I hear more humiliating dress-ups and background props? Don’t you hoomans have a life already?! Spare the dog. Just this once.

Until next time,

Aki

Pee-ees. We are sorry to have been absent in the last few weeks when our dear friends, aunt Shane's darling baby, Angel Chloe and the OP Pack's Dakota went to the Rainbow Bridge. Please know that even if we weren't able to leave a message in all your posts all the time, we are always thinking of you and praying for you. We hope the coming days will bring about acceptance and peace for you and your family. We love you all always.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

2009-06-19T19:50:00.011+09:30

We are still experiencing major blog black out and we really feel bad apologizing week in and week out about our silence in the blogosphere. But that’s all of what we can do at this point.

The hoomans are as usual, boring themselves to death with work and it seems like its not going to end anytime soon. Manang (sister) is looking at almost 2(!) months of audit and is almost literally turning into a raccoon with the stress and pressure. Good thing she has us around if not, I am almost certain she would have burnt her little mind out decades ago!

This coming Monday, June 22, will be manong’s (brother) birthday and guess who will be coming to dinner?

Poopie and I are as baffled as all of you. "It" looks nowhere near any of our acquaintances. We can’t wait for Monday to arrive and unmask this mysterious character…

Until then, have a happy weekend!

Missing you all,

Aki (and Poopie too!)

We are working dogs

2009-06-03T14:45:00.048+09:30

Hellow there everypup!

I’ts been a while since we last updated this bloggie… how long has it been? Years, is it? I can almost imagine some of Aki’s yellow fur turning white over eons and eons of DWB-less afternoons.

Apparently, over the last few weeks, the hoomans turned momentarily deaf to all our requests for a bloggie update (and no, I strongly believe it was not due to our incessant barking and whining!) and insisted that they just had too much work to do. Pawsonally, I think that if work is dragging them down, then there’s no use in putting up with it.

Work should be fun and not stressful, it should be something worth wagging your tail about, just like what Aki and I had been slaving over for the past weeks -- We were working for our food!

And just before any Homo sapien sneer and snort over our new found careers, let me walk you through what we have to endure to polish our crafts. Believe me, it is no different from practicing for the Olympics…

For this week, we were working for Baby Back Ribs…

The concept was easy- the puppy who gives the best performance earns for himself/herself a huge slab of juicy, meaty, saucy, yummy baby back ribs…

First, I started with a little leg stretching to make sure I don’t overstretch those leg muscles during my big performance.

Next was a little fore paw stretching. This should be done in repetitive circular motions with both paws clasped together in a pleading pose- my absolute super trick!

After all limbs are in good working condition, I worked on my altitude.

Normally, it ends here. But as a very competitive puppy, I decided to spend extra hours devising strategies to up my chances against an unfair opponent. Aki on the other hand was working on a hush-hush strategy, which I later on learned as the “begging face”.

I was up first. My heartbeat pounded so fast I can barely hear the yellow thing heckling me. See his face here? His face looks almost disfigured… hehehe…

The crowd cheered on as I started to gallop. My body quivered a bit. If this works, it would be like watching a furry Michael Jordan walking on air again…

The magic lasted for a minute but what a minute it was! And yes, although my dectrators would say I looked almost possessed in this picture, I am most proud to say that even David Blaine would not be able to accomplish such a feat. (I guarantee you, this picture is not photoshopped in any way)

“Oh, Poopie! You are the mistress of altitude!!” I heard the hooman sisters screaming. Needless to say, I was swollen with pride.

It had been an arduous journey, but I was almost convinced that by no time I would have those yummy back ribs in my little poopster paws… I can almost feel my tummy grumbling, aching for those slabs of juicy beef melting in my little mouth… and then a bubble was popped…

The shameless beast did the unthinkable. Levitate and the world is left in awe BUT make a disappearing act and everyone is left mystified, astounded and in a great state of shock (from lack of shame, I bet!)... The execution might be a little shabby but it accomplished its purpose.

In the end, the full-figured boy sat down even more full-figured than ever, while his little sister stood still in shock.

A Slippery Situation

2009-05-22T17:48:00.002+09:30

Sometime last month, Aki and I received this wonderful parcel from our very good buddies, Huskee and Hershey after winning in their slipper giveaway contest! See how excited Aki was to open the pressie?

H&H and their mum were very kind enough to send two slippers for each of us. In it was a pawsonal note from H&H themselves. If you read closely, they specifically stated that I get the pink slipper, while slipperhog Aki gets the blue one. Instructions can’t get any clearer than that.

I can so understand why this has become Huskee’s favorite toy… It’s just so cushy and soft, not to mention, squeaky. Very squeaky.

It can be gleaned from this picture how happy I am to be sporting this new fashion statement. In my pawsonal opinion, this is far better than those Havaianas and Ipanemas that the hoomans sport.

But if you think getting this slipper was as easy as apple pie, then you are mistaken.

Remember H&H’s note? They were crystal clear right? Well… let’s just say a certain someone has a problem with following orders.

As you can see from the evidences below, this certain someone seems to gravitate towards the pink slipper. We had to tell him again and again that the blue one is for him because as a general rule, blue is for boys and pink, for girls.

Look at how fixated he was to get the pink slipper from the hooman. These are the eyes and determination of a raving lunatic… *shudder*

Finally, we have decided to settle the score with some modeling. Afterall, only an actual “paw test” will determine if the pink slipper suits him best….

Presenting…..

Hold your breath. This is not for the faint hearted.

Aki’s paw in blue…

Not bad. Not bad at all… The heart design gives it a little touch of femininity while the thong design gives a sense of comfort. As for those horrid nails, there’s nothing a little manicure and french tip would fix.

And now…

Aki’s paw in pink…

What do you know… *Poopie gasps. For a minute she holds her breath and then blinks.* Never in my young life did I ever think pink strawberries would suite such a manly paw…

Enlighten me, puppies. Do real men really wear pink?

A quick note...

2009-05-18T18:28:00.006+09:30

We wish to apologize to all our furfriends for not leaving comments in the past days. Poopie and I wish that we can now say that we will resume blogging but unfortunately, we can't. Not yet, anyway. *insert very sad faces*

Manang is still sick today but despite that, continues to remain busy with work. She will be leaving for Bohol again tomorrow and we won't see her until the end of the week. We hope by then she gets better 'cos this lack of blogging action is boring us already.

To our friends, we miss all of you so much!! Thank you for the awards and sorry for the lack of active participations in the contests and all other events and very late unposted posts (that we promised to do eons ago).. We try as much as we can to drop by, leave comments and check in on all of you from time to time, but our Secretary's present condition, could only allow us to do so much. We love you all and we hope you will all have a wonderful week ahead... For now, allow us to share with you our picture with this fastfood icon whom (and whose products!) we all love ...

Take care everypup !

drooly kisses,

Aki and Poopie

Where's The Poopster?

2009-05-12T19:53:00.003+09:30

Our Ginatilan Getaway: Part 2

2009-05-08T14:26:00.017+09:30

During our second day in Ginatilan, Poopie and I woke up at around 6AM to the scene of fishermen arriving from their overnight mini expeditions from the middle of the sea.

Upon their arrival, throngs of family members gather to inspect the volume of fish that they caught. In lesser developed areas like this, fishes caught by these fishermen are sold in the market and partly, consumed by family members for their daily meals.

Little kids were also sprawling in the beach. Some were helping out their parents in securing the “inventory” for sale in the market, while some were simply enjoying themselves in the ocean.

As I headed out for my early morning swim, my attention was caught by this group of people- young men, actually, who were transferring mid-sized rocks from the seashore to the nearby man-made sea wall.

Overlooking the entire operation is this guy, whom I fondly called as Capt. Jack Sparrow. He was a very nice man. He informed us that they were actually making a second sea wall to replace the first one which was already badly battered by the waves. Capt. Jack was working for Manang Joyce’s parents, thus explaining why they were working near our beach area.

By 9 AM, all of the lazy hoomans had already finished breakfast and proceeded for another round of swimming. We were supposed to visit Ginatilan’s famous waterfalls, but since it rained last night, we decided to just bum around the beach again.

While the hoomans were busy lounging in the sand bar and tending to their personal businesses, a certain dog, who shall not be named *cough cough* went missing! Perhaps, his* limitless independence had become to enticing, that he decided to wander off to experience a different side of Ginatilan.
*not indicative of the real gender of the missing dog.

Apparently, this “missing dog” had chased after some chickens, found a nearby pig pen, met several dogs, scared off some kids and considered all these amusing. He strayed and strayed until he found himself a cozy home near the main road, which was filled with hoomans who were all capable of screaming like girls- yes, despite their adam’s apples...

After nearly causing his hooman family to have a heart attack over his exploits, manang Tin found him, apologized profusely to the “aggrieved” family and brought him back to the beach house.

This time, everyone decided to get into the water in order to keep an eye on him.

We went to the other side of the beach, which had more fishes in them. Manong, Manang Tin and R’ found for themselves a nemesis… BOL! He was a black salt water fish, who was very territorial and continually pecked on their ankles while they snorkeled.

The hoomans urged me to help them chase away the fish, but I was no good at diving, that all I can do was circle around them in my usual “shark style” swimming technique… (I have this thing with hoomans who are engrossed with swimming. Whenever I see someone having so much fun in the water, I would swim near them and purposely hit them with either my legs or forepaws until they would get distracted or swallow sea water…. Hehehe)

It was so unfortunate that we didn’t have an underwater camera to expose the fiend and his evil doings... BOL! Alas, if only my brothers Paco and Milo, were here, they would have helped us with our fishy problem… hehehe…

By this time, I was already tired from two days of continuous swimming, so manong decided to put me on top of a rock. He said it was so that they could all keep an eye on me… I wondered whatever for… *puts up innocent face*

As the day progressed, the water level started to rise until my rock was almost hidden. I barked and barked because I wanted to get down and was already tired of swimming. Manong urged me to go down, but I hesitated so they had no choice but to coax me using my squeaky ball and a bag of chips.

As I planned to head back to dry land, Capt. Jack Sparrow, who had by then, become quite fond of me, offered to let me stay on his “boat” while the hoomans continue with their swimming.

At first manang was so thrilled, but realizing that the boat was a little too “delicate” for me to stay in, she begged off citing that my puppy nails might “deflate” Capt. Jack’s boat. Spoil sport.

It was a good thing that Capt. Jack was a persuasive man- and a very generous one at that! He again, insisted that I rest in his boat. The flooring was afterall, covered with wood, so there was no way I could sink it. To sweeten the deal, he volunteered to bring me to the middle of the sea.

I was elated. And so were the hoomans, I bet! Even from afar, I can see their burnt faces seething with envy… hehe… manang R’ had been taking interest in riding the boat since this morning and I, Mr. Achilles Wong, had managed to do so, for free! Yup, only by using my puppy eyes, I managed to score a trip to the middle of the sea and back. Ha! Take that hoomans!

Is it just me, or do I hear myself sizzle with hotness? Oh yeah!

By noontime, the sun had started to beat down hard on us. We headed back to shore to have lunch, pack our bags, shower and take a few snoozes.

We left Ginatilan at around 4:30PM. By 8PM, we were already home but not without stopping by for some juicy burgers at McDonalds for dinner. (We will post all the other pictures once Manang Joyce makes us a copy of those taken from her camera)

Poopie and I had both been very good dogs throughout the trip and the hoomans decided to reward us with a burger each... the 4Bs weren't kidding when they said McDonalds burgers are delish!

I had a good sleep that night. I immediately slept upon arriving home, which was kind of unusual (after dinner, of course!). And just when one would think that I had more than enough sleep, I slept throughout a large part of Sunday, too!

Whoever said tired dogs are happy dogs, sure wasn’t kidding! From now on, you can tire me anytime! 'Til we meet again Ginatilan! For now, I will just continue to dream about you...

Our Ginatilan Getaway: Part 1

2009-05-06T20:04:00.004+09:30

Hellow there puppies!

Sorry to have been a little silent for the past days, the hooman had her hands full with work (again!) . So without further ado, we give you Part 1 of our Ginatilan Getaway…

Last May 1, Friday, was a non-working holiday here in the Philippines. We celebrated Labor Day, and instead of going through their daily work routines, the hoomans decided to take us along for a two-day trip of plain leisure and all out relaxation.

We headed to a place called Ginatilan, which was about four (4) hours by local transport. In order to get there, we had to take a bus from the South Bus Terminal.

We woke up as early as 4:00 AM in time for the 6:00AM trip.

By 7:30 AM, we were already on our way

We arrived in Ginatilan by 11:00 AM and proceeded to take a 5 minute walk towards the coastal areas, where manang Joyce’s private rest house was located.

Upon arrival, I surveyed the entire area and was rather pleased.

Here is a view of the corner of the island as seen from our beach

Beautiful and virginal Ginatilan is well known for its waterfalls, but when we arrived, we fell in love with its pristine beaches

Without a minute to spoil, manang and I proceeded to test the waters. Aside from us, there was only one more group of people who were there. I courteously introduced myself to the locals, who were at first a little petrified to see a smiling dog with extremely huge incisors.

Manang spent a lot of time convincing people that I was as harmless as a clownfish. She even had to humiliate me in such a manner to prove her point…

See how she treats me in front of so many people? You could imagine the level of mortification I went through.

By 1:00 PM, the hoomans had finished preparing our meals and we all had a hearty lunch. A little later, everyone slapped on their sunblocks and went back to the water for some after-meal swim (isn’t that supposed to be bad for the health?)

Here are the three angels who planned out this wonderful vacation. Manang Joyce (sitting on rock) was even kind enough to let Poopie and I sleep with the hoomans in the room- how cool is that?

In order to prevent the rough waves from crashing into the house, they built this sea wall by piling (and maybe concreting) large rocks which were scattered all over the area.

Amidst all these frolicking and horse playing, a lonely soul stood still and silent. We call her- “the gate keeper”… BOL!

Poopie, as you all know, loathes the water, except perhaps, for drinking. Unlike me, she hates taking baths, swimming or simply getting wet.

Sometime during mid morning, the hoomans brought her to the beach (forcibly) while she was strolling along the sand bar. She fought hard and strong and ran out drenching wet with her tail tucked in her bumbum.. hehe.. Of course, the hoomans, being primitive creatures as they are, failed to digest all these and repeatedly “forced” her to “enjoy” the waters. Poopie had to fight back, of course, and their story ended with a large “pooper scratch” on manang’s leg. I hope they finally got the point.

Manang Joyce’s house had two storeys and a roof top with a breath taking view of the ocean and the mountains.

I, in particular, was very thrilled to be afforded the independence to decide where I want to go and when. I had practically, access to every nook and cranny. I even managed to go to the roof top without adult supervision (don’t worry, it is very safe).

Aside from enjoying the beach, we were finally able to enjoy one thing that we had not seen for a long time… watching the sunset

At around 5-6PM, the waves started to ebb. Watching the skies slowly lighting up as if it were “burning” was mesmerizing.

By this time, Poopie had vomitted twice because of the long trip. The cold sea breeze was likewise a little too much for her petite frame and so she had to spend the entire night wearing a jacket.

Not even the cold night wind could quell the inner diva in her.

This is my first time to stay overnight in a beach and live the life of beach bum hoomans.

I spent some good hours sleeping under the moon that night, waiting for the skies to clear up and the stars to line the heavens.

I wanted to make a wish then. I wanted to wish for dogs to have the same experience I (and Poopie) did: to live and roam freely, but without the hunger pangs and the occasional worry of where to seek shelter and to spend cold nights by choice and warm ones under blankets of hugs and kisses from people who love us.

There was one lone star, and even if my inner gutt told me it might have been pretty Venus, I made my wish.

Good night, Ginatilan.

She Won!!!!

2009-05-04T20:18:00.005+09:30

We interrupt this bloggie’s regular program for an important news….

Aki and Poopie (in unison): She Won!!!! (followed by a series of awkward square dancing)

Do you remember our story about having a baby Chow Chow sister last April? Well, manang’s brother, finally sent her a picture. And guess what the occasion was?

Our sister, the pretty baby, Yan Tzi, WON!

Yes she did! She did! She won! Just as Manny Pacquiao won via knock-out against Ricky “the Hitman” Hatton, yesterday, our very pretty sister Yan Tzi also won in another "match". She won THE BEST IN SHOW- PUPPY last May 1, 2009 while Poopie and I were vacationing in Ginatilan.

This was only her second dog show competition (she won 2nd the 1st time she joined) and she is already starting to become a pro!

Go Yannie!!!!! We are so proud of you!!!

Your stage siblings,

Aki and Poopie (and manang too!)

Thanking April

2009-04-30T14:05:00.014+09:30

Today is the last day of April and it is during this day that we give a toast to a month of endless celebrations! Why, you ask?

Let us first take you to a week before Easter (I know… it took the hooman that long.. tsk tsk..), when a package of sorts first arrived at my Mommy Lilli’s (of the Animal Doctor) house in Manila. In it was something that manong ordered for me- my very own red Classic XL Kong.

This little number travelled far and wide to get here- almost three months, more or less. From a certain online store in the US, it was delivered to the doorstep of Mommy Lilli’s friend, who is also residing in the US. After that, it was mailed straight to Manila, Philippines, then by Easter Week, it travelled to Ilo-Ilo City with Mommy Lilli. A week later, Ate Jenny, her sister and manang’s friend and officemate, went to Cebu about 2 weeks ago for a seminar, and brought it with her and finally, after a long time of endless passing of hands, it finally rested (not in peace!) in the enormous paws of his forever keeper. whew! some globe trotter, eh? That almost made me leak. BOL!

My first Kong’s arrival came at a very timely day. It was manang Clavel’s birthday.

If you remember, this was the same friend of my manang Tin and R’ who was deathly afraid of me during our first few meetings. She was also the one who brought me to our Eden and Isla Romantica. So to you manang Clavel- A barky belated Happy Birthday!

Yesterday, we read about handsome Mango and his Singapore Sling. It was about the slipper toys that our dear friends, Huskee and Hershey sent him. Funny enough, a few minutes after the mailman arrived and dropped off a similar parcel from H&H. To make things more interesting, our very sweet and uberly fashionista friend, Lorenza, also received her pressie during the same day. What coincidence!

(sorry, we weren’t able to upload the pictures of our actual pressie opening- Poopie wants to make a separate post for it because she has certain "issues" that need to be resolved... I say, whatever. :p)

Poopie and I are loving the slippers so much. The hoomans, were of course, the happiest. Now this is one piece of slipper that we are allowed to chew on. BOL!

And just when we thought we had already reached the peak, manang R’ gave us the best news!

May 1 is Labor Day in the Philippines. It is a non-working holiday, which means, today is the last day of work for the week for the hoomans. No more waiting for Friday to end, tomorrow, we are officially on vacation! wooooffffyyy!!!

After days and days of mulling over the pooter and browsing countless websites of resorts and beaches suitable for a (doggy) vacation (and even heinous hooman plans of staying in a resort overnight without bringing the “puppies”- the shame!), Poopie and I are all set.

Ginatilan, here we come!

Note from Aki and Poopie: We would like to extend our slobbery and woofy thank yous to manang Joyce for allowing us to stay in her fabulous place and to manang R’ and Tin, for always finding ways for me to come to these beach outings! We love you all so much!!!

See you all on Monday! mwah!

Memoirs of a Bath Junkie

2009-04-27T15:18:00.016+09:30

Ah the scorching heat. Indeed the summer months have arrived, and boy did they arrive with a bang.

To all those who prayed and expressed their concern over manang, thank you. Unfortunately, last Saturday we experienced a minor glitch.

The entire cluster of regions in the Visayas (Where Cebu is located) had a power outage during the great part of Saturday so manang was not able to go to the doctor for the check-up. It was a good thing though that she managed to buy these wonderful medicine from a store called “Health Express”, which, thank dog, allayed those nervous intestines until the next 15 days!

Ok. Enough of the boring stuff.

Last Sunday was a great day for me. Poopie, Choychoy and I did a three-round walkie around our block, the hoomans also brought us lots of juicy bones and I got a bad case of LBM (to be covered in a separate post) and of course, manang gave Poopie and I a lovely bath- the perfect solution to the scorching summer heat…

Is it just me, or is there a turned-on sprinkler nearby?

Now we’re talking!

This feels so good, don’t you agree?

I confess, I am a bath junkie!

Here’s to you, Mr. Summer Sun…

I’m not going out of here unless you promise to take me to the beach this weekend, manong!

Please…?

At least let me chew on the towel a little bit longer…

My hoomans always say that I am their hero because I saved them from a life of utter boredom…

You know what? I think I am.

Who's Stinky Now?

2009-04-24T14:15:00.013+09:30

It is the peak of summer here in the Philippines and as you can just imagine, it’s boiling hot... too hot in fact, that I can practically cook eggs on the pavement.

On a normal occasion, the hoomans would give us a bath every Sunday. This of course, is a little too much for most puppies we know. But here in the Philippines, where the temperatures play at 30º Celsius degrees during summer, who can blame us if we ask for a little more water than usual?

The hoomans gave Poopie a bath last Sunday and as expected, she smelled fabulous.

The hoomans were supposed to give me a bath too but sadly, manang had to attend a baptismal ceremony early in the afternoon and had deferred my usual bath until next Sunday.

That’s all fine and dandy considering that I still have my trusty fur deodorizer. A few spritzes here and there and I’m all sweet smelling and fresh.

But while Poopie and I both smelled like freshly picked flowers, guess who raised the stink-o-meter ten notches higher?

Today marks the 3rd straight day that she did not take a full bath (manang: I did take a bath! I just didn’t wash my hair!)… pretty icky, I know… tsk tsk. And all for what, you say? For fashion (read: vanity), what else?!

The hooman had something called an ear reboned (manang: it’s hair rebond, Aki!) last Monday and as result, she had to let all the chemicals settle in for a few days. She was already supposed to wet her hair today but her obsessive compulsive nature kicked in so she decided it was too soon and extended her stinky lifestyle for one more day.

At the peak of this travesty, I would normally consider resettling myself somewhere far and out of reach, but since the hooman provides for my food, and frankly, Poopie and I do not have enough resources to afford a hotel room on our own, we resorted to less drastic measures.

In any case, I’m just glad our computers don’t have smell-o-vision.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Poopie and I would like to ask for your prayers for manang. She will be going to the doctor for a check up tomorrow to have her intestines checked. She had always been having big problems erm… defecating… usually once in three days, and with very abnormal "results". It has come to the point where all forms of laxatives and fiber supplements are no longer effective. Please help us pray that her test results would turn out normal and that she will be back into our loving home immediately.

love,

Aki and Poopie

Putting the Pearls in Pearly Whites

2009-04-23T11:01:00.020+09:30

The hoomans went to someone called a dentist last Tuesday. Manong kept mulling over not wanting to get a “root canal” and get a crowning instead…. While manang kept on talking about dental fillings, etc.

Frankly, I did not understand a thing nor do I find any of it interesting. Ok. Maybe I find the filling part interesting. They remind me of those succulent cheese tarts that the hoomans would bring after every long vacation. Mmmmm….

Ok, back to the topic.

So the hoomans visited the dentist for 2 straight days and they returned last night with empty pockets and bleeding gums. (sorry to be so graphic). I looked at the dental bills and gasped. They could have practically bought 6 sacks of kibbles with the amount of money that they spent to spruce up 3 measly pieces of lousy hooman tooth! And they spent all that in less than 6 hours, whereas Poopie and I had to stretch our single sack of kibble for more than a month! Where’s the justice here?!

Overhearing my muttering, manang called me and gave a serious lecture on dental care. She said that if I don’t take care of my teeth, I might end up spending more to have them fixed either that, or endure smiling with a missing front tooth for the rest of my life. Of course, I didn’t need that.

So off we were to do some serious brushing…

Can we please do without the nasty toothbrush and just let me lick the toothpaste off your finger?

Please?

Aw. What’s the point… The hoomans always win. :(

Gotta brush ‘em good so I can spend more on kibbles instead of donating those hard-earned cash to the nottie dentist.

If for anything, the best part in all these is the poultry flavored toothpaste… yum!

How about you buddies, have you brushed those pearly whites today?

Wordless Wednesday: Begging Face

2009-04-22T14:12:00.018+09:30

My hoomans often say that I am such a prima donna at times. They say I am so spoiled even when it comes to begging for treats. I don't really know about that. But here is how I manage to get my fair share of treats...

My New Routine Nowadays

2009-04-16T11:57:00.014+09:30

There are times in a puppy boy's life, when he breaks away from his good boy reputation and try something more erm... naughty, for a change...

The last few weeks I had been quite a ball of relentless puppy energy. Eversince Peachy gave birth to her puppies with Choychoy, she had been snarling at me thus I had to contend with the life inside the house. No more playtime for Choychoy for a while.

And so, to get rid of all those extra puppy energy, instead of the usual "horsing around the compound with Choychoy", here is how a normal day for me would be like:

"Manang, are you still up in your room? Do you have any plans of coming down soon?"

"Are you sure you're not coming down? (checks room)"

"I’ll just be here sleeping if you need anything, okay?"

*attack*

(Manang: "Aki, do I hear shrieking? What are you doing to your sister again?" )

*puts up innocent face*

"Yes manang, you called? Poopie and I were just talking. I think, you had another dream again. Go back to sleep. I’ll take care of everything here."

Missing everyone

2009-04-11T15:19:00.006+09:30

Hello puppies. Aki here. We are sorry for not being able to post as promised. Unfortunately, the internet connection is dead in my sissy's house, so my brother, Prof. Heinz was not able to make posts in our behalf. To make matters worse, manang's camera went dead and she forgot to bring her battery charger so she was only able to take pictures using her phone... :(

We are pleased to note, though, that Poopie and I are doing well with our nannies in the last two days. By now, manang Tin and R' have returned from their short vacation in Ginatilan. They wowed us with stories about how fabulous the place was- from its pristine beaches to its waterfalls. I have to admit, I was a little envious. Maybe manong can bring us there when they get back from their vacation? :D

We also have a new sissy- she is a chowchow puppy named Yan Tzi. She is almost three months old and is really pretty. We hope to post pics of her and updated pics of our family here.

And oh! Do you still remember our story last Christmas about our handsome Chowchow brother named Guan Long, whom we shaved because he had mange? Well we are so proud to say that he is very well now and mange free. His lovely mane grew back and it is fluffier than ever! Woooofy!!

Remind me to make a mental note and ask Guan Long about his fur regrowing secret so that I, too, can regrow my fur in no time!

We hope that everyone is doing well. We are especially praying for those who were badly affected by earthquake in Italy. Stay safe everyone! We miss you all!

drooly kisses,

Aki

Poopie has decided!

2009-04-05T19:26:00.013+09:30

Hello there puppies! Aki here... The hoomans are already at the airport and waiting for their flight as I type, so i'll make this quick.

Thank you all so much for the support and wise advices that you gave my sister. She had finally made a decision!!! Of course, she's staying behind to keep me company! Poopie and I are a team! We do every thing together. Heck, I cannot imagine the poor girl going to sleep without me. I am mighty pleased. *insert smug look here*

Don't worry about us though. Two of our hoomans will still stay with us until Wednesday and they'll be back by Thursday evening. For the meantime, we will be allowing our brother, Prof. Heinz to keep you posted in the next week. We hope that you will all welcome him as warmly as you welcomed us.

Wishing you all a pleasant holiday and a fruitful week ahead!!!

drooly kisses,

Aki

Poopie has a Dilemma

2009-04-03T14:48:00.004+10:30

Hello dear friends! The Pooper Scooper here.

A lot of sheep and cows had been running around my head for a day now. As some of you might know, the Lenten Season is almost here and as a matter of tradition, our hoomans, specifically, manong and manang will be going home to Bacolod for the entire week.

Now you all know that Aki and I live with four hoomans in the Ilonggo House, so that leaves us with two more to keep us company, right? Well, that’s not exactly so. Manang Tin and R’ will be going with some friends to some place called Ginatilan on Thursday and they will be back by Friday.

Since we don’t have a car here (and the muscle for Aki) they would not be able to bring both of us along. They were so kind enough though, to make arrangements for one of their friends to baby sit us in the mornings, while Ms. Dams (Peachy and Choychoy’s hooman) will look after us at night. It would only be roughly two days, afterall.

So everything was set. Aki and I were supposed to stay behind and look after the house while our hoomans are away… Then Manang Tin and R’ broke the news yesterday. They said they will take me along. I am small and manageable and I can accompany them anywhere they go.

I am torn.

Shall I go to the beach with the hoomans and their friends and leave Aki behind? Or shall I stick it out with our nanny’s for two days and keep Aki company considering that I’m not any inch close to being a water lover?

What do you think, puppies? I would really appreciate (read: need) your opinion. Manang and manong will be leaving for Bacolod on Sunday afternoon. I hope by then, I have already decided.

A confused,

Ms. Poopie du Claun

Wordless Wednesdays: "Please"

2009-03-31T20:23:00.009+10:30

..... please....

Who's Your Daddy?

2009-03-30T19:23:00.010+10:30

Last Saturday, the world celebrated the importance of Mother Earth by turning off the lights for an hour starting 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM. By doing this, we are helping save countless numbers of kilowatt hours in energy consumption.

As dogs, we don’t really know much about all these electricity stuff, but we do know that if we save on energy generation, we also save on energy consumption and ultimately, the use of our natural resources, which are key and material in the generation of power and electricity.

In unison, the hoomans joined in the celebration of Earth Hour last Saturday. At exactly 8:30 PM, all lights were turned off and so, they had an hour-long romantic candlelit dinner. Poopie and I stayed behind and eased our selves whilst admiring the prominence of the moon as it shone proudly in the sky.

But before we celebrated Earth Hour, we celebrated LIFE.

Remember our friend Peachy? That beautiful dark brown dachshund living with our landlady in our apartment compound?

Peachy, Choychoy and Gring Gring (all residents of our compound) were my first furfriends. They were already there when we first moved and had been my playmates before Poopie came to live with us.

Sometime last year, Peachy gave birth to 5 beautiful dachshund puppies. We never got to see the puppies though because when the hoomans returned from work, they were told that she decided to “let go” of her babies.

That was more than 6 months ago. A few months back, she had her 2nd ‘heat’ (since our stay in The Ilonggo House, at least) and you can just imagine the level of insanity, not to mention, the noise, surrounding our compound.

Needless to say, a few months after, we found Peachy to be “shapelier” than usual.

Her hooman, Ms. Dams, would often bring her out in the morning before manang leaves for work. She would be left tied to a tree while Ms. Dams tidies up the patio of their house. This had been part of their routine for the last 2 months. Meanwhile, Peachy’s tummy grew rounder and rounder.

Manang and manong had a talk last Friday night over the circumstances surrounding Peachy. Out of nowhere, manang remarked that under her present condition, Peachy would end up giving birth in that tree, outside of our compound.

True enough, when Poopie and I went for our daily “business” in the morning, Ms. Dams and some neighbors were surrounding the very tree were Peachy was left in every morning. She had given birth to 1 very special black puppy. It had a really short and stumpy tail and a deformed nose and snout.

Poopie and I suggested to Ms. Dams to take Peachy inside the house because more puppies might come out. Leaving her to give birth outside would expose her to a lot of risks and threats. Thankfully, the hoomans headed our barks and brought her in.

We headed hurriedly towards our house and licked manong, yipping and yapping about the good news at the same time. By the time we came back to check on Peachy, she had already given birth to 2 more puppies. I suggested to manong that we make a sort of stable for her, just so as to give her babies a more comfortable place to stay in.

Super Manong did just that and came up with a makeshift birthing den out of this old box.

And just when we thought all was over and done with, we all witnesses, first hand, an actual birth.

Peachy gave birth to her 5th puppy right before our very eyes. It was graphic yet truly amazing to witness. Poopie fainted. She swore to keep her chastity belt intact for the rest of her young, adult and old Jack-tzu life.

All five puppies were black. It is still far too early to say, what they will look like when they get older. But the million dollar question remains…

Just Who Is Your Daddy?

A. A sexy gentlecat named Gring Gring

B. A devilishly good looking macho dog named Choychoy

C. An unidentified HOT Hunky yellow Labrador

The Pooper Scooper's First Ever Birthday Pawty (Part 2)

2009-03-24T15:33:00.026+10:30

After the boys had taken the edge coaster, it was now our turn to do the skywalk. We were supposed to go around the ledge of the 38th floor of the building with only a harness to secure us.

We were further grouped into 2 subgroups because only a maximum of 8 were allowed per ‘walk’. The first group was- I, Barley, Trudis, Scarlet, Sweepy, Addie and the Mop.

Barley was the first one to try out the skywalk. The poor boy made the biggest mistake of looking down during his first steps, making him a little nauseous just looking at the distance of the ledge from the ground.

As he was about to inch further, darebeagle Cocoa, galloped into the ledge without a safety harness and unauthorized. The safety crew had to rush towards him and shoo him inside before he starts flying downwards to the ground.

Barley was already thinking of the perfect explanation to give his mum should the tri-colored darebeagle end up with broken limbs on their way back to Singapore.

I came in next. I maybe wussed out a bit and was actually a little uncomfortable to do any zany poses…

It didn’t help that I had this stuck to my little bee-hind

Trudis and the very brave Scarlet came after. Moymoy and Jappy were not around because they had to watch over the clinic while Mommi Lilli was not around because she had to go to the supplier to have her gift for Aki replaced.

He alleged that the bowl was defective and had a certain self-destructing button to it.

Next was Addie. She had seemingly recovered from her jetlag and was more than raring to bungee jump from the building.

Sweepy didn’t seem to mind the height at all. I guess it was all too common for him, being a superdog and all. He even managed to meditate in the middle of the walk.

The Mop came in next, all dolled up and looking really erm.. pretty. He had been muttering about John not being able to pack his fur conditioner, making his hair look more unruly than usual.

Bobby told him to remove the silly comb because he looks like a sissy and that there is no way he is going to sit beside him on the plane back. The Mop said that Bobby was just envious cos he wouldn’t look as good with the ‘thing’ stuck to his head.

Hershey surprised us with her limberness and did an overextended one leg stretch. She went as far as boasting that, unknown to most people, including her older brother Huskee, she was actually a yoga enthusiast and a belly dancing expert. *insert gagging sounds from Huskee here*

The next group was next- Dr. Dino, Paco, Milo, Bailey Schnoodle, Bobby, Scottie and Khyra.

The Golden boys- Milo, Paco and Dr. Dino saw Hershey’s antics and decided to top it off with a handstand from brother Paco.

Their group was much better than ours because everyone was glued to each other.

Perhaps, our batch was quite scared to be too close because Bobby told us not to trust the Mop too much because he might push us from the ledge and of course, loveable Huskee *insert gagging sounds from Hershey here* warned us not to get too close to Hershey cos she might chew our harnesses off.

To show how united they are, the group even managed to come up with this lovely pose. To top it off, Ms. Khyra indulged us with her fantabulous (and truly spectacular) Siberian split.

After receiving our certificates, we proceeded to the hotel, gorged on the lovely authentic Italian pasta brought by Paco and Milo and capped the night with some Haagen Dazs icecream from Maggie and Mitch…

And of course, with some serious beach side dancing from dusk to dawn.

The Pooper Scooper’s First Ever Birthday Pawty (Part 1)

2009-03-23T12:10:00.018+10:30

I just turned one yesterday, March 22, 2008. In celebration, we have decided to do something different.

Last weekend, we had managed to mail all the airline tickets to all our puppy friends just before their scheduled flight on Saturday night. Trudis, Scarlet and Sweepy will all be coming in from Manila, together with the Goldens- Paco & Milo, Cody and Dr. Dino, Huskee and Hershey, Scottie, Maggie and Mitch, Addie, Bailey, Bobby and the Mop and Ms. Khyra, who will all travel from Singapore, Malaysia, Europe and the US, en route Manila.

Addie and Cody came solo because the Department of Foreign Affairs would not issue pawsports to Lucie and Joyce, because they were still underage. Meanwhile, Hershey managed to sneak in Huskee’s luggage and made her way to Cebu hassle-free.

We all went out of the airport and headed over to the Hilton aboard their pink jeepney-inspired service vehicle.

While having breakfast there, I told our guests that we will be checking in at the Hiltons for the night. Unfortunately, when we got to the place, the boys remarked that it was a little too pink for their taste.

So, we headed over to the Shangri-la where the surroundings was more ‘neutral’.

After relaxing a bit and having a drink of buko juice along the beach, I informed the girls to dress “comfortably” for our next activity.

We then proceeded to the Regency to experience the newly opened sky rides. We were told that it was the first in the world, and we were all excited to experience it.

We directly proceeded to the 38th floor and decided which ride to take. The edge coaster allowed only a total of eight persons per cart, so most of us girls opted for the sky walk.

BFFs Addie and Cody volunteered to do the edge coaster together, but when Addie realized that the cart will be tilted to a maximum of 50 deg., she begged off because she was still feeling a little queasy from the long trip from Texas.

Huskee also wanted to do the edge coaster but apart from the others, only Hershey was game enough to ride it. Upon seeing that Addie bailed off, Huskee immediately jumped at the chance to be paired with Cody. Prior experience with Hershey taught him that the poor girl had a bad case of chewing incidents and he was afraid that she would chew her way out of the safety lock, sending them hundreds of feet to the ground.

Aki was feeling a little macho, so he volunteered to take the edge coaster together with Cocoa. The ride operator said that he was too big to be paired with Cocoa so they should take different carts instead.

look, manang, no hands!

peace, yo!

Hey, Barley! Here comes Underdog!

Maggie and Mitchy decided to take the ride together. Maggie was the only girl brave enough to take the edge coaster *applause* there were even times when we thought we heard Mitch shrieking. He said it was only because a bug got stuck in his beard.

(to be continued...)

Pandora's Box

2009-03-17T19:57:00.013+10:30

In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman without parents, who was made by Gods. Each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mould her out of Earth as part of the punishment of mankind for Prometheus' theft of the secret of fire, and all the gods joined in offering this "beautiful evil" seductive gifts. According to the myth, Pandora opened a jar, which is referred to in modern accounts, as "Pandora's box", releasing all the evils of mankind…

I should have listened closely when manang told me that story.

Oh what a wonderful carton box it was. I bet it is full of delicious grub.

“What? What are you doing inside, Poopie?”

The poor girl ran out screaming. If of fear or joy, I would never know. What could be inside the box? I’m so excited.

Oh, joy… I’m dreaming of treats, toys, even money… there ought to be. It makes perfect sense. Okay… I am hyped now. Time to open the dratted box…

"What? Where are the toys? the treats?!... and what is this shiny thing, manang?"

I shouldn’t have asked.

Pandora had better luck.
Next time, don’t bother coming home, woman.

a distressed,

Aki

(Now that the dreaded cone had already attached itself permanently unto Aki's neck, what new adventures await our hero? Next Episode: "The Adventures of Lampshade Boy and Diaper Girl")

Caveat to all Water Dogs: an Aki Update

2009-03-16T11:06:00.003+10:30

Hello there puppies!

We are sorry to worry our friends with the lack of update in the past week. I am a little well now. We went to the vet last Monday PM to have a skin test, to which the results for mange turned out negative. A week before we also had a CBC done and the vet had also ruled out ehrlichiosis. The vet told me that I had some bacterial infection, which may have been developed from sleeping in moist areas.

As some of you may know, I sleep inside the room of my human brother whenever anyone is at home. But during times when he fails to close the doors, I make my way towards the nearest bathroom and sleep. My love for water often brings me to the laundry area or the bathroom, where there is a generous supply of water. .

During times when access to these places are unavailable, I simply topple over my water dish and lie on the puddle of water… i rest my voluminous tummy, arch my back and stretch. ahhhhhhh…. Refreshing.

In the midst of my reverie, the lady vet told me that I should, from now on, refrain from sleeping in moist areas because it is often where a lot of mean bacteria breed and thrive in. I should also make sure that I am toweled really dry after every bath. Drat.

What’s more, manang came back from Manila yesterday with a ‘box big enough to put Poopie in’ from the Animal Doctor’s clinic. She had been away since Tuesday and I am REALLY hoping to receive some goodies from her. I wagged my tail excitedly… I yelped and hopped.

“Goodies for me, manang?” I barked, drool oozing in exhilaration.

I rummaged through the box. My eyes widened. Oh no, you couldn’t…

(what’s in the box? Stay tuned tomorrow.)

drooly kisses,

Aki

Aki is sick

2009-03-09T15:36:00.007+10:30

Yes, Aki is sick right now.

I never thought I’d blog about this but I guess I will be. Well, Aki is sick today. He has a nasty skin problem and he had already drew a lot of blood from his fore arms. He had been scratching rabidly all over the many areas of his body (i.e. leg, neck, arms, etc.) and I feel so sorry for him.

We made an emergency call to his Mommi Lilli (The Animal Doctor’s Secretary) last night because the clinics are closed. I sent her pictures of Aki thru MMS and the Animal Doctor suggested we give him an emergency dose of prednosine. This is supposed to help get rid of the itchies and as a result, give the nasty booboos a breather. We went to the nearest pharmacy at around 11 PM and luckily, we were able to buy the needed meds.

We will be bringing him to the vet this PM for a skin test to rule out mange and other infections. If he will be cleared, we may start treating him for the “hotspots”… all with the blessings of our vet and his Mommi Lilli, of course.

Worst part- I will be going to Manila either tomorrow or tonight for an important business meeting and might be back on Wednesday. I will then have to leave him in the care of his manong and other hooman guardians until I return. Also, for another matter at hand… How to deal with the wounds? Well, Aki is quite furry… so I guess we will have to shear him bald so we can get better access to the skin (and the wound)… :*(

We ask that you please pray that the skin test comes out normal and no further complications would come out during the treatment process.

Just so you wont forget how handsome our Aki boy is…

love,

Micchi

Incredibly Sweet

2009-03-05T19:11:00.007+10:30

Hellow there puppies!

I hope you didn’t miss us too much… It’s me, Aki! I’ll only be doing a very quick post today because our Secretary is still indisposed.

We'd like to share this incredibly wonderful video , which was forwarded to us by manong. We feel simply bubbly and pleased inside just by watching it. Again, this is one of those wonderful displays of the touching bond between human and dog. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!

(We’d like to say sorry in advance to Huskee’s mom, if ever she'd feel uncomfortable/sad while watching :( … we love you Mommi Shane! )

drooly kisses,

Aki

We will Remember You...

2009-03-03T15:20:00.003+10:30

Dearest Lulu and Bogart

There are really no words to say.

We prayed for you.
We did.
But prayers are all of what we have.
We could have wished there was more.

We could have wished we could add more years to your love.
We are sorry he had to leave so soon.
He was a wonderful man, a brilliant husband and a loving father,
We are very sure of it.
And we hope that that memory will live on forever.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful family with us.

The days ahead are very trying.
And, as much as we want to,
we will never feel the same level of pain that you feel.
But please know that we are always here.

We do not know you personally,
But in this community of caring and selfless individuals,
We want you to know that you have our love and support.

Please come back soon Dearest Lulu and Bogart.
We will be waiting for you until you are ready to write.

Take care always

Joining you in prayer,

Aki, Poopie and their hooman sister

True Colours Thursday: Brown

2009-02-26T19:11:00.021+10:30

Sorry puppies, we are AGAIN, doing late post on our True Colours Thursday.

Yesterday’s color was Brown and so I rummaged through our house yet again and found these… (I have limited my browns into some interesting items and doggie/animal-related items)

ferrero rocher chocolates- heavenly, heavenly… heavenly… *drool*

Manong’s delectable breaded chicken fillet and home-made gravy

a champagne pearl belt...

naughty brother Aki running off with Adoy, the brown stuffie…

a brown raccoon coin purse (my manang loves raccoons, apart from dogs… or so she says)

our good friend- Obi the Dog

wooden key chains, which we got from the export sale

A terrier ornament given by manang’s friend. This reminds us of all our terrier friends, especially Bogart the Handsome Devil.

My beautiful brown Poopster head…

And of course, who would ever forget...

My brother Aki’s fat brown butt…. Heehaw!!

That’s about all of the brown in our house, puppies.

We are sorry if we cannot visit your bloggies or leave any comments in the following days or weeks (heaven forbid!) because our hooman will be very busy with work. *pouts*… for the meantime, Aki and I will be putting up in the classified ads a vacancy for a new secretary (note: we pay a generous amount of kibbles), but until we do find a suitable replacement, Aki and I will just send you as many positive vibes to last you until we return.

We love you all,

The Pooper Scooper

Daddy Aki?

2009-02-23T20:20:00.011+10:30

I had quite a boring week this week. Nothing too exciting happened on account of my hooman’s constant absence from home. She had to earn a living to afford my kibbles and doggie paraphernalia… and I guess, a doggie scholarship for my college education is in the works, too.

So while I mull over the lack of activity in my household, let me tell you what happened when I went out for a nice walkie last weekend.

My human siblings brought me for a walkie towards the nearest hamburger/hotdog station. On the way, manong stopped for some icecream. The store owner took notice of me and remarked that I was huge and already of age to consider becoming a daddy. I was flummoxed. Just what did he mean by that?

Manang immediately answered in my defense. “He is still a baby.” She said.

“How old is he?” the man continued. He is taking care of numerous dogs of different breeds- from Pugs, Huskies, Japanese Spitzes, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherd, Cocker Spaniels and Shih Tzus. “He is more than a year old, isn’t he?”

“He just turned 1, sir”. Manang replied.

“Oh, that is old enough. He will make the perfect match for my Labrador.” He said enthusiastically.

“You meant the black one? But, isn’t she still very young? I gather she is less than a year…?”

“Ah, yes, I guess… perhaps, my Labrador can wait. But I also have a Golden Retriever. Maybe he can be the father to my Golden Retriever.”

The hoomans grinned politely. “Our Aki is still a baby sir. He does not know anything about fatherhood yet.”

Moving away, all three of us shook our heads. The man wanted so bad to have me sire his dogs. Too bad we didn’t have the courage to tell him I do not have enough “balls” to fit the bill of a perfect sire. Besides, I am perfectly fine being the baby of the house, no sense rushing into any fatherly duties when there are too many out there in need of furrever homes.

On a more serious note, I am reminded of how lucky I am to still be around to think about such things. In most countries, including ours, dogs like myself end up being ‘destroyed’ by known kennels because we are perceived to be ‘defective’ and ‘producing’ such ‘defective’ dogs would tarnish their reputation.

I do not know if my mummy’s keeper (kennel where I was adopted from) knew I was a monochrid. Had he known, would he have done things differently? I told myself that it does not matter now. What’s important is that I have a home, sister Poopie and a family of loving humans who treat me like I was the warmest ray of sunshine, the most refreshing splash of rain shower and the gooiest bar of chocolate that they’ve laid their eyes upon. And for that I will always be grateful.

******************************

Please visit Charlie and Opy’s bloggie on how we can all show our support for Bogart and his family. His daddy needs all the puppy, kitty, hammie and what-have-yous zen available. Let us all join paws and give their family their miracle!

Poopie's True Colours

2009-02-19T15:02:00.020+10:30

Pooper Scooper here and I bring you good news!

Aside from my regular news report, I will also be covering our weekly True Colours meme... My brother Aki felt bad after reading my entry from Mr. Mango's Mango Minster contest coverage on the Terrier category. Apparently, Mr. Mango noticed that I wasn’t blogging much in this bloggie, seeing as this was supposed to be my brother’s blog.

Anyho, to compensate, we have decided to make a compromise and ensure that I would be given regular exposure so that all our puppy friends will get to know me better too… *ahem*…. Thank you Mr. Mango man! Your bark out was all of what my “bloggy hog” brother needed to allow me more blog time. Yay!

For this Thursday, our colour is BLUE.

Hmmmm… Blue… blue… where can I possibly find any blue item in this house?

Do you know where I can find it manong Aki?

I guess the poor thing doesn’t know either.

I Better ask Mr. Blue Bear (Huskee & Hershey’s Christmas gift for moi)… Oh… You don’t know too, eh?

Playing always stimulates the mind to think… maybe this will help...

Argh! This meme is making me hungry… I guess our old doggie dish is still of some use.

And now for some desert of turkey and salmon (thank you Musketeers!) and low-fat bacon (thank you H&H!)… I gotta watch my figure you know. Now, I don't want to appear too bloated on TV!

As always, don’t forget to brush your teeth after a sumptuous meal.

All this thinking and eating is stressing me out. I think a nice bath with my sheep loofa ought to de-stress me for a bit.

Talking about baths, It’s almost summer here. The summer season often reminds me of the beach. A lot of our doggie friends have either gone there or made plans to go already. My brother Aki is so crazy about it that he keeps pestering manang to bring us.

Manong Aki, let’s not go. Let’s just save our money and send it over to our friends in Victoria, Australia. I already opened my piggy bank and pawed over my donation to RSPCA. How about you?

I am pooped. Blue sure is one interesting colour to do for this meme. I hope you had an easier time locating your blues. As for me, I’m going to bed.

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Our Prayer

Angel Y.Y, please look out for us from where you are. We pray that you guide our friends and lend them a helping hand that they me be alleviated from their sadness and illnesses. For this day we ask that you help pray for the speedy recovery of our friends:

Asta’s mum, who is not feeling well
And Bogart’s dad who is currently in the ICU

We also pray that you ask the Big Guy Upstairs to fan away the flames that is causing much hurt and anguish to the lives and livelihoods of both humans and animals in Australia. Please keep them safe with your angel’s wings.

As for those who have left their loved ones one Earth...

Our cat friends Lemon and Misty

Who were called by our Father to join you and the rest of the angels in Heaven. Aid them that they will make their journey towards the Rainbow Bridge as safely as you did.

Thank you so much and we love you always.

You will forever be kept safe here in our hearts.

Your loving sister,

Poopie

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T19:54:00.006+10:30

Hellow there puppies!

Pooper Scooper here... it's officially February 14, here and so we will be joining the rest of the canine and biped world in the celebration of Valentine's day...

Thanks to manong, we were able to come up with our 1st ever Valentine's day card... and send it over to all our furfriends' peemails just in the nick of time (using the DWB Christmas Card Exchange Directory).

We are sorry to note though, that we don't have the peemails of some of our cherished friends like Ms. Kylie, Ms. Khyra, Joey and Zeke, Thor, Angel and to all those other pups we might have forgotten and those who chance upon our bloggie... please help yourselves to our humble Valentine's offering.

We love you all!!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!

Thank You DWB

2009-02-12T15:19:00.001+10:30

Dear DWB Friends:

We are truly touched to see news on Y.Y in the DWB news today. We are overwhelmed with the amount of support that all our puppy friends and even those whom we've never met, showed at this low point in our lives.

To Addie and Lucie, Khyra, Opy & Charlie and the puppies behind DWB news and those whom we may have missed, thank you so much for thinking of us and for posting about what happened in your bloggies. We are so overwhelmed with the support that you and all our DWB friends showed in the past days.

It would have been way easier to give up and sulk in one corner, but I feel it would be unfair for Aki and Poopie if I do so. Not only will I be letting all of you down, I will be letting all their brothers and sisters down as well. I will be letting myself down in the process too.

Your words of encouragement and support provide us with the strength to endure each day of this much unforseen tragedy. The pain had dwindled a little but the wound of this tragedy hasn’t healed yet. I continue to see Y.Y everytime I open Aki and Poopie’s bloggie, everytime I meet a stray dog, everytime I hear a cry for help. I guess it stings more because of the fact that I wasn’t there. I did not have a choice. I could not in any way, no matter how hard I cry in exasperation, frustration and sheer grief, do anything to help him.

As we often say, we believe that everything happens for a reason and we know that God has a plan for this. I don't know when I will come to truly understand it, but I hope, at the very least that this will be the last of the bloodshed.

For now, we will be taking more strict measures to ensure that all the dogs will not get out of their enclosures. I do not wish to question this tragedy because every dog in our household occupies a space in my heart and putting anyone of them in a bad light breaks my heart. For sure, there are decisions to be made, but I wish at the very bottom of my heart that each one will be given an equal fighting chance to live perfectly normal lives.

I still maintain that a deeper understanding of the 'whys' must be arrived at. To not just give up and take the easiest form of escape. I do not know if selfishness or closed-mindedness is what drives me to still hold on to the hope that things will get better. That there are less drastic measures that may be considered before we can truly say that a certain ‘case’ is hopeless. Never once, did I believe that something or someone is hopeless.

750 or Severino Pepito as I would fondly call him, is what brought us to bring Aki into our lives. He inspired us to consider taking in a Labrador. Back then, I was all for Goldens. He had been the catalyst of so many things, including the opening of our household to so many furkids.

In most honesty, the circumstances surrounding why we arrived with so many dogs at my parents' house is not something that I entirely approve of. I have for years, reiterated this, but as a daughter/sister, who only goes there to visit, I do not have much say on decisions made. I can only provide support and suggestions.

But what seems so magical about dogs, is how opening your heart to one, almost inadvertently leads you to open your heart to all of them. In as much as I disapprove of taking care of so many dogs for economic and emotional reasons, I have found myself in a situation where I have to. They are living beings after all. Creatures who have nothing but pure hearts and nothing but only love and loyalty to give. In my own means, I have tried to afford them access to better lives. I do not know though, if it was enough.

This is why I feel so helpless in the face of this tragedy. Fighting battles for dogs and animal welfare for others, but protecting one's own when they need it the most is one of the worst contradictions imaginable... and yet, here I am. Standing at this crossroad. Waiting for a miracle that my prayers for clarity and peace will be heard.

We might go on hiatus for a while. Not too long, because life continues on for Aki and Poopie. It would be very selfish of me. We will try to visit your bloggies though. Blogging means a lot to us because this is our way of documenting the lives of our dear fursiblings and our DWB friends are just so special that we can't thank you all enough for being with us on this difficult time.

Again, thank you so much for everything that you have done for us. You guys are gems worth keeping and we are forever grateful for the friendship that you have shown.

We are so happy to be part of this wonderful family.

We love you all so much!

In behalf of Aki and Poopie and all at home, I extend our sincerest appreciation.

Micchi

To a Wonderful Brother...

2009-02-10T20:19:00.011+10:30

Today is a sad day for us.

We woke up this morning not knowing that a brewing storm is about to come. We WERE supposed to be happy. We WERE supposed to be editing pictures for Birthday cards for our two very good friends who are celebrating their Birthday- Milo and Dr. Dino. We WERE supposed to be making huge plans for Valentine’s Day… Now, we just don’t know what to do… or what to think… or how to feel… Our feelings, everything that we ever stood for, everything is now in shambles.

My brother Y.Y. died sometime around 8 AM. He was only 5. The worst part, he didn’t die a normal death. My brothers- 750 (Labrador-German Shepherd mix), Heinz (Schnauzer) and Ninurta (Rottweiler puppy) attacked him until he died. 750 got off from his leash and attacked him… Nobody could tell us what irked him. It was a nightmare. Who would have believed that such gentle dogs would be capable of attacking one of their own… These are dogs who NEVER once inflicted pain upon any other human… each of them had their designated areas/ enclosures. They were not abused in anyway for them to just lash out like that.

Since there are too many dogs in the house, each group created their own cliques- the indistinct breeds, the “German-origin” Dogs, the “home dwellers”. For some reason, our alpha dog- 750 had his eyes set on all the indistinct breeds, but never had he picked on Y.Y before.

Y.Y was a very good boy. He was very playful. He was lean and tall, with a built similar to that of a whippet. He would give manang soft kisses and climb at her with all gentleness…. Now he is gone… and manang will never get to see him again… Poopie will never get to see him again… I never met him yet, and yet I will never ever see him, nor meet him … nor experience his gentleness.

Frankly, I am still in shock. Too many options run in my head. Not one of them is pretty in any way. I love all my brothers and sisters but how can I fend for each one of them when I am so far away? What options are available to make sure everyone is safe and unharmed?

If I cry my heart and eyes out and say I Love You repeatedly until my voice croaks and becomes no more, would it reach him in Heaven?

Goodbye manong Y.Y....
You will always be our lovely whippet...
Please paw at us when we meet in The Rainbow Bridge.

YASAKANI YATA

Summer 2005 - February 2009

Forever Hugged,
Forever Kissed,
Forever Loved,
Kept Safe In our Hearts.

We love you so Much!

Movie Review: Marley & Me

2009-02-07T17:24:00.012+10:30

My hoomans watched Marley & Me last Wednesday (Opening Day). The movie stars Jennifer Aniston (Jenny Grogan) and Owen Wilson (John Grogan). The role of Marley was played by some 22 dogs to represent the different stages of Marley’s life.

Overall, we enjoyed the movie because it shares the lessons and value of Life and Love in the form of the most unusual persona of the “world’s worst dog”. For someone who had read the book though, we felt that the story could have been made even better. It does not come as a surprise really because more often than not, book-to-movie productions often fall short of the expectations of the readers.

We just felt bad because there were parts which were not expounded and inclusion thereof would have made the scenes/ stages of Marley’s life more understandable. I could expound, but I don’t want to spoil the fun for my other puppy friends who have yet to see the movie.

The movie lasted for almost 2 hours or a little over it, and manang sniffed and leaked silently (manang: it took a lot of will power not to bawl) throughout the later parts of the movie. It was a good thing we watched during the opening day, so not too many got to see her red Rudolph-esque nose and puffy eyes.

For me, the best part was after the movie ended … When our humans went home and when manong and I cuddled on the floor and slept…

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Manang's postscripts:

An anonymous friend of Aki and Addie said that we will be spoiling Aki and Poopie after watching the movie. We had to agree. Seeing it made me love them even more. Watching the movie was like watching Aki’s future life flash before my eyes. It is funny, heart wrenching, tear-jerking, but very real. This makes the Book and the movie very close to my heart.

My True Colours: Orange

2009-02-05T20:37:00.028+10:30

Hellow there puppies! It’s Friday again! Yay!

First off, we’d like to officially start with our My True Colours Thursday (on a Friday). The host of this meme is Blue and our colour for the week is Orange.

At first we thought ‘Orange’ would be a very different colour to do for this meme seeing as it is one of the least popular choice for our hoomans.

Poopie and I scoured the entire corners and crevices of the house and we were very surprised to find a lot of interesting orange items …

An orange bag, which manang never used up to now…

An orange denim/chiffon skirt—also unused to-date…

A dolphin-print orange ‘batik sarong’ from Boracay, which was given to manang by her friend from Manila. This is usually used in lieu of a kaftan or as a cover-up when going to the beach…

A "well used" Japanese Dictionary- Manang has a great love for foreign languages and Japanese/ Nihon-go ranks as her top favorite. Back in March 2004, she studied Japanese at a language university right after (and nearing the end of) College, but was only able to finish the Beginner’s level because she had to move to Manila for work in June.

A Beagle (hey, Cocoa!) print T-shirt given to her on Christmas 2004 by a friend from work.

Another orange shirt… the best part about this is the inclusion of our ungroomed schnauzer brother- Prof. Heinz Hummer, DDM (from manang's hometown- Bacolod) … we miss him so much!

Of course, this would not be complete without le moi posing with my orange loofah dog, which was given by The Four Musketeers for my birthday! Yay!

And finally, the cream of the “Orange” crop….

-

-

Gring Gring the Orange Cat…

I don’t think Orange can get any orange-r than that!

Thank you Blue for letting us join this meme! We can’t wait for Silver!

Happy weekend everypup! We will post about our movie review on the movies we've watched tomorrow…

Tomorrow...

2009-02-03T18:23:00.005+10:30

...we will finally get to watch 'Marley & Me'... whew! I know it was shown in some states/ countries waaaayyy back in December, but it will only be shown here tomorrow. My manang, manong, manang R and manang Tin and some friends would watch the show together tomorrow night. Of course, aside from manang who had read the book, their main reason for watching the movie is the fact that Marley is a Labrador and his antics remind them a lot of a certain someone so close to their hearts... *feigning ignorance*

We are sorry for not being able to visit all of our puppy friends as often or leave comments in all your posts. Our secretary's schedule is just mad, mad, maaaddd, with meetings, conferences and all that boring la-de-da day in and day out. We will be blogging lengthily on Thursday to officially start with My True Colourrs Thursday (thank you Blue- for allowing us to join and Maggie and Mitch- for giving the link) and we hope to see you all by then.

Before we shuttle off, please don't forget to check out Addie and Lucie's and The Four Musketeers' bloggies and join in their pawsome contests...

We've been Tagged!

2009-01-29T15:40:00.018+10:30

... and boy, does it bring back good memories!

Hellow there puppies!

The Four Musketeers tagged us to do the 5th file meme and we found this...

This was taken when I was still 3 months old during my first beach outing. We were invited by manong's officemate- Ms. Qitty, to join in their family picnic at Corona del Mar. What's cool about the place is that their subdivision has a direct access to the beach.

I never got to swim when we went there since the tide was rather low and the sand is not really white. I did, though, get to enjoy frolicking in the sand and practicing my new tricks.

Practicing ‘stay down’ with manong

Posing with manang R’, manang tin and manang (micchi). (from L-R)

Hmmm… does this picture look familiar to you?

Having a light snack of sand-rolled hermit crabs…

Finally, after a day’s work and play…

Begging for more treats

This meme was sure loads of fun! I have a certain sense of nostalgia now...

It's now time to pass on this tag to five more bloggers so here are the rules:

Open a document or file folder, click on the fifth folder and then the fifth photo. Post the photo and describe it. Then tag 5 other bloggers.

I think I saw a lot of my friends do this already, so I'm passing it to my puppy friends whom I think haven't done it yet...

I'd like to pass this tag to:

1. Trudis, Moymoy, Jappy and Scarlet
2. Huskee Boy and Hershey
3. Cocoa and Barley
4. Chow Chow
5. Dr. Dino

Hope you all enjoy my nostalgic trip to the past as much as I did.

The Frustrating Case of the Nottie Postlady

2009-01-24T17:48:00.019+10:30

Remember our earlier post that it snowed pressies?

We’ll it didn’t wane yet… actually, it turned into a blizzard… hehe..

This Wednesday, manang receieved 2 more claim cards from their security guard… and here is where The Frustrating Case of the Nottie Postlady begins…

Normally, my hooman does not travel around the city because she is quite busy with her work and has poor sense of direction. Now, in order to claim my pressies, she authorizes their company driver to pick up the parcels from the mail instead. This week though, Mr. Driver came back with only one pressie -from Ms. Kylie and returned the other claim card.

He said the postlady would not release my pressie because manang is not authorized to claim it. I was perplexed. Why would the nottie postlady refuse to release my pressie? I squealed. Mr. Driver said it was because of this…

She said she cannot release the pressie to manang because only Mr. Aki Wong can claim it. And that means, I, Achilles Wong, need to produce a valid ID in order to do it. I blinked. I cried. Just how am I going to do that? I howled in exasperation. I don’t want any of my friends’ parcels to be returned by any nottie postlady. That would mean throwing my friends’ hard-earned postage money to the trash bin. No way! Not this dog!

And so, clueless as we were, manang and I braved the uncertain roads, not knowing exactly where we were going. I forced her out of the office- all dressed up in her corporate clothes, bringing her bag and high heels and we set out to claim my ultimate prize. Getting there wasn’t easy. We almost cried because the road leading to the post office was closed and we had to walk about 2 blocks. We never passed by that place before and was struck by paranoia and feared for our safety.

When we got to the post office, she explained to the postlady that there was no way for me to claim the pressie by myself and under normal acceptable conditions (per the Postal Corp.’s standards, that is). That in fact, being my guardian, she was licensed to claim the pressie in my behalf.

When she explained that the addressee was a handsome dog (see picture above), everyone in the room laughed at her. For some strange reason they thought it was absurd for someone to send packages to a dog or have a dog’s name placed as addressee for a package. *rolls eyes*

In my defense, she said that in other parts of the world, it is not unusual to send and/or receive packages in the name of dogs. The postlady just sneered and laughed saying that in any part of the world, dogs being addressees of parcels and packages is just unacceptable and absurd. She added that it was even more absurd that a dog would have a last name.

I was mad and barked furiously at the clueless self-absorbed humans! I was on the verge of sinking my huge teefies into their behinds when manang began negotiating with the postlady as to how the package can be released.

Finally, the postlady gave up, after much jeering, and asked us if we knew who sent the package…

Ummm… my doggie senses tell me that they were from my friends- The Four Musketeers… but I do not know the full name of their sissy! Feigning confidence, I wrote the names of my buddies- Cody, Lady, Zena and Joyce/ The Four Musketeers/ Amanda and slapped the paper silly in the face of the nottie postlady.

Realizing that indeed the package was for me, she released it to us and scurried of joyously. Never mind the self-absorbed human! I bet they were just envious because I had been receiving lots of pressies.

Hey Cody! Are you in there, buddy?

Our gifts from our good friends- Cody, Lady, Zena and Joyce… they even sent me a birthday card.

Say ‘M-U-S-K-E-T-E-E-R’!!!

Playing with my candy roll thingamajig ...

This is one weird orange elastic doggie… and it squeaks, too!

We are officially loving this Loofa Dog!

So, puppies, who do you think makes a better Loofa Dog Model?

A woofy thank you to Ms. Kylie and The Four Muskeeters for your pressies and your friendship. We are so grateful for all your love and friendship!!! We love all of you so much!!!

It Snowed!!!

2009-01-22T00:00:00.030+10:30

... presents, that is!

Hellow there puppies! I had such a treat during the last two weeks. Maybe the nottie post lady knew it was my birthday. I am still receiving Christmas cards from my DWB friends week in and week out and am getting quite used to see the security guard hand-over my mails.

I would like to believe the nottie postman had stopped being so nottie and decided to just deliver my cards every week without much of a fuss.

When manang arrived from Bacolod last Christmas, she brought me gifts from my mommy Lilli…

Handsome, eh?

A rope toy from my sweet friend, Trudis O’ Wudis!

…These were the cards delivered to me last week from Jaffe and Kaylie, 4Bs, Verdi and Gaucho, Deefor and Arrow and our lovely friends- Huskee and Hershey!

…My pa(w)y-it-forward pressie from Chowchow (sorry buddy, we are still searching for that bubble wrapped envelope to send your pressie in :( )

These were really delicious and they smell really good too… I am actually reminded of corned beef... MMMMMMM....

Guess what? The postman didn’t stop there. Days after, he came back and gave manang two claim cards for pressies to be claimed at the central post office (parcels were subject to customs check and had to be claimed pawsonally by the recipient).

Hmmmm… these pressies smell familiar…

Oh my dog! Pressies from my very good friends- Addie, (Lucie) and Zoe and Huskee and Hershey (again- yay!)!

Huskee and Hershey gave Poopie and me separate gifts. Their mum, Ms. Shane, was even nice enough to give manang her own gift… yay! Thank you so much friends!

Is my love for rope toys and balls too obvious *grin*?

I know this was supposed to be Poopie’s but…

Manang was in the habit of giving me the parcel and allowing me to rip the package open, myself. However, in some weird turn of events, she decided not to let me “open” this package from Addie and Zoe.

At first, I reckoned it was only because she was giving in to her “pack-rat” attitude and wanted to keep the parcel (with their picture on a sticker) as a souvenir… Somehow, this seemingly spontaneous decision proved to be worth more when a few days after our dear friend Zoe passed away. Now, I don’t think we will ever throw away that parcel. It is now worth millions or even zillions, in my book!

Yummy christmas treats from Addie, Zoe and Lucie

… and eating them.

Oh joy! I’m so happy I feel like flying!

… too many pressies, too little time… too bad Poopie can't reach the table!! bwahaha..

thank you so much dear friends!!!

like I always say, more than the gifts and the cards,

what matters most to us is the thoughtfulness,

the love and the friendship that you unselfishly and genuinely

share with us each and every day of our lives.

having friends like you is always a blessing and we are forever grateful

to have such wonderful angels on God's green Earth.

We LOVE you all so much!!

The Value of a Human in the Eyes of A Dog

2009-01-21T12:41:00.012+10:30

We would like to share a beautiful story that we read in a forum that we are joining...

A Touching Dog Story
by Anonymous

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing.

Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease....in fact , she was just sure it was fatal.
She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him. The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.
Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap. Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.

When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love.

Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day. It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lu cky? He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

Remember.... live every day to the fullest. Each minute is a blessing from God. And never forget....the people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards They are the ones that care for us.

If you see someone without a smile today give them one of yours! Live simply. Love seriously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God

source: whatsuppaws forum

One Beat, One Dance, One Vision

2009-01-21T11:00:00.008+10:30

This is the Sinulog catch phrase, and that, my dear puppy friends, had been the reason for our absence.

Just what is “Sinulog”, most of you would probably ask.

Well, truth be told, I don’t really know seeing as I am a dog, and this is the time of year that I’d rather not be outside the confines of my comfortable home in the hopes of not being squished by the sea of people basking in the hot dreary sun or withstanding the chilling cold winds and rain just so they can catch a glimpse of queer individuals dressing up as giants, cartoon characters, mystical creatures or personages from the past.

Nope, puppies and gentledogs, that is not our cup of tea. That is why I brought my plea before the good judge and ask the Sinulog fairy to spare my hoomans. Alas, my motion for hooman exclusivity for the last week was denied, and as a result thereof- no bloggie posts. Drat

And so, I have come to the realization, that just maybe, this is one event not meant for dogs, but our humans, to enjoy. I rest my case.

The word sinulog comes from a Cebuano word meaning, “like the movement of water currents.” The name is a reference to the forward-backward steps in the Sinulog dance; the rhythmic motion is reminiscent of the movement of the eddies of Cebu’s old Pahina River. The dancers basically take two steps forward and one step backward to the beat of a drum. The dance is traditionally performed mostly by elderly women. (source: http://en.wikipilipinas.org)

Sinulog is arguably the biggest, grandest and most anticipated celebration in the country- a celebration of oneness of a nation in hope, love and adulation (for the patron of Cebu- Señor Sto. Niño or the child Jesus). The festival is a week long celebration filled with dances, street parties, concerts, prayer rallies and parades, fireworks competitions and on Sunday- a mardi gras which will run from around 9 AM until 6 PM and a fireworks display at the Ayala Center Cebu.

Here are snippets of some Sinulog events attended by humans.

Sinulog 2009

*****

view of parade from manang's office

*****

'giants' parade

*****

Everyone gushed during the mardi gras. They ‘oohhhed’ and ‘aahhed’, I blinked. Really now, they say it was filled with colors.

But aren’t dogs supposed to have limited color recognition?

They said the floats were intricately designed, more like eye candy. Really now, I’d rather have something I can eat...

I'm a sourpuss. I know. What's a dog to do to have human exclusivity, these days?

A Tribute to Zoe

2009-01-16T16:06:00.025+10:30

It was all too fast. Then again, maybe it was her time to go. Last night, Our dear friend, Zoe passed away just as quickly as she had claimed our hearts. This morning we were thinking of her. We were mulling over their Christmas card, thinking this year Santa Zoe will now have 2 reindogs. I guess that thought can wait...

We miss you already dear girl... Please watch over us from the Rainbow Bridge.

Stay strong Addie, Luci and Mommy Staci and family.

All of you will be in our prayers

Our Social Life Begins...

2009-01-14T13:53:00.038+10:30

Aki's Birthday Bonanza
by The Pooper Scooper

Sunday, January 10, 2009
6:00 PM

Manang roused me early in the morning last Saturday. We were supposed to go to the grocery to work on our special project for Manong Aki’s birthday. This being his first birthday, manang said it would be but proper for us to share our blessings with our less fortunate (human) brothers.

Manang and I went to the grocery late in the afternoon after bumming around over old The Simpsons reruns and got busy for the next day’s event….

We got us the following ingredients and broke our backs making sandwiches and party hats out of recycled card boards …

These are ham and corned beef sandwiches and fruit juice drinks for the little kids selling candles/ sampaguita beside the church near manang’s office.

On Sunday evening, manang and I went out to distribute the sandwiches. We found a little girl selling candles near the traffic lights and we decided to give her our little bag of food, which she in turn gaily handed to her mother (and brothers and sisters), who was sitting in one corner of the pavement. It was such a wonderful feeling that we decided to continue on with this tradition every birthday.

Upon getting home, I changed into my comfy clothes because the night was getting cold. I was mildly surprised to meet two very familiar faces.

It was Ms. Giselle (and her niece) with Belo!

Do you still remember Belo?

Some months ago, we posted about his visit. Back then, he had a nasty skin problem which made him look like a sheared sheep. Thankfully with a huge dose of loving care he quickly bounced back to health!

Okay, so now it’s time for me to work on the tables… but before that, where is that Birthday boy?

“Oh there you are manong Aki!”

Just look at him and his silly grin. The boy knows something special is coming up.

“Manong Aki, I was told that you need to change into your party clothes…”

“What party clothes? He said as a blank expression crossed his eager face. You mean mommy Lilli’s ultracool bandana is not appropriate?”

“Ummm… I know you look good in them, but manang said you had to put these on…”

“Now, smile!... I said smile… what is that gritted mouth supposed to be? ”

“I hate you, Poopie, this is not cool at all...”

“There. That’s as handsome as you can get. Now can we PLEASE eat!?!”

We had a yummy feast of chicken burgers, fried chicken and chicken pops, spaghetti, a lovely custard cake and double dutch icecream.

Presenting to manong Aki his cake. As you can see there is only one candle representing his age.

The birthday boy posing with the guests and manang tin and R’ (manang was behind the camera lens and I was busy directing the flow of activities)

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday manong Aki,

Happy Birthday to you!!!

Now make a wish…

I never got to learn what he wished for that night, but I have a good feeling he had a little wish somewhere for me.

Birthdays sure are special and we are so glad to be sharing it with friends and family. The best part was we got to eat a piece of everything! Yay! I can't wait for my Birthday to come!!

Here are some videos during manong Aki’s actual birthdate- January 12, 2009 (Monday). As you may have notice, we celebrated the pawty earlier because manong was supposed to go to Bacolod for a business trip on Monday (which never happened—haha! I wonder if that was part of Aki’s wish.)

Gone in 5 seconds...

(did you even see what's inside? hehe.. those were peanut butter popsicles)

Testing the Teefie...
(Manang: We undermined the sharpness of his teefie when we left him to toy around with the treats. Somehow Aki mananged to pry the biscuit bag open and so we had to transfer the contents into another container)

And of course, we got a lot of greetings from a lot of our friends. We also received pressies from some dear DWB friends yesterday. Here is the e-card that our good buddy, Dr. Dino sent Aki on Monday.... Thank you Dino and everyone who greeted Aki!

One Year!!

2009-01-13T15:53:00.016+10:30

Hello everyone! The Pooper Scooper here…

My brother Aki had to take a leave of absence because he was a little overwhelmed with the previous days’ events. We had lots of fun during the last few days and I will be sharing it with all of you in my special Pooper Scooper report tomorrow.

For now, let me share with all of you the reason why January 12, 2009 is very special for all of us. As most of you may already know, my manong Aki just turned ONE on this day and since I cannot afford any pressie I undertook the task of directing my very first movie…

So without further ado, here is my tribute to the dearest brother I've ever known (manang helped me put on the words and stuff cos she wanted to steal my idea and make a video for Aki as well. I told her to be contented with her assignment and just continue on with her assistant director duties. ha!)...

We hope all of you enjoyed following our Achilles’ tail as much as we did!

~ from the paws of The Pooper Scooper

Coming Soon...

2009-01-09T23:59:00.007+10:30

01.12.09

Thanking 2008...

2009-01-07T11:20:00.031+10:30

Hellow there pups and kitties!

I am finally back from my surprisingly rewarding vacation. I say that with pride not only because I came back a “healthier”, (manang prefers “fat”, but really what does she know?) “wiser” and more mature dog.

How can I say I am healthier? hehe… That’s because my kuya Emer a.ka. Holiday Nanny was uber nice to me during my 14-day exile and took pity on the fact that I was all cooped up in my house for the entire “vacation”. He was so nice that he decided to bend the rules a little bit and give me an extra cup of kibbles “occasionally”. As you may all guess, the extra “love” settled itself prominently around my belly and gave me that extra swaggering motion when I go for walkies.

I can also say I grew wiser because I now finally broke ‘the spell’ binding my hoomans and their pockets. The “stingy spell” had been hounding me for months and now I’m free of it... yay!

If you recall these little numbers…

Well, they are no more!
Zilch!

Chewed to oblivion!

Why? It’s not because I’m a naughty boy. I definitely am NOT. I just wanted the hoomans to enjoy themselves and embrace the things that they love to do i.e. pamper us in whatever way possible and permissible. And so, as 2008 drew to a close, I bid goodbye to some of things that formed integral parts of my 2008.

******

To my old bowl,

I thank you for your almost 12 months of service. You had been with me since I was too young to make a dent on your matte surface. You saw me through changing diets, falling and growing teefies, pasta celebrations and growing families. What we had was special but I felt that keeping you would only restrict my diet. I am a big boy now and I am befitting of a bowl fit for an adult.

******

To my old harness,

I thank you for accompanying me throughout my walkies. We may have not spent as much time as your bowl counterpart but please know that you are special for you came from my Mommy Lilli and for that you will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for the extra support that you lent me when I needed it most, having you was such a welcome change from those nasty collars I was used to. You were indeed my friend, yet a growing boy’s manly chest needs to grow out into its full size- you will only restrict that.

******

To my rambunctious alter ego,

I did not really say goodbye to you. You will always be a special part of me because you gave me the power to make the hoomans speak a little louder, run a little faster, move a little quicker and forgive and forget more frequently. Without you, I could not free the extra inner angels of my hoomans. Manang and manong will never know the extent of their patience and love for me. Only you can do that, that is why I plan to keep you around for a bit although maybe not as frequent as before. This is a new year for me and I too want to show my hoomans that I intend to lead a glucose-free life.

******

Having said that, I can feel at ease with myself and my so called wrongdoings. (I have heard manang attributed my actions to boredom and sadness. yeah right.). Truth be told, that was actually my way of “de-cluttering”… of freeing myself of the negative energies to make way for the positive ones.

I don’t know if my hoomans have opened their eyes and accepted the wisdom in my reasons but even old folks need to grow sometimes. Surely, there are far wiser reasons behind the decisions we make. That is the mantra that we dogs live by.

This 2009, I have resolved to celebrate my dogness (the essence of my being a dog per manang’s Philosophy 1 Teacher). I have come to peace with the fact that we are a gifted specie, who, regardless of size and strength, can bring the homosapiens to a fit and frenzy even at the slightest whim . We are gifted with the ability to soothe any tangible or intangible pain and we are given hoomans who devote themselves to us just as we devote ourselves entirely to them.

With that, I pray that dogs (as well as other animals) will flourish even in the Year of The Ox. Maybe world domination is still far ahead, but we can each work on that one hooman at a time. For now I bid all of you A Happy New Year!