video test

oh my gosh, Mommy finally figured out how to do video hooray hooray!!!!!!!!! This is me doing the agility course at Bark in the Park.

I Barked in the Park

Hi everyone!

On Saturday I went to Bark in the Park. Although the title of my post is misleading...I didn't bark once! I'm a quiet dog, most of the time. But anyway, back to Bark in the Park. There were soooooo many dogs there that it was a little overwhelming, especially for a small Poo like me. So I convinced Mommy to carry me quite a bit. There were lots of dogs there in strollers, which made me think of Daisy. Maybe I will have to bring a stroller next time too. There were also weird dogs who looked like this, who made me think of Bob Marley:

We walked all around the edge of the park and checked out all the people selling things. This is where we got my Howloween costume last year. We didn't buy anything this year, unfortunately. Mommy was very tempted by this couch though:

Mom and Dad said that one was just my size...

but I thought THIS one provided much more room to stretch out:

After we perused all the vendors, we went to the agility ring! Yippie, my favorite!!! It's not real Major League agility--everybody gets to try it! First, I led Mommy around the flags:

Next, I showed her how to jump over the high-bar. Wee, look how I can jump!

And then I went over the tubes! (Mommy was lazy and went around the edge.) There were lots of them all in a row, each one bigger than the last, and I conquered them all! And I did it so fast I’m a blur:

After we finished, we did it again! This time it was my turn to lead Daddy through. Here I am mid-spin:

Then it was back to the jump. This jump has a high degree of difficulty, so I had to go first to show Daddy how to do it. Look at me fly!!! (That little girl was the official bar lifter/lowerer.)

Okay, Daddy, now it’s your turn. C’mon, you can do it!

One of the scariest events in agility is the teeter totter. Yes, it has a childish name, but this is not child’s play. When you only weigh 9 ¼ pounds, you have to walk all the way out to the END of the ramp before it bangs down to the ground! Ooh, it’s scary! But I did it better than last year. Look:

After we did the agility course, Mommy and Daddy were tempted to go back to a booth we had seen earlier where they were selling agility equipment sets for little dogs like me. But we didn’t. Maybe next year!

Bye for now,
Poppy the Agility Champion

An Outing Without Poppy???

I have had a slow week. My Tahoe adventure tired me out lots, and then last weekend we went to a big pet fair in Marin. No pictures though. I have spent this week resting in preparation for Bark in the Park on Saturday. Woopee!!! Last year I did the agility course and it was so fun! I hope they have it again this year.

So, to prove how slow of a week I have had, here is a picture of something my parents did without me. Not only did they do something without me, they did something with ANOTHER DOG!!! Yes, they cheated on me!!! They went kite-flying with my cousin Sivan. I don't go over to their house anymore because Sivan likes to eat me. So they left me at home! Here are the pictures to prove it:
Uncle Ben flew the kite so high it went higher than the moon! And Sivan was a Very Bad Dog and tried to eat the kite every time it came down low enough. Daddy had to stand under the kite and be its bodyguard to protect it from Sivan's ravaging jaws.

Here she is giving us the evil eye. Maybe she caught this disease from Wally.

She was so worked up that after less than an hour of kite flying she was all foamy around the mouth. She sprayed it everywhere, including on her own face.

Come to think of it, it's probably better that I wasn't there!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua (huahuahua)

Three Very Important Topics

Oh, I have so much to talk about today! First, I have to tell you all about my weekend. We went to Lake Tahoe! We drove a super-long way, and I was very good in my carseat the whole time.

We took lots of pee break stops and I got to leave pee mail everywhere along the way. When we got there we took a short walk in the forest and I had to pee some more to claim the area as my own.

The next day we went on a never-ending-hike to Lake Margaret. I walked almost the whole way there all by myself! I only had to be carried over the really rocky parts. Everyone who saw me commented on how cute I was and how I was the littlest dog they had ever seen on the trail. Here I am jumping over a big log and showing how athletic I am:

When we got to the lake I was very tired, so I took a little nap in Daddy’s lap. On the hike back to the car I was pretty beat, so Mommy carried me part of the way in my special backpack. When we crossed this fallen tree bridge I took the opportunity to look closely at the water for any fish that might be hiding in there (you should embiggen this one for full cuteness effect) :

On the way back we stopped at a little stream and we all dipped our feet in to cool off—even me, and I hate water! This is a shadow picture of all of us at the little stream:

All in all, the hike was five miles, round-trip. And I walked most of the way all by myself! I told you I was a trail dog!

When we got home from our long weekend, I was catching up with my doggy friends’ blogs, and I saw that Dobby gave me an award! Because he loves my blog! Gee, that is super cool! Here is my special award from my special chihuahua pal:

I believe I am meant to pass this award along to other worthy bloggy doggies. Eek, however will I choose?! I think I will pick Tadpole, because he is super cute, has very well-placed freckles, and he always makes me smile. Hooray Tad!

And then on Lorenza’s blog, I saw that she tagged me to tell about my first day with my parents. It was about two years ago, in June of 2005, but I still remember it because it was such a relief to get there. Listen, I’ll tell you all about it:

I started my life somewhere in northern California. I was found as a poor little stray puppy and turned in to a shelter in San Jose. It turned out that not only was I lost, but I had a broken pelvis too! They called me “Bella” (but I knew that wasn't my real name) and took some x-ray pictures of my pelvis. You could see all the little bones in my tail—neat! But what wasn’t so neat was that my pelvis was pretty much shattered. Nobody came to adopt me or claim me, and soon I was transferred to another shelter in Santa Clara. Again, nobody adopted me, so I was transferred again to the Santa Cruz SPCA. That’s where my Mommy found me! She was the shelter’s education director at the time, and she fell in love with me right away! She called Daddy and said, “Um, how would you feel about fostering a puppy with a broken pelvis for just one night?” Daddy responded, “Are you crazy?! You want to bring home a puppy and then take her back the next day?!” But no, Mommy was just trying to be sly. She always knew she wanted to keep me—she was just trying to easy Daddy into the idea. It turned out he didn’t need any convincing.

That night when we got home I was curled up into a ball on the floor in between Mommy and Daddy, and Daddy said, “I never knew I could love a chihuahua so much.” They knew they wanted to keep me. And that, pretty much, was that. I was so happy to be out of a cage and into a lap. They were going camping that weekend (plans made before me, and not an appropriate outing for a pre-shots puppy with a broken pelvis), so I had to spend the next night with one of Mommy’s very nice co-workers. But Mommy and Daddy missed me so much that they cut their camping trip short and came to pick me up early! While they were hiking on their short-lived camping trip, they came up with the name Poppy. It’s the state flower of California, you know! And one of my Mommy’s favorites!

This is one of their favorite early pictures of me. They said I looked just like a baby deer:

I spent the next couple of months being carried around while my pelvis was healing. Crate rest shmate rest, I say. Being held all the time is the way to go! Here I am, so happy to be in my forever home with my forever family:

And here is a picture of me with my sissy Clover from that first summer. I am waiting patiently for her to finish her wet treats so that I can clean off her plate. I have always been very helpful:

Here is one last picture of me from two summers later (ie, this summer!) so you can see how big I have gotten:

What? You don’t think I have gotten any bigger? Well...I have! I was only four pounds and one ounce when I came to the shelter. Now I am nine and a quarter whole pounds!

I hope everydog had a very nice howliday weekend. I sure did!

Bye for now,
Poppy

"I Want to Ride My Bicycle...

I want to ride my bike;
I want to ride my bicycle,
I want to ride it where I like!"

(Thank you to Queen for those brilliant and insightful lyrics.)

Last year I learned how to ride a bicycle, and it is now one of my favorite things to do! We ride out to the DP (Dog Park) or over to Grandma and Grandapa’s house. Sometimes we even ride along the ocean! Since basket riding (as I like to call it) is such a very fun thing to do, I will teach you all how to do it.

Step One: Make sure your Mommy has a bike. After you have made sure of that, put your basket right on the front where you can have the best view:

Step Two: When you get in your basket, make sure you are properly strapped in, because you do not want to fall out. See the red strap that goes through my harness?

When I am riding my bike I get so excited that sometimes I like to sit up very tall and put my paws over the front edge of the basket. This is okay, because remember, I am strapped in.

Step Three: Make sure you go to places where you can see all sorts of interesting things, like these geese:

Step Four: The Dismount: This picture was taken after a very windy bike ride along the ocean in Monterey (that's why I'm wearing a sweater). I was waiting very patiently to be taken out of my basket. Notice how I am being Very Good because I do not try to jump out before it is time. Do not ever jump out before it is time.

This completes our lesson in how to ride a bike. I hope you have enjoyed it. You are now ready to try it yourself!!! See you on the trails!

Bye for now,
Poppy

Pee-ess: if you are very large, like, say, Randi, you might need a much bigger basket. :)

Double Tagsies

I got tagged two times! Once by Dobby for the Scattergories game, and once by Tadpole for the middle name game. I’ll start with Scattergories:

(The Rules: Your answers have to begin with the same letter that begins your first name.)

What is your name? Poppy
4 letter word: Park!
Vehicle: Prius
TV Show: Pet Palaces (this is a show my Mommy saw once about people who renovate their houses to make them super pet-friendly)
City: Palo Alto (that’s where my grandparents live)
Boy Name: Pablo
Girl Name: Penelope
Alcoholic Drink: pina colada
Occupation: Paper shredder (this is my job and it is a very important job)

Something you wear: Party Coat! (I got this party coat last Christmas)

Celebrity: Pablo Picasso (does he count?)
Food: peanut butter (this is me eating some peanut butter while drying off after a bath back when I was on "crate rest" for my broken pelvis)

Something found in a bathroom: paper tube recycling bucket (I like to self-serve from this bucket)
Reason for being late: Poop (ate it, then threw up)
Cartoon Character: Popeye
Something You Shout: Poppy, come! (usually I don’t)

Hhm, I will tag...ChaChiLu and Jet!

And now for the Middle Name Game. This one is harder, because I don’t actually have a middle name! My last name is so long and hyphenated that my parents figured I didn’t need a middle name too. Oh, whatever shall I do? Maybe I will use one of my nicknames instead.

(The Rules: think of attributes that start with each letter of your middle name.)

P - poop in the box (when this happens I get a big treat and a celebration)
O - overjoyed (when my parents come home)
O - observant (I can spot a treat from a mile away)
P - playful
E - endearing
R - ready for action
S - speedy (I am always the fastest one at the little dog park)

For this game I will tag Deefor!

Bye for now!
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

pee-ess: stay tuned for a lesson in How to Ride a Bicycle...coming soon!

Frosty Hearts

It has been hot here the past few days (like in the 80s, oh poor us), so Mommy decided to make me some yummy cool treats. Kind of like Frosty Paws, but healthier! She got the idea from all of you dogs out there, so I thank you for that!

I am the official pre-taster of the house, so I got to lick the spoon. It was all soygurt-y peanut butter-y goodness!

Here are the treats all snug in their molds. Bye-bye treats! Time to go in the freezer!

I was very excited when the Frosty Hearts were ready. Mommy said to staaaaay, so I did.

And then she said “okay” so I knew it was my time to shine. But wait! The Frosty Heart seemed reluctant to get in my mouth. It was so big! And cold! And slippery! So I had to back away and bark at it for a minute. “Hey! Hey you! What is the big idea? Stop sliding around and get in my mouth!”

Eventually I discovered the proper technique. You have to carry the Frosty Heart onto the brand new carpet, where it will not slide around so much. Friction, you know.

I look forward to my next encounter with the Mighty Frosty Heart. AND Mommy and Daddy say they are going to try to make me some cubables like Wally’s. They think I need more whole foods in my diet and a little less brown crunchy foods. I’m okay with that.

Bye for now!

Poppy

pee ess: Mommy wishes she wasn't such a non-computer dork and knew how to post video because she made a movie of me barking at the Frosty Heart and it is so cute. But it's okay; her strengths lie in different areas! Do we need a YouTube account?