Waterfall Hiking!

Hello furiends! Look at me hiking!!!I love hiking! We went to a county park with lots of streams and waterfalls. Don't worry--I was careful not to get my feet wet! I got to walk about half of the time, and the rest of the time Mommy carried me in my orange backpack. I am slowly working my way back up to being a "trail dog." Before my back surgeries, I used to walk the whole way on our hikes. Now I can only do a little walking and mostly riding. But I still have fun!
This time we were hiking with friends, which we don't normally do. It turns out that I HATE riding when we are hiking with friends! I like to be in the front of the pack, and if I have to ride or walk in the back, I get very upset and mush like a sled dog until I can reach the front of the group. This, as you might imagine, is not so great for my back.

Mommy and Daddy did a bad thing last weekend. They went hiking without me! They went to a park that does not allow dogs. I can't imagine! So I cannot show you any pictures of me from this hike because I was not there! Humph!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

"Ear"resistible Ears!

Hello furiends!

I promised that I would blog again "later in the week," but that seems to have turned into "later in the next week." Oops. Oh well! Here we go!

I am really excited because I am officially entering Lexus & Bentley's "Ear"resistible Ears Contest! I love my ears for two reasons. First, they are very functional because they help me concentrate like I am doing here with this treat:

Second, they help me get what I want by looking cuuuuuute!
I hope you like my photo entry and I can't wait to see all the entries and admire everybody else's ears!


In other news, Dinah & Bridget gave me an award called "Oops, I Ate It!" Now, I'm not sure if this award should start with "oops," because I usually always mean to eat the things I eat. For example, one day when I was a puppy, Mommy found me in the living room chewing on what looked like a green tassel. She thought and though about where I might have gotten such a thing, but she was pretty sure that we didn't have any tassels, green or otherwise, in our house. It turned out that she was right, because when she got closer, she saw that what I was actually eating was the stringy, fibrous end of an asparagus!!! It must have fallen on the floor while Daddy was chopping them for dinner. Oops! Hee hee! It was on that day that Mommy and Daddy realized that I am an asparagus fiend and will go to almost any length to get some.


And the last item on today's agenda is a little story about how I got my name. I may have told this story before, but I really like it, so I'll tell it again. When Mommy and Daddy got me, they already had my sister Clover, the prettiest orange kitty who ever was. Mommy really likes "nature" names (like Clover), and she wanted mine to fit in with the theme. The day before Mommy and Daddy picked me up from the shelter, they went hiking. During their hike, they tried to decide on a nature name for me. They went through the alphabet letter by letter, trying to find the best name. Mommy came up with Daisy, Sandy, Spring, and several others. Daddy came up with Onion. Ha ha. Nothing seemed to feel quite right. Then all of a sudden, Daddy said, "How about Poppy?" Mommy screamed! She wondered how she could have overlooked that name. Poppies are her absolute favorite flowers! So that was that. I became Poppy, and I really like my name because I think it's pretty and also I've never met another dog with the same name. I think maybe it's common in England, but we don't live in England. :) Here is a picture of me on my very first day home a little over four years ago:


Bye for now,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Goodbye Vacations, Hello Fall

Hi everybody! I had two great vacations in a row! The first vacation was to Mendocino, which was very picturesque, as promised. We stayed at the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek, which was SO dog-friendly! Dogs are allowed everywhere except the main house during breakfast. When we arrived, I peed in the Pooch Parking area:

After we got settled, we set off to explore the town. It was all foggy, as can be expected on the California coast. I was prepared with my fleece lined rain jacket. We had dinner at a cafe in town. They had a big deck outside with lots of heat lamps. Mommy and I were nice and cozy under the lamps, and Daddy was sweating! This was our appetizer:

The next day we went to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. It was really pretty and they allow dogs! We expected it to be foggy again, but it was actually really sunny and warm. I did a pretty good pose on this bench, don't you think?
Later that day we went to Big River Beach, which is where the Big River meets the Pacific Ocean, and had a picnic lunch. The Inn has its own private little beach called Buckhorn Cove, but you had to walk down the shoulder of the highway and then down a poison oak-infested path to reach it. No thanks! So we went to this huge beach instead. This was only the first day off of my official six-week crate rest, so I wasn't allowed to run and play all crazy-like. Daddy walked with me a little bit, but I tried to run the whole time! My legs were moving fast and my ears were slicked back, so I must have been runing, right? Mommy says I wasn't because Daddy was holding me back on the leash. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea for my back. I had to have a drink after that:
Boy, was I tired that night! When we're on vacation, I never get to take my mid-day naps, so no matter what we do, I'm always tired at the end of the day. I dug this little pile of covers on our bed all by myself:

The next morning we checked out of our Inn and went to another place for breakfast. It's called The Ravens and it's at the Stanford Inn, which is also very dog-friendly, by the way. We might stay there next time. It is a vegetarian restaurant, and the only restaurant in all of California that allows dogs inside to eat!!! I hope I didn't convince them to change their policy...as soon as we walked in the door, I squatted down and started to have a poop right in front of the front desk. Heh heh, oops. Mommy quickly took me outside, where the poop actually fell out, luckily. Anyway, they did let us inside after I was done! This is a picture of the dog dining room. Nobody was there because we were pretty much their last breakfast reservation. But you can see the hotel's dogs, Murphy and Gypsy. They were there to keep us company!

After breakfast we walked around the Stanford Inn's gardens. There were lots of good things to smell. I'm wearing my new coat in this picture. I actually didn't wear it the whole time because once we got there, Mommy realized that she hadn't made a hole in it for my leash. I think all coats for little dogs should have the hole pre-made right where the harness would be. Some of them have a hole at the neckline for the leash to attach to the collar, but I don't wear a leash attached to my collar. Little dogs often have problems with their tracheas. It's safer to wear a harness! But I think you can see how pretty my new coat is anyway:
Mendocino was really fun, and the whole town was super dog-friendly. We were home for only a couple of days before our next vacation, camping in Lake Tahoe!!!

We went to Emerald Bay State Park and camped for three nights in our gigantic tent! Daddy got a new warm weather sleeping bag that has an expandable zipper section. He got it specifically so that I can fit better inside with him. At first it didn't smell right to me and I didn't want to go inside. After quite a bit of coaxing, I finally tried it the second night. I approve, as you can see. And why won't Mommy stop taking pictures while I'm trying to sleep?!

We went on a great hike to Granite Lake. I got to ride in my orange backpack because I'm still not healed enough for real hiking. But I like to ride too, so it's okay. We met several people on the trail who remarked on how cute I am and how they wish their dog would ride like me!

On our last day there, we went to Kiva Beach, which is the dog beach in south shore. I didn't have any sunscreen on, so we tried to stay in the shade. I spent much of the time in my rightful place on top of Daddy:

I had TWO great vacations, and now this week Mommy has to go back to work. We sure will miss this summer. Even though Mommy has always been a teacher, this is actually the first summer she has taken off! Usually she does summer school or summer camps or something. I was very lucky to have so much time with her, especially since I had to have an unexpected back surgery. This year her teaching schedule is a teeny bit better than last year, so I hope we have more time together every day. I am such a lucky Poo!

Bye for now,
Poppy the Little Blonde Chihuahua

Pee Ess:
Later this week I will do a post about an "Oops I Ate It" award I got and and also about how I got my name. :) And I'm also going to enter the "ear"resistable ears contest!

I'm Going on Vacation!!!

We are going on vacation for a few days to a very dog-friendly place with beaches and bluffs and meadows and creeks! It's called Mendocino! (Mendocino is home to the only restaurant in California where dogs can eat INDOORS!!!) I am very excited to go, but I have to wait for Daddy to wake up before we can leave. I guess I will spend this time packing my bag. I can also tell you what I have been doing lately.

I sure have had a busy couple of weeks! August has been much better than July so far. No surgeries! Yay! Two weekends ago we went to our favorite pet supply store to find something for me to chew on while I am on crate rest. Being still is soooo boring that Mommy and Daddy decided that they wanted to get me a special treat. We bought these dried sweet potato things and then we went to the coffee shop next door to get Daddy a treat. While Mommy and I were waiting outside, she opened the sweet potato package and I practically tried to grab it out of her hands! She gave me one to eat on her lap, and it was soooo good! She was surprised because she had bought me a sample one of these before, but I didn't like it at all. Maybe it was too dried out. But these were moist and delicious and chewy! Look at me chowing down:

A couple of weeks ago Mommy did a bad thing and ordered me another jacket plus TWO more Puppia harnesses (one pink and one brown). We eagerly awaited its arrival for a looong time, and it finally arrived the other day! I will take a picture of me in my new Urban Hund jacket while we are on vacation this week. It is brown corduroy lined with pink fleece! They included some sample treats in the package, and I was very interested in finding out what they were. I dug and scratched at the package to no avail. She finally had to help me get them out, and guess what they were. Peanut butter ballz! Oh yummy yummy! Mommy checked the PB recall pet food/treat list first to see if they were on it, and when they got the all-clear, I chowed down! It was a little bit hard to get started because they are so huge and they roll around like a ball! At first I didn't know whether to eat it or play with it! I figured it out eventually. So delicious!

In other news, I received an award from my new friend Coco the chihuahua. She says I am a gem! Thank you, Coco! How sweet of you!

I will see you all after my picturesque coastal vacation!!!
Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Loldog!

My Mommy made me into a loldog, but she doesn't know how to send it to ihasahotdog. Oh well.


I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful, lazy Sunday!
Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Four Presents!!!

Mommy has been feeling guilty that I have to spend so much time doing nothing, so she bought me some presents! Four presents!

First, she ordered me a new collar. I kept getting my dew claw caught in the tag ring on my old one, so she wanted to get one of those special collars with my name and phone number embroidered on it. She ordered it from Dog Collar World. They have soooo many colors to choose from! We chose orange and white gingham with black embroidery thread. It came to our house in only a few days! Here is what it looks like:
I am a little bit sleepy in this picture, which is why I am rubbing my eyes. But it's a pretty good picture of my new collar, don't you think? My name is on one side and my phone number is on the other side. And we attached my bell, too. AND it's still a breakaway kitty collar, so it's extra safe. Although the website said it's a 10 pound breakaway...but I only weigh 8 1/2 pounds ...hmmm. I've never gotten caught on anything before, so it's probably okay.

At the grocery store yesterday Mommy bought me TWO MORE PRESENTS! She got me this thing that looks like a toy, but she insists that it is Not-A-Toy, but rather a little buckwheat heating pad. You can judge for yourself--do you think it looks like a toy?

It's filled with buckwheat and you can microwave it and it gets all warm and toasty. They're called "Whoopsies." I think that name is kind of funny. But no matter what it's called, it looks like a toy to me!

The other thing she got me at the store was some wheatgrass! I love to eat grass, and I haven't been able to walk around in the backyard or on walks to get my recommended daily intake of grass, so she bought me some organic grass of my very own! We used to get this for my sister Clover, but we haven't had it since she died almost exactly six months ago. :(
Num num, I love grass!

The fourth and final present isn't exactly for me, but it's me-themed, which is almost just as good. At the Garlic Festival over the weekend Mommy and Daddy got some yard art! Look:
This is the me-themed one. It's a welcome chihuahua! Mommy's only complaint about it is that she wishes it had paw prints instead of bones. Bones are so morbid, but they are sometimes hard to avoid on doggy stuff. The artist we bought this from also had ones that said "Protected by Chihuahua Security Co." Those were pretty funny too!

We also got an angel kitty for my sister Clover, who is at the Rainbow Bridge. I think we will put this one in the sunshine near the vegetable garden.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend too!
Bye for now,
Poppy the LBC

Pee Ess: (or should I say POO Ess!?)
This is just an extra picture for your viewing pleasure. Mommy calls this one "So Close, Yet So Far Away."

Lunch Time!

My recovery is going really well. The problem is that I feel so good that I want to get up and run around! That would be very bad for my back though. I have three more weeks of crate rest to go. :(

This picture was taken six days after my surgery. Look at me standing up!
Later that same day Mommy and Daddy decided to take me out for lunch to Chipotle. I love this place because they always feed me beans if I ask nicely! I sat in my carrier during lunch so I wouldn't wiggle around too much and fall off the chair. It was pretty comfy!


And if you want to be really impressed, check out this video of my first post-surgery walk six days after surgery:

I can actually walk without my sling, but I'm not supposed to. Sometimes I walk around the living room just a little bit. But really I want to run and play!!! Being relaxed is soooo hard!

Bye for now!
Poppy the LBC