the pact

Baxter and I have a pact.  That he will never leave me and I will never leave him.  And I know it's official, because we shake on it every day.  Shaking multiple times, using both paws and hands to be extra sure and even sealing it with a snackie and a kiss. Because it is that important.  Because it simply has to be.

Yet despite our best efforts, I know there will come a day when one of us won't be able to hold up our end of the bargain.   When one of us must say goodbye and join his brothers before him.  But I hope it is not for a very very very very long time.

Rest in peace, sweet Maggie, and the warmest of hugs to Joey and his dad.


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tiny visitor

Two little kielbasas frolicked in our house yesterday afternoon, goofing about and getting plenty of snackies and catching up as only little dachshunds do, til finally both were tuckered out and it was time for Baxter's little friend Lulu and her mom to go home. 

goodbye lulu but not for lo-ooong! i cannot wait til u come back next month to spend a few days with us and if u cannot wait either u are always welcome to spend the day with me and we can drink monkey chow milkshakes and play on the wii with duk duk n lil pink puppy n chocobot! :) :)

j is for jeeves

dear diary,
sometimes, i wish i had a magic wand that would make everything better.  because if i did, i would most definitely use it on my friend jeeves, who i found out suddenly became paralyzed this past weekend and at least for now his hind legs will not work.

but i do not have a magic wand, and only time will tell how things turn out. so all i can do is wait and worry, and tell him and his mom that i am thinking about them.  and send them all my snackie love.

b.

busy

Yippee! Some happy new paper goodies are now in the kalyxcraftopia etsy shop, evidence that the little kielbasa has been a busy little pup these past few weeks, and reason why tiny chumley took a well deserved slug break with his dad this past holiday weekend.

if u see the bunnies outside 2day can u please tell them to come back 2morrow so i can chase them?

  cuz, me kinda busy right now.

a mosey for maggie

dear diary,
my spidey senses told me it would get cold n rainy again today, so i totally bugged mom about taking time to go play outside while it was nice n sunny out and it worked! only once i got outside i decided to mosey, cuz i kinda found out my friend maggie from the long and short of it all is sick and i am worried and it is one of those things where all u can do is wait. and that seems to take forever.

mom says it is funny how the world can keep spinning even when your little corner of the world seems frozen in time, waiting for news that hopefully means your pack will be together again.  i cannot wait til joey n maggie's world gets unstuck, so they can once again help keep the world spinning as only they know how. one happy doxie story at a time.

warmest of hugs to maggie n joey n their dad!

toodley-doo,
b.
  

happy hound roundup: roxie

 dear diary,
remember how my mom made roxie that dud a couple of weeks ago? you know, the snackielicious one that i really wanted to landshark? well looky! her mom sent pictures and i just had to share them, cuz roxie is such a cutie pie. she even gets to go on a trip with her new dud, which is more than what i will be doing. it seems like i haven't been on a trip in forever.  but that's okay, cuz my uncle dana is in town and even though he says likes cats better, he and i have an understanding.which means i have a whole nother lap to sleep in.  yippee!

i hope u r having a wonderful saturday!
toodley-doo,
b

flapjacks n duds: the pittsburgh penguins hockey girl

Whee, today a peekypoo at a couple of little somethings I just finished for Annabelle's mom to put under the Christmas tree for her lovely girl, whom we last saw as the lucky recipient of the lady in red. Now, Annabelle already had a nice winter coat, but this little lady needed a coordinating flapjack hat. A bit of navy babywale corduroy, glass beads, and one vintage 70s necktie later, her hat was done.



Little chum was eager as he always is to snackies model Annabelle's next gift, especially since it was a bit more unisex than Annabelle's other dud. This time, I had the pleasure of making her Pittsburgh Penguins inspired dud, so she can show her spirit just like everyone else in her family come game day!



Whooo hoo. Yes, it's probably time that the little chum himself also get a new dud, especially since his chest has gotten bulkier this past year with all that muscle weight. So sometime soon, a new blaze orange dud! Ooo, maybe just in time for Santa to put under the tree this Christmas. Happy Thursday! :)

dapper doxie duds: bentley the denver bronco

Yippee, with the last human show of the year over, it seems like this week will be all about making dapper doxie duds and flapjack hats. Today, a look at a sporty dud I just finished for Bentley, a chocolate long haired whose mom is an avid Denver Broncos fan. Yeah, pay no mind to the very pink fit model cuz Bentley is all boy and soon will have the sporty boy dud to prove it!

Bentley's duds will be a surprise present from his human sis to their mom, so I can't wait to hear how their Christmas morning goes. And maybe one day Bentley will get to visit with Kona, cuz his sis is Kona's neighbor. What a small and happy doxie world!

dapper doxie duds: miss menace

Corset. Google for the word for images and you might just get more than you bargained for. But now, there's another image to add to the mix, and it all has to do with this little pup.



Meet Ivy, a squeeful little girl who lives with her big brother Tristand and her mum in the world Camelot was born. Only this little girl isn't not your typical storybook princess. Underneath those innocent eyes, the tiny shell of adorable cuteness, lies the elfin heart of a mischievous minx. The kind of playful vixen that knows how to leave her mark in life, one fluffy pile of detritus and one heart shaped piddle puddle at a time.



So of course the Christmas present that mum wanted for Ivy this year couldn't be just any old dud. This little doxie worked hard to earn the loving nickname of Miss Menace, and she needed the vixeny supergirl duds to go along with it.

Enter my need to google corset. Ivy's mum had provided some images for inspiration, but I wanted to find a few more pictures to zoom in on the lacing and boning detail. Corset. Boning. Um, yeah. My eyeballs needed a little cleansing before getting on with the task.

And yippee! What a fun experience, mixing Victorian with vixen, blending silk taffeta with velvet, marrying venice lace and crystals. Using boning and eyelets and ribbon to make Ivy's very dapper doxie dud and cape.

Watch out Santa, this Christmas, Miss Menace is coming to town!

ready, set, squee!

Okay, there's no delicate way of putting this. Yes, I literally squeed when I opened my email and was sent a link to these pictures. And then found out I would get to make dapper doxie duds for them! In fact, I think need a might need to squee again. Meet Dino and Fluffy, two smooth galumpy red minis who are deeply in love. Join me in squee as we look at their pictures from their vacation at the beach, will you?





Foo. Okay, so Dino and Fluffy's dud story starts out like any other this past summer, with measurements and fit models and fabric choices being made and then things get put on hold because look what happened next.



Yep, Dino and Fluffy became parents! Three in all. The puppies started out so tiny, yet needed so much attention.



But soon they grew big and life could go on again.



And duds came back on the radar. Considering Dino & Fluffy were brand new parents, it seemed they needed a little something that spoke to their newfound responsibilities, yet kept the air of fun that they exude. For Dino,
a happy orange and aqua dud to match his collar, complete with a tiny pocket and removable custom bowtie. Retro yet fresh.



For Fluffy, a very pretty and ladylike aqua print to complement her yellow collar and Dino's orange duds. Adorned with micro pom pom and venice lace and freshwater pearls, Fluffy's duds also sport a pair of removable silk and beaded neck flowers, because a truly fashionable lady must have her options!



Hey kids, what do you think of mom & dad's new duds?




Sorry, I couldn't hear you. There's too much squeeing going on. :)




And lest we not forget our daily Baxter, today's photo, a shot of our little rumpkin, who was more than happy to spend a good part of his day showing me this while he stared at the squirrels outside his window. :) Whooo, have a wonderful squee-kend!

wiener dog festival 2010

Hey, it's me, Baxter, your roving rover reporter reporting to you again today from the wienerdog festival. The weather here is really nice and you know what that means, tons of doxies and their humans showed up! Now, any self respecting doxie knows that there are three things every dog should do at gatherings like this.













1) Smell butts - lots and lots of butts!












2) Ignore everybody who wants to pet you and search the floor for delicious dropped edibles!











3) Bark your head off! Yeah, that was me between barks.








Now accomplishing all three tasks effectively doesn't always leave a lot of time for other things, but if you're super efficient, there are plenty of other things you can do to keep your human happy at the festival. Like parade them around in the costume contest (this year a skunk dog won but there were so many cute costumes I am sure it was hard to choose), take them thru an obstacle course(hardly anybody wanted to go thru the tunnel, can u believe it??), and let them watch you bob for hot dogs! Yep, that's right, hot dogs! I kinda missed that part on account of my overindulging on step 3 a little bit too much, but I heard it was really fun and tasty too! And oh yeah, there's best trick, and longest doxie, and oldest doxie, and doxie who traveled the farthest to get there, and all sorts of stuff. And even raffle baskets - that's where the duds my mom donated, boy with the dragon tattoo and mission missoni, ended up. Mom was so busy chit chatting and not taking pictures that she didn't get to see who won the baskets, but she sure hopes the lucky winners find a happy hound who can wear them!

Now the best part about having been to this festival before is that u can catch up with old buddies and make new ones! Like my neighbor buddy Pretzel, who had lots of fun with the obstacle course, and little Zelda, so much bigger now and so cute in her crayon costume that her mom made her! Zelda almost won musical sit but she was runner up, which is still pretty good in my book, especially with all the commotion goin on. And of course I met up with Cricket n Pepper (ha, mom only got a fuzzy picture of half of that fun pair, and she blames it on me for the barkin!), and Lily and Marshall. And there met up with new buddies Caesar n pumpkin dog (I don't remember her name but her butt smelled wonderful!) and a little blue that I thought might be Charlie but u know the harness was pink so maaaybe not now that I think of it. And tons of other fun doxies and their humans - so many I sorta lost track but I was so glad to meet each and every one of them!



Whew. Well believe it or not I was super tuckered out from the festival, so if you're looking for a good way to tire out your own little wiener dog, I'd say this is totally one super fun way to do it. This is Baxter your roving rover reporter, hoping to see you at your next wiener dog festival! :)

tiny chumley's rules to live by #382

if u can't chase em,

then join em.

my secret garden

dear diary,
so i am visiting my kitty friends honeybear n sammy n kerny and looky, i think i found us a spot for our secret clubhouse! i'm really excited cuz now that means all we need to do is work on our secret hand shakes and we are totally set for our first meeting!

well gotta run. duk duk is alone with honeybear, and well, u know how that might go. tee hee, sometimes i think duk duk shouldn't even be alone with me!

toodles!
b.

to be or not to be

It was interesting, watching tiny chumley work through his little head whether or not he really could pull off being alpha dog. Testing the waters every once in a while in sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways. Like, not making eye contact and practicing avoidance one minute, then whining and barking at his guests the next, protesting their presence in one of his beds, or the attention they were getting from his humans. Things, I figured, he just needed to sort out on his own, really, so he and they knew where they all stood on matters of doxie criticality.

By the end of Lily and Marshall's visit, I dare say he had everything mostly worked out. Nobody was really gonna move or stop playing with his toys whether he threw a fit or not, nobody was gonna take more human love than they were offered, and most of all, nobody was gonna be da dumpty to his attempts at humpty.

With these groundrules firmly established, little kielbasa and his guests spent Sunday afternoon working as a pack, with Baxter serving as designated ensign squirrel sentinel, while his two older houseguests and commanding officers snoozed, awaiting his call. Baxter sounded the call to arms several times, and every time they faithfully worked our backyard to free it from squirrels. A well oiled machine, I figured, with every part in its place.

Or so I thought. When I looked up from my desk in the early evening, I saw my little curious boy, gingerly tiptoeing as best as a giant goombah of a doxie ever could, trying to make a space for himself between his buddies.

shhhh! i think i've got it figured out, his eyes did whisper when he glanced at me, maybe i can be alpha dog when they're sleeping!

game on!

dear diary,
wheeeeeeeeeeeee! i know mom already posted for today, but i couldn't wait to tell u about the fun we just had just a moment ago. now, the picture is from yesterday's walkies, but we won't need them today cuz let me tell u, we played a super fun game of chase! i knew they would come around sooner or later. we raced all around upstairs on the carpet and had tons of pileups every time i would turn around to go the other way. then i got smart n would run under my mom n dad's bed, and lily n marshall would pile up on themselves and bark at me for bein so tricky. soooo much better than being chased by a yorkie, let me tell u. those things really pack a wallop.

anyways, me n lily n marshall did that like a few hundred times then we all settled down and now here i am, happy as a clam. who wants to play again??

toodles!
b.

one little, two little, three little doxie dogs

It's been a blast taking care of our temporary trio of tinies. Amazing sights, like the little doxie pileups at the doorway when somebody spies a squirrel out back. And unsual activities, like having to log roll one or more snoozing sausage boy out of the way to make room on the sofa for a human. And yes, encounters inspired by Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, feeding Lily and Marshall their raw diet, and having had to deal with Lily's very unexpected backyard encounter with a freshly expired mockingbird.

Soon, our household will be quieter again, and though I am certain Baxter will be glad to have his toys, his beds, and his humans to himself again, I am also certain he will also miss his wonderful little partners in crime.

i'm sorry u have to leave today. let's do snackies again real soon, okay lily n marshall?

multiplicity

dear diary,
hee hee, so duk duk almost had a heart attack late yesterday morning when he finally dragged his feathers out of bed and saw this. yep, that's right, three of me!

well, okay, it's really not all me. i'm in the middle and on either side of me are lily and marshall. they are my house guests for the weekend! so cool, right?

now, even though i originally came from a household with forty dogs in it, i'll be the first to admit that it takes getting used to, this multiple dog thing. so it's been nice that we've had things to bond over, like, well, hunting and, duh, food of course! this is me n marshall n lily, all working on our first amazing feat of autumn!

well, i gotta make a bones run while duk duk n lily n marshall finish watching cartoons, so hasta luego!

toodles,
b.

dapper doxie duds: island boy and kona bryant

Meet Kona. Kona is a bright eyed piebald doxie whose mom contacted me about a dapper doxie dud. Something better fitting than what he has now, maybe with a little hint of Hawaii, and Lakers and maybe it could coordinate with Kona's red print collar?

Hmmmm, I started to wonder. Any two of the three criteria possibly, but all three in one dud? How is that ever gonna work? I sweated for a bit while we pursued the fit model work, then felt a rush of excitement when I saw the wall of batiks at the fabric store. Maybe they'd have a little something in purple and gold, hopefully a masculine print that in a shade that would also still work with Kona's coloring. And there it was, an islandy batik of toasted golden trees on a background of plum. Lakers colors, turned rich by the setting sun. Things really fell into place when I scored a coordinating necktie, and thus was born the Island Boy dud. Something I am sure any Hawaiian surfer dude Lakers fan would be happy to wear to an evening luau, embellished with the tiny treasure of an etched fish print copper tag I made just yesterday, and sewn on with just a bit of red thread to complement Kona's collar. Oh yeah, this totally hits all three marks, so I'm done, right?



But I had an idea for a Lakers dud that burned a hole in my brain. I just HAD to try it out. Something cool, whose success wouldn't rely on regular ol preprinted licensed Lakers fabric. Something special, with all the detailed piping and seaming and all the proper athletic fabric. Oh yes, if Kona and his dad wanted to walk with their heads held high on game day then it could only mean one thing as far as Kona's duds were concerned. The official Kona Bryant jersey dud!







geez mom, u mean this wasn't a baxter bryant dud??

No, baby dog. But tomorrow is another day! :)

an affair to remember

Having been away now for six days from little boyfriend, I must say the withdrawal symptoms are definitely growing. Sure, we video chat every day, but there's nothing like physical presence, the feel of a little snuggly round sausage boy nudging against me when I write these posts, the sight of a waggy tail when I have food to share, the companionship of a four legged little buddy boy. And so, on Friday I resorted to bribing the cockapoo that lives at the place we are staying, luring him into loving me with tiny bits of watermelon and partially fulfilled promises of walkies. While his mom was away at work and we had the house to ourselves, Roscoe the cockapoo became my surrogate buddy, and we both hung out like two refugees brought together out of similar circumstances and needs. We developed an understanding, Roscoe and I, an arrangement. With no one else around, he was my lap buddy and I was his lap, and neither of us would let our respective loved ones know of our tryst.













By Friday evening when the amazing miss Molly came to visit and Roscoe's mom came home, our relationship was but a memory. It was time to get a real doxie fix, and Molly was the perfect little pumpkin at Saturday's show, ambling about while her mom, Robin, and I worked, poking her head out from under the tablecloth with the perfect amount of cuteness to merit the snack that she knew was waiting for her.


















Her big brother Max had visited our booth earlier, making himself very useful as a model for one of Robin's hats. I am so impressed, by the way, with Molly and her big brother and sister, they all do so wonderfully of leash and heed their mom so well!
























By the late afternoon I was striking gold in the doxie fix department. Isabella stopped by to say hi and start up a conversation about dapper doxie duds (oooh, yes! maybe aqua with a modern/retro feel? we'll be talking soon!!)













Then the world's longest doxie brothers Ike and Otto showed up to join the party! Such beautiful boys, long, slender and oh so schnozzy. A pair of princes. Bringing a memorable doxie end to a super fun Saturday. Thanks so much bludog for EV-ertthing and sio and jeeve's friend and all the new friends that came out to say hi! One more day to go, and we'll be so sad to leave so soon. One day, we're totally bringing the little kielbasa so he can meet all his little buddies!! :)

dapper doxie duds: wally cleaver & moxie doxie

dear diary,
what a hot week it has been! how hot? so hot the only squirrel i could even get close to was the tiny one on this summery-retro-sittin-by-the-pool-admirin-da-babes dud that my mom made for oskar. and believe me, i looked pretty hard for some real squirrels. i sure hope oskar is havin more luck than me where he is, with both the squirrels and da babes!



speakin of babes, i was so excited when i heard annie has her own room. yes u heard it - her very own room! well, that is what she thinks and who can blame her cuz look at all the doxie stuff in her room! hee, there is even a postcard of me on her bulletin board! but here is the even cooler thing - annie's mom made curtains from some vintage doxie fabric that she got off ebay and had enough left over so that my mom could make annie another dud.



now annie can match her room so nobody can tell her that room isn't hers!



whew! well, i think i will ask my mom n dad if they will take me to dinner with them tonight. i hear it is miss faye's birthday and i sure don't want to miss that. u think they will let me into a nice restaurant? it's not a brathaus, i already checked, so nobody should be confusing me with the main course or anythin. i better go brush my teeth and flea comb my fur just in case.

toodles!
b.