baxter and duk duk's amazing feats of summer (part 1)

dear diary,
guess what - yesterday when duk duk and i were goofin around in the library upstairs, we ran across this really big book. and it wasn't just any book, it was the guinness book of world records! my whole summer changed right before my very eyes. what? why is that, you ask, mr diary? duh - duk duk and i are gonna make and break our own world records and catalog them as our amazing feats of summer! so, if you are wondering why there are crumbs all over my head, wonder no more cuz here's a little video of our first ever amazing feat.

yeah, i know can do even better next time! well, gotta dud up and run some laps around the house. duk duk is gonna time me, if i can run them faster than he can fly them, i get to play with his new iphone apps. whee!

toodles,
b.

silent short: happy feet

Sometimes Baxter doesn't listen when we're training, opting to roll when I ask him to go left, assuming the bang position when I ask him to woof. Running though a variety of moves he already knows when we're trying to learn a new one, hoping it will get him a treat that much sooner. And sometimes, out of the blue, he comes up with something new all on his own, like his sideways skippy jump, that he opted to do when we were learning tap toe back in freestyle class. Clearly, not something we ask him to do often, but sometimes, the happy feet have a mind of their own.

get busy: buried treasure snack bottle

So a few days ago, Baxter made short work of his inheritance from the boys, the beloved blue snack ball, and with little boy all still ants in his pants, I checked out some of the great leads for smart toys were sent to me. Pretty cool stuff that I totally want to pursue soon, but there's nothin like instant gratification on a hot summer day. Enter the buried treasure snack bottle. Free, cuz it once was full of yummy popcorn that we popped, and kinda green, cuz the bottle was on its way out to the recycle bin. And most importantly, available, so we wouldn't have to venture out in the heat or wait forever for today's entertainment.

Shirts now too hole-y to play giant shirtball? Behold, the buried treasure snack bottle.

And yeah, it helps to keep the bottle top to make a hole in it later when more difficulty is inevitably required. And of course, chumley stays well supervised when messin with things like this. How could anybody not watch tiny boyfriend use his cute stubby paws?

dapper doxie duds: ammo the wonderdog

So it all has to start somewhere. Inspiration, an idea that grows into a plan. In Ammo's case, the concept was pretty easy because Ammo's mom already found her inspiration, and turned it into her own idea that she asked me to make a reality, filling in the blanks with fabric and thread and whatever else might need to be used. Ammo, by the way, is part of an amazing family of performers, being a brother to several trick ponies that also make art! So naturally he would follow in their hoofsteps and naturally he would need a performance outfit.

Figuring out a few of the superdud details took some noodling, but both tiny chumley and I had fun throughout the entire process. So much so that one of us had a few regrets about parting ways with our final creation.

If you're in the area, check out Ammo's performance this weekend at the Keystone Dachshund Races!

the secret life of Bark Gent

hee - tomorrow, more behind Ammo's no longer toptay ecretsay duds! :)



and PS - boy have youtube videos improved in quality! I updated some prior videos with their much clearer, and larger cousins. just looky under the category videos or do a search if ya got the time and the hankerin.

tiny bubbles

It's funny how some things come naturally for the little kielbasa while other things don't. When tiny chumley first came into our lives some two and a half years ago, a passerby got a good chuckle out of seeing us paused at a fire hydrant, me trying to pique Baxter's interest in what every other dog knows to be the canine equivalent of Facebook, and Baxter doing a pretty good job of being disinterested. Sniffing and marking fire hydrants, and leg lifting in general? Not his cup of pee, apparently.

Bunny sniffing and chasing clicked instantly for the little kielbasa, and squirrels came on the radar once the bunnies became scarce in the fall. Yes, although there were some things I thought should be instinctual but weren't, there were definitely things that he just knew he could, should, and would do. Like bobbing for carrots, now an ancient tradition spanning two generations of doxies in our household.

The happy song, by the way, is from My Neighbor Totoro, a thoughtful and delightful animated Hayao Miyazaki film, which I had the pleasure of watching again recently with my own little totoro by my side.

minding the gap

Some days like yesterday, I just know Baxter wishes he were tinier, so he could squeeze through the fence posts the same way he knows the bunnies do. As it is now, all he can do is stick out his curious wet nose and sniff sniff sniff, all while his tail happily wags round and round like a pot bellied pig.

recipe for a happy friday

Ingredients
1) a little doxie storybook treasure
2) one cute kielbasa
3) new movie maker software
4) a happy song


Directions
Mix ingredients thoroughly and relax while watching. Repeat as necessary.

all buzzy on the eastern front

dear diary,
well it is day three and i decided rather than moping it would be fun to hunt in the backyard. thing is, there wasn't a whole lot to hunt. can u believe it? maybe the squirrels are on to me. or they are in cahoots with the bees, cuz one kept buzzin me and i had to do something about it. i just don't like buzzy things by my head, let me tell you.

well that is all for now. dad says i have to come inside and do some chores and catch up on my reading homework.

toodles!
b.

>

missed connection

today, a little short from my little friend. :)

ooo, and a static picture from the video cuz not everyone has all that time on their hands, do they?



7/17/2010 update: PS - had to replace Yaz's "Bad Connection" with this crazy song. Boo hoo. In a perfect world, this video starts when Alison Moyet starts singing. So imagine if you will... :)

sunday matinee: the plan

A full day of raking yesterday, though little kielbasa spent most of his day rooting around in the leaves and digging at the freshly uncovered dirt. Up til now, I've never seen the kielbasa dig in the backyard, so I wonder what it is that finally brought out his inner backhoe. Digging for grubs? Maybe. Hungry for worms? Possibly. But I like to think he maybe had a bigger plan in his three year old furry head, just like any kid would if you gave him a shovel.

Ahhh Sundays. Perfect for kicking back and watching a doxie dig while being serenaded by a german pop-rock acapella group, right?

squirrels at the gate

It's been a while since we out put birdseed. Laziness, mostly, and the fact that up til this past year, Baxter wasn't really into the squirrels that always ate more than their fair share of our offerings. But news of the upcoming snow prompted me to refill our feeders, throw seed on the ground and set up a makeshift feeder in the front yard so that the birds and yes even the squirrels would have something to eat once the ground was blanketed with snow.

Little did I realize what a source of entertainment this would be for Tiny Chumley. Squirrels now linger a little longer on the ground in the backyard, hoping to snitch one last seed before being chased away by our tiny wolf. Turf wars rage in our front yard, with a seemingly endless supply of squirrels battling it out for control of the seed plate and it surrounding area.

Baxter sits on his kitty perch, entranced by the scene before him. Better than Duk Duk (shhh!), better than even sitting by george sometimes, it seems the little kielbasa could stare for hours, tracking the movements of these gray furry marauders.

Yesterday, an unusual event occurred, one would have caused tiny chumley to plotz were it not for the fact that every ounce of his primal being came into play. A squirrel, seeking refuge from that morning's turf wars, ran up onto the windowsill,and sat only inches from Baxter's face. Stunned, little kielbasa didn't quite know what to do at first, til instincts finally sprung into action. Baxter slid his sausagey body between the perch and the window, stumbling about in an attempt to keep up with the squirrel who now seemed to be taunting him by running the length of the windowsill.

It all happened so quickly that by the time I had camera in hand, I only caught the second wave of Baxter's squirrel encounter. Proof, neverthless, that I really should fill the birdfeeders more often.

please stand by

Today the three of us are leaving in the wee hours of the morning on a grand road trip to visit family. It'll be a first of many sorts for Baxter, first time in five new states, first time staying in a motel, first time he's been on a trip where we haven't arrived at our final destination in a day, first time staying in a house with a big dog in it, first time meeting his other grandma. First time we've taken Baxter so far away from home.

With any luck, the free wifi at the motel we've chosen to stay at will work as promised, and I can continue indulging my OCD daily posting streak. But if not, at least here's this, Baxter's final tiny video from the B. Fonda Workout series, to hopefully tide us all over until I can post again late Sunday evening. Jazz, by the way, is taught by first teaching your pup circle (or left) and back. Once both of these are mastered, then it's just a matter of connecting the two, in this case using a half circle and a full back, almost like leading your dog's nose through the motions of a lower case y. G'head, if you got nuttin to do this weekend, try it. Or even just teach back, which is best done in narrow confines like a hallway or in our case, between a sofa and an sideturned coffee table. It's all about baby steps. Reward for taking one step back, and gradually work to expand the number of steps back, using a landing pad like scrap of carpet or something so your pup knows when to stop. Hey I'm on a road trip here. I probably could use some entertaining stories on your efforts.

Happy Weekend!

b. fonda's mealtime workouts, vols 3 & 4

dear diary,
hooray, only five more days til christmas! mom says i should keep working out so i can stuff myself on christmas morning, so here i am doin more stuff. i learned all these moves in beginning musical freestyle except for jazz, which i learned when i was recovering from HGE. u see, i was really hungry and mom had to feed me this canned Purina EN stuff, and i was really bonkers for it. even though it's just chicken n rice, it is dee-lightful. i hope u r having a great weekend!

toodles,
b.


Volume 3: left right front back shimmy shuffle

Volume 4: shuffle jump and jazz

b. fonda's mealtime workouts, vols 1&2

We figured out early on that keeping a young doxie challenged can be a challenge, especially since we had become accustomed to a providing different sort of attention to our geriatric boys. Searching for a good challenge is how Baxter and I ended up in Canine Good Citizen class a month after we got him, with me standing at one end of the training room floor, waving an open tube of poultry flavored canine toothpaste in one hand while motioning at him with the other, while Baxter stood at the other end of the room staring at his strange new friend and wondering why the heck she was saying "come". In the end, we passed the class, and even moved on to beginning musical freestyle, just to make sure we learned enough moves to keep us busy every day so Baxter could work for his food.

It's been over a year since we've formally been in a class, but we still try to practice things he learned from both class and the thing's we've taught him on the fly. Baxter's neck pain from more than a month ago made me realize we needed more movies, more video to document the wonders that our little wiener brings into our life. I made 5 low budget short attention span videos this week, to capture some of the moves our kielbasa practices during mealtime. Here, the first two parts.


Volume 1: down, come, woof, taptoe

Volume 2: bang, roll, rooty, circle

Tomorrow, Volumes 3 and 4.

the trembling leaves of winter

The last leaves of autumn still grace our oak trees, unwilling to let go and make the long journey down to the ground until early spring. Standing in our backyard, our oaks remind me of hair club for men candidates, with their bald branches on top giving way to the dangling leaf covered lower branches that rustle in the winter wind. It is these branches that the squirrels most covet, the ones that they nibble off to make their nests. These branches with their trembling leaves.

I know Baxter doesn't really get it, how the trees play such an important role in sustaining his backyard entertainment, but sometimes I catch him, all tingly with excitement and trembling all over when he's stuck on the deck looking out into our backyard, and I think he has become one with the trees. Listen closely, that's not the sound of trembling leaves you hear, but rather the sound of trembling ears.

mr. kool & the gang

dear diary,
guess what! yep, that's right it was playgroup time again on Saturday! my buddies apollo, lilly and marshall, and schatze the black and tan that's about as big as me were all there. plus i met some REALLY interesting new playbuddies, too. first there was diego, carlos, and manolo. manolo and carlos are chocolate dapples that look pretty much the same only carlos is a mini and manolo is a tweenie. manolo likes to play fetch so much that his mom's friend had to hide the ball in her pocket just so manolo would play with the rest of us. manolo's a purebred doxie but i sure thought he had retriever in him, as much as he liked to fetch balls. diego is the really cool lookin piebald that reminds me of wishbone. they were all really nice and their mom gave out cookies!!! how could u not luv that?? i also met up with up for adoption pups jango, a tweenie dapple who was a recent surrender cuz he bit somebody but he was fine here, and willhelm, a wheelchair bound buddy that i first met at the mid-atlantic doxie fest.


now, diary, between you and me, don't tell anybody but i sorta embarrassed myself when this other new pair of new buddies came into the park. you see, they were wirehair doxies which i don't see very often. the way their hair was cut, they reminded me of this schnauzer i like to bark at here at home. so i barked at that really big one cuz i thought he wasn't one of us. mom made me stop cuz she didn't want me scarin him and once i realized he was a doxie i settled down. it was a good thing i did, too, cuz i'm pretty sure he could totally take me if he wasn't so mellow. after i got over myself, he told me his name was pepper and we exchanged butt sniffs. there aren't many doxies in my neck of the woods that are biggern me but that there Pepper is one of them and i just HAD to show you. he was so big, when mom crouched down to get some lovin from him, he almost knocked her over! mom says he weighs 32 pounds and he's not even chubby like i was when i weighed 23 pounds. totally cool.



this is me playin with apollo again. mom kinda had to kick start me halfway through but other than that what can I say? i just couldn't help myself! apollo is my chasin buddy.

all in all i had a really good time, but i really need to talk to mom and dad about this whole bath after playtime thing. it sorta dampens the whole experience, know what i mean? oh well, at least they don't make me stinky before playgroup. if i went in there smellin like a flower, well i just don't know what i would do with myself except maybe go hide in a corner. a dog's got a reputation to maintain, u know?

toodles,
b.

mid-atlantic doxie fest: epilogue

New experiences are always an interesting test for our little kielbasa. Baxter had never been in a wiener dog race before, and we were tempted to see how he would do at this festival's race. Surrounded by fellow doxies, we knew he would be at his bravest, but the enclosed starting box for the wiener dog races could prove to be a sticking point. Would Baxter mind being crammed into a wooden box by a stranger, or would the experience ruin his otherwise happy day? We figured it was best not to find out, and instead, watched the races by the sidelines.

Luckily, a break in the racing schedule gave us the perfect opportunity to let Baxter have his fun. Go, Speed Racer, go!

Later in the day Baxter's nose also ferreted out some irresistible smells that lured him away from snarfable floor food and the company of his fellow wieners. The seductive smell of rabbits called him to this deserted part of the fairgrounds where he patiently waited for somebody, anybody, to unlock the gates so he could get a better whiff of stale bunny. All in all, truly a perfect day for our little wolf.

mid-atlantic doxie fest: the fast and the curious

Hey everybody it's me Baxter, your roving rover reporter here with part two of my report on the Mid-Atlantic Dachshund Phestival. Today it's all about wiener dog racing. The races here are open to everybody and no registration is required, so you can imagine how many wieners get to race! I have never raced before so my mom thought it would be a good idea to check out the action as bystanders for the first block of races. Let's all walk to the barn to see what's going on, shall we?










Okay, here's how it works. Eager doxies and and their humans line up on one side of the course and run in groups of five. Racers are put into a wooden cubby by volunteers while their owners walk to the finish line to cheer on their doxie. Open the gates, and out come the hounds, right? Only sorta, as it would turn out.

Some of my buddies were fast to figure out that they needed to run to the finish line, but most of my brethren were just curious once the gate was released, and so they either meandered about or wandered around the racing box to see if their owner there. It was really cute, but I gotta say after the first few races, I was ready to take off my roving rover reporter hat and find the source of whatever tasty aroma was wafting up from below the bleachers.









Finally, the first block of races was over, and almost everybody went inside to catch the next event. Stragglers like me stuck around to race at a much quieter pace. And that is when my roving rover reporter senses tingled. This is my new friend, whose real name I don't remember but whom I will always remember as Holly Hobbie. She is really old and sweet and has a really cool snaggle tooth. Somebody left her at the pound til she was rescued by her new family.









Holly was already most of the way down the empty course when my mom noticed her. Sure there were fast doggies out there today, and doggies much younger than her that couldn't make their way down the course. But there was Holly, making do with what she had, crossing the finish line all by herself. Without a doubt, my girl Holly Hobbie won the wiener race that day.

This is Baxter your roving rover reporter signing out til tomorrow when I talk fair food and fashion.

my buddy apollo

dear diary,
so today i want to tell you about my new playtime buddy apollo. mom thinks he is a dilute red dachshund like me, only he fits the description better and he is a mini cuz i'm like twice as big as him.

anyway, apollo is only nine months old, which means i am older than him cuz i will be three years old in december. that makes me four TIMES as old as he is. he has a really cool cowlick on the back of his neck which i really like. it looks like a mohawk from the side and from the top it looks like his hackles are always raised. i SO want dat.



the thing about apollo is, he came into the park running and hardly stopped the whole time he was there. i couldn't believe it. maybe he had an energy drink before he came or something. anyway he was runnin around like crazy and even i got into the chase after a while cuz i couldn't stand it anymore. if u don't believe me, watch this video, and yes, that is his actual running speed. full steam ahead. we didn't get to exchange emails or anything but i hope to see him again in the future cuz he's a lot of fun.

tomorrow i'll tell u about my friends lily and marshall. happy monday!

toodles,
b.