My Kennelmate is a Star!

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Update: my human is home from jury duty, yippee! The plantiff decided to drop the lawsuit.

Did any of you catch the National Dog Show in Philadelphia which was broadcast on Thanksgiving Day? If you did and saw the Sporting Group portion, you saw my kennelmate, Solo (a.k.a. Ch. Honeyrun's Lord of the Dance). He's one of the top Tollers in the country! I'm proud to say I knew him back when he was just a feisty adolescent. Here we are together (that's me in the background):

He was given his call name Solo because he was the only pup in his litter; pretty unusual, huh?

The minute my human set eyes on him, she knew he was destined for greatness.  He just had that special je ne sais quoi about him.  After watching him strut his stuff in the clip above, don't you agree?

Meet My Human Dad

This is my human dad.  As you can see, he was one of my biggest allies in the fight against my human to let me up on the couch (even tho' he'd deny it if you asked him).  I love snuggling with him when he watches the news.

Whenever I see my dad first thing in the morning, I go berserk!  This is because ever since I was a wee pup, he would greet me every morning by getting me all riled up.  My human tried to nip this little ritual in the bud, but it was rather cute in the beginning...now she says he's "created a monster", whatever that means.  All I know is that whenever I meet a man, I go nuts and try to jump all over him and lick him to death.  Luckily for the rest of the family, I don't do this to women or kids.

My dad is originally from France and my human loves it when he coos sweet nothings into my ear in French.  He's taken to calling me "ma belle", which used to be his nickname for my human...she seems a little miffed at that.  Get over it, lady!

Make New Furiends, But Keep The Old...

..one is silver and the other, gold!

On today's walk, I bumped into my good buddy Garth and met a new one, Gigi!

Garth is a PBGV (Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen, pronounced "puh-TEE ba-SAY gree-FO(N) von-day-ON")...aren't ya glad they go by their initials?!  That name's almost as long as my breed's name!  He is a rescue dog and very, very sweet.  He's also sweet on me, but I have to gently repel his advances 'cuz Sir Bentley is the jealous type.

PBGVs are part of the hound group, and there's no doubt when you hear Garth baying!  He protects his property from scary delivery trucks and dangerous joggers. 

After we left Garth's driveway, we noticed how many acorns have filled the sides of our road:

 They were everywhere!  No wonder the squirrels and chipmunks are getting so fat.

I was also on the lookout for our neighborhood wild turkey flock.  There are three of them who taunt me by leaving their droppings and feathers for me to find, knowing I'll go into a frenzy.  It's torture!!! 

No sighting today, tho'...sigh. 

I didn't find any turkeys, but I did find a new furiend!  Her name is Gigi and she's a 4-month old American Eskimo Dog that recently moved into the neighborhood.  My human was really taken by her.  Gigi wanted to wrestle with me and I would've played chase with her in her nice big front lawn, but her owner didn't invite me to so I stayed in my harness.  She looked very lonely and so happy to have a visitor.  She even tried to follow us home.  I hope I run into her again soon.

Meet Little Boy

Little Boy is the youngest of my three human siblings.  He turns 5 next month.  I'm glad he has two half-days of Kindergarten each week, 'cuz I freaked out a little bit when the kids all disappeared from the house in September. 

How can I describe Little Boy?  He gives the Tasmanian Devil a run for his doggy biscuits!  He may be little, but he's got the most energy and spunk of all my Family members.  My human says it's 'cuz he was born in the Year of the Monkey, so he's always climbing & jumping (the more dangerous, the better) and getting into all sorts of mischief.  He can be a little rough with me sometimes, but being the tolerant Toller that I am, I let him know I'm not happy and he usually stops.  If he doesn't, my human puts him in Time Out, the human equivalent of puppy jail.  He loves school, playing with his friends and Girl Twin/Boy Twin, helping my human in the kitchen (especially baking; he can crack eggs without breaking the yolk) and anything Star Wars.

I am so lucky to have my three human siblings to love me back as much as I love them!

  

My Date With Sir Bentley

My human and I find Fall very invigorating...the slight chill in the air, the wind gusts, the explosion of color, a whiff of burning wood.  Puts a spring in one's step!  One of the many great things about living in NY.

Although the leaves have yet to really turn, Fall is definitely in the air, and we decided to enjoy it with some good buddies of ours.  The human half of the pair is one of my human's closest friends, Patricia of PVE Design.  She is an amazingly gifted artist whose whimsical illustrations and eye for detail never fail to put a smile on my human's face.  She does custom drawings of homes and pets, among many other things...if you're looking for something special for yourself or to give, check out her site!  She even has a blog.

The furry half of the pair is my true love, Sir Bentley.  He is a dashing mixture of beagle, poodle (I think!) and maybe some terrier.  Isn't he to die for?

We went walking at a local park.  There were lots of good smells for us to enjoy.

Check out this funky funghi!  So beautiful.  And here's a harbinger of the foliage to come!

We found an open field, ideal for ball chasing.  Our humans took us off leash (probably illegal, but we had the park to ourselves) and we reveled in our freedom.

Bentley showed off his talent for catching the ball before it hits the ground.  Sigh!  He makes my heart go pitter-patter!

After all that running around, we took some time for a little canoodling before heading home.  I'll take a walk and fetch with Bentley (and canoodling) over a candlelit dinner, anytime!

Please Welcome My Cousin Lucy!

My cousin Lucy has joined the ranks of doggy bloggers! I know she'd be thrilled if my furiends gave her a "bark out", so won't you please go visit her?

I also want to thank everyone who left concerned comments and/or tips about my strange behavior. I am happy to report that I am completely back to my old rambunctious self. I did give my human a good scare though, didn't I?! We gotta keep those two-leggers on their toes lest they take us for granted. She never did figure out what made me act so cuckoo...maybe Jupiter was aligning with Mars.

Meet Boy Twin

OK, so you've met Girl Twin. This is her other half. He's 10 and is very playful; maybe that's why we get along so well. He likes to think up new and interesting ways to keep me amused.

Boy Twin is a Master Lego Builder and has an encyclapedic memory for cars. His favorites are the Bugatti Veron and the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. My human told him he better do well in school and get a good paying job if he hopes to buy either of those! He is into Classic Rock and likes figuring out how to play songs on the keyboard. So far, he knows Stairway to Heaven, Sweet Home Alabama and Wanted Dead or Alive. He plays tackle football and is very fast.

Here's a contraption he made for me to chase:

He invented "Bite the Water". I love playing it with him!

Meet Girl Twin, My Human Sister

Since I've introduced you all to my feline siblings, it's time for you to meet my furless ones.

I'll start with Girl Twin, 'cuz I think she loves me the best! She's 10 years old. She plays with me, takes me on walks, does training sessions, bakes me doggy biscuits, chooses my bandanas and even goes on pooper-scooper patrol without being asked! Now, if that's not love, I don't know what is! Did I mention she likes to sneak me treats when my human isn't looking? She makes drawings of me, takes pictures of me (many of which appear on my blog), and has even composed a song about me. We're working on the keyboard accompaniment which isn't quite blog-ready, but stay tuned.

Girl Twin loves all animals, especially dogs. When she was really little, my human got her baby dolls to play with, but she ignored them in favor of her stuffed animals. She wants to have 4 dogs when she grows up and has even picked out names for them: a Kuvasz named Biggie (inspired by the one with a blog!), an Akita named Indiana, an Alaskan Malamute named Dakota and a Doberman named Butch.

This is a science project she did with a friend, about dog breeds. Check out which breed is representing the Sporting Group!

I love to swim with Girl Twin. Even when there's nothing to retrieve, I'll paddle out to her just to do laps with her. She swims on a swim team. Too bad there's no doggy paddle event, I'd be a top contender! Enjoy this clip of the two of us in the pool. I'll tell you about my human brothers another time.

Meet My Feline Siblings

Since one of them recently had a birthday, I thought this would be a good time to introduce my doggy blog friends to my siblings of the meow-variety. I have a love-hate relationship with them...I LOOOOOOOOOOVE them, one of them hates me and the other is more-or-less indifferent.




This is Yquem (pronounced "ee-KEM"). She was the first baby in my humans' family, fur- or otherwise. She is a Chartreux and is 13 years old. She is the mellow one and will come up to the gate to check me out (I'm still banished to the kitchen/playroom until I'm old enough to not chew the furniture). But our occasional face-to-face meetings haven't gone so well, since I'm a little, ahem, "enthusiastic". I just want to play, and she's a bit of a diva. My human says she has the softest fur ever. In fact, in the 18th century, the pelts of "the blue cat of France" were prized by furriers--eek! Good thing my sister didn't live back in those times!






My other sibling is Poki, who just turned 12. He's a Tonkinese and is terrified by me. He will not come up to the gate to say hi and high-tails it whenever he catches a glimpse of me. The last time our human brought him over to the gate so we could sniff each other, he hissed at me and left nasty scratch marks on her legs in his hurry to get away (not on purpose). I'm so sad 'cuz I know we'd be great buddies if he'd just give me a chance. Oh well. My human says he's very smart (he figured out how to open a closed door in their old apartment) and very agile (don't ask how he ended up on the top of the door below). He was also a certified therapy cat for 2 years & visited nursing home residents and handicapped kids.

Hope you enjoyed getting to know the cool kitties I share my house with! Do any of you have a feline sibling or two?

I have arrived!...

...to the world of dog blogs, that is!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Sedona and I am a 4 month-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. "A WHAT?!" you ask? Just call me a Toller for short. That's what my human tells people when they get that cross-eyed, tongued-tied expression after she tells them what I am.

My official AKC name is Ravenswood Sunset in Sedona, to be exact. Ravenswood is the name of the kennel who brought me into this world. The breeders are a lovely husband and wife team who took the best care of me until I came to live with my human and her family just over 2 months ago. My human took one look at the gorgeous red-gold color of our famous Toller coats and it reminded her of the famous Red Rocks in Sedona, and that's how I got my name.

She actually wanted to add Serendipity somewhere in my name, but she thought it was too long, too much alliteration, and too much like those crazy AKC names you often hear at Westminster (e.g., Chesterfield's The Sky Is Threatening To Rain Today So Don't Forget Your Umbrella...but of course, the dog's call name is simply "Bo").

Why Serendipity, you ask? Because I was the opposite of what my human and her family were looking for, and they ended up with me anyway! Lucky them! You see, my family all wanted a boy (except for my human, so she was thrilled to get her way after all) and they all thought they wanted a pink-nosed Toller, and mine's purplish-black (more on the color differences later). They had been in touch with the breeders and came to meet all the Tollers at the kennel, and were on a waiting list for a breeding that was supposed to take place in the late winter. What they didn't know was that my mom had secretly come into season and had enjoyed a quicky out in the exercise pen with my dad. No one knew she was pregnant since it was winter and we all tend to put on a few pounds. On January 2nd, they brought breakfast around and found me with my two sisters! I was actually at death's door and had to be revived (one of my sisters didn't make it, R.I.P.), but I was no worse for the wear. The breeders told my family about us, and they came to meet us and the rest is history.

So, I just discovered this fab world of dog blogs and thought it'd be fun to join in. I'm dying to share my crazy antics with anyone who will listen. I will recount my early days and bring you up to speed on what I've been up to in my young life.

Hope you enjoy the journey with me!