Puppy love

From the desk of Kess' mama:

"And they called it puppy love,
Oh I guess they'll never know,
How a young heart really feels,
And why I love her so"

How many of you remember the song "Puppy Love", written by Paul Anka in 1960 and later revived by Donny Osmond in 1972? OK, I know that this was a long, long time ago, but hey, some songs are classics right?

Today, Kess & I celebrate our first year anniversary of our blog "It's a dog's life". Honestly, this blog would not have been if it weren't for my beloved little beagle, Kess. I still call her little girl, even though she'll be 49 doggie years cum April, not so little anymore. I remember vividly the day J & I brought this puppy beagle home in a box. It was such an eventful drive home because a tanker had overturned on the highway turning what would have been a 30 minute drive home to a harrowing 2 hour journey! We were so stressed. Kess fussed a little, but for most parts, slept through the entire journey. Phew!

We had fallen in love with this fur ball from the start and have never fallen out of love since. Contrary to the definition of puppy love - "a crush, informal term for feelings of love, particularly between young people, so-called for its resemblance to the adoring, worshipful affection that may be felt by a puppy. The term is often used in a derogatory fashion, describing emotions which are shallow and transient in comparison to other forms of love such as romantic love." our love for this beagle puppy never faded. In fact, it has grown stronger over the years, a bond that only dog lovers can understand.

This love has survived moments of terror of having lost her (she is a master escape artist), sleepless nights, (that little rascal banged on the door a few times 2 nights back), a garden full of holes,, chewed up shoes (which she outgrew when she grew up...thankfully), torn curtains, stolen food (Yes, Kathryn, I know exactly how you feel when Ari decides to swipe the food for herself - classic dog antic!) ...and the list goes on...

Today, I celebrate the anniversary of Kess' blog "It's a dog's life" with a series of photos of Kess when she was a puppy. Back then, I didn't have a digital camera so I don't have as many photos of her when she was a wee pup. But the ones I have have never fail to bring a smile to my face. I scanned these ones for today's post.

Kess's love affair with car rides started at a very young age

We love playing with her floppy years (and she lets us)

Another habit she picked up at a very young age - chomping on carrots

We gave her a kong toy with high hopes that she'll stop chewing on my high heels. It didn't work...


Kess enjoying a play session with Sweetie, her daschund friend. When Kess grew bigger, she outgrew Sweetie in size!


I guess Paul Anka knew what he was talking about when he wrote:

"And they called it puppy love
Oh I guess they'll never know
How a young heart really feels
And why I love her so"

I love you Kess!

Dog days are here

I'm celebrating 100 today...No, I'm not 100 years old, not even in doggie years, let alone human years (which would make me 700 doggie years)!

Today I celebrate my 100th post! In 5 days, I will be celebrating my first year blog anniversary. What an incredible journey it has been - it truly has been an experience that has made my life so much richer. Who knew that blogging could change lives?

After that little piece of news, let's move on to my next post on my Dog Series. Living in tropical sunny Malaysia, we only get rain or shine here. Never seen snow! Closest thing to it is probably an ice cube! So, I took great pleasure in reading your snow posts and seeing your snow white pictures.

We've had plenty of rain in the last couple of months. But, even as my friends in the Northern Hemisphere welcome spring, over here in Malaysia, I reckon the dog days are here. Dog days refer to the hottest period of the year (which, in Malaysia probably means for at least 6 - 9 months of the year).This term was used by the Greeks and the ancient Romans after the "Dog Star", Sirius. If you recall, Sirius is the brightest star, next to the sun. So, it makes sense that the hottest time of the year is called dog days.
Kess, enjoying a dog day evening

There are some pretty bizarre beliefs and practices relating to dog days. There was apparently a belief that dog days was an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies". OK...let's take that one with a double pinch of salt. Another myth states that the ancients sacrificed a brown dog at the beginning of the dog days to appease the rage of Sirius, believing that the star was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. Yikes mum...I'm a brown tri-colour beagle...Do I need to hide out until it's safe? "Don't be silly, Kess...It's just a myth. Besides, we live in the 21st century" Phew!

Closer to current day, the term dog days apparently refer to poor performance of the the stock market. Typically, summer is supposedly a very slow time for the stock market. To top is off, poorly performing stocks with weak prospects are frequently known as "dogs". Given today's state of the global economy, looks like there are plenty of "dogs" out there!

Who knew that dog days could be used from describing the weather to the stock market - two topics that everyone talks about!

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)
7. Every Dog Has Its Day
8. Dog Star
9. Hot Dog (Yikes...Man eats dog)

Yikes...Man eats dog

Warning! The following content may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

I have been hearing some very disturbing rumours about men (women and children too!) eating dog. Wait, don't panic, hold your horses. Let me do some sniffing and digging among the humans to see if there is any truth in it first.
It really is quite exciting to play detective - just like the famous Sherlock Holmes. Together with Dr Watson (aka. mum), my sidekick, we digged out some information on the internet and reviewed the evidence. Here's what we found out:

1)This dog is apparently one of America's favourite foods (gasp!).
2)Every year, Americans consume on average 60 dogs (yikes!)
3)There is a dog stand on almost every street corner in New York City
4)The dog is sold in every baseball game and amusement park
5)Coney Island has its very own Coney sauce for its dog
6)There are dog eating contests
7)Dogs are very popular during summer BBQs

Yes, you guessed it - it's the hot dog (also known as the sausage, frankfurter or wiener)!


Joke aside, the dog series has given me the opportunity to carry out some digging and learn some new information (do take it with a pinch of salt coz not everything on the net is true). I for one, was curious about how the famous hot dog got its name and what, if any, are the linkages of the "dog of the food variety" to the "dog of the canine variety".

Well, the origin is unclear. There are many myths, a popular (but disputable) one refers to a cartoon by a newspaper cartoonist, Thomas Aloysius "TAD" Dorgan. He apparently illustrated the sale of frankfurters by a food concessionaire, Harry Stevens at a New York Giants game back in the 1900's with a drawing of a daschund (probably just like Lorenza) between buns. And because he couldn't spell frankfurter, he called them "hot dogs".

There may be a darker history to the hot dog. Apparently, the link between sausages and dogs may go as far back as the 19th century in the US. Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society who supposedly did extensive research on this matter found a popular song of 1860:

Oh where oh where has my little dog gone?
Oh where oh where can he be?
Now sausage is good, baloney, of course.
Oh where oh where can he be?
They make them of dog, they make them of horse,
I think they made them of he.

Of course, the hot dogs of today aren't made of dogs. They better not be...GRR...Instead, most are made with pork, beef or chicken and served with a tantalising range of condiments ranging from mustard, tomato sauce, saurkraut, chilli peppers, etc, etc. If you fancy a simple recipe to spice up an ordinary dog, check out Mama's "Vienna Sausage Wrapped with Bacon, Homemade Onion Rings and Potato Salad" recipe.

Bon appetit!

P.S. This post was inspired by the comment left by Dughallmor Beagles on my last post. Thanks guys!

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)
7. Every Dog Has Its Day
8. Dog Star

Dog Star

Hello Hollywood, here I come - Kess, the dog star! Fame and fortune awaits me. Champagne, limousine, bodyguards, paparazzis....


ZZZZ! "Kess...Girl, girl, time to wake up sweetie. Were you dreaming your doggie dreams again?" I hear mum's voice calling through my dream-like fuzzy state of mind. Oh, it's all a dream...You mean, I'm not really a dog star?

Wait a minute...I remember now, thanks to my pals, this beagle underdog won the "DWB Featured Blog Award" for coming in second on the "Awesome Blog Award" nomination. Thanks again everyone! But no, I'm not really a dog star. Hollywood is not my cup of tea. I'm just Kess, a Malaysian beagle who is happy sniffing away in her home in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia.

Back to the dog series... Dog star isn't really a dog who is a star. Nor is it a star who is a dog. No, it's not a dog reality show....even thought there are lots of dog reality shows out there...(which sometimes really shows the worst of human behaviour! Shudder...).

Dog star is a real star of the "twinkle, twinkle" variety. I did some research on Wikepedia and came up with the following: Dog Star is the colloquial name for Sirius, the brightest star of Canis Major, the "Great Dog" Constellation(but of course...we dogs, are always the brightest...so naturally, a star named after us have to be the brightest). The Dog Star actually consists of two white stars, named Sirius A (the brighter one) and Sirius B (its fainter companion). It's actually twice as large as the sun and 25 times brighter than the sun! Imagine that! Here' what a real dog star looks like:


The Dog Star is also known as Orion's dog. Apart from Greek mythology, other cultures also associate Sirius with dogs:
Chinese astronomy - Celestial Wolf
North American indigeneous people:
Seri and Tohono O'odham - Dog that Follows Sheep
Blackfoot - Dog Face
Cherokee - Dog Star Guardian of Path of Souls
Pawnee - Wolf Star & Coyote Star
Alaskan Inuit - Moon Dog

I hope you've enjoyed this little piece on astronomy 101 about the dog star!

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)
7. Every Dog Has Its Day

Every Dog Has Its Day

Mum is super busy these days. She is working on a project with some very tight deadlines. "I just don't have time to blog, Kess dear" she says. "What? How can we let down our friends who have shown us such unwavering support for our nomination for the Awesome Blog Award? Besides you can't be working all the time" I whined, giving her my most pathetic beagle look. Obviously my ploy worked since this post is written! Hah, the beagle triumphs again.

Well, the results are out. And top dog, Mango has come up tops. Congratulations Mango - A well-deserved win indeed! On top of that, Mango is a really cool dog. After I dropped by his blog (and the other 2 nominees) to congratulate him on his nomination, he returned the favour and left me this note:
"Kess,
Good job on your nomination. Don't worry, the same thing happened to me the first time I was nominated. Some doggie had a super bloggy month and crushed the competition (and to be honest, I just started Mango Minster as a lark and never imagined how BIG it would be). You look like a super underdog!
Slobbers,
Mango"

Hey, I may not have won this time, but "Every dog has its day". I really love this proverb. It really is uplifting and gives me hope that every dog gets a chance eventually (yes, my friends, that means you too!) . Just look at Mango...The underdog eventually became top dog.

What I really cherish from this experience is how blessed I am to have such great friends (Thanks for voting for me!). Which leads to this very belated posting of the friends award I received from Dughallmor Beagles two months back! Thanks Dughallmor Beagles! This award goes out to all my blogging buddies, most of whom I've never met personally but through blogging have become my electronic pen pals. You are all awesome in my books!


"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)