The way to this beagle's heart

Heard of the saying "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach?"? Well, I'm no man, but I can tell you, the way to this beagle's heart is definitely through her stomach. If you've missed my last 2 birthday updates, I just celebrated my 7th birthday yesterday! I had a great time - hiking in the hills, going to a restaurant and having a romp in the park. But, my dearest and fondest birthday wish was for a super duper yummylicious dinner treat. So, this underdog applied some beagle doggedness and negotiated with top dog, mum for a special treat.

So, what did I get for dinner? My regular bowl of Innova large bite kibbles? Or...a yummy hot dog with cheese oozing from it?








You must first understand my human's philosophy about feeding their beloved canine. They believe that it's best and easiest to feed me dog food, namely dry kibbles for convenience. They do supplement my kibbles with selective plain human food, namely boiled meat in soup, bread or rice, but only when they have to go out, kind of like a bribe so that I don't pine too much when they leave (because I'm too busy eating...It works all the time too!) Of course, we mustn't forget the healthy stuff like carrots, apples and all types of fruits. But that's it! They get upset when I get fed with stuff like prawn crackers and cookies (by the grandparents of course!) But, I have to say, that since we've started blogging, my humans have relaxed their dog food philosophy, thanks to you guys out there! So, what's this beagle to do but try to take advantage of this situation? After all, 7 is a lucky number, and it is my 7th birthday and 1 human year is 7 doggie years...

Jackpot! I got both.


But first, the hot dog (naturally)


When that's gone, it's time to chomp down the kibbles


With my most pathetic Oliver Twist face, "Please mum, may I have some more?"


Am I going to be a lucky dog? (Aunt Ev got these special dog chocs from Australia - they're actually carob coz chocolates are bad for dogs)


Oh my dawg! Jackpot twice in 1 night - Vanilla ice cream with a carob topping!


Someone pinch me before the ice cream melts...


Let the smacking lips do the talking...


This beagle is one contented canine. I am so glad that my humans' puppy love for one runt of the litter beagle pup has stood the test of 6 going on 7 years. One thing for sure, this adult beagle is leading a jolly good dog's life!

P.S. I did it. I managed to use all the phrases from the Dog Series in these 3 birthday posts! Phew...it was a challenge.

...and what a day it was!

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes, my blogger pals. It's really awesome when you guys use doggie phrases in your comments!

My birthday started off with a lovely surprise last night. I got to join my humans when they went out for dinner at the Boathouse (Amber's been there too. But then again, Amber gets to go to lots of cool places). I was so excited! Now, in Malaysia, most restaurants don't allow dogs, so it is a rare treat indeed. The Boathouse provided a red doggie bowl filled with water and some doggie treats, which I finished in less than 5 seconds. Of course, trust mum to have thought about my beagle appetite. Whilst she and dad had NZ tenderloin steak and scallop spaghetti, I chomped on my special Pedigree bone treat which they bought from Bangkok.

Dad was rather nervous about how I would behave in a restaurant but apart from a few loud and deep barks at two noisy motor-cycles nearby, I reckon I was the perfect lady beagle. In fact, after I chomped down the bone and finished sniffing my surroundings (typical beagle!), I was ready for a snooze...What a great end to my pre-birthday treat!


The surprises continued today. Instead of the normal morning walk, mum detoured to a small park nearby (that's the great thing about mum working from home - she can take the time off to do things like that. Sweet!) I went off-leash, happily exploring the grounds with mum keeping a close eye coz the park isn't fenced off. However, she wasn't quick enough to stop me from rolling over a small dollop of squirrel poo. Humans just don't understand why we love sniffing, licking, eating and rolling over squirrel poo! Now ordinarily, I would be sent to the doghouse (or more likely, the bath house) for doing something like that, but since it is my birthday, I got off scott-free!

After that, we had a game of fetch - my favourite! The day is getting better and better.


Anyway, I figured since it was my birthday, I should apply beagle doggedness to my negotiation skills. After all, my humans have already done what they've never done before - take me out to a restaurant. So I figured there must be something special about turning 7 years old. Now, typically, I communicate with my humans with expressions and paw-language (yeap, I sit in front of my humans and paw them when I want something - usually it's my dinner). But I imagine if I could talk with mum, our conversation would be something like this:

Kess: "Mum, it's my birthday. I've been a good beagle. Surely, I deserve some special treats, you know...the edible super yummy finger licking kind..."
Mum: "That's why we took you out for dinner last night. You enjoyed yourself, didn't you?"
Kess: "It was super cool. We should do it more often. The thing is, you guys got to eat steak and scallops and all I got was a bone. Not that it wasn't a yummy bone. But surely, I deserve a little bit more. You know, Oorvi gets KFC and Maggie and Mitch gets ice cream..."
Mum: "Hmm...Let me think about it"

Will this underdog beagle get her fondest birthday wish for a special dinner treat? Or will mum, the top dog overrule her?

It's my day...

Remember the phrase "Every dog has its day"? Well, tomorrow is my day - that's right. It's my birthday. This beagle has lived 6 glorious years and look forward to beginning my 7th year tomorrow. To celebrate my birthday, I thought it would be fun to see how many Dog series phrases I could weave into today's and tomorrow's post.


My birthday celebration started on Sunday afternoon. After a couple of weeks of raining cats and dogs, the dog star is shining real bright these days and dog days are here again. We headed into the hills for a hike on this beautiful sunny afternoon. I am estatic coz I get to do what a beagle does best - go on a hunting mode. After all, that is what working like a dog should be - working on what we love best. My humans were grateful we didn't encounter any horses on our afternoon jaunt. They remember all too clearly my reaction to those giant 4-legged beasts. They wanted to avoid a fighting like cats and dogs scenario with me straining against my harness, barking frantically at the horses.

We did however encounter a long black snake which scared mum witless! She was happily jogging ahead of us when she saw the snake slithering in front! I wonder who was more frightened - mum or the snake (who was probably just sunning itself until we disturbed its sun-tanning session). My humans also saw red when they came across rubbish on the slopes of the hill. How could such a lovely natural spot have gone to the dogs?.

After the long walk, this beagle was grateful for the phrase "Let sleeping dogs lie" (the beagle version) as I caught some much needed ZZZs!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post and see how I celebrated my birthday!

Working like a dog

This is going to be a short post. Mum's been "working like a dog" for the past week (weekend included) and is taking a short break from "share modification and deferred taxes" to blog. That's the nature of her work. There are times when she's free as a bird and then when there are projects due, she works hard for the money (Remember the Donna Summer song?).

Anyway, the term "working like a dog" is probably somewhat linked to the phrase "It's a dog's life", my very first "Dog Series" post. If you recall, one of the definitions which dates back to the 16th century- "a miserable, unhappy existence" refers to the terrible life of working dogs during this era.

I like to think that "working like a dog" has something to do with the fact that we dogs work hard when we put our mind to it. After all, many of us come from working dog breeds - hunters, shepherds and guards. In today's world, we are therapy dogs, sight dogs, cancer sniffers, drug sniffers, and the list goes on and on!

So, here's a tribute to dogs everywhere - we work hard and we play hard!

Kess - Busy hunting the squirrel in the tree (typical beagle!)

In the Doghouse

Here are the many reasons why I land my beagle butt in the doghouse - defined as "being out of favour, and in trouble with a person or people, (i.e. my humans), because of an offence".

1) Killing my humans' precious red palm (Notice how thick the trunk is!)

2) Opening the bag of soil that was meant for re-potting my humans' plants(I was only trying to help spread it out...)

3) Having a bath in the mud during a thunderstorm whilst my humans are out (I don't understand why I need a second bath after that!)

4) Biting my humans' shoe cabinet and destroying their bright red special "Chinese New Year" tissue box cover (It's their fault for leaving a lonely beagle at home when they go out)

And now for the finale:

5) Scratching my humans' lovely wooden gate with my many high jump attempts (They don't buy the excuse that I am trying out for the Olympics)

Well, here's proof...First, the run...


Then the jump!


Now I ask you - should I really be sent to the doghouse for any or all of the above? Tell me what you think.

"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)
10. Dog days are here
11. Puppy love
12. Raining cats and dogs (Oops...Spoke too soon)

Oops...Spoke too soon

Remember my post on "Dog days are here"? Well, I thought that the rains have gone away but Mother Nature decided otherwise. Right after my post, we had thunderstorms with the full works - roaring thunder and spears of lightning piercing the dark skies.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am a scaredy dog when it comes to thunderstorms. But, I put up a brave front this time round - all in the name of research. If you've been following my blog, you will know that I have started a "Dog Series" this year where I would post on words and phrases that contains the word "Dog" or as in Mama's last post, the word "Puppy". Now, generally, I do most of my research on the good ol' internet, but for this particular "Dog" post, I needed to do physcial research, just like a real scientist. So, each time we had a thunderstorm, which Mother Nature happily obliged over the last week or so, I would rush to the door and start observing real intensely.
I looked, and looked real closely but all I saw was big fat drops of water falling down and turning our garden into pools of mud.

Not a drop of dog or cat in sight! Bah, ...so much for the phrase "Raining cats and dogs". There wasn't even a tail of a kitten or a puppy to be seen! All there was was water, water everywhere, and not a dog in sight! So, what is the origin of this phrase "Raining cats and dogs" (which by the way means raining very heavily)? Well, it's time to go back to internet research. The phrase's origin is unknown, although several theories abound. I'll leave it to you to be the judge on how likely these are:

1)Back in old London, when they had straw roofs, cats and dogs would hide in the roofs when it rained. Because it was slippery, some poor unfortunate cat or dog or both would slip and fall through the flimsy roof! (Hmm...I'm trying to imagine if my beagle ancestor would have actually climbed up a roof....)

2)There is a myth that dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. Witches, who often took the form of cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. (OK, double pinch of salt required here)

3)This last one is pretty gross. Back in old England again, people supposedly threw dead dogs and cats in the gutter or the alleyway. When a strong rain comes and floods the alleyways, these carcasses would be floating down the streets of England (Yuckity Yuck!)

If you ask me, the English language is full of strange idioms and phrases, many without rhyme or reason! Perhaps, that's what makes it so interesting. The next time it rains at your place, do take a peek out of your window to see if you see any cats and dogs raining down on you. And if you do see this strange phenomenon, be sure to drop me a note!