It's been a while since I've posted a doggie quiz, so here's a "pop quiz" for music fans:
The lyrics of this dog song
Is a catchy sing along
It ends with lots of howling
By the famous Rock and Roll King
Kess, the dancing beagle
The first doggie/human blogger to guess correctly wins the "It's a Dog's Life Dog Series Award".
Some say, the eyes are the reflection of the soul. So, does this saying "Sad as a hound dog's eye" mean that beagles are sad souls? You would think so based on the two pictures below...
This saying is fairly self-explanatory and means "sad or pitiful". Apparently, this simile arose because the droopiness of the hound's eye. Whilst beagles belong to the hound family, you can see from my pictures that I don't have droopy eyes unlike my cousin, the bloodhound (also known as the St. Hubert hound).
There is another school of thought that the droopy structure of the hound dog's eyes does not actually reflect that the dog is in a state of emotional sadness. Hence, this saying is thought to imply a state of "pretend" sadness. Let me share with you a secret. Beagles are experts at giving our sad mournful looks to get our way, be it to beg for a treat or a tummy rub. So, maybe there is some truth to this version of the saying.
Whatever it is, dogs, like humans, possess a range of emotions which can be seen on our faces and our eyes. Maybe that's why dogs are man's best friend.
Sapphire tagged us to play this game:
This game has the following rules:
1) open the folder that has your pet pics in it
2) choose one you haven't posted before
3) tell its story
4) tag 5 friends
Man and his best friend
Having a friendly game of tug of war over an old t-shirt with dad. The best things in life are free!
I would like to tag:
1) Lorenzo
2) Thor
3) River
4) Martha & Bailey
5) Madison
Over the past couple of months, I've come across some really strange dog phrases/idioms whilst doing research for the "Dog Series" but the phrase "dog's bollocks" wins hands down. First off, let's break this phrase into its parts. "Dog's" is straightforward - it means something that belongs to a dog. Now, "bollocks" is a coarse British slang for testicles and is typically associated with a negative connotation. For example, bollocks is an exclamation of contempt "Nonsense" or "Rubbish". "Bollocking" is a slang meaning "to reprimand someone" whilst "to drop a bollock" means "to make a mistake".
After that little introduction, I'm sure that few can guess the meaning of "dog's bollocks". Contrary to the negative connotation associated with the word "bollocks", the phrase "dog's bollock's" actually means "Excellent - the absolute apex". As with most strange phrases, the origin of this phrase is hazy, not unlike the weather we've been having in Kuala Lumpur, thanks to our thoughtful neighbours across the Straits who practice open burning to clear land. But I digress. While dogs do enjoy licking their genitals as part of their grooming ritual, there's no evidence that this phrase is linked to that. 
Instead, it appears that this phrase may merely be a nonsensical term for excellent, joining other similar animal phrase such as "cat's whiskers", "bee's knees", etc which were coined post World War 1.
So, how would you use this term? Here's a fine example:
"When it comes to love and loyalty, we dogs are the dog's bollocks."
If you want to read an example of love and loyalty, my friend Uncle Bok Jae posted the story of Lucky the Golden Retriever. An amazing story! Uncle Bok Jae tagged Mama to share a tale about me. Coincidentally, Mama FINALLY watched "Marley and Me" and was inspired to share her tale about "My Beagle and me" on her blog. I hope you enjoy reading both stories.
It's been ages since we've blogged. Gramps has heart problems - a condition called atrial flutter which causes his heart rate to race to 140 beats per minute. So, he has been in and out of the hospital. It's been a very trying time for our family. Thank God his condition has stabilized now with the help of medication. We miss catching up with your blogs but hope to catch up next week. We've been tagged by Sapphire and Bok Jae and will try to do that next week too.
This week's phrase, "Put on the dog" is a rather odd one. It actually has 2 meanings:
1) To make things extra special or dress formally for a special event.
Personally. I'm not into dressing up. I much prefer to go "au natural" (plus it's really too hot in Malaysia). But, as a concession for this post, I agreed to let mum tie a pretty pink ribbon on my neck.
2) To assume pretentious airs or to try to seem richer or more important than you really are. (Apparently, this may have been borrowed from an older bit of American university slang, whose first recorded use is also from Yale.)
I disagree with this meaning and I'm sure that most, if not all of you will agree with me. Dogs are the most down to earth creatures with no airs whatsoever! I mean, just take a look at my face...Does it look like I'm trying to seem more important than I look???
