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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Bleary-Eyed and All Chewed Up

My humans have forgotten what it's like to have a puppy at home. After all, it's been more than 11 years since they've had a puppy in their home! So, the title of this blog post talks about two of challenges of having a puppy.

1) Bleary-Eyed - You can kiss sleeping in goodbye!
"When a puppy takes fifty catnaps in the course of the day, he cannot always be expected to sleep the night through." Albert Payson Terhune
 
Since Mia became part of our family last August, my humans have not been able to indulge in sleeping in. It's actually a lot better now as Mia does sleep through the night, compared to when she first came. Back then, she used to wake at around 2 to 4 am and my humans, worried that she might need to pee (puppies do have small bladders), have to wake up and take her out to relieve herself. They used to do the same for me too when I was a pup!
 
However, Mia is an early riser, and so anytime between 5.30-6.30 am, there will be sounds of pitter patter on the floor as Mia wakes (which means our whole household wakes up too). Personally, I don't mind because that means I get to eat breakfast early, which in my books, is a good thing. But for my humans, that rules out any hope of sleeping in at home on weekends.
 
2) All Chewed Up - This described the state of Mia's toys, our furniture, our shoes, our bags, etc, etc
 
It's a fact of life - you can't have a dog and a perfect house. My humans acknowledge that fact, having gone through that experience with me. Back when I was a pup, I used to love my human's high heel shoes. The heels fit perfectly in my mouth and makes for a good chew. The thing is though, I never chewed on a pair of shoes, instead, I like the variety and would pick a side of two different pairs of shoes, which to my human's chagrin, means two pairs of ruined shoes! I've also chewed through quite a few of my beds - woven basket, plastic beds, you name it, I've chewed it!
 
I'm pleased to say that Mia is following in my footsteps. She has chewed through numerous pairs of slippers, quite a few doggie toys, her bed (and mine), any sharp angle bits on furniture and floor trims, end bits of floor mats and my human's precious Longchamp bag. Here are some of Mia's chew "victims":
 
Victim #1:
One of Mia's first toys, a fluffy duckie from her original home. The duckie has since been put to rest - headless and stuffingless.
 Victim #2:
The Kong tennis ball with rope is now without its fluff covering and rope.

 Victim #3:
My humans carelessly left the remote on the coffee table. The picture speaks for itself.

 Victim #4:
A selection of Mia's chewed up toys. Note the fluffy cow which was bought to replace the fluffy duckie. In this picture, Mr. Fluffy Cow is still intact.
 
 
 
 Victim #5:
Headless Mr. Fluffy Cow.
 Mia has moved on to Ms Japanese Fish, which unfortunately did not survive for more than 5 minutes once Mia got started!

 Victim #6:
My human's bag (she is still trying to figure out if the bag can be saved with some creative patching!)
 Victim #7:
My other human's slipper
 
This is probably one of the only toys that my humans bought for Mia that still survives! Meanwhile, my humans are patiently waiting for the chewing phase to pass. Meanwhile, bags are kept away in cupboards and TV remotes are kept away from the coffee table!
 
  
 

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Time to Share My Blog

For five years, this blog has been about me, Kess, the Malaysian beagle. It started off as a way for my human to pass time and has evolved to a journal of my life - the daily stuff, the adventures and outings, the challenges of growing older, the big move from Malaysia to Hong Kong, and  a new addition to our family, Mia. Now that there are two beagles in the household, I thought it is timely to share my blog with my 10-month old beagle sister and what better way to kick off the new year with a new blog header picture of the two of us.

Friends say we look like sisters because we have similar faces. We've even had old friends who haven't seen me in years and never met Mia before confused. They were still expecting a deep tri-colour beagle and thought that Mia was me! Over the years, I have aged gracefully, turning a lovely gradual white. For a 11 turning 12 year old beagle, I am still going strong. I can still manage long walks in the lovely cool weather we've been having over the past couple of months even though stairs remain a challenge.

Since Mia came to our family, we share a lot of things. Apart from the fact that we're both beagles, we...
1) Strike the same pose

 
 2) Explore HK together - old Peak tram at the Galleria

3) Sometimes sleep together (although I prefer to have my own bed)
 4) Share the same buster cone (Mia had her surgery in September and I had mine in October)
 


 
5) Play together
 
So, all in all, having a beagle little sis (although Mia is not so little anymore - she is the same size as me and slightly taller) is not too bad after all.
 

Thanks for signing my guest book.