Missing Kess

'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark
Bay deep-mouth'd welcome as we draw near home;
'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark
Our coming, and look brighter when we come.

Lord Bryon

Coming home is not the same without Kess' greeting at the door. It's been two weeks since her passing and I miss her so much. Mia misses her sister too.

Sweet 16

Our Kess is sweet 16. That makes her equivalent to about 85 years old in human terms. Happy birthday sweet girl!

We weren't sure if she would be able to celebrate this birthday as she was diagnosed with oral osteosarcoma (bone cancer in her jaws) late last year. She was given 3 months survival without invasive surgery to remove all the tumor and chemotherapy. We've passed that mark. Recently we started her on Chinese medicine, including Yunnan bai yao to prevent oral bleeding and to make her life as comfortable as possible.

Each day is a gift. She continues to have good appetite and is fairly active for her age. We love you, our dear beagle.

It's been too long...

This two beagles have been absent from the blogging world as there has been lots of stuff happening in our world. Since our last post, we've moved to the countryside and are loving the green space and nearby beach.

Our walks are so much more interesting now as there are lots of wonderful trails in our neighborhood. It is not uncommon for us to encounter a buffalo or two on our walks. Generally, the buffaloes ignore us and given their size, we've learnt to ignore them too ;-)

Buffalo encounter on the trail

Beautiful day at the beach

Breathtaking views on our walk

Snooze in the garden...Life is good!

Kess is 13 and it shows...

Kess turned 13 last month. See how she has aged. In her earlier photos, her brown and black coat is distinct, and her muscles are strong and defined. Now, her coat has turned whiter, her neck sags and her hind legs muscles have turned soft.

But you know what hasn't changed in her thirteen years? Kess' nature is still as sweet as ever. She is still our shadow, trailing us around the house as we go about our chores and she still loves to EAT, scavenging for food on the kitchen floor, on our walks, in the garden... Typical beagle!

Following birthday tradition in our household, Kess got a special treat on her birthday. This year Kess and Mia got roasted meatballs and bread served on a bed of regular kibbles.

But that's not all, grandpa had sent some money for treats for his two favorite beagles, so as result, the birthday celebration extended beyond the actual day with some yummy venison treats. Kess wasn't happy that she had to wait whilst her photo was taken with the treat so close yet so far...

But she was one happy beagle when she finally got her venison tendon treat!

To top off the awesome celebration, Aunty E was visiting us and decided to make a treat for the hot summer days - frozen yoghurt, peanut butter and bananas doggie ice cream. Needless to say, Kess and Mia thought it was Christmas and birthday rolled into one! All it took Kess was one gulp to gobble the icy treat.

After that, it was time for play as Mia and her went for a round of doggie sumo wrestling. Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

 

Happy and Sad

You know how humans say the weather affects their mood? Well, check out how the weather affects these two beagles:

 

Sunny day - Happy faces

 

 

Rainy day - sad faces

 

 

Mia is two!

Time sure flies. Before we know it, Mia turned two this month. What does it mean for her and our household? She is taller and has overtaken me, Kess in height. But more importantly, she has started to mellow. My humans used to wonder at her incredible amount of energy. They always said that Mia doesn't gradually grow tired. She used to be hyper, hyper and then she knocks out...zzz... But now, Mia is so much calmer. She still loves to play (aka doggie sumo wrestling) and chase me or our other doggie pals. She is still as affectionate as ever. But she doesn't have that crazy high level of trouble-finding energy, for which my humans are thankful.

Happy Birthday Mia!

This is how we celebrated Mia's birthday:

A walk at our favourite country park

Playing with Ms. D, Mia's Jack Russell pal

Chilling under the sun

A steak birthday dinner

Kess and Mia - best buddies

Happy 2015...belated

Yes, we're late as usual, but better late than never. Happy New Year to all our friends. May 2015 bring you good health and joy.

With the new year, we have a new blog header. My human wishes she had kept all the old blog headers from when this blog first started as Kess' blog but in one of her rare spring cleaning sprees, she had deleted all old blog photos...So, whilst we would have loved to share all the blog headers from 2008, we'll have to settle for just the one from 2014...

Sisterly love

Mia keeps Kess active in her old age. She loves to pick a fight with Kess, usually after walks or meals. You can see her thinking about picking a fight, go on the predatory stance and then pounce on Kess, nipping her to get Kess to join in the fight. They'll chase each other, Kess will usually drop on the ground as her hind leg is not as strong and they'll roll about like sumo wrestlers. Then when both have had enough, Mia kisses Kess to make up. Aahh...sisters!

 

 

We are back! Curious Mia

Hi everyone! As always, absence from the blogging world is always the human's fault. Now that our human has caught a break, we figured it's time to update our blog.

Would you believe that Mia has been with us for more than a year? She joined our family last summer and now it seems like she has been with us forever. Mia is one curious beagle. She is always checking things out. Check it out...

 

Mia checks out her reflection on our bookshelf mirror. "Hmm...I really am quite a cute beagle"

 

 Checking out the flower pot...

 
Sticking her head into our friend's bag...As it turns out, she had a bar of chocolates in her bag meant for my humans. Thankfully, little Mia didn't get her teeth into those chocs.

 

Checking out the view on our walks.

Checking out dinner before it's served.

 

 

Watching the world go by from our front window...

 

Checking out the camera taking her picture.

Checking out the other doggies at the park

 

Last but not least, something we both love to do- checking out the ground for any food bits!

 

This ol' beagle turns 12

What a journey! I turn 12 today. This was me six years ago:

This is me today!

Back then, whilst I had started showing white fur on my face and ears, I still had a deep black and brown coat. Now, I have turned very fair as the whites have overtaken the brown and black. My humans think that I have aged gracefully.

One thing that hasn't changed over the years is my love for food! From chewy bone treats to my regular kibbles - I love them all. My humans always make an effort to give me something special on my birthday. So today, Mia and I got a Zuke's Clean Apple Crisp Z-Bone for tea (which is a treat as we don't usually get tea).

Then for dinner, in addition to our regular kibbles, we had a lovely addition of thinly sliced beef on a bed of rice topped with some carrots. Naturally, we both gobbled dinner down in record time.

But that was not all. My humans had one more trick up their sleeve. We don't usually get dessert either but today we did, thanks to my humans' Japanese friend who had bought us a pack of dog pudding. My humans had kept that away for a special occasion and today was that special occasion! Woo hoo!

Unlike me, Mia is usually hesitant in trying unfamiliar food. She will taste the texture, spit it out and try to figure out if she should eat it.

Mia looking at me finishing my dessert in one bite.

 

Since she still couldn't make up her mind if she should eat her pudding, I decided to help her eat it. But, typical beagle, she defends her pudding and quickly pops it into her mouth and move away from me. It took her another minute or so to finally eat it, but she definitely wasn't going to let me eat it for her. Silly Mia!

As far as birthdays go, today was a good one! 

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.

 

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

What an eventful year it has been! We welcome Mia to our family in summer, two doggie surgeries in autumn, lots of work travel for my humans throughout the year and family visits in spring and winter. With such a busy year, we haven't had much time to blog. We still appreciate our blog pals and hope to find time to visit from time to time. Meanwhile, here's wishing everyone a wonderful 2014. May the new year bring you love, joy and peace!

Love from Kess & Mia
Hong Kong

Kess and Mia - Doggie sumo or play?

 

 Kess & Mia's Mama:

It's been four months since Mia joined our family. Kess and her have found their rhythm. Mia rejuvenates Kess with play, and Kess teaches Mia by leading by example. A good partnership indeed! One of the things that both dogs love to do is doggie sumo. Now that Kess's lump on her head has been removed (and no cancer!), there is no more risk of bleeding on her head,We let them have a play and when it gets out of hand, we call for time out. Both beagles tired by then have a snooze!