The Many Faces of a Beagle

My humans and their friends came across this picture of a smiling pig on the wall of a restaurant.


The conversation went something like this:
"I wonder if the picture was doctored to make the pig smile"
"Well, I don't know know much about pigs, but I can assure you that beagles do smile. In fact, they have expressions pretty much like humans do."

And that is how this post about the many faces of this beagle came about...

The happy face

The serious face


The embarrased face


The sad face


The anxious face

The sleepy face


The "I'm thinking" face

The "Do Not Disturb" face

The "get out of my" face aka guard dog face

Last but not least...the "I'm stuffing my face" face...


Which one is your favourite face?

Happy Valentines Day everyone. Be sure to give your humans a slurpy lick to show them your love.

The Beagle That Should Have Been Named Hoover

My humans think that I should have been named Hoover instead of Kess. Why? Well, this beagle's favorite household chore is to "vacuum" any food bits that may have dropped onto the floor from our dining table (during lunch/dinner), sofa (breakfast or snack times) and kitchen (meal preparation). My humans make it a point not to feed me when they are having their meals, so I've never learnt to beg for food when they eat. Instead, I am contented to sit at their feet whilst they enjoy their food. But, the moment they finish eating and start clearing the dishes, this beagle immediately goes into "Hoover" mode, nose to the ground, ready to slurp any tidbits left behind.



In fact, I would have been happy to lick their plates clean, thus saving them the hassle of washing the dishes. Unfortunately, my humans did not agree with this beagle's point of view... They reckon that if I want to lend a paw around the house, I should learn to operate a real "Hoover" and vacuum the fur that I shed instead! That's not going to happen anytime soon...so it looks like my human is stuck with that household chore. I'll stick to the food removal!

P.S. My humans also think that I should have been named Socks. Although they call me Kess, my given name at birth is actually something else.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare)

The White Dog That (Almost) Followed Me Home

This morning, my human and I went for a nice long walk around the neighbourhood. Just before we crossed a major road to head back towards our home, a young white dog came bounding up to greet us. This friendly canine kept wanting to smell my butt (it's a dog thing) and inviting me to play with him, pawing me gently and running circles around us.

After a couple of minutes, my human decided that it was time to say goodbye as we had to head home. The young dog obviously did not get the message as he tried to follow us as we crossed the road. Now my human was rather worried that this dog would follow us home or even worst, get knocked down by a car as he crossed the busy road. She also figured his humans would worry if this dog went missing (this dog had humans because he had a leather collar on but no ID). So, my human and I crossed back to where we first encountered this young canine. We walked around the row of houses trying to find our new friend's humans. But no one seemed to be missing a dog.

Despite attempts to tell him to go home (his home...not ours...), the young dog just did not seem to listen. Personally, I think he was rather enamoured with me. Finally, my human decided to carry me across the road, whilst telling the other dog to stay. Fortunately, he did not follow us across this time. We walked away quickly, stopping to look back to ensure that the white male did not try to cross the busy road. Thankfully, he didn't.

Hopefully, the young white dog had enough adventure for the day and decided to return home to his humans. This beagle had enough adventure for the morning and went home for a well deserved snooze!

See the lions dance

It's that time of the year again...In about 2 weeks time, Chinese all over the world welcome the Lunar New Year. One of the traditions that accompany this celebration is the lion dance - a traditional dance where two performers mimic's a lion's movements in an elaborate lion costume. One performer would hold up the head and be the front "paws" of the lion, while the other would be the hind "paws" of the lion. The performers would dance and perform acrobatic acts on poles, whilst the musicians play Chinese drums and cymbals.



The story behind the lion dance dates back to ancient China. Apparently, a monk dreamt that sorrows and evils would plague the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. Since the Chinese people had never seen a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all the other animals, the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and made a lion. (Source: Wikepedia)

Anyway, my human was at a local shopping mall (without her favourite beagle, as dogs aren't allowed in malls), when she stumbled on the lion dance performance.

This first 1 minute+ video shows the lion dancing on poles, after a short suspenseful pause at the start... These performers' have amazing dexterity and agility!


The second short video shows two playful lions playing "football".


Enjoy!

The "F" word...

Before you gasp and wonder if Kess' blog has gone to the dogs (idiom meaning: it has gone badly wrong and lost all the good things it had), this four-letter "F" word is not a bad word that humans sometimes use when they are angry...

It all began with a car ride. My humans and I had gone to visit her sister for a family get together. Now, mum's sister lives about an hour away. That's not a problem for me as I've gone on car journeys as long as 4 hours. Usually, I would peer out of the car window and check out my surroundings. Once I'm satisfied that all is well, I'll settle down for a snooze. This trip, my human even brought along my bed to put into the trunk/boot of our SUV. So, I was very comfortable.


On our return journey, my humans suddenly smelled something foul. Oh oh...they thought, Kess has done it again...and they quickly rolled down the windows. If you haven't guessed by now, I FARTed, or to use the correct term, "flatulence". Now, in a small enclosed area, such as a car, the combination of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen gas (scientific term: flatus) can be quite potent. So my humans, weighing their options of inhaling exhaust fumes from the other travelling cars or inhaling my "flatus", the choice is the lesser of two evils...So the windows came down until the odour was dispelled.

Honestly, I don't know what the big deal is...It's not like dogs are the only ones who fart. Humans do too!

Kess & Her Mama

From the desk of Kess' Mama:



"My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am."
~Author Unknown

The Beagles' Day Out

This beagle could not ask for a better way to start off 1.1.11, than a doggie outing to Central Park, in BU. What made this outing even more special - I will meet my fellow beagle blogger, Sapphire and her humans for the very first time.

As with all canine encounters, introductions took place in the form of butt-sniffing. Humans think it's disgusting, but we canines know better...


Since we were so well-behaved, both Sapphire and I got a liver treat each, after the customary sit and wait.


Of course, after one miserly treat, both beagles were still hungry and went scavenging for food during our walk. We were in for a treat as there was a New Year's party the night before at the park and some kind humans had left satay sticks around the grounds for us. How thoughtful of them! Unfortunately, our humans did not agree and each time Sapphire and I found a stick and started chomping on it, our humans would remove it. Spoil sports!


Sapphire impressed us all with her "peek-a-boo" trick... Isn't she cute? I hope my humans don't get ideas about getting this old dog (I turn 9 this May) to learn this new trick...


Alas, all good things come to an end. Oh well, we'll be back, won't we Sapphire?