Happy Belated Christmas and a Happy 2013!

Happy Belated Christmas and a Happy 2013!

December has been a crazy busy month for me and my humans. We've had friends and visitors staying with us throughout the month, which explains my absence from blogging. It's been great fun catching up with family and friends. Inevitably, they come bearing gifts for this canine and her humans. My gifts include doggie treats from Australia - kangaroo jerky and pigs ears, whilst my humans enjoy chocolates and other yummy goodies. Unfortunately my humans have decided to ration how often I get to eat my treats, so they're in the pantry, away from reach of this beagle :-(

Treats aside, I've also enjoyed lots of attention from our friends and family - both old and young. After all, you're never too old to enjoy a game of tug of war...

And which dog doesn't enjoy some TLC?

To top it off, I had an unexpected gift from Santa. Santa knows that Kess has been a good doggie and this beagle made it on his "nice" list. Dear ol' Santa must have been so busy delivering gifts that he got lost and delivered my treat to my neighbour downstairs instead. Our kind neighbour delivered it to me. Thanks MM! These heart-shaped treats are not only yummy but healthy too.

 

 

Goodbye 2012! To my human friends, may 2013 bring you love, peace and joy. To my canine friends, may 2013 bring you lots of treats!

 

With love from Kess & Her Mama

 

This Beagle Explores Stage 3 of HK Trail

This beagle loves exploring sections of the Hong Kong trail, a nice change from my regular walks on Bowen Road. The 50km long trail spans five country parks across Hong Kong island. The trail is divided into 7 stages, starting at the Peak, on the western side of the island and ending at Big Wave Bay, on the eastern side of Hong Kong.

The HK trail has distance post along the trail to help hikers figure out where they are and in case of emergencies. The way you can work out how far you've walked is to take note of the number on the post. The distance between each post is 1/2 km. So the starting point at the peak is H001 and the ending point at Big Wave Bay is H100 (50 km).

Whilst it is highly unlikely that I will be able to cover the entire Hong Kong trail (this beagle is 10 years old after all), over the last 1.5 years, my humans have taken me for walks on different sections of the west end trails. So far, I've covered Stage 1 (7km) of the Hong Kong trail, which starts at the Peak's Lugard Road, and then crosses over to Lung Fu Shan Country Park, before looping over to Pok Fu Lam Country Park. My humans and I also regularly hike on the Lady Clementi's Ride, which is the initial 2.5km of Stage 4. A few weeks back, we covered Stage 3 (6.5km), starting from Wan Chai Gap and ending at Peel Rise, near the Peak.

 

My humans usually let me go off-leash on the trails, with one human leading the way upfront and another human behind this beagle to make sure that I don't roam off. Sometimes, I will stop to check that the human on back patrol is still following me. "Hurry up, we've got lots to explore."

 

 

 

The trail is really lovely. It's shaded, fairly flat and passes a couple of streams. We stopped for a water break and my human decided to dip her toes in the cool water of the stream. Me, I'll keep my paws on firm ground. In case you don't know, beagles do not like to play in water, unlike my fellow canines, the Labradors and Retrievers.

The most difficult part of the trail is the last kilometre or so leading up to Peel Rise. It is a very steep climb! So, on our last visit, we skipped the last section and turned around back to Wan Chai Gap. At one point of the trail, there were a series of steep large steps. Since my humans did not want this beagle to climb the stairs (old age = joints issue), my human carries me up.

After that lovely long outing, this beagle catches a snooze out in our balcony. A pretty good weekend indeed!

 

 

A new bed for Kess

One of the reasons we went to Whiskers n Paws last weekend was to get this beagle a new bed. Now, indulgent human dad has been wanting to get me a new bed to replace the one in our living room for the longest time. But practical human mum resisted as the bed was still in good condition. Even after human dad accidentally "lost" the soft flat cushion base on my bed whilst giving the bed a fluff over the balcony to get rid of the fur, human mum said bed was still OK for use since I have an Ikea pillow. So, why the new bed? It was finally time to retire the old bed after human mum discovered that the base of the bed had started to peel.

We got the Dog Gone Smart Bed. It has a removeable cover which can be washed, which is pretty smart. Their tag line is "Our beds love dirty dogs". 

However the question is does this dog love the bed? To put it to a test, my human put out both the new and old bed.

I checked it out...

Nope. I still like my old bed better.

"Too bad" my humans said, "You've got a new bed and you have to use it. It's time to retire your old bed". So, the next day, old bed was gone and in its place is the new bed. My humans laid my fleece blanket over the bed. I guess the new bed is pretty comfy after all. Time for a snooze, I think.

 

A Visit to Whiskers N Paws

The beauty of living in Hong Kong is the availability of on-line shopping - anything from groceries to pet supplies. When my humans first arrived in Hong Kong last year, they were not very savvy and went hunting high and low for a pet shop to purchase some doggie supplies. Finally, after some intenet research, they discovered the convenience of on-line shopping sites for pet supplies. After experimenting with a few, they finally settled on Whiskers N Paws. It has a great English site (which is a big plus as a lot of the local websites are in Chinese) and service is quick and reliable.

Once in a while my humans like to pay a visit to the bricks and mortar shop. Located in Horizon Plaza, a massive industrial building that houses furniture, factory outlets and of course, Whiskers n Paw, it has easy parking and best of all, allows doggies. This is my second visit to Whiskers N Paws. The first time was in February this year. My humans made me pose in front of the store sign.

 

Thankfully, they didn't make me pose in front of the store again this visit. However, this does not mean that my trigger happy human did not take snapshots of me on her trusty Iphone, as you'll soon see.

 

In addition to a huge space for the shop, Whiskers N Paws also has an outdoor space for dogs to socialize and play. Today, they hosted a doggie adoption day by Hong Kong Dog Rescue. So, the backyard had lots of people and doggies. At the front of the shop, we met a couple, who has a beagle and decided to adopt the sweetest chocolate-coloured puppy today. Lucky pup!

 

Although I did not get to meet that beagle, I did get to meet a little human, who was happily playing on the dog slide...

 

...and a little black pup.

Most of the time, I was happy to sit with my human and watch the other dogs play.

At the shop, I had a great time checking out the food section. Hmm...I wonder what my humans got for me? I hope there are some treats.

 

 

After loading up our car with my goodies, it was time to say goodbye to Whiskers N Paws. I hope I don't have to wait 10 months before my next visit!

 

Multiplicity

How many beagles can you spot?

 

Before, During and After

It was a lovely weekend again and this beagle and my humans headed to our favourite country park.

Before

This was me on the way to the park - enjoying the wind with our open sun roof.

 

During

This was me, sniffing the air, trying to figure out where the Alsatian that was ahead of me went. I went berserk on this walk - pulling my humans and barking at a very high pitch as I caught the scent of the Alsatian but not being able to catch up . Now usually, my humans are comfortable to let me go off leash as I will generally stroll and stop every few feet to check out the smells. Not this visit! Given my highly charged state of mind, going off-leash was not an option! Needless to say, we finished our walk faster than usual, and panting more than usual (beagle and humans..).



After

This was me, on the way home in the car - exhausted!

 

Autumn is here!

Despite having lived in Hong Kong for more than a year now, I am still amazed at how dog-friendly the city of Hong Kong is. Unlike Malaysia, in Hong Kong, you can find apartments that will allow dogs, taxis will take dogs as passengers, for a small fee of HKD5/USD0.65 and my all-time favourite, dogs are allowed in the country parks, and off-leash too! Of course, there are challenges to living in a busy city. Not all places have walking paths for dogs to walk. We are fortunate to live near a popular walking/jogging path.

One of the lovely aspects of living in Hong Kong is the four seasons. Living in tropical Malaysia, where we only get rain or shine, it is a nice change to experience four distinct seasons. Summer in Hong Kong is hot, humid and uncomfortable, my least favourite time of the year. I love the cooler seasons, which is relatively mild compared to countries in higher latitudes. After my last post, autumn played peek-a-boo, disappearing for a few days as sultry summer weather once again reigned in Hong Kong. But, since the mid-autumn festival last weekend, autumn is well and truly here. Apart from the lovely cool temperatures, the days are getting shorter as it becomes dark by around 6.30-6.45 pm in the evening. I think autumn is one of the best times of the year. It's not that cold that this beagle need to wear doggie clothes but cool enough for nice long walks in the park, even in late morning, which is exactly what we did this morning. Can't ask for a more perfect outing for a beagle and her humans!