Are You A Friend of Chet?

Hi everybuddy! We have started reconnecting with our furiends, but we do want to say we haven't gotten a chance to visit everydoggy yet. We'll get there if we stay connected. So far, pretty good.

One good thing did come out of the Winter of our Disconnect. Blog Mom had to go get some books to read  since we couldn't read blogs much. One of our favorite types of books are mysteries. Franklin and I prefer them if there's a dog involved. Well, Blog Mom came across a mystery series she'd never read at all and it happens to be narrated by one of the greatest dog detectives in the history of - well, of dog detectives. His name is Chet. You never see a whole picture of Chet,  probably so he won't be mobbed by fans, I figure. Blog Mom says he's a Fictional Dog. I'm not really familiar with that breed, but I figure it must be one of those new hybrids. It's pretty clear from his description that he's got some GSD and probably some Border Collie in him and probably one or two other things. Maybe a little Sibe or some sort of terrier. He has stated that he enjoys digging quite well. Chet is a brilliant detective and a witty narrator and the plots are quite satisfying. We were chuckling and chortling and enjoying the first book so much that Alpha Mom ran out and got her own copy right away. She was not sorry.

What we love best about the books, though, is that Chet's essential canineness shines through at all times. He doesn't come across as just a human with fur and a great sense of smell. No, Chet is all dog. He thinks like a dog, has senses like a dog, marks everywhere, lives in the now and naps like a dog. His partner and human is Bernie Little, and together they are the Little Detective agency. Oh, I could go on and on, but if you haven't read these books you really need to get hold of one. You can thank us later. Might as well start with Dog On It, which is the first and go from there. Below  is the most recent one. We don't have it yet. Blog Mom says she's trying to stretch things out a bit because we'll be a little sad when we run out, which will be soon.

 The only bad thing is that there are only three of  the books so far. They're written by a Mr. Spencer Quinn. You'd think it was amazing that someone who'd written only three books could write them so well - even the very first one, but here's the thing of that - Mr. Spencer Quinn is also Mr. Peter Abrahams who was already a highly trained author. Not so surprising, really. After all, I wasn't always Lola and I learned a lot when I was...whoever I used to be. Don't really recall all that much about it now. Franklin, as we know, was Brooklyn when he got here. A lot of you were called something else at one time, too. I suppose there's no reason why this might not happen among humans, too.

Chet has a blog of his own which is called Chet The Dog, although he's sometimes forced to share it with someone called Admin and also on Sundays there's Ingrid. We haven't quite got all that straight yet, but all we really want is a place to keep tabs on Chet while Spence (I think that Spence is Mr. Quinn's call name.) is working on more books for us to read. One nice feature is that you can upload a photo of yourself and that's all you have to do to become a Friend of Chet. We kind of messed ours up the first time, so it was up there twice. I'm not sure if that's been fixed yet. Lots of nice dogs and also some humans can be found there. They are also quite generous with excerpts of the books while they're in progress, but so far we're not reading them, preferring to read the whole book at once. We might change our tune by the time number four gets written, though. Blog Mom says we'll be jonesing by then, whatever that means. It's worth a look, really.

Oooh, oooh, Best In Group!

It's past bedtime, but we just had to say congratulations to Miss Jayne Hathaway, a Pei and Best in the Non-Sporting Group at Westminster. You go, girl!

She's quite pretty, no? Seemed to be enjoying herself, too, which is always good to see.

Perhaps the Chihuahua Ate Your Baby

Blog Mom's been under the weather again and keeps falling asleep on me. I hope I can keep her awake long enough to do a real post tomorrow. I have a product review to do, pawple! But in the meantime, I just wanted to share this link:

Chihuahua, pomeranian on Queensland's top 100 dangerous dogs list

In Queenland, Australia, Twinkie might have to put up a "Menacing Dog" sign on her property to warn all and sundry about the danger on the premises. Me too, of course, but Shar Pei are on all those lists. I know that chihuahuas can be fierce, but puhleese! Unless you are a human who is under 18 inches tall, man up and deal.

Halloween Dog Parade

This is smile inducing stuff. It's the Halloween Dog Parade in Tompkins Square Park. Alpha Mom used to live right there, but a long time ago. I think it was about 87 years ago. Anyway, it was before they had this parade happening. In fact, as it's been explained to me city parks were mainly used for drug deals and homeless people back then. The photo above is a picture from a previous year. I couldn't find any from this year that were OK to post, but there's a great Flickr set with tons of photos. It's All Rights Reserved so I can't post it, but you can go see it Right Here.

Meantime, neither Franklin nor I have Halloween costumes. I don't mind so much for myself, but Franklin would look so natural in a vampire type cape.

For George

As many of you have probably read, our furiend George, of Welsh Terrier fame, was just entered in an informal sort of dog show by his well meaning, but perhaps a little misguided, Dad. It seems that dog shows have not, so far, been the best venue for George to shine. George did not win. Or place. He came in last. This is incomprehensible to Franklin and me both. George is a Terrier of so many talents. Not only does he have a super terrific blog, he's just a wonderful travel writer. He's a  Morris dancer. We only learned what a Morris dancer was from George, so there you go! He's an educator, too. That's just scratching the surface, I'm sure, but on top of this multitude of abilities, George remains a regular dude and will accompany his Dad to the pub for a pint any time at all. Plus, he's very good looking, don't you think?

 

Well, we know that George is Best of Breed in our hearts so we are presenting him with our own blue ribbon for first place. We hope he'll accept it in the spirit in which it's given.

 

George, you're the best! 

Saturday Thises and Thatses

Look what came in my Pei Mail yesterday:

This is Master. He's a Collie Pei. I don't think he's a designer dog. More likely a love child. But if they all came out like this I'd have to endorse this hybrid. Is he gorgeous or what? It's probably just as well that he's way down in Dallas, because we just don't have room for another doggy bed in this place, or the green papers to support another one in the style to which we've become accustomed and Blog Mom can't stop looking at his photo. He's Pet of the Week in yesterday's Dallas Voice and available for adoption at .the Dallas Animal Services Adoption Center. If you're anywhere near Dallas and are lacking for a Shar Pei and/or a Collie, you really can't go wrong here. I'm sure he'll herd your sheep, rescue Timmy from the well and....

Oh, this is a bit humiliatling. After wittily listing a couple of things that Collies do I can't really come up with anything that we Shar Pei do. We are champions at being housebroken. You won't find a breed in the world that can beat us for that. I'm not sure that qualifies as an activity, though. We are wonderful companions. It's hard to explain why we're so good at that, because being good companions is really a major schtick for the whole canine population. All's I can say is that having one of us around is kind of like having an attentive, but not overly demanding, human around most of the time. That is not exactly an activity on the order of well rescuing or sheep herding either, though. We have a strong prey drive (except for Franklin) but it doesn't really come to anything. We don't track anything much or run vermin to ground.  We certainly don't retrieve. We will encourage YOU to retrieve. Does that count for anything? We must do something.... I know! We grunt! We are not the only grunting breed, but I think we can hold our own with any of them. In fact, I think that for those big doggy shows they have they should open up a new category. The Grunting Group. Right now we're in Non-Sporting Group which only serves to highlight what could be construed by the unenglightened as our lack of function. Anyhoo, someone's going to get a great dog with Master, but I recommend changing the name. Calling your dog Master has just got to set up the wrong dynamic for the whole relationship.

 And having nothing to do with any of the above, I was leaving a comment on Corbin's blog the other day and this was my squiggly word.

Doggem! I'm telling you - there some kind of secret code thing going on here. Any code breaking dogs around?

Well, No Time Left for a Real Post, But How About a Dance?

It looks like my post about the awards is going to have to wait another day or even two. There are a number of excuses reasons that Blog Mom is having such a hard time getting up to date here. One of them is that she hasn't been able to do much of anything since really injuring her leg earlier this summer. Now it's gotten to the point where she can function a little better. The ankle is not normal sized yet and the calf is still weak and she needs a cane to balance, but that's a big improvement from where she was, believe it or not. Sooo...she's had lots of catching up to do and she's on a tear in the house. She just went through the kitchen and the living room is next on her list for a fall cleaning and minor face lift. She says it's past time that we have to "beat back the crazy". More about that if there's anything interesting to report there.

What's important is that it's a happy day in the dogiverse, because Miss Molly's Mom is reporting much improvement on that front and Mona's Mommy posted a happy update on Shelby. It's enough to make a doggy want to dance. As it happens, my wonderful Aunt Donna sent us a link to a video of a very talented Merengue dancing dog, so we though we'd share that one with you. It sure did get all four of my feet tapping.





Now I have about an hour before bed, so I'm going to use that time to try to catch up with some of my furiends.

So Many Thanks In Order, Part I

I haven't blogged much and for the first time in a while I really have gotten behind in reading blogs. For that, I'm getting awards and a cool pressie. Maybe I should just shut up all the time. Nah! That's not going to happen. But there are so many thanks in order I thought I better do them it two evenings. Awards tomorrow, I hope, pressie and other business tonight.

I want to say a BIG thank you to J.D., Max and their Mom for all the work they've done and are still doing on the auction for Shelby. I feel awful about not getting online to bid on something, but a lot of the things we put up sold, so I'm happy about that and even happier that the auction really did raise a considerable contribution to Shelby's care.

Now I have to tell you about the big surprise I got yesterday. I got mail! I generally get much better mail than my humans do and this was no exception.

I've got mail!

Someone bring my reading glasses!

It was from my Rhodesian Ridgeback furiend, Boomer Miller! Boomer sent me mail! How exciting is that? Very, very exciting!  So, what's in the envelope? I need to know.

This is pawfect! 

Boomer, how did you know? It's just what I needed!

To be honest, I like having a little brother. I kind of love Franklin. Maybe even a lot. But there are moments now and then when I remember what it was like being the sole canine center of my universe and sometimes I miss it. It kind of lifts my spirits to have this and  say, "Nyah, nyah!" at those moments. OK, I can be a bit of a bitch at times. Comes with the territory. Not that it's entirely true. I will always be top dog here as long as I'm on this side of the Bridge. I got that in writing just to be sure. But they probably love Franklin just as much. Just sort of differently, due to the fact that he's young and kind of goofy. But I don't have to tell him that, do I?

Oh, I feel right on top of my game again!

Thank you again so very much, Boomer. You are a thoughtful and kind Ridgeback and I'll be furever grateful.

I can't close this post out without expressing Get Well wishes for dear little Molly. She's sickies again, and fighting like a teeny tiger again, too. We are sending all the pawsitive vibes that we can, Molly. I hope you can feel them.

Thursday and I'm So Behind

I'm a little behind here.

I need to apologize to all my wonderful furiends. I haven't visited anyone at all today. I mean, I've read a few blogs where I could but I haven't so much as left a word. You know I love you all, right? And I'll catch up as soon as I can, but maybe not for another day. Our usual morning session on the web got cut short and tonight's not looking good either. That kind of thing happens from time to time and I'd be catching up with everyone instead of posting this Blog Mom culpa, but there are major events that have passed by while I was kept from my blogging duties.

This morning I did just get a chance to read that it's National Dog Day, which I didn't know was a thing at all. Thank you, Mayzie. If not for furiends I wouldn't know anything at all, I think. Of course, the day's about over now, but I sure hope everydog had a great one. Mine was so-so. To tell the truth I'm a little off my feed, which is making the Moms and Daddy just a tad nervous and that's part of the reason that I've had trouble getting online. They're too busy watching me and worrying  to keep up with everything they need to be doing. Like helping me blog, for instance.

There was another very impawtent event that I did not post about at the proper time, which was yesterday. It was Alpha Mom's birthday! She turned 385 in standard dog years yesterday, August 25th. We didn't forget her birthday. In fact, Franklin and I got her a netbook and she really likes it. ...Oh, OK, I'll tell the truth. We didn't buy it all by ourselves. The kitties chipped in, too, but only a little. But I think that it's only right to say a formal Happy Birthday to one of the best Moms in the whole world here on my blog. So, better late than never.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALPHA MOM! 

with love from me, Lola

Happy Barkday, Sugar

Sugar is nine years young today. She looks much younger, doesn't she? And she is having a blog pawty to celebrate. She says that all you have to do to attend the pawty is the following:

1. If you wish to celebrate and pawty on my Barkday, simply do a blog post on Tuesday, August 10th (my Barkday). About WHAT? Well, on how you would Pawty on my Barkday ... adventures will be doing and of course the delish treats will be eating
2. On my post on August 10th "My 9th Barkday,"
3. Feel free to use any photos in my blog to use in your post.

Easy Peasy, right? Well, I love a pawty. I'm assuming a lot of Golden Retrievers will be there, so it should be very social and fun. Goldens might be the most social doggies I've ever ment. I think starting with a good game of Pin the Tail on the Kitty is a great way to break the ice.

Then it would be pretty cool to work up an appetite (as if we needed to do that) with a good old fashioned squirrel treeing competition.

And then it would be time for a little something. I would love to try Sugar's Mom's Cheesy Bone Treats, maybe along with a little chopped liver. There's nothing like chopped liver for a pawty, I always woof. And maybe a nice cheese platter. Then, of course, the big moment and a ginormous cheesecake and we bark Happy Barkday to Sugar. Sounds like a great time to me, but I'm certainly open to other ideas and look forward to reading what others have thought up. Whatever goes on, I hope that Sugar has the best birthday ever.

Weather permitting, I will chase a squirrel in Sugar's honor today. I would love to toast her with a bit of chopped liver as well, but that one's not up to me. Failing that we'll think of her when as we munch on a tea time lamb and rice buscuit - not party fare, but more likely to be available

Happy World Cat Day to all our Kitty Furiends

Actually, I just found out about World Cat Day from Tama-Chan.  I knew it was something I could not let pass, so first I went to wish Happy a Happy World Cat Day.

But I AM celebrating!

Happy was totally busy working on becoming one with his basket. He's doing rather well at it. having managed to become rectangular. He said to put a little something special in his supper dish and he'd see us around 6 PM or so. So, down the hall to alert Simone.

ZZZZZZZ

She was going to miss the whole day if I let her sleep, so I took my life in my paws and called to her to wake up.

Honey, every day is World Cat Day - if you're me.

She was most grateful to me for waking her up and wishing her a happy holiday. She didn't say so, but I could tell. She didn't take a swipe at me for one thing.

This being a special day for kitties it seemed like a good time to post a couple of  the numerous pictures we have of Schooner. I think Blog Mom is trying to experience having a Maine Coon in the family vicariously. She saves all the photos of Schooner she can get. I don't mind. I think he's a pretty pawsome kitty, too.

Winning over an adopted sibling

His Mom says he's doing great, making friends and infuencing people and other kitties all over the place. This one was from a while ago. He's grown since this one was taken.

I am SOOOO big.

He's going to be a very big kitty when he grows up. He'll keep growing for the longest time and eventually he'll probably have a mane like a lion. His kitty daddy does.

Cuteness - I haz it.

For now, though, he's still just a kid and a pretty adorable one. Go ahead - You know you want to say, "SQUEE!".

I need to post about going to PetSmart and I am considering....considering, mind you....letting Franklin contribute to a post on his one month Gotcha anniversary, which I believe is Tuesday. We are going to have to work to get that together, but in the meantime here's one of us doing what we usually do:

I know Franklin has a tendency to look a teensy bit demonic, with those unfortunate eye. He's not, though. Not a sign of being a demon so far at all. He's just a little annoying at the absolute worst.

Assessing Brooklyn

I've been doing some serious reflection and soul searching on the subject of my new little brother. I was a little startled at first, you understand. The biggest thing I was planning  to cope with last Saturday was a bath and it turned out that major life changes were in store. Plus the bath. But the fact is that I was rescued. Yes, I also rescued my humans. I rescued them from a life without me, Lola, which was simply not nearly as good as life with me. Be that as it may, I was the one living in a crate waiting for a furever home and I have been so very happy in the one I found. It would be wrong, wrong, wrong to be unwilling to Pei that forward and Brooklyn represents an opportunity to give someone else a bit of what I've got. Not to mention that giving him a home might get another doggy a little more time to find his or her forever home at the shelter. That doesn't mean  it's all peace, love and understanding every minute. And it doesn't mean I'm not going to call him Dorkface Boy from time to time, because sometimes that's what he is.

When you can take the pebble from my paw, Young Grasshopper, you will be allowed on the couch.

Of course there's rather a lot of distance between deciding that I should welcome the chance to make a pawsonal sacrifice and actually enjoying my little brother.We're just starting that journey. I hope it doesn't turn out to take forever. In all honesty I have to admit that he's going to be a pretty good dog if he learns a few things and gets a little more life experience. I just don't know how long that's going to take.

From the human perspective he's quite a find, like most Pei. He doesn't chew anything he's not supposed to. He doesn't think he's allowed on the furniture so he doesn't get up on it even though I do. We don't actually have that rule, but we're not telling him quite yet. He's totally housebroken.  Blog Mom was a little worried about that but charged ahead anyway. What's the matter with her? What happened was that on Saturday, while Alpha Mom and I were both getting groomed (same time, different shops) she sneaked went down to the shelter. It seems she'd been looking at the Petfinder site again and when there was a Shar Pei at the local municipal shelter she couldn't stop herself.  She got there, asked for him and he was brought out into this room they have for that kind of meeting. She wasn't worried when he went all crackadaisical, running all over, because she knew he was living in a crate and not everydog can handle that situation with the kind of poise that I did during my time in shelter. She was a tad concerned with the fact that he lifted his leg and marked in the room - indoors, pawple - every 15 seconds. Obviously, this didn't stop her and she went ahead and dragged invited Alpha Mom and me down to meet Brooklyn that same day. In fact, turns out our stop at Petco was to get him something to wear around the house in case this behavior continued at home. Not needed. Once in my our home he did not lift that leg once inside. He sits, and he even stays if you tell him just right. Not for long, but then I'm not one for the long stay myself unless I didn't want to get up anyway. He's barkier than I am, and they have mixed feelings about that. More of a guard dog, but also more of a nuisance. I don't much care either way.

That's the human angle. From the canine perspective he's a bit of a dunce. First off I had to demonstrate the purpose of a dog bed. We dragged out my old one for him to use for now. He seemed to think it was a giant stuffy.   He did pick that lesson up fairly quickly, I must admit.

Is this right, Big Sis?

He doesn't know anything about chasing squirrels or birds. Birds just walk around the yard , not even bothering to fly, when he's out there without me - and if he's out there it's without me if I have anything to say about it. I saw a squirrel just hanging out on a tree trunk not more than 3 feet from the ground with Brooklyn just standing there a couple of yards away. I think the squirrel was taunting him.

What I found out last night was that despite his constant and noisy demands that I play with him, he doesn't actually know how to do that either. He gets into play stance - you know, front down, haunches up and make all kinds of "C'mon, play with me. Let's go! Please, please, please!" noises,but he's all talk, no action. That was most clearly demonstrated in what will live forever as one of his most embarrassing  moments if I have anything to do with it. I was feeling expansive and lively after dinner so when he started I rolled over and made the appropriate noises indicating my willingness to do a little bitey face. He just stood there looking confused. But wait! It gets better. Being confused didn't stop him from starting the whole routine over again when I got up so I got in play position myself, only with haunches down and said, "OK, bring it. You want to romp? We'll romp right here in the living room."  Do you know what he did? He looked like a deer in headlights and very slowly lowered his back end onto the ground and then pretended that he just wanted to take a little rest anyway.

I think that was even funnier than the other day when I was interrupted from my morning nap by the sound of a terrifed "Yelp!!". Simone was chasing Brooklyn down the hallway and he was running as if for his life. Simone may be getting older but she's still got it. Happy's way of coping is different. He just sought higher ground until Simone schooled Brooklyn in the ways of the feline.

 It didn't take long and Hapless is already back in his basket. Simone doesn't mess around. I don't want you to think that Brooklyn is a total wuss, though. He did take down a moose.

 So, that's where we're at right now. It's a mitzvah to take him in and I'm OK with that. He's good raw material but needs a lot of molding and educating. And right now he's a pain in my tail.

Pressies from Zelle

I got some lovely gifts today from the very lovely Zelle. She didn't have to, but she did. Besides being great pressies, I believe I'm the first one in my family to get mail from Singapore. Normally we'd have a photo of my opening the box and savoring each item. Things aren't normal here right now, however, what with a brand new little brother sticking his nose in everything. However, all is not lost. My box was pretty much just like Hero's and his is properly displayed in his post. I also don't have a photo of the doggy biscuits. Because they're in my tummy. Oh my Dog, they were delicious! I have e-mailed Zelle to find out what they were. I'm not normally a fan of the biscuit, but I loved those. I hope they're something that can be gotten here in the U.S. and that they're not something I'd have to count on one of the Moms to make from scratch.  Of course, the handmade star was the star of the package and I have photos of that.

I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!

I had to go show this off a little. Walkies are a problem because we don't have too many humans who can walk right now. Blog Mom is off to the Vet again tomorrow. After her mishap with the hole in the ground at the dog run all her lower leg and ankle are blown up to twice their size. Daddy always has big trouble with his feets these days. Luckily Alpha Mom is not broken. Yet. And our foster bass player was at home, so we had four good legs and I got to go show off out in the world just a bit.

Of course I didn't want Brooklyn to feel left out. He might be driving me a little crazy and maybe he is a bit of a dorkface, but he's still got feelings. I let him wear the pawty hat for a while. After all he just came out of confinement himself.

Brooklyn always seems to be in a pawty mood, so a pawty hat is most appropriate for him.

Thank you so much, Zelle. This was so extra nice and thoughtful of you. And every time I wear my star, I'll think of you. Your Mom is so creative and talented, too.

The Biggest News Ever for Me, Lola

Yesterday was the most amazing, surprising day ever since the day I moved in here. I'm still in a bit of a tizzy over it, although you can't always tell that with me. I guess I'll just tell you about it from the beginning.  The day started out normally enough. I went for my bath. Alpha Mom picked me up and brought me home. Blog Mom was out, but came home shortly after. I sniffed right away that she'd been with another dog. Well, of course that happens once in a while, but I studied the smells on her pants very carefully. (This is foreshadowing.) Quite soon after she came home all three of us ladies got into the car to go out again. I couldn't imagine where we were going. It was pouring rain. I hate that. It was no weather for a noseventure, but here we were, heading out someplace.

Our first stop was a Petco store. I love shopping so that was fun. For some reason there was no flashy beast to capture me adorably standing up and putting my paws on the counter while we were checking out. I wanted to pawticipate in the whole shopping experience. After that  it was time to head home, right? Not so much.

Our next stop was a building that I'd never been to before. Or rather the parking lot of the building. There was a lot of barking coming out it and some very interesting smells in the air. Blog Mom went in alone and then came back out and then we all just sat in the car for a little while. This is just not making a lot of sense to me. Finally a lady came out the door, with a doggy on a leash. Normally I'm delighted to meet new furiends, but I don't care for hanging out in parking lots in the pouring rain and this is what it seemed was expected of us. The doggy sniffed me like mad and was all, "Hey, you're a Shar Pei! I'm a Shar Pe! How cool is that? My name's Brooklyn, what's yours?  Let's be best friends right now! We'll sniff each other and then we'll sniff some more and it'll be great!Please, please please." And I was all, "Some other time young dude. It's freaking raining cats and, er..cats out here. "

Next up in this whacked out scenario was to walk over to a fenced in spot, with an awning, thank Dog. There was also lots and lots of mud in there. Once in there, it was leashes off . I was interested in two things: Staying under the awning and climbing up on a bench that was there to get away from the mud. Young Brooklyn, despite clearly being a Pei, seemed oblivious to the rain and mud and just want to advance the friendship that we had not established. He sniffed me. I pretty much ignored him. We both had to jump up on the Moms from time to time to check in and cover them with mud. Served them right, seems to me. About this time, Blog Mom stepped backwards and into a sizable hole that was there. With her bad foot, of course. She yelped like she'd been bitten and, oh it was bad for a little while there. It's still bad today but not AS bad.

Ok, finally time to go home for really truly. We got our soaked, muddy selves back into the car, but hey, wait just a freakin' minute. Three of us had arrived and by my count there were four of us in the car now. What was up with that?  Could it be?

Hi I'm Brookyn! I'm very glad to meet....EVERYONE!

Yes, it could. It seems I've got myself a little brother, like it or not.  He's about a year and a half old and we got him from the town animal shelter. He was given up, according to his owners, because they had to move to a place where they couldn't have dogs. I'm sure they didn't mean to screw up like that, but he hadn't been neutered - the shelter did that. He needed entropion surgery, which you have to figure could happen if you get a Shar Pei puppy, and the shelter had to do that, too. He should have been treated for it as a puppy, but it didn't seem he was. In fact his eyes haven't finished healing from that yet. We're taking him to the vet next week to follow up on them.

You can kind of see here that they look funny, but you can't see how red they are all around the rims and I think there might be a couple of stitches still in.

So how did this happen? I gather it was Blog Mom's idea, but she was supported in this by the others. They give reasons - wanting another doggy to help me stay young and active and wanting to give back to the Shar Pei community, seeing as I turned out to be so nearly perfect that they didn't feel they'd paid enough dues or something. The people at the shelter were pretty happy that Brooklyn was going to a home with another Shar Pei. I do have to say that.  But I know the real reason. Shar Pei are like potato chips. It's really hard to stop at just one.  Of course, no one asked me, Lola. Oh, I suppose that meeting in the rain was supposed to be where they asked, but I don't think they explained the question very well. I'm still considering what I think of it all. I don't dislike him. He's kind of sweet, it's sort of interesting having him here and he's submissive to me, Lola.  Oh, and he loves, loves, loves me. Those are some of the positives.

Checking him out, trying to decide what I think.

 He always wants to play. If I play with him a little, he just wants to keep it up way longer than I feel like it. He loves, loves, love me and he follows me everywhere. EVERYWHERE. That can get old fast. I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to get him trained to suit my lifestyle. Those are a couple of the negatives.

C'mon! Play with me! I wanna play. I love you! Please, please play with me!

He barks when he's trying to get me to play. You see what I have to put up with? Life was very peaceful. However, it seems the family has made a commitment to Brooklyn already, so sending him packing is not going to be an option.

When I say he's always up my butt, I'm just telling it like it is.

 As you can see from this lovely shot, he's a different type of Shar Pei from me, Lola. He's more like the traditional Pei. He keeps all his wrinkles on this head. None on his body at all. And he's teeny bit taller than I am but he's a lot lighter. He has long thin legs. He looks skinny compared to me, but you can feel my ribs and not his. He'll probably fill out a little more by the time he's two, but not all that much. He does have a nice meat mouth, though. It's his best feature.

The kitties, of course, are none too pleased. He's not too bad about them. He doesn't mistake them for prey or anything, but I think he mistakes them for puppies and tries - you guessed it - to play with them. They don't want to play with him and they never, ever will. I tried to explain that but he doesn't get it yet.


Other general impressions are that he's as much a goody two paws as I am when it comes to house manners. He's also just as picky an eater. I like that. On the other paw, he does slobber rather a lot. I only rarely slobber. He seems to foam up at the drop of a leash. He's not doing it as much today as yesterday, though. So maybe it's the excitement and stress of moving into a new pack.

A decision was made by the human contingent that I would continue to sleep upstairs with Alpha Mom as always and Brooklyn would sleep downstairs. Blog Mom fully expected to have a fairly sleepless night with a young doggy in a brand new situation, whereas everyone was sure that, being given a break from Brooklyn, I would happily fall into bed and sleep deeply until morning. Well, you know the old saying, "Man plans, Dog laughs.". Turns out that Brooklyn totally gets lights out and spent a quiet night. I, on the other hand, could not seem to sleep. Which meant that Alpha Mom didn't get much sleep either.

I guess you can stay as long as you understand who's top dog. And I see that you do.

 So that  my furiends, is my big news. Life here is never going to be quite the same again. I'm leaning toward being OK with it, but I expect it'll be a bit of a rocky road while we adjust to our new situation. I do think that Brooklyn has some potential and if there must be little brother, he's probably as good a choice as any. I'm just not sure whether I wanted one or not. I suppose I'll be posting about our progress in establishing our new family configuration quite a bit for while. And I hope to get some advice from experienced older siblings like Ranger, Mango, Asa And  you can bet I will be turning to Twinkie's Advice Column quite a bit in the coming weeks, I think.

Grey Pei Hits The Stage

What do you get when you cross a Greyhound with a Shar Pei? Acting! This beauty is playing Sandy in a Sioux City production of Annie, after which she'll be available for adoption. I bet she won't have any trouble finding a furever home. The question is, will she be content to be a stay-at-home dog after this, or will she long to try her luck among the bright lights of Broadway. My advice would be "Stay!". It's ruff out there. But with a smile like that she's going to get offers, I bet. Do you think she's wearing eye liner or is that just natural beauty?

While I'm here, I want to apologize for spotty visiting and very light commenting the last day or so. My assistant is having a lot of trouble with her sinuses  and pain and up half the night and all that and while I've been reading as many blogs as I can without much help from her, she keeps whining instead of typing the comments I've been dictating to her. If we can get her fixed up, we should be back in decent form over the weekend. She better hurry. Simone says it's her turn to have her picture up. I don't know where Simone got the idea that this is in any way a group blog, but I'm a little afraid to set her straight.

Power of the Paw and Maybe the Purse Needed for Pittie

Hi everybuddy. I expect that most of you know that Mona's Mommy and her friend are trying to save a poor little pittie girl who was probably used as BAIT!  They were pretty sure that a shelter would see her as a lost cause and euthanize her so they're taking this on themselves. They named her Shelby and it's no sure thing that she's going to make it, but they're trying their best to get her the medical care she needs and give her a chance.

They didn't ask for any help, but some pawple asked them about sending some donations and we are certainly going to send something as soon as we can. And what I thought was if all of us sent something - even a very little - it would add up to quite a bit. And if we all blog about it, maybe word will get around and their expenses will be mostly covered or at least considerably defrayed. Mona's Mommy will send her address to you if you e-mail her about it. She can be reached through the address on Mona's profile. It's a wonderful thing they're doing and I just thought that a lot of us would probably like to help them do it.

Coming to America

The United States is often called a "nation of immigrants" and it's one of the things it's most known for, too. While there have been those who came here out of a sense of adventure and because they believed they'd find limitless opportunity and some didn't come of their own free will, a whole lot of our forebears have come here to escape something. They came to escape religious persecution, famine, poverty, class stratification and political oppression. We Shar Pei are no different and we belong in the last group. Of course, all Chinese Shar Pei know our breed history and our brush with extinction but perhaps not everyone does. In any case, it seems fitting on the weekend when the USA celebrates its national birthday that I post about being a grateful Shar Pei-American.

This video make an excellent musical soundtrack for my post. You don't have to turn it on. Just saying that if you want to, it adds dramatic value.

 Give me  your tired, your paws
Your wrinkled masses yearning to breath free

While I was born here, my American roots only go back as far as the 1970's at the earliest. What happened was that up until the middle of the last century Shar Pei were not known outside of China.  We were, depending on who you believe, farm dogs, guard dogs, hunting dogs or fighting dogs. Probably we were all of those things over time and depending on our humans. We are one of the most ancient breeds and had plenty of time to get to everything on that list. Then in the 1960's the Cultural Revolution happened in China. That turned out badly for a lot of Chinese humans and all Chinese dogs. I guess at some point, someone wanting to score some points with Mao came up with the idea that they should wipe out all the dogs. Because things just weren't dismal enough. So they did. And because Shar Pei were only IN China, after being around since at least around 200 B.C.E. we were about to be no more. And we'd have just been history by not if not for our hero, Matgo Law.

 Matgo Law was a young, Hong Kong businessman and dog breeder. The long term future of Hong Kong itself was very much up in the air at the time, as it was leased to Great Britain and the lease would be up in 1997. Mr. Law didn't want to see the end of the Shar Pei, so sent out an appeal to dog breeders in the US and Canada, too, I believe, to help him save the Shar Pei. And some did. The breeding stock was small and not always the best, but we were for a time the rarest dog in the world and people were paying a fortune for one of us. In fact, the pool of surviving Shar Pei was so small that it's very likely that Hero, Bolo, Lois Lane, and the few other blogging Shar Pei we've found, and I are all fairly close relatives, even though we may live in different countries. Actually, Hero's in Maylasia, but his grandpawrents came from Calfornia, if memory serves.

Of course there've been problems along the way. The limited breeding stock produced terribly short life spans and some dogs with unfortunate temperaments, Familial Shar Pei Fever and allergies among other problems. Some breeders had the bright idea that if some wrinkles were cute tons of them would be even better so they bred us to have too many for our own good for a while. I've heard that there have been times when Mr. Law has regretted that he did what he did because of all the problems associated with our breed. I hope that's not how he really feels now, though. We're still improving. We're living longer and healthier and while there are no doubt Shar Pei out there with temperament issues there are many more as friendly and calm and lovely as we blogging  Pei are. And what immigrant group hasn't encountered huge challenges, I ask you? Most have. You just have to keep on going and overcome. I, for one, am grateful every day that I'm here to take care of my human family and I know that my family is at least as happy about it as I am.

Things have loosened up in China too, of course, and people can have dogs there again and even paint them if they so choose. It's still considered OK to eat dog in China, and although I read somewhere that there's an effort underway to make that illegal I think I'll wait to visit my ancestral home until that's settled law. Just in case.

I'll be finishing my July 4th celebration by playing Frankie's Name Game, wherin we tell the story of our names. I better get working on that one pretty soon, huh?

Etcetera

Correction - I guess even canine journalists get names wrong sometimes. It turns out that CoCo is the right name of the lovely Dane who appeared in my Doggy Day Afternoon posts. I had spelled it as Cocoa - as in chocolate, but she's really CoCo as in CoCo Chanel.

Chabela - I just wanted to say I got a lovely e-mail from Chabela and she plans to be at some of the same horse shows I'm going to this season. If we are able to connect expect to see more of her in this space.

Eye Candy - Oh, what the hey. Let's have one more photo of Schooner just for woofs and giggles and because he's just so cute.

Doggy Day Afternoon Fur Real Part II

I believe we left off during our water break. After some nice long drinkies I felt the need to regroup in the semi-shade on the coolish concrete. Chi felt just fine, but was willing enough to hang around while I got a second wind.

At one point in the festivities they had a breed parade and one dog of every discernable breed they could round up represented. CoCo and I were asked to represent our respective breeds. In my case, I was the only Pei on the grounds, but there were a number of Danes, so it was a bit of an honor for Cocoa. We lined up to take our turn.

There's CoCo. Great Dane represent! I was number 11. Cocoa went earlier so I was waiting on line after she did her bit.

I passed the time making conversation with even more new friends. This was just the best day ever. Did I mention that?

My star turn came out a little blurry. Sorry about that, and blame Blog Mom, as usual. She's also my personal photographer.

So here I was, just getting some shade. Shade is nice when it's 3,000 degrees out and humid. A nice lady who was working at the event decided I was overheated. Well, define "over", I guess. I was heated, but the Moms are pretty aware of a Shar Pei's needs in weather like this and were already talking about it being time to head home. In the meantime I was hydrated and in the shade, right? We just pant a lot, lady.  But the lady was worried and pretty much insisted that we take advantage of a thing they had set up just for dogs who looked like they were about to have heat stroke. So I had to do this:

Soooo unfair. I'd already had a bath that day and now they put me in a pool with ice cubes and act like they're doing me a favor. Shar Pei don't do water, people! I stayed in  for all of about 5 seconds and that was more than enough, thank you.

Around then we did head home where I had to start a napathon that lasted well into today, with food and potty breaks, of course. I did not make the horse show and neither did Blog Mom who didn't do her foot any favors at the doggy event. Alpha Mom went, of course, since Sarge was in it and he did very, very well. It would have been nice to see, but I think we made the right choice. Alpha Mom says there will absolutely be lots more horsie shows with Sarge this summer and this was the only doggiecentric event that we're aware of for some time. Horse shows are wonderful fun, and there are usually quite a few dogs in attendance, but let us face facts. Horse show are about the horsies. This was about us. The doggies. It was kind of special in that way. We are talking about my going back to school to get my degree and to be able to have a more rounded canine social life. I think it's not a bad idea and I'll probably do it.