We don’t really celebrate Hallowe’en much here Down Under but on Thursday last week, my human, Hsin-Yi got a call from the Brisbane RSPCA Animal Shelter (where we go to do our fun training classes) asking for our help.

They wanted to film a “Howlawe’en TV Special” – a special short movie for the News in the TV box, telling people about the poor homeless doggies looking for forever homes at the shelter.

They also wanted to tell people that “Trick or Treat” was not just a game for human pups – it’s a great game to play with doggies too – to teach us tricks is great fun and helps to build a wonderful bond between us and our humans. So they needed some doggies who could do tricks to be in the background – and they asked me if I would go and help! Of course, I wanted to help the homeless doggies so Hsin-Yi packed up my bag with my clicker, treats, slobber towel, toys and camera machine – and off we went!

When we arrived, we joined the other doggies backstage while the Camera Humans set up all their stuff. There was a big car machine with a strange giant stick on its back – Hsin-Yi said that this was so the movie could be sent straight to the TV station…

I was really excited to see my friend, Fatso the Bull-Arab, who was in my Rally-O & Tricks class. He is a really cool doggie and he has a really cool human!

But the humans were all getting worried because there were very big black clouds in the sky (if you look at my first picture with the big News Car Machine, you can see them!) – and then the next minute, GIANT raindrops started falling on our heads!

So we had to all run and hide in the shed…

We waited and waited…but the rain just kept coming and coming. It was a big thunderstorm! The roof of the shed was made of metal and when the rain started falling on it hard, it made a terrible noise! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!  We could hardly hear ourselves think! Some of the other doggies started getting very scared of the Loud Noise above our heads – I didn’t like it either but because I was very well-socialised to loud noises as a puppy, I didn’t feel scared.

Besides, I looked at Hsin-Yi when the Loud Noise first started and she wasn’t even looking at me! She was just standing there calmly, as if it was no big deal – so I figured the Loud Noise was no big deal as well and just ignored it. Even when the Big Thunder went BOOM-BE-Di-BOOM! and made me jump, she didn’t do anything. Actually, she was laughing at something – I don’t know what – but I figured it couldn’t be that serious since she was laughing and she didn’t pat me or cuddle me or tell me not to be scared. So I guess there was nothing to be scared of!

I mean, humans always freak out when there’s something really scary, don’t they? They start fussing you and speaking in that baby voice and telling you, “It’s alright…don’t be scared! Mummy’s here!” – so I suppose if humans aren’t making a fuss, then it’s no big deal. Just some silly loud noise.

Anyway, we kept waiting, hoping the rain would stop but you know, when it rains in Queensland, it really rains! Not like the little showers back in NZ…it might be sunny here most of the time but gosh, when it rains, you practically need Noah’s Ark! Look how much water came down – Hsin-Yi took this picture 5 mins after it started raining!

So finally, the TV people asked us if we could come back the next day. Well, actually, I had a big day planned for the next day – I had a playdate with a new friend in the morning! (tell you more about that in another post!) – but I also really wanted to help the homeless doggies, so we agreed to come back.

Thank goodness, the next day when we arrived back at the RSPCA Animal Training Centre, there was not one black cloud in the sky!

And here is the star of the show! This is Nina, one of the homeless doggies at the shelter looking for her forever family. Isn’t she gorgeous? They are not sure what kind of doggie she is exactly but they think maybe she has Catahoula Leopard Dog in her because of her fancy spots and her amazing blue eyes – and then maybe some mastiff too? Because she has the big mastiffy head with the wrinkles and jowls…a bit like me!

She was so lovely and sweet and friendly, half the humans there wanted to take her home! I had a little sniff with her while we were waiting to go on and I liked her a lot. But Hsin-Yi is a ‘one-dog person’ really – besides, I like being an only doggie at home. I mean, it’s nice having friends to play with but I don’t want some little sister pestering me when I get home! Especially now that I’m a ‘senior doggie’, I like my peace and quiet!

Anyway, Nina was a natural in front of the camera machine and after she told everybody about the homeless doggies like her looking for a home, it was our turn to show how doggies can “Trick or Treat”!

Actually, I didn’t do very well ‘coz I was feeling so tired from my 2 hour playdate in the morning – and it was also really hot ‘coz it was around 2pm, the hottest time of day! So I did my best but Hsin-Yi said afterwards that when she saw me in the TV box, I looked like a dead doggie – ha! ha!

We were on the Channel 10 News in the TV box that night and my humans recorded it on their video machine but unfortunately, I can’t show you ‘coz Hsin-Yi doesn’t know how to change the video cassette into DVD so she could upload the movie to my blog. So you’ll just have to imagine it!

After they finished shooting the movie, Hsin-Yi said she wanted to get a “Hallowe’en photo” of me for my American blog friends. But wait! What’s that scary orange thing she wants me to stand next to? NO WAY!

WTF?

It was bobbing around in a weird way and making these strange “fffft” noises – EEEEEEK! – what was it? I had never seen anything like this before. There was no way I was going to go near it – or take my eyes off it!

But can you believe it – instead of helping me kill this orange monster thing – the humans were all laughing at me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi5NCmS_3nE

Hsin-Yi even made me wear this stupid hat and sit next to it for a photo – how humiliating!

But – aha! – I got my revenge in the end!

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What a coincidence! Since this post is all about homeless doggies and animal rescue shelters that help them…my blog friend, Kasha the Dainty Dane, was just telling me about how the fantastic Draw the Dog website helps rescue doggies. It is run by 2 humans who make the funniest cartoons about doggies and the (mis)adventures we get up to! Hsin-Yi would love to get a drawing of me one day – you can submit your photos and stories and if you’re lucky, they might pick you!

And they also help homeless doggies too by letting rescue groups print & sell any ‘Draw the Dog’ cartoon on a T-shirt (and they get to keep the money paper) or use special rescue cartoons for fund-raising or publicity or even get free cartoons to run in their local newspapers to help get more attention for their animal adoptions! Isn’t that wonderful?

Hsin-Yi says I can’t show an example of one of their cartoons here because of “copyright reasons” but if you go to their site, you can see lots of funny cartoons there! And you can even sign up to get a new cartoon every day by email!

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ps. my friends, Jed & Abby in Merryland, USA, were asking me about the blinds outside the windows of our house…yes! That’s what they do here in Queensland! My humans thought it was weird too when we first arrived – and they still think it is quite ugly – ‘coz the blinds are made of hard metal and cannot be moved, opened or raised up – they are fixed. Which means the windows are ALWAYS covered from the outside and you can never see out. They think it’s because the sun is so hot and strong here in Australia, so people try to keep it out all the time. Although Hsin-Yi has lived in places like Dubai which is desert and really hot and sunny as well, she says the sun here Down Under is different coz of the “hole in the ozone layer” and so it is much stronger and more “glaring” – really blinding to the eyes and REALLY bad for your skin!

(If I had a dollar for every time someone said that when we took Honey out, I’d probably be richer than Bill Gates by now…

…still, maybe they have a point! ~ Hsin-Yi)

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One of the reasons Rachael asked me was because she needed a shot of a big doggie pushing a supermarket trolley and she had heard about me and my dancing & tricks, so she thought I would be perfect to model for that!

After that, Rachael needed a group of doggies that were well-trained enough to stay and pose together for the camera – so it was lucky I had so many doggie friends, most who do lots of trainings with their humans too, and we had a great time together at the photoshoot!

(If you want to relive our day – including a video which shows how Rachael works with us to get her amazing shots – check out my old post: http://bighoneydog.com/2nd-photoshoot-rachaelhale/ )

I also helped tell Rachael about some of my other doggie friends who were perfect for some of the other pictures she needed in the book. I think half the doggies in the book are my friends! Hee! Hee!  Well, we did know a lot of doggie people around Auckland ‘coz we did so many different doggie things and went to so many different parks and beaches and other places!

The book came out at the end of last year and Rachael sent us a copy! But my human, Hsin-Yi, was so busy with all the packing for our Big Move here to Brisbane that she forgot to help me post about it on my blog (and she packed the book away!). Well, she has just found the book in one of our boxes so now I can finally show you my pictures!

My favourite is the group photo – I think we all look so different but all so beautiful in our different ways… (you can click on it to biggify to see it properly!) My human says it is an amazing picture because we are all sitting nicely next to each other and looking at the camera at the same time – anybody who has tried to take a group photo of doggies will know how hard that is! Well, I can tell you - we all had very good Stay commands!

From L to R: Me, my boyfriend Ombre, Finnigan the Shelti, Kira the German Shepherd, Kaya the Golden Retriever, Bodie the Border Terrier and George the Bernese Mountain Dog.

And here is the photo of me pushing the supermarket trolley. My head looks awfully big & weird, doesn’t it?!

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Although Hsin-Yi had taken me to a supermarket carpark the week before so I could practise on the trolleys there, it was very different in the studio with the slippery paper on the floor and the trolley kept moving and my paws kept slipping on the plastic bar…and I had to look at the camera at the same time! Plus Hsin-Yi couldn’t stand next to me to help me. I got very stressy…but I was a true professional and I did it in the end!

Here is another photo in the book which I posed for: it is to show doggies saying hello to each other:

And then Rachael did some extra portrait shots of each of us doggies as a “thank you” for us. Here is mine – (which some of you may have noticed is now on my Homepage!) – don’t I look sweet and pretty – and sort of confused and bewildered, which my humans say is exactly like me! Hee! Hee! They say Rachael always captures a doggie’s personality perfectly.

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I also got a special photo with my boyfriend, Ombre…this was supposed to be just for us but Rachael thought it was so cute that she decided to put it in the book too!

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And then as an extra thank you for me & Hsin-Yi finding all our doggie friends to be models in her book, Rachael took some extra pictures of just me with Hsin-Yi.

By the way, you may be wondering why I look so serious in the photos…that’s just because of my big, droopy jowls and wrinkly forehead – it always makes me look very serious! Hee! Hee! Unless I’m panting and “smiling”, of course – but here I was very relaxed (and not hot!), so I wasn’t panting (you can see in the trolley photo that I was panting a bit ‘coz I was feeling a bit stressy! )

Well, I hope you enjoyed my Rachael Hale photos and if anyone is interested in the book (it’s a great book with really funny words and beautiful photos!), you can get it here:

Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats – Amazon (US)

Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats - Amazon (UK)

 - or in any big book shop, I think!

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(Our broadband is still down – took me a whole day to publish this post!! – so we’ll have to catch up with you all next week. Have a great weekend!  ~ Hsin-Yi)

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Can you believe it – twice in the last few days, the Postman Human stopped by our house and said he had a package for ME!

Max & JD the Schnauzer Brothers

How exciting! The first package was from my blog friends, Max & JD, who live in a faraway place  called England. Their humans had been travelling to another faraway place called Egypt and they had got a little present for me from there…a personalised bandana!

See? The bandana has my name on it written in ‘hieroglyphics‘ which are special writing pictures used by humans living in Egypt a long time ago…how cool is that?!

Well, as some of you know, I have a LOT of bandanas - my humans love to put bandanas on me when we go out walking – and this new one is a great addition to my collection! I couldn’t wait to try it on…and then I had an idea! Remember that clicker training game “Fun with a Box”? Well, I could do my own version: ‘Fun with a Bandana’!

Starting with the traditional look…

Then how about a bit of rustic ‘peasant style’?

Or I could do a cute retro Minnie Mouse look:

Or how about an elegant corsage?

Then there is the hot pink miniskirt… (oh, la! la! )

…or maybe a bit of Ascot flair - work those accessories, dahling!

Not forgetting (Hsin-Yi’s favourite!) – the evil Emperor from ‘Star Wars’ (er, pink version!) !

"The force is strong in you, young Jedi...but do not underestimate the power of the PINK Side"

Kasha the Dainty Dane

And as if that wasn’t all exciting enough, I then had another package from my blog friend, Kasha the Dainty Dane, who lives in a faraway place called Chicago.

This was a little thank you for me helping her to set up her blog…you’re very welcome, Kasha!

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Ooh, I love opening presents…

What beautiful wrapping paper!

Yay! A tug toy! I LOVE tug toys!

This is me doing my “Happy Dance”: When I’m happy and excited – like when my humans come home - I always have to grab something in my mouth and do a little “prancing walk” around the room…do you do this too?

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Nothing like a good game of tug! Grrrrrrr!

Of course, I still have to remember my manners even when I’m playing tug – like I must always immediately let go when my humans say “Give” – I learnt this from when I was a baby puppy, otherwise they just won’t play with me anymore and it is no fun. I also learnt that I must never put my teeth (even accidentally!) on their skin – if I did, the tug would “go dead” and my humans won’t play with me anymore…so now I’m really careful when I’m grabbing the tug toy.

Some people think that we doggies must never win a tug game otherwise we might get a bit bossy but it’s no fun if we lose all the time! My humans let me win sometimes – as long as I will always let go when they tell me to. And they always end the game when it’s still really exciting, so I know that they are the boss and they decide when to start and stop. 

A lot of humans think that it is bad for us doggies to play tug – some even have silly ideas about it making us dominant - but as long as we are taught these important rules for playing, then it is a great game which most doggies LOVE playing and is a fantastic way for us to bond with our humans.

And guess what? There was also a present for Hsin-Yi in the box: special cards with our names and pictures on them! Isn’t it gorgeous! We love it! Personalised bandana…and now personalised stationary too!

Whew! And then as if all that wasn’t enough excitement, I also found out that I had got 2nd place at Niamh’s ‘Train Your Dog Photo Contest’ and the Reader’s Choice Award in the MangoMinster ‘Hard-Working Group’!

Congratulations to all the other winners and thank you to Niamh and Mango for hosting such fun competitions!