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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!

It was so exciting opening them all…

I got an ENORMOUS teddy from Dizzy Mum’s little human pups (I love it! It is the biggest stuffie I have ever had!)…

…a fluffy yellow ducky from George the Bernese Mountain Dog, which makes a funny “quack quack” sound when I squeeze it…

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…a soft, cuddly elephant AND a little tennis-ball hedgehog from my new Agility friend,  Scarlett the Shepherd…

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…a cute bird with beautiful colours from Cookie & Cinnamon…

…and (how thoughtful!) a special medicine to help pets travel well from Finnegan the Sheltie!

(I also got some fishy yummies from Lucky Bear but unfortunately, they have long disappeared in my tummy! )

Both Cookie & Cinnamon and George had also made their own cards for me!

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Aren’t I a lucky girl?

And then there was the Nina Ottosson “Dog Brick” Interactive Toy that my humans got me all the way from the faraway place called England!

Here is a video of me trying it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejk1aGmeBog

Hsin-Yi was quite surprised that I wasn’t as dumb as she thought and I actually managed to figure it out quite quickly – ha! ha! Next time they will have to buy the 3 Dog level for me!

Well, I have never had so many new stuffies at one time in my life…I don’t know which one to take to bed with me!

Who's it for?

Well!

What a surprise!

There was a knock on our door this morning and the postman delivered a huge parcel…
 

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Ooooh! For me?

…and even more exciting – when I checked the address label, it was for ME!!

Wow! A parcel all the way from a faraway place called England and it was from my wonderful blog friends, the Schnauzer brothers, Max & JD!

I was so happy I had to do a quick zoomie around the garden with my parcel…

I just couldn’t wait to get my paws on it and see what was inside!

 Oh my goodness, look at all my goodies!

There was a brilliant yellow bag (Clive‘s Little Man would like it!) to put all my stuff in – and it had a picture of a drooling Dane on it with the words “Slop Happens” – what could be more perfect for me?!

And there were some yummy treats and even yummier chews and also a really funny T-shirt with all the answers to the questions that people are always asking my humans again and again!

A letter from Max & JD explained that they were worried the T-shirt would be too big for Hsin-Yi…

…well, don’t worry, boys, I’m more than happy to step into the breach !

Thank you SO much again, Max & JD, for such wonderful, thoughtful presents! I’m so, so happy to have met you and to be your friend!! And now I’m off to enjoy one of the chews that you sent me…mmmmm, chomp, chomp, chomp…

Oh, I must also tell you about my new collar! You remember I was doing a dancing gig at one of Auckland’s big pet stores a couple of weekends ago? Well, after the show, my humans took me for a little mooch in the store and I saw these gorgeous collars from an Australian company called Red Dingo - you never normally find pretty collars for us big doggies – it’s always horrible dark colours with studs or something! Ugh! Just because I’m a BIG girl doesn’t mean that I don’t like to be pretty! So I was so happy to see these – there were so many different colours and all so girlie and pretty!

Of course, Hsin-Yi’s favourite colours are pink and purple and we had a long debate about a collar with pink hearts or another with pink & purple stripes…but then I saw the collar.  It is a lovely baby blue, with little pink daisies scattered all over it and it is just me!

And here are some more pictures of me modelling my new collar…!

What do you think? Do you like it?

 Right, finally, there have been some last minute entries for my Slobber Contest flying in! Am so impressed and touched by all the effort so many doggies have gone to to participate – thanks guys!! So my next post will be showcasing all the entries and then YOU’ll have the chance to vote for your winners in each category! Stay tuned!