And Play Bow to Your Partner

Ella played with another dog today! She's 18 months old, and this is the first time we've seen her actually play (not just sniff and wander) with another dog! Oh, apart from Jack. He's not a dog, he's her brother, heh.

She's always been very timid (bad socialisation before we got her) so to see her actually relax, then confidently walk up to the other puppy and play bow brought tears to my eyes. She's come so far from the petrified puppy who would scream, wee and poo herself at anything new.

It's been a lot of hard but fun work getting her to this point. We've been getting out and about a lot with them both to show them that the big, bad world is... well, still big from their perspective, but not always bad! In the last month alone they've been to:

• Petbarn
• New Farm Park
• Wynnum esplanade
• The Brisbane River on a nice long walk
• Mt Gravatt Lookout
• Nanna's and Granny's
• Lots of different dog parks (after sussing out to make sure they're suitable for our stress head girl)

Whew!

"We Don't Like Bath Days" or "Two Reviews: Aristopet Shampoo"

Well, we told you that Min had bought something in the grooming section. She always does. Unimpressed.

    

First up, she produced Aristopet Natural Solutions White Highlights Shampoo and started telling Steve that it would make our grubby bits "whiter and brighter". Why? All the better to see us with next time she decides to hunt us down for a bath?! Sure, we'd stained our hair a tiny bit by digging in the mud. Um, and pushing each other into gross stuff. Oh, and by wrestling in freshly cut grass... all innocent doggy type activities.

THEN she produced another bottle, Aristopet Professional Groomer Silky Shampoo, and said that this would be our ordinary shampoo. Just how many baths are we expected to endure?

Ella: I love the bathroom. The cool tiles feel nice against my belly on hot days. There's usually a bit of water to lick (I looooooove moving water). It's also super fun jumping in and out of the bath tub... especially when there's an unsuspecting human in there, heh heh heh.

Baths for bathing, however. Oh, the indignity.

Jack: Above is me telling her to run. She never listens. Maybe if I push over the bottle next time, we can both escape...

Review: 

Cleansing:  Both shampoos cleansed without hurting our eyes or skin, and didn't make our coats dry and knotty (something that many more expensive brands have failed on). They foam and disperse well which makes working it through our thick coats easier on the humans.

Smell:  The scents are pleasant without being overpowering, and leave just a gentle whiff for our cuddling Granny/Nanna to tell us how good we smell.

Economy:  Neither are expensive (Min nabbed them on sale for $10 and $7, so add a few bucks). Only a small amount is needed to get excellent results.

Results:  As advertised. Our white/cream hair looked refreshed and blindingly clean. Our hair has never felt silkier and smoother. We smell good to the humans without giving Migraine Min the head pains. The humans tell us that it's been easier to brush and maintain without matting too. We all love that last one, since spending less time being brushed means more time on the rampage for adventure, fun and treats!

Since the humans like the smell so much, we decided to share it by drying ourselves on their bed.

Yes, the bed was made before we had our bath. Perhaps the humans would like to consider the consequences of their actions next time.

Review - Plush Cuddler Bed

Well, it turns out that Min does intend for us to sleep in our new beds instead of hers. HERS. That's what she called the queen size one in OUR bedroom. Hmph.

After a night, morning, and lunch in our new beds, we decided to take the higher paw and review the Plush Cuddler Bed in case any of our other dog friends are interested in their own snuggle spot.

Comfort: Oh yeah! Plush fabric means softness, snuggliness, and warmth.

Durability: We've only been using them for 24 hours, but there's been some hardcore snoozing, rolling, playing, and dragging around, and they're still the same shape. No holes or weakened spots. Stitching and zips appear firm and sturdy. We will update if needed at a later date.
Hygiene: 100% polyester, fully machine washable. Can be unzipped so that bed is flat for ease of washing.
Other:  Each corner unzips, so that the covers can be reversed. Also handy in hot Brisbane, as they can be used as mats on days that require sprawling more than snuggling.

Goodnight. This reviewing business has made me sleepy.

Powderpuff Purchases

Yesterday afternoon we were busy holding down the bed (this is our weekday job), when we heard Min open our drawer. OUR drawer that contains our harnesses, our collars, and our leashes.  That's right, all the accessories that mean an outing, woo hoo!

After a quick car trip (Jack:  Do Not Like), we arrived at Petbarn, which is one of our favourite places. It's a store that allows us dogs to go in and assist our humans with pet purchases. If your human has ever come home with a ball when you're really more of a tug toy fan, or a neon collar when you're in a punk prince phase, then you'll understand why this is important.

We politely sniffed the store dogs, then got down to serious business:  charming our fellow shoppers and store assistants. Once we felt sure that our adoreableness was still in full force despite the stupid face cut Min had given us, we continued our promenade towards the treats section. Sadly, we found ourselves in the grooming section, where we suspect something was purchased by the human. She always seems to purchase something from that aisle. It's never anything we like, but we'll tell you all about that when we start doing product reviews.

As a bribe for tolerating the grooming section, we visited treats next. Yummy. We got to sample dried calamari, but weren't very fond of it. Maybe if Min was eating it we'd have been interested. We're pretty chuffed though, because she bought a whopping big bag of our top treat, Roolami.

Then Min said that winter is coming, so we'd better look at some snugly beds. Silly human, we have a queen size bed. She tricked us over summer by having mats for us in front of the air-conditioner, which was cooler than being stuck with the overheated humans in the big bed. AS IF we're going to sleep off the big bed during winter! Away from the human heaters! Silly! She did buy us a bed each though. Probably just to keep us warm while we watch TV.

Once we got home, we realised that we were pretty hungry. And then Steve came home, which means not long until dinner time!

Usually our dinner is a homemade mix of ground bone and mince, vegetables or whatever the humans are having, a meaty bone, or a bit of Nutro Natural Choices Chicken, Rice and Oatmeal if the humans have failed on the butcher-going front. But because Min has been sick, she thought she'd try a pre-made RAW BARF meal.

Ella:  I scoffed it. I was starving! It's hard work pandering to the fans AND supervising Min's purchases.
Jack:  ..... Are you trying to poison me? Bring my bowl back when it has MY food in it.

We will see if we can get some internet time after brekkie to review some of these purchases.

Jack:  Only if I'm not too weak from hunger.
Ella:  Oh, brother.

History

We were four months old and past our use-by date when we were found. Apparently, our breed was too unknown for most people to take a chance on. Even shuffling us across town and repeatedly knocking down our sale price hadn't found a buyer. Now we were "too old" and "not cute enough" for the regular puppy buying public.

It was late night shopping, and Min and Steve had driven across town to have dinner with Uncle Ned and his humans. Uncle Ned wanted a new Kong, so they dropped in to our pet store.

We were in our glass box playing and trying to get attention from the shoppers when they saw us, but Steve set a determined course for the Kong section, knowing that being near pet store puppies provokes ranting and sorrow from them both. However, Min was curious when she overheard the assistant mention Chinese Cresteds, as they're fairly uncommon around here, and so she snuck around to take a peek. She was upset to see that our tiny faces were discoloured and covered in both dried and runny muck, with the skin very irritated and our eyes gunky.

Swift negotiations followed between Min and Steve. They then started questioning the animal attendant, as Min was worried about our future given our condition and age. After some firm pressure the attendant admitted that our appointment with the Big Green Needle had been set for the next day. She was so eager to help us avoid it that she stayed past closing to make sure we were released immediately and legally to our humans, and included as much paperwork and information about our history as she could. This meant that Min and Steve could prepare and plan for our future by looking at what had happened to us in the past, and it has been invaluable. We thank the kind pet store assistant every day.

Ned didn't get his Kong that night, and none of the humans got a hot dinner. But we got the home we'd been looking for.