Five

Today is my birthday. It doesn't seem that long since I was a young pup able to move FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT  PARKED CARS. Being able to move so fast is now being questioned, but I know I was so fast around and under cars that oil never had time to stick to my fur and mum couldn't catch me on her camera without laughing and blurring the photos.

However, now that I'm five my birthday started differently from last year, when I was four and had the full attention of my humans and packages to shred open. First I found out that dad had disappeared in the middle of the night to drive to a mountain where he can ski. Then mum started howling. She went on and on. It was quite disturbing and all I could do was look at her. She says she was singing a birthday song but I wasn't convinced. Then she told me that because she's had such a crazy week, she hasn't got me any presents yet and she feels really bad about it, but it's OK as I already have too many toys and young Enzo thinks "what is his is his" and "what is mine is his", so I probably wouldn't get to play with any new toys anyway.

Instead she promised me a day of attention with us going out together, a nice massage (you may recall she did a dog massage course), a special pass to allow me to lie on the couch tonight with her to watch sport (I've only been "allowed up" maybe eight times in all my years here - though I do sneak up when my humans are out as I don't think they have noticed the dent in the leather that I make) and best of all she told me she was going to give me some of my favourite foods.

Food glorious food...there is nothing better! I would do absolutely anything for food and my favourites are smoked fish, steak, potato chips (crisps), tasty cheese,  egg, mashed potatoes and Cheezels (bright orange "O" shaped corn snacks). I have had some of these already today, and small portions of the rest are going to be in my dinner bowl with my usual ration of kibble tonight. There are many other foods I enjoy including liver, sausages, some vegetables and ice cubes (strange but true - I will spin circles and do tricks for frozen water) but having some special foods today has made me happy.

Now it is almost time to climb up onto "my couch" and see how our NZ rugby team do against the French.

Woofs,

Riley

PS What are your favourite food treats? Is there anything I should request for my next birthday? If I put my order in early, perhaps mum will be more organised.

 

Wordless Wednesday

The World in Union

Tonight, at 7.30pm New Zealand time, in my hometown of Auckland, Rugby World Cup 2011 begins. NZ is only a small country of just over 4 million people, but we hope to put on a wonderful World Cup. There will be 48 games of rugby union held around NZ to find the best team.

Is your country competing? Do you recognise all twenty flags below? If you click on this image to make it bigger you will see the Maori name for each country. Maori is one of our three official languages. The other two are English and NZ Sign Language.

If you watch the opening ceremony you will learn about where I live – there will be wakas (Maori canoes), volcanoes, the sea, and some of our history. You will hear our Maori language in greetings (and also at the start of our national anthem) as well as English to welcome all the countries that are competing in and watching this event. Then you will see fireworks over our Waitemata Harbour. Some of the fireworks will even form the shape of our native flowers, like the kowhai (yellow) and pohutukawa (red).

Tonight’s game is NZ versus Tonga. After the national anthem of each country, our team, the All Blacks, will perform a haka (which is a war dance). Tonga also will do their war dance and then the game between Tonga and NZ will begin. Then the competition begins, as all teams try to get to and win the final game which is on the 28th of October.

As well as the opening ceremony and first game at Eden Park tonight, there is a huge party at the Auckland waterfront that starts at 4pm, with 600 Maori arriving in wakas, lots of bars and restaurants, big screens to show the game, live music and something called “The Cloud” (as my country, Aotearoa, is known as the land of the long white cloud).

It is getting very exciting. There are flags on cars and buildings, people are dressed in their team colours and everywhere you go people are talking about rugby. The Tongans have really gotten into the spirit of things starting with a massive welcome to their team at Auckland airport earlier this week. Mum has lost count of how many red and white flags (for Tonga) she has seen on cars and houses! There are also lots of black flags (with a fern) for NZ, our NZ flag (blue with the Union Jack and four red stars) and flags for other countries flying too.

What do you think of me wearing an All Blacks jersey? I'm still waiting for the coach to call me. My humans will be dressed in black tonight  too, but have told me that I have to stay at home with Enzo.

Which team are you supporting?

Woofs,
Riley

Spring is here!

What are the rules?

Lots and lots of photos of young Enzo (with the black collar) and me (with the denim collar) playing bitey face in our back yard, and then my mum would like your advice.

Now for our questions - Mum has never had two dogs before so she would really like your advice. You see ever since the young pup arrived we have been allowed to play bitey face as mum decided that it was unwise to wait until Enzo was my weight before we were allowed to battle.

For the last six months I’ve been gentle with him, and when we fight there is no raised fur, growls or blood. I’m a Golden Retriever, and although I make some silly faces in the photos I have a soft mouth. In fact we’ve never injured each other, and despite the photos showing the occasional mouthful of fur it is very rare that either of us yelps. If this was a movie it would probably be a silent movie!

But mum said there is something called “pack order” (in our games I always manage to knock the young one over, and so far he’s only done that once to me so at the moment I'm claiming I'm at the top of the pack), but  Enzo is almost eight months old and is getting more and more male hormones as he is still a full dog (whereas I was taken to my nice vet just after my first birthday for what I thought would be a fun visit!) so mum wonders if there is anything that she should consider or do differently when we play so that our play remains fun and we stay friends. 

At the moment my rules are:

• stand still while the young one runs around and around and around the garden and then around and around me as eventually he gets tired

• never let him bowl me over

• always try to have the upper paw

• show him there are no hard feelings after our fights by being friendly, sleeping together and generally being good together around the house

and Mum has these rules:

• we are not allowed to fight inside the house or in the back of the car

• we have to stop immediately when she says "Enough" until she says it is "OK" for us to play again (or if we are getting too energetic or tired, she gets us to do something else like a few sits or some heal work and then we all go inside)

• we have to wait for at least two hours after eating before playing like this because of some strange fear she has of the word “bloat” while we jump and twist, and

• we only get play fight if she or dad are home. When they are both out, for now, we are in separate areas of the house or garden.

So what do you think about how we play together? Do you get to play bitey face, and do you have any wise words about pack order. How did your humans know it was safe to leave you home alone together? Is there anything else we should know or consider as Enzo gets older and bigger?

Woofs,

Riley