Happy New Year 2016!

Happy New Year!

We can't believe that another year has passed! Does that also mean that we got one year older? Oh my DOG!!

Well, what was the last year like for you? For us it was a fruitful year, as we achieved things that we had been working for, including many titles that we acquired last year, such as the AD (Agility Dog), RA (Rally-O Advanced), TDCH (Trick Dog Champion), R-F/N (Rally-FrEe Novice), MF-E (Musical Freestyle Entry), and JD (Jumpers Dog) for Mint and the JD, R-F/N, MF-E, and AD for Cinnamon. Especially it took Mint more than three years to collect 25 clear rounds required to gain the JD title if not having two wins.

However, these titles are simply milestones. What is more important is how we enjoy activities that we do. This year we will continue to enjoy various dog sports. For us winning is not as important as improving. So, we will focus on improving in every aspect of our training, especially reinforcing solid stays for Mint and further improving dog-reactivity for Cinnamon.

Of course, the most important thing for us is the health! So, we hope we stay active and healthy without any injuries or sickness (for both) and hopefully with less epileptic seizures (for Mint).

Finally, we wish everyone all the best for the New Year!!

Cinnamon at 8 weeks old and at 8 years old

Hi. Cinnamon here.

Mum hasn't given me any birthday present yet.

As she doesn't celebrate my birthday, I have decided to celebrate it on my own.

Do you know how I did it? I dug into my old photo album, found a photo of me at 8 weeks old, and compared it with a photo of me taken a few days ago.

Wow I was so tiny when I was 8 weeks old!

Merry Christmas!

Hi! It's Cinnamon!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

What did you get from Santa this year? What do you think we got?

Is it a box to do new tricks with?

Oh, we've got new balls too!

Roll the ball!

Goal!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Mint

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Does this cat want to become our friend?

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Do you guys like cats? In fact many of my canine friends live with one or more cats. But, I have never been a cat dog. Actually I thought that they were our enemies. So, I always barked at them like this, whenever I spotted a cat.

WARNING: The audio of this video is very loud. So, turn the volume down if necessary.

But, I am beginning to discover that there are some benign cats after meeting this cat who lives in our neighbourhood.

4th of April

This cat didn't behave like any cat that I had seen. Usually cats watch us passing by with those cunning eyes or just run away as soon as they notice us approaching. But this cat kept approaching us without a single hint of nervousness.

These days this cat is often waiting for us in front of its house like this.

11th of May

Yeah, I have to admit that I couldn't stay calm and barked at the cat when it came close to us for the first time. But, now I can stay relaxed, if not completely, around the cat like this.

21st of May

Do you think that this cat wants to become our friend?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Preparing to welcome Santa!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Are you ready to welcome Santa yet? Well, today we cleaned our dirty verandah as a preparation to welcome Santa, as we have no chimney Santa can use.

Look at this!! It was so dirty.

Most of this mess was made by birds that came under the roof to take shelter from rain during a very wet, miserable week we had recently.

But, today Mum cleaned all the bird droppings using a waterbluster.

Here we have a clean verandah that Santa can walk on to get into our house. If it is raining at that time, his reindeer can even take shelter there while waiting for Santa.

I will just have to remember to unlock a window by our crates before getting in there to sleep, so that Santa can come in. I wonder what he will bring for us!


P.S. My thoughts are with people and dogs in Christchurch where there were several large earthquakes again today. Although, according to news reports, damages haven't been as bad as those caused by those massive quakes in March, I can't imagine how frightening it must have been to them.

Wordless (but not soundless) Wednesday

Smiling Saturday

Protecting a toy is not such a bad thing

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Do you like playing with a toy? I used to enjoy it as a puppy, but I don't have any particular interest in it anymore most of the time. Nevertheless, sometimes I suddenly feel like playing with a toy and go to our toy box to get a toy from it, and, once I have a toy in my mouth, I feel that I have to protect it so that no one can take it away from me. It seems humans call this kind of behaviour 'Resource Guarding' and they consider it as a bad behaviour they have to eliminate.

Today I suddenly felt the urge to get a toy from our toy box, and, as usual, I decided that I needed to protect it.

As you can see in the following video, Mint can't approach me when I am guarding a toy. Hee hee.



In the end I got two cookies. That means that 'resource guarding' is not such a bad thing, doesn't it?

Wordless Wednesday

I can not save my comments on Blogger posts

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

I just wanted to let my friends know that I haven't been able to save my comments on their Blogger blog posts for the last week or so. I don't know why, but every time I click on the Publish or Preview button, Blogger directs me to the sign-in page. When I sign into Blogger again, it brings me back to the Comments window, and then the same thing happens again!

So, I have not been ignoring you!! I will say Hello to you as soon as the system allows me to do that again.

In the meantime, I would appreciate it if anyone could help me solve this problem. I tried it using Internet Explorer and Firefox. Is there anyone experiencing the same problem?



Because Blogger is being mean to me, I am having a rest for now.

Our new handmade tags

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

When we received a little parcel from the United States last week, I wondered who it was from and what it was. Mum opened it up and we found a sweet little box and a lovely card like this.



Look at what we found in the box!! Our new tags!!



In addition to our new collars remade from our old Premier collars, our humans bought new tags for us, because we were still using our old tags with our old phone number three months after we moved out of our old house.

Don't you think they are beautiful? They look great especially on our new AroundAHound collars! Both our tags are two layered; Mint's one has got a red star over a round tag with his name engraved, and my one has got a crown engraved as 'Princess' over a round tag with my name engraved.

A few weeks ago Mum found a website called 'Etsy', where people sell handmade and vintage items. Each seller on the website has her/his own shop, and the shop we bought our new tags from is called 'Very Vintage'. Mum says that it was really hard to decide which ones to order, because there were so many unique and beautiful tags available from the shop.

Both Mint and I like our new tags. They clink as the two layers collide with each other when we move, just like little bells that cats wears on their collars. Our humans say that now they can tell where we are without actually seeing us.

Our new remade collars

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Look at these collars Mint and I are wearing! They have been remade from old Premier collars.




Actually those Premier collars were not very old, but they were unusable because they had been chewed through halfway by Mint. My Mum was thinking about throwing them away, but she kept them anyway hoping to find a way to utilize them. Then, she read this post by our friends, Helen, Arrow, and Snoopy. Helen makes and sells handmade collars as AroundAHound and she has come up with a great idea of recycling old/unused collars and making new collars using parts of the old ones!

Both Mint and I love our new collars, but especially the blue suits Mint, doesn't it? Mum thinks that he looks like a male fashion model!

The Beginning of the New Chapter

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Firstly, thank you very much for thinking about my humans' family in Japan. Fortunately my humans' family was not affected much, but so many people and animals are still struggling to cope with what is going on there. I strongly hope that their life gets easier, if not normal, sooner rather than later.

Well, we have moved to our new home at last!! My humans say that it is the beginning of the new chapter. They think that our previous home was Cookie's and this new home is ours (Cinnamon and Mint's). I think I understand what they mean...



I actually like our new home very much because it has a lot of space where Mint and I can run around. Also, this house is not on a busy road like the previous one. So, when we find another dog coming in our walks, we can always go across the road so that I don't have to feel anxious or scared. In fact my Mum looks much more relaxed in our walks, so I feel relaxed too! It seems Mint is also starting to learn to ignore other dogs when he sees them in the street as long as they are on the other side of the road.

Overall, so far so good!!

My humans' family are fine

We haven't moved yet. But, I am posting to let my friends know that my humans' family in Japan are fine. After seeing shocking reports, images, and videos of the big earthquake and its aftermath, some friends emailed my humans to ask if their family were OK. Although my humans' hometowns were hit by the quake, none of their family and relatives' houses are close to the shore involved in the monstrous tsunami. So, they were not affected much.

As soon as my humans saw the first report on the earthquake on the Internet, they rang their family in Japan, but the calls didn't get through as the phone lines were overloaded. But the next day they could finally talk to their mothers.

My Mum's mother had experienced big earthquakes three times before, of which two were within the last five years. In an earthquake that directly hit the area where she lives, many houses in the area got serious damage and had to be demolished for safety reasons, but luckily her house only got some cracks in the walls.

However, the earthquake and tsunami this time is just beyond my imagination! My heart goes to people involved in this devastating and heartbreaking event.