Month: December 2016

Christmas Eve Crazy

The Big Day is here. It’s Christmas. Veronica wakes up very early. She ALWAYS gets up early. But today it’s crazy early!!!

She fusses around the house in a frantic way. She wakes Dennis and me. “Time to get up! It’s Christmas”!! Thank you very much WE KNOW!!

Poor Dennis, I think he wanted to sleep some more… he gets into his “Cooking mode” (as you already know: He’s our chef!)

They ignore me, so what’s the point of waking me up??? I ask you?? They even send me out in the garden. “Felicia, no time for a walk right now, go out and have fun”…have fun?? What am I? A puppy??

Dennis fetches this large delicous smelly bag. I wonder what’s in there?

It’s a huge bird called a Turkey. I was very curious. Perhaps he will give me a little piece.

Ostentatiously, I go on my mat. My “Go and wait for food mat”. (also known as “Time out Mat” but let’s focus on what’s important here).

I sit silently waiting, giving him the intense stare. The “Can I taste” stare. But NOTHING. He doesn’t even give me a glance. He’s too busy. And listen to this:

they forget about me!!! You here that guys!!! What about MY lunch??? I wait, and wait …and wait…

FINALLY after what seems like hours they suddenly remember they own a Boxer girl!!

“Did Felicia get any lunch?”… DUUH..NO!

Today they don’t bother with the more complicated “Go and search for your food” exercise. Today I get to eat “Traditional style”.

Veronica brought back this new, fancy, bowl. From Stockholm. It supposedly slows me down (apparently I eat too fast). I tell you what. Useless!! I eat just as fast, or even faster!!

Some people don’t believe Santa is real. I do!!

This is Trilby, DR’s Briard. SHE GOT TO MEET SANTA!!! Look at him, beard and all, very, very real!!

I am quite jealous Trilby got to meet him!! Is it because she’s a Beauty and Agility champion??? Why can’t I get to meet Santa?? (It would give me the chance to explain a thing or two…)

Truth is, I’m a little nervous. You see lately I’ve had some problems focusing…on some stuff… like coming when Veronica calls.

NOT MY FAULT! There must be some major event going on under the ground. Perhaps all those little animals down there are having a huge party or something??

And then there was the odd little misunderstanding…one… or two…or a few..

Anyhow, I’ve not been on my best behaviour… And Santa sees EVERYTHING that’s a well known fact!!!

The family arrives and it’s “Picture time”! Every year the same story.

“THE CHRISTMAS PICTURE” is not a happy moment. It brings out tensions and irritation among several family members. Let’s see how 2016 goes.

OMG!! What’s that…A SELFIE STICK???

Who brought that????

They get into place and amazingly enough it is a quick business.(Probably because they’re embarrassed using the selfie stick!!)

Now the dog picture.. that’s when things go a little wrong… Veronica wants a second picture and I…accidently…without any bad intention…snip at Indya.

I felt a little, only a little, ashamed and all by myself go to my “time out mat.” After what I considered, an appropriate length of “remorse time” I made an attempt to come back…

…positioning myself a little apart from the crowd.

They all ignored me!! C’mon guys I did my “Time out duty”… And please see my side of the story: Veronica had candy in her hand. How was I suppose to know it was for both of us!!

Any sensible dog owner should know better…

Indya totally exagerated and put on this whole victim show: “Felicia’s mean to me”…

EC cuddled with her, “Poor little Indya”. In fact they all went on about “Poor little Indya”…

C’mon! Enough already! What about “poor little Felicia”… never hear that tune??

Dinner was served. At the end of the meal Dennis shared a few pieces of Turkey with us. He totally gets us dogs!!!

Veronica made some stupid, inappropriate remark…thankfully he ignored her: “The dogs deserve a little Christmas treat too”.

Yeah that’s right, we do!! We adore him and Indya followed him around all the evening. Well I think she’s just playing out the “Poor me” theme!!

After dinner there is the singing, oh yes there is singing, A LOT of singing…Swedish Christmas songs. Even the non Swedish family members have to sing. They get provided with books and photocopies of major songs! No excuse here!

Sometimes I think Veornica must have been a Dictator in some past life!!

Every year she tries for “The Christmas Dance”, but that’s a No No!! The family refuses!! Dictator or no dictator ! NO DANCING!!

Time for the gifts. NC is the official “Special Family Santa”. He sits by the tree and distributes one gift after the other. And he cuddled with me!!

Now unfortunatley there had been a little incident…

…with some of the gifts…only a few…and please, let me explain:

There they were, under the tree…calling for my help…”Open me”, “Open me”… yes absolutely!!! I had to! It was my duty!

Veronica was NOT HAPPY AT ALL!!

I heard her say something that could have been “Enough with these dogs”…and we were sent to play outside!! On Christmas eve!

Guys… what about our gifts?? Nobody intervened in our favour!!!

What’s wrong with this family?? Have they no heart??

(I will never admit this to anyone…but we had so much fun in the garden!!)

Next morning I pouted for a bit. I was rather upset. Did Santa think I did not deserve a gift this year?? Did he forget me??

Turns out that after the photo incident, MC and Veronica decided to keep our presents for the next day!! To avoid any further misunderstanding. (Ridiculous! Indya and I get along fine…as long as I have the toy…)

So here I am with TWO really great gifts!!

A fun soft squeaking Christmas tree, so cool!! NC and MBC gave me this. I am going to squeak around the house all day!!

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

It drives Veronica crazy. HA!!

Now this must be Santa’s gift, let’s see, it smells very nice.

Very interesting. Let’s explore a little more.

WOW!!! This is the best! It’s an elk skin. Probably from the North Pole.

Appparently it lasts for ever so they say.

Hmmmm… Let’s think for a bit…I wonder? Has this something to do with a few small, unimportant incidents???

Just some glasses, the opera program, the newspaper… and a few others…??? Not even worth mentioning. Did Santa hear about those???

No time to wonder….I’m too busy chewing!

My favourite Dog supplies store in Stockholm:

http://www.hundokattboden.se

Thursday Big Dog Class

I’m no big fan of “Thursday big dog class”… you see there’re just too many dogs. Some are frankly very annoying. Kind of bossy.

Veronica takes me here so I “learn to behave”. I don’t need to learn anything! I’m nearly perfect… ok, ok so I do have one… or two, very small, but very small flaws. Not even worth mentioning…

“Felicia play nice, all these dogs are fun and cute”…Says she!!!

I do my best … sometimes, well sometimes IT’S VERY HARD! Some of these guys are just so provocative!!! They bark at me!!! I HAVE to give them a piece of my mind!

This is not proper “Corinne etiquette”…I know… but honestly someone please see my point of view here!!

I spend quite a lot of time behind Veronca’s back calming down on those occasions.

First the “Concentrate and attention exercise”. I can of course do that, yes I can, easy. But right know… I don’t feel like it. I have to check out who’s here today!!

That’s surely more important, I can look at Veronica any other old time!!!

Then comes the “Run and play” session. I’m torn between playing and maintaining order among all these dogs.

Well yes, I feel a calling! It’s mayhem…dogs everywhere, someone has to act!

Corinne does not think my “intervention” is needed “Mais Felicia, arrête de jouer au gendarme”…(stop playing a policeman)

It makes me feel a little embarrassed, I mean she’s the supreme leader here. We all know that!! I love her

I get some extra cuddling and I usually go on minding my own buisiness, or at least trying to.

I play with Inook! We take huge runs around the field. He’s MUCH faster then me.

Most everyone here seems to be! Honestly I really don’t understand why??? It’s quite vexing.

I might have mentioned Dr L, once or twice… he says: “Felcia has great muscles”. So; how come I can’t run fast???

I love my friend Mylo, he’s the best! We hit it off from the very start.

We play like crazy. He’s not into “running around the field”. We do more subtle games. He’s very bright, an intellectual Aussie.

Only hiccup is that he sometimes prefers other dogs!! Now who’s cuter then me here??? And more fun??

Some think I am too brutal. That’s so not true. I can play gently!! Just ask Inook!

After the “Run and play” session, time for “Lying still”. We have to lie still for an eternity. Now what’s that good for?? I don’t see the point.

It’s boring…

…very boring…

…really boring…

….extremely boring!

And who set the “sphinx” position rule?? They should try it! Really uncomfortable. I prefer the more “relaxed” position!

Veronica does not see my point…at all!!!

Sometimes we have the “Sit still” exercise. I prefer that, you see I get to observe everyone from a higher point of view. Makes much more sense!

I know perfectly well how to lie still, I really do.

I just don’t always feel like it! Dogs should be able to take a few personal initiatives. Like innovative positions during “lying still” for one.

We train difficult recalls, crossing with other dogs. A little heel work.

I’ve made some progress! Well, Boxer progress (let’s not get carried away, I’m no German Shepard)

This is the best part of the day, Agility!! I love it!! I’m actually quite good.

Apart from when I get distracted… I kind of forget what I’m doing. It’s hard to keep focused all the time! Especially when there’s so much going on everywhere!

I’m very fast, well, Boxer fast! Yeah, like I would try to do the June fast. (Corinne’s super fast Border Collie)

At the end I get to play tug of war, and go crazy. So much fun!

Time to go home! I’m quite torn. Do I like “Thursday big dog class” or not??

Kind of. The Agility is fun, and I get to play, and I get candy…if only there were no other dogs, or only a few…say Inook and Mylo.

A Boxer girl can have secret dreams!

Pre-Christmas Madness

If you get the impression Veronica loves Halloween…it’s NOTHING compared to the Christmas crazy!!

With Halloween we have the decorations, the outfits and the candy. With Christmas we have the decorations, the tree, the gifts and OMG: THE MUSIC!! And when I say music, I mean ALL the time: mornings, afternoons…well basically every minute of the day!

When Veronica got back from Stockholm, I was of course very happy to see her. Due to excessive luggage I had to sit upfront! Very uncomfortable!!

I was NOT happy! I tried to communicate my total disagreement with this arrangement, without any success. She just laughed “C’mon Felicia, it’s not that bad, look you can sit with me”. Big deal!

Back home Veronica went into a frenzy, and started telling Dennis “I have to decorate.” What?? Decorate for what? I had sort of, “forgotten” about the whole “Christmas extravaganza” and it was not even December yet!!

Then it all came back to me, the whole lot of it, music included!! Apparently Stockholm had holiday spirit going strong. Christmas atmosphere everywhere, and she had already decorated the apartment there! Honestly, isn’t the house enough??

The garlands came out. These have always intrigued me, how does it feel to chew them? Could I discretely steal one? For investigation purposes only, of course, as a project. Not for fun!

I made a quick move and stole a holly garland, only to get caught as always. Can’t an innocent Boxer girl do a little research properly without being interrupted?

The tree arrived, and the lights brought up.

Every year she gets a ridiculously huge tree!! The top has to be cut off… I don’t understand the logic here? Doesn’t she measure them? How can Dennis let this happen?? The tree takes up half the living room!

They buy it at this local tree plantation, they surely have smaller specimens. Poor Dennis, I feel for him, sometimes winning an argument with Veronica just takes too much energy, better to go with the flow and agree…

I might have mentioned it before; this is one stubborn family!! Perhaps the”outsiders” should form a league…?

I, of course, have my Christmas outfits: “It would not be a real party, Felicia, without you looking festive”..yeah yeah, I know the routine! There is one for me and one for Indya.

I get the one with the bells.

It is a gift from Veronica’s friend VT. She’s given me a lot of great stuff. This collar might perhaps be my least favourite gift, Veronica adores it: “Oh it’s so cute, with the bells and all”.

VT’s Boxer Gilda, has one too, so that’s kind of cool. Gilda is older then me and an Agility champion so if a champion wears it guess I can too.

Then we have the tree ornaments. Veronica goes “traditional Swedish.” I suddenly feel this urge to help her with the preparations!!

I can be the “Ornament delivery Boxer girl,” carry them over to the tree. (With perhaps a small detour under the table.)

She wasn’t thrilled at all, “Felicia it’s not a toy”. I know that, what does she think? That I’m stupid? And can’t a Boxer girl help out?

Are these Tennis balls? Special christmas ones? Veronica snaps them up, real fast, before I even get a chance to find out!

I make a new attempt. Wonder what these are made of? I might be able to quietly discover…

She must have eyes in the back of her head. She took them and gave me a very angry look. I would have dropped them in front of the tree…later, I promise!! She really doesn’t trust me!!

Apparently my help is not needed in the tree decorating department. What about the gift wrapping? I am sure she needs me now. Off the top of my head…I could inspect the paper, check the solidity.

Well as it turned out, my help is not appreciated…at all!

The wrapping took forever, I made one last silent approach. Sneaking up from behind.

I have to say, I was very discreet. “Felicia, are you bored? We did go on a long walk, and play, and have fun. Now it’s time for you to chill”…pffff I get it…

She just doesn’t want me around at the moment! I went to sulk by the tree. I thought she might take pity. Give me some candy perhaps, to cheer me up.

Nope, she just kept on wrapping and wrapping!

Ok this is how you want to play it? Just you wait…

…for my action plan! I “found” a red candle, and a paper decoration and a fire stick. I played and had fun for a while.

I was very quiet under the table…

…sadly the plan did not go well…she was NOT happy! (I just don’t understand how come she ALWAYS sees me under the table??)

I felt misunderstood and angry!!

Can’t a little Boxer girl be of any help here or have a bit of fun these days?

After what seemed like hours and hours the tree was decorated, gifts wrapped and while the music was playing Veronica called me and Dennis.

“Come here and look at our beautiful tree, isn’t it just gorgeous?”

Dennis came down. He had the perfect husband reaction, making all the apropriate remarks “Wonderful”…”Great job”…etc… pffff ridiculous!

Reluctantly I joined them.

Did Santa remember me?

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