Sparky's Blog

2011-06-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

Who Likes Snow?

2011-01-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

I like snow. No, make that love snow. Even when snowballs clump around my legs so much that I can't walk (and human Lizzy has to carry me home from the park), there's just something about snow that seems magical... And it must be played in. Zoomies in the snow are the best (even if I'm zooming just to keep myself warm). And eating snowballs, what could be better tasting than snowballs (avoid eating the yellow ones, for some reason my human got mad at me for doing that)! But simply enjoying and exploring a wonderful winter wonderland can be absolutely lovely, as shown in this stop-motion Lizzy made a few weeks ago.

All our snow has melted since this stop-motion was made, but according to the weathermen (who always lie, but one still can't help hoping!) we are supposed to get 30-40 cm of snow tomorrow and the next day. WOW, can you imagine?! Let's just hope it doesn't cause difficulties for when I need to do some certain business... Alas, potty time gets interesting when the snow is much higher than my own bum!

Video! Video! Video!

2010-09-09T16:42:00.001-07:00

I suppose it's about time I update the blog again, eh?

Puppy Romance

2010-06-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

My human Lizzy always lets me run and wander off leash at the park. I am a good boy, right? So this evening didn't make any difference. It was getting late - the sun was gone and dusk was upon us. The air was quiet, save for the few calls and tweets of the birds settling in their roosts, and the occasional scream of a nearby neighborhood child who did not want to be put to bed. A star or two was starting to appear in the darkening sky as the last red tints were drawn out from the clouds in the west.

Lizzy started fiddling with my leash in her hands - A sure sign she was getting ready to call me back to start heading home. I quickly trotted along the side of the pond, looking for a drink, and watching out for any sleeping ducks I might like to startle.

That's when I saw it. Them. Him. Her. A couple. Together. In love.

It was so beautiful! They were two young humans, perhaps in their late teens or early 20's, standing on the other side of the pond. They stood by a picnic table, were I could spot the remains of their take-out Chinese dinner. But the food wasn't what interested me this time... The couple, just dark silhouettes in the nearly black park now, had their arms around each other in a deep embrace, his head bent over hers, kissing the night away...

Let me tell you guys something: I am a dog of love. That also means I am a jealous dog. Guys, who doesn't want to shower humans in big loving slobbery smooches (especially when their breath smells like Chinese food)?? I can't just stand by and let two people get away with smooching without me. There was only one thing I could do...

That's when Lizzy started calling me. Uh oh. She knew what I was on to. I'd have to do this quick, before it's too late. So, I took off running in the opposite direction of my human, running fast towards the kissing couple, my tongue already lolling out of my mouth... Before the lovers had time to even turn around and notice me, I was already up on their picnic table, standing on my hind legs, one of my front paws on her shoulder, the other paw on his shoulder, sticking my head right between theirs, giving (and getting) two kisses at one time. I could hear Lizzy yelling my name in the background. It was truly wonderful. Wonderful, until the couple noticed there was a third tongue in their game. And that's when he started yelling.

I decided it was my time to leave, my job here was done. Well, almost... As I hopped down from the picnic table, I had a sudden urge to give the lovers a couple good ol' leg humps. And that's when I noticed my human Lizzy, suddenly red-faced and quiet, turn around and start walking out of the park as fast and silently as she could. Where is she going?! Without me??! I had better run to catch up with her. Goodbye, my dear lovers, may your future together be bright and not too lonely without me!

And so I ran after Lizzy out of the park, and together we walked home. Me silent with satisfaction, Lizzy silent with repulsive attitude.

But, my friends, what can I say? I can't help it that I am just a lovable romantic pup, striving to make the world a better and more loving place.

Where Have I Been?

2010-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Terribly sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've gotten into the secret agent business with my human now, it tends to keep me busy. I'm currently working on a top secret mission that has to do with enemy squirrels invading my territory during this abnormally warm winter.

Hope to post again soon.

Agent Sparks, signing out.

Last Hours for Bidding!

2009-12-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

That's right, the week has flown by incredibly fast, and you've only got a few hours left to place your last bids on the painting! Remember everyone, all the net proceeds go to the no-kill Coquitlam Animal Shelter. We want the shelter animals to have a better Christmas.

As I type this now (actually it's my human typing, as I find it rather hard to type with my own paws) the highest bid is at $61.00, and there are 9 hours left. If anyone wants to place anymore bids, go HERE.

If you haven't already seen the video of me working on the painting, scroll down to the next post, you can see it all there!

Now some of you might be wondering what I've been up to this week while people and dogs are bidding... Well, I've been playing in the snow! That's right, it started snowing just hours after the painting went up for auction. I was so excited to see the snow... Did you guys know I'm a Husky? I just seem to be clothed like some sort of Poodle, but in the winter I'm pretty sure I'm a Husky.

My human gave me a new paint brush, here I am posing with it in the snow.

Now guess what happened yesterday? It was very sad... The temperatures of -5 (Celsius) went up to +10 with buckets of rain, and all my snow melted within hours! I thought this was supposed to be winter?! Last year we had a White Christmas... I was rather hoping for another this year... Maybe it will snow again soon...

My human Lizzy found us some yellow rain coats so that we cold go for a walk and stay dry. But we didn't stay dry. I tell ya, nothing stays dry at this time of year in Vancouver!

I hope you all have a GRRRReat day, thank you so much for helping us out with the painting for the shelter animals!

Oh, my blog is currently under construction, so if you notice colors changing every time you refresh the page, you'll know why!

Painting for the Shelter Animals

2009-12-10T19:17:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone, I'm baaaack! And guess what I did this week? I painted a picture!

Remember last year, when I painted a picture which sold for 100 USD, and I donated all the money to help the Australian animals that were caught and injured by the bushfires? You can read all about that HERE.

Well, this year I am painting for the Coquitlam Animal Shelter. It's a no-kill animal shelter for stray cats and dogs and other critters that live in our city. Here's a link to the shelter website, here.

We want to raise money for the animal shelter so that the animals can have a better Christmas this year!

My human did not take many photos this year of me in the progress of the painting... But, we did get it on video! Please watch this video that my human Lizzy made!

So, are you guys ready to start bidding?! GO HERE! Bidding starts at $0.99!

Duuude, I am so excited about this!

I would be so happy if all of my blogging pals could help spread the word of this painting around.

Oh, and for those of you who are not able to bid on the painting, but would still like to help... There are some Google adds on the side of my blog... For each click on one of the adds, we receive a few cents. Every single cent will be used to help the shelter animals around the world!

Here is a photo of the finished painting...

And another photo of me sitting beside my painting!

Hehe, I think I'm going to have to make this a yearly tradition, painting to help our animal friends in need!

Thank you all SO much for your help! I hope everydog, cat, human, and whoever/whatever else is reading this, will have a GRRRReat day!

Halloween Trick-for-Treat

2009-10-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Halloween is tomorrow, can you believe it?! It's come up so quickly!

My human has been reminding me about trick-for-treating tomorrow night... I've been practicing a lot for it! I've been putting tons of work into all my tricks, I really hope I'll get lots of cookies from all the neighborhood people when they see me perform.

See, I've been practicing "beg", because lots of people think it makes me look really cute, so they can't resist giving me treats for this trick!

I've also been working on my jumps so that everyone will think I can fly! Flying definitely deserves some treats.

And I've been working especially hard on my "bow", it's the best way to end a trick performance, don't ya think? Here I am practicing outside in the dark...

So what do you guys think? Phew, I'm getting exhausted from practicing all these tricks! It's so much work... Oh, my human Lizzy wants to put in a few words!

Hello everydog, cat, human, and whoever else might be reading this... I'm sorry to say that Sparky and I will probably not have much time in the next few weeks to read everyone's blogs, or to post on our own blog. November is going to be a very busy month for me, as I need to catch up with lots of my work before the busier Christmas season starts! We will do our best to visit your blogs in our spare time... But if we can't, we hope you guys understand.

Anyway, I hope you all have a very happy Halloween, have a fun time trick-or-treating! And remember to play it safe!

Okay, I've got the computer back from my human now... Um... Wait a minute... Did Lizzy just say trick-or-treating? Trick-OR-treating? OR?!?!

Is this some kind of joke?! Are you meaning to say you've been teaching me that it's "trick-for-treat", when really you don't need any tricks, you can just get the treat? Like a free treat?!

ARRRR, all that hard trick practicing down the drain!!! No one told me it was "OR"!!!!

Someone's going to pay for this misunderstanding. I'm putting on my vampire teeth. Beware.

GRRRRRRRRRR.

Tricks and More Tricks

2009-10-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everydog (and human, cat, hamster, ect.)! Can you believe the weekend is finally here? I was hoping I could drag my humans outside for lots of walks and play time this weekend, but can you guess what I woke up to this morning... Rain. Lots, and lots, and LOTS of rain. I don't normally mind rain, but... The humans do. I even got a new rain jacket to wear on our walks! But the humans just want to be lazy and stay inside by the fireplace. I'll keep working on them though, I'm sure I can drag them out for at least one walk this weekend.

Meanwhile, I'd like to share with you all some of my tricks that I've trained my human to do with me! My human Lizzy made this video. She's not a very good dancer yet in some of our tricks, but she's gettin' there. Enjoy!

I hope you all have a GRRRReat weekend full of fun and walks and not too much rain!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

POOP!

2009-10-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

So, what is poop? Poop is digested food what comes out of our butts after eating a fairly large meal. Doesn't sound all that bad, does it? It's just food... Only a little browner... and squishier. I personally don't think poop is something to be scared of. My human, on the other hand, can easily get into a bit of a fit over dog poop. She says she loves dogs, so what's so bad about our poop? Hold on, I think my human wants to explain something...

Hey guys, Sparky's human Lizzy here. I just came back from one of the worst (no, the worst) walks in my lifetime. Sparky and I went up the hill nearby the pond, where I could take some new photos of Sparky... The moment I set up my camera on the tripod, things started going downhill. I had taken a step to the side of the camera, and I felt my feet slip into some mud in the grass. I was wearing sandals and I enjoyed the feel of the cool, wet mud oozing between my toes. I like to think I'm a real nature girl, so I don't mind mud, I think it's quite refreshing. But then... I suddenly noticed a strong smell... And realization came upon me... That I was actually not standing ankle deep in mud... But rather, poop. One GIANT dog poop. Poop in the cuffs of my jeans, poop stuck to the straps on my sandals, poop squished up between my toes. I may be a nature girl, and a dog girl, but let me tell you... Poop is not something I can easily handle. (And no, it was not one of Sparky's poops, this was way to big for Sparky!... But then again... We've just had Thanksgiving dinner here in Canada... I wonder how much Sparky ate?)

Now, we were about a 20 minute walk from home... So I started heading back, grossed out at the squishing noises coming from my feet. Just after starting back to our house, Sparky did a poop in someone's yard. I got out a doggie bag from my pocket, and leaned down to pick up Sparky's poop... And suddenly, a huge bus roared past about 3 feet away from us, Sparky jerked in the other direction (yanking my arm with his leash), my tripod fell to the ground, and the poop did not make it properly into my doggie bag. It got all over both outside and inside of the bag, and a bit on my tripod, too. Now, I had a very disgusting poop bag, and I had to hold it by the very tip so as not to get my hands all covered. There was not a single garbage can in sight the whole walk home. Then Sparky starting playing games, and ran around me so his leash kept on whacking the poop bag hanging from my fingers, which caused the bag to whack into my pants. And I got poop smudges from my knees to my hips. And on my hands. So for the 15 minute walk home, I had stinky poop from my hands, down my legs, all over my toes... And I was struggling under a heavy camera bag, a tripod that fell to the ground every few steps, Sparky was pulling hard to pee on every bush, and a disgusting poop bag was hanging from my fingertips and swinging wildly all over the place.
I received many stares from passerby... Cold stares, humorous stares, and pitiful stares. But no one dared to say anything when we made eye contact.
I've never had a nicer shower when I got home.

So, my friends, that is why I do not like poop.

I still don't think poop is really all that bad. It's only natural. Oh well, my human did manage to get a couple pictures of me before the poop disaster began!

How to Catch a Duck

2009-10-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a GRRRReat Autumn so far! The weather has been wonderful here, we haven't had much rain at all. Everything is much cooler, crisper, brighter and sunny!

I just took my humans for another walk up the hill to the pond. This time my humans brought bird seeds to feed the ducks... Hmm, I could use this to my advantage... The ducks come much closer when there's food around...

Closer... Closer... GOTCHA! Well, almost... Poo! I was so close though! I guess attacking from above the water won't work too well...

I'll have to use a different strategy. Blend in. See, if just my head is showing, I look smaller... About duck size... And I can use my orange ball to make me look like I have a bright orange duck beak.

Do you think I look like a duck now?

Just give me a little while, sooner or later they'll accept me into the flock as one of their own. This is the best plan I've come up with in ages!

Just a Video

2009-09-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Howdy everyone, sorry for the lack of updates here! I've been busy... but my busyness has been recorded... and made into another video... Which I dearly hope you all will enjoy!

This is from youtube...

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Worst Birthday Present Ever

2009-08-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Tomorrow I will be 8 years old! Man, I thought I had just turned 7, I can't believe another year just went by.

So far my birthday week has been pretty good, I've gone for walks up to the pond, I've gotten lots of tasty treats, my humans have given me cuddles... It's all been good, until this happened.

I've just gotten my birthday present... and let me tell ya... It's horrible! I don't like it, not one bit. Okay, maybe I liked it for the first 5 minutes... but now... after hours of no success... this is the worst birthday present EVER!

Guys, seriously. Don't ever get one of these "toys".

Okay, let me tell you about it... Basically, it's a hard plastic bottle, and it has a spikey thing over the opening on the end, and there's a rope toy going through the hole in the spikey thing that goes into the bottle. It's called, a Tug-A-Jug (though I'd personally rather call it, Kill-The-Stupid-Bottle). See, it looks like this...

Now, that looks interesting, doesn't it? Well here's the first problem. See the rope... it's halfway in the bottle, and inside it's tied in a knot so you can't pull it out! How frustrating is that?! Hold on, it gets worse...

Whatever human made up this toy must be sick. You won't believe this... but the humans are supposed to put tasty food inside that bottle! That's right, I said FOOD. And we, as dogs, are supposed to try getting the food out of the bottle... out from that teeny tiny hole that's already plugged up with the stupid rope and spikey thingy!

Do you have any idea how HARD that is?! Guys, this is a torture toy. You spend hours "playing" with this bottle on a rope, trying with all your might to get those tasty treats from inside... And maybe one pops out. But that one little treat is enough to give you the motivation and energy to work on that bottle for abother 2 hours, before finally one more tiny morsel pops out. So you waste your entire day trying to open up that bottle, and what do you get? Maybe 6 teensy treats. This is insane!!

I've worked so hard to get out these treats, it's not funny anymore. Guys, my whole life has gone into this bottle, all those treats are right there before my very eyes... And I just can't reach them. Ya know, it's sort of like seeing a fire hydrant on the other side of the fence. It's more than I can handle...

And me, a big boy at 8 years old, broke down crying. The humans are getting annoyed by my crying now. Maybe if I keep it up, they'll take back the toy and exchange it for something new and not quite so bad.

Yes, the video ends abrubtly once I start freaking out and barking at my human. She had to turn off the camera and comfort me before I'd do something bad, like turn into some sort of mad dog, out to kill everything and everyone in my way.

There's so much more I can say about this horrible "toy", but talking about it only makes me angrier. I just wanted to warn you guys to watch out... The Tug-A-Jugs are out to get us. Beware, no matter what other humans say, these things will eventually lead you to frustration and anger, perhaps depression, and will drive you completely and utterly insane.

I hope all of you guys will get better birthday presents than I ever did this year.

My Summer...

2009-08-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

GRRRReetings everyone! I hope your summer has been fanstastic so far! Can you believe August is here already?! Where has the time gone...

My humans and I just got back from a week on the beach, we had a blast! Although, unfortunately, my human Lizzy's camera broke down on the night we arrived at the beach... So, no pictures. I probably won't be able to post many new pictures for several weeks now, as the camera needs to be sent to Ontario to get repaired. But no need to fear, a video camera is here! Luckily my human remembered to bring the camcorder to the beach, so we've put together a bunch of clips of our adventures into this one short video... We hope you enjoy it...

Sorry for the short post, I will be back later with more updates on how my summer adventures are going. Right now I've got to catch up with all my other bloggin' doggin' friends!

I hope you all have a grrrrEAT weekend coming up!

I'm Back!

2009-06-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all my wonderful friends! I have missed reading about everything that's been going on in the doggy bloggy world lately, but now my human is almost done all her schoolwork for the year and she's finally able to help me type out my blogs again!

I will do my best to catch up on everyone's blogs, but it will probably take a while. Meanwhile, I'll leave you all with these photos taken yesterday on my walk. It had just rained and the air smelled so sweet and fresh, and the grass was very green and juicy, so I kept on hiding in the grass from my humans so that I could take my time eating the green juiciness while they searched for me. My human Lizzy kept calling me a cow from the way I grazed... But hey, cows are smart, at least they know how delicious this green grass is! I think the humans should try it. (They complain about other dogs marking their territory on the grass clumps earlier, but that's just extra added flavour!)

A Sparkin' Dance

2009-05-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! My human Lizzy is still very busy, but we should have much more time for blogging towards the middle or end of June. That's coming up fast!

Meanwhile, we'll leave you guys with this video... You know I was working on my human impression skills in my last blog? Well, now I've decided to dance like one too!

Human Impressions

2009-04-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

A big Hello to everydog, cat, person, hamster, and whoever else might be reading this post! Many of you have been dropping me messages wondering if I'm okay... And yes, I am doing just fine thank you! I'm terribly sorry to have disappeared from you all for the last couple months. My human has been very busy with a lot of schoolwork that she needs to get done before June, and she hasn't had time to help me type out my blog posts. I would type myself, but it's a lot harder to type with paws than it is to type with actual fingers and thumbs. I tried to give you all an update a few weeks ago by myself, but it came out something like this: adsjadjksdkjlllewwwwwwwwww frfr fgKJhjkkjwrhHJ 98985% JHKKKKKKK8978==-sljdLKJ. So I'm just gonna let my human type for me, as usual, because I think it's much easier for you all to read my blog this way. So, though I have been absent for a long time, I'm now back again... But, my human still has lots of work left to do, so it's very hard to find the time to blog. We will really try to drop a blog now and then to let you all know how things are going, but I probably won't be able to read everyone else's blogs very often... But don't worry, June is coming quickly, and we shall be back full blast when summer arrives!

Anyway, what have I been up to while my human has been studying? Well... I've decided to work on my own human impression skills.

The elegant and sophisticated look... Must keep a good posture, with my chin held high.

Of course, I can stand too, and walk. If I want to be a human, I must know how to walk like one. Must stand up strait, take one step at a time...

Many humans want their posture to show a little attitude... Tilt the head a little, put on a small mischeivious smile on one side of the mouth, and look slightly away and down from the camera. I just forgot to stick out my hip a little in this shot... It would have made me look uber cool.

Ah yes, and like most humans, I must act a bit self-conscious at times.

EEEEEEEEK, don't take my picture!! I'm wearing the wrong bandanna!!!

I'm still working on my human impression, but what do you all think? Am I ready yet to walk into the grocery store and buy some hamburgers and ice cream?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-11T18:52:00.001-07:00

Seven Years Ago...

2009-03-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Last week my human and I were flipping through an old photo album, when we came across some pictures of a puppy... I thought, "Who is that silly puppy in these photos?". And when my human started ooohing and awwwing about how cute "Sparky" was, I thought, "Sparky? Puppy? OMDog, there's a connection here!". This puppy in the photo album is me! Over 7 years ago... I'm not really that old already, am I?

My fur used to be darker brown, almost black, and I had more white on my chest back then...

Even at just a few weeks old, I was a sucker for belly rubs. And I still am. This is a photo of my human Lizzy, at about 8 or 9 years old, giving me a belly rub. Rascal and White Cat are also in this picture. (Oh, and speaking of White Cat, his limp is mostly gone now, he seems to be doing much better. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers everyone!)

And this is a photo of me being held by my big human brother, and my little human sister on the left and my human Lizzy on the right, and my little human brother below.

This is what I looked like just before my first haircut!

My humans used to call me a mop!

And yes... I loved any kind of ball toy back then... And I still do now.

And the last picture... Just after my first haircut... I was nearly fully grown. Rascal had just had kittens, and I often enjoyed sun-bathing with them.

There we go, that's all the puppy pictures of myself that I can find! I hope you all enjoyed looking at them.

Thank you everyone for visiting my new friend Cookie's blog... But now I have one more request to make... I have another new blogging pal, her name is Dinah. But... She's not a dog... She's a cat! I know, you're all probably in shock from this post. After all, I am a cat-hater and yet I've posted pictures of me with cats and now I'm telling you all to go visit Dinah the cat... But, sometimes I like to show my compationate side... So for today, I'm going to like cats. So everyone, go visit Dinah and welcome her to the blogging world!

I hope you're all having a GRRRReat day!

Updates!

2009-03-03T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everydog, I would like to bark a big THANK YOU to you all for supporting me during the auction of my painting. I honestly didn't believe the painting would sell for more than $20, and my human Lizzy was shocked out of her seat when she saw the price went up to $100 USD ($128 Canadian). And the winning bidders: Toffee and Riley! Congratulations my friends! We've sent the painting off, you should recieve it any day now! The very first Sparky Barky abstact original! And tonight we are going to donate all the money, every single cent, 100%, to the RSPCA in Victoria to help the animals affected by the Australian bushfires. Thanks again to everyone for helping us make this happen!

Also, I'd just like to add a reminder that whenever someone clicks on the google adds in the sidebar to the right, we recieve a few cents, and these cents add up to dollars and every dollar that we recieve will be donated to help more of our animal friends, whether it means sending money to help more of the Aussie animals, giving to our local dog shelters, or any other way that we might be able to help the less fortunate animals around the world.

And now...

I would like you all to meet Cookie. She just made her own blog which you can find here. She's a real cutie, and she looks sort of like me! I encourage you all to go over and bark hello and welcome her to the Dogs with Blogs community!

I know I haven't posted very much lately about what I myself have been up to over the past couple of weeks... Well, I've been busy herding the cats, training my humans, doing agility, getting a haircut, and sneaking cake from the table... Speaking of cake, my human Lizzy just had her 16th birthday. Now that my human blog typist and photographer is old enough to drive, do you think she could take me to the beach every day? It's only about an hour's drive away...

Sorry this post is shorter, but I have to run now. In my next blog post I'll be sharing my puppy pictures taken over 7 years ago! So my friends, prepare yourself for a cuteness overload next time you drop by my blog.

I hope you all have a grrrrEAT week! I'll leave you with a photo of myself, taken today outside... I was waiting for my human Lizzy to open the gate so I could eat the new spring flower she was holding in her hand while she took the picture. I think flowers taste delicious.

Painting for the Australian Bushfires

2009-02-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

So we all know about the devestating bushfires in Australia by now... There are so many animals, both pets and wildlife, who desperately need our help...

...My human and I have been twisting our brains trying to think of a way we could help save these animals... How we could raise money to donate...

... And finally, we came up with a solution... Painting!

A couple months ago I, Sparky, made a painting with my very own paws. No human strokes of a brush, and not even a brush, were involved in this painting. It was painted entirely by me! Indeed, I am a dog who greatly enjoys creating works of art...

Here I am, testing the colors and shapes of my painted paw prints...

Painting is quite simple really. You just stick your paws on the paint pad, and then move over and place your paws on the canvas, leaving beautifully colored paw prints... See how I'm enjoying this?

Look! Do you like my painting so far?

Ahh, the last finishing touch!

And finally, the finished creation! I'm not exactly sure what this painting is supposed to be of, but you have to admit it does look pretty cool. It's made entirely of my own paw prints!

Ever since I made this painting I've been wondering what to do with it... And now, I've decided to use it to raise money to help the animals in Australia!

We have put this painting up on eBay, you can find it HERE. Everydog, cat, hamster, human, or whoever else might be reading this, this may be your lucky week! You could get this special painting created by Sparky the Great Painter, with free shipping!

I have no idea what this painting might sell for. But whether it be $2, $10, or more or less, every penny counts. These Australian animals need our help. Even just one or two dollars will help them.

So my friends, even if you do not want to bid on my lovely painting, I don't mind. But I urge you all... Please donate whatever you can give... even if it's just a dollar or two... The RSPCA is gathering donations, you can donate to them HERE. And once my painting is sold, I will be giving 100% of the net proceeds recieved to them...

Also, some of you may have noticed the google adds on my blog sidebar... Every time someone clicks on the adds, we recieve a few cents... And each of these cents adds up to dollars, and 100% of these dollars will be used to help our animal friends...

Once again, if anyone is interesting in bidding on my painting to help the Australian animals, you may find it HERE. Starting bid is at $0.99 US, shipping is free, and remember, ALL proceeds go to helping our animal friends affected by the Australian bushfires!

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-02-11T12:30:00.001-08:00

So I've Been Gone a Few Days...

2009-02-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

... Okay, a few weeks... Well, almost two months... But it wasn't my fault. It never is. It was my human's fault. She's been very busy for the last little while so she hasn't had time to help me blog...

But she certainly hasn't ignored me completely! I trained her how to do lots of new tricks with me. We've been practicing more canine freestyle lately, it's super fun! So I guess these few weeks that I've been gone from the blogging world haven't been completely empty of entertainment!

Oh, do you all remember White Cat? The Fatso? Well he's started limping on Friday, there's something wrong with his front left leg. But there doesn't seem to be any swelling and there's no thorns in his paw... We think he might have arthritis, but we're not completely sure. If the limping continues for a few more days, or if it gets worse, we'll take him to the vet. He's gettin' really old now so I hope it's nothing too serious... Just thought I'd let you all know so you could keep him in your prayers this week...

As for me, here's some of the fun I've had throughout all of January!

It's this time of year...

2008-12-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

...Where we can dress up and act like goofs, and not care what others think...

...Where we can decorate anything with Christmas lights and it still looks pretty...
...Where I can lock the stupid cat outside in two feet of snow and not let her in, even if she does the Puss in Boots face from the Shrek movie... (Humans didn't approve. Where's their sense of humor?)

...But most importantly of all, it's this time of year where even on the cold, blue wintry days, we should still be able to find the golden beauty around us...

...The beauty of family, friendships, and love...

....Let's make this Christmas one to remember...

Merry Christmas to you all!

...With love from Sparky and the family.

Look what Fell from the Sky!

2008-12-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

It's true! It's true! The weatherman actually told the truth for once! For the past two months, the weatherman kept on saying that it was going to snow the next weekend, and every time the next weekend came, it rained instead. And now... Finally... The weatherman said it was going to snow the next weekend, and it did! And then it snowed more on Tuesday! And it's supposed to snow tons more this weekend!

Oooh man, you guys have no idea how excited I am about this snow. I even got the zoomies, as you can see in this video that my human made HERE.

I walked my humans up the hill to the pond today, and it was -5 degrees Celsius even with the sun shining. The pond is completely frozen!

I wore my blue jacket. It's the same color as the snow in the shade!

The snow is so soft and dry since the temperature has not reached above 0 degrees for a week now. And that's good, 'cause the snow is too dry to clump up around my legs. I look like a snowman when snowballs get clumped up all over me.

The only snowballs on me this week are on my face!

I'm finally done making cards, though I didn't get near as many done as I had hoped. My human got really busy these last couple weeks so she couldn't help me make more cards... And she also couldn't help me blog, which explains why I have been absent for a while now. But anyway, we sent out as many cards as we had time to do, so I hope those of you who get them will enjoy them!

I have some big news that I am also excited about... My grrrrEAT freind Abby has nominated my post, "The Cards are Costing", for DWB Post of the Month! OMDogness, thank you Abby!
Please, everyone, go vote HERE for your favorite post. There's some great posts this month, so look at them all and choose your favorite!

And more big news... My GRRRReat friends from the Brat Pack have nominated me for DWB Photo of the Month! Wow, two nominations in one month?! Thank you so much Brat Pack! I feel so honored, thank you everyone... Again, there are some wonderful photos this month, so please go HERE to vote for your favorite!

The Cards are Costing!

2008-12-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

I've been hard at work on making all these Christmas cards this week... Every one of the cards are homemade and have had time and effort put into each one of them...

Today I decided to do the math, to see how many I've sent out already, and how many more I need to make and send out...

I've got the pen and glasses, and my Santa hat for the season of course.

I must look over the list, and check off everyone I've mailed to already, and circle everyone that I still need to mail to.

And now I must add up all the numbers and cards, remembering that the cards going across the ocean will be more expensive... So lets see, a few dollars here, a few dollars there... A few more dollars there... Some more cards mailed here and there, more dollars to pay for stamps... I think I'm just about finished the math now. So, with all the money put together for stamps, this should all add up to...

... Er, let me read this again, it should all add up too... No, no... It can't be... It... it can't... *faints*

Lizzy's Note: I think Sparky just realized that he's going to have to wait 'till around this time next year before he has enough money to buy more treats and toys for himself again.

Christmas Cards

2008-11-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

Oh my dogness, you guys will never guess what came in the mail today! Look!

It's the first Christmas Card of the season! And it's from my dear friend Simba! Thank you, man, you're the best! I'm sorry it looks like I'm eating your head in this picture... I wasn't really, I was just holding up your card for everyone to see!

Simba really got to an early start this year... I suppose I'd better keep working on my cards to get them all mailed off soon, too! I better get out my favorite Christmas colored pens... Gold and Red...

Oh, can't forget Green! Green is a big Christmas color too!

Let's see, I've got the pens, the cards, the pictures, the address list, and my Santa hat for the Christmas spirit... Now I just have to work on putting all of this together! I've done four cards so far, they will be mailed off tomorrow... Amber-Mae, Brat Pack, Joe and Tanner, and Noah, Willow, Tess, and Lucy... Expect to see your Christmas cards from me soon! And everyone else, I am still working on yours, they will be done and mailed soon as well...
Whew, this card making business can be exhausting! I need a break.

A Fashion Show and Photo of the Month

2008-11-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Sigh...
I had to do it...
My human Lizzy had my squeaky stuffie... And she wouldn't give it back until I cooperated with her...

By the way, I'd like to give a big thanks to Amici for nominating me for photo of the month! Thanks, man! I'm so happy I could pee!

Please go over to the Bone Zone, and vote for your favorite photo HERE.

I hope you all have a grrrrEAT weekend! Get started on those DWB Christmas cards! I know I will be!

Baseball, Anyone?

2008-11-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

Oh dear, I think it's stuck in my mouth...

Camera, Lights, Action!

2008-11-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

I was quite disappointed when most of you told me that my troubles were only beginning with the camera business... However, today I did finally manage to escape the deadly flashes for a few minutes! My human Lizzy was still snapping pictures of me, but this time it was outside where the flash was not needed. After 2 weeks of non-stop rain, the sun finally came out, so we headed outside to test the new camera in the sunlight.

Human Lizzy wanted to see how good the new camera was at taking action shots. So, she threw my ball for me and caught a number of pictures of myself in action! Now this part of the camera business I can live with! No need for flashes outside, and all I had to do was what I do best - chase my tennis ball.

Here I am, running low to the ground to catch my low-flying tennis ball...

My human says I look like I'm in a Border Collie position in this shot... Like as if I'm about to pounce on a herd of sheep... But really I'm just about to catch my ball!

Now I'm waiting for Lizzy to throw the ball again...

In this photo, the ball had just bounced off the ground and was flying towards my open and waiting mouth...

This was an easy catch... Low to the ground...

Okay, last picture! Here's a head-on shot of myself doing some serious jumping.

Yes, maybe this new camera business won't be so bad after all...

New Camera, Scary Flashes

2008-11-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Okay... So after over a year of saving and waiting, my human Lizzy finally got a new camera... That's a good thing for her, right? But for me?... Not so good. I can barely even see the keyboard because those flashes are so blinding! But nevertheless, I suppose I will have to show you the pictures...

This is the first photo ever taken with the new camera. I am honored that the first photo taken was of me, but I still wasn't ready for the flash.

My human Lizzy decided to take some photos of Hazel. I was hoping to escape the flashes then, but Lizzy made me pose with Hazel as well... She threatened that if I didn't pose for her camera with the hamster, then she wouldn't give me her pizza for supper. What could I do?

In case you are all wondering, the new camera is a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Now someone please come rescue me from the deadly flashes.

A Happy Heart

2008-11-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

The other day I went for a walk with two of my humans. The rain had just stopped, and the road was starting to dry. As we were walking down the street, we noticed that though the road had mostly dried, there was still one wet spot in the middle of it... And that wet spot was in the shape of a perfect heart.

Even though it was a cold, cloudy day, the heart still made me realize how much I love my walkies!

But more importantly, the heart made me realize how much more I love my humans, and how much my humans love me.

When we got back home, I got a cookie.

Agility Trial

2008-11-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

Many of you have been asking my how my very first agility trial went... I will tell you now!

Okay, so we'll start off on Saturday morning. 3:55 A.M., to be exact. That's when the alarm clock went off. My human was supposed to set it for 4:00, but apparently she lost track by 5 digits, which means that we lost a whole 5 minutes of sleep. Not having much sleep slowed me down quite a bit for the trial, but I still managed. My human almost didn't manage, though. She couldn't even manage to pull me away in time when I peed on a garbage can inside the building, hee hee.

By the time we reached the building, it was just before 5:30. We registered and got our stuff set up for a long day of sitting around, and then familiarization started for the starter dogs, which included myself. My human Lizzy and I got into the ring, and at that moment Lizzy got a rush of excited energy and jumped forward, clapping her hands and calling my name so that I could jump forward with her and familiarize myself with the contact equipment. What Lizzy didn't realize at that moment was that I was standing directly in front of her, so she made a fool of herself in the middle of the ring when she clapped her hands and then tripped right over me. I was a little startled, but that seemed to give me a little extra early morning energy, so I took off for the contact equipment, and I even decided to please my human by letting at least one paw skim the contact zones.

Over the course of 14 hours, I did 4 runs. So yes, we had to wait between 3 to 4 hours between each run, but somehow those hours seem to fly by really fast! On my first run, Starter Standard, I won 1st place with a qualifying score! For my next three runs, Starter Snooker, Starter Gamblers, and Starter Jumpers, I still won 1st place, but due to my human's tired mistakes we did not get any more qualifying scores. We were pretty close, though! I think I did good for my first real trial. I've only done a few fun matches before this.

Here's a short video that my human Lizzy made of the Standard and the Jumpers runs!

By the time we got home it was 7:30. My human and I were both glad for the time change that night, so we could catch up on our sleep! I really did enjoy the trial, even though it started so early, and I can't wait until we do more!

Happy Howl-ooo-ween

2008-10-31T14:17:00.000-07:00

I hope you all have a GRRRReat HOWL-ooo-ween today! I'm going to try to steal some lollipops tonight from the candy basket! Then my humans and I are going to go to bed early (yes, early even on howl-ooo-ween) because we have to get up at 4:00 AM tomorrow for my first agility trial!

I'll just leave you all with a few pictures of the pumpkins and I...

Here we are, all orange!

Hey, wait a minute, this pumpkin looks an awful lot like my favorite orange ball...

I think I'll take it.

The Leaf Pile

2008-10-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Have I ever told you guys before that I love leaf piles? Well, I do. When my human Lizzy was raking the yard on Sunday, I kept on jumping into her leaf pile so that she had to bury me. It's so much fun to be buried under the leaves, because then you can take a big jump out of them, and the leaves will go flying everywhere, just for the human to rake up again! How cool is that?!

Can you find me in this picture?

I decided to pose for Lizzy's camera.

I hope you're all having a wonderful furry fall too!

Good Plan Gone Bad

2008-10-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

So last week I was happily chewing on my long-dead and deflated pink piggy from the 4xBs, when all of a sudden I heard a scream! Okay, actually it wasn't so much of a scream, but more of a very annoyed and frustrated yell. I looked up, and the yell was coming from one of my humans, Lizzy's Mom. She pointed to the living room floor, where there lay a puddle of... well, cat barf. At least I think it was cat barf. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my own barf, 'cause I didn't feel the least bit guilty when human Mom started yelling about it. Just then my little human brother jumped up on the couch (probably to avoid stepping on the cat barf) and boy was he surprised to find even more cat barf all over the nice couch he just jumped up on! My good human Lizzy, knowing this would turn into a catastrophe if she didn't do something about cleaning it up soon, left to find human Dad and his trusty mini steam cleaner to do the job of ridding the couch of that awfully disgusting cat barf. So, all the humans left the living room in search of paper towels, Natures Miracle cleaning solution, and the mini steam cleaner.

I was left in the living room with no humans. Just me, my dead pink piggy, and the cat barf. I could hear the humans fumbling around the house and asking each other where the paper towels were. All of a sudden, I had an idea! It was the perfect idea! Wouldn't it be a wonderful surprise if the humans returned to the living room to find that the couch and floor had already been cleaned to a sparkling maximum? Heh heh, yes, I said sparkling maximum, spark, as in Sparky! Yup, I decided to clean the floor and couch all by myself before the humans returned to the barf scene. Boy, wouldn't the humans just love me when they found out what I did for them?

So, I decided to do the floor job first. That was the easy one. It took just a couple of slurps with my tongue before the the cat barf was gone, leaving the floor shining brightly with my clean, sparkling doggy drool.

Then I moved on to the couch. Man, the couch was gonna be a tough job! I looked at the backrest. It appeared that the cat barf had shot into it with such a forceful splat that it left little flying drops all over the backrest of the couch, and then it ran down towards the cushion seats and then even further down between the cushions and the backrest. Hmm, what had these cats been eating lately?

I started sucking all the moisture out of the couch with my nose and mouth, while thinking about how pleased the humans would be when they came back! But, just then, they did come back. I wasn't finished cleaning the couch yet, but apparently the humans found all the cleaning supplies they needed within just a few minutes of leaving the living room. So, I looked up from my work, and gave the humans my best sloppy and stained grin to let them know I had the job all under control.

That's when I was thrown outside, while all the humans said their words of "disgusting", "gross", and "eww".

Did I do anything wrong?

I'm feeling dejected...

2008-10-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everydog, I'd just like to start off this post with saying Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian citizens! I hope you're all stuffing yourselves with turkey and pumpkin pie!

Now, this is going to be a very short post, because my human doesn't have time to help me do a long post and now I feel all neglected and dejected because she wants to go do something else, like shopping... Why would any human choose to go shopping over playing with me and helping me post a new blog?! I decided I don't like my human today. (Lizzy's note: Sparky, if I don't go shopping today, then where do you think your cookies, toys, and Halloween costume will come from?) I don't know... order them online or something, with extra fast shipping!

Anyway, the human still insists on leaving me today, so I'll just leave you guys with 2 videos of myself... The first one was taken at the beach during the summer, and the second one was taken yesterday afternoon.

By the way... I don't think I'm going to be able to post or visit other blogs this week because my human is going away without me this weekend, and apparently she needs to get lots of her stupid schoolwork done before then, and therefore does not have enough time to help me blog. What is with this human I ask you?! I think I just might very well go into a corner of the house and act all lonely and miserable until she gives me some more pumpkin pie to help make me feel better...

Agility, Oh Agility

2008-10-08T17:57:00.000-07:00

Okay everydog, here's the agility news! You all know that I have been doing agility for a long time, coming up two years now. But most of you also know that I have still never done a real trial yet! Well, I finally, yes, finally, made my humans send in the registration form to get my AAC ID card, and the card arrived here a couple of weeks ago. Now, on Saturday the 27th, the day after Halloween, I am going to my very first real agility trial! I have entered Starters Standard, Starters Gamblers, Starters Jumpers, and Starters Snooker. My agility class teacher says I could easily do the advanced runs, but for my first trial I still have to do starters. I'm so excited, it's only almost 2 weeks away!

Do you know what else is exciting? Starting next Tuesday, only 6 days away, I'm going to join the Royal City Rockets agility group for drop-ins at 7:00 P.M. I also take agility classes at another place in the mornings at 9:00, so now I'm going to be doing agility twice every Tuesday!

Okay, now I'm going to share agility news that's not in the future, but what passed last week...

Last week I went to another agility fun match, and it was the best one I've ever done yet! We had to get up at 6:30, when it was still dark out, and then drive to the agility barn to be there by 8:00. We did 5 runs - Gamblers, Gamblers 2, Standard, Jumpers, and Tunnelers. Guess what place I got in the first run I did? 1st! And I didn't get 1st just out of my jump-height group, I got 1st out of all 40+ dogs that were there! I didn't make any mistakes (and neither did my human, for once!), and I ran fast and smooth throughout the whole run. My human Lizzy and I were awarded a new blue AAC leash and collar. We were quite surprised to have gotten 1st place out of all the dogs, 'cause a bunch of them were advanced runners and have been competing for years.

In our second run, we got 1st place again. We almost got first place out of all the dogs again, but another advanced dog beat us by a hair! But I don't mind, I didn't want to put that dog to shame, I'm sure he'd be embarrassed if I, a dog who hasn't even gone to a real trial, beat him again. Hee hee.

The next run I got 4th because Lizzy made me go in the wrong direction (it's always the human's fault!), and after that I got 1st again in jumpers, because jumping is what I do best! I got third in the last run, which was still a very good run!

Here are some pictures of me and my human running...

It's kind of hard to see me on the teeter because I blend right in with the dirt ground behind me! That's the only problem with being a brown dog.

Jumping is my favorite part! Notice how I usually have almost a foot to spare when I fly over the bar? I could easily jump over the highest bar, and in fact I often have at my agility classes, hee hee.

Here I am, just blasting out of the tunnel in the tunnelers event! I tell ya, that was a fast run!

Here's some of the ribbons I got on that day!

Okay, I think that's all the agility news I had to share... I'll let you all know how our first real trial goes! Now, I'm off to catch up on everyone else's blogs!

Park Pictures and Hamster News

2008-10-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

I've been going up the hill to the park by the pond to play ball a lot lately. Last week my human Lizzy brought her camera so that she could take pictures of me running across the dandelion-covered field with my orange ball!

It was a cloudy day to start out with, but as I kept on running with my orange ball, the sun did eventually come out to warm up the ground a bit (the weather is getting colder rapidly now)!

Now, just a quick update on Furble the Hamster... We finally decided on a real name for her, although we still call her Furble sometimes. But her new, real name is now "Hazel Fufu". Fufu is her middle name, so we mostly call her Hazel. Sometimes we call her Stinkerbell though, because the humans say that she stinks, but I actually like her smell. I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I have sort of grown to love the little creature, and I like to follow her around or sit by her cage a lot. She is pretty cute, I suppose. But that means I have to look extra cute too, so that my humans will still pay attention to me instead of Hazel!

Here's a short clip of Hazel...

I have some news about agility to share with you all, but we're still waiting to get some certain pictures to share with the news, so I'll tell you all in my next post... Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to withstand the suspense! I hope you're all having a grrrrEAT weekend!

New Family Member

2008-09-20T14:58:00.001-07:00

There's something very odd going on around here... I am truly puzzled. I was just enjoying my day, when my human sister came crashing through the front door, yelling something like "Quick, come see! I got it! I got it! Come see the new hamster!"

The new what? Hamsterrier? (Notice my puzzled look in the picture below.)

Girl Girl? Did you come all the way across the big ocean to visit me?

Wait, no! That's not Girl Girl! It looks just like Fufu!

Okay, stranger... Who are you?
Whoever you are, you'd better not take over my blog, just like you've already taken over the attention of my humans with those "cute eyes" of yours!

Lizzy's Note: Yes, we have a new family member. A big welcome to Furble the hamster! Actually, she doesn't have a real name yet. We're just calling her Furble for now until we can decide on the perfect name for her. Now I must go give Sparky some TLC, 'cause since we brought Furble home a couple hours ago Sparky's already been putting on a show of major jealousy.

A Last Taste of Summer...

2008-09-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, I know, I've been away again for a very long time! But it's not my fault, really! It's my human Lizzy's fault. She went on her trip (Oh, and no, I was not successful at hiding in her suitcase), and she came back 2 weeks ago already. She has now started school, and she keeps on making the excuse that school is too overwhelming right now so she can't update my blog. Well! I've had enough of that nonsense, so now that Friday is here and she has a whole weekend to blog, I decided to set her down in front of this computer and make her start typing for me! So here I am, with my typist, and we are blogging.

I am sad to report that the season of summer is ending. I've had a fairly wonderful, mostly rainy, summer. Now that school has started, we've been getting warm, sunny weather (The seasons are always mixed up in B.C.!). Even with the warm weather though, the leaves on the trees are starting to turn many colors, and the air is feeling a little crisper in the mornings. We got low, thick fog on Thursday morning for the first time in quite a while.

I must say, I actually rather enjoy Fall! The giant maple tree in the front yard, and the two smaller ones in the back, start dropping down wonderful, bright yellow leaf piles at this time of year. I'm looking forward to eating my once-a-year crunchy yellow and orange maple salad (Yes, maple tree leaves do taste wonderful to us dogs, you guys should try 'em!). Speaking of salad, I have some pictures to share of one of my last summer salads... The grass at the pond has been very green this summer (Thanks to all the rain!), and it tasted so good and juicy! These pictures are from just a few days ago, but now the grass is already turning golden-brown.

Mmmm! Can you see my teeth crunching down on this green goodness?

Need to swallow, lick my my lips...

...And then start eating some more! Notice how my eyes close with pleasure as I devour the juicy salad (Along with all the bugs that like to crawl on the grass).

In this shot, I just discovered that Lizzy was taking pictures of me. I gave her a little evil glare, while slowly slurping up a strand of grass.

Any more green goodness down here?

Gotta eat this all up fast, before the Autumn weather takes it away!

Alright, enough pictures of me eating. I feel like a pig when everyone's watching me.

Now, I'd better leave so that my human can get to bed. I need her to get up early tomorrow morning so that she can catch up on everyone's blogs! I hope you all have a grrrrEAT weekend, and remember to eat your greens!

The Big Rock

2008-08-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

When we were at the beach, every evening when the sun started to set, we'd go to the big rock that goes far out into the ocean.

Here I am, climbing up the rock by the water...

Now I'm at the top, enjoying the view.
Here's most of my human family standing on the rock. Can you see me standing beside them?

What a lovely place!

On one night, there were a few clouds that the sun could set behind, and let me tell ya, that made a beautiful sunset!
The water reflected lots of colorful light...

I'm sorry this post is so short, but we have a very busy day ahead! My human Lizzy is going away for a week, so I have to try to fit into her suitcase when she's not watching. I won't be able to blog for probably just over a week... Once school starts again and the family gets back into a daily routine, we'll probably find more time to regularly blog!

I hope you're all having a GRRRReat weekend, I'll be back next week!

A GrrrrEAT Birthday!

2008-08-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about my barkday! I was busy all weekend having some barkday fun, and then on Monday we went to the beach again, and on Tuesday the humans left me home alone all day! They just mentioned something about rides and shows and the fair, and then they were gone for the entire day! I didn't think it was very nice of them to leave me home alone so soon after my barkday, but of course I'm a dog and dogs are known to be forgiving so I have to live up to the dog name, right? So I forgave them. I got a cookie when they got back.

Anyway, about my barkday, I had a BLAST! My human Lizzy baked a peanut butter carrot cake, which I thought was delicious and she thought was weird.

She put my piece of cake on a plate on the floor (I can't believe I wasn't allowed to eat at the table, even on my own barkday!). I think I was supposed to eat the cake on the plate, but I think it tastes much better if I just dump it on the floor and spread it in the bits of food that have already fallen to the ground from the table. Mmmm!

After I finished my cake, I stood up with my front paws on the table, waiting 'till I could open my present.

Finally, I could see what kind of new stuff my humans got me! Oooh, a rope toy! This isn't just any old rope toy, this is a rope toy with a tennis ball on the end!

Oh! Oh! This is exciting! A new squeaky newspaper! This is my third squeaky newspaper, the other two didn't even last for 5 minutes.

Okay, what else is there?!

Nice! Two more rope toys with some hard things at the end... I'm not quite sure what these are, but they make wonderful tug toys!

In all my excitement, I couldn't help jumping up onto the table to play! Unfortunately the humans made me go back onto the chair. This is a butt-shot as I was getting back down.

Oh, look! I got cookies! These are delicious! I really worked up an appetite getting all those presents out of the bag. Altogether I got about 7 new toys, and 3 bags of treats!

Could I have some more cookies, please?

Okay, now, I still haven't been able to share all my adventures and pictures of the vacation yet! We've been back for almost two weeks, and I think I haven't even gotten half way through telling you about the holiday. I still have to show you all the sticks I saved from the water, both from the ocean and the swimming holes in the river, and I still have to show you all the big rock I climbed on, and there's also the scariest suspension bridge ever that I had to brave, and the giant ocean waves that I thought would drown me as I tried to rescue my poor orange ball, and the terrifying canoe ride that my big human brother made me do, and the lovely sunsets... So, what should I tell you all about next? How about the sticks?

I found this stick, and barked at one of my humans to throw it. Okay, actually, is was the human who found the stick, but I barked at her anyway to throw it. Only problem was, she threw it in the water instead of across the sand, so of course I had to dive in and rescue the stick before it drowned! It was tough work, I tell ya, that was a big stick!

I'm a strong dog, even at 7 years, and I managed to get the stick safely ashore.

However, my humans thought I wanted them to throw the stick in again since I brought it back, so they threw it back into the water! Of course, I had to save the stick again.

Later on, we all went up a river to these big swimming holes. There were two of them, but we just stayed in one because the second swimming hole was a 40 foot plunge down the waterfall.

I went to check out the water fall, but I came back pretty quickly before I could slip down it!

It was a long drop down...

I went to the other end of the cliff , but I still had to be careful not to fall off!

After a little while at the swimming holes, I found another stick in need of help! So I jumped in to save it.

It was tough climbing out with a big stick, so someone broke it in half and then threw the halves into the water for me. I went back in to save the two sticks, and climbed out with each half.

Time to shake dry!

The sunlight felt good after swimming in the cold water with those sticks! I was happy to dry off. I slept well that night...

A Special Day...

2008-08-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

I'll take a break today from posting about my holiday at the beach, because today is a day of great celebration!

This day, August the 15th, is indeed a very special day, for it was 7 years ago from now that I was born into the great world... Yes, it is my barkday! I may be gettin' old, but I'll still always be young at heart, my friends!

There's yet another reason why this day is special... Perhaps a reason more important than my own barkday... Today is also the barkday of our dear friend Jackson, who just got out of intensive care after his surgery, and should be coming back home right now! The reason alone that he is recovering is enough to celebrate on this wonderful day!

Here is a picture of myself, standing with the sunset behind me... A sunset full of hope and life for the future! Jackson, though I have never met you 'till now, I pray that you will recover quickly and enjoy life to the fullest!

I hope everyone has a GRRRReat weekend! Now, let the celebrations begin!

The Excitement Never Ends!

2008-08-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

Oh man, how can I ever thank you all enough? I've now won not only one gold medal in the Paw-limpics, but two gold medals! This one I earned in the Diving category...

And my winning photo...

Again I'll say it, I am still in vacation mode and totally forgot about my other entries in the Paw-limpics. Man, what a shock I had when you all started congratulating me again in my comment box! Thank you!

And now, to continue to share my pictures and adventures of my holiday at the beach...

So, after we arrived at the cottage, we unpacked all our stuff, including my 4 tennis balls, 2 orange balls, 2 rope toys, 2 ring toys, my purple piggy (the last surviving stuffie from the 4xBs), my long dead and deflated loofa stuffie which I still love and will not let my humans put in the garbage, and my hot pink frisbee. Oh, and we also unpacked all of my bandannas, dog food, and cookies. Man, I almost have more stuff than the humans!

It was already getting late, and we didn't have anything prepared for supper, so we took the 15 minute drive to the town of Powell River to pick up some groceries and eat supper there. We came back, met the people staying in the cottage right beside us (who also have a dog but didn't bring it, though they said they would next year), and then we all (including the dogless neighbors) sat by a fire to roast marshmallows on the beach. We slept well that night after our long day of traveling, and the first thing we did in the morning was get up early to see the beach in the bright sun when the tide was going out.

I stayed behind on the logs a moment, just to take in the view of the beach...

I couldn't contain myself any longer, I just had to run on that sand! So off I went, finally on the beach, where I could run free all day, all week long! The only time I ever needed a leash for the whole holiday was when we went into town a couple of times, and when I saw a bear in the forest and wanted to go after it. Otherwise, it was a great, dog friendly place!

Of course, I had to stop to sniff every shell and rock and seaweed and starfish I saw, and pee on them too if I felt the urge.

There was lots of wildlife around too, as I mentioned before of the bear, but also tons of starfish, and tons of Bald Eagles as well.

The tide gradually went out further and further, and let me tell ya, the ocean water at this beach is like no other water near the Vancouver beaches! This water doesn't have a spot of murkiness in it, but rather it is so clear you can still see the bottom some 20 feet below the surface, and the water all has a blue/green tint to it, and the sand looks as if someone threw gold flecks all over it! Even my photographer Lizzy could not catch the true beauty of it all on camera.

Now, this dog here was an interesting one! He came out on the beach at about 9:30 in the morning, and stayed belly-deep in the water 'till sometime after 7:00 at night. We don't know who his owners were, no one seemed to be with him, yet all he did was stand in the water, wag his tail, smile, and occasionally bark. It looked like he wanted to play, but whenever the humans came close to him, he just bounced off further into the water with that goofy smile on his face. He didn't want to chase a stick or a ball, didn't want anyone to touch him, and didn't want to play with the other dogs around... I think he just decided to take a day off from his humans and relax in the cool waters of the beach for the day, hee hee.

Anyway, we had a wonderful first day on the beach, and later in the evening my oldest human brother and his wife came to join us for the week at the cottage. I loved having all my humans around!

Now I've spent long enough on the 'puter again, and I shall share more of my holiday adventures in my next post! There's so much to tell you all, I don't know how I'll ever get it done!

Oh, I almost forgot, my wonderful friends Princess Eva and Brice awarded me the BFF Gold Card Award! Thank you friends, I feel very honored once again!
Now the rules are that I have to give the award to 5 of my friends. Four of my friends must be dedicated followers of my blog, and one should be a new blogger that lives in a different part of the world. Each awardee must link back to whomever gave the reward, which in this case would be me!

Okay, I give the BFF Gold Card Award too...

Dozer and Cooper
Pacco
Toffe and Riley
Sophie Brador , and
Booker.

Oh, I almost forgot again! This is my entry for Amber-Mae and Faya's picture contest, "How I Love My Kong".

"I honestly didn't mean to put a hole in my kong, it just appeared there by itself after I was chewing on it! It wasn't my fault, really!"

I hope you all have a GRRRReat day!

Where do I begin?!

2008-08-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, not only did I have the best holiday ever, but imagine my surprise when I got back and found out that I won the gold medal in the hurdles event in the Paw-limpics! I'm sorry to say that I had completely forgotten about the Paw-limpics during my holiday, so this was quite a shock to me when I noticed lots of you congratulating me in my comment box. What an honor! Here's my medal...

And my winning photo...

Thank you everyone! I feel like I can fly higher than I ever have before!

Okay, now about my holiday at my most favorite place in the world, the beach... Man, have I got a lot to tell ya! There's no way I can fit everything into one post, so I'm going to have to do a number of posts over the next few days about my vacation.

Now, where should I start? Well, we left at about 8:30 in the morning, so we could get to the ferry boats and try to catch an early one. We had tried to reserve a spot on the ferry, but the earliest we could reserve for was at 6:30 P.M.! What a busy day! But because only a certain percent of the ferries could be reserved, we decided to go early and see if we could ever get on before 6:30. We were very shocked the moment we got there, when we were put on the 9:15 A.M. ferry! We thought we'd have to wait all day, but we didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes this time. The only sad part was that I had to stay in the big van while the rest of my humans went up on the upper decks to relax for the hour ride to land again. I was very sad to be alone for almost a whole hour, but I was brave and I survived.

After we reached land again, we drove for a few minutes to Gibson's Landing, and stopped to look around for a bit. Look at all the boats!

I walked my humans out on the dock to enjoy the view of the ocean...

While we were on the dock, this seagull dived into the water and came up with a starfish about two times the size of it's head. He swallowed the whole starfish, then barfed it back up, then swallowed the whole thing down again. My human mom was already feeling sick, and after she saw what the seagull did, she didn't feel good for the rest of the day.

After staying on the dock for a little while, we all went back to the big van and piled in again for the rest of the trip to the beach.

We drove until we came to a fish 'n chips place, ate there, and then drove for another hour 'till we got to the second ferry boat. We waited for almost two hours there, then got on the ferry for another hour's ride across the water. I had to stay in the van again while everyone got out on the boat decks, but I managed to survive by myself once again! After landing on shore, we drove for another 15 minutes, turned down a long driveway in the forest, and came out to a cottage right on... Can you guess? The beach! What a lovely place it was!

I have to run now, but I will be back soon to share all the wonderful and scary and amazing adventures I had!

A Dream Come True

2008-08-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Guys, guess what?! I'm sure you all know where my favorite place to be is... The beach! And my favorite thing to do at the beach? Chase my tennis balls! Okay, now for the big news... Oooh, I'm so excited I could pee! Okay, here it is...

I'm going to the beach, not for just one day, not even two days, but a whole SEVEN DAYS! Seven full days of chasing tennis balls, seven full days of putting my foot prints on the beach, seven full days of hiking in the forest around the beach... Man, it's gonna be like seven whole days of heaven!

We're leaving tomorrow and we won't be back 'till next Saturday, and unfortunately there is no internet connection where we are going so I will not be able to keep in touch with you all. But man, I'm sure I'll have a LOT to tell ya when I get back!

The house is crazy at the moment with the humans packing everything, so I decided to pack some of my own stuff... Like my bandannas!

I think I should just try them all on to make sure they still fit right...

Well, I guess they do, sort of. They fit good enough, anyway!

Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have to go collect all my tennis balls again so I can bring them to the beach! Goodbye everydog, I'll be back again next week!

Awards, awards, and an award!

2008-07-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

I feel so honored, so many of you guys are giving me all these awards! Thank you so much!

Thank you Charlie, Desert Pups, and Dozer and Cooper for the Brillante award...

Thank you Amber, Ben Ben, Penny, and Verdi and Gaucho for the Arte-y-Pico Award...

Thank you Dozer and Cooper for the Good Dog Blog award...

And now, because Dozer and Cooper had requested that I send them some Canadian fish 'n chips in return for the Good Dog Blog award, I will put these delicious looking fish 'n chips right here and Dozer and Cooper can come and pick them up anytime from my blog. Here ya go fellas, enjoy them!

Before I finish this post I'd just like to share a picture with you all... There was once a big empty bird nest in our tree, but the humans took it down a while ago and put it in a flower pot. Now a couple days ago I walked outside, and look who I found on top of the bird nest inside the flower pot!

That crazy cat, I'm sure her brain isn't working quite right, 'cause before she was pretending to be an evil monkey and now she's pretending to be a furry bird on her nest...

My Toy Collection

2008-07-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing very exciting has been happening for a few days, so today my human and I decided to search through the whole house (all three floors), the whole front yard, and the whole backyard, to see if we could find all of my toys. My human even had to dig up a few that have been buried in the backgyard for years! We put all the toys together in a box, so now I have 30 toys all together! I'm sure there's many more toys buried under the dirt and grass, but we'll find those another day.

Here I am, sitting by my toy box full of all my toys, new and old. I've never had this many toys all in one place before!

Let's see what kind of interesting dog toys I have in this box...

A pink frisbee, all my exploded, murdered, and destroyed stuffies from the 4xBs, a bunch of rings toys I've had since I was a wee pup, some rope toys, a couple of kongs, a squeeky burger, some chewy bone toys, and 11 balls.

Man, just look at all these balls! Tennis balls, glow in the dark balls, giggle balls...

I wanted to dive into all those balls, but my human made me wait while she took some pictures. I tell ya, it was tough! Those balls were staring up at me, just waiting for me to sink my teeth into 'em!

Can I play with my toys yet?

The First Dock Jumping of the Year

2008-07-21T14:24:00.000-07:00

Alright everydog (and hamsters and cats), before I start this post I'd just like to apologize to you all 'cause I haven't been able to visit your blogs very much lately. Now that the nice weather is finally here, the summer has been very busy! I'm missing out on hearing about everything you guys are goin' through right now, so I'm going to try really hard to find the time to catch up on all your blogs, okay?

Also, we've noticed that many of you can't find the comment box on my latest blog posts. We're not sure what's happening there, we've tried to fix it, but apparently it's nothing that we can fix... I hope it'll start working properly again soon!

Anyway, as I had mentioned before, our summer has been quite busy since the sun finally came out. On Saturday we went to a lake. I used to not like water until I was about 4 years old, and since then I've gradually come to love the water! I'm turning 7 in August, and this year is the first year that I can jump right into the water on my first try without being a scaredy-cat at all! So we all went to the lake, and I brought my orange ball of course, and my humans threw it off the dock so that I could jump into the water after the ball. I tell ya, even though I choked up lots of water afterward, this was the most fun I've had in a long time!

Here I am, just jumping off the dock... Man, I feel like I could fly!

After I land in the water, I get my orange ball and start to swim back.

There was just one problem I had getting back to the shore... I had to climb over this long floating thing, and it's a lot harder than it looks!

But I, Sparky the Wonder Dog, can do anything!

After much struggling, I manage to kick off the long floating thing and land with a splash on the other side...

After I get back to the shore and then to the dock again, my human Lizzy takes my orange ball...

...And then I bark at her until she throws it again!

Another flying leap into the water...

Swimming back again...

Climbing out of the water onto the shore...

After a while I'll take a break and cool down the humans by shaking all the water on them.

And then I'll find a nice spot on the grass to roll around and dry off.

I'll get up and shake again...

And then get down and roll again...

Oh, what a grrrrEAT day it was! I'm looking forward to swimming more as the summer continues! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too!

An Extra Special Post

2008-07-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

You all might be wondering why this post is extra special... Well I'll tell ya why... I have blogged for well over a year, and I know I still haven't blogged as much as you'd all appreciate, but this blog is extra special 'cause it marks my 100th post! Yup, I've blogged 100 blogs, and I've still got many more blog posts to come!

Anyway, after I came home from camping last weekend, can you guess where I went? Strait to the tub. I hate baths. I've probably told you all so many times that I hate baths, but it's true. I don't struggle to get away or anything, but I put my tail between my legs and my head goes down, and I look up with sad puppy dog eyes. You'd think that would be enough for the humans to take me out of the tub right away and set me free again, but all they do is complain about something, um, what was it? I think they call it "stink". They also mention "dirty". And a while later, after I look like a miserable drowned rat, they rejoice and say "clean", and "nice". I think I look much cuter when I'm dry and fluffy, right? I suppose I'll never get why the humans are happier when I'm soaked to the skin with water and shampoo. Funny, I wonder why they don't like it when I give myself my very own bath with "pond water" and "mud"?

Anyway, now to get down to the point. There is one good thing that comes with a bath. That's the part where you get to dry off! No need for towels when you've got carpet and couches to use! Do any of you guys do this?

Now, my good friends George and Velcro tagged me for a meme! Here goes...

What is your name? Sparky.

If you could change your name what would it be? Hmmm, well, maybe I'd change it to "Super Dog" or "Sparky the Great". Does that sound good?

What is your pet's name (it can be a webkinz or a real pet)? Let's see, the cats are the human's pets, so I guess they're mine too, right? Their names are White Cat, Rascal, and Marble.

If you could change your pet's name what would it be? Change the cat's names?! Ooooh, now that would be good! But I'd better not tell you what I'd name them, 'cause I might get into trouble...

What is your brother or sisters name? My brother's name is Buddy, and I have two sisters named Peanut and I think the other one was Olive. I haven't seen Olive for about 7 years, and Peanut for about 5 years, and Buddy I saw about 3 years ago. I'd love to see them all again!

If you could change their name what would it be? I don't think I would change their names...

Now tag as many people as letters in your new name for yourself. Hmmm, well there are quite a few letters in my new names, so how about I just tag 5 dogs? They are...

Clover
Ben Ben
Deetz
T-Bone Beasely
Goober Stan

I hope you'll all have a GRRRReat weekend comin' up, and stay cool!

A Camping Trip BLAST!

2008-07-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a grrrrEAT weekend - I know I sure did!

On Wednesday I was wondering why my humans were packing their bags. On Thursday the humans were loading their bags into the big van and trailer behind it. I thought they were going to go away without me, until I saw it... My orange ball! It was at that moment I knew I was coming on the camping trip too, and man did I ever get excited about it!

If you'll remember, I also went on this same camping trip last year. All my humans and their church go camping together every summer for 3 nights, and all the dog owners usually take their dogs along as well. So of course I get to go, too!

We were the third family to arrive at the campground, so there was still lots of room to set up our stuff before everyone came. The moment we all piled out of the van, I took off running as fast as I could go around the campground. I ran to the shelter in the middle of the campground, I ran to the other people already there, I ran in circles, I ran up the giant hill and down it again a few times, and then I ran strait to the first tent I saw and peed on it. Hey, I hadn't peed since early that morning, so I had to go somewhere! I just didn't think the giant fields and trees all around were worthy of my gift I had been holding inside of me all day.

During most of the camping trip, all the 3 to 7 year old boys and girls followed me everywhere. The humans were saying I had my own fan club! I must say though, I was getting quite bored and tired of the little kids. Hey, I'm glad they love me, but when they're pulling my ears and tail and hugging and kissing me every second of the day, I tend to get tired of them quickly. But I was pretty good with them, I only gave a few warning growls when they got too annoying!

My favorite part of the camping trip was when we all went to the beach! I tell ya, when you've got your ball, the sand, the water, the space, and the sand castles to pee on, you've got everything!

Dexter the Cocker Spaniel tried to chase my ball with me, but I always got it first, of course. I'm faster than any dog around!

Jake, Dexter's brother, didn't even bother to chase the ball. He chased Dexter for a bit, and just ran around doing his own thing for a while...

And then he decided to take a nap.

As for Shadow, he just wandered around in the water the whole time. That's a Labrador for ya!

I spent almost the whole time at the beach chasing my orange ball. Dexter finally gave up trying to get it before me, so I got to play ball by myself.

I took a little break to say hello to this little dog.
And then I just ran around for a few minutes before we went back to the campground.

We had a wonderful time, and I was zonked right out when we got home! I fell asleep belly up on my human Lizzy's stomach, and I didn't get up for a looong time. It felt good to rest!

The Typical Pond Day

2008-07-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

The nice weather we've been having lately is grrrrEAT for going up to the pond and doing what I do best - chasing tennis balls. Well, actually, not tennis balls anymore, but now my bright orange heavy-duty ball. I kinda killed all my tennis balls, ripped the fuzz off them and punctured holes in them with my teeth so many times that they don't even closely resemble any kind of ball anymore.

My orange ball is much harder to destroy, but I have managed to put a big crack in the side of it. Now when I take my ball for a dip in the pond to cool off, the water pours into the crack and fills it up. Then it makes a perfect water gun! I like to squeeze my orange ball just like I do my squeaky toys, so when I'm super close to my humans I can squeeze the orange ball and it'll squirt a stream of water (mixed with my drool) out of the crack in the ball and land on my humans. They think it's gross, but I'm just trying to help cool them off on the hot days! (Er, and cold days too, I suppose)

After my humans take my orange ball from me, I bark and bark at them until they throw it again. Sometimes other big doggies come along and want to chase my orange ball too, but I always beat them to it!

After I get my orange ball, it's strait back to the pond to cool down and fill up my orange water gun again. Before we leave, I usually take a good drink to fill up my own personal water gun to help water the poor plants and fire hydrants on the way back home.

What's This?

2008-07-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

My human walked into the living room to find me inspecting what appears to be the scene of a gruesome murder.

Looks pretty bad, doesn't it? Let's see if we can find any clues as to what happened...

Ah ha! A piece of pink, do you see it? There's only one item in the house that matches that certain piece of pink, and it's...

...The Pink Piggy! Let's take a closer look at the pink piggy and see if we can find any more clues... Hmm, he doesn't seem to be lookin' his best, does he? Do you think he was the victim of the gruesome murder that took place in my own living room?

Uh oh! It looks as if his pink butt was torn off! Who could do such a horrid thing to my Pink Piggy?
Let's go back to the scene of the murder and put all this evidence together... Yup, it fits just like two puzzle pieces. The victim was definitely Pink Piggy.

I wonder who the murderer was?

Hair Cut Day

2008-07-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

You all may have noticed that my hair was shorter in the pictures in my last post... Can you guess why? Oh boy, you're right! I got a haircut! Man, you guys are so smart...

Doesn't my face look handsome?

You know, the good thing about having my own humans give me a haircut is that they don't shave me naked! My hair can be shorter, I can look stylish, and I won't be naked all at once! Pretty cool, eh?

One of the best things about getting haircuts is getting the tummy rubs that come with them!

Hey, wait a minute, did you just post that picture?! Lizzy, just because I need your help with the blog doesn't mean you should take and post embarrassing pictures of me!

Okay everydog, I'm done with the haircut pictures... This is actually all I was going to post today, but when I first started this post I heard a noise at the window! My human Lizzy and I turned around to see White Cat (also known as Fatso) hoisting himself up though the window from the outside. Let me tell ya, this window is a whole 4 feet high, and White Cat had somehow managed to jump up and pull himself onto the window sill! Sure, cat's can normally jump that high all the time, but not White Cat. He's old and FAT. I was quite surprised he could do it!

As I started loading my first haircut picture, White Cat walked from the window sill to the printer, then jumped to the top of the computer desk, jumped down on the lower part of the desk, walked to the other side, stepped down onto the keyboard, and prepared to make the jump to the floor (while he did all this, his face wore a look of serious determination). I watched as he let himself drop down from the keyboard, a whole 2 feet from above the floor. Splat. The keyboard slipped and he landed on his face. He got right back up and walked strait to the kitchen, still carrying his seriously determined look with him.

I turned back to the computer, and started loading the next picture. Then I head this noise... rip, rip, tear, riiiip. My human Lizzy and I got up and ran to the kitchen, to find White Cat, who had somehow managed to get himself up on the kitchen counter, and was tearing into a big package of meat that was set out to thaw (Lizzy's a vegetarian, but the rest of the family enjoys a meal of meat now and then). Lizzy shooed White Cat away, and came back to help me with my blog.

We started loading the next picture, when we heard a crash. Lizzy and I got up again and ran to the kitchen, to find White Cat had gotten back up on the counter and had knocked over the meat and the plate it was resting on, and he had torn a hole in the package so he could eat the meat inside. Lizzy shooed him away again, put the meat back on the plate, and put a big bowl over top.

Just as we starting typing on my blog again, can you guess what we heard? CRASH. Lizzy got up and ran to the kitchen again, this time to find White Cat had knocked the big bowl right off the plate, picked up the giant package of meat (he may be fat, but he's stronger than you think), and he took off running as fast as he could over the counter top away from Lizzy. Let me tell ya, he may have been doing a very naughty thing, but to watch a fat clumsy cat with a package of meat twice the size of his head being carried in his mouth, with a seriously determined look in his eyes, running as fast as he can across the counter top while he realizes he's running out of room to run, and being chased by a furious Lizzy, is indeed a hilarious sight. Of course, Lizzy caught him, got the meat back and put it away again.

Five minutes later. We're back at my blog, and haven't heard a single noise in the kitchen for a while. Lizzy, wondering why White Cat's so quiet now, gets up and walks back to the kitchen. This is what she finds on the floor.

After all that work White Cat has been doing today, he's pooped. (Lizzy's note: I couldn't help but notice a resemblance between this picture and a certain one of the shots of Sparky getting his haircut!)

I Know I'm Late, But...

2008-07-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day!

A Rocky Point Park Adventure

2008-06-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Okay guys, I know I've been really bad at keeping up with the blogging world lately, again. Please forgive me... I'll try my hardest not to disappear for so long again!

The real Summer has finally arrived, and it's been about 30 degrees (around 90 Fahrenheit) for the last few days. Let me tell ya, I love the heat, but I have come to realize that it's time for another haircut. I don't like to look to naked, but I suppose it'll be worth it if this kind of weather is gonna stick around for a while! My humans are going to give me a haircut at home today.

Last week, on the longest day of the year, (can you believe the days are getting shorter already?!) we all went to Rocky Point Park to eat lunch and to go for a long walk. I had a grrrrEAT time! Here I am, trying to feel the wind in my fur while we were driving to the park.

After we got there, the humans bought some fish 'n chips and they all sat around a picnic table. Can you see where I was hiding while they ate? I was waiting for the right moment to snatch one of the fries... Just waiting patiently... Getting ready...

Now! Yes, I got it! Mmmm, tasty.

When we finished eating, we started out on our long walk... Here I am trotting ahead of everyone else on the boardwalk.

We came to this beautiful view of the bay... The tide was way out, so there was lots of mucky sand, clay, mud, and fish guts!

I decided to have a little break and sit down on the log.

We set out again, and eventually came to the old ruins of what was once a mill... Here I am, up on top of it!

We explored around this area for a little while... Lots of cool things to check out and pee on!

Here's a few clips put together of me jumping and climbing at the park...

When it was close to the time to go back home, I decided to walk through the sand, clay, mud, and fish guts. I was happily trotting across it when, SPLOOP! Sploop, sploop, sploop, sploop, sploop, sploop. I never realized how easy it was to sink in it, and I had to lift one paw at a time before letting it plop back down into the muck. I was up to my belly in the stuff! It was really hard to walk across! When I finally made it out, all the humans said, "Ewww, yuck! Sparky, why did you do that? You're going strait to the bath tub when we get home!"

It's not that bad, is it? I found that the muck actually felt good on my paws and legs. It felt nice and cool on a hot day!

When I got my bath, the water was all black. I mean, black black. My feet had been completely coated in the muck... It was a shame to wash it all off, I thought it looked and smelled quite good!

Flowers and More Flowers

2008-06-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been particularly boring for me, mostly because the humans are always busy and because it's always raining...

I made agility class a little more interesting on Tuesday. I decided I wouldn't do the first, middle, and last pole on the weave poles. I also went veeerrry slow for part of the class. And then I decided to go veeerrry fast for the next part. I also thought that barking at my human Lizzy would be fun and could be quite entertaining for everyone else to watch, so I barked at Lizzy for a long, long time. She couldn't get me to be quiet, hee hee.

I tried so sit in Lizzy's bowl of food again the other day. I guess it was only a once-in-a-lifetime thing, 'cause Lizzy saw me coming and was able to save her food from getting squished under my butt. I'll have to figure out a new plan on how to get my human's food...

Today the sun actually came out by supper time! Lizzy took me outside to take some pictures of me by the flowers. I must say, I was quite bored. While the sun was out, I'd much rather chase my tennis ball... Oh well.

Goody goody, I'm King of the Flowers...

Can you see the excitement on my face? Nope... Can I chase my tennis ball now?

Well, if I can't chase my tennis ball, I might as well make good use of this time and eat the flowers. Mmmm, tasty.

Package from Lola!

2008-06-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Woo, I finally got my package from Lola for the International Goody Exchange! It actually came on Tuesday while I was at agility class, but since we couldn't answer the door at home the postman took my package somewhere else to keep it safe, and we had to wait for 34 whole hours before I could get my package again! So last night my humans went out and picked up my package and brought it back home for me.

Here I am, waiting for my human to give me my package. (Yes, that mouse beside me is indeed a cat toy, but it makes a pretty good dog toy, too.)

The moment the package was put on the floor, I tore into it! I opened it all by myself in just a matter of seconds.

Check out this pawesome bandanna Lola sent me in the package! I've always loved bandannas, they make me look extra handsome and fashionable, hee hee.

This tire on a rope is super fun! My human Lizzy stuck it on my nose so she could take a picture of me with it. I couldn't see anything with that toy in my face, so I was glad when she finished taking this shot!

I must say, I think this orange ball is my favorite! Here I am, doing another funky dance with my new toy. When the ball gets shaken, it makes this funny noise like a mix between and squeak and a bark!

Lola, thank you so very much for this wonderful package! I'm having a BLAST with my new toys! Here's some smiles for ya. (Hey, did you all ever notice that my front feet usually turn out like a Basset's? I wonder if I'm part Basset Hound...)
Here's the mess I made... A real work of art, don't ya think?

Sparky: Stuffie Destroyer

2008-06-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I was happily playing with my stuffies from the 4xB's under the piano bench, when my human walked past. As she walked past, she gave me a little glance and said, "Hi doggy woggy".

Then all of a sudden she stopped walking and turned around to face me again, noticing that I looked a little different than normal...

What's different about me? I look fine, don't I? What are you staring at?! I didn't do anything wrong! Huh? That white stuff on my chin? Oh, my little white goatee just grew, that's all!

You don't believe me? No, I didn't kill my stuffie! Really! I was just operating on my loofa dog, when all of a sudden it went kaBOOM! I didn'y try to kill him, I was just trying to help him... But something obviously went wrong during the operation and his guts (and a squeaker, too) exploded all over the place! I tried to save him, really, but it was just too late! Please don't blame me for his death! I miss him already... Maybe if I cover the worst part of his exploded body with my head, no one will notice...

Oh well, I guess dead is dead and there's nothing left I can do for my loofa... I'll miss him terribly, though.

Maybe if I start operating on my pink piggie it'll help me to forget about the horrible death of my loofa...

Tagged!

2008-06-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Man, I've had so many pals tag me for all kinds of different games, but I never got around to doing them! Well, right now I'll do the tag that my good friend Chef tagged me to do... Thanks Chef!

So the rules are that I have to answer all of these questions, and then I have to tag 4 or 5 other doggies to do the same. Well, here goes!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago... Man, that was a long time ago! Lets see... Funny, I don't think I can even remember that far back! Oh, wait, I wasn't born yet! .

2. What are the 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Chase the cats, steal some human food, eat the chocolates in the kitty litter box, kill a stuffie, and vacuum the floor with my nose and mouth. ,

3. What snacks do I enjoy?
Oh boy, I enjoy almost all snacks! I'll eat any kind of human food, and any kind of cat food... The only food I don't like is dog food.

4. What would I do if I was a billionaire?
Hmmm... Well, I suppose I would make all of Canada into a giant national dog park! Wouldn't that be fun? And then I'd get my humans to adopt all the homeless dogs and and look after them in the park... And then I'd buy all the stuffies and squeaky burgers I could find, and then spread them all over the country for every single dog to play with... And then I'd- wait, would I run out of my billions of dollars by then? Oh well, I guess that's good enough. .

5. What are three of my bad habits?
What, me? Bad habits? Sorry, I don't have any. (I wonder why my human's rolling her eyes?...)

6: Where are five places that I have lived?
I have only ever lived in one place all my life... And that's in the giant, family-full house I live in right now. And I love it. The yards are big, the neighborhood is very friendly, the mailman is terrified of dogs, and there's lots of parks for me to chase my tennis balls in! The only problem about where I live is that it rains... All the time... That's why I haven't had many new pictures on my blog lately, 'cause it's raining too hard to take pictures outside... .

7. What are five jobs I have had?
I'm the vacuum cleaner, I keep the cats in order, I walk my humans, I eat the human's junk food before they can, (have to keep 'em trim and slim!) and I keep my humans smiling every day (well, mostly every day).

Alright! Now I am going to tag Eva, Sophie, Ben Ben, and Snowy and Crystal!

Now, because we don't have any new pictures to post, I'll leave you all with this shot... This is the very first picture ever taken with my human Lizzy's very first digital camera that she got about 3 years ago.

As you can see, I was quite curious as to what this new flashy box was (you can see right up my nostrils!), but little did I know that this was the first picture of thousands and thousands more to come...

I'm a Naughty Doggie

2008-06-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

I also did a few "naughty" things during the week while I was away from the blogging world. I bet you're all astonished! Sparky? Naughty? Yes, it's true.

Here's just one naughty thing I did... Well, I don't think I was very naughty. Only my humans think I was.

At the beginning of the week, Lizzy filled a bowl with nuts and fruit for her lunch, and brought it to the living room where she could eat while she read a book on the couch. She put the bowl of food on the coffee table beside her, and reached for one piece of food at a time as she read her book.

I, of course, whined and begged beside the couch and coffee table, hoping that she would give me a little piece... She gave me one piece of fruit, and told me, "no more". I whined and begged some more. She gave me another piece of fruit, and told me, "no more". So I whined and begged even more! Lizzy looked at me and told me she had already given me some of her food. I looked back at her and thought, food, what food? All you did was put some on the floor for me, and in less than a tenth of a second it disappeared! I don't think I really got to eat any... All I did was sniff it and then it vanished! Lizzy told me I ate too fast to notice I even got any food. Well, if I think I didn't get any food, then I should get more so I can enjoy it, right?

So I kept on whining and begging, but Lizzy refused to give me any more. I even tried my puppy eyes on her, and it didn't work. Nothing could soften her heart towards me. I think I would have starved if I didn't think up this wonderful solution...

If begging and puppy eyes won't work, it's time to get serious. Lizzy was just going to have to learn how to give up her food the hard way! While her attention was in her book, I jumped effortlessly up onto the coffee table, and walked across it towards the bowl. Lizzy looked up from her book, fully expecting me to dive into her lunch. But no, that's not what I did. I kept walking until I was past her bowl of food, and until I stood face to face with Lizzy, my eyes just centimeters from hers. I positioned myself just right, and sent a message across from my eyes to Lizzy's brain, saying: I don't give up that easily. You may have thought you were winning, but guess what? I just won.

And with that, as Lizzy watched wide eyed, I sat down promptly. Right in her bowl. My butt squishing down all her food. Perfect. Of course, as Lizzy watched disgustedly, she realized she probably should no longer eat the food I just sat on. And, it wouldn't be right to waste it all. So, my plan worked! I got her food. Man, I never fail to amaze myself with my smartness...

Dog Days...

2008-06-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Guess who's back? Me! I know, I know... I haven't blogged for over a week! It was very unthoughtful of myself to leave you guys for so long... But no worries, I'm back!

This past week my humans have been quite busy, and I would have kept on blogging without them except that I was born with furry paws... Don't get me wrong, furry paws are wonderful, but as you can see God didn't bless me with long naked fingers like the humans... Therefore, because it is awfully hard to type with furry paws, I use my humans as my typists! And, since my typists were too busy to type, I could not blog. Does that make sense?

Now, you might wonder what I have been up to all week...

On Monday my humans took me outside and opened the doors of the big vehicle. I thought, oh boy, a car ride! My favorite! So I hopped right on in. As we drove, the humans told me that we were going to the vet. It was time for my yearly shots... And let me tell you, I'm not afraid of shots... I actually quite enjoy going to vet, because I usually get a cookie! When we got there we had to wait a few minutes. My humans saw a doggie scale on the side of the room, so they decided to weigh me. What, do you think I'm overweight or something? No, they were just curious... And I weighed at 18.8 lbs! So nope, I'm not overweight at all. In fact, my humans often think I should gain some weight... But no matter how much I eat, it just all comes out the other end a few minutes later. And that's okay with me, because the lighter I am, the higher I can fly when I jump! Speaking of flying and jumping, I went to another agility fun match yesterday, but I'll tell you about that in a moment... Anyway, after my humans weighed me, I got taken into a separate room to get my shots. Usually I get my shots when my humans are with me, but this time they took me away! It was terrifying! I can't stand being separated from my humans! They kept me in the separate room for the longest time, gave me my shots, and even trimmed my nails! I do not like having my nails trimmed. It tickles my feet. Let me tell ya, it was a scary day, and I was so lonely without my humans beside me... But then! After the longest time, the vet finally released me from that horrid room, and I ran strait to my humans! You have no idea how glad I was to see them! (Human Lizzy here. Sparky was only in the separate room for less than 5 minutes, but the way he greeted us when he came out you would have thought he'd been separated from us for 5 years! Silly guy.) Man, it felt good to be reunited again. For the rest of the day, and the days after, the shots didn't slow me down at all... In fact, I was even faster than normal at agility class the next day! Now, about agility...

Yesterday we woke up early, loaded everything in the van and took off to the park where they were holding another agility fun match. We had trouble finding out about it, but we were told that we could sign up at the park if we got there before it started... So that's exactly what we intended to do, except that when we got there we found out that everything had already filled up the day before! But, with my adorable, pleading eyes, I managed to soften up the people at the fun match and I was allowed to enter the first run, a Standard course... It was a beautiful day, and I was excited! Being excited allowed me to run fast and complete the course almost perfectly, but, being excited also allowed me to not want to lie down on the table (why is there a table in agility, anyway? I thought agility was a fast paced sport, not a sport in which you lie down and take a nap!) So, when I finally calmed down long enough to lie down on the table for 5 seconds, I took off again and missed the contact on the A-frame. I couldn't help it, I was born to fly! Who needs to touch the contact zone? Not me! Anyway, other than those two "mistakes", I did a nice, clean run. And I still got 1st place. Oh, what a wonderful day!

I have been getting really excited for the International Goody Exchange! I had to send a package to Clover, and I've never met Clover before so it's GRRRReat to have a new friend! I sent her package on Friday, so it should arrive in plenty of time... After my humans wrapped it and taped up the box, they put it by the door so they could remember to send it to Clover the next morning... Man, that box smelled good! When my humans weren't watching, I thought I'd just chew open the box and , uh, well, take a few of the pres- Er, I mean make sure the presents were okay inside the box... Unfortunately the humans caught me in the process, so I had only managed to start chewing open just one corner of the box... Oh well.

Anyway, It's been a busy week, so I'm just gonna settle down for a nap with my squeaky burger and store up my energy for tomorrow. I hope you all had a grrrrEAT weekend!

Mwahaha!

2008-05-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Guess who got a bath today? NOT me! Surprised? This time it was White Cat (Fatso)! Serves him right!

I actually almost felt sorry for him, but then I thought better of it. He gets so dirty and refuses to bath himself, so the humans have to bath him instead!

Do you like his spikey hair? Hee hee!

His ears are pink with embarrassment...

Now, enough of White Cat. My dear friend Lorenza nominated me for Awesome Blog Award! Thanks, Lorenza! I'm so excited about this! Beasely, looks like you've got some competition, hee hee... Go place your vote here!

I hope you all have a GRRRReat weekend!

An Exciting Day

2008-05-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Sit back and relax, this is going to be a long post...

Okay guys, this has been the most exciting day I've had in a long time! Let me start in the beginning.

This morning, at about 5:45, I was sleeping soundly under the blankets on my human Lizzy's bed. I was snoring a little, and kicking Lizzy in my sleep, when all of a sudden... kaBOOM!

I like to think of myself as a brave dog, but this time I just couldn't help flying 3 feet into the air from under the blankets, my eyes rimmed white with fright. Lizzy started laughing at me. Laughing. She had already been prepared for the giant "kaBOOM", because the roaring rain woke her up and she saw the lightning out the window, so she was counting down the seconds 'till the thunder came. I wish she could have warned me! Normally I'm not even phased by storms, but this time I wasn't expecting to be woken up from my beauty sleep by a loud crack of thunder. And the window was open, so that just made it all the louder. There was much more thunder and lightning and rain to come after that. I wasn't scared anymore, though.

Later on that morning, the thunder went away, but the rain stayed. So I decided to entertain myself with my 2 new toys. Yesterday my humans realized all my toys were gone (I hid them in the back yard but can't remember where!). So, my human Lizzy got some leftover sewing fabric, and started twisting and tying it. And, before I knew it, I had a new toy! Then she made another one! We have lots of leftover sewing fabric, and only yesterday did my humans realize how easy it was to make dog toys out if it. Here's my two new toys...

The bigger one is my favorite. I love hanging on to one end while my human hangs on to the other and swings me around!

After I played with these toys for a while, my human told me it was agility day! We had to leave for agility class in just a few minutes! I started to get really excited. But then, do you know what got me even more excited?

There was a knock at the door, and guess who was there? The mailman! Actually, this time was a girl. But, she had a package in her hands, so I knew she was one of the many evil mailpeople out there. So, of course, I barked and growled and howled at her. But she didn't get scared easily. She's not at all like our other mailman who's terrified of every dog on the block. But I barked at her anyway!

But then, as Lizzy took the package, she said these words: "Sparky, stop barking! This package is for you. It's from the 4xB's."

For me? That's all it took. I dove in and started tearing that package apart! We had to leave for agility class in 5 minutes, so I had to work fast! The humans gathered around and watched me open my package...

As soon as I got my first look at my new stuff, I had to go to agility class. But you should have seen me run today! The excitement of knowing there were presents for me at home made me simply fly!

The moment I got back home, I ran to my package to get a better look at the stuff inside. The package was from some of my bestest blogging buddies, Bailey, Baxter, Brody, and Benson! Thank you, 4xB's!

In the package was a special letter, saying that they wanted me to have some stuffies! They must have read earlier that I was stuffieless on National Stuffie Appreciation Day. Well, I'm certainly not stuffieless anymore!

Baxter even wrote this special poem for me:

Roses are red and violets are blue (sometimes purple)
We're sending this package cuz we wuf you!
And you're really cool too.

Thanks, Baxter! That poem made me feel very special! And Brody, like you asked, when I become a famous agility doggy, you will certainly get my pawtograph!

Okay, now it's time to show you all the presents I got...

Before I could play with the stuffies, Lizzy tried to make me pose with them. I didn't want to pose, I just wanted to play! I kept on telling her to let me play with my new toys, so she eventually gave up and this is the best picture she got.

I got a gray sheep that makes a noise like it's dying (sort of sounds like T-Bone Beasley's fartin'/honkin' duck), and I got a pink pig that squeaks (at least, I think it's a pig!), and I got a purple pig that squeaks, and I got my very first loofa dog toy! I also got a very cool ball, which I think glows in the dark but I haven't tried it yet 'cause I already lost it (it's in the house though, so I'm bound to find it soon!), and I got lots and lots of tasty treats! I already ate the biggest one, but my humans put the rest away to save for later.

I'm so excited to have more stuffies! I think my favorite is the dying sheep. Here I am playing with it...

I'm so happy to finally have more stuffies to dance with! I think my brown fur looks great with the bright pink pig.

I've had this smile on my face ever since I got the package!

Some more dancing, this time with my purple pig...

Here I am catching my new ball... Man, I LOVE that ball. I hope I find it again soon, hee hee.

This is my super long loofa dog toy... I've never had one of these before, and I must say I've been quite jealous to see everyone else playing with them! I'm so glad I have one now!

Finally, after playing with all of my toys, I settled down to chew on my new chewies... Mmmm...

Bailey, Baxter, Brody, and Benson, you guys are the BEST! I could never thank you enough for this package! This is the best day I've had in a long time! Thank you so much for being my pals. This smile is all for you! I LOVE YOU GUYS.

Okay, here's some more exciting news... It's time to get ready for the National Goody Exchange! Thank you Chef and T-Bone Beasley for starting this wonderful idea! If anyone out there wants to experience the excitement of getting a package, pop over to either Chef's or Beasley's blog and tell them you want to participate!

Okay guys, do you know what made this day even better? I won the Furocious Scary Eye Contest! Thank you to everyone who voted for me, and thank you to Deetz for holding this fun contest!

Okay, just when I thought this day couldn't get any better, it just did... As I typed these last few sentences, the rain went away and the sun came back out! So, I'm off to play with my new toys outside! I hope you all have a grrrrEAT day!

Summer has Arrived!

2008-05-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

The weekend has arrived, and with it, Summer! You all have no idea how happy I am to have a warm, sunny day! After snow, wind, rain, and cold for about 8 months, Summer has finally decided to come back.

Today the temperature shot up to about 25 degrees, and the humans have already got sunburn! My human Lizzy saw me panting out in the sunshine, so she made me some frosty paws (that are not yet frosty), and I'll have to wait until they're done freezing before I can eat them.

Ahhh, nothing like running or relaxing in the warm sun... It's mid afternoon now, and I was just playing "Fling the Ring"! I fling my ring toy a few times, and then I lie down to cool off, and then I fling the ring some more. It's become one of my favorite games that doesn't involve human help. All I need is the ring, and then I can fling!

By the way, look at this! Keda always swore she could tear any cat apart, but then my human picked her up and plopped her in the cat bed with White Cat, and she didn't do a thing! She didn't even try to bite him! You know why? Because she's a chicken. She was afraid White Cat would tear her to pieces if she made any sudden moves (and he probably would, too). As soon as my human put her back down, she put on her big fierce act again. She likes everyone to think she can do anything, but really she can't.

Well, I'm off to check on those frosty paws. Frozen or not, I'm ready to eat them! I hope you're all having a grrrrEAT weekend!

A Real Green Dog

2008-05-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hello every dog! Sorry I haven't been able to update or visit your blogs much for the last few days. We've been having internet troubles, but it's all fixed now!

Before I get on to the green dog story, I'll just tell you a little about the fun I had at the park the other day...

My humans threw my ball for me over and over again, so I had a blast chasing after it! You can tell how much I enjoyed running by the smile on my face, hee hee.

Once I get the ball, I come running back so my humans can throw it for me again.

The best way to cool off after playing a game of ball is to jump in the pond. Once I'm up to my belly in the water, all I have to do is open my mouth so the water will pour in. That way I don't have to do the work to lap up the water!

Now look at this goose I found at the pond... He is one weird goose! He thinks he's a dog, see? He's scratching himself just like us dogs do!

I decided to get a little closer to him... You know, just in case he is a dog, I just want to say hello, right? But this was the scary part... I realized he wasn't a dog, but he was a CAT! He hissed at me! And let me tell ya, that goose/dog/cat has a very scary hiss! I decided if he's gonna be that grumpy, I'd better leave him alone.

Meanwhile, Keda just sunbathed. She came to the park too, but she's wasn't allowed off the leash. She tends to get a little, um... what's the word...? "Vicious" is what the mailman says. She doesn't really like men and big dogs for some reason.

After I finished drinking up the pond, I hopped out and was ready for another game of ball!

Now, let me tell you what happened yesterday...

Keda and I were both in the backyard while my human Lizzy was experimenting with her camera, taking pictures of flowers. While she did that, Keda and I hopped into the garden and trampled all the beautiful plants as we grazed like cows. Mmmm, yummy flowers. My human Lizzy continued taking pictures of different flowers while we grazed.

Eventually, I noticed Keda wasn't grazing beside me anymore. I didn't think much of it at the time, I just thought she strolled into the next garden to start devouring the plants there, too. So I continued grazing in my own garden...

But then! There was this smell! Oh, it was a heavenly, glorious smell! Where was it? What did it come from? Man, let me tell ya, I have never smelled anything so good in my life!

My human Lizzy stopped fiddling with her camera, her nose scrunched up, and said, "Ooooh, what is that AWFUL smell?!"

Okay, so we dogs and humans think quite differently, but I think that smell was wonderful. Anyway, we both searched for that awful/wonderful smell, and then I saw it! In the corner of the yard, a very green head poked out of a pile of, well... I'm not sure if you want to know what the pile consisted of, but I'll tell you... It was grass, mold, and poop. And right away when I saw the green head poke out of the grass, mold, and poop, I knew it was Keda! Man, did she ever know where the best perfume was to roll in!

Right away Lizzy called her out, and she came trotting over looking very pleased with herself. She was a green dog. And she smelled wonderful. I don't think she could have had a prouder moment.

Though Lizzy was just about ready to put a clothes pin on her nose, she decided she might as well take some pictures to show Keda's humans when they come back.

Don't you think she looks lovely? The green flower pinned in her hair really matches her new green fur.

Unfortunately, this led to...

...this. Keda was not very happy.

Oh well. At least she got to be green for a few minutes! I don't think she thinks it was worth it now, though. She had the longest bath ever. Poor girl.

A Week with Keda

2008-05-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Okay everydog... I'm not sure if I've introduced you to a certain someone yet... She lives across the street. She is about half my size. She is blonde. She is beautiful. And she's a dog. A Maltese dog, to be exact. Her name is Keda.

Keda is my best friend! We have had many adventures together. We have gotten in trouble together. We have terrified the mailman together (resulting in our families not getting any mail for the whole summer).

To tell you the truth, Keda used to be my girlfriend. Shocking news, eh? We loved each other. Well, at least I loved her. I thought she loved me in the same way, until that certain day a few years ago. Once she found out I had the "big snip" operation, she ditched me to have pups with some other dog.

I was heartbroken. I didn't want to look at her for days. It was a sad time in my life... I just wanted to curl up in a box and die.

Okay, so I didn't really want to die. I still had a full life ahead of me! I soon forgot all about Keda. Until one day after her pups were raised and gone to their new homes, Keda came over to talk with me. We decided we could never have the same kind of relationship as we had before, but we could still be friends, right? So, now we're best friends!

Guess what? Keda came over today, and she's staying over for a week while her humans are away! We're gonna have a blast together! So far we've barked at the cats, eaten the cat food, chased the cats, and made fun of the cats. We're almost pooped right out already.

I think this is gonna be a fun week together. I'll let you all know what kind of mischief we get into! I hope you're all having a grrrrEAT weekend!

Agility Fun Match and National Stuffie Appreciation Day

2008-05-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

So as you all know, I went to an agility fun match last Sunday. It was awesome pawesome! This was only the second time I've ever gone to one of these fun matches.

The day started out when my human Lizzy woke me up. I think I should have been the one to wake her up, but I was too exhausted to do so at 6:30 in the morning. But the moment she said the word "agility", I was wide awake! So my human Lizzy and her mom and I left the house at 7:30 and got to the agility barn by 8:00. Everywhere I looked there were sleepy humans being dragged around by excited dogs, or excited humans dragging around sleepy dogs!

My humans set up not just two chairs, but three chairs! They know I hate bing put in kennels while I wait for my turns, so I got my very own chair to sit on between my two humans. It made me feel special, like I was the top dog in the whole barn!

Finally my first turns came to run! I won second place in the first Gamblers course, and first place in the second Gamblers course!

Then we went on to the Standard course, in which I won third place. To tell you the truth, we didn't do to well! I think it was my human Lizzy's fault, she needs to practice her handling better. Her hands tend to fly everywhere and then I don't know where to go! But I suppose it's also partly my fault, 'cause half way through the course I saw my other human, so I quickly ran out of the course to catch her attention to make sure she was watching me. Then I ran back in and finished the course. Hee hee. Here's a very short clip of me finishing the course...

After that we did the Snookers course, but we kind of completely blew that one. Right away when we started my human got me mixed up and I came out the wrong end of the tunnel! So that was the end for us on that course.

Finally, the last course was Jumpers. I just knew I was gonna do grrrreat at this one, 'cause jumping is what I do best! And, I was right. I won first place with a Q. I wish someone took a video of me doing that course so I could show you all!

After I collected all my ribbons, the day was done... We were in that barn for 9 hours! Even though I only got to run 5 times, I was still tired by the end of the day.

Here's a picture of us with our ribbons!

Now, enough of the agility talk, it's time for us to get on to the National Stuffie Appreciation Day! Thank you, Mr. T-Bone, for making this special day in which we can appreciate the stuffies that we normally try to so hard to kill.

Unfortunately... My last stuffie disappeared last week. It was a candy cane stuffie that I got for Christmas. I had already ripped it open, eaten half of its guts, and popped the squeaker 'till it literally popped right out of the stuffie, and then I think I ate the squeaker too 'cause it vanished just after I popped it out... But, you notice I said I only ate half my stuffie candy cane's guts. That's because I was saving the other half for later, 'cause I truly appreciate my stuffie, and I didn't want to completely kill it all at once. But unfortunately, as I said before, it disappeared. I'm not exactly sure where it went, but my humans kept on mentioning that it was about time that it went in the "garbage", whatever that means...

So, at the moment, I am what you might call "stuffieless". But here is a picture of me, dancing like a clown, with my beloved stuffie candy cane, of whom I truly appreciated.

*EDIT*
Tasha from Tasha and Eva's blog is not doing too well. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers, and go over to give them your comforting words!

Memoir Meme

2008-05-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

G'day every one! I hope you all had a good weekend.

My new pal Candi the Cavalier tagged me to participate in the Memoir Meme! Thanks, Candi!

Here are the rules :

1) Write your own six word memoir.

2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like.

3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere.

4) Tag at least five more blogs with links.

5) Don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

6) Have fun

Alright! Here goes... I am:

Handsome.

Patriotic.

Cool.

Fashionable.

Active.

Happy.

Now I would like to tag Sweepy, Rossi, Maggie, Hero, and Coco.

The agility fun trial I went to yesterday went grrrreat! (Well, considering it was only my second fun trial.) We're just waiting for some pictures, so I'll tell you about it in the next post!

Sparky: Toilet Paper Roll Destroyer

2008-05-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hello all my fabulous fellow furry friends! I would like to show you something...

This, is a toilet paper roll.

This, is me, impatiently waiting to get my paws on that toilet paper roll.

This, is what the toilet paper roll and I look like together.

This, is what I look like when I suddenly have the urge to kill the toilet paper roll.

And this, is what a dead toilet paper roll looks like.

My work here is done.

End of Weekend, End of Christmas

2008-04-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

Man, this weekend was a BLAST! I really enjoyed the Dogs with Blogs 2nd Anniversary Chat Pawty! I'm so excited to have met so many new furry friends. I hope you all enjoyed the pawty, too!

So I woke up today, Monday morning, all happy and cheerful and still in a party mood after a wonderful weekend. I went up to my human Lizzy, and gave her a goofy little smile. So, Lizzy, what are we gonna do today?

Lizzy looked back at me and said, "Hey Sparky! Guess what we're gonna do today?"
That's just what I asked you, Lizzy. Man, sometimes I wish humans could understand doggie language.

"Guess what we're gonna do today?," Lizzy asked again. "Today we're gonna take down your Christmas cards!"

She said we were gonna take down my Christmas cards, heh heh!... Er, wait a minute... What did she say? Did she say MY Christmas cards?!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!

(If I didn't already enter my evil eye picture in Deetz's contest, I'm sure this one would be a real winner)

Lizzy, you can take down your one Christmas card, but not my 80 + cards! I won't let you! They're mine!

Again, I wish humans could understand doggie language. She took down my cards.

Lizzy, it's only been 5 months... Couldn't they stay up a little longer? Just 6 or 7 more months? They'll be back in season then...

Sigh... It's gonna be a long 7 months 'till I get more Christmas cards again...

Scary Eye Picture...

2008-04-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

My new pal, Deetz, is holding a Scary Eye photo contest! Here's my entry...

You don't want to mess with me in a game of ball... I tend to get a little competitive and "scary-eyed".

My human did manage to get just a few more pictures at agility class!

As you can see in this picture, I was blasting through that tunnel as fast as I could! One of my agility pals, Zeke the Miniature Poodle, decided to follow me through the tunnel after I went in. So when I heard pounding paws right behind me, I realized I wasn't alone in the tunnel! My humans say I look like I thought there was a monster following me. Ha, of course I knew that little Zeke wasn't a monster! Well, maybe I did for a second... But once I got out of the tunnel and saw who it was, I was fine... You can just barely see Zeke's paws behind me in this picture.

I just have to post these flying pictures, hee hee.

There's a fun trial coming up next Sunday, which I believe I shall take my humans too. I've only ever been to one fun trial last year, at which I won 2nd and 3rd place. I can't wait to go this year!

I hope you all have a grrrreat weekend!

Happy Day

2008-04-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I'm happy?

Do you see my smile?

I'm happy because I was finally able to drag my humans to the park to throw my ball for me! The sun popped out and made the snow disappear for a day. It snowed again after, but at least I got to chase my ball in the sun for a while!

See my tail? I use it as a flag to signal to my humans to throw the ball.

Yup, I'm a happy dog indeed.

Jump!

2008-04-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of my fellow furry friends. I hope you all had a grrrrEAT weekend!

You may all be wondering why I changed my blog to more of a Springy-Summer type look... Do you want to know why? Well, I'm hoping that if I put Spring-Summer in my blog, then Spring-Summer might actually come! I mean, I like the snow, but snow in late April? Come on, it's Spring! We had summer weather last Saturday, but it snowed this Saturday! I mean, I like to play in the snow and all, but now I want to jump in the warm lakes and chase the squirrels across the grassy fields! After almost 8 months of cold weather, I'm ready for the sun and warmth to come out. Hopefully the new blog look will help with that.

One other good thing about summer... It means more agility, which means more jumping, which means more pictures to show you all! Since it was nice and warm last week, my human Lizzy was happy to take some pictures of me in agility class. She only took a few, as we only had 5 minutes of free time at the end of a tiring, hour-long class. And the pictures are quite blurry, but considering that Lizzy was running as fast as she could to keep up with me (while watching out for things she might trip over), I think the pictures turned out alright.

Man, coming out of a glorious tunnel to see a glorious jump right up ahead makes you feel simply glorious!

See how my ears are spread out? I think it helps me fly better when I spread my ears.
I like to tuck my legs in nice and tight so it looks like I'm getting more air on my jumps, hee hee.
Last picture. Here I am coming out of the yellow tunnel. Next to the jumps, tunnels have got to be my favorite!

I'm hoping my humans will get more pictures of me at agility class next week or the week after... I'll be sure to post the pictures if they do! Hope you all have a grrrreat day now!

Can You Find Me?

2008-04-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

Hello every dog! The weekend is here! I hope you all have a grrrrEAT one! (grrrrEAT, get it? We dogs like to grrrr, and we also like to eat! Okay, nevermind.)

This weekend I'm just gonna relax with all of my doggie pals. They don't tend to be very active, but they're sure fun to cuddle with!

Can you find me?

Bad News and Good News

2008-04-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

We were very sorry to hear that Hammer's friend, Khomet the horse, crossed the rainbow bridge into heaven yesterday. He was a beautiful horse, and we'll miss him terribly.

Hammer's mom, Susan, is absolutely devastated right now. We can't even begin to imagine the pain she's going though. Please go over to Hammer's blog and give her your support, and keep her and the family in your thoughts and prayers.

On a happier note, we are very excited to see that Spring has finally sprung! Yesterday we went to Stanley Park. It was a beautiful day! Look at all the daisies I'm sitting in!

Do you see this? This is another one of those evil squirrels. I was dying to chase it, but nooo, Lizzy made her family hold me back while she went off to take some pictures of all these critters. Lizzy, take pictures of me! Not them!

Man, if I had been off my leash, it would have been pure heaven! Squirrels to chase, ducks to catch, swans to annoy, ...

Speaking of swans, my humans were excited to see these two doing the "heart". I gotta admit, it did look pretty cool! This picture is for you, Mary-Margaret. Hee hee.

I wonder what it would have been like if I could chase the swans. Do you think these big birds would be scared of me? Oh, I bet they'd run for their lives if I were off the leash!

We also saw these very interesting "turtles", Lizzy called them. I thought they were rocks until I got a better look. They're real lazy-butts, I don't think they moved for the whole day!

We saw a lot more animals, but I'm not going to post any more pictures of them. I mean, it's my blog, so where's my pictures? Here's one more of me in the daisies.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Middle Name Meme

2008-04-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

A while ago my good friend Eric tagged me to do this middle name meme game. Only now am I finally doing it!

Here are the rules...

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blog of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged)

I never really thought about my middle name much, but my humans often call me Sparky Barky, so I suppose Barky must be my middle name.

Now, I want to come up with some really good facts about myself, beginning with each letter of Barky. So I think I'll take my own sweet time and look through the dictionary...

It's up high on the bookshelf, so I'll have to jump up on the stools to reach it.

Here it is...

Being the proud Canadian I am, I will use my favorite Canadian dictionary.

Time to search for some good words that describe me...

Hold on, I'll be right back! Time for a bathroom break.

Hi everyone, it's White Cat here. Just thought I'd do a little messing with the mutt's blog. I know exactly what Sparky's middle name means...

BAD-BREATHED
ANNOYING
RUDE
KNOW-NOTHING
YUCKY

I didn't even need a dictionary for that! Sorry, gotta run!

HEY! I should've known I couldn't leave the computer without a guard around! This is just horrible... I am NOT any of the above words! Alright, I might be just a little bit of the first 3 words, but that's all! Okay, sometimes I'm a bit of the 5th word too, but very rarely! But most definitely not the 4th word! I'm not a 'know-nothing'! I know lots of stuff, and right now I know that White Cat is going to pay for this!

Before I try to teach him his lesson, let me fix this up...

BOUNCY - I bounce when I walk.
ACTION-PACKED - I love anything with action!
RUNNER - I'm a fast runner
KISSER - I like to smooch any human who comes into kissing range.
YAPPY - Well, my barks are a little too deep to be called yaps, but it's hard to find something for Y!

Now to tag some friends...

Bella
Amber
Ronin

This is getting tricky, but the last two tags will be...

King Simba
Yorkie Mary-Margaret

Now I'm off to find that cat!

A Day at the Beach

2008-04-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I finally managed to take my humans to the beach so they could throw my ball for me... That's when my human Lizzy got that first picture of me in the air from my last post. Whenever my humans throw my ball into the water, I bounce as high and far as I can through the water until it's too deep to jump anymore. I figure that way I'll get to the ball faster, and I also enjoy the jumping! Hee hee. Oh, and yes, the bath at the end of the day was very disappointing, but I suppose it was worth a day at the beach.

Here's some more pictures...

The beach was just beautiful when we got there! I had a blast tearing up the ripples in the sand with my paws as I ran around.

See how long my legs are after my haircut? Even though I feel naked, I can run so much faster and jump way higher!

Hey Lizzy, throw the ball! Oh, you want my picture? Okay, take it quickly!

Okay, I you took my picture, now THROW THE BALL!

Check out these dudes we saw on the beach. My humans said they were bald eagles. Ha! Bald! I thought that was kinda funny. But then my humans said they were young bald eagles, 'cause it takes about 6 years for their heads to become bald. I've never seen a naked bird before. I wonder what they look like when they're bald?

This bald eagle caught a fish. I wonder what it tasted like?
After a while he flew away to eat his fish somewhere else.

Here's another eagle. All together there were about 30 bald eagles. I've never seen so many!
But to tell you the truth, I didn't care much about the bald eagles. Okay, I didn't even care about them at all. I had miles and miles of beach to run on, so I had my paws full already.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Two Kinds of Water...

2008-04-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

GOOD water...

...BAD water.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-21T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everydog, I would like to wish you all a very happy Easter! And for the Easter theme, I will show you a picture of a bunny!...

...Okay, so it's not actually a bunny, but can you tell the difference? Okay, so bunnies don't usually have long tongues that stick out of their mouths, but they do like grass. And not all bunnies have ears that stick up, some have floppy ears. So it really doesn't make any difference, does it?

Hammer tagged me to do this fun little game. Here are the rules...

1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.
4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.

So, of course, the nearest book of 123 is about us dogs. I mean, I'd be quite offended if my humans read anything else! Don't you think we dogs are all our humans need?

The first 5 sentences of page 123 is... Oops, I'm going to have to break the rules a little bit. The only thing on page 123 is a picture! I'll read from page 122 instead...

The Schipperke may be small, but it retains the personality of a street fighter. This compact package of energy once worked for it's living on Flanders and Brabant canal barges, keeping them free from vermin and warning the bargemen of potential intruders. The breed was also used on land, acting as an efficient rat, rabbit, and mole hunter. Resilient and conveniently sized, it makes an ideal household companion. Country of origin: Belgium.

Now I would like to tag...
1. Dory
2. Happy
3. Lenny
4. Snowy and Crystal
5. Tosca

Guess what? My good friend Amici has nominated me for Post of the Month for March! Thank you so much, Amici! There's a few very good posts this month, please go vote for your favorite HERE!

Happy Easter everyone!

Squirrels, Moss, and Sticks.

2008-03-19T13:21:00.001-07:00

Okay, you see this? Do you know what this is? It's called a squirrel.

Do you know what squirrels are? Squirrels are evil. They're almost as evil as cats! One day, I'm going to catch one and teach it a lesson it will never forget!

There are a number of reasons why squirrels are evil...

1. They chatter insults down at us from their trees. And when we dogs bark back up at them, they chatter more insults back down at us.

2. Every time my humans plant a garden, the squirrels eat the plants before they grow! It makes my humans angry. (Mind you, if the squirrels didn't eat the plants, I probably would instead...)

3. Squirrels have a way of making us dogs really angry. They let us chase them, but they always stay just out of reach. And then they climb up a tree, and start laughing and chattering insults back down at us, which leads us to reason number one again of why squirrels are evil.

Now guess what the squirrels are doing? They're throwing moss at me! We have this huge Maple tree covering our whole front yard, and the squirrels go up and peel off the moss and throw clumps of it down on the ground. They're either searching for bugs under the moss, or else they're trying to kill me by throwing the moss down at me! Okay, moss doesn't actually hurt that much when it falls, but it still angers me to see the squirrels doing this. There also seems to be a bunch of sticks on the ground, which my humans say fell out of the tree during windstorms, but I say the squirrels threw them down, too!

Look at this stick I found on the ground. It's huge!

Maybe by chewing up this big stick, the squirrels will get the message of what I'll do to them once I catch them!

Mmmm, tasty stick!

Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, ...

2008-03-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everydog and hamster, I am back! The internet connection is still a little wonky, but it's good enough to start blogging and visiting other blogs again! Oh man, I have so many blogs to catch up on, I'd better get started as soon as I'm finished this.

I did finally get my haircut! But I'm not sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, it's a good thing, 'cause now Lizzy can't give me anymore scary or girly lookin' hairstyles. But it's also a bad thing, cause now I feel so naked! My humans have been calling me "chicken legs". And the weather has gotten very cold again, and now I don't have my natural fur coat to keep me warm anymore. I hope spring and summer comes around soon!

Anyway, to keep myself too busy to think about how naked I am, I've been squeaking my squeaky toy. It's a good way to keep myself from being bored, too. And that squeaky sound, it's so satisfying!

Oh, I forgot to mention that there is one more good thing about being naked... It is easier to jump. A lot easier, actually. And jumping is like, my passion! I'll have to get my human Lizzy to take some jumping pictures of me again soon!