We've been cloned!

There was great excitement when a parcel arrived from the UK, smelling of other dogs (that’s probably Elliot as he sits on his Mum’s lap while she crochets).

At first we thought it was part of a cunning plan to replace us with lower maintenance pups but then we reckoned that they must be toys for us. Imagine our disappointment when Mum wouldn't let us play with them and chew cuddle them much.

Now we know that Mum wanted Mini Taco and Charlie because they're incredibly cute, like us.
 



Thank you Lynne at Dip-Dip and The Bridge

What do you think of our look-alikes? Pretty handsome huh?

Taco & Charlie

Clone Dogs

Buzz cut!

Our area is crawling with paralysis ticks at this time of year. I’ve already had one this season - luckily Mum caught it early. They are so revolting that she refused to put a picture of a tick on this blog!

What's this buzzing thing?

Mum reckons it's easier to spot the suckers with short hair (like Taco's).

She persuaded Dad to give me a haircut – he’s been practising on his own hair for years, so he's a pro. He's also pretty generous with the treats. 

How come Taco’s getting treats?

It’s a bit shorter than Mum was expecting but at least I still have my mane.

Where did my hair go? 

Everyone says the Mohawk is cool. I feel much cooler anyway.  

Charlie

Spring Cleaning

Mum got spring fever. She did 4 loads of washing, including our beds and blankets. Even the mice got cleaned.

We don’t like the wet, soapy part.

But zooming around the garden helps to dry out the fur. 

After all that we need to roll in something to restore our natural smell.

Cleanliness is next to dogliness. 

Taco

Whales

From the Long Reef headland you can watch humpback whales migrating north. We never sit still long enough to spot them but we did manage to pose next to a whale sculpture (at least we think that’s what it is).

This time with our best friend, Sammy and his pal Bodhi.

Bye for now

Charlie

Me and my shadow

Does this shadow make me look fat?

Charlie

Birds

We live near bushland and there are so many birds around. Some of them are cute and colourful (I’ve been told) like lorikeets who gather in the gum tree for a chatter. But others are opportunistic and try to steal our food.

Bird spying on us

The real villain is this cheeky magpie who is never far away when we’re having breakfast outside.  In fact he’s usually sitting on a nearby fence or roof, waiting to strike.

I'm watching you, Bird

I don’t leave anything to chance and eat my food straightaway. Charlie, on the other hand, likes to play a game of dare with the magpie and will leave his bone outside while he keeps watch through the patio door. As soon as the magpie swoops, Charlie is out there faster than a speeding arrow. Sometimes he isn’t quite fast enough and the bird takes off with Charlie’s breakfast. Either way, there’s always a lot of barking.

Mummy only has to say the word “bird” and we both race outside and cause a commotion.

Is there a word that has special powers for you (apart from “dinner”)?

Bye for now

Taco

Mouse Envy

Squeaker - King of the Wheel

Ok, the novelty is wearing off. Mummy and Daddy have been giving the mice too much attention and for some reason they always shut us out of the room while they play. It isn’t fair.

Tippy - King of the Castle

We made our feelings known by sneaking into their bedroom and emptying the bin – one of us likes shredding tissues and made a big mess….

Somedoggy has been peeing around the house too. We’re not owning up to anything, although it’s true that we both like to mark our territory now and then (it’s just a boy thing). Mummy is blaming the Phantom Piddler – we don’t know who that is.

This is so boring

We’ll show them who’s higher up in the peeing pecking order.

Charlie

Ocean views

Another walk along the coast.



Another great view



Sometimes the waves come up so high that I get scared they will sweep me away.

As soon as I smell the ocean I start howling with excitement. 

Charlie, the Sea Dog

The dog ate what??

For the record, it wasn’t this week’s homework so I’m not really in trouble.

Our big brother made it into a paper aeroplane, which I couldn’t resist chasing.  Since I shredded that one, he’s going to make me another J

Bye for now

Taco

Wordless Wednesday

We're watching the Mouse Channel

The best part of our big brother’s birthday was his present to us. We could not believe our ears and noses when a cage appeared with 2 delicious smelling little mice.

Since the cage was installed in the bathroom, we have been glued to the “Mouse Channel” – it’s better than reality TV as it comes in 4D.

There are noises, smells and the occasional glimpse of a whisker or tail. If we’re lucky, Mummy will lift us up to get a better view. It’s amazing that those tiny guys are not in the least afraid of us. Little do they know that we are skilful hunters of small prey (though we’ve never actually caught a mouse).

We'll be back with the next instalment of Big Brother Mouse...

Taco

Camping

We have just been on a real camping adventure.

This was our second time camping (Mum and Dad have been plenty of times without us) but the first trip doesn’t really count because it rained so much that we left after only 12 hours. Anyway, enough of that, this trip was heaps better, although it did rain a lot too!

We have our own tent – it’s supposed to be a “2-man” tent - "2-dog" more like. There's just room for our portable crate to fit inside with a mat and bowl.

 

Our “2-man” tent





Our “1-dog” crate

 







 



Cosy inside both









Riverwood Downs positively welcomes dogs – there is even a café with a menu for us. It was like a sleepover at the dog park.

With our fellow camp-dog Cody, we watched over the humans and greeted other dogs visiting our camp. We also did a bit of peeing on their tents and car tyres in return.








Cody





 



Hmmm, Cody’s crate is empty – I wonder if anyone would notice…



Ah, perfect for a nap.

The first night was so windy that Mummy kept waking Daddy up, worrying that our tent would be blown away. Eventually our portable crate was brought into the family tent (yay!) but they zipped up the door and we were both crammed inside it. Now, that’s really a “1 – dog” crate but we can both fit inside with a bit of a squash. In any case, we were so scared by the howling wind outside that we didn’t even whine.

Next day the rain arrived. Oh no, not again! Luckily Mummy had packed our raincoats or we would have been even wetter.




 

I’m not coming out until the rain stops





Thank goodness we got some nice warm sunshine after all that.

 



Hooray. Time to get wet again!



We were absolutely pooped after that big weekend and slept all the way home.





We can't wait to go camping again

Taco & Charlie























Wordless Wednesday (well, nearly)



Ahhh… beach



Towel Time

It was muddy at the park today so we had to have a bath. It was long overdue and apparently there has been a slight whiff of dog in the car.

At least we’re small enough to get washed in the bath tub and Mummy always uses warm water. I know we’re lucky cos some dogs get hosed down in the yard – eek!

I don’t like the water bit, but I love towel time, especially when it turns into tug-of-war.

 

Tug-of-war with my big brother



 

Shaking out the "do"

I’m clean and fluffy again, but not for long.

Back soon

Charlie

Surprise!

The Gardener (AKA Mum) has had a struggle with weeds this year. Grass and other unwanted plants have been popping up everywhere because of all the rain, so this little flower was a lovely surprise.



What’s a flower doing here?



Something smells good!

Surprise pansy

We'll be keeping a lookout for other surprises.

Bye for now

Taco

The Reef Team

Sam's cousin Sprocket was visiting from the country, so we hung out at the park and took him on our favourite walk.

We make a great team - posing for our official photo and then getting down to the serious business of sniffing 'n' peeing.

Come back soon Sprocket!

Charlie

My miserable week

I’ve had a bit of a personal problem, which led to excessive licking. Actually, there was something irritating that I was trying to wash off, so I had a pretty good excuse. I had to wear this hideous thing day and night.

It was uncomfortable for sleeping but mostly I just felt sorry for myself. Looking forlorn worked well as I got twice as many treats as usual (so did Charlie, I might add, for doing nothing). I was even allowed to sit on the table and have dinner in bed.

I had Mummy wrapped around my little toe as she knew I couldn’t scratch my own ears J

The first day was interesting while I was getting used to being a “wide-load” and kept bumping into things. Charlie got shoved out of the way a few times – haha! I learned fast and the only thing I couldn’t manage was the dog-flap as it’s exactly the same width as the cone - lucky we have staff to open the doors.

The vet prescribed anti-biotics and anti-inflammatory medicine to make things better. I’m pretty smart when it comes to detecting new substances that have been added to food and treats, even crushed up. I can separate the tasty treat from the rest, eat what I want and then spit out the bits of tablet. Mummy got fed up with this and decided to use a hard-line approach of pushing the tablet to the back of my throat where I had to swallow it. Who knew she could be so brutal? Yuk!

The good news is I’m better and I don’t have to wear an Elizabethan collar anymore. I suppose I looked quite elegant and it was guaranteed to get lots of attention from humans, but I’m glad to be rid of it.



Cone-free Zone



Back soon

Taco

PS Charlie has been itching too. We think it’s caused by a plant called Tradescantia, so Mummy is trying to remove it all from the garden.