Another good day

Well I am feeling a bit better. Lots of my girlfriends are in the Army of Four and they have all promised to look after me.

Not a single one has accused me of being DWB's BWD (Big Wimp Dog). So I don't feel so bad about it. Just as well to have lots of girlfriends I say and they can all support you.

And many of my dogblogpals have come up with sensible suggestions for my mission - like being in charge of toast, or possibly cats. Although not having a mission at all but just sort of being around sounded a good idea too.

So I decided to take master out for a walk. I am looking quite jaunty aren't I? I don't know what I was looking at there though. It can't have been a girlfriend because I don't have any here.



Here I am showing my sensitive side, sniffing the flowers. Well, the plant. I think something must have done a peepee there because there is no flower to smell. Whatever it was must have had high legs though. Not something I could manage, even on an active day. I think a cat might have walked along the wall and stopped at this plant. Yes that will be it, Sherlock Pippa today.



Wait, what is going on here? Boats?



This is NOT a boatblog mistress. It does not say Pippaboatblog at the top. It says Pippadogblog.



Take the boats away. Just because we were walking around the marina is no excuse for arty shots of boats. Put them on your own blog. Huh.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes looking rather elegant here, don't you think? It's important to have just the right stance, with one foot carefully poised in front of the other. Best paw forward and all that. Don't want the girlfriends to think I spend all day on the sofa.



And what was I laughing at? Of course, it would have been mistress I suspect. She is always doing something silly.

Edited to add: I was so busy laughing at mistress that I forgot to post about today's girlfriend. It has to be Ethel who I am dreaming of today. I will ensure you are never a war widow (apart from anything else I'm not planning on marrying you or any other dog but that is beside the point), as I intend to look after myself and keep away from action zones. And of course you were my very first girlfriend, the one with the beautiful black coat, the sharp pointy teeth, the athletic high kicks. Droooooool. I mean sigh. Drooling is a little undignified. Even for you. Or over you.

The draft

Here I am - back with a head again, although not much else. Seems mistress can only do one thing or the other, either a head and no body, or a headless body. Ah well.

Now everydog, escucha, listen carefully, because I am going to tell you something in confidence. I have been very silly. Not naughty or anything, but I have made a big mistake.

I have been drafted. I have joined the Army of Four. But I did not mean to do this. And of course, one of the reasons I have made this silly mistake is because there is a rather beautiful redhead over there called Amber.

Anyway what happened was that I had started visiting AoF (having seen the beautiful Amber), and they offered to update their list for any pups that weren't included. Well, I thought they meant the list on the sidebar of all their dogpals, so I wrote and said I would like to join the list.

But that wasn't what they meant at all. They were updating their list of pups recruited into the army. THE ARMY. And the next thing I knew, they had sent me their logo telling me I had been accepted and I could display the Army of Four sign on my blog. All the other pups are now getting MISSIONS that they have to complete.

Woe is me. I am a peaceable Pippadog who likes to do no more than eat toast for breakfast (along with everything else of course), bound on and off my sofa, sleep all day, and go on cat hunts with master.

So my dilemma is what do I do? Let them know it was all a mistake and ask if I can resign? But then I might be dishonourably discharged and Amber and all my other millions of girlfriends would not love me.

Should I desert? But if I do that and run away - I won't be able to keep up to my blog in case they come after me.

No, I think the best plan is to lay low, and hope they have forgotten about me and then I won't get an impossible mission.

Oh dear. Sometimes these girlfriends do cause me a few problems. Anyway, today I shall dream about Amber - if it hadn't been for her I wouldn't have signed up in the first place.

Paws crossed for me please every dog.

Pippa the Headless Wonder

Well I must say I'm not very keen on that title mistress. Huh.

Anyway I decided to bound off my sofa and lie on the floor for a bit.

And where better to lie than blocking the doorway to the bedroom, with my back feet behind the sofa and my head under the sideboard.

Sadly the sideboard is not high enough off the ground or big enough for me to get right under but at least my head fits under nicely.

And no-one can see me can they? Well, I don't think they can because I can't see them. Perhaps I haven't got that one quite right.

I like to put my head in a safe place.

Here is another pic of me with my head carefully behind the cooker in my Spanish house.



By the way everydog I have discovered a new tasty. It is called yummies, or yummus or something. It is made out of chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, garlic, and lemon and goes on toast. Mistress and I had some today after our grapefruit and it was scrummy or yummus even.

My poll is closed. I can officially now talk about a girlfriend on every post. Who are those horrid dogs who said I had too many girlfriends? There are four of you. Bad dogs - but perhaps it was your naughty humans who snuck to the keyboard and voted in such an unkind fashion.

But 15 of you said I could talk about my girlfriends (and it wasn't all my girlfriends because I have more than 15) and one of you said I shouldn't. Don't care. I am going to talk about them anyway.

So for today's post I am thinking about my very favourite Dachsie girlfriends, Lorenza in Mexico and Roxie in USA.

I shall have very sweet dreams of you both with your lovely shiny coats and sweet faces.

GeoCatzing

Mistress has been very bad. Not just normally naughty but bad.

She has left my blog for a whole week. I expect my posts to be done every couple of days, three at the most. Some of my dogcolleagues get more than one post a day.

Why has she been bad? Because she has decided she wants to learn about GeoCatzing. Apparently this means going hunting for hidden cats with a GPS - a Gato Positioning System. (note to non-Spanish barkers - gato is cat in Spanish).

Does she have a GPS? No. But she went looking anyway. She printed out a map and instructions and then went on a walk. Did she find a gato? No, she caught the tail end of one shooting up a wall. Did she find anything else? No. Although apparently she spent a lot of time kicking about some undergrowth - as if gatos hide there. Well sometimes they do.



But the reason I am really annoyed is that she did not take me. It is obvious if you are going GeoCatzing you need a different type of GPS. A Gato Pippa Sensor. I could sniff out those gatos far better than a geeky gadget, so if she takes up this silly game, she doesn't need a computerised thing with maps and signals, she needs me.

My poll and my girlfriends
Now, my poll is nearly over and it looks as though the majority vote is for me to write about a girlfriend on every post. So I am going to cheat and write about one today.

Two actually, as they in the same pack, and it is doubly nice to dream about two at once. Today I am dreaming about Bama and Mikki from the River Hill Pack. Partly because I keep getting them confused. I don't know why. I think it is because mistress makes me go visiting the blogs when I am half asleep and then I forget what I am writing.

Perhaps they would like to come GeoCatzing with me as Mikki catches rats, and Bama is willing to learn.

And as you are still young Bama, perhaps it will make your mom feel better if I visit you when I take a cruise liner to visit Penny. Although, if you did come here, I am always under supervision, I mean someone is always with me to alleviate my boredom, and don't forget - you will need a passport. I would meet you at the airport, or the frontier, or the cruise terminal whichever way you came.

Breakfasts
Nearly forgot to say we have had a great week for the breakfasts. Misery must have been hungry as we have had rashers and organic mushrooms, sometimes potatoes as well, and naturally lots of scrummy buttered toast. Of course the sharing is not as I would wish, but it is better than nothing.

And today for my very own breakfast, as well as my biscuits I got yummy veg korma, sag aloo and veg biryani. My very faves. Wow. But she still didn't take me GeoCatzing so I haven't finished sulking at her yet.

My interviews

Penny sweetheart, I don't know how I missed your questions for me.

Mistress is in charge of my blog so perhaps master must have clicked on my new emails. And she never saw it. She should have checked though. Just another example of how rubbish she is.

I am so sorry.

ferndoggle said...
Lola was going to interview you, Pippa, but I told her NO WAY. *I'm* gonna ask the questions!

Here you go:
1. You say one of your favorite foods are peas. Peas??? How do you like them prepared?


I like my peas lots of ways. I like to catch them when they roll on the floor. This is ace fun. Mistress pods them out of the shell and the ones that don't go in the bowl I chase after.

When we are in Spain, she normally cooks (lots of) them, like a kilo or so, with onions, garlic, lots of olive oil natch, a drop of water so they steam naturally. Sometimes she adds other things, like carrots, or lettuce, or fresh onions, not sure what you call those in America. The green ones anyway.

I like them in paella too. Muy yummy. With a few habas (broad beans), alcachofas, azafran, and toms. Not that there is usually very much left for me. :(

And I like them curried. I think I developed a taste for curried food from Princey. He liked curry very much. I think that was because he was on the streets of the north east in the UK, and left over curry was probably all he managed to find to eat. And of course, both curry and paella have lots of tasty rice with them.

2. If you could go visit one of your DWB friends, who would it be?


That is a wicked question Penny. I knew you would be one of those troublesome intelligent girlfriends like Sophie La Flirtador or ETHEL RULZ.

As you are asking the question, I have to say I would like to come and see you, and Lola and Sherman. Three pals for the price of one. And those hot humid nights in da Burgh sound really cool. No, not cool, but something I am used to.

Plus, Misery Mistress grew up with boxers and she tells me you are a particularly beautiful looking example. The ones I have seen are not beautiful. And I would like to meet naughty Lola (so long as she wasn't too naughty and young doggish) and wise handsome Sherman. Of course Sherman is part Shepherd like my best pal Princey was, so I think it would be ace to meet such a clever and thoughtful dog.

3. Describe your perfect day.

First off, the cat hunt. Preferably about 5.30am when they are still hanging around, but sometimes master is a bit slow and it is around 6ish when we get outside.

Then toast with master. If he is slow to make it, I bound around a bit and make a few whiney noises. Haroo, roo. You know the sort of thing.

If I am lucky mistress gives me my personal breakfast fairly early. My biscuits and whatever tasties there are to go with it. I like the variety because I don't want the same boring old rubbish every day.

Then mistress and I eat her breakfast. It is good to start with grapefruit and/or raspberries, preferably both. Then we have rashers and a combination of tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms and toast or bread. (I prefer crunchy toast).

After my three breakfasts I normally have a nap and dream about cat hunting. I mean my girlfriends. I quite like mistress to come and stroke me and say nice things to me. After all, that is what she is there for. It would be even better if she opened the door to let me go hunting cats on my own, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

Master comes home at lunchtime to take me out, and we go out in the evening as well. Sometimes we stop and talk to people and master tells everyone not to be frightened of me, and that although I am big I am nice. So then they stroke me and say nice things. I like that.

When we are in Spain it is much the same, although I spend a lot of time at my gate (looking for cats).

To be honest Penny, all my days are perfect compared with being on the street, which is why I have described more or less what happens every day. It would be quite nice to have a girlfriend to play with though. That would be the icing on the cake. I am not too ambitious although it would be great if I could chase more cats.


4. I don't know who has more girlfriends, you or Boo Casanova. Are you threatened by Boo? Do you share any girlfriends?

Of course I am not threatened. I am not some silly macho dog. I would like to think I am thoughtful and respect all my girlfriends, and equally other dogpals who also have lots of girlfriends. I don't know how many girlfriends Boo has, or if we share any girlfriends, but I don't think it is important. After all, you and BFFF Ethel don't have a problem sharing me. :)


5. I think you look a lot like Lava...do you think he might be your Dad?

Penny, you are a minx. I'm not sure I want to answer this. But the truth is he was a puppy in 2004 and I found master and mistress in 2003 when I was already bigger than a puppy. Perhaps I could be his daddy? I don't wish to sound like an old dog though and lose any of my beautiful girlfriends, however I think it is important to be honest.


Thanks for letting me interview you! ::Smoooooooch!::Penny

Love you lots Penny. That was a very difficult interview. Thank you for the very thoughtful questions. I always knew you were intelligent as well as beautiful.

guinness & shiloh's family said...

Darling Pippa, thank you for reminding me of my forgetfulness. Of course I want to interview YOU, my handsome boyfurrriend!

Now, let me see, hmmmmm

1. Darling Handsome Pippa, we have heard how you master & mistress found you and took you in, but how did you get your very interesting name?

Guinness, this one is just so embarrassing. Master and mistress could not decided what to call me. Because I am Spanish they thought about a Spanish name. But José or Pepe or Antonio just didn't really suit. Besides, the Spaniards that do give their dogs a name (apart from Perro = Dog) usually choose English names, like Jack and Lassie.

So then they thought along different lines. After all they had no idea what I was called before. Neither do I. Their other dogs at the time were called Paddy and Prince. So mistress thought about something beginning with P. Then she remembered the little polar bear she had seen in London when she was young.

He was tiny and white and furry and very cute. He was called Pippaluk (or Pipaluk) and his name meant "the little one" in Inuit. So mistress thought it was a good idea to call me that.

I wasn't little, although I suppose I must have been at some time, and I wasn't totally white (although I was more white than any other dog they have had), and she thought I was cute and furry and it was a unique name. She has a strange sense of humour. But then I ended up with it being shortened to Pippa and now everyone thinks I am a girl dog. Well, apart from my girlfriends hopefully.

One day she will find her souvenir book and scan in some pix of him. She has done a little search, apparently he died aged 22 in Poland. He had been moved from London when they closed the Mappin Terraces for bears. Mistress does not think moving bears around who should not be in captivity in the first place sounds very good so she does not want me to write any more about this. Or she will get on her soap box. This is not advisable.


2. How did you become boyfurrriend to so very many grrrls?


This is a nice question. I soooo love my girlfriends.

I didn't set out to get lots of girlfriends. As you know, I respect every female dog in her own right, and each one of you has your own life. I really don't know why I have ended up with so many girlfriends. But I am a nice calm friendly dog and I think my placid temperament might have led me into this. It is so difficult to say no to a beautiful dog. And I can't resist the combination of beauty and brains. I hope it is because I am not jealous, and I am a thoughtful dog who realises we all have our own lives, so my girlfriends all feel comfortable with me.


3. If you could, how would you come across the big ocean to be with me and snuggle noses?

Oh, wow. Ojalá. I think it would have to be on a cruise liner. After all, there are lots of them docking in Gib (or Málaga for when I am in Spain) every day. A cruise liner would mean that I could snooze lots, eat lots, and chase the ship's cats. I might bring Misery along to parade me around the deck, and generally cat(!)er to my every whim.

I realise it would take a long time, but I would enjoy thinking about rubbing noses and deciding what to bark at you when we met. I think I would be suitably chilled, although a bit nervous.


4. If you had to choose, would you rather have all of the grrrlfriends that you want, or all of the toast that you want?

That is a very naughty question. I think between the hours of 5.30 and 8.30am the honest answer is toast. But the rest of the day is for girlfriends.



5. Is there such a thing as a toasty grrlfriend?

Of course. One who is crisp, sharp, tasty, around early in the morning, desirable, - and I just can't wait for more. Is that the answer you expected Guinness?

Thank you very much for your interview. It was very clever, but GSDs are very clever. I am not sure my answers were clever but they were honest. Thank you for your time. Pippa xxxxxxxxxxx

And mistress couldn't get the layout right sorry about that.



Oops I've forgotten the rules. I can interview anyone who wants if they tell me and all the rest of it. I can post the rules later. We don't do rules well on this blog.

Pippa

That doggy in the window

Ruff Ruff.

When mistress goes shopping to the Moroccan man up the back from my kennelflat she never takes me.



I think that is a shame as I would like to go shopping, she brings back tasty olives and Moroccan bread and all sorts of other yummies.

And when she walks up Town Range to the shop, she often sees this doggy in the window. I think we could be friends.



Mistress usually says "Hola perro'" or "Hola chico". Sometimes she adds "Eres muy guapo". He is a Gibraltarian dog so mistress speaks to him in llanito/español. He has barked back at her a few times, but she isn't sure whether he is really barking at her because he recognises her now, or whether he is barking at other people walking past.

I think she should take me so I could go and bark at him, or rub pink noses or something. I am sure there would be nice cats up the back street too.



Poll results

Thank you very much to every dog who voted in my poll "Does Lava look like me?"

Nearly half of you said "sort of" with ten votes. Then six said "I have a longer pointy nose (and it's pink)", hmmmmm. And four said yes, and two said no. I think I will go with the ones who said "sort of" as it is a nice sitting-on-the-fence result.

Girlfriends

I wanted to add something about girlfriends but Misery Mistress has put her foot down saying I mentioned something in the last post, and I am just not allowed to talk about them in every post. Pooh. I don't see why not, there are so many of them I need to talk about them in every post or I wouldn't get round to mentioning them all would I?

Perhaps I should choose a girlfriend for each post. At the bottom of every post I could write which special girlfriend I am dreaming about. And that means I could talk about at least one girlfriend each post. Or would the others get jealous? What do you think? That can be my new poll. Fix my poll mistress.

Edited to add: mistress is improving - she has made it a multiple choice poll, so you also get the chance to say I have too many girlfriends. Actually that is not such a good idea. Why did mistress add that? Please don't tick that box.

Shopping and photos

As everydog knows, mistress's main role in life is compañera to Pippadog.

She has to keep me entertained, feed me (the two are pretty similar actually), and generally make sure that I have a comfortable day in my kennelflat.

However, once a day I let her escape to buy some goodies for our breakfast. Naturally when she brings them back I check them out.



But this is not an opportunity for a Pippashoot, mistress. I am off to my sofa.



Pippashoots are only when I am lying down looking handsome and dreaming of my girlfriends. And I don't like those long shots that make me look as though I have a fat back end. I haven't.



And while we're on the subject - girlfriends, I mean - I think I should add Cheyenne and Ume to the list as they have asked me more than once so it is obviously not a passing fancy. Or I am not a passing fancy.



If you haven't voted in the Lava poll, hurry up as there is only one day left. So far most of you say he looks sort of like me, but quite a few of you have said I have a longer pointy (pinky) nose. The Lava story is two posts ago - last Friday - if you haven't read it.

Update - mistress, girlfriends, I love your blog

Misery mistress

Well everydog. In spite of me informing you all of mistress's many misdemeanours and stingy dishing-out of breakfasts, it seems you think I should keep her by 25 - 2.

And as you've all taken the time and trouble to vote on my poll and comment, I am going to follow your advice. You can tell I don't have a promising career as a politician - ask people what they think and then ignore them.

I got some great tips from you all so thanks for that. Balboa suggested I buy a clicker and start with the simple commands. I think that may be a good idea but I shall have to get master to buy it for me. Mistress is not so stupid as to buy one for me to use on her.

Also Freda suggested that I could have put a maybes in that poll, so you will see I have put more choices in the current poll. If you haven't voted yet, please have a look at the story below and tell me if you think I look like Lava. Poll closes in five days time.

Girlfriends

Now, I have got myself into a mess with the girlfriends. This is a nuisance because mistress warned me that I was acquiring too many.

However, I have to make a public apology to Bama, Queen of the River Hill Pack (also known as Bamonster) and her sister Mikki.

When I was so sad about beautiful Misty going to her forever home and leaving The Stoutino Inn and Foster Kennel, Bama and Mikki offered to be my girlfriends too. And I missed them off the list. I am so sorry girls. Please say you will still be my girlfriends. It was so kind of you to be thoughtful when I was going through a difficult time.

Mistress tells me I also forgot to mention Abby and Holly who offered to join the list when they first started blogging. They are British though, so I guess that's why they haven't made a fuss.

Over at Bella's blog, where Bella and Kuki are my girlfriends, Honey - who is the newest member of their pack - has also asked if she can be my girlfriend. Well I can't really say no can I? Actually I don't want to say no, but mistress is tutting a bit in the background and saying I will just get more problems if I keep saying yes all the time. I don't care. Of course Honey, I would be very pleased if you were my girlfriend. So there mistress.

As you know Sophie La Flirtador has caused me some grief with her provocative flirtatious behaviour. Now she tells me I'm a Flirtador. I don't think I am. I love all my girlfriends (when I can remember them), and I don't deceive anybody. Everyone knows I have lots of girlfriends, but lots of them have other boyfriends too - as they are quite entitled to do. Now if I was going steady like Freda and Charlie that would be different. I think I am a modern dog - equal rights for all genders, I mean both genders.

And Sophs left me with a question. Is a she a tease or a strong independent woman dog? Easy that one. A strong independent woman dog who likes to tease. But because I respect you for the first bit I will tolerate the teasing. You are so pretty too. Especially in the water.

Bama and Mikki were right though. I will get mistress to make a list of my girlfriends. Perhaps I will put it on the sidebar. Then I can't forget.

I love your blog award

What with all this girlfriend stuff I almost forgot that pretty Momo in Canada gave me the I love your blog award. I can't really afford to upset any more female dogs. Thank you Momo. Beautiful Randi gave me this a while back, but I don't care how many times I get it.

Perhaps if I have two of them that means I am twice as loveable?