Petnerships

This weekend was the annual Petnerships weekend. Petnership Project is a two day holistic trade show and lecture series in Vancouver, BC, with speakers, exhibitors, activities and fun for pet owners and their pets.


Overlooking the exhibits,



According to Petnerships website,

"Well-behaved pets are welcome on-leash...under the control of their guardians."

Naturally, that meant only ONE of us could go, and that was ME, The Perfect ME!!

(Well, according to mum, she was scouting out the grounds with me before she decided if STINKY would be able to turn the place upside down by trying to play with every dog in sight.)

Mum actually went on her own first thing in the morning because there was a lecture she wanted to attend. She didn't want me to get bored, so she asked D-Guy to come with me after the lecture was done.

The celebrity arriving in her flashy ride,


In case you were wondering......

This matte white Porsche.....


Is NOT the same as this silver Porsche (from last year's I'm COOL like dat! blog post)

D-Guy is following his trend of changing cars every 2 years. This is his new baby! I get to ride in it because I'M STILL COOL LIKE DAT!!


He also promised mum that he would teach her how to drive a standard in his new baby, just like what he promised mum when he had his old Porsche (mum: and it never happened!!!). Anyways, enough of the drama....

We went to a nearby park to have lunch.


D-Guy was my best friend!


After lunch, I finally got to go into the Petnership Trade show!!


Registering, I saw a Golden handsome,


I started surveying (with my SuperNOSE) for stands deserving of my attention,


I soon found a worthy shop called Big Dog Little Dog Bakery. Mum and Christine, owner of BDLD, have known each other for a long time. So here I was, with my nose in Christine's purse. I knew she wouldn't mind!


Evil-mum said I was B-A-D, and she made me go out of the booth, and told me to lie down as punishment..... Chill woman!!!


After mum chilled out, we continued walking. I met a Welsh Terrier. I went up to see him, to see if it was Atticus - the Welsh that drove STINKY nuts!! This little guy was polite, he didn't jump on me.


Then another Welsh stinky (mum: stinky = puppy), a nice pibble, and a Goldie,



And then LOOK!!!

A bun bun!!

I think you need to get me another pet bunny k mum?

After my visit with the cute bun bun, I saw a puzzle game from a stall that emphasized on the mental stimulation of us doGs. The nice lady put treats in the toes and got me to try it.


It took me 10-15 seconds to get treats out of all 4 toes. She said I broke the world record,


Of course I did, I'm THE SuperDALE!! Lot's of brain ya know?

The nice lady wanted to challenge me more, so she stopped putting treats in the toes, and only in the round spinny thingy.


Here I was trying to figure it out,

This lady was so funny, she didn't ask how old I was until mum said I should take a break. When mum told her I was 11.5 years old, her jaws dropped. She said I didn't act it or look it, and the funniest thing she said was - she's (as in I was) definitely the most persistent senior dog I have ever met!!

What's a senior anyway?

After I've had my breakfast, lunch, and early dinner, I decided that I was going to stay at this booth and wait to get working on my late dinner,


The nice lady said I was welcome to stay and be her demo dog!


Mum told me there were other places I could get my dinner from, so I left the puzzle game stall.

Sure enough, Mrs. Brown's Brownies were just on the next aisle!!


These Brownies are probably my favouritest treats!!


It is hard for me to put into words how much I really love these brownies and liver slivers... I will just have to show you in the story below.

The store that mum goes to buy my raw food is the ONLY store in Vancouver that carries Mrs. Brown's Brownies. The store owner's name is Caroline, she is also mum's friend.

And here is the Brownie story.....

One day, a starving, boootiful little girl with the best muscle butt (but shrinking due to starvation) walked into Caroline's store. She went up to the front desk and asked Caroline politely for a box of Brownies,



The little girl told Caroline that those Brownies made her very happy,



and that she couldn't imagine life without them....



She poured her heart out to Caroline, with such emotion.......

Unfortunately, her thoughts went unheard. The cold hearted Caroline told the little starving gurrrrrl to .......

GO ASK YOUR MUM!!

The little gurrrrrrl couldn't believe what she was hearing. The cruelty and unfairness,



So she decided to take matters into her own jaws,




And she lived happily ever after!

The End

(mum: the pictures from the story above were taken in July 2009, on two different occasions inside Simply Natural raw food store. I have been friends with Caroline even before she had the store. What really happened that day was that Caroline had just received a shipment of the Brownies and they were sitting on a trolly. Sunshade's ritual inside Simply Natural is to go right up to Caroline and demand to have those Brownie treats handed to her, continuously.

On this particular day, Sunshade saw the boxes sitting there on the trolly, so instead of going up to Caroline, she just casually walked up to the trolly, grabbed a box and casually walked away. Of course, the moment I saw what she had done marked the start of the great keep-away game. Caroline thought it was too cute especially the way Sunshade had grabbed the box, it showed the label perfectly. So instead of wanting the box back, Caroline told me to make sure Sunshade continued to hold it while she went to get her camera. The lighting inside the store wasn't great, so she told us to go out on the side walk for her to take pictures. Sunshade got that box for free - it was a STEAL!!)

Continuing with Petnership....

Do you see what I see ahead?


Murphy the Airedale!


AireCanada Rescue had a booth there, represented by Maureen Scott and Margaret Glass (breeder of Rollingstone Airedales). This is Maureen's Murphy, he's 5 years old. Maureen is AireCanada's rescue coordinator for western Canada.


We made a donation on behalf of Squaire Dog Grooming to help future Airedales in need,


Murphy's nick name is Uncle Maniac. I don't really know why, but according to Maureen, he gets quite Maniac like. Well if Murphy is Uncle Maniac, then I must live with THE Maniac God or something....


Before leaving, I stopped to get my dinner dessert. Korna is another store that mum goes to buy my food from. It is located right next to Auntie Janice's clinic, so whenever we go to the clinic, we always go next door to get some foodies and treats!

They recognized the SuperDALE of course!!


They were raising money for animal rescue. By donating $1, you get to fill up the little paper bag with any treat you want. I think D-Guy misunderstood and thought those were treats for him. He was almost happier than me,


D-Guy, you mind sharing some treats??


After my belly was satisfied, we all went home where D-Guy and I relaxed, and mum took STINKY back to the trade show. I guess she wanted some exercise.

SuperDALE under the SuperMOON

Astrologists predicted that on Saturday, March 19th, 2011, the moon will reach a point in its orbit that is closest to the Earth in 18 years. At its peak, the moon will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than usual, thus the term SuperMOON.


Tonight before bed, D-Guy and mum decided to take me and STINKY to a park where there was a clear view of the SuperMOON!!!

The SuperDALE with The SuperMOON, how fitting was that?


Ok, I know the SuperMOON doesn't look too super in the picture (mum: or in real life LOL!!), but it was certainly a lot brighter than usual,


D-Guy started using his eyePhone to draw pictures. He drew a double heart here,


And a heart on top of my boootiful head,


Mum wrote my name, except she took too long so write so the camera didn't catch the last letter...... it was a special setting that took 7 seconds to take a pic,


STINKY didn't want to have his pictures taken with the SuperMOON. I guess he knew he wasn't The SuperDALE! (mum: Jaffa was afraid of the red light on the camera for some reason, and also the light from the iPhone....)

Launching the Squaire Dog Grooming Website

Finally, after 100+ hours, design and re-design and re-re-design, it's DONE!


Please have a look and let us know what you think!! You might also want to go to the Contact Form and type in some random address and click SEND. D-Guy, who is a game designer made something COOOOOOOL!

Oh yeah, and I told mum that part of the proceeds has to go to Airedale Rescue to help my fellow Airedales in need!!!!!

Squaire Dog Grooming

D-Guy's Dream

This was a conversation between mum and D-Guy this morning. I overheard it while I was sleep-ing in-ing on the master bedroom bed.

D-Guy: I had the coolest dream, I was fighting!

mum: In what?

D-Guy: In a WARRRR!

There were these bad guys that came to the village we lived in.

You told me to walk Sunshade to safety while you stayed and fought.

You had put this weird white towel looking, armour thing on her that's supposed to be invincible.

While we were walking up this hill, I saw that the bad guys had come in already.

mum: was Sunshade ok?

D-Guy: yea yea, but I was thinking I needed to get her to safety quickly so I could go back and help you fight.

mum: that's good she was fine.

D-Guy: So we walked through this dried up river, and there were a bunch of dead whales lying around.

They must have been there for quite some time because their meat were falling off the bones and dissolving.

It was very gross to walk through.

mum: did Sunshade eat the rotten whale meat?

D-Guy: No.

D-Guy: oh and it really hurt when you accidentally walk on the bones that were sticking out.

D-Guy: Anyway, at the end of the river, there was a train.

A bad guy......

Wait, no,

A good guy (yea that's right - he mumbled), got off the train.

He had this special power where he could do mind control,

And he made everyone think that the bad guys were coming when they weren't actually.

mum: So he's a "bad" guy.

D-Guy: yea, but he doesn't know he's bad, so he thinks he's good.

mum: I see......

D-Guy: And that's the end of it, you woke me up after that.

mum: where was Jaffa?

D-Guy: hmmm.... I don't recall seeing him.

He was probably with you, fighting the bad guys.

(mum: This is what happens when you love the TV series, The Mentalist. And you decided your girlfriend MUST watch Star Wars because it's a must see for all human being. So you made her watch it before bed, but you fall asleep watching it before she did and she had to hit pause and close the lap top for you.)

Snowy Day

I watched as the snow flakes fell from the sky this morning,


I welcomed the snow flakes with my angelic voice, (why are you giggling mum?)


I was BOOOOOTIFUL on this snowy day in Vancouver,


Mum and D-Guy decided to take me and STINKY to go play in the snow on this snowy day,


I waited patiently while D-Guy shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. You might be wondering why I was wearing two layers of clothing. Well, the bottom layer was my pink jammie to keep me warm. The top layer was my navy blue magnetic coat that makes me less stiff in the mornings.


(mum: now that we are controlling Cushing's disease with medication, it means that the excessive level of cortisol circulating in the body is being lowered. Cortisol is our fight or flight hormone. When under stress, the cortisol spikes to help us cope with the stress. In a healthy body, the level drops back down after the stress passes. In a Cushingnoid body, the cortisol remains at a high level 24/7. Prolonged exposure to high levels of cortisol is detrimental to the body; organs start failing, connective tissues start to break down, and secondary illnesses such as Diabetes start to surface. So lowering the cortisol level is a must, which is what we have managed to do with Sunshade. However, since cortisol is the fight or flight hormone, it does a great job masking pain. Lowering the cortisol level in Sunshade also means that we are lowering the pain masking agent, thus making her arthritis/back pain more obvious.

I find the magnetic coat makes her less stiff, so I usually put it on her if she appears stiff in the morning, or on a walk. You can read more about Magnotherapy here. I was told to not put the coat on for more than 2 hours per day.)

We arrived at UBC Golf Course,


Since you can't really golf in the snow, it was a great place to go play in the snow!


Mum of course, wanted pictures..... We obeyed,


And then I didn't want to obey anymore!!


Then mum said let's get a shot of those MUSCLE BUTTS!! Actually only one MUSCLE BUTT, the other one was skinny butt or stinky butt, whatever you want to call it.

Look at stoopid STINKY, he pointed his skinny butt the WRONG WAY!



Then mum told me to "COME"!


I think she had treats for ME, The Perfect ME!


See, I beat D-Guy there. Guess he wasn't too into the Bison Berry Jerkies,

Mum told me All-Gone, and my face was like this,


I did not dwell, instead, I moved on to the next activity.

READY!

SET!

FLYYYYYYY!!

Again! I'm ready!


The amazing SuperDALE!!


Next activity - nap time in snow,


After I was re-energized, mum and I played a game that we came up with when I was just 6 months old. You know how I love pine cones right?

Well it all started 11 years ago where I would jump (really high) and pick pine cones off trees. (mum: yes it was a HORRIBLE thing to let a growing pup do, but I didn't know better.... and she always looked so happy and proud of herself after getting pine cones down. The higher she had to jump, the more satisfied she seemed.)

Now 11 years later, I still try to do the same, but mum pulls the branches way down for me so I don't have to jump as high. She also doesn't let me do it very often because she says the landing is bad for my elbow.

I got to do it today since the snow provided cushioning for when I land. Watch STINKY stealing all my hard earned pine cones!

After I finished stripping all the pine cones off the tree, I saw D-Guy had made a SuperSNOWBALL for ME,


Of course, STINKY thought it was for him too,


He cheated and left the ground before the gun (mum's voice) went off!


And LOOK!

HE BROKE MY NECK!!!!!


Good thing D-Guy saw how my neck was broken, hence I didn't get the snowball. He made another one for ME,


And I caught it of course!


D-Guy started making a snowman, I helped of course!

(mum: this video shows why you could never succeed making a snowman in the presence of nosy Airedales!!)

After I finished helping D-Guy make the snowman (mum: UNSUCCESSFULLY!), I saw mum collapse.

Both me and STINKY ran over to see if she was ok. I sniffed her face and I knew she was fine. I think she must have been too hot, so she laid in the snow (like I do when I get hot!).


I asked D-Guy to carry mum, but he said his back would break,


I looked around for other muscle men to see if they could carry mum instead, but no one was around.....


I got worried, so I YELLED at D-Guy for him to CARRRRRRRY mum!!!


D-Guy still refused, can you believe it???

The video below shows why I'm mum's PERFECT girl, and why she has no perfect guys in her life! (mum: you are my perfect girl! The guys are perfect in their own guy-ways LOL!)

Lastly, I want to show you a couple of photos of me that you would expect to see in either a Horror movie or an Alien movie.

HORROR....



Alien.....


But of course, I'm really just very BOOTIFUL!


ps. You can read STINKY's version of him annoying me on his blog...... watch the torture I had to put up with.....

Animals at Jericho Beach

We live less than 10 minutes (drive) away from Jericho Beach. It is one of my favouritest places to go for walks. Not only is the beach bootiful and all, it also has all kinds of wild life that I absolutely love!!!

Animal 1: (Video taken on 08-23-10)

This was inside the sailing school where all the sail boats, canoes, and kayaks were parked. I smelled something inside one of the old, rusted storage units that was on the ground and nudged it open with my SuperNOSE (mum: and a fat, black rat ran over the top of my foot. I was wearing flip flops.), and mum SCREAMED (I have no idea why).

Oh, and mum made me trim the video. She said we shouldn't really show the public the rest of the clip.... *BURP*.. excuse me.

Animal 2: (Video taken on 01-28-11)

I have had 3 encounters with this animal, today being the 3rd.

This video is actually very boring, but it shows the animal. It was taken the first time I encountered the animal. Mum had finally caught me after chasing me (chasing after the animal) all the way down the beach, up the field, over the parking lot. She hooked me up onto the leash after she caught me. I guess that was enough exercise for her for that day. (mum: it's amazing how fast an 11 year old can still run when she decides something is worth her energy.)

(mum: We were walking on the beach one morning, and all of a sudden, there was a little grey head that popped up from behind the drift wood pile. The head disappeared almost as fast as it popped up. Sunshade right away started huffing and puffing, tail held straight up, and she started tracking with her nose. She ran towards the drift wood. Nowadays, she doesn't really go out of her way to greet dogs. She would have a sniff or two if she crosses path with one, but that's about it. So there I was thinking to myself - Why does she want to meet that Shiba Inu so bad?

It wasn't until I saw their side profiles running up the field did I realize the Shiba Inu was the same height as my Airedale, and it held its tail low...... Needless to say, I was relieved that Sunshade was the one doing the chasing instead of the other way around. Yes, I finally figured out what it was.... Somehow, I always expected to see yellow Coyotes.)

Our second encounter with this Coyote came just a few days after the first. We were back at Jericho Beach, and I was inside the sailing club looking for rats and bunnies. All of a sudden, through the mesh fencing, I saw IT chasing a big black Lab who was looking very scared & confused. The Lab's owner was trying to shoosh it away, but he wouldn't leave them alone.

So being a SuperDALE, I went to their rescue!! (mum: She saw the Coyote before I did, I had no chance.) I ran all the way down to the exit of the sailing school and then all the way back up the path behind the Lab and the Coyote. The funny thing was that as soon as the Coyote caught a glimpse of me, he changed his course. He went the other way, away from the poor Lab. Based on his reaction, I was pretty certain it was the same Coyote I chased just days ago.

Unless............ ALL Coyotes are scared of the SuperDALE?

Anyway, when he went the other way, towards some tall grass, I followed him. I could vaguely hear mum yelling, but this was SERIOUS business you know? (mum: as in she ignored me) He entered behind some heavy bushes trying to get away from me, but I was in heavy pursuit..... until I sorta got stuck inside those tall, heavy bushes, and came out the way I went in..... Except mum didn't know, she was waiting at the other end where the Coyote had come out already. (mum: By this time, I really wasn't too worried about this Coyote after seeing the way he'd responded to Sunshade.)

When I caught up to mum, she was talking to a man with a heavy fresh-off-the-boat accent. Apparently, he saw the Coyote come out from behind the bushes, and then saw mum running towards those heavy bushes. In an attempt to help, he pointed at the Coyote and told mum - YOUR DOG!

Mum *almost* laughed, but she didn't. She pointed at me (I had caught up to mum and was continuing my chase) and told the funny man - This is my dog, that's a coyote!!

The man had a very puzzled look and said - NOT YOUR DOG?? (mum: I don't think he knew what a coyote was. Afterall, we don't have Coyotes in Asia!!!)

Our third encounter was today, when I saw him casually strolling down the beach. MY beach!

I again, made a B-line for him before mum had realized what was happening. I chased him away from the beach, down the field and OUT of MY park for the first time!!! No, I didn't go out of the park myself. I stood in MY park and glared at him to make sure he was OUT and stayed OUT! He kept stopping and looking back at me, but would always decide to keep moving AWAY from MY park. Smart, I'll give him that.

(mum: Sunshade has always been very protective and intuitive. I'm sure somehow she knew the Coyote was up to no good the first time she caught a sight of him. From her body language, I could tell that she was in her protective mode. She was not chasing him because she wanted to meet him, she was chasing him because she wanted him AWAY. Maybe the Coyote could tell and that's why he would chase a Lab that is much bigger than Sunshade, but would run at the sight of her approaching. Or maybe she's just that big of a B*TCH!)

Animal 3: (Video taken today, AFTER chasing the Coyote out of the park)

Being the protective SuperDALE that I am, I went and warned those bunnies about the Coyote. Told them maybe they shouldn't eat out in the open, and made sure they went home.

Isn't Jericho Beach just the most wonderfulest place???

Note to Jaspa: Can you leave us your e-mail in the comment section, we won't publish it ;-)

4 years later........

And I still can't find him a home.....

Here are the reasons:

He steals MY toys!

He ANNOYS me and he steals MY bone bone! (There is a left over bone bone on MY yellow towel)

Chances of him getting a home is looking very grim now.... I mean, it has been 4 lonnnnnnnnng years already. Maybe I ought to start contacting circuses and zoos.

(mum: Sunshade girrrl, there will be a line up for Jaffa the moment I put him on the market as being available. Afterall, he is definitely one of a kind. However, that is NEVER going to happen, so you can just keep doing whatever it is you do with him!)

You can see another version of him TORTURING me on his annoying blog, and anypup that knows of a good circus or zoo that may like to take in a wild beast, please contact me.

ps. Jaspa handsome, could you e-mail us and we'll let you know how to find us on FB!!

My SuperUPDATE!!!

Hello friends, it's been a while.... I know.... We've been busy working on the Squaire Dog Website as well as other regular work stuff. According to mum, my special care is very time consuming as well. (mum: I am honoured to have this once in a life time opportunity to be able to take care of such an amazing girrrrrl. I would do it all over again, and for the rest of my life if I could!)

So I know I still owe you many posts from my trips and adventures, but I just wanted to give you a short update to let you know that I'm doing GOOOOOD (see video proof below)!!!

Part of my special care is that mum takes me somewhere fun EVERYDAY, and everyday is a different place. Today was Stanley Park!

(umm.... you will notice that I am three quarters groomed in the video.... so I still have cowboy boots on one of my hind legs...) (mum: Don't really want her to have to stand for too long, so I scissor one leg a day. Her coat was also very matted because she had been swimming 3 times a week. It takes quite some time to de-matt them. Sorry, video iPhone quality.)

After Stanley Park, I got to go see my Auntie Janice and Auntie Jen for them to take some blood from me to run a Cushing's test panel. What a great day it was, I got to go to a fun place, AND to go see my Aunties where they stuffed me with yummy healthy TRRRRRRRREATS!!

(mum: First of all, I would like to thank our friends for the outpouring of prayers and good thoughts sent via comments, e-mails, msn, Facebook & sms. Sunshade is doing well. She had a couple of none cancer related health concerns after the New Years, but seems to have stabilized. Her Cushing's Disease is well under way to being controlled. As a result, she is feeling more energetic, more engaged in life outside of eating. She bears the 6 inch scar from her Soft Tissue Sarcoma surgery site, but that's about the extend the "cancer" is affecting her. I have done quite a bit of research, and have Sunshade on an intense anti-cancer, immunomodulatory diet & supplementation regiment. I will post about what we are doing when Sunshade gets to eat her 12th B-Day cake in November 2011, as it will mark the first anniversary since diagnose.

Lastly, if I may ask...... please continue to keep Sunshade in your thoughts. Thank you.)