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.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR - from The Space Needle in Seattle!!!

Looking ahead to 2011 !!!!

Hope you've all had a GREAT New Year's Eve!

Wishing you all nothing but the best in the year to come!

Looking forward to a HAPPY 2011 !!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBUDDY !!!

A full report will be coming soon, stay tuned!!

ps. STINKY disappeared from pictures after the first photo was taken because he was SuperGLUED to mum. You can see a few of his photos on his bloggie.

D-Guy's X-mas Pressie to US!!

D-Guy's X-mas pressie to me and mum (mum: Jaffa too.) was a weekend trip to Seattle, WA to spend the New Years!

He booked a special hotel for ME!!!! (mum: and Jaffa too!!!!)


They had beds specially for ME!!! (mum: and Jaffa too!)


They had PINK cookies for ME!!! (Mum: it had wheat in it, since you have wheat allergy, they were both Jaffa's.)


There was a brochure that told us where all the off-leash parks were,


On the other side, there were numbers and addresses to all the Sunshade care places, as well as STINKY care places, (mum: Sunshade care places = vet clinic, animal emergency. Jaffa care places = Dog Daycares.)


D-Guy said this was the top 15 hotels in the US, and I TOTALLY believe it!!!


Mum and D-Guy bought lunch from Whole Foods, which was located downstairs from the hotel,


Me and D-Guy's annoyed faces at the trigger happy woman, (We wanted to EAT!!!)


I waited patiently to be fed,


After lunch, I had a drink while D-Guy tended to his Farmville and Restaurant City and Bejewel on Facebook,


We headed out in the hotel's elevator shortly after,


We had picked one of the hotel's recommended parks to go to, and arrived at this place. D-Guy fell asleep for some reason....


We.... WOKE HIM UP!!! (STINKY almost broke my neck and KILLLLED me)


We walked toward the zoo entrance just to have a look,


I was let off the leash, of course,


I could smell all kinds of refreshing smell from behind the fence,


We couldn't find the off-leash area, and mum said she was pretty sure they didnt' mean we could run off leash with the lions and tigers and wolves. D-Guy said we must have gone to the wrong part of the park.

So we circled around to a park next to the zoo,


Mum found me a stickie, and I caught it (well, right after the picture was taken),


D-Guy can be great (like taking us to Seattle), but he can also be SuperANNOYING!

Below is an example of him being SuperANNOYING:

I was happily chewing on the stickie mum threw me. While there were a gazillion other stickies lying around on the grass, D-Guy had to come grab mine,


Why did he want mine you might ask?

Well because, he wanted to give STINKY the other end so we could "play" tug,


Did I say I "play" tug to begin with?

Also, STINKY is far from a worthy opponent as he gives up at the sight of my glare!! (Honestly, I don't even think he really wanted to play tug either, it was just D-Guy who wanted to watch a game of Tug-of-War!)


This was me telling D-Guy what I thought of his action. I was trying to be diplomatic with words I used,


After giving my lecture, I took MY stickie away and laid down somewhere else,


I chewed on it, not aware of the zoo escapee behind me,


After a good chew, I decided to do a nice roll on the frozen field,



It felt GREAT!!


I wanted to enjoy the stickie at the same time, so.....



A little snoozing time (with stickie in my mouf),


After I was renergized, we continued walking,


I found hoooge wings soaring above me, see,


I laid at the bottom of the hooge wings, and a stickie was planted in front of me,


I started chewing on it,


And of course, Mr. Annoying (and I'm not talking about STINKY) just had to come and try to take it from me!


Finally, mum told them to go play on the playground!!


Me, being the protector of MY pack, I walked up a spiral walk way to the top of a little hill, over looking the rest of the playground,


I looked at mum,


But mainly kept my eye on Team Annoying,


After coming down from the sentry post, I saw a little tile with a drawing of a doggie on it. That doggie looked extremely familiar with its colour and shape.....


Then mum called me to come over,


She had found a slide for me and a pine cone!!


I'm ready for the Pine-Cones-Down-The-Slide game mum!! Now let the pine cone GOOO!


GOT IT!!


After a good game of Pine-Cones-Down-The-Slide, I went to check out the rest of the playground.


I climbed the steps,


Thought about going up more, but decided against it,


And of course, STINKY just had to follow whatever it is I'm doing!


At that point, both mum and D-Guy were "frozen" (mum: -2 degrees!!), so we headed back to our wonderful hotel room for the night.

Stay tuned for New Years Eve (Day) report!

ps. you can read STINKY's report on his bloggie if you want.... (I was MADE to put this up)