Hey, look!

Look! I see water...


...NOM!!!


Are we gonna chase it some more now?

Tired Philip is tired

Beach Mutt

I took Philip to the beach last night so that he could play with some four-legged friends. One of his favorite activities is getting wet and immediately rolling in the sand. He gets so dirty, it's hilarious - he really should have been born a little piggy!

The downside of owning a Corgi

In this house, Corgi hair substitutes furniture decorations, clothing accessories, and food condiments... among other things :)

Philip presents a typical "pile-o-fur" following a 15-20 min Furminating session

All hail to the Chicken King

Chicken King is all serious business...


... scratch that, he's actually just a big chicken fool

Happy St. Patrick's Day

"Kiss me, I'm Irish!"

We got an award!

Last week we got this cool award from Sadie:


We'd like to thank Sadie and Laurie for sharing this awesome award with us - Philip is very honored, though sad that he cannot eat it :P

The award came with a couple of rules:
- thank the person (or pups!) who gave you the award
- share 7 things about yourself
- link to 15 recently discovered blogs
- contact them to tell them about the award

So thanks again Sadie and Laurie, here are some tidbits about Philip:
* He loves to eat (what Corgi doesn't?)
* He is an Agility addict competing in AKC and USDAA
* He got his CGC a little over a week ago!
* He likes to take random plunges in the water
* He sometimes jumps on people, and funny enough does it just right that he tends to hit guys in the groin with his short paws :)
* His tongue and ears flop when he runs
* He is my best little buddy, and I couldn't have asked for a better dog!

Yay! Now the hard part - I don't actually follow that many blogs, so I don't think I could link to 15 :\ So instead I'll just share all the blogs that I do follow with you:
Bailey and Cali
Corgi Tails
Dexter Diary
Honey Rock Dawn
Me & My Torch
Sadie the Rescued Corgi
Stella the Fluff
The Daily Coyote
The Ein and Brian Chronicles
Wootube

Go check them out, say hi, I'm sure they'd love your company :)

Birthday Celebrations

I'm a little late catching up on my boy's Birthday festivities, but better late than never, right?

To start off the day, Philip got some tasty duck treats, and a cute little platypus toy:


I had to go to work, so he spent a good day sleeping around as usual, waiting for me to return. After work, I picked him up, and we drove to the Three Dog Bakery, where I bought Philip this awesome cake:


It even came with a candle :)


Philip though it was absolutely delicious!


Actually, the cake was so big, that he still has a couple pieces left. While I'm sure he would have gladly eaten the whole thing at once, I don't want to risk tummy aches. So he's getting it by pieces every day - it's like a week-long birthday!

Last, but not least, he got a huge Bully Stick to nom on as well. You'd be surprised how quickly it disappeared...


Happy 3rd Birthday Philip!

Big Day Coming Up

Philip's 3rd Birthday is coming up in just a couple of days! This one is a little extra special since he is born on March 3rd (i.e. 3/3) and is turning 3 years old. It shall be a very 3-ish day :D

I'm still thinking what we are going to do for his Birthday, does anyone have any suggestions? It'll be on Thursday, so I'll be out at work for a good part of the day, and it'll be almost getting dark when I get home, but I'm hoping to take him on a nice walk. Of course, he'll also get presents and a small cake as usual, and this weekend we are going to a big doggie event where we'll run Agility and play other fun games. What else can I do to make his day extra special?

Hahaha!

Calendar Picture

A bit of a short notice, but I'm trying to pick a picture to enter into the MyCorgi.com calendar contest. We are only allowed one entry, and while I think I'm going to enter a 4th of July themed shot, I'm having a hard time deciding between these two... They were taken at the same time and place, but I really like things about both of them. So what do you think, which one should I enter?

Philip and his Mini Me

Philip got this toy for his Birthday back in March and I've had this video up on YouTube for a while, but it looks like I totally forgot to share it here. Better late than never though, right? Enjoy the silliness :)

Your chance at Paws It Forward

If you've been on the lookout for a Paws It Forward opportunity, here's your chance! Bailey has received her package from Philip yesterday and they'll be needing two participants, so hurry on up and post a comment for them :)

In a few days you should have another opportunity with our other recipient, I'll post another quick note when they get around to their package.

Talented Pooches

This video has already gone fairly viral, but in case you haven't seen it yet, check out Ok Go's latest music video featuring some very talented dogs:



Also, here you can find a bit about the process from the trainers that provided the dogs.

Paws It Forward

Today was an exciting day in Philip's life. I signed him up for Paws It Forward over at Sadie the Corgi's blog, and so I came home yesterday to find our package at the doorstep. Unfortunately, I was busy most of the evening and my camera's battery was dead, so we had to wait until today to open the box. We got right to it as soon as I got back from work though, and I've got pictures to prove it :)

Philip couldn't wait - "What is this mom?"


"Is there something inside? I just know there is!"


He thought the box itself was an awesome delicious toy actually


"Almost... got... it..."


First present sees the light of day


"Oh boy, food, FOOD!"


Things got a bit too exciting at this point, but here's the whole set while Philip munches a toy


Philip found this toy to be great for some soccer:


Plus, everything is great for fetching ;)




All in all, Philip couldn't be happier, he's sampled the treats, played with the toys, and now resting while I type this up. Thank you Sadie and Laurie for such an awesome little package!!!

And of course, I did promise you guys a chance for gifts, right? So here it is! The first two people to respond with their email will get a package from Philip and I, so that we can all continue spreading the joy. We do ask that you have a blog to post all about it, and of course that you have a doggie to share the goodies with ;) Once you get your package, make sure to pick two more recipients as well!

Bark bark bark

Sorry for the lack of updates here, I've been busy and not creative enough to write much, but we are still around :)

Philip has been a difficult teenager rebel lately, and has been pressing all boundaries imaginable. His latest thing is barking, and testing how much of it is allowed. In general, I have very little tolerance for mindless barking and have enforced that since the first day Philip came to live with me. He knows full well that barking is largely unacceptable except for legit cases, for example when someone is at the door. Of course, he still wants to vocalize a lot more than just that (Corgis are notorious to be vocal really), so as compromise he does little muffled woofs when he wants to voice his opinion at something outside. I realize that I can't make him totally quiet, so to be fair I allow little woofs so long as they are quiet enough and don't last too long.

So Philip's latest thing has been to really test my limit on the woof-allowance. When he gets into the alert mode, he'll run up to the window and let out a small woof. He will then immediately look at me to check my reaction. If I'm not looking back at him (but I can see him looking out of the corner of my eye), he's immediately turn back and let out another, slightly louder woof, then look at me again. He'll continue this until I start looking back at him. If I'm looking back, he'll sit and analyze it for a moment - am I just looking, or am I about to tell him to stop it? After a slight pause, if my reaction has unchanged, he'll again raise up the woofing a bit and look back at me. This continues until I finally react with some sort of command to put a stop to it. Usually it's just a calm "That's enough, no bark". It works for a while, but soon enough he's back at it, starting slightly softer again. He can continue this game the whole evening if I let him.

He keeps raising his pitch until I finally say something, then goes back down in volume and the cycle repeats. With each repeated cycle, I get more irritated and use harsher voice for commands, or make him lay down away from the window. He knows it irritates me, he must know it, but he keeps testing the waters and keeps pushing the buttons. Sometimes I just want to strangle him! But of course I would never hurt him, so I'll just keep persisting, and hope that one day he'll stop pushing the issue. Sigh...

So that's a little peek into out latest shenanigans. Oh yeah, be on the lookout for a post soon enough that'll give you a chance to participate in some fun gift-giving activities :D That's all I'm saying for now ;)

P.S.: If you want to read up more about Philip, make sure to follow our Agility blog. I do keep that one much more updated, though the content is fairly limited to Agility info.

Watch Where You're Going!

We had a little scare yesterday! Not to worry though, all is well.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but Philip absolutely loves to fetch balls. As soon as he spots a ball on the ground, his eyes light up, he prances to it, grabs it, and drops it at my feet, nudging me and hinting at the fact that I really need to throw it.

Once I have the ball, he is ready to run! He usually takes off way before I throw it - any slight motion of my arm sends him full speed ahead in the anticipation of the throw. It's pretty funny to fake a throw and watch him run out, realize I'm not actually letting go of the ball, and come back to give me a very dirty look.

I think these kinds of games caused Philip's latest behavior - as he is running ahead, he looks back at me for the first several steps, probably to ensure that my arm is continuing the motion that should turn into an eventual throw. Of course, this means he isn't looking where he's going!

So yesterday we had a little mishap because of this, and Philip earned himself his first play-injury:


See those dark spots underneath his eye? That's where he has a scrape and is missing some fur. Now for the story of how it happened...

We were playing fetch in a friend's yard, and as Philip took off in anticipation of a throw, he ran straight into a wooden pole. Of course, he was looking back at me, so he ran into it with the side of his face, and at full speed. The sound that came from the collision made me cringe and hiss as if I was the one that hit the pole (as a matter of fact, my friend was sure it was me and asked if I was ok!). Philip didn't even stop to think about what just happened, he simply stepped to the side and continued running ahead, waiting for the ball.

Now, we all know that dogs can take a lot more of such injuries than we humans do, so seeing as he didn't even make a peep, I figured he was just fine. After all, this isn't the first time he ran into something. I did take a quick look around him, but didn't see anything. I noticed the missing fur underneath his eye only when we got home an hour later. I checked all around his face, and in his eye to make sure there were no other damages and all looked good. As a precautionary, I put a little eye ointment in both of his eyes and decided to wait till morning. Thankfully, all is still well!

My guess is that he instinctively closed his eye lid as he hit the pole. I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened if he didn't! I'm still watching him very closely, ready to go to a vet if any swelling occurs, and checking his reaction periodically. Everything is looking good, and will hopefully stay that way. I think I'm being extra paranoid, especially considering that a local Corgi just had a pretty bad eye scare a couple months ago, and his owner mentioned that it could have been due to an impact of sorts to the eye.

Shake Shake Shake

Swimming Corgi!

I always hear that many Corgis are terrible swimmers and will sink like a brick, but Philip loves taking dips in the water. As long as the water is calm, he will wade and swim in it all on his own. Sometimes I even toss a ball for him and he'll happily bring it back, though I try not to toss it too far out just in case.

This weekend we went to a nearby pond. We've been here many times before and Philip gets very excited to go running and swimming here. The pond is man-made and has a ledge all around. It's not a very big drop, but still a bit scary for Philip, so he takes a few approaches before slowly descending into the water. It's very cute to watch him, and I wonder if he'll eventually figure out to simply jump in from the ledge like most other dogs.

Anyway, I got one of his random plunges on video, so enjoy :)

Walking for a cause

A couple of weeks ago Philip and I attended a local fundraiser walk.


The fundraiser was for a local humane society, and lots of dogs and their owners came to support the cause! We had a whole team of Corgis!


The fuzzy butts walked a couple of miles through the park


and over a nearby hill


"Hurry up, mom!"


It was a beautiful day, and we raised lots of money for the humane society. Next year, our team has grand plans to be the number one fundraisers (this year we came in second!). Go Corgis!