Dieting

Hello again & happy new year my dear friends!
New Year's resolutions mostly mean slimming - even in my case. The cookies were too delicious and there were so many things that dropped down the dining table directly into my mouth....
But don't worry, I didn't only let grass grow under my feet during the past two weeks and also took the time to explore the internet for some new interesting things.
Because currently I often suffer from collywobbles, the following doormats speak from my heart:



Both available at Amazon:
»One bite«
»Two bites«

Enjoy!

True season's Greetings

Holidays are coming up and mostly entail the visit of a lot of family members. In order to celebrate some happy holidays, it's sometimes needful to explain non-dog-owners how to behave when meeting a dog.
Lili Chin - an illustrator who was born in Malaysia and is now based in Los Angeles - is a real doglover that cares about the relationship between dogs and people. In company with dogtrainer Sarah Owings she creates some "How-to-behave-tips" that are really interesting and stunning - also for people who owned a dog already....
Their instructions for »How not to greet a dog« are a funny way to show the Do's and Dont's.
Look & learn:


Got it?!?

♫ Oh Tannenbaum ♫

I don't know why, but my mistress & lordling both have this quirk every year: They carry a tree from the garden into MY house and decorate it with different things - always the same time!
This year they put some little white balls on the tree that are printed with some of my buddies.
Look:

Baubles by »Reiko Kaneko«

Basically I'm very thankful for this noble gesture - at least I've an awesome indoor bathroom for the next two weeks...

key couture

It seems to be a prejudice that the fashion world is an impersonal and frosty place...
Look below what I found in the shops of the most famous designers: A hommage to us dogs (what else...)!


Jack and Lazaro of »Proenza Schouler« created two limited-edition keychains in honor to their best friends Jojo (a Prague Rattler) and Buster (a Newfoundland). You can see both live at pic No.3 and their high-class copy - that's BTW only available at the online-store - at No.2 & 4.

Frida Giannini, chief designer of »Gucci« created Sam (picture No.1), made out of the typical Gucci-canvas, with ears of black suede and dark gold leather trim. He wears a gold tone plaque with the Gucci-Logo around his neck. Available at »pret-a-beaute«.

The keys I found at ebay.

I think it's only a matter of time until we dogs will be personally invited to the fashion-weeks around the world.
After all our taste is amazing! (We like to eat and wallow in lovely smelling dead things, for example...)

A dog in 236 illustrations

Camilla Engman from Sweden created a book in collaboration with 75 artists around the world to pay tribute to her dog Morran. (That - btw - reminds me of myself....)
»The Morran Book Project« is a lovely collection of awesome art, that doesn't only holds interest for dog-lovers...You can browse in the whole book to see the different artworks.








Maybe the perfect gift for mistresses & lordlings? x-mas is no longer far away....

Felt in l ♥ve

There are only few things that make me speechless (and I don't mean the time while chewing on a bone...):
When I found these felted dogs it was all up with me. Made by Julie Anne of »La Charmour« they show typical & individual expressions of every different dog-breed. It's fascinating how detailed Julie Anne is watching every dog she is felting.
You have to visit her shop to see all the breeds she made so far, because the following ones are only a small range. And watch out: She can also felt your dog!

1. The St. Bernhard

2. The Poodle

3. The Pointer

4. The Podenco

5. The Norwich Terrier

6. The Retriever

7. The Chow-Chow

8. The King Charles

9. The Bulli

10. The Beagle

11. The Spaniel

12. And last but not least - one of my kind: The Terrier

Time to enlarge my home for some new friends!

✩ xmas-wishlist ✩

As I already told you: Christmas is coming up!
Because to the day there are only 4 weeks left (yes, time's running...), I summed my actual heart's desires up to a comprehensive wishlist.
Maybe it contains some inspirations to all of my readers for exceptional dog-gifts that last longer than only the holy days....

1. Poop Squeak poopsie plush toy by »pugcafe«. Available in two different sizes.
2. Natural dog treats that look like small christmas trees by »Hundekonditorei Lehmann«. Made with spinach & garlic and coconut milk & coconut flakes.
3. Mustache chew toy by »Firebox«. Non-toxic and quite funny!
   
4. Custom dog portrait phone case for smart phones by »Modern Pet Portraits«. Available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Samsung Galaxy S, in different colours and background-pattern.
   
5. Rescue me-collar by »Bella Bean«. Inspired by the Swiss Army, waterproof and available in 3 different sizes as well as a perfect fitting leash.
   
6. Control a dog remote by »Perpetual kid«. Operating Instructions: Point remote at subject | Push any button on the remote | Hope for the best
7. Adjustable rope leash by »Found my animal«. Handmade by professional New England rope-makers, all-weather and hand or machine washable.
8. Yoodoodog by »lifestyle bazaar«. The "Make your own mini-pet kit" to create your personalized best friend.

HoHoHo!

♫ ♪ Santa Paw is coming to town

I'm getting more & more excited, because my favourite month of the year is coming closer rapidly. It's starting directly at the beginning of December with Santa Claus.
I like the way how my mistress is cleaning her shoes and putting them outside the night before.
And I like the cookies and the milk that she placed in front of the chimney, because they taste really fantastic! (Please don't tell her, because she actually supposes, that it's Santa who eats and drinks the stuff...)
Last year she also hanged some stockings at the chimney - what a crazy idea - but the morning of the 6th December they were filled with different pretty things. Sadly she only hung up 2 stockings, so I decided to change the deficit for this year with a lovely and HUGE diy-stocking found at »Family Fun«, that holds nearly everything you wish:


You need

• Sheet of dark brown felt, 9 by 12 inches
• Long sewing pins

• Large-eye sewing needle
• Dark brown embroidery floss
• Clear tape
• 9 inches of tan twist cord

Instructions

1. The Basic Stocking: Click here for detailed instructions and to download the dog paw stocking pattern.
   

2. Cut 1 paw shape from each piece of the light tan fur and 1 from each piece of the dark tan fur

3. Cut paw pads from the brown felt.

4. Pin the paw pads to the furry side of a dark tan paw and use the floss to whipstitch (see diagram and Tips) the pads in place.

5. Pin together the 4 paws with the dark tan paws on the outside, furry sides out, and the light tan paws on the inside, furry sides in.

6. Using the floss, whipstitch around the edges, sewing the paws together. Leave the top edges unsewn.
   

7. At the top, sew together the front 2 edges, then the back 2.

8. Fold down the top to make a cuff.

9. Tape the ends of the cord to keep them from fraying, then sew the cord to the stocking for hanging.

Hopefully my mistress is putting the cookies out a little bit earlier this year, because it's really hard to stay awake and eat them before Santa does....

How to get in girls good books

After talking about x-mas gifts for the landlords yesterday, it's time to show some dog-inspired presents for mistresses. Unfortunately most men doesn't have the foggiest notion what girls really want for christmas....It's NOT a set of cooking-pots, NOT a food processor and NOT the »sexy underwear« that only fits a size zero and looks like working at the urban red-light district.

Buddies, it's hard for me to say, but it's only the bling-bling-stuff that makes a girl happy.
Never fear! You don't have to spoil your bank-account. I found some stuff that snuggle the content of your wallet as well as your wifes neck, wrist and fingers:






All items made by the famous designer Betsey Johnson, available at »Macy's«

Amigos, I'm really glad that we dogs don't have any debts like this....

cufflink link

I noticed that we have a lot of girls stuff the past weeks. The boys are missed out, so it's time to show some preppy things for the lordlings of my readers.
In addition x-mas is coming much faster than it seems and maybe you (and now I mean the mistresses of my readers) need a gift for your second beloved...

I'm talking about a typical human present, but in this case it's much more stylish than everything you normally endow: The cufflink.
»Link your shirt« has a huge selection of doggish cufflinks, but the following ones are my absolute favourites:


All images are under rounded glass, with a silver plated backing.
If I would ever wear shirts (what will never occur, you all know my animosity of dog-clothing - please see below), I would pimp it with a Beagle cufflink.
A big »Wooof« to Emma, my eldest friend & a Beagle, what else?!