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?!

♫ ♪ Baby, it's cold outside ♫ ♪

As you can certainly imagine, I don't like any style of dog-clothing - I'm a red-blooded male!
Nevertheless some weird human beings think that they have to robe their dogs like infants and even think they like it.
I must confess that there are some buddies who need something to wear, because they don't have enough undercoat. But why the hell it has to look like Barbiedolls on their way to prom?

'cause it's getting colder day by day, I seek advice from the web and found a »Quick coat« that is really easy to sew and doesn't look like "Tinky Winky" of the Teletubbies.

Needed Materials

• waterproof fabric 60cm (24 inches)
• warm lining fabric (for example fleece or artifical fur) 60cm (20 inches)
• velcro (for example 2cm / ~1" wide)

Pattern


The pattern is made for a coat like in the picture at the end of this post; you might want to consider making a bigger coat in up-down direction. Then the coat would protect some more.

Bend the waterproof fabric in half, put the bend in place marked in the picture. Cut the pieces, collar B is not mandatory. You can also make it from artificial fur, both sides. This would make the coat look really cool:) Bend the lining fabric and cut one similar main piece also.

Open bent pieces. Sew lining and waterproof fabric together from wrong side, but leave the collar area open. Turn inside out, so the seams are hidden nicely.
Attach the collar, sew along the edge of main piece. If you made the collar from two pieces, do it the same way as main piece: together from wrong side and then turn inside out. If you do not make a collar, then just sew the main pieces together as nicely as you can.

Try the coat on the dog and choose suitable places for velcro on the front (about place C).
Choose a spot for stomach band also (about place A).
Sew in the front velcro, if you do not want to use there velcro at all, sew pieces together. Just be sure that dog's head can fit through. Sew stomach band in place from one side, sew also some velcro to it's free end.

Try the coat again, now it's easy to spot the place for velcro so that the stomach band works. Sew it in place and the coat is finished!

If you consider fleece as a lining fabric, note that it gathers static electricity easily. Therefore it collects lots of hair.
The coat should look something like this (the stomach band in picture is different):

All instructions by the mistress of Noppa (the beautiful Dalmatian shown above). Thanx for that!

Man - I just notice that we have a crazy date today: 11|11|11
Seems to be a freaky friday...
(Maybe I'll put on a coat when going out for a walk - my mistress will go crazy on me!!!!)

Sweden ≠ IKEA

The scandinavian design is one of my favourites. I like the uncomplicated forms and the use of high-class natural materials.
The swedish designer »Lisa Bengtsson« created some really classy interior designs to pimp your home with your beloved friend. The collection includes different wallpapers, posters, pillows and tablewear.
Not everything that comes from Sweden must be IKEA....












Products are online available at:
Huset-Shop (for the US)
Scandinavian Design Center (Europe)

Hejdå! Hej så länge!*
* Cheers! See you soon!

pooch pouch

Women love bags - so does my mistress...She got millions of billions that fill a huge closet in my house. Without a doubt you can easily imagine that she instantly fell in love with the following range of eco-friendly tote bags made by »Blueblood®«, two women (no surprise, ey?) that live and meet each other at their dog park (no surprise, too) in Pacific Heights, San Francisco.
The illustrations are made by the co-owner of Blueblood®, Alexis Moran, and show the life of her Labrador Tubby in New York.

Model| Tubby's Deli

Model| The Hamptons

Model| Madison Ave.


The back side of all totes look the same.

And the best thing is: They are big enough to carry dozens of dog-treats...
Enjoy your meal!

Hello Halloween

Here in Germany there isn't such a big hype of Halloween like in the U.S.
Lucky me, because I hate wearing clothes or being costumed. (As you know, the only costume I tolerate once a year is the goofy crown that I have to wear at my birthday.)
But I found this funny pic at the internet that even pleased me.
It looks so strange that I'm really loving it.
Hmmm, wasn't that the slogan of the products that are shown at the pic?


Hey folks, I sniffed out where the advertising-agency found it - they saw this photo!
I'm so foxy!

Magnetic fields

Christmas is moving closer & closer - right on the day there are only 2 months left.
My mistress is a person who hate being on the eleventh hour with buying christmas-presents. In addition she likes to donate things with a personal style and she likes all of the DIY-stuff.
She found a really simple tutorial of »Ambrosia creative« where you learn how to do handicrafted fridge-magnets that look like cute little polaroids. A perfect present for christmas!

After downloading the frame, she put some photos of me inside, printed them out, glued them onto a cardboard, glued them onto a magnet and a short while later she had some fancy magnets for one of her best friends that is respectively one of my biggest fan...
Look at this:


You can do this with every motif you like. My personal choice would be: sausages, bones, ham, treats aaaaaand the silly cat of our neighbours.

Wire dogs

Never fear! I don't want to talk about those bad dog catchers, who are paid by some sick people for hunting and bothering animals. - I'm talking about art.
Today I found an artist who designs animal sculptures by using wire. It reminds me of ball-pen sketches that humans make while talking to someone boring at the telephone.
I think that was the inspiration of »Antonia Hansen« - a girl from lovely California - when creating the different dog-breeds (and a lot of more) in a handy size.

Have a look at poodle, retriever, great dane & other buddies that seems like handmade scribbles in 3D:








I would like to close this post by revealing my very own weekends' motto:
Better weird than wired.