What Can be Cuter than Your Dog's Face?

The other night, I was amazed as I watched my Mama bring up a site which she was led to by visiting one of the message boards that she frequents. This site was a contest for the cutest dog's face and my picture was not enetered.



The criteria for entry was that the dog in question (moi) live in the OC. If living in Mickey Mouse's backyard doesn't qualify as living in the OC, then I don't know what does. At any rate, the Orange Country register is running a contest for people to post their dog's picture (or for people who know the dog's to post the picture) and then people can vote for the cutest face. There are over 4300 dogs faces on the site, and I checked and Gryphon, Elsa and I are not among the horde of pictures. Even though I don't tell her this, Elsa does have a cute face. . .she has a mohawk in the middle of her nose. Gryphon has the cutest expressions that she gives when she is listening to either my Papa or my Mama talk to her. And, of course, I am just adorable (I don't believe in false modesty when the evidence speaks for itself - if you doubt my word, you can check out my profile picture.)

So, I tried to come up with a reason on why we would have been neglected as entries in such a contest, and then it hit me. . . since I am the dachshund princess, I should not participate in contests as it wouldn't be fair to the commoners participating, and since Gryphon and Elsa make up my court, the same rules apply. I forgot that different rules apply to royalty for a few moments in the initial surprise that my cute face was not posted on the site.

Now, I will watch the voting and politely clap and smile, maybe even give a slight nod of approval when the winner is announced. Maybe I should be giving out the award. Strange that no one has contacted me yet to see whether I can take the time from my busy schedule to do such a thing. Is that my phone ringing? Have to run now.

All for now, Paws Up!



Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
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To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf
To vote in the Misfit McCabe book trailer contest, go to Griffie World to view the videos and Griffie World Talk to vote for your favorite under All Things Misfit McCabe.

Sharing Chews - 3 Makes a Difference

This will be short one as it is late and my Mama is wanting to shut down and make herself a cup of tea. Doesn't she think I can shut down a computer by myself? I mean after all, I can certainly push these buttons.



Tonight's topic is sharing chews. I don't chew often, because if chew is fresh, it is hard and can hurt my delicate gums. I do like to get the beef basted ones though and lick them until the taste is gone. Gryphon and I had a perfect system that has been working for years. Mama would get us some chews and I would lick mine and Gryphon would start chewing hers. She'd chew on it until it would get all mushy (long after I had stopped licking mine), and then she would suddenly tire of it and leave it alone. That was my cue to hop down (I was usually on Papa's lap while Gryphon was on the floor chewing away) and pick the chew up and enjoy the soft mushiness of it all. Later, Gryphon would come along and chew on mine for awhile, and once she had it good and softened up, I would chew on it a little myself. It was the perfect system. **Sigh**

Those days are gone. Having Elsa in the family has completely changed the mix of how these things work. She was enjoying a chew this evening and got it all nice and mushy, just the way I like it so it won't hurt my mouth. She was done with it, and then when I started chewing on it, she kept barking at me in that high piercing bark she has. By the way, Elsa has a bark that can puncture your ear drums at 20 feet. It is that loud. I just kept chewing away and tried to ignore her because she needs to know how this thing works. She still hasn't gotten beyond the wanting everything that Gryphon and I have stage and she thinks we should give it to her immediately.

Mama finally got her settled down and stopped her yipping, but I now have a headache and must get my beauty rest.

All for now, Paws Up!



Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf
To vote in the Misfit McCabe book trailer contest, go to Griffie World to view the videos and Griffie World Talk to vote for your favorite under All Things Misfit McCabe.

Being Without Power

I have a story to tell you of something that happened in the Griffie household a couple of weeks ago. I was going to blog about it before, but then Ike hit Texas and caused so much devastation, that I didn't want to post my small little complaints - or you might think I'm a whiner. The bottom line is that I feel sorry for all of the people and pups who have been without power for an extended period of time. I can't even imagine how scary it must be for some. I am saying extra prayers to the great Dachshund in the sky that everyone gets back to normal soon.

So what happened in the Griffie household? Let me tell you. . . A couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden, the power went out. My Papa went to check to make sure that we hadn't just blown a fuse, because that does happen from time to time. My Mama was at work at the time, and they didn't lose power, so she was sitting in a nice air-conditioned office, while Grypon, Elsa, Papa and I were sweating it out at home. It was a tremendously hot day as well, so that didn't help matters any. Well, it definitely wasn't a fuse. Our neighbor, Charlie and his family were also without power. Charlie, by the way is a new puppy who has moved in behind us and we bark at each other all the time. My Papa checked everything out and found out that the whole block at least where we live was without power.

We tried to stay as cool as possible and waited for Mama to come home from work. Well, she brought dinner home with her because she wouldn't have been able to fix anything without power anyway and we had a nice dinner on the front porch because it was cooler there than anywhere else. Our front porch has jasmine covering the lattice, so it smells really good too. As it was getting dark, Mama and Papa were relaxing on the porch and Gryphon, Elsa and I were enjoying the smells and barking at passersby. No one was inside as it was too hot and too dark inside the houses.

Then we heard the bad news. . . the power was going to remain off until about 1:30 in the morning. Papa and Mama decided that since it seemed to be a localized problem with the power, that they would go over to GrandMuttMa & GrandPupPaw's house for the night because Mama was really tired and didn't want to get up and check things in the middle of the night. Plus, it was too hot for her to sleep. So, she went inside to get everything ready.

She brought out our harnesses, so we would be prepared for the drive and Papa got us ready, and then we went in the house to get our leashes and make sure everything was turned off and locked up. Because it was sooo dark, Papa couldn't see and hooked two leashes to Elsa, and none to me. He called for me to come outside with him, and I didn't like to disobey, so I went. But, since I wasn't hooked up to anything, I decided to go and check to make sure that the car was ready.

Papa realized I wasn't with him and started to panic. He handed the leashes to Mama, who was wondering why if he had 3 leashes, he didn't have 3 dogs. He was running around trying to find me, and Mama had gone back inside and started calling for me, in case I had come back inside.

You see, being a black dog, in a pitch black house, no one can see me. I heard my Mama calling for me and so I went up the front steps and was on the front porch knocking on the door when my Papa found me. I guess Mama couldn't hear me knocking over her yelling my name.

Papa was so happy to find me again, he kept telling me how glad that I wasn't lost or hit by a car. Of course I wasn't lost. I knew exactly where I was the whole time. Papa was the one who was losing it.

Anyway, all you dogs out there need to remember that your parents are easily excitable, so you have to help reassure them by sticking by their side as much as possible. Really, if I'd known how much chaos I would cause by simply checking to see whether I could get into the car or not, I would have stayed with my Papa until he realized I didn't have a leash.

All for now, Paws Up!



Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf
To vote in the Misfit McCabe book trailer contest, go to Griffie World to view the videos and Griffie World Talk to vote for your favorite under All Things Misfit McCabe.

The Poop Review

My next foray into the world of reviewing dog websites took me to The Poop - "the site where a dog can have its day."

First of all, you have to like a website that calls itself The Poop. I happen to love double entendres. This site has a lot to recommend it, store, blog, pet adoption, recipes and more. While not being a specifically dog-oriented site, dogs are definitely featured. There are nice graphics to help the consumer find the appropriate store for the type of pet that they have. The pet store that is associated with The Poop is PetFoodDirect.com - America's Pet Store on the Web.

This site really does have a little bit of everything. You can register your pet's birthday so that on the day, the birthday greeting will be listed, participate in polls, voice your own opinion in the blog, and learn how to make food for your pets (although, as you know, I prefer my food to be prepared already as handmade food just isn't happening in this household). There are actually links to even more things such as pet news. This is the one negative that I found on this site - there is so much going on, that on the main page it is not all apparently available. You have to go to the store in order to see the link for their pooppourri section which has a cornucopia of information sources.

All in all, a well worthwhile site to visit for pets and their parents.

On my Paw Scale (1 being low/5 being high), this site gets:


'Til next time, Paws Up!



By the way - how do you like my new signature. I feel that it is much more me, being all sparkly and pink.


Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf
To vote in the Misfit McCabe book trailer contest, go to Griffie World to view the videos and Griffie World Talk to vote for your favorite under All Things Misfit McCabe.

Another fun weekend

Sorry for being away so long. We had a full weekend and I was just too tired to get to posting anything. I am working on my next website review, so watch this space for news of the next site to catch my attention.

On Saturday, we went over to GrandMuttMaw and GrandPupPaw's house and spent time with crazy Daisy again. Elsa is getting close to playing with her, but Daisy is still so excitable when we first arrive that Elsa gets frightened and hides under things.

Papa wanted to visit to watch the Florida Gators play the Miami Hurricanes in football. Mama was still working on her book trailer, which she has now finished - I think it looks pretty cool, so you should check it out!

Elsa got a chance to just hang out in the backyard (sans Daisy) and had the best time just running around the backyard. We don't have a backyard at home (no fences, so we always have to go outside on a leash) so it is a treat when we get to run free in a yard. Elsa runs so fast, she is just a blonde blur running around a course that she has mapped out in her own mind. I saw her having so much fun, I even ran with her a little bit.

My Papa just came back, so I have to sign off now. . .Paws Up!

Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf

Gourmet Sleuth Dog Treats Review

Here is my very first review of the sites that I run across when searching for dog treats. First of all, I should give my method for searching. It is actually quite simple. I open up a browser window (ok - all of you in the peanut gallery, I said BROWSER, not BOWSER) and in the Google search widget, type dog treats and then enter. The results come up and I selected one randomly.

The GourmetSleuth.com came up and it has several recipes for dog treats. Actually, dog biscuit treat recipes. My first comment has to be that I am look for treats to eat, not to bake myself. Plus, I am not allowed to work in the kitchen. This site really doesn't do me any good, because my Papa doesn't cook and my Mama doesn't have time and simply won't do it anyway.

In addition to recipes for dog biscuits, they have some dog food recipes as well. Let's discuss the dog-likability factor of the page. There is a dog bone graphic at the top and they have books on dog recipes, kits for making dog treats, etc on the side bar, but other than that you wouldn't know it was a site for dogs looking for treats. All text, no visuals of the treats themselves. No descriptions to capture a dog's imagination, and frankly from the sound of some of the ingredients, you woulnd't catch me eating them anyway.

Then there is the final reason why this site will not get a Paws Up recommendation from me. Apparently one of their readers let them know that some of the recipes that they have in their collection have grapes or raisins in them, which can be toxic to us pups. Their response to receiving the information was to post a blurb advising people to be careful that some of the recipes they are linked to could actually cause your dog harm. Did they remove the offending links? No they did not. How can they even hope to retain any measure of dog-friendlieness when they are posting recipes that could kill their supposed canine friends.

All in all this site does not have dogs as its primary focus and should be steered clear of for the best consideration of your pet.

On my Paw Scale (1 being low/5 being high), this site gets:


'Til next time. Paws Up!

Copyright 2008 © Phoenix with a helping paw from Gryphon
Visit me at Griffie World

About the Author:
"Just call me Your Highness" ~ Phoenix
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To fnd articles for children on how to write fiction go to :
Griffie World Bookshelf