cresties!

Ahem. I don't really know how to respond to that horribly invasive video that Massah put on my blog yesterday. There should be a law against that. But since there's not (the ASPCA should get on that right away), I'm going to pretend that it didn't happen and just hope that it all goes away.


Moving on. I've been tagged to share 8 things about myself! I shared 10 things a while ago, so I'm going to switch it up and share 8 things about myself as a Crestie, since I'm the only hairless on DWB and I'm feeling very informative today! These are all things unique to hairless Chinese Cresteds....


1. I don't pant. Ever. I sweat through my skin like the people. That's part of the reason I have to take so many baths.


2. There are two kinds of Chinese Cresteds - and they are born in the same litters - my kind, the hairless:





And the powder puff:




My dog-mom was a puff and my dog-dad was hairless. Every puff (and each hairless) has a hairless gene, but if the dog gets TWO hairless genes he will die. I don't know why, but it sounds sad.


3. We are very good climbers, and our front paws are compared to people hands a lot. They are really flexible and we can hold things VERY tightly. When Massah carries me upstairs (and down) I grab on to her neck and wrap my paws around it and hold on tight. And when I chew on toys I hold on to them with a very firm grasp.


4. Hairless have hair on the feet - called socks - on our tails - called plumes - and on our heads - called crests. Hence the name Chinese Crested.


5. The "Chinese" part of our name is a little misleading. From what everyone can tell, we originated in Africa - as bedwarmers, of all things! (Massah calls me her own personal, portable radiator!) We were then taken on ships to catch rats and made our way to China where we were bred to develope most of our unique characteristics.


6. Most Cresties have ears that stand up straight. Massah didn't want to tape my ears when she first got me because I wasn't in very good shape, and then she didn't have the heart to attach tampons to the inside of my ears when I got older, so I have floppy ears.


7. I've never gone more than 7 days without a bath. We're rather high-maintenance. If we don't get regular baths (I usually get mine of Mondays and Thursdays) then our skin will get really dry, we might start to smell musty (cause we sweat through our skin), we get acne, and our skin looks really gray and dull.


8. I'm in the Toy Catagory in the AKC but you never see us in dog shows. We're there! But they always take a commercial break when they show the Cresties. I don't know why. It makes me sad.


9. And last but not least, we're LAP DOGS! I love sitting on people's laps; it's one of my favoritest things ever. Cresties are NOT the kind of dog to get if you want to run with your dog or do lots of vigorous activities (like hiking) because we're pretty fragile and can get hurt easily, but if you want someone who will want to be by your side 24 hours a day, and sitting in your lap if at all possible, a Crestie is right for you! We're lovers. :-)

my blog (by Massah)

I got tagged to share about WHY I started blogging! But I just did it because Massah suggested it! I don't know why! But I'll let her tell you why she thought of it in the first place....

Tad is a unique little dog. And by "unique" I mean odd-looking to most people. When I first got him, he was in horrible shape (physically), smelled disgusting (from the food he was eating) and had infections all over his skin (he's allergic to flea bites and was COVERED in fleas). In addition to all that, his previous owner shaved his already infected skin and made it even more raw and painful-looking. In short, he looked truly awful. Everyone who saw him - or saw pictures of him - thought he was the ugliest thing they ever laid eyes on. And that broke my heart. Yes, I know - he didn't know or care what they thought and said about him, but it made ME feel bad for him! He honestly is the sweetest little boy ever, and I wanted a place for him to share about his adventures and not be judged by the way he looks. :~) So as much fun as he's having with this blog, it's more than that for me. I appreciate everyone who is his friend, who experiences his life with him through the blog, and who doesn't let his naked little body taint their view of him. So THANK YOU! He's a blast to live with, and we both hope you enjoy reading about his continuing life with his Mean Sister Fig.... And since I have the blog, here's a video of what Tad does when he's done pooping. He's slightly effeminate, if you ask me, but he claims it's a very masculine adaptation of the "cover-up scratch" that all the other normal dogs do. You be the judge:

memorial day

We had a lovely Memorial Day - I hope everyone else did too! We spent the day with Massah's family and they have a FENCED IN YARD so Mean Sister Fig and I got to run and run and run and run all day long! They also have a pond, which scared me a little bit. I stayed away.

Mean Sister Fig drank water out of it and got yelled at.

I kept watch out the back - there was a park and sometimes people would be out there!

And there was a lady next door who had torture devices in that shed! She kept dragging them all over (Massah's note: she had shovels and rakes and such....) and Fig and I yelled and yelled at her and warned her not to come into our yard.

Fig also did this a lot:

She got in lots of trouble for going under there, but we sure had fun running around!

woo hoo!

I'm a big boy! In fact, I'm getting so big that I'm outgrowing the SMALL size! Don't I look proud of myself?!


From Massah: Actually, I think we just got a weird one, but he's right - it does not fit! Anydog want a corduroy jacket? It's a Woolrich (from Target) and it's a size Small, but it's a bit smaller than the regular Small's.


It has velcro straps around the neck and the chest, but the neck opening is about 1 inch smaller than normal and the chest strap is around 2 inches shorter than normal. I'm completely useless with a needle and thread, so it's a no-go with the alteration option.


It's never been worn (unless you count me trying to shove Tad into it - which was fairly amusing, admittedly...) and is brand new - I'll mail it to anydog who wants it - for free! I hate returning things (and I lost the receipt) but don't want to just throw it away, so if you or somedog you know could use it please email us! hanbnan@hotmail.com

my twin

Wally tagged me in the "Which Celebrity Do You Look Like" game! I have thought long and hard over this, and believe me... it's been difficult. When I first came home with Massah, one of the initial comparisons she made was to those machine-robot-walking things from The Empire Strikes Back.

She says I look like that when I'm standing straight in front of you. (?!) This was the closest picture she could find that shows me in that position.

I don't see it any similarities whatsoever. This is what I see:

See? Isn't that much more accurate?

just stuff

When Massah gets home at night, I am SO EXCITED! She lets us out of our jails and takes us outside and I LOVE it! She usually doesn't put a leash on me because I'm so happy that I stay right beside her (and I'm STARVING so I don't wander very far) but last night I was so thrilled to be out of jail that I almost ran away! But as soon as Massah asked if I were hungry, I came speeding back! (warning: her voice is about as peircing as my shriek) Everytime we come back inside, I jump up on that chair and wait to kiss Massah. It's my ritual. You'll also see Mean Sister Fig and her sweatshirt in the video. She only takes it outside when Massah first gets home from work. The rest of the time she ignores it. And she calls me weird....

We also got some presents last night! Mean Sister Fig got a collar with skulls on it because she's big and bad (emphasis on BIG). She didn't want to cooperate with the picture-taking, so this is the best shot Massah could get of it.

And I got a new shirt! It says GOOD DOG because that's what I am!

Don't I look handsome? (even if I do say so myself!)

Here we are together in our new attire!

Massah says we're beautiful. And I believe her. 100%.

please please please?!

Thrawn posted a video about something he wanted, and now I found something I want! How fun would this be?!?! I bet he'd be really good at climbing down our stairs....

Tyler and Sarah

Add to My Profile More Videos

Massah said "no more dogs!" but I'm wondering what my chances are with one of these...?

I've procrastinated long enough

I have a couple orders of business to take care of that should have been addressed days ago. First of all, I was tagged by Asta (down under) to post a pictures of my belly. Like I said last time, I'm not a real big fan of showing my belly, but Massah found one more picture. I don't like showing my boy-bits (or those they left me) so that's why I look kinda shy.




And secondly I've been tagged to post a silly picture. I looked through all my files, but I didn't see any silly situations that were captured on film! How strange, because Massah always says I'm silly! Here's kind of a weird one, though. You can see my teethies! And a close-up of my nose!


My girl laughed so hard at your comments on yesterday's post! Some of you doggies said that I looked so excited in the video and that you'd never seen me that happy! I must just post pictures of me being scared and quiet on this blog! I'm usually running around and throwing things up in the air! Massah calls me a pogo stick, because I'm always jumping, jumping, jumping all over the place! I am a happy, HAPPY doggin who likes to express myself joyfully! :) I'll have to work on finding more pictures of me being crazy/happy like I am usually. Here's a vidoe of me playing. Massah caught me at the end of my chasing-my-tail extravaganza, but it's a good representation of what goes on in our house most of the time. I'm running around amusing myself, and Fig (likes to think she) is protecting us from the mass murders who apparently spy on us every night. Massah was changing the sheets and getting ready to do laundry so that's why everything is sprawled out all over.

Ahhh... that was also before I started having trouble with my tummy area, hence the bone that was available to me. Boy I sure do miss those things....

oh joy

Alas, yes. If you've heard that I've reverted back to the squat-n-pee, then you heard correctly. I haven't lifted my leg since we've returned from the wilderness. But I'm 100% sure that when we got back there next, I'll remember and I'll slip right back into it, though! So fear not, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I just need to talk Massah into going out there again soon!

But I have good news of great joy! Since I have a couple "conditions" that make it impossible for me to eat anything good (like bones and treats and such), Massah doesn't usually take any chances and try new things. She's tired of cleaning up all kinds of things that have left my body in ways they shouldn't (and of spending massive amounts of money at the vet'narins). But on the advice of Nanook, she ordered some of these:




Sam's Yams! I was so happy when I realized she actually ordered them! And I didn't really believe it until they came in the mail! But one day they just showed up on our porch! Oh glorious day! Look how happy this little guy is! He's so happy I think he might be humping it!




That's how happy I was (minus the humping, I've never done that) when they came!!! This was when we first got them!





I look a little silly...




But I wasn't worried about how I LOOKED - I got a yummy delicious TREAT for the first time in years and years! Okay, in months, but it feels like years!




Mean Sister Fig liked them too, the little pig!




And the best part - THEY DIDN'T MAKE ME SICK!!!!! We got them on Thursday night, and Massah made me wait until the weekend was over to make sure they were going to stay down, and now I can officially say "THESE ARE MY NEW FAVORITEST THINGS IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WOLRD EVER! OF THE UNIVERSE!!"


My favoritest.

OH!

Yesterday was so exciting and I reached a milestone in my life! I don't have any pictures because Massah says she can't do 17 things at once, but I still have to tell you about it because it's so GREAT! We went to the park again last night and once we were there Massah took us into the wilderness! We walked for hours and hours (Massah: we walked less than half a mile) and I had to blaze my own trail (Massah: we followed an asphalt path, Tad...) and there was big tall grass and plants and all kinds of trees! I saw who I thought was Samantha from the Brat Pack but then she got really mad at me for smelling her bum so I figured it wasn't her, just a look-alike. And once I looked harder, I realized she was MUCH fatter and much less beautiful than Sam, so that confirmed the fact that she was just a wanna-be. And then I thought I saw Kaos in the distance, but our paths didn't cross so I can't be sure. Kaos, were you running around in the Illinois wilderness last night? And everything just came together with the wild prairie grass blowing in my face and the responsibility of getting Massah home safely and I felt like a big manly dog and I ended up lifting my leg to make pee pee on the grass!!! I've never done that before, but something just came over me and I acted on my century-old instincts and MARKED! And then I did it AGAIN! And AGAIN! I did it FOUR TIMES total and Massah couldn't believe it because she thought I didn't know how to do that and I didn't but it must have been somwhere inside me because when we were out there I just DID IT without thinking about it! Woot!!! I think I'm going to mark everything now! My bed, my couch, my door, my pillow, my toys, my bone, Massah's clothes, Massah's mattress, our rugs, maybe even Mean Sister Fig! It's going to be GREAT!!!

a evil intruder!!!

Oh, I was so scared last night!!! It started out as just another normal night; I was chewing my corn (NOT forming a shank, by the way) and Fig was sitting around whining, as usual.

When all of a sudden I glanced behind me and saw THIS!!!

Oh my gosh!!! Look at that!!! I ran away from her and jumped onto Massah's bed to be safe! What in the world is that woman doing there?!?! I'm pretty sure she was not there a couple days ago.... Evidently her name is "Victoria" and she has some sort of "secret"!!!!!

Why is she in our house?!?! What kind of secret does she have?!?! Why is no one else concerned about this?!?! What is going on here?!?!

She likes me! She really likes me!

Yay! I KNEW she loved me!!! I'm sure she could have listed a whole lot more reasons, but she was just obeying Massah and wrote down three. She is my very favoritest doggin in the whole wide world!!! I make her feel good about herself (it's VERY important to have good self-esteem) and I brought her to her One True Love and I help Massah appreciate her more! She'll never want to get rid of me again!!! How much more perfect could I BE for her?!?! Oh, I'm so happy.... I'll never be sad again! Fig keeps mumbling that's what we get for having a therapist as a massah.... but I don't care what she says because I'm happy! I love everything and everyone!

I had a very unexpected weekend - and I finally got some pictures so I can share them! We went over to Massah's parents, but we weren't the only ones - there were millions of people! And one very strange one....

Fig was braver than I was and went over the check her out. I didn't really know what to think, but she kinda reminded me of ME! She was bald too! And she made very loud shrieking noises like I do. After someone picked her up I went over to check her jail out. It's a whole lot nicer than mine, let me tell you!

Hmm... very curious. Anyway, I spent a lot of my time looking for food to drop magically down from the plates.

And sat on Massah's lap - lots of people make me nervous sometimes.

The little-one-who-kinda-looked-like-me did the same thing. Her nose isn't as pointy as mine though.

I also got to see my Massah-in-law again! I LOVE her!

And I got to see the other boy I don't really have a name for.

I really like him though. He has lots of good stuff in him room, and if he leaves his door open I sometimes go in there to make pee pee on his floor. He doesn't know I do that. But mostly I curled up on Massah's lap.

I'm still resting up!

3 nice things blah blah blah

IT'S FIG HERE!!! Here I am:

I don't know why, but Massah is making us trade blogs for a day and tell each other what we appreciate about the other one. I am not to happy about this arrangement, let me assure you. I have a couple suspicions as to why this madness is being forced upon me: 1 - she thinks IT is having a hard time right now because IT can't go up and down stairs, and 2 - she thinks this will make us friends. Now, let me respond to those concerns. 1 - I can't help that IT's not smart enough to walk down a flight of stairs, and I'm certainly not going to try and help teach IT to do so either. That is MY sacred spot up there. I can go upstairs and chew bones in peace, yell all I want at IT without having to actually deal with IT, and hoard bones and toys so IT can't get them. Why in the WORLD would I want IT to be able to go up there anytime IT wants?! And number 2 - there is no way on God's green earth that I am ever going to be friends with IT. That's all I have to say about that one. Okay, fine. Here are three things I like about IT:

1. IT makes me look good, no matter what. (Who wouldn't look good next to that thing?!) So thank you, IT, for boosting my self-esteem and making me feel better about myself.

2. My handsome boyfriend Balboa found me through IT's blog. I really DO like that about IT. See us together?

3. Since IT's been here, I've gotten a lot more appreciation from Massah. I hear a lot more "Good girl!" and "That's a nice one!" and other such good things. I think she understands what a wonderful, intelligent, loyal, good-looking dog I am, now that she has something else to compare me to.

And now, just because I can, here is another disturbingly abnormal picture of IT.

Now I KNOW you all helped IT convince himself that IT's a dog, but I'm still not sure. Just because ITs pee'er is on the belly doesn't mean squat. Look at it!!! I've seen all the other dogs on his precious little "friends list" (or so he likes to think) and NONE of you look like IT. I've seen several gorgeous specimens of Bostons on there (Joey, Bruin, Ruby) but nope... no other bald, albino rodent-looking things. I'm not allowed to try and give IT away, so I'm not going to. But if you come to my blog and leave me a comment I'll see if I can work something out: here.

good bye....

I was so very sad this morning to learn that FuFu has gone over the Rainbow Bridge. This is one of my favorite pictures of him... it shows how special he was. I don't know any other hamsterrier who was as smart as FuFu - he was in training for the Army of 4 at the time of his passing, and was doing pull-ups in this picture.

He also had his own car (the FuFuMobile), his own spaceship, many houses, LOTS of treats and snackies, and hundreds of doggie friends who will miss him greatly. He is a very precious little hammy, and we will always remember him.

Also - thanks for the suggestions on the staircase; Massah is going to try them out. I'll keep you updated on my progress. :-)

more of my drama

I got stuck on the stairs again last night.

But I let Massah come and get me this time instead of trying to jump down myself.

She said she's going to pile a bunch of chairs in front of the steps so I can't do it again. *sigh*

Note from Massah: If anyone has any ideas on how to teach him to go DOWN stairs, please let me know. He is driving me insane! Every time I look away for an instant, he's running up there! I don't really want to block them off because the upstairs is the only place Fig can go to get away from him and get a break from his maniacal playing habits. He's going to kill himself one of these days.

NO PICTURES BECAUSE I'M TOO MISERABLE!!!

I don't know what to do.

My life is a mess right now.

Everything is going badly.

I thought I conquored my fear of the scary spiral stairs, but come to find out - I'm just as scared of them as I was last week!

I try and try to go up them, but I always get scared half-way up and then I'm stuck! And then I try to jump down, but because they CURVE I can't jump straight down and end up jumping into the side of the railings.

And Massah keeps yelling at me for trying to go up them. She thinks I'm going to jump and hurt myself. Which I did last night - I scraped my leg falling into the railing when I tried to jump down one time. But it just makes me mad that I can't do it!

And now she wants to put a baby gate at the bottom so I can't try to go up them. And that makes me angry too, because I want to try! I want to go up them by myself! I don't want to be scared! I don't want to be a frightened little puppy! I want to be a big strong man who can go up and down WHENEVER HE WANTS!

But right now I'm going to go hide under a blanket and cry. And I don't even have Mr. Hog E. Hoggerton to cuddle, because Mean Sister Fig tried to murder him and now Massah won't let me have him unsupervised because his innards are coming out and she doesn't want me to eat them!

My life is falling apart!!!!!

I'm IT!

Ruby tagged me! I have to post a picture of me lying on my back! I don't do that a whole lot, but I have a couple pictures.





And then later that night:




It's not my favorite. I'd rather curl up in a ball under the blankets. I don't have any hair so I have to circle up to retain my body heat! :-)

And now I'm gonna tag Nanook (I want to see big he looks all spread out!), my new friend Lorenza (and her short little legs!), and Balboa (my Mean Sister Fig made me request you, Balboa - she's too embarrassed to do it herself....). Tag - you're IT!

my night

Oh my goodness! Let me tell you what happened last night! First of all, Massah came home from work early! It was so much fun! We got to eat dinner at 4-00 instead of waiting until 6-00! And then she went upstairs and started to get ready for something. Mean Sister Fig says that it's always a bad sign when she comes home from work and tries to look nice; she says that means she's leaving again. And she was right. Massah left to go to a banquet for work. BUT! She didn't put us in our jails!!! She let us stay out and run around!!! And then something very, VERY scary happened....

I thought I would try to go upstairs. I DON'T KNOW WHY I WANTED TO TRY THAT!!!!! It just came over me - the desire to walk up there all by myself. *sigh* Fig goes up there all the time - sometimes she even takes BONES up there so I can't get them. Maybe I thought I'd find a bone. Maybe I thought I'd find Massah. Maybe I thought I'd be really brave. Maybe I thought I could find some cotton balls. Maybe I thought I'd sleep on the bed. I DON'T KNOW!!!!! I won't tell you how long it took me to get up there. I got half-way up and then got really scared. But I can't go down the stairs AT ALL - that's even more scary than walking UP them - so I just had to go up one tiny little step at a time. I don't even know what Fig was doing all this time - I was so focused on NOT FALLING DOWN. (I've fallen down TWICE with Massah... she's pretty clumsy.) But I eventually made it all the way up without mishap. And then I was stuck up there. So what did Massah see when she got home?!

There I was! Standing up there waiting for her to rescue me! I was SO HAPPY to see her!!! She said, "Tadpole, what did you DO?!" So I showed her.

I rearranged all her clothes! There were sitting there in a nice clean pile, and NOBODY likes nice clean piles, so I spread them out all over!

And I chewed on that boot for her too!

She didn't seem quite as thankful as I thought she would be, so I blamed it on Fig. "It's Fig's fault! Look at that evil glint in her eye!"

Whew! I was tired after that excitement so I laid down and took a nap. Look how close I got to Mean Sister Fig! I don't think she even knew I was there.

So all in all it was a good night. I made it upstairs by myself and I squirmed close enough to Fig when I was sleeping that I got to touch her! What more could I ask for?!