I don't like New Year's Eve.

Last night was something called New Year's Eve. I don't really get it and I definitely don't like it.

I've woken up this morning and as far as I can tell nothings new. Same breakfast in the same bowl in the same house with the same family. So what's new about it?? And I must say I'm glad, I like my life just how it is! Well except for the sore toe but that too shall pass.

What I don't like, is this New Year's Eve business. It's very loud and very scary. There were all these exploding bangs and fizzes happening in the sky last night. And some of them were just over my back fence. I was worried the sky was going to fall or maybe there wouldn't be a new year at all because the world was ending right over our heads. I don't know how my Mum and Dad could be so calm about it, they were just sitting on the couch handing out dog treats. But I couldn't enjoy them properly what with worrying about the world ending or at the very least the sky falling. I couldn't even have a pee. Every time Mum took me out back I'd just get started and another bang would happen so I'd have to run back inside, it was very disconcerting.

My brother Rastus was even more scared than me and that just made me sure that something was wrong. In the end Dad took us in the spare room with him because we kept jumping on the bed and landing on Mum's sore leg. Rastus sat next to Dad and shook like a leaf and I sat on Dad's head and panted (it's a sheepie thing, sitting on heads). It took a very long time, weeks maybe, but finally the noises stopped and we all got some sleep. I plan on taking a lot of naps today.

I hope your part of the world is safe and the sky hasn't fallen or the world ended.

Mum says we are a bunch of cripples.

Mum says we; that is me, Rastus and her are a bunch of cripples! Is that a cruel thing for her to say? I can't decide as she's included herself on the list but it sounds a bit mean to me.

I hurt my toenail AGAIN.

I can't help it, when I go to the park I feel the need for speed! So I run, run, run like the wind. And when I chase my squeakie ball and miss it I have to do very sharp turns so it doesn't escape. You know how sneakie those squeakie balls are, they'll escape in the blink of an eye. The vets think maybe that's how I do it. But I'm tough and I never cry when it happens so no one's sure.

Dad didn't notice but my Mum did. I think Mum's are just good at noticing stuff especially stuff that tells them if you're sick or injured. She notice me licking my foot when I got home from the walk and got Dad to check it out in case there was a prickle. Dad said it was fine but I kept licking so Mum got Dad to put me up where she can see my foot without bending. She's had an operation on her hip and is limping and isn't allowed to bend. And she found that I had split my nail and it was bleeding a bit.

I've done the same thing twice before and last time it took months of antibiotics and bathing my toe twice a day to get it better. So Mum sent me straight to the vet's just in case and he gave me antibiotics. It's lucky she did. By yesterday my toe was so sore I couldn't put my foot to the ground. So she phoned up the vet and Dad went and got some meds for me so I wouldn't have so much pain. I'm so glad they did because today I'm feeling so much better. It's even ok to take the antibiotics because they come with peanut butter. YUMMY I love peanut butter.

Back to the cripple story. Rastus ate too much people food at Christmas and got the itchies so he's been chewing his feet, especially the back right one and now he's limping. So every night Dad lifts us both up on the outdoor table one at a time so Mum can bath our feet. It seems an awful lot of bother but I guess Mum's sick of us being a bunch of cripples. :-)

I hope we're all fixed soon. I don't really like having my foot dunked in a tub and I don't like the smell of the toe stuff. But I get a treat after, so it could be worse. And I'm not a big wuss like Rastus, he kicks and wiggles and cringes like they're trying to cut his foot off. Such a sook!

I don't get it!

I'm confused! The last week or two has been great, there's been heaps of treats and tons of yummy upright food for the begging. A guy called Santa Paws managed to sneak past my vigilant guarding of the house and left treats for us as well as a pedestal fan for the hot weather. We've eaten them all :-(  I haven't eaten the fan, it doesn't smell tasty and 'sides it'll come in handy for the hot weather.

But now its all eaten and it doesn't look like its getting replaced any time soon. There's bottles of what Mum calls "bubbly" in the fridge but I don't like bubbly it smells yuk and the fizz makes me sneeze.

What happened to the Christmas spirit of overindulgence?? I liked it! I want it back, bring on overindulgence all year. There's a lot to be said for over indulgence, sore tummies not withstanding.

As I'm not in charge of the supplies department I'm going to have to go and have a nap so I can dream of a house full of treats.

Santa Paws Visited

Santa Paws visited our house yesterday! Yes he did!!

I don't know how he managed to come and go without me hearing him. I'm usually very good at hearing anyone about - much better than Rastus if I do say so myself - and I didn't hear a thing. But he must have come because there were presents for us in the morning. Bags with red bows on them all full of yummy treats.

Mum has taken custody of them, which is not fair, as they're our presents. She says that one night of piggishness on my behalf is enough. She is still calling me Tiggy Piggy which is very mean of her, but at least I'm back on full rations at meal times. I didn't think much of the couple of half sized meals that I got after I ate so much of Rastus fishy kibble.

We left out some wine and mince tarts for Santa Claus and a treat for Santa Paws and they were all gone in the morning with the presents there instead. It's very weird; I sleep right near the chimney and I didn't hear, smell or see anyone in the house all night except Mum and Dad. But they say Santa is magic and I'm thinking it must be true!

I hope you all were good dogs this year so that Santa Paws visited you and left you something nice too. I was a bit worried to tell you the truth! I have done a few things this year that caused a bit of trouble and no one else seemed to think that me eating all that fishy kibble was me entering into the spirit of Christmas. But Santa Paws is very understanding so I'm betting he left you something too.

Here is a picture of me dressed up as Santa Paws. Merry Christmas to you all.

Love Tiggy.

Christmas and overindulging

My understanding is that Christmas is about overindulging. You know ........ lots of wine, food and merriment. So last night I decided to get into the spirit of Christmas in a big way.

Mom and Dad were out for a family Christmas dinner and they didn't take us so I had to take matters into my own hands. No wine has been provided for us but my Dad didn't put the lid on Rastus's kibble tub properly so Rowdy had a bit of a go at it and then I helped him. It was great, kilos of Proplan sensitive skin and stomach fishy kibble. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

I may have gone a little overboard in the spirit of Christmas overindulgefest though. Mom says no one else's tummys were bulging as much as mine. She was very worried and took our water bowl up and then the good bit was she decided I better sleep up in the bedroom with her in case things got bad in the night.

I wouldn't say things got bad but lets just say they got stretched a bit, well quite a bit really. Who would have thought eating too much kibble could be a bad thing. But I must say my tummy was a bit upset with me. I got very thirsty too and mean Mum only let me have the tiniest drink of water so I went in the shower and licked up the water there then I came back and jumped on the bed and stuck my wet beard in Mom's ear. I really don't know why she carried on about it so much. I thought she would enjoy a refreshingly, cool sheepie kiss. Some people are a bit ungrateful at times but I guess it was late at night and she was trying to sleep.

What with being thirsty and having a sore tummy I didn't feel much like sleeping so I wandered around a lot and I panted a lot, it just seemed to make me feel better. I chased Rowdy off the bed at intervals and got in trouble for that too. But really when you think about it, it was really all his fault as he started it.

Eventually Mum opened the window, even though Dad said it was too cold, and I felt cool enough to lie on the bed and have my tummy scratched. Mum kept asking Dad to listen to my tummy but he said all he could hear was puffing and panting. After I while Mum turned off the light and went to sleep. '

It was about then that I felt the call of nature so I hopped off the bed and had a poop in the corridor. The smell woke my Mum up but not my Dad so she got up and cleaned up. Mum gave me another measly, small drink but I was feeling a lot better by then so I asked Mum to let me out. She said she knew what I was up to and opened the door. I ran straight to our outdoors water bowl and ................. it was gone, vanished, kapoof just like that. I scouted around for it and it was definitely missing so I came back inside bitterly disappointed and Mum just looked smug.

She decided that I was well enough to sleep in my own bed and went back to her bed, so I rang my doorbell over and over till she got up again and put me outside. I fancied a bit of fresh 4 am morning air you see. She's up again now and hasn't given me any breakfast which is really not fair. She hasn't had any breakfast either just a coffee. She's sitting on the couch now and I must say she's looking a bit dopey and vague.

Well I didn't get much sleep last night so I'll just head off to my favorite napping place behind the curtains. Bye.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing all my family and friends a great Christmas and a fantastic 2011 full of fun and lots of sheep herding.
Sheepie kisses from Tiggy.

Well it smells kinda like sheep so I bit it!

Hi, me again.

I am in trouble! Yeah well, its not truly unusual and you can laugh but this time its not fair.

My Mum is knitting a little sheepie toy to pass away the boring hours sitting around at home. She's using this fluffy mohair wool to make the little sheepie all fluffy like me.

Rowdy and I really, really want that wool. We are working on getting it no matter what. Rowdy has the advantage as he can jump up on benches and get into places that I can't. Just before; he managed to steal a ball out of the bag and he sneaked off into the dining room to kill it all by himself.

Well I couldn't have that could I? So I nipped in and stole it off him! Then I made a fatal error, I was so happy at my success, that I ran back into the living room to rip and shred that ball of wool and Mum saw me. She gave a shriek and leaped off the couch and grabbed it off me.

She's not very happy right now. The ball is all slobbered on and I've ripped it apart so it's not really a ball anymore. Also she says her hip is sore from jumping up off the couch all wrong.

Sigh, it smelt kinda sheepish, so I just wanted a little taste.

But then the need to shred overtook me.

IT'S ALL THAT CAT'S FAULT!!!

Christmas Sheesh!!

Everyone gets all excited about Christmas. I'm not sure why but it seems to be the time of year when my Mum gets all keen on making me look, what she calls "pretty". Hrummph!! I don't care for pretty really, scruffy is more my thing.

Pretty involves too much brushing and face washing and 'doing' of my top knot for my liking. My Auntie Monica sent me a whole box of cute hair ties a little while ago. Thanks Auntie Monica (I think).

So the other day Mum washed and brushed my face and did my top knot up and put one of Auntie Monica's Christmas bows in. She said I looked gorgeous and had to take a photo. I hate the camera it flashes lights in my eyes so I looked away or squinted at her a lot. She finally got a photo she liked and left me alone.

Here it is.

I'm thinking the Christmas Grinch rules.

I have a new job. Nursemaid.

Last Wednesday my Mum stayed away overnight. She came home and I heard her say she had an arthroscope on her hip. Now she has these weird sticks that she calls crutches. I don't like them she uses them to stop me getting through the baby gate when I'm not supposed to.

Ever since she came home Mum's been sitting on the couch - a lot. I decided she needs looking after, so I go and sit with her and put my paw up for her to hold and rest my head on her leg.

It's exhausting being a nurse though. So eventually I just have to lie down and get some pats and scratches for all my hard work.

Well gotta go check on my patient. Bye for now.

Ha ha ha it wasn't my turn

YAY!! For once it wasn't me getting groomed!

My Mum went to my Grandma's house and groomed my poodle cousin, Charlie. So I escaped for once. You can tell Charlie really likes being groomed. She runs and hides in her bed.

But even I have to admit that Charlie looks much better after her clip.



I guess that means I probably look better after I'm groomed too. But I'm not a poodle so I don't think its my job to look good. It's my job to chase sheep so I vote for no more grooming for me, the poodle can have it.

Miss Matilda Hiccup

I'm so excited!! My friend Princess Camille has a new sister.
Her name is Matilda Hiccup and her friends call her Tilly.

Here of some pictures of her so you can see how cute she is. Tilly has one brown eye and one blue eye. I have two brown eyes but I have one white ear and one black ear so we kinda match, me and Tilly.

Tilly is such a nice girl and very friendly, here she is giving her sister Kelly Belly a kiss.

When Tilly is grown up enough she is going to compete in free style with her Mom. I bet she will be good at it. I wish Tilly lived closer so I could go and play with her, she lives all the way in America and my Mum says it takes too long to get there. And there's some thing called customs that makes it hard to get back to my home.

Sigh, I will just have to look at the pictures of Tilly playing with her sisters. I hope she's not naughty and doesn't annoy my friend Camille too much. But I guess that's what little sisters are for so Camille you better get ready to be annoyed.

I discovered I can multi-task.

Who ever is in charge of the rain needs to get more organised. After 10 years of drought they've decided to have rain, now, ALL AT ONCE!

I don't like it. I didn't get to go on a walk yesterday and it makes my courtyard all puddles so I get wet tootsies when I need to pee. It rained and rained and rained all yesterday and last night so I wouldn't go out. By this morning I was busting. But I still wouldn't go out, I was worried my toes might dissolve out there. I was kinda thinking I could wait until everyone was somewhere else in the house and then just wee on the floor behind the couch. Hey, it's worked for me before now.

But Mum made Dad coax me outside with my favorite biscuit and then I realised that I can pee and poop even with wet feet, I never realised how good I am at multi-tasking before. I'm still not keen on getting my feet wet though so I'm hoping it gets more like summer real soon and the rain goes away.

PS Do sheep like mud?

It wasn't my fault! Truly. It was the other dog.

Last time I went herding I had a little altercation with another dog. I was minding my own business, busily sniffing all the interesting smells when another dog decided I was too close and snapped at me. Well! I'm not taking that from anyone, so I snapped back and then he jumped up and snarled, and well you get the gist of what happened next.

My Mum didn't like us arguing so she jumped up and yelled "no" and pulled me back. I was busy concentrating on giving the other dog a piece of my mind, so I wasn't ready for the big tug on my lead. I kind of came flying back and bashed into my Mum's knee. There was a very loud crack but my Mum just soldiered on, so I figured she was OK and we went and herded sheep some more.

My Mum has gone and had something called an MRI. I don't know what it is exactly, but it told her that when I bashed into her knee I cracked the bone. Oops, it wasn't my fault! I didn't mean it! I just won't put up with other dogs picking on me. I think it's important to assert myself. And I can take care of myself. My Mum should have just let me give that grumpy boy a proper piece of my mind.

Sorry Mum!!! How long before we can go herding again??

(Well come on..........priorities here) :-)

Thank you Troy and Laura

My Mum took a long weekend and did an agility workshop in NSW. She didn't take me and I don't understand why! She went to a dog friendly facility in a beautiful valley with dog friendly cabins and a river to swim in. It sounds great to me, I just wish I could have gone and met all the other dogs too, there were 3 other sheepies there.

But it was still a fun weekend. Troy and Laura came and stayed and looked after us. They let Rastus and I sit on them and snuggle with them. Here is a photo of me snuggling on the weekend.

My Mum is still asking me how I got my face so dirty, 'cause she washed it before she left. She doesn't realise that it's a skill that I have. It never takes me long to get a dirty face. I can always stick it under the couch cushions or in a pot plant in the back courtyard and voila ............. its dirty just like that. EASY.

Rastus and I had fun and got spoilt lots and Rowdy showed Troy and Laura why his name is Rowdy. We've all agreed that Troy and Laura come come over any time they want.

Thith theep herding ith dangerouth!!

It wath very hot work herding theep yetherday stho my tongue wath hanging out a long way to help me cool off.

I have a lovely big, magnifithent tongue even if I do thay tho mythelf. You can sthee it here after I wath chathing my favorite sthqueaky ball.



I gave one of the theep a nip to get it to hurry along and accthidentally bit my own tongue. Yowie!!! There wath lotth of blood and it got all over my whiteth. My Mom was a bit grumpy with me about that. Sthee thaid it therved me right for being mean to the theep.

I sthill enjoyed mythelf though but will remember to keep my tongue out of the way nexth time I want to nip a theep.

Yippee!!!!

Yay!! Woohoo!!!!

I went sheep herding again today!

Why does everyone one keep telling me that I need to slow down and gain self control?

Watch this video, I'm having a blast.

Hee, hee my Mum was pooped from chasing me. She should lose that rake though. It cramps my style

Get Well Wishes

I am sending a "GET WELL" message to Mexico. It's a special one for my friend Princess Camille's Grandma.

Princess Camille's Mom Monica made me lots of pretty bows for my hair with some special ones for Christmas. She is visiting her Mom now so Monica please tell your Mom to get better and give her a special Sheepie kiss from me.

I am sending her this picture of me waving.

Love Tiggy.

NOT FAIR!!

My Mum spent this long weekend (that's a whole 3 days) staying at my Aunty Lisa's and going to dog shows with my cousins Syd and Babs. And ................ she did NOT take me!!!

I would have loved to go. As long as I just got to sit and laugh at my tomboy cousin Babs, while they did frou frou things to her hair. I wouldn't want any of that girlie, fussy stuff happening to me. It would interfere with my socialising and enjoyment of the day. But it would have been fun to go and meet all those other different dogs. I heard my Mum telling my Dad that there was a Puli at the show on the last day with some of the sheepies. Now I've never met a Puli before and I think I would like to find out what they look like.

And my furDad was there too. He hasn't seen me since I was a baby. I think it would have been nice to get a chance to catch up on the family news and for me to say "hello" to my breeder. I'm sure I could have been fairly well behaved. I probably would have just pulled on my lead a bit when I got excited. And maybe it would have been hard to sit still, but that's ok. Dogs who sit still too much are boring and not as loveable as excitable me.

There was even a dinner because it was the OES National Championship Show but the dogs didn't get to go. I just can't figure that out. How does it work that the OES aren't at the OES Champ Show dinner? I bet there were good things to eat, like chicken and beef and you know, desserts and stuff. But they took the dogs home or left them in their crates in the cars. This does not make sense and is VERY unjust if you ask me. 'Course no one did.

There is only one positive thing I have to say about the whole disgraceful weekend. And that is, that after thoroughly sniffing my Mum up and down and all over I can definitely and categorically say that my Mum didn't go anywhere near any sheeps. So thank goodness I didn't miss out on the bestest thing in the whole world. I would have been very cross if there were sheeps to herd and I missed out!

I gave my Mum a heart attack today.

Today was a lovely sunny 24 degrees celcius and my Mum got home from work early. So she broke her "no white wine during the week" rule. I really don't get this rule, I think if it tastes nice you should have as much as you can get. But in my expert opinion it tastes like medicine, so I'd be avoiding the stuff, but I digress.

The front of my house faces west so my Mum and Dad took their bottle of wine out to sit on the front veranda in the sun. This is a very good thing because they shut the front gate and let Rastus and I out in the weeny little front garden to snuff around. It's really fun!!!

My Mum has always said I'm too smart for my own good and she forgot that I'm really good at opening gates. Due to all the rain we've had after a decade of drought, lots of wooden things are swelling, including the front gate. So Mum  pushed it shut hard but while she was chatting and sipping a lovely sauvignon blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand (Mum says I'm to tell David and Kim that they should join her), I was busy behind the big rosemary bush checking out the gate.

It was most unfortunate that my Mum noticed me making a dash up the footpath. You see I figured out how to get my nose behind the gate and get it open and I know there are cats a couple of doors up and they need a good chasing to let them know that I am a sheep herding boss. But unfortunately I never made it to the cats. I think my Mum was faster off the mark than me. My Dad was still sitting on the outdoor bench wondering what happened and my Mum was already out the gate and after me.

Being the well mannered girl that I am (it was nothing to do with the fact that the cats had already disappeared) I came back when my Mum called me and before I realised it I was back in the titchy front yard with the gate firmly wedged shut.

So sad really, I think I missed out on a great adventure.

My brother made a BIG mistake!

Rastus, my dalmo brother made a big mistake the other day!!

He got to chewing his itchy feet on the sofa again which always makes my Mum a little grumpy as he makes the leather all wet and manky and then it rips.

He must have completely forgotten where he was because after he'd chewed his feet enough that he'd made the hole in the leather a bit bigger he decided to eat chunks out of the foam rubber. He made quite a big hole in the cushion and there were bite size chunks of foam all over. I could see my Mum was really cross when she got home from earning the dog food. (by the way I really want to visit this place where the dog food comes from). My Mum didn't tell him off she said it was too late. She took a picture and sent it to my Dad and my Grandma and then she just cleaned it up.

But then Rastus did something REALLY, REALLY DUMB!! He got up on the sofa, sat right next to my Mum and took a big chomp out of the foam rubber. Wow, how dumb can you get! My Mum really told him off for that.

But get this, the dumbness gets better. A little while later my Dad came home and sat on the sofa and Rastus did it again, another big chomp out of the foam. My Dad didn't notice. He's pretty good at not noticing stuff, like when I want to go outside and when Rastus is chewing his feet. But my Mom was sitting on the other sofa and she notices, so Rastus got another good scolding.

Well my Mum had obviously had enough so she's banned Rastus from the sofas. I thought she was kidding herself when she said that. Keep Rastus off the sofas? NO WAY, he loves the sofas!! But she really meant it so now there is a bit of X-pen stretched across the front of each sofa and Rastus can't get on them.

He's being such a baby about it. He walks around whining and sooking and he can't settle down. Every time Mum or Dad open the X-pen so they can sit down he rushes over and tries to squeeze past. Of course they never let him.

He has a lovely bed all of his own, except that Rowdy the cat likes it too. This is a picture of me testing it out for him. I don't really like beds though I'd rather sleep on the cool tile. Mind you dalmo's are tragically lacking in the hair department. Rastus's tummy is BALD! So maybe that's why he is so weird about wanting to sleep on the sofas.

Maybe he doesn't like his bed 'cause it's pink but he does get in it sometimes.

He fits better than me, so Rowdy shares with him.

Anyway I hope he gets over this sofa thing soon, because I don't think my Mum is going to back down on this one and having a moping, whinging dalmo about the place is starting to get on my nerves.