Monday, November 24, 2008

My fav cartoon characters

Met the Lion King. Like him coz he looks like the real deal – The Boss. I always dream of the day when I takeover the top dog mantle at my neighbourhood park, then I'll get to order everyone around ... ha ha. Also saw his personal advisor, the wise old monkey who was harping away in the background.

Took photos with Bruce the Shark of ‘Finding Nemo’ fame. Like him coz he’s got huge jaws and massive teeth, which will certainly come in handy in keeping the larger and meaner dogs at bay. If I had jaws like that, I'll certainly be the top dog at my park!
Bumped into Pluto as well, Goofy’s best friend. He seemed larger than life and was contented with laying on the ground just taking in the sun. He looked more like a Goofy than a Pluto to me ...
Met the High School Musical … sign.

In the pet friendly mall, I caught up with the Toy Soldiers and tried my very best to assume a similar steadfast stance - Attention! Now, I just have to grow a moustache to fit right in ... am working hard at it but only seem to be successful in producing mere whiskers.

Also said hi to Spiderman, who was lounging around at a corner. He appeared a little overweight. Wonder if he needs a caped canine crusader as back up … Spiderdog anyone?

After all that mingling with the rich and famous, I popped into the cool ‘Fullhouse’ lifestyle store cum café recommended by Amber the GR. Very nice and caught a couple of Huskies having a cuppa at the side.

These famed cartoon characters will be hanging around at the NZX mall till Xmas, so catch them while you can. NZX is the only pet friendly open mall in the country, so that's really cool. Let's hope it stays that way ... we can all do our bit by keeping it spic n span.

Monday, November 10, 2008

SPCA KL Tower World Animal Day - 2 Nov

SPCA held the WAD celebrations at the KL Tower, one of the main tourist attractions in town, and guess what … pets were invited along, dogs included! What a novelty it was for us to be allowed at this well featured landmark. SPCA was looking for guest performers to spice up the event and attract public attention. There were a variety of acts lined up comprising of singers, bands, hip hop and Brazilian dancers, cheerleaders, dog agility and OB demo by the puppy people, and a Canadian DJ hosting the event. Mr Owner signed me up as well and I got a personal invite under the billing of ‘Groovy the Dancing Dog’. SPCA also asked for interesting animal photos for the photo exhibition on the same day and they selected one of Mr Owner’s shot of me in a suspended mid-air balletic pose. They put up a poster sized print of the shot at the main entrance with Mr Owner’s name at the bottom, which was cool. By the way, I'm not into the girly ballet stuff, just me trying to head my football into the next field (top left pic).There were a few interesting stalls on display and even the Star Wars folks turned up to add to the festive mode. Not too sure what to make of the bloke in the kinky red rubber helmet, totally weird man.'Hey, what happened to all the good guys?!!'

Timing was slightly odd running from 12 - 6pm under the blazing sun, The weather was an organizer’s nightmare, hot sweltering afternoon followed by rain in the evening. Just managed to slot in my dancing demo before the rain fell. By then, it was like a sauna and most people hid under the canopies or decided to head home.
As usual, the pounding music from the huge speaker systems got me overexcited and I thought we were at a rave dance concert. Spent too much time putting my paws up in the air, prodding Mr Owner’s bum and getting into a trance, instead of moving in rhythm with him. But I somehow still managed to pull through the more demanding and trickier sections and it ended up being a passable performance. Mr Owner said that if I keep on jumping up to prod him, he will tie my legs to his for the next performance … now that would be a real act!
I like this photo. They say that a picture says a thousand words ... just goes to show that not all have a warped sense of insecurity in the company of dogs. The young lady above even gave me a hug and a peck afterwards, sweet!Yet again, pet hygiene was an issue as the organizers didn’t allocate a predetermined spot as the doggie loo. Even then, owners should have the common sense to bring their dogs to the grass every couple of hours to do their business. Noted several ‘pools’ at the main area which were conveniently covered with paper and not properly cleaned up. In the extreme humid conditions, the stench soon became noticeable and lucky for all, the rain came and camouflaged much of the smell. I wouldn’t blame KL Tower if they had second thoughts about inviting dogs again for future events.
The crowd pretty much dwindled after the rain. The dog demos by the puppy people was conducted at the car park area. Yet again, they decided to hold agility demos on unforgiving tarmac surface which doesn’t bode well for the dogs’ paws. Pity the demo dogs but the puppy people never learn. Wonder how these humans would feel if asked to run bare feet and jump hurdles on a hot tarmac surface …

Monday, November 03, 2008

My name is Groovy, I’m a compulsive Gambler

Notched up another title from PAA Penang after recording my 3rd qualifying run in the Gamblers 1 class … the Gamblers Dog agility title. Sweet, now I can add a new set of initials to my name card: Groovy, M.A.CH., G.D. Other than making my name seem longer than usual, the titles don’t actually come with any privileges or freebies. With a title such as Gamblers Dog, was hoping that I would be awarded a VIP membership in the popular Genting Highlands Casino, but guess I’m still on the waiting list for that one.PAA held marathon agility trials over 3 days from 25 - 27 Oct at the excellent Sri Pinang school field which was just perfect for dog sports. The school grounds was huge with a healthy carpet of grass, surrounded by large towering trees and an impressive colonial style building. There was plenty of space for me to play and runabout. There was so much space that I could even lie in the middle of the grounds while the humans laid out the course. Soon attracted the unwanted attention of the resident guard dog, Jojo the Boston Terrier, who came over to secure his territory. Normally I would have obliged with a couple of my wrestle mania moves but have heard how tough Boston Terriers can be, so I decided to back down. Besides I had more important things to do, like searching for my lost ball.It turned out to be a fruitful event, with Kofi the Curly Coated Retriever achieving his Gamblers title during the same weekend. Also got to see an Akita, St Bernard and Rottweiler in action doing jumpers agility, which was intimidating and exciting at the same time. The Rottie was quick and he took the jumpers class in 19secs. The Akita and St. needed more coaxing and the handlers actually ran with a finger licking KFC drumstick in hand to entice them along!PAA also held the first Open agility class and I recorded a clean run over 2 sessions. Personally felt that the course wasn’t demanding enough, bearing in mind that the Open class is the penultimate class for agility sport. Was expecting to see more side switches, crossovers, U-turns and traps but it turned out to be relatively straightforward courses. Perhaps, we have become too accustomed to the smaller rings and tighter layouts in KL.On the other hand, the Gamblers 2 class was pretty tough with 6 weave poles, a tunnel and U-turn thrown into the closing sequence. I lost the plot on this one and kept running back to Mr Owner while he frantically wave me away to take the obstacles on the outer side. Now, that’s challenging and will have to work on it to have any chance of making the gamble.
In between, I also had time to check out the beaches and soak by the seaside, after some frantic frisbee catching. Bumped into Quinssie and Amber the GRs from Penang and they were having a grand time swimming in the sea. Now, if only KL had a beach, I’ld open my very own surf school.
I love the sunsets in Penang Isle.

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