This is a Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop. Thanks to BlogPaws for the hop. Head over there and see what they are blogging about.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Three of my favorite blog cats, Oscar, Henry, and Archie, were so kind to bestow upon us an award called the Liebster Award. If you do not know them yet (which I think is almost impossible for anyone following kitty blogs) check in on them at: My Three Moggies.
The Moogies asked us the following questions to qualify for the Liebster Award and Noel, the Christmas Cat, is going to answer for the zoo, since she is the oldest and, of course, a cat:
1 – Out of the three Moggies which is your favourite? Archie, because he is almost all white, like me.
2 – What is your favourite treat? Roasted chicken
3 – If you was not the animal you are now what would you have liked to have been? A white tiger
4 – Prefer cats or dogs? Now that is a silly question: Cats Rule – Dogs Drool
5 – Who is your super hero? Simon’s Cat
6 – Do you get the opportunity to sleep with humans? I could, but the babies are on Mom’s bed, Nine and Stella, so I tend to stay in the hall and watch over everyone. The goofy dogs are in their kennels, thank goodness. I wake Mom up sometimes but that is very rare.
7 – How old are you? I am 6 years old today (according to my adoption records)
8 – What is an average day for you? Sleep, eat breakfast in my special spot, sleep, bother Mommy (like I am doing right now in front of the computer screen so that she can not see what she is typing), sleep some more in the office with Mommy while she works, eat dinner in my special spot, sit with Mommy and watch TV, sleep, have a before bed snack on the kitchen floor after the dogs go to bed, sleep in the hall outside Mommy’s room to make sure that everyone is safe.
9 – Are you a clean animal? White cats are impeccably clean!
10 – What are you having for dinner tonight? Some Wellness dry, mixed with some Friskies Wet and water.
Thank you my friends. And now to nominate 3 bloggers who I would like to know more about:
Bacon, of PigLove
Speedy, of SpeedyRabbit
Roxy, of @RoxyTrvlingDog
The questions we have for you are:
1. What is your favorite hiding place?
2. If you could talk to your human for 5 minutes in their language, what would you say?
3. What is your most favorite food?
4. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
5. Do you have a hero?
6. Do you have a bed time?
7. What makes you laugh?
8. What do you do that makes others laugh?
9. Does anything scare you?
10. Do you know how to dance?
Thank you Archie, Henry, and Oscar – this was fun.
– Love Noel, the Christmas Cat, and the rest of the DogDaz zoo: Louise, Sofie, Nine, Stella, and Mom
Noel Winter 08
This is part of the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop from PepiSmartDog.com
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Happy Happy Happy
Loving and being loved is so incredibly important to my being. I figure it is probably important to every being – human and animal (probably plants too). The other evening I was feeling my usual Mommy guilt because I still can not walk the dogs, so I got down on the floor for a good session of tickle the dogs, and Louise, Sofie and I spent about 30 minutes in a message, scratching, cuddling, (biting each other), rolling session. It has been a long time since I have seen Louise grin in that special safe way that she does only for me. She has this little ecstasy grin. A grin that says “I am in a place that is so special, so safe, that I can relax (for a moment).” Getting a smile from Louise is extra special because she doesn’t do it often.
Sofie is my smiler. She smiles at everything. It doesn’t take much to make that girl happy. But Lulu, she is the challenge. She never lets her guard down and it is hard to know when she is happy. My dogs are a true mix of me. I smile all the time (like Sofie), but very few people know when I am really happy (like Louise). That is because, like Louise, I almost never relax or let my guard down.
Here is today’s lesson from my dogs (the animals teach me so much). My greatest happiness is in the moment. It is when I am doing things like showing love (like the cuddle fest we had). At times like that I am thinking of nothing but the cuddle or romp with the dogs. I am focused on the pure moment; relaxed and safe, If the dogs had the camera instead of me, I think you would have seen who was really smiling. My dogs make me feel safe, they relax me, they protect me, and most of all, they teach me what I need to do and how to do it. To find greater happiness and relaxation, I only need listen to the animals.
Thank you Lulu Belle and Sofie Bear.
This is part of the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop from PepiSmartDog.com
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Sofie’s Smile
Sofie’s smile can make you melt. Some dogs, no matter how much trouble they can get into, just have that energy and personality that you have to love. Miss Sofie Bear is lucky because she has this killer dog smile to back up her personality. She is one of those dogs that tends to have a smile on her face most of the time. It must be the way her muzzle and jaws are, but I don’t really care much about that: to me she is a ‘smiler.’ A lot of people think this picture of her is ‘photo shopped’ but it is not. It was taken by her puppy trainer last year. She is just a happy girl. I started to wonder if dogs smile for the same reason humans do? It does seem like they smile when they are happy. Or did we humans create that response in them? In my research over the years on wolf behavior, I have learned that pulling back the lips but not showing the teeth (canines) is a submissive gesture (showing the teeth on the other hand is an aggressive gesture). A lower wolf will ‘smile’ at the alpha to show deference to position. Alpha’s on the other hand very rarely ‘smile’ because they do not need to. So I have been watching when Sofie smiles: (1) When she has done something wrong and wants to make sure that I am not going to yell at her (which is also when she rolls on her back and shows me her belly – another submissive gesture). (2) When she is really calm and staring at me. (3) When she is on a mission looking for something or is really having fun in a game.
I wonder if I encouraged the smiling behavior because of the praise and pats on the heads that she receives when she does it? “Oh, how cute! (pat pat pat)” Did I condition the response? When does your dog smile?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Squash E Bear was a great traveling dog. He just loved the car. His large body would take up the whole back seat and he would lay low and ride along. Or if there was a window open, he would position his head, just inside, to have the breeze ruffle his ears. Ah, those were the days. Squash came everywhere with me. He always went on road trips north to NY or Connecticut, and I even took him to Niagara Falls (Canada side) one year. I put together all the needed documentation that you must have when traveling with a pet: vaccinations, microchip info, and even a signed note from the vet (when crossing the border). Finding pet friendly accommodations was easier than I thought, though the quality of some of the lodgings left a little to be desired.
In Niagara we stayed at this great Best Western with a million other dogs and we took some great walks with super views of the falls.
Everyone liked when I brought Squash with me because he was so well-behaved and basically just plopped down wherever he landed and smiled at you. He and I had some pretty cool adventures over the years – like that time he really needed to go pee, so I pulled into a public park, not knowing that dogs are banned from public parks on Long Island, and all these people were giving us dirty looks until a Park Ranger chased us out. Live and learn.
Louise and Sofie aren’t the best car dogs. They bark, they whine, and sometimes, I think Sofie is just plain nauseated by the whole thing. Makes me miss traveling with Squash. Maybe when the girls get older they will be better car dogs. Time will tell.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Happiness
Louise loves to have her head scratched. Actually, she loves to have under neither her neck scratched so much that she bends her head back so far she looks like a otter. I don’t have any picture of her like that because I am always busy scratching her neck and am not that good with the camera in my other hand. Lulu can be a very serious dog. I think because she is a fearful dog, she thinks a lot about things before she does them. But she has a funny and fun side too, I just need to remember sometimes to pull it out of her. You really need to understand the personality of your dog, especially when they are the quiet type, to get them to laugh and do silly things with you. Louise likes to make me laugh. She will bury her head against me and do a total body tumble – then she will start to just get overly crazy and roll on her back.
Lulu in the leaves (being serious)
Lulu sitting and staring
She also loves to sit on her hunches and stare at you. She doesn’t need to be leaning on anything, she just sits She is a big hugger and likes to put her arms around you and give you a hug, She is just the right height to place her head under my mousing hand and make it jump. Of course this is a queque that she thinks I have sat at the idiot box for long enough and it is now time to go play with her and Sofie (well, really just her – sometimes I think she wishes I would leave Sofie inside – or sell her to the Gypsies). I try to spend quality time with each of my animals (but with 7 it is kind of hard). Louise and I have a very close relationship and I make sure to give her personal tummy rubs and tumbles and ball tosses every day. She is a Mama’s girl and really sticks to me like glue. I never thought about owning a black dog or a short hair (I always had fluffy dogs) and we weren’t looking for one when we stumbled upon a rescue event at the pet store that day, 2 years ago. The coordinator of the event pushed this very fearful, mangy (yes, she really had dry manage all over) our way. Sometimes you just have to listen to the universe, because boy do I love this dog! Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo! ❤
