Maggie's Challenge for 2008

I've been a little bit lazy about blogging. Its not because nothing's been happening, but because well, I've been enjoying hanging out, chasing Larry's (lizards), demanding attention from Them, and generally just having a blast.

I've been to the beach a couple of times too, north to Sunrise Beach,







and south to Kingscliff!








But I've taken time out from my summer vacation to show that this Philanthropooch is always thinking of new ways to make a difference. My next plan is to issue a challenge to all my 4 legged friends to do good. You know how Westie Walkers raised $291.70 at Westies on Parade for GDQ? Well, I think we can do better! In fact I know we can!

So, for the whole of 2008 until our final Westie Walkers Walk, I am going to raise money myself! I have declared that every time I poop on command or stop barking on command, a notation will be made in my Personal Notebook. At the end, I will count all my marks. For each mark I earn 50c. I reckon I can make a small fortune. I'm generally well behaved, and with a little extra effort on my part, and driven by the incentive to help others, there's no reason why She should be the only one to benefit from my good behavior.

Granted She has expended a lot of time, money and effort on my Good Behavior Education, but well, as JFK once said “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”

So, my challenge to the Westie (and Wannabe Westie) Nation for 2008 is: "What will you do to benefit others in 2008?"

Third Life

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis will remember Cousin Hamill who came to play with me while staying next door at Eric and Elsie and landed up getting a Second Life when he got a new home with Cath's Pack.

Anyway, She and Cath made plans to go out for lunch and Cath brought Hamill over to play for the duration. He was left in charge of supervising us and it was just as well. Now, although I am SO not a cuddle dog, it doesn't mean I have to like it when whoever is here playing with me gets cuddles from Them. There was Hamill being all cute and adorable and asking for attention. So He had Hamill on His lap and Hamill was having a great time! Until He found a Bump...

While stroking Hamill's head, He found a Bump on Hamill's brow. It was grey and big. So He was duly concerned and showed it to Eric and Elsie's Pack Leader. Although chatting over the fence, there was no sitting on the fence with this one - diagnosis - TICK!

Eric and Elsie's Pack Leader raced off to the vet with young Hamill, the tick was duly extracted and the verdict: he would have died within a day He hadn't found the tick right there and then!!

So Hamill, without even logging on, got a Third Life! And all was good in the world again.

Good Grief!

She hates shopping. I mean Really Hates shopping. She can only do it in 2 hour spells (including travel and parking time) and even then only after two months of psychological preparation for the event. Its painful to watch. Invariably, She has nothing to show for Her efforts. Fortunately, if its shopping for me, then of course, its Girl's Day Out, I get very excited about the unexpected adventure, and we always find something - I am very easily pleased, even if its only temporarily and unrelated to food...

But life has taken a turn for the worse. She had a shopping experience somewhat equivalent to my bathing experiences - enticing and full of promise as the idea takes hold (see above - tail is up, just) but then sadly, the reality... I think you can see what I mean.

So She, who has made several attempts at sewing in the past, under my supervision of course, has decided to sew Her own clothes. Good Grief! At least the blankies She made stayed indoors and could be snuggled on to hide all the mistakes...no need to mention the people who got them are asleep when they used them.

Anyway, believe it or not, off She went and came back with some sewing stuff. She was only gone an hour. She seriously need help because She couldn't understand the instructions on the pattern. She asked Her friend Google what things meant, but Google said "Sigh, maybe you should get a book out the library".

Undaunted, She tried to drag me off to the library on the pretext of a walk, but after I poo'd across the road, I refused to go any further. It's getting pretty steamy these days and I wasn't about to walk on hot coals and She was forced to take me back home and go to the library Herself.

When She got back stuff was strewn all around our library. I tried to hide the pattern, close my eyes and pretend it wasn't happening. But if She's nothing else, She is persistent, determined, optimistic and I hope I don't have to go out with Her if She ever wears what She makes.


But I was proud of Her ignorant resilience in the face of adversity. It took a day, but She managed to pin all the pattern pieces on the material - I tried to help where I could, but tomorrow She is going to seek expert advice before She actually cuts anything up. She went to this store and the lady told her not to buy any of their fabrics just yet until She figured out how to sew something wearable. The lady was very kind and offered to help facilitate the process. The lady has no idea what she's in for...

Maggie's Kitchen Episode 2

Well, I figured with the Hollywood Scriptwriter's strike going on indefinitely, I thought you could do with some quality material and decided it was time to bring you Episode 2 of Maggie's Kitchen. Just in time for Christmas preparations too. You know, us doggies like a banquet, and its important not to feed us the fatty, gravy coated scraps from the Pack Table. Cooked bones aren't good for us dogs either, no matter how good that BBQ smells!

So last time we covered my basic vegetable side dish. The vegetables accompany all my meals, although its not necessary to do it like that. You could for example, have your whole vegetable allowance as a meal either in the morning or evening. Generally speaking, my food portions are calculated as a % of my body weight, but I always get my daily allowance, well, daily.

Some Dog Food experts advocate a day of fasting or a day where a dog could just have a Big Bone to chew, but being a foodie, I don't respond well to missing meals and They would rather not hear about it...and believe me, They'd hear about it. As you can see here, I'll eat my meal before I get stuck into a bone any day! That's because my meals are so scrummy! Of course, I'll take food any time it's on offer, or even if it's not...


So the next thing I'm going to show you is how to make veal or lamb meals. First She goes out hunting and gets lamb and veal. Then She cuts the slabs up into bite size chunks so that I don't swallow the whole lot - because I do try to eat as fast as I can when I get it. She makes little packs of exactly the right amount for a meal.



As Head Chef and Floor Supervisor, I watch over the whole process. It's entirely possible that if the portion is not quite the right weight, I will get a random taste to ensure consistent quality across all packets. Then She puts them away in my freezer drawer in ordered piles. If She could, She would use Her labeller, but despite Her need to label, pack, tidy and color coordinate everything in the house, even She can see that meat is meat and vegetables are vegetables, so She doesn't label the packets. Some days I'm just grateful I don't have a label stuck to me saying "Dog - Maggie"...

I love my lamb or veal meals. She often adds a sliver of avocado to provide omega oils. I do love avocado mmmm.






But at meal times I have to wait until She says I can eat before I get to tuck in. Like cutting the meat up, it's one of Her strategies to make sure I don't inhale my food, so to speak. If I bark on the way from Maggie's Kitchen to my deck, I have to wait longer. I try Really hard not to bark, but sometimes I get pretty excited about the prospect of food! She stands next to me and when I've been quiet and good, She gives a nod or says OK and I scamper over to my bowl and down the hatch it goes! Yum!!