Rescue Animals Wishing You Happy New Year

My Best Wishes for a Healthy and Happy 2010



With love from
Linguini, dalmatian and german shorhaired pointer mix, adopted ten years ago
Frankie, a chiweenie, adopted a year ago
Max, a maine coon cat, adopted 2 years ago
Bob and Jet, the famous tailless twins, adopted 4 years ago
And me, a three-legged tiny tea cup chihuahua, adopted 3 years ago

Peace on earth and ... Adopt a Pet!

Twinkie

Wordless Wednesday | Cat Bed

"Cat bed"

Twinkie

Chihuahua And Chiweenie Locked Up

I had the most upsetting day. I spent most of it locked up in Mommy's room with the chiweenie - bratwurst and three (!) cats! Whatever happened to my dignity? Why would Mommy punish me so? She blamed it on Deputy Dog (aka The Walrus, that's what I call this mastiff). Not only was I stuck in the room for several hours, I had to listen to Frankie screaming her head off.

The Walrus

After the Walrus's departure, I expected Mommy to make it up to us. Instead, she took off with Linguini, the dalmatian and german shorthaired pointer mix. She told me I'd be safer at home because I was a small dog. When she got back, I was going to have a chat with her, but she looked so sad, I didn't have the heart to. She had gone deeper into the Angeles Crest National Forrest and she had seen more of the Station Fire aftermath. Linguini looked more grey rather than black and white from the soot.

Angeles Crest National Forrest, Dec. 29, 2009

Later yet, when I was completely convinced Mommy was going to make it up to Frankie and me, she took off with Frankie! It's Tuesday, dog obedience training day. Again, I was left behind. Mommy came home glowing with pride. Apparently lil' chiweenie had aced her dog obedience training class, again.

And the best dog obedience training student award goes to ... Frankie!
I even got dog treats!

Ugh. "What about me?" I wanted to scream as Mommy pulled me aside and gave me a special sweet potato treat. Did she really think I could be bribed so easily? Aha! Affirmative. 'Cause I love my Momma, she's the best and tomorrow I bet she'll make it up to me.

I'm feeling pretty confident she will.

Twink!

The Holidays Can Be Exhausting to Small Dogs and Cats

We went to the horse barn again yesterday. After we played for many hours there, we went to another barn about an hour away to check out Sister D's next horse. It was extremely cold both places. There were dozens of us rescue dogs both places too, which means that tons of energy were expanded. Add to all this exercise all the holiday hustle and bustle, the extra cookies, the visitors, the fact that we're eating turkey that naturally calms you down....We're all oh-so-tired!

Jet started to yawn first.

Bob was next.

Okay, so I was tired too.

And The chiweenie... collapsed of course!

You can probably tell from our faces, we've been enjoying every minute of the holidays. I'm also extremely happy to share the news that our friend Twix is healthy! I also got the Gnarls Bark-ley CD I had asked for along with the "get out of jail free card"! I'm stocked.

Twink!

Adopt A Pet | The Barn

Apparently there was some confusion about The Barn. What is it? What am I doing there? Here's the scoop: my human sissy, Sister D, is an avid rider and has been since she was five years old. Her barn, where she practices, is more than dog friendly. Most people there, have rescue dogs (between 2-10 each), and believe me when I say that's not all they've rescued. They're all completely committed to animal rescue--of all sorts. Small dog rescue, large dog rescue, horse rescue, cat rescue... Our barn has it all.  It's dog heaven , I tell you! I love going there. We're all welcome and we all welcome each other. We're grateful to have nice homes and a lovely playground around gorgeous horses that we interact with. Here are some of my barn photos. I hope you get the feel.

In this photo, I'm riding Parker. I ride bareback too.

I have to use these steps to mount Parker, but somebody left me an insurmountable obstacle.

Some of the other rescue dogs, my co-rescues.
See the pug and dachshund puppies?

My BFF, Boomer, the chihuahua, sunning himself on a cold and sunny winter day.

Many of the horses are very interested in what we do
Maddi, the blue heeler, is our leader

A break for a brief chihuahua and chiweenie meeting on strategy.

Here's my Boom Boom again, when he was younger. We've been friends for a while.

I am the happiest when I'm at the barn. It makes me want to dance with joy!

I hope you enjoyed my little tour. The barn and our hiking adventures motivate me to get stronger and healthier every day.

Twink!

A Chihuahua Wishes You A Merry Christmas

Ho, ho, ho...

As a formerly homeless dog, currently a rescue with a great forever home, I feel privileged, as I always do this time of the year. I have a loving family, a roof over my head, and food in my bowl. I am grateful and so is the rest of my family. May your Christmas be filled with joy, laughter, love, and yummy treats. This is also a good time for a couple of reminders: adopt a pet and don't forget to recycle, my furriends.

Peace,

Twink!

Pet Adoption Galore | Jumping With Joy

You know by now that Frankie, Linguini, and I love our hikes. Today, I'd like to share our favorite pastime in the whole world: Our barn visits. We love our visits so much that our feet barely touch the ground while we're there.

Here's the proof:

Do you believe me now? This was our early Christmas treat. Of course Linguini was there too, among numerous rescue dogs. I'll be sure to share more of our barn day as soon as possible. Mommy and human sis are decorating the tree and I'd love to join them (yes, they sure took their time!)

Twink!

Chiweenie Trip Trapping Over My Vlog?

This is the last part of the trilogy; the bridge saga continued, now in vlog form. I hope you like my little video. It is the bare truth. The chiweenie, the linguini, and the tiny chihuahua on a cold winter day, playing by the infamous bridge. I need to warn you that there is some fighting, a near fall, and lots of stalking and jumping. To me, the scariest part is that Linguini allows the freezing water to touch her body and even seems to enjoy it.



Rescue dogs gone wild!
Twink!

Chiweenie Trip Trapping Over My Blog? (part deux)

In case anybody was wondering how yesterday's story ended:

Out of nowhere, the Lake Monster reared its head and gobbled me up

Okay, just messing with you. This is our BFF Mable (the rottweiler and greyhound mix). She just looks scary in this photos. She's actually a doll, a lamb, a lover not a fighter.  Here is the real ending...

While I was working on my stakeout technique, the chiweenie brat spotted me and waited on the other side. I noticed that and I

chaaarged!

And this brings us to the grand finale:

Chihuawars!

Disclaimer: No animals were hurt, not even The Chiweenie Beast!

After play-fighting, we got towel dried and drove home where we ate with great appetite and then crashed on the couch (where my heating pad is). For all of you Frankie fans, know one thing, I love my baby sister. After all, I wished every day for her arrival before she was even adopted.

Twink!

Chiweenie Trip Trapping Over My Blog?

Everyone familiar The Three Billy Goats Gruff, with the mean ugly troll that lived under the bridge, waiting to eat the billy goats? Well, after yesterday's shenanigans my chiweenie sissy pulled, I, a tiny tea cup chi, am feeling like the troll. I'm going to stake her out as she crosses the bridge. She can all the small dog rescue for all I care, as long as they let me be.

And then I'm going to gobble her up!
Twink!

Chiweenie Gets A Turn

Hello, I'm Frankie. I'm Twinkie's baby sis and I've taken over the blog for today while my tea cup chihuahua sister is enjoying the warm sun outside. At last, she lefted me alone for a bit. I know she telled you I'm the one who is bugging her, but it is not the full truth. She thinks she's my mama and she scolds me all the time. She scoldeded me this morning when I peed on mama's quit. Potty training tips anyone? I don't like being yelled at and that makes me want to pee more, do they not understand that? I wanted to explain my side of the story. First off, I'm a chiweenie and I'm a pup. I'm not even a year old. It's not easy to potty train a puppy. Second of all, I'm adapting. I've been to too many homes, I can't remember how many. You understand my confusion. To make this more interesting, mama signed me up for dog obedience training, something that pisseded the tea cup chihuahua off even more. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I can tell you that I'm a very sweet girl and I love my family, even Jet the black kitty who waits for me around the corner to doink me on the head. At first this startleded me, but I'm used to it now. Sometimes I even pretend I'll get her back, and laugh when she runs away. Tee hee hee. I'm getting tired from writing so many words, but I wanted to say "hello" to everyone and make sure you all know what a good girl I am.
I also know how to upload videos. Here's one. Mom's a big tease, she's on the other side of the screen (tee hee hee).

Please ignore the ears (they're still under construction). Just focus on my melodic voice.

Frankie the Bratwurst

A Dirty Post For a Cute Maltese Friend

Inspired by Sonic's the Maltese's blog, I decided to discuss "tooting." Sonic claims he can fart all colors of the rainbow. I'm very impressed. Mine are just smelly. It's Linguini who has the most interesting fart-ventures in our family. I wonder if it's the dalmatian or the german shorhaired pointer in her that toots the smelliest. She's got a tiny bum and when she toots it sounds like a stifled trumpet. Yes, there's always a warning. As soon as the trumpet sounds: A. Linguini looks stunned then starts looking around for the perp, B. the rest of us scram! She's had 10 long years to find out where the noise comes from, you'd think she'd have it figured out. Tsk-tsk.



Thanks for the inspiration, Sonic.
Twink!

If A Red House Is Made Of Red Bricks

Phew! I'm lucky it's Wednesday, because, really, what could I say to this? The cat has the answer...

Or this?

Twink!

Helpless Chiweenie

Helpless ...


And hopeless, if you ask me. Maybe you guessed it. I'm talking about Frankie, the needy bratwurst chiweenie. Two posts ago, I included a link showing Frankie "stranded" on a rock, crying, appearing unable to get herself out of the situation. Wrong! She could have gone either forward or backwards. Instead, unlike us properly trained rescue dogs, she complained making puppy sounds that could easily have attracted nearby coyotes thus endangering all our lives. That's my sissy though. She's off to dog obedience training class with our mother as I share with you a few helplessly pathetic photos.

Huh? Who me? What? Duh!

If I stand here looking sad, somebody will notice.

Noo, get away from me. You're not the real Santa. Mommy!

It's too muddy. I'll just park it here and wait for someone to pick me up

(does she really thing it's that simple to rescue dogs?)

For the grand finale now:

Help, somebody help me!

Mind you, the threat in the last photo is no other than our bestie and co-hiker Mabel Lou. A sweetheart of a rottweiler and greyhound mix. Doink! And my poor mom is trying to educate THAT?

Twink!

Pet Photo Contest Among Friends

I'm having so much fun that I keep forgetting I have children books to promote! So, my friends, I decided to start a little friendly pet photo contest. I guess you know by now, I like fun, therefore, this is going to be a FUN contest. I realize some of you may not have Facebook accounts, but since I'm new at this, I decided it would be simple to give FB a shot. We'll know soon enough whether that was a wise choice or not.

If you choose to join us, upload your funniest pet photos and we all get to vote. Go to the fan photos and click the "like" button. If you want to vote more than once, just type in "Like" and your vote will count.  We all get to see what goes on, every step of the way. I don't like rules much, so knock yourselves out, vote for one, for two, for all... Every vote counts.

In the end, I'm going to send the first place winner a copy of my book (paw-graphed by me). Second place gets a 2010 Twinkie Calendar, and third gets a Twinkie mug. Let's have some fun.

Oh, today's title will lead you straight to my web site's Contest page. If you want to skip that step and go straight to my fan page, click HERE. :)

Title:Twinkie's Funniest Dog Contest - Pet Photo Contest (all critters always welcome)

Location: Twinkie's Fan Page

Ends: January 4, 12:00 p.m.

Dog Rescue Mission

In Between Storms



It's been raining for days and our home is almost at war. Us canines are on each other's case and then there's the felines too, getting on our nerves as well. We've got cabin fever. We went on our own dog rescue mission, the goal was the save ourselves from boredom, stiff joints, and weight gain.

As soon as there was a break in the weather, mommy got us ready and off we went to visit the newly formed rivers.

Frankie, the chiweenie, got stuck in the middle of a stream, I, the tiny tea cup chihuahua, got distracted and left behind for over 30 seconds, Linguini, the largest and heaviest of the pack, a dalmatian and german shorthaired pointer mix, got stuck in the mud, multiple times, and momma started sniffling. It was cold, wet, and very muddy. Oh, and by the time we started heading back, Linguini and Frankie, the "brave" ones (the one's who got their feet wet in the freezing water) both had the runs. BOL! They're all gonna be fine. I'm only worried about my tiny nose, because they're tooting non-stop.

I'm the only one awake at the moment. Frankie and Linguini are sleeping by the side of our mom's desk, dreaming of our next hike, snoring and tooting. Dog rescue mission accomplished! What a great day!

Oh, I almost forgot. I posted a really short video of our hike.

Twink!

Topsy Turvy Review By A Tea Cup Chihuahua

Do you ever watch infomercials? We do. Our mom has this habit of waking up in the middle of the night, every night, and since all she wants it to go back to sleep, she turns on the TV and we watch infomercials. Once in a while, something catches her attention. This time it was the Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter, a new way to grow mainly tomato plants in an unorthodox way, hanging them upside down.

We all went to the store, bought rich potting soil, the "ideal" tomato fertilizer, and two lovely baby tomato plants. Back home, we followed the instructions to the letter and within a few minutes, ta-da, our Topsy Turvy was ready. I could tell, Mommy couldn't wait. 

Every day she would go to her seedlings and water them and check their growth. Finally, a few weeks later, there was a beautiful tomato bush sticking out of the bottom. Mom was thrilled. "I'm going to make the best tomato-mozzarella salads," she'd tell my human bro and sis. I don't care for tomatoes, but I do care about my mommy and I was just as excited as she was. 

And then one fine day...

...need I say more, or can you see that Linguini (a dalmatian and german shorthaired pointer mix) is wearing the bush? Mom had tethered her while the cable guy was home. Perhaps Linguini felt like rebelling? BOL!

In case you were wondering, we got about 3 small tomatoes out of this experiment. Mom didn't even comment on the taste. Good job, Linguini, not! 

Twink!

How To Potty Train A Puppy - Piss on Earth!

Piss on Earth!

Mom's been talking to the Dip Dip pack of tiny chihuahuas about how to potty train a puppy, and after hearing that Elliot still prefers his wee pad to the cold outdoors, she started thinking in a new direction. She's been trying to potty train Frankie for almost nine months now. Mom also read that the chiweenie is particularly tough to potty train. To make matters even more interesting, we're in the middle of a few storms over here in Cali. So, one plus one equals: wee pads! Duh!

Really now, does this face look like it can be trained?

Currently, I'm enjoying the newfound peace in the house, while wrinkling my tiny nose thanks to the smell of piss, but that should only last 'till the end of the rain season. 

Twink!

Horse Training

Zamiro, the greatest horse on earth!

I finally got it! I won't say a word. Not a single word. I will not make a comment on the nail polish, and I won't tell you that this was my human sissy's horse and we're best pals. Shhh... I'm horse training, right? BOL!
Twink!

Dog Obedience Training and How to Potty Train a Puppy

An Unconventional Long Weekend

Mom was indeed gone all weekend to attend some USC event. She left Saturday night and didn't come home 'till yesterday. I had a great time because I do love our sitter even though she takes us for walks instead of hikes. The weather was cold and Frankie, the chiweenie, and I, the tea cup chihuahua, didn't want to go out often, which meant that Frankie had a "few" accidents. Anybody that knows how to potty train a puppy, please speak up. We stayed inside, bundled up and visited with our sitter who gave us nice treats and let all of us sleep with her at night. Meanwhile, our mother was out of control. I asked her to post my blog several times, but she was too excited about her firstborn and some USC athletic event he was participating in and ignored me. I can't quite blame her, being so happy for her son, but how could she forget I'm not tall enough to get up on our computer desk? She didn't even bother setting up my ramp.

Then, when she finally got back from the USC water polo finals, she had to take care of her daughter who got very ill during their trip. I missed my mom and couldn't wait for her to pay attention to me, but my human sister was so sick, I just had to be understanding. She's better already; she's recovering.

Finally, I figured it was my turn and got real excited. I started hopping around Mom trying to catch her attention, but she was in a rush again. She had to take Frankie to dog obedience training. What on earth does Mom think? Does she think that Frankie's some kind of genius who will learn a bunch of commands? I doubt that, but I'll keep you updated on my sissy's progress. OMD! This should be fun.

Frankie after dog obedience training

After class, at last, I got my mom back. It was sweet. She apologized for not paying more attention to me and after spending quality time together and a lovely meal of kibble mixed with my favorite chicken soup, she set me up at the computer. I guess we'll figure out how to potty train a puppy soon. If we're lucky, the dog obedience training will make our chiweenie more disciplined on all respects.

Aaaaah...life is good.

Twink!

Dalmatian | Short Haired Pointer Escapee - The Resolution

Our family is not unlike most of yours. We fight and we make up. Our fights are unimportant, unless of course they're safety related; that's probably why our mom got mad at dalmatian lookalike yesterday when she escaped.

Today was a brand new day and all was forgotten. Mom had several talks with spotted dog, reminding her to wait for her hike. Linguini did as she was told for a change, so off we went to our beloved Arroyo Seco.



By the end of our long and leisurely hike, all of us, the dalmatian german shorthaired pointer, the tea cup chihuahua and the chiweenie, were all tired, thirsty, and happy to have a home to go back to. We saw some horses, passed some frisbee golfers, survived a landslide...



It was one beautiful afternoon. Dirty and exhausted we got in the car.



Twink!

Dalmatian - German Shorthaired Pointer Escapee

Family Trouble

I just got back from a short hike with my sissy, Frankie, the chiweenie. I can't say it was the most enjoyable walk. For starters, Mother was mean to Linguini, the biggest and oldest dog in our home. Mother, left Linguini behind. I would be devastated if that happened to me, but again, I'm a tiny tea cup chihuahua. Now, you may wonder, why was Linguini left behind, if not for health reasons? Well, to be absolutely frank, Linguini is an escape artist. One of her nicknames is indeed Houdini. Tonight, Linguini took off right after dinner and started raiding other people's homes for left-overs. Mom worries too much when my dalmatian and german shorthaired pointer sissy's gone, I get that; however, I believe that she does not need worry quite as much. Linguini is street savvy and very fast, even now that she's 10. She needs to roam, I get it. The only thing that I worry about is that sometimes our neighbors call the pound and no rescue pup likes to have the pound knocking on their front door.
Needless to say, our walk was a sad one. Frankie, Mommy, and I were all missing Linguini.

The proof! Linguini on her way out

(of course we stopped her after taking this photo)

Is it more common for dalmatians or german shorthaired pointers to escape?

Oh! Excuse me now, please. I'm being called in the kitchen for a family meeting. In-te-re-sting...

Twink!

Cat Breeds and Ladders

'Tis Wednesday and I'm Speechless

OMD!

(Oh, my dog!)

Perhaps I should type OMC?

(Oh, my Cat?) Naah, sounds funny.

As far as cat breeds go ... sorry, but no comment.

Twink!

Pet Photo Contest

My First Contest

I suppose life is full of firsts. Today, I decided to enter a beauty pageant -- a pet photo contest. It's called A Dog Named Christmas, do you think they'll mind my real name? I'd be grateful for any votes from my friends, especially since I entered with a slight two week delay. Go on, check it out and post your pretty mugs on there too. Just don't forget to let the rest of us know who to vote for.

Here's my link:

Twinkie Tinydog | A Dog Named Christmas

Go ahead and vote for this tiny tea cup chihuahua!

Twink!