Happy New Year!

Bucket Ball

We've taught Tomokee to play what we call "bucket ball". We throw the ball, he fetches it, then places into the bucket, from which we retrieve it and throw again. This is an improvement over the original game of fetch because before he would just drop the drool-laden ball into our laps, onto the kitchen table, or bounce it off our bodies before we threw it again. Now he puts it in the bucket and waits, resulting a more civilized game.

We won the bet!

We weighed Tomokee today for his two-year-old weight, and he weighed 58.2 lbs! So, Mark and Charlotte, according to the bet, you guys owe us a dinner! We went to Adobe Animal Hospital to weigh him, and they said he is not thin, just very "musclely". All those wind sprints he does while playing ball has given him a muscle butt and huge drumsticks for legs.

Anticipation

Tomokee is waiting for his ball to be thrown.

I know you're in there!

Sometimes the tennis ball that Tomokee is playing with falls into the garden cart. He'll do everything he can to fetch it out of the cart. There may be another tennis ball laying on the ground, but noooo.., it's not good enough because it's not THE tennis ball.

Dog park drool

We went to the dog park today with Tomokee. Along with his usual "play with me, play with me" barking, Tomokee generates vast amounts of drool. After playing with a basenji, his drool landed on the basenji's back. Yeesh.

Shake, rattle, and roll

Last night, we had an earthquake here in Silicon Valley. This was probably Tomokee's first earthquake. These theories about animals and earthquakes don't seem to apply to Tomokee. He just ignored the whole thing and continued lounging with a tennis ball in his mouth. Either he didn't notice, or he noticed and because he's such an optimist, he figured "so what if the earth is shaking a bit -- it'll get better soon".

Scenes from Carmel

We spent last weekend in Carmel. I just love visiting Carmel. Tomokee probably loves Carmel as much as I do, but probably for different reasons. After all, I don't think he cares about shoe shopping at Lloyd's Shoes. He does love the beach, however.

Here he is, poised for action at the beach.

Here he's enjoying a drink at the "Fountain of Woof" located in the Carmel Plaza shopping mall.


Tomokee does like shopping at the Diggidy Dog boutique, although shopping for him involves trying to eat everything at dog's mouth-level.

Tomokee can see and smell into the store from one of the street windows.

Tomokee made lots of friends, of both the two- and four- legged variety. He's getting acquainted with Chuck, the chocolate labrador, in the Cypress Inn hotel living room. The next day, he got to play with Chuck on the beach. We kept getting Chuck confused with Woody, another choco-lab staying the hotel. There was a third one named Jake, but we're not sure if we saw him or not.

We enjoyed some Japanese food for lunch on Sunday, and of course we shared some with Tomokee. He got to enjoy some leftover oyakodon.

And, because Carmel is such a dog-friendly town, many restaurants have dog menus.

Drool Bubbles -- Advanced drooling techniques

We've blogged before about drooling. Tomokee has developed mad drooling skills, including the production of various bubble formations. The one that's hard to see has a red circle added for clarity.

Dachshund day

The first Saturday of every month is dachshund day in Los Altos. I love to take a picture of the dachshunds, especially when I can see them in a group. This time, there were puppies for the photo op!

Foot fetish

Bruce sometimes likes to take an afternoon nap. Sometimes Tomokee will just nap right along with him. Other times he just wants to play, play, play. Once in a while he will pound on Bruce's head to try to wake him. This time he decided to pound on the legs instead.

Another strange posture

Tomokee has never looked at the sofa as an obstacle. When playing ball, he would often just jump over it to fetch the ball instead of going around it. In this case, I'm not sure what he's doing. I think he wants me to throw the ball. Or maybe he's just thinking great thoughts.

Scenes from the dogpark

Last Sunday was dogpark day. This was another opportunity for Tomokee to practice his "I'm not aggressive, just annoying" behavior. A good time was had by all, even if Tomokee was a little loud.

Starbucks as accessory

Tomokee is a try-to-eat-anything-in-site-that-may-be-tasty kind of dog, so on the Saturday downtown walk, he managed to snag an empty Starbucks plastic cup and was walking around with it for quite a while. I guess you could also think of this as a lower jaw condom.

Dog toy as fashion accessory

Tomokee was wandering around with his pull toy around his neck for a while.

Not much hope that we will win the bet

Charlotte, if you're reading this, you'll probably win the bet. At the last weigh-in, Tomokee came in at a whopping 64 lbs! A lot of this is muscle mass from all that wind sprinting he does out the back door when playing ball, but weight is still weight, even if it's not due to fat. Here's the summary of his weight progression:


June 2006 -- 48 lbs.
August 2006 -- 52
October 2006 -- 55
December 2006 -- 55.4
January 2007 -- 55.7
February 2007 -- 59.5
May 2007 -- 61.5
August 2007 -- 64 lbs!

Today's goings-on at the fence

Here's what's been happening at the side fence today:

1. Tomokee is looking through a hole in the fence watching Tomokee TV.
2. Adobe, the neighbor tortoise, is lingering on the other side of the fence.
3. Adobe sticks his neck through a hole in the fence. (Adobe is not too smart about this)
4. Tomokee barks furiously.
5. Adobe retreats his neck.
6. Repeat steps 3. through 5. until Bruce pulls Tomokee away.
7. Tomokee whines because he misses his "friend".

A typical Saturday

These are photos from the last Saturday morning walk in downtown Los Altos. Tomokee is waiting patiently in the hopes that some sort of food will fall his way. The four dogs are being walked by a popular local dog-walker/pet-sitter. She usually has at least six dogs in tow, so this must have been a slow day for her.

To great dogs everywhere: L'chayim!

A friend and colleague (Adam) had to put his Labradoodle of just under 12 years, Bennie, down over the weekend. We just found out today. We had been given a very fine flagon of Plymouth Gin by Original Adam (to distinguish the two, very distinct, Adams) and toasted the passing of this friendly beast with a mighty fine brace of martinis (erm, one each, not dual 'tinis each).

Why do we celebrate at a time of loss? Our friend, Yeshwant, used to say that celebrations were for the living since, as he put it, "the body in the box is not having a good time." It was to the survivors to pull up their socks, honour the memory of those departed and to get on with our short time on this earth.

So, to Adam and his family we send our condolences and to the spirit of great dogs everywhere, including Benzlo, Bennie and Chobe, we salute you and take this time to fondly reflect.

Poopsack Hats

So, I'm a guy. Guys like pockets. I'm happiest when I have cargo shorts on and a couple of shirt pockets to fall back to. That means I always have pants sitting around the dressing area with plastic bags shoved in the hind pockets to serve as the above-captioned Poopsack.

Betty's not a guy (duh). She wears stuff with no pockets at all (!!), and is loathe to cart a purse with her just to take the dog for walkies. Thus, (as we'd say in patent space) "a need arises in the art for a convenient way to cart a poopsack."

Betty's solution is functionally (if not aesthetically) elegant... put the poopsack in the hatband (seen here):



The more Jed Clampett-like hat is on the left (for everyday wear) whilst the more festive number on the right is better for more formal (!?) occasions. The Jed hat is shown equipped with a Cypress Inn poopsack while the "formal" hat has a 5 paw bakery bag (very good for the purpose after their tasty contents are removed... sort of an interesting life symmetry there) tucked therein.

Just a sexy cowboy kinda day

During the past year, I've been sewing shirts for Tomokee and for human friends. The fabric is a sexy cowboy print by Alexander Henry Fabrics. I bought the fabric at Eddie's Quilting Bee in Mountain View. For about a year, the fabric has been shown in their window display and providing lots of amusement for passers-by. Eddie's will be moving to a new location in Sunnyvale soon, and our friend Lisa wanted some photos to commemorate its Mountain View location and its eye-catching window display. So, here's Mike and Lisa and Tomokee wearing their shirts for the photo-shoot. It was quite the photo-op, as a couple of store employees as well as a passer-by or two also took photos.

Tomokee TV

This is not the greatest photo, but Tomokee is sitting between the garage and the side fence staring through a gap in the fence into the neighbor's yard. Sometimes he can do this for a very long time. Once in a while Liz, the neighbor, will appear, or perhaps Dustin, the neighbor dog will appear, or maybe the tortoises will appear. We're not sure what his favorite show is, but when Dustin appears, this becomes interactive TV because they will engage in a joint barking session.

Another month, another daschund day

We took our Saturday walk to downtown Los Altos last weekend, as we usually do on most weekends. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, it was daschund day. A group of them actually agreed to a group shot. (Well, their owners agreed to group shot). I did not try to include Tomokee in the photo because he would probably have created pandemonium. I do like the jogging bra on the one dog, or whatever that garment is.

Carmel-by-the-Sea, part Deux

So, another day in the Carmel life, starting at the Cypress Inn (the Doris Day-owned very dog-friendly hotel) with the free breakfast (Tomokee has already had breakfast in the room, but as you can see from the rapt attention, he could use more food). Randy (see the earlier post) isn't working the desk in the morning, but T-dog has found yet another BFF (Best Friend Feeder, erm, Forever) from whom to cadge biscuits.









Before we go to the beach, we took a walk and found these parked Harleys. The blue machine has behind it its trailer and, if you look closely, you'll see the small dog carrier on the rear of the seat assembly... I took a closeup of this -- never seen it before.








The second of the two bikes has the most amazing helmet hanging on it... showing here. The Mohawk is great, but the logo really got me (you might need to click on the picture for detailed viewing).

















We walked down to the beach... just look at the doggie panorama. So many happy critters! T-dog found a gorgeous Vizsla with whom he romped until good and tired. Tomokee really isn't good about recall when he's excited; fortunately, the vizsla was following its owner so we could snag the hyperactive maroon before he followed his new 4-legged buddy home.


Betty put him back on leash and he was much calmer.












Of course, no day is complete in Carmel without a visit to Lloyd's shoes, also a dog-friendly place. Here Betty is trying on (and subsequently bought) some leopard-skin shoes.








Later, we ate the Forge in the Forest for dinner. By holding the camera down near Tomokee's massive head, I caught two fresh droolcicles and one kind-of crusty one (that's what you get on your muzzle if you've got a droolcicle going and suddenly do the "helicopter head" maneuver). The restaurant provides a doggie menu; we selected the "quarter hounder" for T-dog. This must be delivered to the table so you can parcel the thing out over time as you eat, otherwise you get the 3 seconds of sheer joy as the 4-legged vacuum cleaner absorbs the whole thing and wonders why we're still eating.

All in all, a good trip for all creatures involved.

Carmel

We took a weekend trip to the ever-so-dog-friendly Carmel-by-the-Sea. Tomokee enjoyed himself thoroughly. We stayed at the Cypress Inn, partly owned by Doris Day. Randy, a guest relations person, became Tomokee's best-friend-forever (BFF). Here, you can see Tomokee cadging biscuits from Randy. All Randy had to do was peek his head over the counter, and Tomokee would be right there!

We took a nice hike in Garland Ranch, located in Carmel Valley. Here's Tomokee enjoying a drink from a horse watering tub. Tomokee really hates horses -- he barks and goes crazy when he sees them. I wonder if he knows that he's drinking the same water they do.

This is a view from "Inspiration Point". Bruce is enjoying the view. We're not sure what Tomokee is enjoying, but he seems happy.

Neighbors

Tomokee was spending a lot of time by this one fence in our yard. We couldn't figure out why and didn't think much about it until he started barking furiously one day. I finally decided to take a peek over the fence, and it turns out that Tomokee was barking at the neighbor's tortoises. I guess he just didn't know what to make of them. These two are California desert tortoises, and yes, our neighbor does have a permit to possess them. The larger one is named Adobe and the smaller one is named Flower. When the weather is hot, they like to wander. They wander very very slowly....

Happy Adoptiversary, Tomokee -- Party on, dude!

We adopted Tomokee a year ago, and we've all survived the year! Tomokee has come a long way in a year. He's learned words like "walkies" and "din-din". He's passed beginning obedience training. He walks on leash in a civilized fashion most of the time. He runs around like a loon grabbing everything in site much less often than he used to. Now, if could only get him to stop eating poop...

p.s. Are we crazy, or does this pose remind anyone else of Paula Abdul?

Sink Diving

We have to keep our sink clean at all times because Tomokee is quite good at sink diving. With the combination of his long legs, his long body length, and his long tongue, he can reach scraps just inside the drain. We're not sure if this is something worth bragging about.

If R2-D2 gave birth...

It was time for a new vacuum cleaner. It wasn't just the dog hair issues, but other factors that led to the purchase of a new canister-style vacuum cleaner. I don't who designs these things, but this one really does look like the offspring of robots.

Tomokee is a star

We cast Tomokee in a video for an advertisement contest for star1013fm, a local radio station. Our video did not win, but we think Tomokee looked great wearing headphones.

Pet Parade Day

Today was the annual pet parade day in Los Altos. The parade is basically a lot people walking through downtown in the morning with their pets. Most of the pets in the parade are dogs, but there are goats, horses, and small animals in cages pulled along in wagons. We went downtown just as the parade was ending. Of course, we had to dress Tomokee in his favorite shirt. Here's our friend Lisa (wearing a matching shirt) walking Tomokee.

Here's a dog dressed as a skunk. I thought this was the coolest costume in the parade.

These beagles are not in costume -- they're just cute.

I'm not sure what this costume is -- probably just a tutu.

After the parade, we went to the Fine Art in the Park show sponsored by the Los Altos Rotary Club. I bought a pair of lovely earrings from Mendy Marks.

Tomokee is admiring the art.