Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Sister Selfie Sunday: Jellie Learns To Love The Camera


I've been working real hard to help my sister Jellie get more comfortable in front of the camera. She's a real cutie patootie and should be photographed and celebrated as much as any other super model.
Problem is, she tends to freeze up, look away or just get super self conscious whenever the camera comes out. I keep telling her she's a natural beauty and that she's got a lovely smile, but I suppose we all have our insecurities. So, for today's "Selfie Sunday" I got some of our fur sisters in on the act.
Dixie Mae (the black and tan Dachshund) and Bella Boo (the copper Dachshund) really know how to work the camera! It certainly helped bring Jellie out of her shell a bit, and it was really fun doing group photos with them.
We let Jellie take photos of Bella and Dixie Mae to see how fun it was...this helped her feel more comfy in the group shots.

We put the camera back on the tripod, set the timer and took more group shots. Jellie's looking right in the camera now. Way to go Jellie!

In the end, Jellie was giving silly faces. It was hilarious! I think this last one could be a great music album cover don't you agree?
We had so much fun taking part in today's Selfie Sunday Blog Hop. It is hosted by my dear friend Janet Blue & her Kitties on their blog Cat on my Head. This is such a fun hop! I hope you'll visit some of my friends below to see their cool and entertaining selfies.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

The Joy of Hard Work - Happy "Working Like a Dog" Day

Today is National "Work Like a Dog" Day in the U.S. Some dogs, like me, are indeed very hard working. I love my many jobs, such as nursing, inventing, blogging, writing poetry, doing my animal advocacy work, and of course, being a trick dog. I can get downright dog tired with all of that. They say the "work like a dog" term originates from all those working dogs who really 'hoof it' to sniff down leads in police work, who save lives, who work in the fields herding sheep all day and who do all those other hard tasks with honor and faithfulness.
Today, in honor of "Work Like a Dog" Day, I thought I'd share some fun photos of me working at some of the jobs I love. I hope you enjoy them!
Nursing
Checking the pulse and vitals while visiting one of my human patients. 
A day in the ER with Nurse Pixel: Getting a call, rushing to Teddy Bear Surgery, happy as another patient is saved.

Image of Nurse Pixel next to Pinkie Duckie just before surgery to fix her broken wing
Nurse Pixel preparing to do surgery on Pinky Tuskadero Duckie, who got hurt during hours of "excessive play".


Blogging
I started blogging before I was even a year old.

Searching for the right word to rhyme with "Pixel".

Trick Dog
Practicing one of my first and earliest tricks, "Smack", which eventually became multiple other tricks.
Another Pixel trick favorite: "Sneer", which is my signature smile!
Years of hard work pays off as I win 1st prize
in a dog trick contest, May 2014! 

So, how do you "work like a dog"friends? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!


Thursday, July 2, 2015

Joy Riding with Mommy - Pixel's Wordless Wednesday


Taking trips with the family, hanging out with Mommy, singing in the car with her, joy riding.
The joy we share in the car never gets old. 
However, the following verifies she should never leave her cell phone
within easy reach of my paws!
Image of Pixel Blue Eyes Face Close Up Wearing Seat Belt Harness
My "Vehicle Protection Watchdog" Look
Image of Pixel Blue Eyes with her Mommy in Background inside Car
You can never have too many "Mommy and Me" Selfies
Image of Pixel Blue Eyes leaning against her Mommy's Chest
Snuggled against Mommy while seat belted securely in place
I'm very serious about canine car safety as I wear my seatbelt.
Getting a little sleepy on one of our family car rides...
Did someone in the car say "Wendy's food break"??
"Who Let the Dogs Out? Who, who, who??" BOL!!
It doesn't get any better than this...car trips with the family.
Contemplating on just how lucky and blessed I really am.
Happy Wordless Wednesday friends!! On this day, many bloggers take a break from the many words that escape our minds (and make their way to the virtual page) and share photos we love. 
This Wordless Wednesday is hosted by my good friends at BlogPaws! July is "Pet Safety Month", so you'll notice that in several photos, I'm wearing my Kurgo Tru-Fit dog harness safety seat belt, which I now wear for ALL car rides with Mommy.
She and I both feel much more secure for my safety now that I have it.
Check out some of my fellow pet bloggers below to see what other "Wordless Wednesday" fun is being shared...

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The Joy of Surprises: Operation Red Wagon with Purple Patrick Duckie

As you know, I adore my duckies with a passion that is beyond compare. We have lots of fun and adventures, but nothing could have prepared me for the adventure I'm about to share....
About a month ago one of my favorite duckies, Purple Patrick Duckie had been missing for a while. I'd looked and looked, but he was nowhere to be found. Then one day I was minding my own business tearing up an empty kleenex box (I love doing it & Mommy takes out the plastic liner first) when my missing purple Duckie Patrick shows up out of nowhere. He jumped into the box and told me to "just act normal" but let him "lay low" for a while in there. It turned out he was part of a covert operation called "Operation Red Wagon" and I was recruited to help out. He couldn't tell me anything further but I was now unwittingly up to my neck in it too. I looked around cautiously as I thought to myself, "Goodness knows what he's got himself into...and now I'm involved too!"
Purple Patrick Duckie and I hung out together acting as "normal" as possible, but then he suddenly "disappeared" again one afternoon. I had started wearing my purple spotted hoodie, that matches him perfectly, as a show of solidarity and support of his covert "Operation Red Wagon" that he had recruited me into. Details were still sketchy, but he was teaching me some things. On the very day he again disappeared, we had been practicing his now famous "duck and cover" technique, but he was acting a bit odd during practice...standing a little too close, commenting on how "comfy" my hoodie looked and saying that being invisible was a "state of mind". I had no idea what kind of existential mood he was in, and was too tired to try and keep up with what he might be inferring. I lay down for a nap after our covert "duck and cover" training, but when I awoke, Patrick Duckie was gone. I was upset that he didn't say goodbye, but just figured, "that's how it is when you're a covert duckie operative..."
Three days later, right after finding out about my scary ear lump and upcoming surgery (at the time it was the end if January), there was a faint knock at the door. Mommy insisted I be the one to answer it. There sat Purple Patrick Duckie with Minkie Duckie (Pinkie Tuskadero Duckie's sister) by his side. I was so happy to see them both I didn't initially see what was behind them. We greeted each other with love and then Patrick said, "Pixel, I have a surprise for you. Operation Red Wagon has one last critical stage that needs your help. Will you be a part of it's final success?" "Of course!" I exclaimed with excitement. I'm always there to help my friends, and I knew it had to be something of utter importance for him to be gone for so long. I told him I missed him and hated that he just up and disappeared on me. He promised never to do that again but that it was important that he do this operation in secret.
"Look behind me Pixel..." Patrick Duckie said. That is when I heard the low murmuring of little quacks here and there. Then I saw the most amazing sight my little duckie loving eyes had ever seen. A red wagon filled with a bunch of little rubber duckies that needed a home! "This is 'Operation Red Wagon' Pixel," Patrick Duckie said with delight.
I kissed Minkie Duckie and thanked her for helping greet them. They were all relatives of course. Can't you see the family resemblance? They'd been looking for a loving forever family home together and they found mine! I adopted every single one right on the spot.

I greeted each one and told them how much fun we'd have, what a nice place they were at now and what a great life they ALL would have with me and my family. They all seemed very excited, just like me. Mommy was kind enough to document the whole thing.

I checked around to make sure they were safe and then we all went inside for a nice dinner together.

This was truly one of the best surprises ever! I think I'm going to like these covert operations!!

I hope you enjoyed my "Operation Red Wagon" Tail of Adventure! Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think...
Happy Wordless Wednesday friends!! This blog hop is hosted by my friends at BlogPaws, and today's theme was "spoiling your pets" since February is "Spoil Your Pet month. I do believe I've found my favorite month...

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Pixel Blue Eyes Celebrates the Joy of Rubber Duckie Day...ALL WEEK LONG!


HAPPY NATIONAL RUBBER DUCKIE DAY!!
Okay, officially it was January 13th, but to me, it's not just a day, it's a state of mind, so I'm celebrating National Rubber Duckie Day for an entire week!
I celebrate rubber duckies unlike many others you might know. Rubber duckies are my friends. I have many rubber duckies. I celebrate each of them for their uniqueness. I started out with one, and then the family grew. The one pictured with me here is Pinkie Tuskadero Duckie. She and I play together a lot, but I also play with her brothers Little Duck Blue and Green Day Duckie.
Do you know the history of Rubber Duckie Day? It is the birthday of Sesame Street's Ernie's famous Rubber Duckie. Isn't that cool? Learn more interesting Rubber Duckie Facts at www.rubaduck.com.
I started out with a beloved purple duckie named Purple Duckie. He was my very first one. We played and played all the time for a year, then one day he just...broke in half. It was sad and tragic. I moped for days...weeks. Mommy searched and searched for his family, and then one day they showed up! It was so wonderful, and that very day I made up my mind to never let another duckie fall like purple duckie again.
So, I used my nursing skills and Mommy's surgeon skills and we started a Duckie Hospital for injured duckies. That is how I still have Pinkie with me. That story I will be sharing later...but we did save her life. This photo is her right before her surgery last month.
Let me show you just how much I enjoy my rubber duckie friends. We have such fun together! I've created the BEST game, it's like a puzzle game, Mommy doesn't even know the rules, it's so advanced, but the duckies know. They love it! Here's a video of me and Little Duck Blue playing together:

I hope you leave today with a greater appreciation for the Joy of Rubber Duckies. Have fun celebrating the Joy of Rubber Duckies with me. Do you have a rubber duckie story to share? I'd love to hear about it!
This is a #WordlessWednesday Hop! Hosted by my friends at BlogPaws. Click on some links below to see what other pets are doing on this fine Wordless Wednesday.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Joy of Wash Day...but are the Toys Happy?

Wash Day. 
Mine and my sisters' toys had that "not so fresh" feeling to them, so I put them in my "Pixenator 5000 Super Ultra Toy Cleaning Machine" to ensure they came out smelling and looking newer than the day they came home to live with us.

Some of them protested. I'm not naming names, but green dragons and large ginger breads can be fussy.

However, I understood their concerns completely, as I'm not crazy about bath time myself. So I promised them it was perfectly safe and that they'd all get treats afterwards.

Everyone agreed...

...except Mr. Deedle-deedle Dee. Don't let that smile fool you...he's always been a trouble maker.
Are your toys happy on Wash Day? I'd love to hear about it in a comment. And don't forget, you can follow my additional adventures on Facebook and Twitter too.
This is a Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop!! Hosted by my good friends at BlogPaws. Want to join in? See below. Want to see what my fellow pet blogging friends are up to? Visit some of their blogs in the links below and have fun!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

"Pixels Through History" Postcard on #WordlessWednesday

Found this postcard that has images of my great, great, great Grammy Pixelina and my great, great, great,  GREAT Aunt Pixel "Thomasina" Jefferson.
Grammy Pixelina was a part time Princess just like me,  but times were tough so she had to take a job selling flowers. But she never went without her feather boa. Don't worry though,  the birds sold their feathers to her to make a little cash.
As for my great (times 4) Aunt Pixel "Thomasina" Jefferson, she traveled the country doing re-enactments of the Civil War, reprising her role many times as an under cover foot soldier for our founding fathers.
Do you have any fun ancestors with stories to tell (real or imagined)? I'd love to hear them in a comment below.
HAPPY (mostly) WORDLESS WEDNESDAY!

Monday, February 3, 2014

The Joy of Positive Pet Training - How Pixel the Trick Dog Got Started


I love doing all my tricks with Mommy. She's my one and only trainer, and has been all my life. Mommy has always been so positive, encouraging and fun to work with that I love to make her smile, laugh and be happy with all the interesting tricks I can do. I look at my training as a team effort, because I am after all half of the team. But how did my trick learning all start? And what is Mommy's technique?
I was a good, sweet, loving puppy and it was true love at first site for us. As with any puppy though, I needed some training. Mommy used an approach that sprung forth from her mind clear out of the blue while I was actually doing something that was not a very good behavior to emulate, way back when I was a puppy. She took a negative behavior that she wanted me to stop, and turned it into my very first "trick/command", essentially taking a negative and turning it into a very positive thing. Here's what she did...
When I first adopted Mommy, she was in her last semester of college as a non-traditional student (she was much older than everyone else) and had a tiny little apartment near the school. She had no kitchen table, so she would often eat dinner on the couch while watching a little TV before studying or working on projects. I would sit next to her at the tender age of around 3 months old or so and try to get her to give me food by swotting my paw at or on her plate. I made a bit of a mess a few times, let me tell you. She kept telling me no or stop or whatever she would say, but I often kept doing it, so she'd put me down on the floor to make me stop. Mommy really wanted me with her on the couch though to be near her and visit, so one day the proverbial light bulb went on, and she suddenly thought, "What if I turned that bad behavior into a command or trick?"
For each subsequent meal, Mommy had a small bag of puppy treats. Any time I did that swap of my paw at her plate, she would say "SMACK", then give me a treat and say "Good Girl!" She consistently would say "smack", give me a treat and say "Good girl", each time I swapped my paw at her plate. It didn't take long before I caught the connection. One day she said it before I did it and had her hand in front of me. I made a big smack on her hand with my paw! OH my goodness, it was a celebration!! I got treats, hugs, good girl accolades, it was amazing! As time went on, I got better at doing it as a command. And more importantly, because it became a game, and I liked pleasing Mommy, I no longer swiped my paw at her plate. To this day, I can sit right next to her, even on top of her, and not reach for her plate. Her consistent love and patience in her training accomplished two things:
1. She trained OUT of me the bad behavior with positive reinforcement.
2. She trained into me my very first command or trick word.
Eventually, "Smack" became about five different tricks, each with a different word. I promise to go into how you can expand one trick into several in another Positive Pet Training post. But you have to start with one, and master it. Then you can expand. Several of my tricks are actually behaviors or actions I did on my own, and Mommy "reverse trained" me by turning them into commands that I can now do instantly with one word or phrase. My most beloved trick, of course, is my toothy smile. Mommy came up with the word "Sneer" as my code word. It was a trick that Mommy helped me master because I did it naturally. I just needed guidance with doing it on command.
Here's some quick "Positive Pet Training" tips from Mommy Jenny
to make it fun, successful and easy:
1. Choose one word or phrase for each trick/command and do not deviate from it. Always use the same word/phrase.
2. Keep sessions of learning short and fun. No more than about 5-10 minutes, though you can do it several times a day if you wish.
3. When first starting a new command, be patient when they don't get it. And if they even a little bit start to do it when you say the word, immediately give the treat and the good dog praise. You can fine tune the correction and finer details of it later, but they need to know they are succeeding early on so they keep trying.
4. Use tiny little bitty treats, so your dog does not get chunky from learning. Mommy has used gluten free rice cakes that can be broken up into very little pieces, or Rice Chex. You can also use one or two dog bones smashed up into tiny pieces (a ziploc bag and a mallot works wonders). The crunch is great for us pups, no matter how small the piece is, and there's hardly any calories.
5. If frustration creeps in during training from either you or your dog, stop and do something else. Play a game of pull toy or run around the yard. Always keep it fun with no stress. If the dog thinks they are "in trouble" they can get frustrated and either lose interest or become insecure.
**SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE**
Some tricks take longer to learn than others. It depends on the dog, it depends on the trick, and it depends on the consistency of the training. Mommy believes it also can depend on the history of the dog. It took me over two years to learn the safety word "WAIT" with Mommy. Wait" means "stop doing whatever you are doing and freeze so Mommy can pick you up". It can save a dog in many instances, including stopping them from eating something bad for them, making them stop in their tracks as they are running towards the street, or perhaps prevent them from stepping into a freshly broken glass of milk that fell to the floor.
For some reason, I thought I was going to get punished with that word and what it meant, so I would run away from her every single time. I would even cower when I finally DID stop running away, etc. Mommy always made sure that once I stopped and/or let her pick me up, it was always such a positive response from her. She'd never punish me for not listening, or not "waiting". She just ensured that when I finally waited, I was praised, reassured and loved on. She just kept working with me on it until I truly mastered it. She never gave up, never got mad at me, but was firm in her "WAIT" voice. Now I do it right away, and I still get all the praise and loving hugs in the world after I do it.
If Mommy and I can succeed with positive pet training, you can too! It can take a while, but the rewards are incredible! Now that I have so many cool tricks, I sometimes like to give Mommy 2 or 3 tricks at a time, just to keep her laughing.
Now, go have some fun with your dog. Learn together, laugh together and remember, always keep it positive!

Here is one of many videos that Mommy and I have made of me doing my tricks with her. You can tell we both have such fun! Go to my YouTube channel to see more amazing Pixel pet trick videos. And don't miss my "How does a car go?" trick video either! You'll be laughing so hard just like Mommy is in the video.
This "Positive Pet Training" blog hop is hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Dachshund Nola and Tenacious Little Terrier. Visit some of the participants below to see how they train their pets in a positive, fun way.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Joy of Playtime with Friends on a Winter Afternoon - Pixel's Wordless Wednesday

It's very cold and snowy today, so I could not really go outside and play. But my little friend Blue Bunny decided she'd get me to play inside with her while the winter sun shone through the window of our room. We had a wonderful time together!
Image of Pixel looking up at Baby Blue Bunny toy She had such a perfect way of getting me to play. Can you guess what she might have whispered to me to elicit such excitement in my face?