Sparky Spin

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! Long-time-no-hear-from-me, right? Today one of my fans (Hi Pat!) asked C if my paw was broken -- bwahahaha! Get it? Cause I hadn't written a post lately? Hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I ain't much of a typist! I provide the content, not the manual labor!

So here's me and my friend LJ! He's such a cool guy, and a great flyball dog! But, more about him at a later date!


When you last saw me I was all proud of the new Santa that Charlene gave me for Christmas!

Here's how he looks now! I still love him!

I've been through lotsa squeakies! Before Santa I had several Squeaky Squirrels, a Squeaky Raccoon, and a Squeaky Fox, and then I got this new Squeaky Rabbit. Nothin' like a new squeaky!

My favorite game with a squeaky or anything else is tug-a-war. I'm ready anytime I can talk someone into grabbin' the other end!

It's kinda hard on the squeaky though...

Now my latest is Squeaky Skunk. He's a cool dude -- black and white are my favorite colors!

I had to sit and stay before I got him. Not sure why, but no problema!

I wouldn't wantcha to think that I'm a high-maintenance dog with expensive tastes! Sure, I love my squeakies, but some of the best toys are free! You mighta heard about the cold weather we had, and I sure do love ice from out of a birdbath!

And, in case you didn't know, one of the best toys is an empty plastic water bottle. There's a lot you can do with one of those! You can fetch it, or play keep-away with it, or settle down and chew on it.

I borrow one from the barn any chance I get! You oughta try one!

Just make sure no one tries to take it away from you!

Another free thing I have to play with is my tail. Watch this!

See ya soon! Woof woof!

My Christmas Vacation

So, some of you are probably wondering where the H-E-double-hockey-sticks I've been lately! What if I tolja that I just needed a little time to myself, to kinda recharge and refresh? Are ya buyin' it? No? Well...let's just say I don't have TOTAL control over when this blog gets written!

I hope you and yours had a great holiday -- I know I did! My first Christmas present was this Santa from Charlene! Wasn't that nice? I love my Santa!

It didn't take me long to rip Santa's face off, and his insides out! My kinda fun! You probably wouldn't recognize Santa if you saw him now...he's just a red and white flat torso.

Here's a good picture of me -- NOT -- opening a present on Christmas morning. Could we brush up on our picture-taking skills, pul-ease!

Hey, if you thought the last one was blurry, how do you like this one? It's a portrait of me painted by an Italian Futurist! Uhhh, sorry...a joke for the art crowd.

I had to endure a few indignities over the holiday, like for example the photo shoot that produced this Christmas card. Maybe you already saw it. A hat and lights...where do the humans get their wacky ideas?

I also had to endure quite a few inappropriate displays of affection, such as here, where I am apparently being mauled by some sort of deranged Christmas elf!

Bwahahaha, just kiddin', that's Jamie. She's my little sweetie! One of the most exciting things about this vacation was all the company that came to visit!

Like this guy, who is C's brother. Not only is he a total pro on the piano, he's a very spirited tug-of-war player as well!

I mean no offense to any of our human company when I say that this picture shows the very most exciting visitor we had over Christmas, or possibly ever -- Ocho!

Ocho came to visit with her human, Lori, on their way from Missouri to Houston. Turns out she reads my blog and wanted to meet me! Isn't she a total babe!?! She's everything that is good in a beyatch -- perky, pretty, and black and white!

We had SO much fun together! Although I'll have to admit...I'm not sure that she was THAT into me. She seemed more interested in fetching a ball than playing with me. But -- doesn't matter! I still had a total blast!

We spent lotsa time running and playing.

She's a girl after my own heart and loves to swim!

We ran and played all over the place, including the garden.

Uh oh -- I'm not sure that Ocho knows all the rules around here, but she didn't get into any trouble.

We played fetch with a ball for hours. "Where's the ball?" you're wondering. Hey -- if you took a picture AFTER the ball was thrown all you'd see is a streak of black and white!

So we ran around; played ball; went swimming. Ran around; played ball; went swimming. You know -- the perfect afternoon!

We had a little inside quiet time too in C's studio.

I even let Ocho chew on my bone! Now ya know I really dug her!

I sure hated to see all the fun end when she had to leave! Come back again, Ocho!

I still think about her sometimes...wonder if she ever thinks about me? Long distance relationships are a bitch, er ah, beyatch. Wish I had a car!

Happy 2011 everyone, especially Ocho, and woof woof!

New Caney Flyball Tournament

Last Sunday was pretty exciting -- I got to go to a flyball tournament! No, I wasn't IN it -- I'm still learning. C and I drove to New Caney to the Albert Sallas Showbarn to check it out. If you've never seen flyball before you should take a peek at this link so you semi-know what's goin' on. Basically it's a relay race between two teams of very fast dogs!

Here's the two lanes with dogs racing to the boxes to grab the balls. Figures C didn't get any in-focus pictures of dogs in action -- why would you want to do that at a flyball tournament?? ;-D Hope she can find that camera manual she's been lookin' for!

You sure can tell these dogs are really hustlin'! Yeah, those blurs are dogs!

Here's two dogs I know on the Texas Twisters team, Bullet and Fiona, gettin' ready to run. Bullet's sayin' "Kick butt, Fiona!" She usually does!

Fiona and Tang are rarin' ta go! Looks like Mack gets the last word though.

Katie's another F.F. on the Texas Twisters team. (fast female!)

Breezy understands hand signals! Not only an athlete but knows a different language!

Shorty waitin' for his race, or maybe it's a heat, to start. Short dogs are really important 'cause they set the height of the hurdle for the shortest dog. Shorty's short and enthusiastic, and he's stylin' a cool halter!

Next up, Willie in front and Tigger in back. Willie's a labradoodle, and he's a start dog. While we were there, he had a perfect start, which means when he passed the start sensor dealie, it said .000. Everyone started cheering and clapping -- I thought a celebrity dog had just come in!

So Willie's a hero, but they give the tee shirt to Kelly, his human. Wouldn't ya know it! But hey, the humans work hard too.

Sometimes they strategize....

...and other times they just kick back and socialize (between races of course). I saw a lotta food on a table and I managed to get a few licks of spilled oatmeal! Wish I coulda copped a cupcake!

The dogs get to kick back too. Here's Tang and LJ (they're roommates) takin' a break.

And here's where I spent most of the flyball tournament -- apartment 1B of Mike's dog condo! You can feel sorry for me if ya want, but I also got to watch some races and walk around on the leash and get treats and pets, so it wasn't total incarceration.

Congratulations to all of the Texas Twisters! Woof woof! XXX Sparky

Sparky's Holiday Weekend

Hey you guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did -- not that anyone offered me any turkey! But we had company and it's always fun to have new people to jump on and to pet me.

So this post was supposed to be "Cool People That Went to the Art Crawl," but apparently not that many cool people went to the Art Crawl. Or at least not many of 'em e mailed me their picture with the painting of me. I do have two to share, thanks to C, and then I'll just have to wing it for the rest of the post. Not a problem! I'm a guy who thinks on his four feet! I'll just tell ya what's going on with me today!

So besides M, this is probably the coolest guy at the Art Crawl! You probably know Daddy Dawg himself, John Runnels! (If ya don't, ya weren't payin' attention to my last post!)

And, here's my little sweetie Ann Marie, the coolest female at the Art Crawl besides C! Well, that's it for the cool people at the Art Crawl! Let's get on to what's up with me!

I didn't have a big day planned today. Tomorrow I have flyball practice, but today I'm just workin' on a few projects around the house. This is a big gourd that Martin bought and put on the front porch, with another gourd and a pumpkin, for some kinda "holiday decor." Huh? I don't get it. But I did discover last week, when I ate the other one, that gourds are pretty tasty! Nothing you'd want to eat too quickly -- it lasted me about a week -- and now I'm workin' on the second one.

Here's a closer look. Not bad! I'm thinkin' of goin' vegan. But don't tell the vegans about that bone behind the gourd!

Here's somethin' else I'm workin' on -- my latest stick pile. I love sticks! I like to chase 'em; chew 'em; collect' em. I like to make piles outside the kitchen door. Seems like whenever I get a good pile goin', the whole pile disappears and I hafta start all over again. I don't mind -- I enjoy the work!

Oh well, now here's something that caught me by surprise and made my day! M went to Petco and bought me a new squeaky!!! This one's a rabbit!

I could hardly wait to grab it but I was expected to show my good manners.

But finally it was mine, all mine!

I'll share with anyone who's willing to play tug-a-war, my favorite game!

Then it's time to take it to my chewing platform and get to work on removing the squeakers. I told ya before, I love the squeaking! But I have an irresistible urge to rip them out of there as soon as I can! I may be a little obsessive...

So this cat Llano thinks my chewing platform is called a "cat's scratching post." She's delusional! Look at her -- she's eaten up with jealousy over my new squeaky!

So that's what's up with me! Thanksgiving weekend is a great time to have fun with your friends or family, so woof woof to you and yours!

XXX Sparky