Just Keep Rolling

Someone once asked - what would Bailey do when it stops raining outside and the sun comes out to play?

Well after taking my humans for a nice long walk around the neighbourhood, I would come home and lay on the cool plush grass. This is when I would take a nap, but it depends on if I found the perfect cozy spot.

If a lay down to find that I have found a comfortable but not quite the perfect plushness, then I would roll around in the grass to position my body to the ideal spot. Sometimes it takes a while to find the precise spot, so I just roll around.

And a few twists, turns, squirms, wiggles, wiggle the bum only, wiggle the head only and tumbles. If all else fails, then retreat indoors to fall asleep on the couch (the next best thing).

-Bailey

Before Summer Ended

I am very sorry that I haven't posted anything on the blog in a while. I become extremely lazy when the weather becomes hot. To help me deal with the heat waves, I've been taking my humans to the beach for some water fun!

Sometimes I think my humans are afraid of the water because they rarely come in to play with me. So to help them get use to getting wet, I would sneak up behind them and splash them with water. There's some improvement because their reaction has changed from screaming 'nooo' to 'ahhhhh', which I think translates into 'that's very cooling, please do it again!".

From time to time I need to remind my humans to hurry up and throw the tennis ball because they love to tease me and pretend to throw it out into the water. I've smartened up and won't fall for their tricks anymore! Instead, I'll try to steal the ball from them when they least expect it!

This new beach that we've been going to lately is very strange. The water isn't very deep for me to swim in and there seems to be lots of large puddles of water everywhere. Diana was trying to explain to me why the water was so shallow, but I couldn't understand it all... something to do with the moon and low-tide. All I know is that running from puddle to puddle is lots of fun! I recommend it.

My humans keep telling me to slow down because I don't have the same amount of energy as when I was pup.... I think they were right this time. I went all out at the dog beach and I came home all wiped out that I couldn't even walk from the garage to the front door.

-Bailey

Day Trip to False Creek

I'm the happiest when Diana isn't paying attention to her books. She's been neglecting me for the past two weeks to study for her finals, but now that she's all done we've been going out enjoying the lovely weather. 

I love visiting False Creek because there is always something new to smell! It's a lovely walk from Granville Island to Science World along the sea wall, but doggies beware because there aren't many water fountains around so remind your humans to bring a water bottle to keep you hydrated! 

Did you know that doggies ride for free on the aquabus? I just found out that the best seat on the ferry is right by the door because you can stick your head out and sniff the fresh air! I must've looked silly because I was attracting the attention of strangers on land and in the boat!

"Can I go for a swim?"

-Bailey

Surrender to My Cuteness

I don't like to be left home all by myself while my humans go out to have fun without me. They say I'm not allowed to go to work, school or restaurants with them. I'm pretty much a human, yet they still leave me at home. Even though I think about my humans the whole time they are away, I have to play hard to get when they arrive home to remind them who's the boss! As the humans step into the house, I would kindly greet them one by one, but once I've welcomed everyone I begin to loudly vocalize my displeasure. I would describe to them how lonely and unhappy I felt, but at the same time stress how vigilant I was at keeping the house safe from that family of squirrels that live in the neighbour's tree. If this fails to attract the attention of my humans then my stuffed lion and I would pretend to have a fight. Up to this point, my humans wouldn't be able to resist my cuteness and would agree to my every wish.

-Bailey

It's Still Winter?

I think my snow angels heard my wishes because it started to snow today!! There was so much fluffy white snow that Diana was able to make me two small snow towers to demolish! It was fun to tear down the snow tower, but it was more exciting to eat the tower like a popsicle.

-Bailey

Mornings are Tough

When I was a puppy, I use to be a morning pup and would cry from my crate until one of my humans would come downstairs. But as I got older, I learnt the advantages of sleeping in. Now you won't find me up and about at 6am. Even if Diana tried to wake me up that early, I would refuse to get out of bed.

-Bailey

The End of Winter

I don't know why, but there's something about snow that brings out the puppy in me. Whenever I see that white fluff, I just want to pounce around, make doggie snow angels and slide down a snowy hill with Diana. Not to mention the amazing sensation of snow on my tongue! It just melts in my mouth and tastes better than water.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Diana and I like to play hide-and-seek around the house. But this time, she challenged me to a game on the mountain to see whether or not my sense of smell was as accurate as I claimed it to be. That treat was no match for me! I could smell it right away and dove into the snow like a fox!

Thankfully, I have my wonderful humans keeping tabs of me. They know that as I'm getting older, my energy level isn't as it use to be. So every now and then during our hike, they would tell me to take a treat break.

My family always found it fascinating that I could find my way back to the car during our hikes on the mountain. So on our way back home, Diana appointed me as the navigator!

-Bailey

Gong Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year!! My family and I wish everyone a prosperous year of the horse filled with love and laughter! 

I feel so lucky this year because I received a red pocket from my family that would bring me a healthy and long life. Hopefully this is true because it would be quite an accomplishment for a berner to live a whole cycle of the Chinese zodiac calendar! Which means by the time I turn 12 years old I would be 84 in doggie years!

-Bailey

Another Year!

Happy 7th Birthday to all my lovely siblings! I have no doubt that my brothers and sisters are being pampered like kings and queens on their special day! I wish my siblings many healthy, loving and happy years to come!!

This is the moment I've been waiting for! The birthday cake! My humans have learned from last year that I can be quite a messy eater when it comes to cake. So before I was allowed to have the first lick, my humans laid out a large towel to catch all my crumbs. However, I don't think the towel method worked because I managed to get cake all over the table and missed the towel entirely.

-Bailey

Celebratory Balloons

Over the past weekend, Big Sister (who also goes by another name, but I've grown up calling her by her nickname) announced wonderful news to the family. To congratulate her on her accomplishment, the family sneaked into her home to fill the house entrance with colourful balloons! Even though Big Sister was happy about the surprise, she was more thrilled to pop the balloons!

I'm not usually scared of loud noises, but the sound of balloons popping really scared me because a few of them popped without warning. I was so scared that I began to shake, but Big Sister came to the rescue and asked my human to take me out for a walk while she removed the balloons.

-Bailey

Happy Holidays!!

My family and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is spending a relaxing and fun day with their loved ones. Unfortunately for my humans, they've all caught the flu but I'm making my snuggle rounds to cheer them up!

-Bailey

X-mas Sneak Peek

My family surprised me with an early Christmas present this year! They noticed that the current bed that I was sleeping on lost all the cushion and support (they say it's because I'm too heavy). As a result, my humans bought me an orthopaedic foam bed. They heard that this bed has extra cushioning and will eliminate pressure points on my joints as I get older. Not sure if that's true, but all I know is that the new bed is quite comfy.

-Bailey

A White Christmas?

What a wonderful surprise! I woke up the other day to find the whole neighbourhood covered in snow!  While Diana was hard at work in shovelling snow from the side walk, I was frolicking in the yard. Eventually she stopped and joined me. Interestingly, Diana's definition of playing in the snow was to build a snowman... Which entailed rolling three different sized snow balls. Diana didn't seem to be having too much fun so I helped her by pretending to be an oversized monster and attacked her snowman. She seemed to have enjoyed it very much, so I kept pretending to be a monster attacking all the snowmen she created.

-Bailey

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Christmas at the Bailey house has finally arrived!! My family absolutely loves Christmas and we usually decorate the house right on the first day of December, but for some reason we had to delay our festive activities this year. Even though I had to wait for a few extra days, my humans finally set aside some time to help me decorate! And when I mean help me, I mean I oversee the decorating and inspect each and every piece of ornament, present and tinsel!

During my inspection of the gifts, I came across one present that smelled so interesting that I couldn't wait until Christmas to open. I begged Diana if I could just have a small peek, but she said that it would ruin the surprise on the big day. However, I was being slightly naughty and chewed a corner to have a quick peek as Diana turned around. She didn't even suspect a thing!

Note to self, it is never a good idea to take a nap around Diana when she is decorating the tree... She thought it would be fun to decorate me as I was having a power nap. I woke up looking like this...

-Bailey

Hide and Treat?

Usually on rainy days when I'm stuck indoors I ask my human to play hide and seek with me. I've seen little humans play this game before, but their version isn't as much fun as mine! My version involves eating the hidden treats! Now doesn't that sound much better? If you ever play with Diana, be careful she can be very sneaky! She'll try and fool me by hiding the treats in boxes, bags, paper rolls and sometimes underneath a mountain of pillows! But I keep telling her, I have a very good nose and she will never be able to fool me!

-Bailey

23 Days Until Christmas

My humans became very excited yesterday that it was the first day of December. Apparently they weren't the only ones as the village was flooded with people wearing strange hats and I believe I saw a snowman greeting little humans on the street. Well, to get into the spirit of Christmas I will be wearing my new Santa head band for the rest of the month.

-Bailey

Doggies at the Pet Store

Visiting the local pet store never gets dull! During my previous visits, I've noticed the cages located in the centre of the room and every time I will peek up to say hi to be friendly, but most of the time no one is there. Except for two days ago when I saw two doggies curled up taking a nap! I was very eager to go make new friends and as I was approaching them, Diana had to remind me that I have to be a gentle giant because my size scares strangers. My conversation with the doggies was going great up to the point when Diana says to me "they are adorable, why don't we adopt them?". Then the future flashed before my eyes... Diana would have to divide her time between the new doggies and me. Now I couldn't let that happen so I said good-bye to my new friends and lead my human out of the store.

-Bailey

How to Keep Errands Short

There are many days when I hear my humans say "Bailey, do you want to come run an errand with me?". Now how can any berner say no to that? Even if it means a short car ride or a very quick walk to the village. If it's a chance to go outside, I'm all for it! The only downside of an errand is the part where I have to wait outside a store, while they run inside for a 'quick' visit. 

Now I've learnt in the past that my humans are easily distracted, so when they say a 'quick' look that means an eternity for a berner! But I have figured out the perfect way to politely inform my humans to hurry up. Here's how: (1) you must give the humans at least five minutes to look around the store because shorter than five minutes will not work, (2) if there is a window or a door then sit or stand in front so they can see you, remember to smile, and finally (3) with increasing volume vocalize (don't use the same voice that you would use on the mailman!) that you miss them in 30 second intervals.... and voila, the humans will be running out of the store in no time to cheer you up.

-Bailey

Monsters of the Night

Halloween is approaching which means there will be more and more of these scary looking monsters around the neighbourhood in the next few days. My human isn't much of a fan of Halloween because she doesn't like being scared by monsters. So you can just imagine how difficult it must be for her to see these scary creatures around town. Being a good companion, I promised my human that I would protect her from all the monsters during our evening walks. I even demonstrated to her just how harmless the monster was by taking a photo with him.

-Bailey

Did You Say Free?

A few weeks ago, there was an event happening in the village and being a responsible berner I took Diana out to see what the fuss was all about. What caught our attention the most was a massive food truck that was offering everyone a free hot beverage from their menu. It took some persuading to get my human to stand in the long line up, but even with my hard work she didn't allow me to have a sip of her mocha.

-Bailey