Uggie the Pup - Wins an Oscar for The Artist!

Just when I thought that Snowy of TinTin was the awesomest dog ever, I saw The Artist, starring Uggie!  Did you know that he won an Oscar for Best Picture?!?  He won a Golden Globe and a Golden Collar award as well!  What an actor!

Uggie at the Golden Collars

Uggie with his Golden Globe

Uggie with an Oscar!

Here's a clip from the film that shows what a great actor Uggie is.  Look how the "Best Actor" winner has trouble keeping up with Uggie's greatness!

 You can get to know Uggie a little better by watching this exclusive interview with the big star.

OK.  I admit that I'm a little bit star-struck by Uggie.  I admit that I'm pretty crazy about Uggie.  He's the biggest dog star of my lifetime.  I'll just show one more video.  He now is the official spokesdog for Nintendo Nintendogs plus Cats.  He even gets to meet the owner of Nintendo.

OK.  I'm done gushing over Uggie for now.  I'll talk more about my life again soon.  I just had to share my excitement.

Big News! (but not the biggest news)

In a recent post, I mentioned that there was some big news that occured while I was at Camp Taurus.  There was actually two pieces of big news that both rocked my world.  I'll share the big news now but save the biggest news for later.

As you know, as head of security for our home, I spend a lot of time patrolling the backyard.  Whenever a person, dog, cat, or other animal dares to come near the yard, I let them know, in no uncertain terms, that they should stay away.  So far, I have an 100% success rate in keeping the yard intruder-free.

Here is a video of me in action before I went to Camp Taurus:

Obviously, I take my job seriously.  I know every inch of that yard like the back of my paw.

However, things have changed...

I have recently learned that having a popular blog can have a downside.  Shortly after I wrote about how great it was to dig in the yard, I came home to find that throngs of readers showed up to join in the fun.  I wouldn't mind one or two readers digging with me, but this was ridiculous:

Annoyed by the digging

Since most of my readers don't have paws capabale of digging, they brought in digging equipment. 

Soon, I realized that I could put these digging efforts to good use.  I had some ideas for improving the security of the yard, but I didn't have the means to make all of the changes myself.  I told my fans that they could continue to have fun digging on the condition that they also work to implement my vision for a more secure yard.  They enthusiastically signed on, and they completed the work while I was at Camp Taurus.

The results were quite striking.

Inspecting the viewing platform and new fenceChecking out the varmint-resistant garden Now, I'm able to guard the yard better than ever!  Check out my new technique that involves using the viewing platform to get a better angle to survey the property.

As you can see, the changes to the yard were a big change in my life; however, this was not the biggest change.  Stay tuned!

SNOWY!

This is just a short post to tell you about my new hero: SNOWY!  He is so awesome!

I love Snowy!

I just saw the movie Tintin, and I don't know why the movie is named after Tintin.  The true hero of the movie is Snowy.

Here's just a short clip showing how awesome Snowy is:

I can't wait for the next Snowy movie!

I'm Back!

It's been a while since I last posted, and a lot has happened in my life in the last 2 1/2 months.  I have some really big news, but I'm going to make you wait to hear the big news.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'll tell you how I started this 2 month period...

I went to Camp Taurus for the longest time ever!  In the past, I have woken up at Camp Taurus 7 times, but this time, I woke up there more times than I can count!  (I can only count to 7, by the way... I'm working on it.)

I had been gaining just a little weight over the years and wanted to regain my puppyish figure.  So for the start of my stay, I signed up for the Puppy 9 Day Extreme Boot Camp (P9DX).  This involved playing for 15 minutes and resting for 15 minutes all day every day!  It was hard work, but it was fun.

My trainer was a border collie named Tony.  He was fast and made me work hard.  Here's a picture of us during a break along with another pup who was in the program.  (The other pup was a bit of a troublemaker and was always goofing around.)

Tony the P9DX Trainer

 Because the stay was during Thanksgiving, we did get a break for one day.  On that day, we even got to partake in a great Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, green beans, and sweet potato!!!!  Tony said that there's no harm in having a feast on a special day and he said that the turkey would help build our muscles.  It was my favorite meal of the year!

The P9DX program was hard, but it was rewarding.  I think you can see the results clearly in these before and after pictures.

Before P9DX with Tony After P9DX with Tony Not only do I look like a puppy again, I also feel better.  I'm much better able to guard the pack with my new muscles.  And... guarding the pack has become much more important lately...

Stay tuned!

Before I sign off, just for fun, here's another picture from Camp Taurus with some fellow campers.  It was super fun!

More fun at Camp Taurus

Update on Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 01:19PM by CTP

I feel bad because I forgot to thank all of the people who helped Tony make the P9DX camp so great.  The people who work for him at Camp Taurus really are the ones who made it a great experience.

They prepared all of the great meals, they organized all of the play times, they gave us treats when we were good and broke up the rare fights.  Most importantly, every night, they gave me a clean bed, my own fresh blanket, my own grade-A bone, and tucked me in and gave me a kiss. 

I missed my own people, but thanks to the super-nice people at Camp Taurus, I didn't get too homesick.

Sleeping as Art

There is a subtle but important difference between Sleeping as Art and the Art of Sleeping.  If you're more interested in the Art of Sleeping, please check out this great article by Henri Hound.  Henri mostly talks about how and where to sleep for some of the best experiences.  He does touch on Sleeping as Art a bit as well.

Sleeping as Art...

I love sleeping, but I think it's important to sleep with style.  I want my sleep to properly accent the room. 

When I see a pattern on a rug, I see how I can best add to the overall look of it.  I think I did that well here.

Accenting the Accent RugChairs can be a little tricky.  They can be a little short for showing off my long, lean lines.  However, I've found that if I let my body follow the natural contour of the angles, it makes for a nice effect. 

I once heard a person say, "I'd rather look good than feel good."  That makes a lot of sense to me.

Fine LinesSpeaking of showing off my long lines, I've found that the Downward Dog position is an excellent way to show off those lines.  I imagine my body as a natural waterfall flowing gracefully among the hills of green.  The blue blanket helps add to the illusion of flowing water, don't you think?

Inspiring Yoga MovesRecently, I came up with a wonderful inspiration.  If I take the Fine Lines chair position but do it on the couch, I can show off the full length of my body while complementing the angles on the couch.  It's one of my finest works yet. 

Experimental ArtI thought it would be interesting to work with a monochromatic palette just to see how it turned out.  So, I asked my people to buy a piece that was similar in color to my coat.  I like how using this palette takes the focus off of me and makes people pay close attention to the richness of hues within a narrow range of colors.  (Also, this bed is very, very comfortable so I look good AND feel good!) CamouflagedFor my last work today, I decided to take the concept of removing me from the focus to it's logical conclusion.  I've heard people say that "less is more".  When I saw the sun shining in through the window in just the right way, I was inspired to create one of my most artistic works.  Let me know if you agree. MysteriousI hope you enjoyed my little gallery of Sleeping as Art.  I know that I'll be working on more pieces over the next several months and I will display them in another show once I feel that I have a collection that is up to my standards.  Thank you for supporting the arts!