Arlo and I have been moving house. We’re both a little shell-shocked from the experience (and we’ve lost our camera-to-computer doodad), so the posts have been nonexistent for a while. I do hope to be back on track soon, though.

Our new house is a lovely old dame, fading from classy to comfy. We are really happy there so far. The back garden has Arlo’s seal of approval, too. There’s a big lawn and a bit of jungle up the back that’s wonderful for racing around in and getting covered in all manner of prickles and seeds.

Trust all my neglected dog and non-dog pals out there are keeping their tails up and wagging.

I believe nothing could be added that would enhance this experience. Enjoy!

Pillowcases in the wash, you say? Don’t mind if I do!

The perfect schnozz

An escape attempt at the cafe was the ruin of the new lead.

Look out, back garden! I’m FRISKY!

What am I doing up here? Well might you ask.

What do you think? I love the title ‘What Happens When Engineers Own Dogs’. Is the human’s absence detracting from the dog’s experience?

Full disclosure: I giggled. I love the gentle way the dog feeds the ball into the catapult.

For those of you who are waiting with bated breath for the much-touted Smileydogs post, fear not! It’s coming, but it might be another week.

I am thickly embroiled in editing an honours thesis at the moment and so won’t be able to do justice to all the lovely doggy shots I’ve received until next weekend.

Stay tuned, though. It’s gonna be fantastic!

Teaser, one of our little beauties from friend of DogMa, Teagan the cocker spaniel:

Teagan giving us a taste of what's to come

Tess and Arlo have a ritual to celebrate anyone’s arrival in the house. They get up on their hind quarters like boxing kangaroos and have a play fight. This takes place preferably in our cramped hallway, complete with monsterous growls and lunges.

It must be kind of intimidating to be a first-time visitor to this house.

The best explanation I can come up with is that it’s a way to release the excitement of the new arrival, especially since jumping up is discouraged.

But once they’ve remembered how fun it is to pretend to kill each other (tails frantically a-wagging), they don’t calm down again for a long time. My cousin Mayra arrived an hour ago and they’re still wrestling all over the floor, panting and snarl-giggling.

One day I’m going to video it.

Beware the ferocious beast!

Arlo hates getting too warm, and goes to hilarious lengths to avoid it, like lying spread-eagled on his stomach on the bathroom tiles. Before spending a week at Apollo Bay recently, I decided that it would be best for both of us if we got rid of his flowing locks. Hot open fires, sand and salt water: all enemies of the hirsute groodle!

So, with help from Kath at K9 Kudos, my boy went from this:

Hirsute

To this:

Buzz-cut

– in the space of a couple of hours. Unrecognisable! I think his expression in the second photo is as close to reproach as Arlo gets.

This post is inspired by Ruth, Commenter Extraordinaire, who sent me equivalent shots of her labradoodle pup Niles, who is about the same age as Arlo. I love the symmetry of their facial expressions in the ‘After’ shots:

Before: happy boy

After: 'Aw, Mum...'

Brilliant!

Arlo, Niles: I’m laughing at you.

Post-script: I’m still collecting Laughing Dogs photos, by the way, to publish in a bumper post of fun. Send me a shot of your dog laughing and a link to your blog/website (if you have one) and I’ll post them and give you some link love at the same time.

Email me.

Does it even matter? One of my favourite things about my dogs is that they always give you the benefit of the doubt on this one.

In fact, thinking back through all the dogs I have known, there isn’t one who wouldn’t prefer to join the joke than get offended.  Often when I laugh at something I’m reading or watching on television, I notice the gentle thump of Arlo’s tail on the floor, joining the joke.

This thought process – and therefore this blogburble – was inspired by a lovely little post from 3 Bitches Barking. It’s always good to be reminded of why we love our dogs, and their goofy sense of humour doubtless ranks pretty high on most dogpeople’s lists.

I really wish I had a photo of a laughing dog to add to this post, but laughing dog shots happen in warm weather (think about it) and Arlo hasn’t yet experienced a summer. If you have a good one, email it to me and I’ll post it with full attribution.

I’m going to spend some time thinking about funny anecdotes starring Arlo and Tess to share in future posts. Any funny stories from your pack? Please share them. We could all use a laugh.

I just rediscovered this photo and it made my insides go all wobbly. Had to share.

Hard to believe he was ever so tiny - now he's bigger than Tess!

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