Ready and Waiting for Autumn

Greetings, this is Bella, speaking out once again to all my admirers (I assume that I'm admired; if you aren't overwhelmed by my beauty when you gaze upon me there is clearly something wrong).

I'm very disappointed that I'm forced to endure another 'hot spell', just when I thought summer was wrapping up until the next. If you're not aware, we live in South Australia, where it can be extremely hot and dry in the summer, not fun at all! You may say, "But Bella, surely you, as a Saluki, are the sort who would enjoy lots of hot, dry weather?". Well, I don't. Unpleasantly warm weather makes for hot cement (so walks can only take place in the evening), shortened zoomie runs due to heat exhaustion and, worst of all, getting bits of prickly plants stuck in my hair whenever I go outside. Today I went out to play for five minutes and by the time I came in, Amy had a whole handful of prickles that she'd pulled out of my feet, legs, ears, pants, ears- basically anywhere with pretty feathers. I'm coming to start to think that smooth Salukis must have the right idea! Amy tells me to be grateful that I'm not an Afghan Hound, if I was I'd surely pick up one hundred times more bits and pieces in my fur. Eww.

Thankfully, we have had a couple of cool days recently among the scorchers. Amy took this opportunity to take some photos of me being utterly gorgeous. WHY no upmarket canine company has asked me to model for them is beyond my comprehension. I'm a babe, and I know it.

First, I posed with the hills in the background, providing a nice scenic backdrop.



Because I am a Saluki, and as such can run very fast indeed, and am unlikely to stop chasing something just because some bossy human tells me to, I have to stay on my leash-contraption. If I were to get off, I might be a bit silly and run onto a scary road in my enthusiasm to run and run and run. It's a bit of a pity because the pictures would look rather nicer without the leash-contraption in the way, but I suppose it's better than getting run over by a car.



Amy says that it's better to take photos of me when she's crouching or lying down, but that's another thing that's quite difficult in the summer as she gets all prickled by all the dead grass and spiky things! It's quite amusing watching her struggle to get in the right spot for a picture, and then once she's ready I fidget so she's got to reposition herself all over again! Hehehe.




I like playing on these big mounds. Apparently they were put in for humans to ride on with their bicycle-contraptions, but I think they're more fun to run up and down.



While Amy has taking these photos of me, she got bitten by a spider, haha!









And one last photo:

New Tricks

Hi, Bella here.

I've been on holidays from formal obedience training for the past couple of months, but in that time I've still been learning.
I've now mastered a new trick, 'take a bow' (which involves lying down with only your front half, so your bottom sticks in the air). As well as that, I'm also getting a lot better at going over jumps which can be a lot of fun.

This is me waiting for instructions.



And performing my bow.



Ooh, I can do high fives as well!



At the first obedience school I tried out, one of the instructors said that Salukis are 'a bit dumb' which OBVIOUSLY is utter nonsense. So, here I am proving such sentiments wrong. We Salukis can certainly learn tricks like any other dog and what's more, we only feel the need to perform if there's something in it for us. Dumb? I think that makes us cleverer than most. ;-)

Another thing that is new is that my human, Amy, now has a Redbubble profile, which means you can now buy greeting cards and posters with her doggy art on. Amy's going to put some t-shirts on there that you humans can wear. You can now even buy Christmas cards featuring the most beautiful Saluki in all the world- that's right, me!!!
Take a look!

I shall talk to all you mere humans again soon. Hug your hounds!

Licks,
Bella (the great)

WORZ Gorillas

And now for a second bombardment of gorilla photos, this time from Werribee Open Range Zoo. It was my first time visiting the zoo and I was very impressed. I do think it would have been a lot more enjoyable in the school term though, being school holidays it was packed with screaming children. It's shame that people aren't bright enough that a gorilla probably isn't going to be impressed by your unimpressive chest beats and bizarre Tarzan calls. And that wasn't even the children, those were the adults! Now I've had my whinge, I will say that there were also lots of sensible people who were quiet and respectful when watching the gorillas.


The houses three males, Motaba and his two youngest sons, Yadumu and Ghubari.

This is Motaba. I really like him a lot, he's a magnificent silverback. Motaba spent a lot of the time sitting with his back against the glass, so it was very near impossible to get decent photos of him up close, but I think I did pretty well considering. I loved being close enough to actually smell him, I love the scent of gorillas- so gorillary (made up word)!








This is Yadumu (Yakini), the 'middle' gorilla. He spent a lot of time snoozing in a shady shelter. The last time I saw him was in January 2009, and he has matured so much since then.







And this is Ghubari (Ganyeka), Motaba's youngest son. I think he's a very handsome young man.