Pawsome Blogger Award!

Thank you, Dachshund Nola, for presenting me with a Pawsome Blogger Award! My fur friend Bug and I wish you all the best with Mango Minster 2012!

And thank you, Kootenai, for presenting me with a second Pawsome Blogger Award! I told my fur friend Conner all about your day trip to hike with the Wizard of Oz(arks).

In order to accept, I need to wag the award forward to blogs that make me wag. It is my honor to award the Pawsome Blogger Award to the following pawsome blogs, in no particular order (barking, please):

The Daily Oskar, because there's a little schnauzer in every one of us, and we all send Oskar's mom-person Pam get well wishes.

Yorkie Tales, because Scrappy is a fellow Western dog and her blog is lots of fun. I love Scrappy's Wordless Wednesday posts and her new winter parka.

Peggy's Pet Place, because Peggy is a great writer and I love her book reviews. Follow her as she blogs through the alphabet!

Roxy the Traveling Dog, because he's a fellow traveler who does lots of fun things, and I love the artwork by Al and Mary.

Kootenai's Climb, because Kootenai is a fellow Western dog who adores the mountains and I love her lyrics to Jingle Bells. Kootenai, you were already on this list when you gave me my second Pawsome Blogger award!

You Did What with Your Weiner, because I love reading about the adventures of Chester and Gretel in the Pacific Northwest. They are great advocates for small dogs and I always learn new things from their blog. For instance, they taught me all about Wet Belly Syndrome.

Baïka's Blog, because I love her French-language blog. Baïka is a fashionable King Charles Spaniel from Geneva, Switzerland. I adore her incredible sense of style.

Thank you! Love, Tootsie

P.s. Dachshund Nola wagged the award forward to eight pawsome blogs. Kootenai wagged it forward to six pawsome blogs (including mine!) I'm wagging it forward to seven, which is the arithmetic mean of six and eight. Keep on wagging!

Save the US Postal Service!

Tootsie's Plott hound brother Truffle finds a canine USPS mailbox in Port Townsend, Washington.

Mango Minster 2012: Adventure Animals Category!

Dear Mango Minster Judges and Kindred Hearts:

I, Tootsie, am a Bicontinental Adventure Dachshund.

Thank you for the opportunity to enter the 2012 contest. I am an adventurer who lives and travels on both the European and American continents and logs countless hours hiking in the Alps and the American West.

I travel by plane,

by train,

by gondola,

and by many other methods of transport, including automobiles, buses, cogwheel trains, funicolari, and ferries.

Fur Disclosure: I’ve never ridden a chairlift because I don’t think it’s safe.

As part of my residence in southern Switzerland, for which I obtained a Swiss Pet Passport, I'm required to embark on another sort of adventure. As a middle-aged doxie, I am learning to understand one of Switzerland's four national languages, Italian: "Seduta, Bassottina. Brava!" ("Sit, little Dachshund. Good girl!")

I love hiking. I’ve hiked all over Switzerland: Canton Fribourg in the west,

the Greina Plateau in south-central Switzerland,

Canton Appenzell in the northeast,

and in many other places.

I’ve hiked in the Austrian Alps,

in the French Alps,

and in the Italian Alps.

Once, I encountered a viper on a trail near Passo Vivione in the Italian Alps. There's no picture, because, duh, we're not going to hang around with a deadly viper on the trail, but here’s a link to what the viper looked like. Freaky!

I’ve also hiked in the Appennines in Tuscany

and regrouped in a Tuscan hilltown.

Though naturalized Swiss, I'm a proud United States citizen by birth (though the U.S. doesn't issue legal pet passports).

I love hiking in the American West, especially in my home state of Idaho.



I also like to hike in Montana.

Before Christmas, I met Santa Claws in downtown Bozeman.

The whole schnaa of being bicontinental means I’m a super lucky little dog. I get to go sailing in the San Juan Islands in Washington State,

explore the rocky shores of Puget Sound,

and walk along the sandy beaches of Tuscany,

where I filmed this movie.

I’m a fit little dog, but I wasn’t always this lucky. Before my forever parents adopted me, I was a very sick little dog. It was not clear if I would be well enough to live this life.

My special vet Dr. Ward of Pet Mobile saved my life. Dr. Ward performed surgery to remove huge bladder stones. Just a month later, I had three abscessed teeth pulled at one time. Ouch.

Yet after each surgery, I woke up wagging. My special vet assistant Brenda says that I always wag! My previous caregivers Clara, Sarah, Sadie, and Sophie, who found help for me with special vet Dr. Ward, confirm that I have always wagged. It’s true. Wagging is the leitmotif of my life.

Even before my renaissance and all my current travels, I believe I have always been an “Adventure Dachshund.” Why?

Because, to me, real adventure begins in my heart. Real adventure is reflected in my wagging tail. When I wake up every morning, I wag. I wag because life is sacred, and I'm grateful for mine.

Thank you for your time and consideration of my entry in the 2012 Mango Minster contest.

Keep on wagging!
Love,
Tootsie

P.s. Now I'm going to take a nap!

Liebster Award!

I'd like to send a special bark-out and thank you to Scrappy over at Yorkie Tails for the honor of the Liebster Blog Award! As she bestowed this paward, Scrappy wrote that my "humor and wit are really worth a follow." The whole schnaa is wotten waven!

Scrappy also honored the following blogs: Jane's Jewels; Gracie; Kip and Kim at Silently Free; and Suka's Just Sayin'. Thank you, Scrappy, for introducing us to these blogs! I'm honored to be in their company.

Thank you for the Liebster Award! Love, Tootsie

I've recently made some new furfriends, and I want to give a bark-out to any of you who might not be listed here. Forgive me. I still wag for you. Next time. Some of you have more followers, which means you do not qualify. And some of you have already received this award, so forgive me for not giving it to you.

And now, with all my wags and congratulations, as part of my Liebster award duties, I, Tootsie, hereby bestow the Liebster Blog Award on the following five blogs with under 200 followers:

Author Jeff Crosby's blog because he wrote one of my favorite books Wiener Wolf about a little sausage dog with a beautiful wildness inside. Jeff makes lots of school visits, and his art is wotten waven.

Little Dogs on Long Leashes because Georgia Pea is super funny (um, opinionated) and she has a Typist and a Cushion.

Whiskered Paintings because her art is simply beautiful.

Doxiementary because I agree that "Life as a Dachshund" is a great life.

The World According to Garth Riley because I like the musings of a "trick dog philosopher." I admire Garth's therapy dog service. And what a great full name: Canvasback Thunder Rolls at Brookhaven.

Congratulations to all of you! Please see THE AWARD DIRECTIONS below to receive and bestow your own awards. Wag it forward!

Dear Winners, please read THE AWARD DIRECTIONS:

Liebster means "dearest" and "favorite" in German. The Liebster Award highlights up-and-coming blogs to help spread the word about their furgoodness. An award brings ceremony, too, and in order to accept the Liebster, you must do the following:

1.) Copy and paste the award on your blog.
Wag! See the award above!

2.) Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
Wag! See my little note above!

3.) Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they received the award.
Wag! See the links to the winners above! And remember, always keep on wagging while you keep on reading!

Lakeside Bachshund

Last week Uncle Pog visited us. We took him on an exploratory walkie along the shores of Lake Lugano and leveraged his cinematic talent to complete principal photography of our new short, "Lakeside Bachshund". What is a Bachshund? A dachshund who enjoys listening to Bach, like me! Watch me as I wander along the lakeshore to Bach's "Air on the G String."



Check out my first short, "Catch a Wave"!

Doggy Signage / Segnaletica per Cani

As promised, here's some European doggy signage from my vast collection.

This was taken in Brienno, Italy, along the shores of Lake Como.

I think that since the Doxie is outside of the red line and red circle it means that it's okay for me to enter. What do you think?

In this photo, I'm way high above Lake Como, thinking about that doggy sign!

On the Fly

Tootsie and Yugi in conversation in North Idaho.