Champ's First Blog - "Puppies are the Best"

My name is Champion Thorpe Clemmer.  Everyone calls me Champ. 

Today, September 3, 2010, is my two year anniversary with my wonderful human family.  I was five months old when I came to live with them.  Mommy asked me to write this blog since it was about me, and I am the expert, you know.

And just to warn you, Mommy loves to take pictures of me.  She has thousands.  Really.  She says I'm the guinea pig (is that like a puppy?) because I'm so cute and always happy.  It's all  Cory and Christopher's fault.  They won't let her anywhere near them with a camera.  So you'll get to see many pictures of me in my blog.  But don't let Cory fool you.  He likes to take pictures also as you can see here.

Cory and Mommy rescued me from a crazy place with lots of dogs, most of them scary and mean, a bunch of horses and lots of dirt out in the middle of nowhere.  When Mommy and Cory came to pick me up, 30-40 dogs jumped on the fence and growled so much that they couldn't even get close to me.       

I didn't have a name then but had just been called Shih-Tzu.  Mommy was so sad and also mad that I hadn't had a name for five long months and realized I couldn't have been loved or pampered much.  She asked Cory to name me.  He named me Champ, which was just perfect for me.  Because I am a champ.  It didn't take them long to realize that I was a Champ for having survived five months without much love or attention. 

I was a very happy puppy when we drove away from my first home.  I was happy to be sitting on Cory's lap.  And my first snuggles with Mommy above were awesome.

The first night I was in the family we went to a cool place called Petsmart and I got so many fun things.  Here's a picture of me snuggling in my very own bed in the shopping cart.  This bed is still my favorite to this day.  They bought me piles of toys, treats, a crate, blankets and food.  I felt so loved that first night.  And Cory held me lots, which I liked a lot then.

I slept with Cory for the first few weeks and this was cool.  He and I were buddies.  I cried a lot at night when I was in my crate and I was pretty sick at first. 

When Cory and Mommy took me to the puppy doctor the next day, they were pretty disgusted when some ticks jumped off me onto the vet's table.  Plus the vet said I had eye infections, ear infections and a weird thing called demodectic mange.  This wasn't my fault, you know.  I didn't have a lot of loving before my family adopted me.

I have two big sisters, Sunshine and Sierra.  They are 80 pound Golden Retriever puppies.  I love playing with them and teasing them also. 

 

I also have another big brother named Christopher.  He plays with me a lot now and gives great baths, too.  I love picking him up from school and get really excited to see him.  He gave me an awesome bath tonight so I would be very handsome for my second anniversary tomorrow.

I didn't really like the time I went to the doctor and came home with less body parts and a weird thing around my head.  It was called being neutered and wasn't much fun.  They said it was for my own good but I didn't like the whole thing.  And this miserable blue pillow around my head wasn't good for sleeping with, either.  I didn't even feel like smiling in this picture, which is unusual for me.

 Cory was really my pal for a long time.  He played with me, took care of me and even snuggled with me.  I don't see him much any more and miss him.  He is very busy working out and wants to be a professional body builder.  He has humungus muscles and is now over six feet and 220 pounds.

My first Halloween was really fun except that Mommy dressed me up in a weird Halloween costume that said "Trick or Treat".  Luckily, it doesn't fit anymore so I don't think I'll be seeing it next month if I'm lucky.

Thanksgiving was also a fun time when I was a young puppy.  Even though I still had that stupid blue thing around my neck, I was very thankful to be in such a great family with so much love and attention.

My life is busy and full.  One of my favorite things to do is sleep.  And I sleep a lot.  Usually within a few feet from Mommy, wherever she may be.  I'm below her desk in this picture and her sneakers are on the floor from a recent walk.

I really love to go to the park and take walks.  When I first came to the family, I was very scared at the park.  My tail was always between my legs. Whenever someone would come towards me or come up behind me, I would stop and look around nervously.  We didn't get much walking done.  Everyone at the park was so nice to me and pretty soon I got more comfortable.

 

My first Christmas was a bomb.  I didn't realize how fun it was to get presents.  I got to have a sleepover with Auntie BK and had such a great time running around her humungus backyard with orange trees.  I take my toys with me everywhere I go.  This candy cane toy was one of my favorites until I tore it apart so much. Luckily, Mommy knows how to do surgery on my toys; I usually watch her intently as she is sewing them up again.  She says this is the only time she will ever do the "S" word, whatever that means.

I snuggled quite a bit with Mommy.  She liked it a lot.  I didn't.  I'm not a lap dog but like to stay at a distance.  But sometimes I give in and let Mommy snuggle me because I know she loves it so much. 

But after all that snuggling, I'm pretty pooped and like to hang out alone especially when it is quiet and I can rest my head on the nice quilted tree skirt thingAuntie Sharyn made for Mommy years ago.

Oh I forgot to show you this picture with the Thanksgiving pumpkin top atop my head. I  wasn't a happy camper but I was comfy on the leather couch.

 

That reminds me.  I think Mommy wanted a girl puppy.  Can anyone tell me why girls find it necessary to dress up boys with hair things and cute clothes?  I don't find it amusing, but try to be a good sport, nonetheless.

Mom says it's getting late and I should stop my story.  But I'm having so much fun and it's only two in the morning. Mom and I are alike in so many ways.  We are both night owls, hate to get up in the morning, love the wind blowing in our faces, love broccoli and cabbage, love bike riding and walking.  But before I end, I want to show you a few more cute pictures. I had barely covered my first year!

My favorite thing to do, beside sleeping, is playing with my toys.  The best toys squeak, loudly.  I play with them and squeak them so much that they usually lose their voice.  But I still love and play with them because I'm a very loyal puppy. 

When Mommy says it is time to go to bed, I always run back and find my favorite toy to sleep with during the night.  The blue toy was my first ever toy and is named "Mr Blue".  He has been re-sewn so many times and has lost his voice, but he is still my favorite.  And Mommy says I'm just like having a toddler around.  By the end of the day, my toys are scattered from one end of the house to the other.  And I have LOTS of toys.

I also love going to the park and running around.  Sometimes I will hide beneath a bench and stick my head out to say hi.  I also love rolling on my back and getting a good scratch.  Mommy and Auntie BK and I go to parks and look at birds and trees almost every weekend.

I have been to four states:  California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona.  Luckily for everyone, I am a very good traveler and love road trips.  Here I am driving though Oregon snuggled up on a blanket because it was raining and very cold. 

 Here's a picture on my first birthday, April 2, 2009. 

This is Mommy's favorite picture ever.

 I love to frolick in the grass and take walks most every day.  We have a neat place with lots of ducks, geese, birds, trees and even a small dog park very close to our home.  Aren't I so handsome?

 I like to explore in the pretty shrubs and flowers.

But sometimes a boys just needs alone time.  So I crawl under Mommy's accent table.  Even though I'm at 16 pounds now, I can still fit, but not as easily as when I was a 10 pound boy.  And sometimes I only go under part of the way.

  

Sometimes I play with my toys underneath or just poke my head out and watch the action. 

But I always come out happily.

 Life is good, very good.  I'm a very happy and thankful puppy.

Bike Voyage (like Bon Voyage)

Champ and I had the most excellent adventure last Friday, 4/16/2010, one of the happiest and most enjoyable days I've had in ages.  What did we do?

Well, I had been looking online for months to find the perfect basket to attach to my bike's handlebars, so Champ could bike ride with me, because I most certainly wouldn't go for a ride without him.  It would just be wrong plus lonely and not nearly as fun!!  All the baskets online indicated that Champ's 16+ pound girth (ha) was too heavy for a front basket, which was important so we could share the adventure together and "talk" as we rode.  Instead it showed that I needed to have him ride in a basket behind me or pull him in a covered little stroller (the type that jogging or biking Mom's use)  Well, that wouldn't do. 

After seeing a family at my Riverwalk area with a bike basket, I went to the local cyclery shop they referred me to and found the perfect super-de-duper basket.  What made it perfect?  It was much deeper,  so he couldn't jump out as readily, a little wider, and had extra metal supports that extended down to the front of the bike frame, so it would be safer and would support a lot more weight than his mere 16 pounds.  It was important to purchase and have extra goodies mounted, like a front headlight in case I'm out in the dark, lights in the back and an adorable little horn, plus I already had a really neat spedometer/odometer that indicates speed, distance and time of day.

It was a bright, sunny day when we had our first excellent adventure, which of course, started with a picture at the cycling shop where it all started as we loaded the bike into my van for the first time.

I had decided that our maiden trip, or our "bike voyage" (as opposed to "bon-voyage"), had to be in the first park I discovered when we moved to Corona 11 years ago.  The Yorba Linda Regional Park was only about 20 minutes away and has many lakes, trees and birds, as well as paved and unpaved biking trails.  So off we went.

On the way, I explained to Champ about our upcoming biking adventure and he listened intently.

He was quite anxious to try out the basket that he had liked so much at the bike shop.By the time we arrived at the park, he was ready for his first bike ride up high in his very special basket.

We rode and we rode around the beautiful park with the many lakes and saw such beautiful birds and trees. In this picture, there are three Snowy Egrets in flight (very exciting to catch with my camera), an Egyptian Goose in the forefront, and many Mallard Ducks at the back. The lakes are so spectacular and there are countless varieties of ducks, egrets, geese and birds.

It was warm and sunny and so peaceful and quiet at the park. After biking for only a few miles (as per my handy dandy odometer gadget), but felt like a very long time to my very sore rear-end bones, we stopped for a rest. I had seen a bright blue beautiful bird flying about and wanted a picture.

These are pictures of a Western Bluebird.  They are so amazing to watch in flight because they are so fast and so blue that it is dazzling to behold.

Champ was very happy to stop for a few minutes so he could roll around on the grass and scratch his itchy back! This is one of his favorite pasttimes in the many parks we visit. And I was in heaven to rest my aching bones a minute and take pictures of the beautiful birds and trees.

Along the way, we also saw a Snowy Egret, characterized by black beak and yellow feet, in full mating plumage. The picture earlier of three Snowy Egrets in flight was interesting because they were fighting in the air, another sign that it was mating season (to the best of my knowledge. I'm not an expert but I love birds and photgraph them a lot).

Here's a picture of an Egyptian Goose. I've visited most of the local parks numerous times and have only seen them a few times. They are quite spectacular and look quite different than most ducks and geese.

We also saw many Wood Ducks. The male is on the left and the less colorful female on the right.

One part of the bike trail has a little bit of a hill.  I was able to ride up it the first time, albeit with a lot of effort, but the second time I had to stop midway up.  Well, I was bummed because I wanted to make it to the top, but then I looked to my left and beheld the most exciting view.  A Great Blue Heron was fishing in the lily pads in a secluded part of the park.  I was then very thankful that I couldn't make it up the hill! 

Here's a closeup of this amazing Great Blue Heron. I had talked to an older couple that lives close to the park and walks there everyday and discovered this Great Blue Heron has a large nest atop a pine tree. I was able to see one of its chicks which was so amazing since it was 75 feet up in the air or so. I love my camera with the zoom lens! : )

I love trees also.  Here's the sunlight showing through a sycamore tree, one of my favorite trees:

Here's another Snowy Egret steathily waiting for a fish to swim by.  You would be amazed to see how fast they are when they grab it!

This picture was so fun because I was able to capture the Snowy Egret (right middle of pic) with the Egyptian Goose in the forefront.

As I rode along, the wind was blowing cotton through the air from this Cottonwood tree:

Here's the cotton along the ground.

At one point, I stopped to talk to some wonderful elderly women.  Champ was so pooped from his long ride that he took a little nap.  It's hard work being a puppy, you know!  Thankfully he is very comfortable in his special basket. See his cute smushed nose up against the front of the basket!

We had a great time at the park.  Here's the view looking out to one of the lakes.  The park itself is over 1 mile long and has 3-4 lakes with birds of every variety in and around it!  Heaven! 

While I had taken my book and thought we might stop and sit in the grass and read, we had too much fun riding,

taking pictues and enjoying the birds, lakes and trees.  In this picture, you can see my headlight on the left, with the odometer gadget mounted on the handlebars, then a reflector light and the little d-ling, d-ling horn.  Of course my cell phone and book are in the basket and luckily there's room for it all and Champ!

Alas, it was time for our journey to end. We were only there about three hours, but the time fly by, and we had such a blast. Here's a picture of Champ after the day's fun as I was ready to take him out of the basket to go home.  He was a very happy camper!

I took hundreds of pictures and only showed some of the amazing birds and views.  More to come in future posts!

We both had a great time and can't wait to go back again!   Come visit us and you can go, too!