Secret Santa Paws!

[crysania4]

Dahlia and I were involved in a Secret Santa Paws exchange. We just got her gifts today, so we took pictures as we opened the presents.

What's this Mom? Is it for me? It must be, because it has paws all over it! I can read that much at least!



Oooo! Pretty red and white gifts! We loved the red and white theme!



The candy cane was an immediate hit. She chewed it up and down looking for the squeaker.



She didn't even care that we put the awesome Happy New Year headband on her!





Tug toys are also great fun!





Dahlia smiles! I know, she looks crazy, but she smiles an she was a happy doggy! Please to be ignoring the blue books and scattered papers. It's the end of the semester and both David and I teach, so it's grading time!



Wait Mom? There's more! I get a football?? Awesome!



We had to immediately throw it and she ran to get it.



Dahlia in the midst of her loot.



Wait Mom! I haven't tried this one yet!







Wait? There's more?



Oh nom nom nom...(you can also see the really awesome Hartz toy there -- we missed getting pictures of her with it but it's SO CUTE!)





Dahlia was a very happy pup!

Comments

[a-kosmos.livejournal.com]

What a pretty happy girl with all of her new toys.

[joansies.livejournal.com]

Doggy toy overload! :D

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

Hah hah Holly and I so have to do this next year. She'll go completely nuts!

Dahlia's smile is... very slightly scary. I love her open mouthed happy doggy grin but that one is...

*hides*

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

Hehe it's a silly look. She just lifts her upper lip but it's totally relaxed. Dalmatians are known for it. They call it a "smarl' and it's easily mistaken for a snarl. I remember something in one of Patricia McConnell's books about where she went to a client's house because their golden retriever snarled at them whenever they came home. Turned out it was the same look Dahlia gets. It's a definite smile, almost like she's imitating a human smile.

It's weird, but once you get used to it, it really warms your heart to see it because it means she's REALLY happy.

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

I've seen smarls before... didn't realise it because she's all black so it's harder to make out but now that you say that I can see what it is. That's kind of awesome. Still creepy though :-P

My friend had a rottie collie cross who used to actually wrinkle her nose and pull up her front lip - looked really evil but it was her smile lol. So funny. Holly hated her.

Hahah oh god imagine thinking your dog is snarling at you when you arrive home and they're actually just really happy to see you. That's bizarre!

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

It must have been. Patricia McConnell was most relieved to find out the dog had no problems and had to explain to the worried couple that their dog was a smiler. I actually think it's adorable! Because of the flash the picture didn't come out as good as I would have liked. I'll have to try to get the happy face outside sometime! lol

[anobjectinspace.livejournal.com]

Heh heh that would be awesome :-) I would love to see it properly!

People are funny. I mean, Dahlia was vaguely amusingly creepy there but it didn't worry me, y'know? But I've had Holly just yawn and people run screaming! It's so screwed up. Mind you - you have anything remotely looking like a pitbull and/or a big black dog and everyone immediately acts like you're walking around with a grizzly bear on the end of a bit of string!

[dogologist.livejournal.com]

Megan does that too. I love it, but it's freaked a few people out! That's quite a haul Dahlia got!! We've got Secret Santa parcels upstairs but our dogs are good dogs so they're saving them for Christmas morning ;)

(edited for spelling!)

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

LOL. We're supposed to post pictures and everyone else was so I thought we should open it right away! lol

[scribblekitty.livejournal.com]

Border Collies often learn to smile like Dahlia does. And Pi does it veryvery occasionally.

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

I've seen some pictures of border collies smiling like that so I was wondering if it was common in the breed. I remember looking through the collie corner page and seeing some who had the Dahlia smiles.

[abserdman.livejournal.com]

Kota kind of does the same thing. He does the lifting lip thing but I haven't quite worked out if he does it when he's happy or just does it. He was doing it lots when I was playing fetch with him today so I think it's happiness!

I'm going to have to join in with the secret santa thing next year, it sounds awesome!

[shunhuggedme.livejournal.com]

What is this Santa Paws and why don't I know of it?

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

It was in the petbulls community (no Dahlia's not a bully but we're part of the community so allowed to participate!).

I think allthingsdog should do one next year!

[shunhuggedme.livejournal.com]

Ohh.. Yeah allthingsdog totally should o.O

Or maybe even the_daily_pet? It would be a fun thing to start, you could do it for other holidays, too :p

[crysania4.livejournal.com]

I'd be worried about the daily pet one only because the community has the potential to be HUGE and it might be overwhelming. Allthingsdog definitely though!

[shunhuggedme.livejournal.com]

Hahaha :p

Huge, yeah, but fuuuun. And not mandatory, of course.