Toni's Blog has Moved

The other senjis were getting jealous of Toni having her own blog so I made a blog for all senjis to share. From now on, I will be putting posts about Toni on the new senji blog. :)

http://supersenjis.blogspot.com/

New House!!!

[Translated from English to Yodelish using the Basenji Translator 500]

hello people. this is toni. we got a new house. it is really nice. it has a big big yard and trees and grass and lots and lots of squirrels. mom took photos of me and calvin in the yard. i love to run in the yard. I can go real fast. I also like to sniff stuff -- there is so much for me to sniff!

mom says she is gonna put in a new fence to keep me safe. she says it is gonna be real tall so i dont climb out. i do not know why she thinks that. i love this house and this yard and mom keep lots of yummy cookies in a jar for me so i am not goin' anywhere -- well at least not far.

luv toni

Toni's 1 year Anniversary

April 14 + 15 marked Miss Toni's 1 year anniversary with us. We can hardly believe that we have had Toni for a year as it seems like yesterday that Gary brought her home from Logan Airport. Toni celebrated in style with a rip-roaring trip to the dog park, a peanut butter cannoli, and lots + lots of cuddles and belly rubs.

Toni has come such a long way from that heartbroken little girl we first met. She has so much confidence and spunk and is turning into an excellent listener. Just yesterday we did a dog collar "photo shoot" and Toni did a better job than Calvin! Speaking of Calvin, she is hardly ever nasty to Calvin anymore -- and when she is he usually deserves it. In fact, the tables have turned in that Toni will now pester Calvin to play and Calvin will grumble in return! And today Toni even tried to play with her Grandma Happy!

Toni's biggest accomplishment is than now she can go to the dog park and even enjoy it! She has started to play with the other dogs and make friends. Why just this week she met another female basenji at the park and when that female raised her mohawk and got snarky. Toni listened to me calling her back and she chose not to partake in a "basenji bitch" scuffle and instead came running to "mom". Good girl, Toni!

Songbird

Toni has been quite the song bird lately. She yodels when we come home, yodels when we get ready for a walk, yodels before and after she eats, and she yodels for no reason at all! Her favorite place to yodel is on the couch in the living room. She will sit on the arm of the couch and will just yodel on and on. Of course we humans usually join in and Toni seems to like that as she will yodel louder and longer. Calvin (who is usually quiet) even joined in yesterday and gave a deep baritone yodel.

Bed Buddies

I could not believe my eyes when I saw this. Toni and Calvin SHARING Toni's new bed. WOW! I am so impressed with how far Toni has come in terms of accepting my little Calvin.

Toni's bed!

The only dog that has a bed is Miss Happy and Happy has 2 beds one in the living room and one in my craft room. In the summertime I also keep a dog bed on the front porch (which Calvin manages to shred every year) and in the basement.

For about a month now Toni has been hinting around that she wants her own bed. She will "steal" Happy's bed when Happy isn't using it. Toni will also take all of her toys and put them in Happy's bed. I am not sure if this is her way of "claiming" the bed or just a way to keep Happy out of the bed. Regardless, Happy gets VERY ticked off when Toni does this so it looked as if the only way to keep both Happy and Toni happy was to get Toni her own bed.

I am not a fan of the aesthetics of dog beds and I do not understand why they are so darn expensive. So I took about 3 yards of grass green fake fur that I had laying around and I made Toni her very own bean bag styled bed. And she LOVES it! Once she lays down in it it is hard to get her out! Now the only problem is that Calvin wants one too!!!

America's Next Top Model

Right now I am doing an on-line fundraiser for BRAT (Basenji Rescue and Transport) and I made some new collars to post to my on-line store. Who better to model them than Miss Toni. Happy used to do all my modeling when she was younger and she picked it up quickly and was a natural at it. Toni is a little more timid as she is not sure what the heck I am doing with the little black thing around my neck that flashes at her. With a little practice she could have a shot at being America's Next Top Model. Oh, she could easily win American Idol with her yodeling ability!!!

p.s. My webstore is www.happyfantastic.etsy.com

I live in a house with Really Weird Dogs

Lately, the dogs have been doing some really strange things. It has been very cold here (in the single digits!) so I think they are all getting a little bored and stir crazy as it has been too cold for walks.


Last night Happy konked out in her dog bed and was sleeping so soundly that her head rolled off of the bed onto the floor. Poor thing, but I just couldn't resist taking a photo of it before I propped her head back up.



Miss Toni went "missing" this morning. I got up around 7am and Toni was sound asleep in my bed. At 7:30 she was in my bed -- now she was awake, but pretending to sleep. 8:00 still in the bed. 8:05 she was missing and was not responding to my calls of "Toni, Toni!". I looked all over our house and Toni was no where to be found. And then I saw it, a long brown leg with a big white paw sticking out from under the bed. The big weirdo had crawled under my bed and was laying against the heating vent. She looked up at me with her brown eyes as if to say "I am sorry mom, but it is soooo nice and warm here. Please, oh, please do not make me get up". So I left my little furry weirdo under the bed.

Basenjis Party Too Hard!

Last night Toni + Calvin had some wild shenanigans. New Christmas toys were played with too hard and they each ate a foot long bully!!! Even Happy did a lot of pacing indoors and exploring in the snowy yard. This morning none of the basenjis wanted to get out of bed as visions of cookie plumb fairies were still dancing in their furry heads.

Santa!!!

Santa Paws came last night and my were the dogs excited this morning! Calvin unwrapped ALL the presents (even those not for him)!!! Toni + Calvin each got 2 toys from Santa and Toni got some additional chewies and a lovely reindeer from her mommy #1 (Sondra). Happy got some "gourmet" dog food and a pint of vanilla Haagen Daas which she will be eating later this morning.

FYI: Happy + Toni have the Santa hats on, Happy is the one who is gray and longer in the face; Toni has a darker and smaller face. Calvin is the lighter basenji with the red bandanna.

Here comes Toni Claus!


Toni + her big gift from mommy #1.


"Is that for moi?"


Calvin + Toni.


Calvin the unwrapper of presents.

Toni being a goober and wanting belly rubs.

Santa Happy

Like mother, like granddaughter -- neither one wanted to take a photo with each other!

We three basenjis of African kings.

Toni yodeling up a storm!!!

The Saddest Girl in the World

There is an old song that goes "Did you happen to see the saddest girl in the world?" Well, we have been getting snow storms back to back and painfully cold weather for over a week -- which means no walks for Toni, Calvin, and Happy. Poor Toni has been taking this the hardest as she lives for her daily walks. I took this photo of Toni after she had been looking out the window at all the snow filling up her precious sidewalk. Thankfully, Toni wears her booties and we were able to do a short walk today (Calvin stayed home as he has an ear infection).

Oh, and I have no idea how that pillow got onto the back of the couch. Perhaps Toni brought it up there with her!!!

Toni's Birthday Bliss!!!

Technically, Toni's birthday isn't until tomorrow. But we decided to throw her a little party tonight. Toni got a special beef and cheese "cake" topped with a cookie. She grabbed the "cake" off of the plate before we could even sing Happy Birthday to her and ate it in 10 seconds!!!

Toni also got a present that Calvin picked out for her. It is a big silly looking dodo bird stuffed toy. She no sooner got it out of the bag that Calvin jumped up and tried to steal it from her. Toni gave him a big nasty growl and Calvin flung himself on top of the dodo bird and wouldn't let her have it! Gary consoled Miss Toni and gave her a hug and the dodo bird was long forgotten.

1 basenji birthday down, 2 more to go!

Brrr...It's Cold Outside

The days are starting to get colder here and I had to breakout the matching coats Sondra sent for Calvin and Toni. They look so darn cute! Now when they go out trying to catch the wrasscly wrabbits (or squirrels) they are the most stylish little hunting dogs.
Plus the dogs get sooooo many complements which they love!

Halloween Hound

In the true spirit of Halloween, I made the dogs do some tricks before they got their treats. And by tricks, I mean I dressed them up. Miss Toni got to wear the pumpkin hat and Calvin went as a spooky bat! Toni was a little concerned by the constant stream of trick-or-treaters (some who came by to check out the dog's costumes) so she ended up hiding out in my bed. Calvin had a blast and was soooooo excited by the trick-or-treaters he kept trying to escape to greet them. I ended up taking him out to stop by his furry friends' houses and the little devil ended up with a bag of snausages, dried chicken, and bacon strips! When we got home I made him share his loot with Happy + Toni.

PuppyPower!

Toni's "mom" sent me a BUNCH of photos of Toni when she was a wee little puppy as well as a wonderful package of Toni's toys. Toni's mom (Happy's daughter) is Simba. It is amazing how similar Happy and Simba look! Toni also had a little friend named Shelby who is the red and white basenji in some of the photos.

zzz Sleepy Heads zzz

Now that the mornings are cooler and the sun comes up later the dogs have turned into lazy little sleepy heads! Even Miss Happy (who is usually up before I am) has been sleeping in almost every day this week. What a life these dogs lead!

Looking Good!

I finally made Calvin and Toni new collars. Toni wanted a glamorous collar to be more like her Grandma Happy but she didn't want to look too prissy so she got a brown and blue-green bohemian collar. Because Calvin is a sneaky mischief-maker and when he growls it sounds like "Arrrrgg" he got a pirate collar! Poor Miss Happy is so neat and tidy that she did not need a new collar so she got a cookie instead.

Rooster

Toni is very vocal and here new "thing" is that in the morning she will sit in the kitchen wait oh so meekly for us to feed her. Since Toni can be a bit dominant and pushy around food, Happy gets fed first, then Calvin, and then Toni. Toni has such a hard time waiting for her turn and will usually let out a loud rooster-like crow to let us know that she is here and is HUNGRY!!! If she keeps doing this every day, our neighbors will think we got a rooster!

Friends!

Toni and Calvin are FINALLY at the point that they are buddies. Don't get me wrong, Toni still like to be the "boss lady" and bullies him to get her way (which may I add has resulted in much better behavior for Calvin). But at least once a day, usually in the evenings, they will play for a bit. Toni has also become more willing to share furniture with Calvin and I frequently see them cuddling in bed or they will both be up on the couch with me. When we take Toni to the dog park she will often "check in with" Calvin as she explores the park.

That is right, Toni now goes to the dog park! We try to bring her and Calvin late in the day when there are not many dogs there. She and Calvin do well alone in the small dog area chasing balls and greeting dogs between the fence. When we let her out into the big park, she doesn't bother much with the other dogs. She still does not like it when other dogs sniff her bottom, but she sure does like to sniff the bottoms of other dogs! She also likes to sniff their ears and their eyes and will really give a new dog a thorough once-over when she meets him!

Miss Toni is such a wonderful girl who is full of so many surprises!

Snoozin' in the Sunshine

Toni is really starting to adjust well.

Toni has yodeled 3 times.

She appears comfortable when roaming around the house and trying out the comfy furniture.

Toni seems more at ease in general and is more self-confident.

The past 2 nights Toni + Calvin slept in the same bed together WITHOUT any grumbling.

And (drumroll please), after I got back from a short walk around the block with Happy, Toni greeted me with a mini-yodel and a super-duper tail wag (this is the first time I had seen her wag her tail).