Arf arf! Arf arf arf arfarf!

Little Dog is off to see Petie (his best friend) today, and he is wildly excited about it. He is scampering up and down my desk in excitement.

"Arf. Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf!"

So there probably won't be any more blog posts now until next week. But I expect then he will have a lots of adventures to tell you about what happened over the weekend.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Arf arf.

Hot Dog and Mummy Dog

I think maybe it is time to introduce you to some more of Little Dog's friends. We, Little Dog and I, have already mentioned Petie. Petie is Little Dog's best friend. (See the posts on Introducing Little Dog and Learning to speak Arfish for pictures of Petie.)

But Little Dog has lots of other friends too (and relations), so I'll try not to overwhelm you by introducing you to too many of them at once.

Firstly here is Mummy Dog and Hot Dog:



Mummy Dog on the right, obviously, and therefore Hot Dog on the left.

Hot Dog has the special talent that you can put him in the microwave and heat him up.
"Arf arf arf arf arfarfarf!?*"

Yes really, L.D., put him in the microwave.
"Arf arf arf arfarf?"

Its not cruel, L.D., its the kind of breed of dog he is.
"Arf?"

Yes, he is made that way. Instead of having stuffing inside him like you he has these special magic beans which get hot when you put him in the microwave. That's why he's called "Hot Dog".
"Arf. 8-)" (Snicker snicker.)

Don't worry, L.D., I wouldn't put you or Mummy Dog in the microwave. Just Hot Dog because he likes it.

"Arf."

Now lets tell you about Mummy Dog. I am not exactly clear whose mummy Mummy Dog is. Possibly she is Little Dog's mummy.

Do you know, Little Dog?
"Arf."

I'll make some enquiries are see if I can find out.

In the meanwhile it may interest you to know that there was at one stage a suggestion that Mummy Dog was actually Little Dog who had grown older (and much bigger) and then travelled back in time from the future to spend time with his much younger self, and was only pretending to be a mummy so as to have fun with us.

However this suggestion was squashed. I expect that's just as well. Life is complicated enough.

I don't actually have Mummy Dog or Hot Dog here in the office with me today. Mostly it is only Little Dog that comes with me to the office (I think if all the dogs came, people would start to talk).

They both speak Arfish, of course, but Mummy Dog sounds more like a mummy, and Hot Dog speaks a slightly different dialect of Arfish. He has a bit of a foreign sounding accent. It's never occurred to me before, but I'll have to ask him about it later.

Here are a couple more pics of Mummy Dog.

"Arf arf."



It was cold here in March, so Mummy Dog made sure she dressed up well before going out.

Good Dog!

"Arf!?"

Sorry did that sound patronising?
"Arf."

Well I was trying to think of a witty title and I'm afraid that was the best I could do.
"Arf! Arf arf arf arf arf arf?"

Well because I was going to post those pictures of you mowing the lawn and raking up the grass last summer, and that was what occurred to me.
"Arf arf. Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arfarf."
Ok, I'll try to be more considerate in future.

"Arf."
He is chuckling again now.
He always does that, playing around with me.
He thinks it's funny.
"Arf arf arfarf."
Oh, it is is it, L.D.? ... Yes ok, I suppose it is.

Anyway, you were a very Good Dog, helping me mow the lawn.
"Arf. 8-)"

Think I'm going to tickle you on your belly now.
"Arf! ... arfarfarfarfarfarfarfarf."

I love watching him wriggle when I tickle his belly.

Anyway, here are the photos.

Little Dog mowing the lawn:


















































Little Dog raking up the grass:




"Arf arfarf arf, arf arf?"

Yes, L.D., you are Very Strong.

Little Dog's Long Hair

Everybody's got to worry about something, I suppose.

For Little Dog, it's his long hair.
"Arf!"

Am I not supposed to talk about that?
"Arf!"

But this is a blog, Little Dog, that's what you're supposed to do in a blog... talk about "things". Maybe there are other little dogs out there who also have long hairs and they worry about them too, and then you can all get together on line and have a chat about it.
"Arf arf. Arf arf arf arf."

Little Dog has lots of long hairs, of course, but one that is in the front of his right foot is a lot longer than any of the others and this is a Big Worry for a Little Dog.

When Little Dog first starting talking to me about it, I couldn't understand why he would be worried. But then Linda, who you may remember is Petie's owner (and Petie is Little Dog's best friend), Linda said to me: "Imagine if you had a toe that was twice
as long as your foot." Then it occured to me that from Little Dog's perspective, it really is a very long hair indeed, and I understood why he might be worried about it.

"Arf! Arf arf arf arfarf arfarf."
(He's worried it might be getting longer.)

There isn't really anything to be done about it, as far as I can tell.
"Arf?"

No, I don't think so.
"Aaaaarf!"

Don't worry Little Dog, everything is going to be just fine.
"Arf arf! 8-)"

He doesn't take a lot of cheering up, as you may be able to tell.
"Arf! 8-)"

8-)

Poems by Little Dog

Little Dog has been boasting lately that he is an undiscovered poet.

"Arf arf arfarfarfarfd arf?"
Undiscovered means that you haven't been discovered yet.

"Arf arf arfarfarf?"
Yes, just like America. Well like America a long time ago, anyway. Lets get back to the point, shall we?
"Arf arf."

So L.D. why do you tell the nice people the limerick you were telling me this morning?
"Arf arf."

This is how it goes:
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf,
Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf,
Arf arf arf arf arf,
Arf arf arf arf arf,
Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf."

Wow, that's very good L.D., well done!
Now how about that Haiku you wrote.
"Arf arf arf arfku"
Its called and arfku? ... ok fine. Lets hear it.

"Arf arf arf arf arf
arf arf arf arf arf arf arf
arf arf arf arf arf."

Briliant, L.D. you are ace!
Its sublime. Very subtle.
"Arf arf! 8-)"
He is chuckling now. (For a description of what L.D. looks like when he is chuckling, read the post on "Introducing Little Dog".)

Learning to speak Arfish

Little Dog had an idea this morning.

Do you want me to tell them or shall I?
"Arf arf arf."

Ok, I'll tell them.
This was his idea:
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf, arf arf arf arf arfy arf arf arf arf arf arfs arf arf arf."

Or in english: "If you teach the people reading the blog how to speak Arfish, then I will be able to write my own blog posts in Arfish without you having to translate for me." (Incidentally, the Arfish word for Arfish is "Arf".)

Now it seemed to me that this was a very good idea. I thought we should start with some important Arfish phrases and their English equivalents, so here goes:

Arfish	English
Arf	Yes
Arf	No
Arf arf	Hello
Arf arf	Goodbye
Arf arf	Good night
Arf arf arf	I love you

Context plays a big part in Arfish, as does intonation. For example, for someone who doesn't appreciate the subtleties of the language it may be hard to distinguish "Hello" from "Goodbye". But you may gather that Little Dog is more likely to be saying "Hello" at the beginning of a conversation and "Goodbye" at the end. And if he holds open his arms and gives you a big (big for a Little Dog) hug while saying "Arf arf arf", then he is almost certainly saying "I love you".

To be honest with you, a lot of the time there is a certain amount of guess work to it, but the important thing is to keep listening attentively, and you can be sure he will eventually make his meaning clear.

What do you think, L.D. ... is that a good introduction?

"Arf." (He's smiling.)

See! you are already starting to understand Arfish!
Bet you didn't think you'd pick it up so quickly!

Shall we sign off for today?
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf?"

How about a picture?
Ok, let me find one...























"Arf arf arf arf Arf arf."
One of you and Petie? Ok, let me look:

Introducing Little Dog

Some of you who know me, may have already met Little Dog.

But for those of you who don't and those of you who haven't I think I had better start by introducing him.

This is Little Dog.



Sometimes I call him L.D., especially when texting.

Little Dog doesn't speak any English, so I am going to have to translate for him. He only speaks Arfish. "Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf?" ... there he goes now. It is not always easy to translate Arfish into English, and sometimes I am not entirely sure I know what he's saying, but mostly this is not too much of a problem. I think he was saying "Do I really get to have my own blog?", and the answer, Little Dog, is yes of course you do. You are That Special. I think he is blushing now. Although L.D. can be quite mischievous, one minute you might think he is scared or something, and the next minute he will be chuckling loudly that he had you fooled like that.

Little Dog is very funny when he chuckles. His whole body tends to shake, and he rears up on his back legs and then falls forwards again in great guffaws of laughter.

Little Dog's best friend is called Petie. Petie is another Dog, a bit like Little Dog but quite a bit bigger. Here is a picture of the two of them together:



Petie is owned by a lady called Linda. Petie has gone to stay at Linda's house today, and Little Dog was pining for him. So I brought Little Dog into my office where I work to distract him.

L.D. likes coming into my office with me. He likes scampering around the office, and playing on the computers.





Anyway, I had better get on with some work now, but I will try and post more about Little Dog's adventures, very very soon.

"Arf arf!"
What's that, Little Dog?
"Arf arf! Arf arf arf arf arf arf."
Well of course its your blog. Aren't you happy with what I've written?
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf."
Ah. L.D. is telling me there isn't enough Arfish in it.
"Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf."
... and apparently there isn't enough arfing around either.

I promise next time there will be more arfing around, how's that?
"Arf arf."

Well, its "Arf arf" from him, and "Arf arf" from me.
Arf arf.