We’ve wanted to take Lottie to the beach since she was little but traveling with her on public transport is a pain in the butt so we waited until we could plan a proper day out with our friends.
As it turns out, Lottie does not like cars even a little bit. She cried most of the way there so we distracted her with treats and cuddles but she was having none of it!
The second we got there however, she took to the water like… a dog in water >_>
She wasn’t too sure about the ocean but once James got his feet wet she went nuts and started jumping in! She was playing catch with her toy too, I can’t believe how high she can jump!
For a while Lottie thought the sand was edible, she sniffed it a bit hard and ended up sneezing it out for the next 10 minutes. She doesn’t have awesome self preservation skills…
After such a big exciting day she fell asleep in the car on the way home, had some lunch and went straight back to sleep! We went out for some dinner and to take more photos. Doesn’t Celina look like a model here?
It was such a beautiful evening.
James insisted on being on the OTHER side of the fence which i did NOT enjoy!!! X[
I bumped into Chrissy who is a reader/subsriber on Youtube! It was so cool to meet her, she was at a convention that day and had a really awesome costume that she’d made herself!
Instead of dinner we ended up eating icecream… because… it’s dairy so it’s healthy… >_>
Melbourne is too unpredictable for picnics. It was supposed to be amazing weather but the entire time we were relaxing at the river it was chilly and windy!
Lottie couldn’t care less though!
She spent most of the day testing the limits of her new retractable leash.
She’s not great at judging distance though… at one point she tried to chase after seagulls which were like 5.1m away from us, her leash being only 5m made this a little bit of a problem.
We spotted some little fish in the river but Lottie was much more interested in chasing birds. The funny thing is, she’s such a coward that if she manages to get close enough to them she freaks out and runs back away to hide behind us XD
The second we had packed up all of our gear into the car to go home the sun came out and it was beautiful *_* Oh Melbourne! Y U HATE MY PICNICS!?
Do you guys know any good picnic places I should check out? Maybe somewhere slightly less weather dependant >_>
So when we first started walking Lottie everyone we spoke to told us we had to have a harness. That is a whole can of worms to get into right there which I don’t have time to debate but the only harness we could find that actually fit her at the time was cat harness from Daiso. It was pretty flimsy and a pain to clip on and off a wiggly puppy so I set about making it a bit better until we could find another one.
Yes, complete with crappy diagrams 😀
I used:
Crappy Daiso harness
Velco
Cute fabric,
Needle and thread
First I stitched it in place so it was no longer adjustable. The sliding adjusters suck, Lottie just pulls them apart to escape, smart dog!
Next I cut off the clips.
I sealed the edges with a lighter.
Then I measured out the velcro.
Lastly I covered the whole thing with thick cute fabric. This helped pad it a little so it was more comfortable for Lottie too.
Done and done!
And does puppy Lottie like it? Nope haha!
The harness made her feel invincible and she just used it to swing off like a rock climber >_< Damn you adventurous puppy!! I can’t believe how short her tail looks in these old photos *_* Omg I miss my chubby little puppy!
So make shift harness done! It served it’s purpose well until we caved in and bought a cute expensive one for Billy Idol Day last year haha! I can never say no to that face!
Miss Lottie Bone-Crusher Mace is officially 1 year old! Well technically she’s been 1 for a while but it has officially been 1 year since we brought her home with us which I think is more important to celebrate ^_^
I’m so into this and she is her usual indifferent self…
Exactly one year apart she has grown into the most beautiful dog.
For her birthday we got her a new collar and a comically large bone:
She pulled out her sexy poses right away to show off to all the ladies…
In the year we’ve had her we’ve learned a lot about her personality. She hates getting up first thing in the morning and will just stare off the edge of the bed for 20 minutes.
Get up lazy!
She has an extremely lovely, cuddly, snuggly temperament.
I haven’t been able to get it on camera yet but when she wants something she sits next to you and taps you politely until you work out what it is that she wants.
Pets really do reflect their humans…
Her markings make her look like a fox and her tail is so comically decorative that she can barely wag it.
She likes eating extremely expensive graphics tablet pens. A lot.
But she’s so cute you can’t be mad at her… much.
She is disturbingly smart and highly manipulative when it comes to getting treats.
She’s learnt a whole lot of tricks including my favorite: balancing a treat on one paw until we say OK and she can eat it.
She understands commerce and will willingly bring you things she knows she’s not supposed to have to exchange for a treat. She also picks things up I drop and brings them back… in exchange for treats. Super useful!
She is super lazy unless someone comes to visit at which point she turns into the most excitable puppy in the universe.
She likes to make out with people. A lot.
But only if you’re into it…
She also likes girls… a lot.
There aren’t many other small dogs in our building (mostly huge ones!) but she doesn’t like boy dogs so we want to find her a nice girlfriend. If you live in the Melbourne area and have a little girl dog looking for romance send me an email ;D
So to celebrate how much she’s grown up I thought it would be fun to look at some of her photos from the last year and see all the changes she’s made!
The day we brought her home:
My favorite puppy photo:
She refused to come out of her box for ages:
And she wasn’t super smart…
Her first bath:
James had to “Lion King” her to welcome her to the family. She wasn’t impressed much then either.
She has always thought she was people.
From the day her Aunt Kim bought her a new home!
Fluffy butt!
It’s funny, now she absolutely loves us, she always wants to know where we are and snuggle but for the first month she did not trust us at all. She originally refused to sit between us, she would always have one eye on the door and an escape route to under the couch planned. Now she head butts her way to be between us no matter what.
Learning shake!
She still won’t wear a damn bow!! So we made a compromise and she wears one on her collar 😀
She is still totally dubious about mirror Lottie. Especially late at night when it’s dark.
She still isn’t so sure about outside. She likes smelling it and eating leaves but she doesn’t like all the people and cars!
She still sleeps extremely unclassily.
And lastly, enjoy some gifs of her as a puppy learning some tricks!
Happy birthday Miss Lottie, we love you even though you can’t read this!
I admit that I am a craft supply/clothes horder. I love finding new uses for items of clothing which I can no longer wear and that’s how Lottie came to have a cute new sweater.
While she doesn’t really *need* a sweater because of all of that fur, she is a total baby when it comes to the cold so the second it’s under like 15 degrees she’s trying to take my hot water bottle >_> we are both only children so neither of us share well and this was the compromise. Luckily it works so she can have her warm tummy and I can be selfish and not have to share my hot water bottle!
I started off with a children’s jumper that I picked up at a thrift store 8 years ago for $2. I wore it a bunch but the neck was just a bit small to be comfortable. I couldn’t get rid of it, that embroidery was just too sweet.
So let’s get started! I turned it inside out and measured Lottie. I cut it in the shape of… a smaller sweater ;D I cut off the ribbin at the bottom too to resew on and make it shorter in the middle.
I overlocked all of the edges again. Keep in mind if you’re sewing or cutting knitted fabric you need to be very careful because it will completely unravel if you don’t seal the seams well. If you can’t use an overlocker then use French seams so every single loose end is encased. I’ll add that technique to the Sew Fun list.
To make the neckline a bit more fur friendly I snipped it down the front into a V shape.
Then I stitched it up by hand. I pleated it a little bit so there was extra room in the front for her mane.
Done! This took me around 15 minutes start to finish and how cute is Lottie? I think she’d probably rather the hot water bottle but that’s one of the perks of being pack leader ;D
You guys have probably seen this photo before but it’s the creepiest photo of Lottie I’ve ever taken. Her little arms *_____*
“Hello fellow humans let’s all walk on two legs together and have bacon parties!”
Miss Lottie’s fanclub totally spoils her rotten. Kim, who is her #1 fan bought Lottie an adorable strawberry house!
She absolutely loved it so I decided to customise it to match the lovely card Kim painted too!
I decided the easiest way to do it was needle felting.
I laid out the letters in pink wool.
And pinned them in so I could see the placement well.
One by one I added thicker white wool to the top of each letter then thicker pink to the bottom. I blended them together so they looked like the watercolour that Kim did.
Here’s a closer view.
And after the finishing touches…
You can see the colours more clearly here when it’s a bit darker:
The verdict from Lottie was pretty clear!
So perfect for her!
I’m sure she doesn’t know the difference but I smile every time I look at it! Thank you Kim!!!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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