On the prowl...

At night, I tend to walk Max just down the street and around our small community. Our nightly walks are close to home ever since the encounter with a coyote.



About eight months ago, I was walking little Max through a large park less than a mile from our house at night. Nature called so I tied Max up to a tree in front of the restroom and went inside for just a minute. I heard Max barking. When I came out, I saw a tall, scraggly looking coyote run past Max. I quickly untied Max and started yelling and cursing at the coyote. We turned around and started our walk back home. I turn around and saw the coyote following us. I yell and curse at the coyote some more and the coyote would slink off into the shadows. We continued our walk home and out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the coyote following us from the darkness of the field parallel to our path home. Again, I yelled and cursed at him some more until he slunk off once again. I wasn't so much afraid for myself, but I was afraid that this coyote would run by and try to snag Max. Max was still pretty small at just 10 months old at the time. I couldn't believe how aggressive this coyote was. He must of been pretty hungry to be stalking us like that.

Tonight, like every night, we walked down the street and around the block. Toward the end of the walk, we were walking towards the corner of the community that is open to the canyon when we spotted a pair coyotes walking past a light post. Max barked weakly at them. One coyote turned and started approaching. I yelled at the coyote and he just stopped and looked at us. I quickly took out a small flash light and focused the beam at him as I yelled at him. He then turned away into the darkness where the other coyote went.

Since I tend to work pretty late as an engineer, I tend to walk Max at night. I never walk Max at night without:

1. A flashlight... I carry a small mag light. It is useful for picking up after Max in the dark as well as help scaring away hungry coyotes. The light shining directly at them in the dark is a pretty good deterrent. Coyotes are mainly nocturnal animals with eyes that are very sensitive to light. A bright light focused at them blinds their night vision and ensures they can't stalk you out from the shadows.
   
2. A small pocket knife... I have never had to take out my knife for any reason and probably never will. It is good to be prepared though.

Moral of the story, be prepared and be aware. I hear about coyotes attacking children in East Los Angeles in the news and local cats going missing all the time. Even pets and kids in the backyard are not completely safe. Coyotes can leap pretty high fences just like deer can. These coyotes are out and about hunting every night. Be careful out there!

Moooooo!!!

The San Diego Corgi meet-up group sponsored a Halloween costume contest! And here we have an incredibly cute, passive, and shameless puppy! This would be a deadly combination! So we went out to like 5 stores looking for a suitable costume and we found it at Walmart!



This costume was actually designed for a human toddler! It was about Max's size and oh so cute, we had to get it! We actually had to perform surgery on this costume to customize it for Max... you know, since he doesn't walk upright and he has rather gi-normous ears and we haven't gotten around to train him to zip down to take a leak yet!



Can you tell what he is? Lemme give you a hint, that spotted black and white thing around his neck is a cow bell! It is a cow bell that I bought when we were at the Ben and Jerry's factory while touring Vermont leaf peeping! Actually, when we purchased the costume, we didn't look closely enough and we thought it was a cow costume! It is actually a pinto horse costume! This costume was much cuter than the actual cow costume which is black and white. I think these colors are much better for him and the mane is just too cute to pass up!



Here are some pictures of our competitors! Max drew a lot of attention because his cow bell was rather loud. Every move he made, it would go ding-ding-ding! It was hilarious!



So in summary... through the power of Walmart and good 'ole asian ingenuity, we WON with our hybrid horse-cow costume! We took the "Most fitting Corgie costume" award! You know, since corgis are herding dogs for sheep and such.



Finally, after gaining fame and fortune (a pack of dingo rawhide bones!) from his glorious win, a groupie Corgi dressed as a fairy offers herself to the Maximus!!! Too bad he got his dog-hood chopped months ago... but don't tell her that!

Corg-fest!

We took the little guy to his first Corgi Meet-up in April!




It was a rather warm day out in Poway! There was not a lot of shade so all the Corgis were pretty much hunkering down underneath this one little tree! It is not easy having to wear a fur coat all the time!

Our little cone head...

In June, Max celebrated his 6 month birthday! So what did he get for his birthday?! He got his nuts chopped off! Poor little guy! He hasn't even gotten the opportunity to use it and then he has to get it chopped off! He doesn't know what he was missing and he will never know... probably for the best!

Not only did he get his nuts chopped off... he got drugged, then he got his leg shaved and then had to wear an Elizabethan collar for a week!



It took the little guy a while to get use to wearing the Elizabethan collar. It didn't help he was pretty doped up after his operation because he was bumping into everything vertical... furniture, walls, stairs, trees, the ground. We would take him for walks with this big cone on his head and neighborhood girls would run away and he would pick up all kind of debris like grass and dirt inadvertently with his cone.

Amazingly enough, little Max never fought with the cone. He just kind of accepted it. Even when he was bumping into things, he just went along with it. What a good dog!

Introducing the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance...

We bought an iRobot Scooba about a year ago. If you are not familiar with this incredible piece of engineering, let me tell you about it. Basically, the Scooba is a robotic mopper similar to its brethren, the Roomba, which is a robotic vacuum cleaner. The Scooba is so much more advanced because of how it accomplishes the complex task of mopping. There are four tasks the Scooba performs in the mopping process:

1. First it vacuums up particles and dirt it comes across.
2. Second it soaps the floor by spraying on a fragrant cleansing solution.
3. Third it scrubs the soaped floor with a spinning brush.
4. Finally, it sucks up all the dirtied cleansing solution leaving a clean shine.

Better yet, the Scooba does all of this automatically at a push of a button.

You may think this is quite a fancy piece of hardware that is hard to top. However, this is not our most advanced household appliance we own! No, I am not referring to my fiance. I am referring to our Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance...

Whereas the Scooba only mops the floor, the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance can perform the following tasks:

1. Shredder: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is extremely adept at shredding pretty much anything. This includes, but does not exclude: Newspapers, paper towels, toilet paper, facial tissue, cardboard boxes, junk mail, magazines, stuffed animals, rubber toys, plastics (such as water bottles) and wooden furniture.
   
2. Dustbuster: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance has extremely fine-tuned sensors to sense by sight or scent whenever any organic or non-organic item falls to the floor. As soon as such an item falls, the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance will immediately retrieve the item and if organic, the item will be consumed. If item is non-organic, it will be shredded as described above.
   
3. Dishwasher: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance will take any dirty dishes placed on any floor and lick it to a spotless shine! Guaranteed or your money back!
   
4. Garbage disposal: All manner of non-edible organic material can be disposed of by the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance. This includes, but not does exclude: bones, banana peels, and corn cobs.
   
5. Foot pillow: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance comes with a handsome carrying case made of all-natural fur. The fur is self heated and scented with a patented Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance fragrance. The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance will automatically follow you throughout the house and position itself at your feet wherever you may be sitting, whether you are on the couch in the living room or on a chair in the dining room.
   
6. Security Intruder Detector: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance includes a finely-tuned set of two large antenna dishes capable of detecting noise in frequencies far beyond the human ear. At the approach of strangers at any entrance of the house or on the premises, an alarm will immediate sound to alert all occupants of the house and the occupants of neighboring houses.
   
7. Acupuncture: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance comes with built-in needle sharp acupuncture devices which can provide relief from many aches and pains. Note: This feature is still under development and has a tendency to cause many aches and pains instead of relieving aches and pains. This feature is not recommended for use until the firmware has been upgraded.
   
8. Herbicide generator and distributor: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance has a built-in feature of processing all organic waste collected as described in the dustbuster feature above and then generates a solution that will kill any and all plants, which it will spray with this herbicidal solution automatically on command. Note: this feature is still under development and will occasionally disburse herbicide solution indoors. A firmware upgrade addressing this defect will be available shortly.
9. Fertilizer generator and distributor: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance has a built-in feature of processing all organic waste collected as described in the dustbuster feature above and then generates a miracle-gro-like fertilizer that is also highly nutritious for all of your garden plants. The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance will automatically alert owners when fertilizer material is ready to be disbursed and will automatically find a location in the yard to be fertilized. As a bonus feature, fertilizer is often disbursed in public parks and in the yards of neighbors when fertilizer material is available.
   
10. Entertainer: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is capable of responding to verbal commands to perform tricks of high entertainment value, such as roll-over, sit, laydown and give-paw.
    
11. Stress reliever and personal fitness/health trainer: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is great for your health as it requires owners to take walks daily walks around the block and will alarm you if you have been inactive sitting on the couch watching too much television.
12. Greeter: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is designed to greet owners and guests alike upon arrival to house and premises. Upon greeting, it will allow owners and guests to wipe and cleanse their hands on its handsome fur carrying case, which again, is scented with the popular, patented Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance fragrance.
    
13. Companion: The Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is capable of offering a high amount of companionship to its owners. Although the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance requires excessive maintenance, such as weekly cleanings, the owner is rewarded with constant affection, constant attention, and a warm loving friend.
    

Although the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance has several software defects, the firmware is highly upgradeable and relatively easy to upgrade, though firmware upgrades may be time-consuming depending on the level of upgrade required.

Unfortunately, the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance is not found in stores due to its limited production quantity. There are other Omnifunctional Household Appliance similar to the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance but we have found none that match the powerful capabilities that the Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance offers. Regardless, we would definitely recommend our friends to buy an Omnifunctional Household Appliance for themselves as soon as possible to experience the joy of owning one. I think it is safe to say that we truly love our Maximus Omnifunctional Household Appliance and honestly, we don't know how we ever lived without it!

Max and Friends!

Toys! Toys! and more Toys!

Max is one spoiled puppy! Look at all his toys! Of course he goes through them rather quickly.
Some of these are old toys from my childhood days. Anyone remember pound puppies?

Max loves to bite off their noses and then they're toast.

Feel free to donate your used toys for the Maximus Foundation. ;)

Rubber Ducky, you're the one, You make bath time lots of fun!

Max weighs about 13 lbs here. He couln't fit inside the sink so now he is taking baths in the bathtub! Look at him with his little head peaking out of the bathtub!

He also loves his rubber ducky toy. He plays with it outside the bathtub.

The bath was a bit difficult. He doesn't like taking baths and has a tendency to struggle in a vain attempt to run. He is also very aggressive toward the blow dryer, as he is about most hand held machinery. We try not to give him too many baths as giving a puppy too many baths may cause a dog to develop allergies in adulthood. We generally try not to give him baths more often than biweekly. So Max starts to smell after a while. Max is definitely not a waterdog, but maybe he will learn to like water.