He ain't heavy - he's my brother!

JD and Max assume their usual snoozing position - my boys get on so well together, they're schnauzers who love to snuggle!

Max - Oooh, you're everso comfy JD, best pillow ever!

JD - *Sigh!* Well, at least you're light little bro'!

Max - And thanks to everyone who left me nice wishes about my eye - as you can see I'm all better now!

The splorin' schnauzies!!

JD - Well! We are quite beside ourselves!

Max - This morning the postman arrived with a parcel for us - how exciting!

JD - Who could it be from? What new and exciting surprise had been sent to us? We couldn't wait to find out....

Max - So we quickly ripped the parcel open (so quickly that FH couldn't get the camera out in time, he he he!) and were delighted to find some wonderful pressies from our good pals, the 'Splorin' Wolfies!

JD - They sent us a book - 'Dog Joy' - which features the handsome Guinness. In fact, Guinness is the cover model!

Max - "Look at the size of Guinness's smile JD!"
JD - "Yeah - he's making us look a bit grumpy Max, he he he!"


Max - "Guinness is a great cover model - shall we have a look a the rest of the book JD?"
JD - "Great thinking Max - could you turn the pages please.....?"


Max - "Sure bro'! Hey, look at this - Guinness has signed the book for us JD!"
JD - "Oh wow, how keewwll is that?!"


The cover model modestly signed the book AND sent us a lock of his hair - how wonderful!


Page 45 is pure Guinness - he likes to laugh at his own jokes! This is such a fantastic photo, Guinness, you are one handsome and happy dude!

Max - The wolfies also sent a really special keyring for female human. Here it is - she didn't manage to get a good photo of it, but she loves the keyring!

Cute keyring - it's really cool!

JD - It has 6 charms which are really cute and one of the charms is a schnauzer - it's amazing! You can just about make out the schnauzer in the photo below....

Bit blurred but you can just make out the schnauzer - FH LOVES it!!

Max - So, in honour of our great and generous wolfie pals we dedicate this 'splorin' post to them!

JD - Yup - we wanted to take you on one of our very own 'splorin' adventures! So, please join us for our morning walk, as we watch the sun-rise over the sea....

When we got to the beach the sun was just starting to rise over the sea this morning - isn't it pretty?


We were eager to get down on the beach!


The tide was out this morning so we got to investigate the big rocks that are usually under the sea!


JD "*Sniff! Sniff!* Hmm, the seaweed smells a bit fishy over here Max!"
Max - "Great, thanks JD - I'll be over for a taste right now!"


JD and Max strike a handsome silhouette against the horizon. If you biggify the picture you can see the wind-farm that is sited off our coast.


JD - "Female human was very pleased at this photo - the sunrise really was spectacular this morning...."


JD - "....but I knew that a puppy romping through would make the photo EVEN better!"


With the sun fully over the yard arm the boys turn their attentions to the very serious matter of a game of chase!


JD investigates some rocks.


FH found this bottle buried in the sand and took a snapshot. She was intrigued by the wording on it - "To buy or sell this bottle is illegal". How strange. Um, sort of leaves stealing it as the only legal option then, he he he! She wonders what it used to hold....


Max has a good sniff along the sea defenses....



....and JD perfects his 'kindly direct that flashy box in a different direction' glare at FH!


The boys run along the beach. You can see Clacton Pier on the left of this photo and at the top of the photo are the gardens that run along most of the sea-front. This is the beach that is a stone's throw from our front-door. Sadly, it's not open to dogs from May to September, but we still have 2 whole months to enjoy it!


JD poses next to the rocks with the pier as a rather nice backdrop!


The boys finish their morning 'splorin' session with a mad dash round the rocks - JD is having so much fun he has become a blur!!

Max - We hope you all enjoyed our little 'splorin' adventure today!

JD - Yup, it was great fun to post about it. Thank you SO much for your wonderful gifts Guinness and Saige and Groucho and your kind and generous humans. You're the best!!

Back home!

JD - The humans are back, we're back from the kennels - let normal service commence!

Max - Ahhh - it's good to be home again! Don't get us wrong, we enjoy our breaks at the kennels (3 walks a day, tucked in every night, special 'play time' with the kennel girls every day, before-bed snacks for each doggie hand-delivered every evening from the owner) but we've missed our human sofa - it's SO good to have female human here to snuggle into again!

JD - "Ahhhh - s'good to be home!" Max - "Well, apart from that flashy box - we've had a whole, peaceful week without it - sigh!"

JD - Our humans had a GREAT holiday - they've been talking about it non-stop since they got back!

Max - Well - that and complaining about how COLD it is back here! It's minus 5 at the moment with sleet and driving winds off the North Sea and they're finding it all a bit extreme compared to the heat of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore!

JD - Well - boo-hoo! Serves them right for leaving us behind we say, he he he!

Max - Too right bro'! We are extra miffed at the humans for leaving us behind because they met up with Fatty and Ally and Santa and Christmas and Minnie and Scottie and Carrie and Koyuki as well as their owners in KL and Cobi's owners in Singapore - SO not fair that we couldn't be there too! But at least they took the gifts we had picked out for everyone....

Our gifts for our pals - thanks for delivering them humans, he he he!

JD - Female human is going to do some special posts about the holiday in a few days time when she's sorted out all the pictures and the words, but in the meantime here is a photo preview for you of a very special doggie gathering that took place last week....

From left to right - Audrey with Scottie; Asa jei jei with Carrie; Female Human with Minnie; Aunty Diana with Christmas; Cindy with Santa; Jaclyn with Ally; Male Human with Fatty

Max - You can also check out our humans' adventures on their pals' blogs here, here and here - please swing by to check out what fun they had!

JD - Our humans would like to say a HUGE thank you ALL their great blog pals who helped make their holiday so very special - they are touched by the kindness you showed them and we are all thrilled to be your friends.

Max - Oh yes - especially after our humans showed us the suitcase that was full of gifts JUST FOR US, wow, wow, WOW!! (Click here, here and here for a sneak preview of some of the great gifts we got!!)

JD - "For us? Really? All of it? WOW!!" Max - "*Sniff! Sniff!* Ooooh - it smells so good in here......!"

JD - We still can't believe it!! It feels like Christmas all over again and we can't wait to blog about all our pressies!!

Max - Before we end this post we'd just like to mention ....

JD - .... don't you mean 'boast' Max?!

Max - *Rolls eyes!* Er, yes JD, I mean - we'd just like to 'boast' that we have found out what BIG doggies we are!

JD - Oh yes - do you think Honey and Saige will be impressed?!

Max - Um - oh yes JD - er, I'm sure these gorgeously tall ladies will be super impressed!

JD - You see - our humans thought that the miniature schnauzers in KL were very tiny! They keep on coo-ing to us about how cute they all are! We know Ally often gets mistaken for a puppy - she is only 4kg! Fatty is 6kg and most of the other schnauzers that our humans met were around 7kg.

Max - Well - I'm 9kg which is just a bit lighter than Fatty and Ally put together!

JD - And I'M 13kg - *puffs up chest!* - oh yes, I'm practically as big as Mango you know!

Max - Erm - quite JD!

JD - Anyway - we thought we'd give you a quick pictorial demonstration of my largeness!

Cute Fatty poses in the box that her daddy bought to put our pressies in!

JD tries to pose in the box too.... JD - "Sit down you say? Okay then, just a mo...."

JD - "Er, hang on, let me just try to fit my tail in.... Um, maybe if I try turning around..... No, it's no good, I can't sit down, I'm just too big, he he he! See how tall I am standing up in the box?!"

Max - He he he! Thanks for looking after our humans so well whilst they were on holiday - we love you all!

We love blogging!!

JD - Hi everyone! Today we want to do a VERY special post!

Max - This is a 'THANK YOU' post to all our good pals out there in blog-land! We've had SO much fun over the past few weeks - almost every day has felt like Christmas as the postman has brought us almost daily something new, from cards to packages - it's been truly amazing....

JD - ....our humans have been openly astounded, moved - and also slightly jealous of all the loot we've got - he he he! Max - We'd like to say 'THANK YOU' to Sasha, Bruce and Bertie and Oliver for their wonderfully creative cards - we loved them and we're going to keep them FOREVER!!

JD - We'd like to say thank you again to Neo, Ellie and Stig, Harry, Millie and Pippa, our in-laws, Thunder and Pudding and Cobi for our exciting pressies - we know we've already mentioned these pressies in a previous post but we just wanted to say 'THANK YOU' again!

Max - We'd also like to say a huge, huge 'THANK YOU' to two very special blog friends. Firstly, we've picked out a little yellow 'THANK YOU' for Clive and his NSLM from Ireland for sending us such an exciting package....
JD - Let us show you all the good things that were inside.....

"A parcel? For US?! Oooh, we don't mind if we do......!"


JD - "Oooh, Max, you won't BELIEVE what's inside here....it's all so GOOD!!"


Max - "Hey, I like these cute Christmas chew-toys! So did our humans - they thought they were so cute they took them off us and used them as Christmas tree decorations - humph!"

"We got this great Guide Dog calendar too - it's already in pride of place in our kitchen and the humans love it as much as we do!!"


"Clive and his NSLM also sent us a great paw-print pad and a couple of Guide Dog pins - female human has acquired ALL these items, she's a bit greedy like that, he he.... BUT - our FAVOURITE part of the parcel was these FABULOUS doggie treat stockings. Mmmm - yummy, completely edible doggie treat stockings...."


"Oi! Female human!! LEGGO of the treat stocking okay?! It's ours - OURS we tell you....!"

Max - Clive and your NSLM (and your NSLM's mom too!) thank you SO MUCH for such wonderful gifts! We didn't expect ANYTHING like this - we had loads of fun opening the parcel and we've still got quite a bit of our edible stockings left...

JD - ....yes, the humans are rationing us - sigh Thank you - you're the BEST!! You've made two little pups VERY happy - and you made female human cry a little she was so excited and happy! We think you're GREAT!

Max - We'd also like to say 'THANK YOU' to Nellie and Calvert and their humans for the wonderful treats that they sent to us all the way from New York - wow!

JD - Poor Nellie and Calvert's mom ended up in hospital over Christmas - poor mom! Please nip over to their blog and wish her a speedy recovery.

Max - Here's us investigating their parcel.....

JD - "You hold that side Max and I'll rip this bit here.....!"


JD - *Rip!* "Told you Max - I'm IN!!"


"Oh wow, oh wow, oh WOW.....!"


"Where to start, where to start....? Nellie and Calvert sent us a great card too - it was very tasty, he he he!"


Max - "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh! Look what I've found JD! Look at this great squeaky stuffie duckie - oh wow, oh wow!"


JD - "Squeaky hot-dog or nylabone? Ohh, the decisions that a puppy has to make....!"


"Look at this AMAZING 'statue of dogerty'!! Isn't it superb? Female human thought so - she loved it SO much she's got it in her office as an ornament and won't let us play with it - humph!"


"Hurry UP and open the bag of new tennis balls female human - we wanna play with them NOW!!!"

Max - Nellie and Calvert - we can not thank you enough! It took us half an hour to make our way through all the great goodies you sent us - whew!

JD - We know we've been a bit spoiled over the past few weeks - and we've loved every minute of it, he he he!

Max - We really do want all our pals to know how heartfelt our thanks are. We want to send out big schnauzer snuggles to you all and we'd like to say....

JD - ....that we love you all - we love blogging and we love to blog!

Max - After all the excitement over the past few weeks it seemed a bit strange when our humans went back to work today.

JD - We missed them loads - we were so delighted when female human got back home that we haven't left her side since! In fact - she's typing this post into her netbook for us at a rather crooked angle as we're currently asleep on her lap....

Max - ....as you can see from the photo below, which male human has just snapped on his i-phone, he he he!

"Snuffle, snuffle! S'good to have you back female human....sigh!!!"

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