the real Minnie Archives - Page 2 of 3

Winter beach break

Earlier this winter I had a short holibobs with mum and dad on Waiheke Island.

We stayed near this pawretty beach: I got wuffly long walks every day, and met lots of new furiends at the beach!

Here are my holibob photos…

This is where we went: Onetangi Beach on Waiheke Island (New Zealand)... it's very pawretty!

Yay, I love the beach!

Meeting some wuffly new furiends on the beach.

Time for a photo oppawtunity with mum. As you can tell from her clothes, it was quite a cold winter's day!

It was just a short break, but just what this doggy needed! It was so much pawsome fun!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/winter-beach-break

August 20, 2012

Weekdays versus Weekends

Both mum and dad work from home, so I have company all the time, plus I get two walks every day.

Nonetheless, there is a huuuuge difference between weekdays and weekends…

Weekdays are boring

Weekdays are hard work!

Sometimes mum and dad take me for car rides, plus I make care home visits with mum every couple of weeks.

But most of the time mum and dad are just plain ol’ boring when they work.

Weekdays are not my favourite!

Finally, the weekend arrives…

Pleeeeaaaaase can we go out somewhere? I have cabin fever!

Ahhh, that's better... chillaxing with my mum on the boat. (Dad is doing some maintenance work on the boat.)

I heart sunbathing! And napping! So sunbathing plus napping equals doggy bliss!

It's a beautiful day at Westhaven Marina in Auckland.

All this sunbathing is making me hungry... have you got any noms?

Back at home, I find another sun puddle! (Notice that the sun puddle is in my en-suite bathroom, how very convenient!)

All too soon it’s Monday again…

I know it's Monday out there. And I REFUSE to get out of bed!

Yeah yeah, I can see you looking out me. That doesn't mean I'm going to take any notice of you!

Of course, Monday wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. There were plenty more sun puddles to enjoy; two walks, lots of noms, and lots of cuddles. (But weekends are just so much better!)

I hope you have a pawsome week!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/weekdays-versus-weekends

June 11, 2012

I love visiting the care home!

If you’ve read my book, you’ll have noticed that some of the cartoons relate to me visiting a care home.

In real life, I do visit a care home every fortnight: I visit the lovely residents at Anne Maree Court in Northcote. They always give me such lovely pats and chin rubs (as do the staff!). I love it!

I visit the care home with my mum: we’ve been volunteering for Outreach Therapy Pets for about 2 years now. I had to pass a behaviour test, and mum had to attend some training. We both wear matching uniforms which is very cool. 🙂

Mum keeps our uniforms in a special bag at home: I know that we’re going to Anne Maree Court as soon as mum gets the bag out! I do a big happy dance when mum opens the bag. I can’t wait to get brushed and wear my bowdanna. Then I leap into the car, and am raring to go!

Here are some photos of mum and I visiting Anne Maree Court visit last week. Thank you very much to Cherry for letting me use the photos – and for the lovely pats you gave me!

This lady always gives me a nice pat. She does seem to think that I’m a “pussy cat”, but I don’t mind so long as she keeps patting me!

This gentleman usually gives me a pat. He always likes to have a chat with mum. 🙂

Now this lady is very special! One time she switched seats in the common room, just so that she’d get two turns at patting me!

This lady always tells me I’m beautiful. I believe her. 😉

This lady doesn’t always pat me… but when she does, they are very good pats indeed. This time, she got just the right spot for a chin rub. Bliss!

Ann Maree Court is a pet-friendly care home. That means that there are some cats around… and that is why mum holds me. If I see the cats, I do just want to chase them. And mum is worried that I might scratch the care home residents so she keeps hold of me. Spoil sport!

I don’t mind too much though, as mum usually has some treats in her pocket. 😉

I am already looking forward to my next Outreach Therapy Pets visit at Anne Maree Court!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/i-love-visiting-the-care-home

About Minnie The Westie:

Minnie The Westie is the star of the dog cartoon book, Minnie The Westie: The Adventures Of A Cartoon West Highland Terrier Cartoon Dog. It’s available as a Paperback book from online bookstores, and Kindle eBook from Amazon. It contains 85 black-and-white Minnie The Westie cartoons.

Shop for Minnie The Westie’s book at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and The Book Depository (with free shipping worldwide).

April 18, 2012

Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

The 23 February of each year is international Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day!

Of course, us doggies appreciate biscuits every single day, but if humans are going to give us extra noms, we’re quite happy about that!

The most impawtant thing is to make sure that your humans do know that it’s Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day. I have trained mum to write it on her calendar every year – I encourage you to train your humans too!

So how was my Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day?

My day was utterly wonderful and nommy! By sheer coincidence, I got groomed today. I go to Auntie Briar’s Dog Grooming in Sandringham, Auckland.

What makes the visits there extra special is that Auntie Briar bakes her own range of healthy dog biscuits! Mum always stocks up on dog biscuits when we visit Auntie Briar. (Auntie Briar ships the biscuits throughout New Zealand, call 09 849 8127 to order.)

Mum and I at Auntie Briar's... Auntie Briar grooms me and also bakes healthy dog biscuits. *drools!*

Bone-shaped dog biscuits baked by Auntie Briar. *slurps!*

Nom nom nom nom!

As well as nomming on these bone-shaped biscuits myself, I also gave biscuits to my boyfriend, Morris, and to my furiend, Daisy. Gotta share the Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day tail-wags, I reckon!

I hope your day is as pawsome as mine!

Love ‘n’ biscuit-flavoured licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/dog-biscuit-appreciation-day

February 23, 2012

Another sailing holibob!

Even though I had sailing holibobs over Christmas and New Year, I was lucky enough to have another sailing holibob at the end of January! It is summer here in New Zealand, and we are lucky enough to have a number of public holidays at this time of year, giving us long weekends to enjoy.

The last Monday in January is always Auckland Anniversary Day – a public holiday for the Auckland area only. And as Auckland is known as the “City Of Sails”, it is only right to spend it on mum and dad’s little yacht!

Here are my photos from that weekend… as you can see, I had a lot of pawsome adventures!

Westhaven Marina (or perhaps I should rename it 'Westiehaven' Marina!) in Auckland, The City of Sails.

One of the best things about sailing holibobs is all the beaches I get to visit!

Mmmm, lots of great sniffs on this beach! *sniff snort*

Dad barbecues noms for dinner on board the boat. Note that I am first in the queue for noms, don't even think about pushing in line, mum! 😉

YUM!

Tired out after a big day... and I'm sure there are more adventures to be had tomorrow, I'd best get some zzzzzzzz....

The next day, we visit friends of mum and dad's on their boat. I assume my usual position, guarding the barbecue.

I have a little snooze on my friends' boat. Barbecue guarding is tiring work.

Yay, it's time for a trip ashore! I love going in the inflatable dinghy, we call it the "Minnie-mobile". 🙂

Ooooh, pawretty!

On this beach, we catch up with some different friends. These people belong to my furiend 'Major', who is a mini schnauzer. Major and I had a great time running around the beach together. Mum did try to take a photo of the two of us, but we didn't keep still long enough and blurred all the photos! BOL!

Mmmm, the sniffs here are EXCELLENT! Dad said something about there being rabbits around, but I didn't see them, unfortunately.

That was a fun trip ashore! Now it's time to head back to our boat on the Minnie-mobile. I am the figurehead of the Minnie-mobile. 😉

Back on the boat, I want to get onto Facebook and Twitter and tell my furiends about my adventures, but dad keeps hogging the iBone!

Time for another nap in my favourite spot, on the cabin top. It is nice and shady (because of the boom above me), and I get to see everything that's going on in the bay. Plus it's nice and breezey, so it keeps me cool and delivers all the sniffs directly to my nose! Pawfect! 🙂

Hang on, who's this? I hope they are not going to interfere with my Minnie-mobile?!

And now there are two of them! I watch the duckies closely. I am not happy about them being so close, but I don't like swimming so jumping into the water isn't an option. All I can do is glare at them!

Horrors! Mum decides to go swimming - and the two ducks swim with her as she does laps around the boat!

I am most concerned about mum as she swims around the boat with the two ducks! I go to the bow-wow of the boat to keep a close eye on mum.

Phew! I am pleased to say that mum was unscathed after swimming with the ducks. I can now nap on my beach towel, worry-free. Mmmm, I do love sun puddles!

All too soon it's time to head home again. My favourite position is on mum's lap when she's helming!

On the way home, we see the Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa AC45 catamarans out practicing. They are the practice boats for the next America's Cup. I have seen them out on Auckland harbour before, but never this close!

The Luna Rossa catamaran is "flying a hull". Apparently their boat speed triples when they sail like this. Yikes! Looks a bit scary to me! Note the pretty Auckland skyline in the background. 🙂

Lunchtime! Back at the marina berth, we are really hungry and decide to barbecue sausages on the boat before we head home. Naturally, I guard the barbecue. Nom nom!

Holibobs + noms = a happy dog. And what pawsome adventures I had!

Till next time,

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/another-sailing-holibob

February 15, 2012

Summer Holibobs Album 2012

Woofings!

I am now back home after wuffly holibobs with mum and dad… we went cruising on our small sailboat for a couple of weeks. (Here in New Zealand, Christmas and New Year are in our summer.)

Here are my holibob photos!

Minnie The Westie - summer holibobs 2012

The best thing about holibobs? Lots of napping and relaxation! Here I am, having a snooze on the cabin top of the yacht. We are anchored off Ponui Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

The other pawsome thing about holidays is getting to spend lots of time with mum and dad. Here dad and I are looking for rabbits! (We didn't find any, but I could sniff 'em!)

It's Christmas Day! I got this cool squeaky turkey, and some new bones to nom.

Cuddles from daddy. 🙂 Me - a daddy's girl? Yep, definitely!

Dad is fishing, and I watch veeeeery closely... I love fish, nom nom!

Drat - no fish on the line, just bait! Maybe dad will let me eat that, it smells nice and fishy and stinky... please? What do you mean by 'no'??!

Next stop: Te Kouma Harbour, Coromandel Peninsula. This is a panorama taken from the hillside... it's very pawretty here.

Leaping through the long grass on the hillside at Te Kouma! Our boat is anchored in the bay behind me.

So exciting - there are wild turkeys on the hillside at Te Kouma! No, I didn't catch one, but I did find a turkey feather *nom nom*

Chillaxing on my beach towel on the boat after an energetic time ashore. Those hill sides are mighty steep if you only have little legs, y'know!

Giving the humans the hurry up for my dinner! All that walking 'n' sunbathing 'n' stuff makes a dog hungry, y'know!

Beach dog. 😀 I wuff the beach!

And then the rains came. For days and days and days. Mum and dad got so bored they started collecting rain water to top up the boat's water tanks!

Rainy days = indoor puppy playtime. Just as well that mum packed lots of toys for me!

Tired out after a big indoor play session! Here I'm cuddling up to my new turkey toy, plus an elephant toy that Morris gave me.

Yay, the sun came back! I resume my nice spot on the cabin top. It is shaded nicely by the boat's boom, and I get a great view of the bay from up there!

Pawretty sunset 🙂

And those were my holibobs! It was kinda relaxing and kinda strenuous too – and a lot of fun.

Did you have holibobs too? Do tell me all about it!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/summer-holibobs-album-2012

January 24, 2012

Minnie meets Santa!

Mum took me to Santa at an Animates pet store this week!

I must admit I was rather scared of him… in fact I was trembling at first! I’m not used to seeing people in big red suits!

Santa was lovely though, he gave me really really nice cuddles, and I was more than happy to climb on his lap.

Mind you, I was equally happy to get off his lap again and check out the nom aisle with mum!

Minnie meets Santa

A time for giving…

As well as giving cuddles to as many people as I can, I like to spread joy far and wide. (That’s the whole point about my cartoon book, it is a smile-transmission mechanism for people who are too far away to have the pleasure of rubbing my belly!)

This year, mum and I have also made small contributions to New Zealand-based animal charities and welfare groups, such as Paw Justice and the SPCA. But our biggest contribution by far is our volunteer work for Outreach Therapy Pets, whereby we visit people in a care home every two weeks. As well as giving our time, mum pays for the petrol to drive me there and back each time. I love making these visits, it is pawsome to bring smiles to so many people in an hour or so!

I do hope that you too have the pleasure of rubbing a dog’s belly (or some other pet) over the holiday season.

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/minnie-meets-santa

December 21, 2011

Wag ‘n’ Walk

A couple of weeks ago mum took me to the Wag ‘n’ Walk in Auckland Domain. Apparently this is the biggest dog event in New Zealand, and it raises money for the animal charity Paw Justice.

The Auckland Domain is Auckland’s oldest park, and it is located in the central suburbs. The park is 75 hectares (185 acres) in size… nice and big for us doggies!

We arrived at the Domain a bit early for the walk. It was a hot and sunny day; fortunately there were lots of nice, big, shady trees to sit under. I must admit that this was my favourite part of the day, as I managed to scrounge 3 belly rubs off total strangers! Ooooh, I do like my belly rubs… *dreamy look*

Relaxing under the shady trees before the walk... I wonder if that lady will give me any of her ice cream? I'd best keep looking, she might notice me and feed me some noms!

Minnie The Westie at the Wag n Walk, Auckland

And the walk is underway! There was lots of wagging and lots of walking. The doggies were all colours, shapes and sizes!

Yay, I found another white doggy! This one had a very nice smelling bum *sniff sniff*

There were other nice sniffs on the walk too, not just bum sniffs! This big old tree was very cool. I made sure there were no rabbits hiding in the holes between the roots!

We take a break under the tree - it was a very hot day. The building in the background is the Auckland Museum.

Mum took me home shortly after that photo was taken, as I was very tired and far too hot. The walk was fun, but I was all wagged ‘n’ walked out!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/wag-n-walk

December 17, 2011

Westie Walk with the Westie Club NZ

Being a member of the Westie Club NZ is fun! One of the events they organise each year is a Westie Walk in Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand.

Cornwall Park is beautifully landscaped and incorporates the famous One Tree Hill. The park covers an area of about 120 hectares (296.5 acres), some of which is run as a farm. Yep, there are sheep and moo moos right in the middle of the Auckland urban sprawl!

The 2011 Westie Walk

This year’s Westie Walk was on Sunday 13 November, which is Spring time in New Zealand. A nice time of year for a walk!

Here are my photos from the day. And yes, you might spot the occasional Scottie too; they are part of the clan after all!

Who says it's just dogs that are food obsessed? The humans huddle around the BBQ... and that's before the walk has even started!

The walk gets underway! There are Westies in front of me...

... and there are even more Westies behind me!

Me, I have to stop and sniff every tree. This is hard work; there are a lot of trees in this park!

The Westie Walk is a great way to meet new friends. Here I am, playing with a new furiend. Sadly I didn't catch her name, we were too busy running running running!

Of course, it's good to see old friends on the walk too. That's me, Minnie on the right. In the middle of the photo is my boyfriend, Morris. And on the left is Magnum, another Westie furiend that I see most weeks.

We stop for some water... it is a hot day! The stairs also make a good photo opawtunity. I am in there somewhere with mum!

Amazing! There are white, fluffy things in the park that aren't Westies!

After the walk, the dogs and humans alike relax in the shade and enjoy some noms. There's a sausage sizzle for the humans (though I did get a small bit of sausage too!). And there were some free dried chicken necks for the doggies. Nom nom!

I was soooo tired after the walk, I fell asleep as soon as I got in the car!

When I got home, I had a snooze as soon as I got through the front door! I didn't even make it onto the couch or bed! Or into the kitchen (where the humans were doing food things)... now THAT'S a tired Westie!!

I’m looking forward to the Westie Club’s next event already!

Love ‘n’ licks,

Minnie x

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/westie-walk-with-the-westie-club-nz

November 14, 2011

Belly rubs can be tiring!

Some of the cartoons in my book are based on real events; others are made up.

The ones about my visits to people in a care home are absolutely true: mum and I volunteer for Outreach Therapy Pets. Each fortnight we visit people in a care home, and most of them are elderly.

Me – I love it! I love how they smile the moment I walk into the room, and I love all the belly rubs and cuddles they give me! Talk about a win-win situation!

I’m always very tired afterwards though. This is shown in my cartoons:

And I’m tired in real life too!

Note how the fur on my tummy is tousled from all the belly rubs I received at the care home!

I’m worn out after writing this blog post… I must do more napping!

Love ‘n’ licks,

To link to this post, use: https://www.minniethewestie.com/belly-rubs-can-be-tiring

October 14, 2011

Winter beach break

Weekdays versus Weekends

Weekdays are boring

Finally, the weekend arrives…

All too soon it’s Monday again…

I love visiting the care home!

About Minnie The Westie:

Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

So how was my Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day?

Another sailing holibob!

Summer Holibobs Album 2012

Minnie meets Santa!

A time for giving…

Wag ‘n’ Walk

Westie Walk with the Westie Club NZ

The 2011 Westie Walk

Belly rubs can be tiring!

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