Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Bella is a year old now but still very much a puppy. Thankfully, she seems to have stopped growing and is a small/medium size. Just right for us. She keeps us constantly amused with her behavior. Here are a few recent shots.

Bella playing with a brown paper bag

Bella asking permission to jump up on a chair

Bella comfortable on the chair

Bella continues to do well. She weighs 10kgs and hasn’t gained any weight during the last few weeks. We’re hoping she’ll take after her Jack Russell side and won’t grow too much bigger. When we first adopted her she was mostly white, but I’ve noticed a few spots coming out in her coat. They say people and their dogs resemble each other, and Bella is coming out in freckles to match me!

Since she graduated from puppy school, we’ve continued her training. We’ve started letting her off the lead a little, although this isn’t always successful. One sighting of another dog and it’s a fifty-fifty chance of her obeying a command to return to us. Food isn’t always as attractive as the company of another dog.

We’re teaching her not to jump on visitors or to nip them. Mostly she’s pretty good, although sometimes the temptation is too much for her. We have a plastic bottle with a few stones in it. The instant she does something she shouldn’t we shake the bottle and this is a great deterrent.

She loves it when my husband is at home and decides to work in the garden. She follows him around and tries to help, generally getting in the way. It’s very cute to watch.

I put the basket of dirty laundry down for a few minutes to do something in the kitchen, and when I came back to put the wash on there was a puppy in it!

We’re having lots of fun with Bella. She’s behaving better with me now. Most days I sit in my chair working away while she creeps into my husband’s chair and has a snooze. I think she’s decided the chair belongs to her since Mr. Munro has to forcefully evict her most nights.

We’ve attended four puppy school classes and are halfway through the course. She’s usually very well behaved in class and learns quickly. At the last class we talked about tricks. We hadn’t tried teaching Bella any tricks and decided we’d attempt something basic first — a high five. She caught on really quickly and I had her high-fiving like a champ. When Mr. Munro arrived home from work we proudly demonstrated.

Here’s the process if you’d like to teach your dog to high five.

1. Hold a small treat on your right palm with your thumb covering it.
2. Hold another treat in your left hand out of sight of your dog. (I hide my left hand behind my back)
3. Get your dog to sit.
4. Hold out your right hand and say “High Five”. Your dog will sniff at first then automatically start to paw at your hand.
5. As soon as your dog slaps your hand with their paw give them the treat in your left hand and praise them.
6. Repeat process several times.

Since Bella is very good at coming when we call her name, we’ve started letting her off the lead in safe areas. Mostly she’s very good at returning, although tonight we met another dog without warning. The dog was three times Bella’s size but that didn’t deter her in the slightest. She wanted to play!

Can your dog do any tricks?

We took Bella to her second puppy class this week. All the puppies were taken through the things they learned last week and taught two new things. She has learned to drop, to come, to sit at our feet when she comes and to walk alongside. While she’s not perfect, she does pretty well. She’s very good at coming and sitting.

Bella is well behaved with my husband but she’s giving me lots of problems. It’s a fight for dominance and at present, she thinks she comes in at number two in our house. The ladies at the puppy school have suggested some strategies for me to try. The minute she’s naughty, she is instructed to drop. I hold her in this position until she’s calmed down a little. If she persists, she goes to time out and is put outside. We were feeding her first and have now changed our feeding plan so she gets fed after us and, in particular, after me.

I have to keep reminding myself that she is a puppy and not to expect too much from her. I’m not sure that all my changes are helping with the problem much. I’ll report back to the puppy school lady at the next class and take her advice.

Bella had her first meeting with a horse this week. She was a bit intimidated and retreated to a safe distance before barking her head off. It was quite funny. The alpacas didn’t throw her at all.

Our February has been the hottest one on record. Bella went swimming in the duck pond a couple of days ago, swimming well out of her depth and with real confidence. We decided to buy her a kid’s paddle pool. She’s had a ball playing in it today. We toss all her balls in the water and she splashes around and takes them back out. It’s really hilarious to watch. Funniest of all was when we threw some old bones in the water. They sank to the bottom, but that didn’t deter Bella. She’s quite happy to put her head right under the water and grab them.

I watched Better Homes and Gardens last week. They always have a pet section and had a feature on pets and hot weather. They suggested tossing some cheese, sausage and liver strips in an empty ice cream container, add water and freeze. Once it’s frozen you tip it out and hey presto, you have a puppy ice block for a hot day. I’ve made an ice block for Bella. It’s freezing as I type this and should be ready for her to play with tomorrow. Between her sandpit, swimming pool, toys and ice block she has lots to keep her entertained. Here’s hoping she’ll be a little kinder to the plants in the garden!

Hubby and I are on a steep learning with our new puppy, Bella. She’s an energetic wee thing with a very determined nature, and I don’t think either of us were prepared for the turmoil that would come with her arrival. Our two previous dogs both arrived fully grown and were quick to adapt to our rules. Bella is playful and plain naughty about 99% of the time. It’s the one percent of charming behavior that turns us both to mush and keeps us persevering with our naughty puppy.

Jack Russells are known for an aggressive streak. She’s not so bad with my husband but with me she goes through what we call her pitbull routine. She screws up her little nose and bares her sharp teeth. We both have puppy bites, but thankfully the instances of this bad behavior are becoming fewer. She gets one chance. If we have to tell her no a second time she gets put outside.

This week we enrolled her at puppy school and went to our first lesson. The classes are as much for us as they are for Bella. I think we all learned a lot. We learned how to make her drop and practiced coming to calls. She’s pretty good at the coming but the dropping is a bit of a struggle. We’ve been practicing ever since. At the end of the session Bella socialized with the other puppies. She actually behaved very well and we were both proud of her.

Bella at the beach.

Bella and some of her fellow students during the first night of puppy training

Bella during her angelic stage. Isn’t she cute?

Some of my blog visitors are already familiar with Bella, the new addition to Munro house. She’s very cute, full of energy and has an endearing way even after she’s committed a crime – read this as digging in Mr. Munro’s garden. When we picked up Bella her brown ear stuck up all the time while the white ear flopped over. The photo below shows her lopsided look.

Last week both ears suddenly started to flop and she looked balanced. Great, we thought. Then, this happened…

Her brown ear is flopping and her white ear is suddenly sticking straight up. She’s currently sporting the lopsided look and has been for two days. Talk about weird!

To view more animal photos visit Camera Critters

This year I’ve watched Buffy, the Vampire Slayer for the first time, and with all the hype about Twilight and New Moon I decided to do a thirteen about vampires and vampire slayers.

Thirteen Things I’ve Learned About Vampires and Vampire Slayers

1. Vampires are very pale and don’t like sunlight.

2. Vampire Slayers wear cool clothes and are kick-ass tough. e.g. Buffy Summers

3. Slayers hang around in “Scooby” gangs.

4. Slayers fall in love with guys who are totally wrong for them.

5. Vampires are ugly in vamp form.

6. Werewolves aren’t very sexy – all that hair!

7. Slayers don’t seem to need much sleep, and they’re not afraid of things that go bump or growl in the dark.

8. Some vamps have a great sense of humor. I just love Spike.

9. I want to shake Bella.

10. Vamps should run if they see a pointy wooden thing instead of hanging around to sneer. Run Vampire! Run! It’s a stake and it will make you go “poof”!

11. Sleeping in the dirt doesn’t look like much fun. I prefer my cozy bed.

12. Joss Whedon rocks.

13. I’m on team Jacob. Angel can come into my house any time! Open invitation. Yep, David Boreanaz you’re welcome too.

Have you seen New Moon? (I haven’t yet) Did you like it? Do you have any things I can add to my list?

My special guest today is paranormal author, JA Saare. Her post is about heroines and in particular Buffy and Bella. I’m a huge Buffy fan, but also a very new one since I’ve just started watching the series for the first time. I’m hooked. Over to you, Jaime…

What makes a good heroine? Is it a hard-assed Buffy or a soft-spoken Bella?

I remember it like it was yesterday. The WB network was advertising this brand new show that was a spinoff of the movie sharing the same name. At first it was laughable, and I made the common joke about the “frog” network and their futile attempts to survive in a Seinfeld ruled world.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer – really?

Beastly creatures and high school metaphors aside, how could anyone take such a thing seriously? The market for the paranormal, at that time, was weak. Even with a devout cult following, shows like Kindred: The Embraced were shelved after one short season. Darkness didn’t prevail, people wanted pep, they wanted sass, they wanted Rachel’s latest haircut! Still, I tuned in, reminiscing about the days when Dylan Mckay was the hottest thing since freshly mopped tar on a sweltering summer roof. Chewing my popcorn and drinking my Jolt cola, I watched a young and impressionable Buffy Summers enter into the Hellmouth, err, I mean the doors of Sunnydale High, for the first time.

And whaddya know? It was love at first stake.

Buffy was tough. She was strong. And she could make the high school jocks cry like hard core sissies. But even more importantly, she was a total girl. Her need to belong to the world she was so apart from was so raw, and so very relatable. Each week brought about new challenges with real themes, ranging from first love, to domestic abuse, to losing your virginity and discovering the guy you thought you loved isn’t who you thought he was at all.

Those next seven years were some of the most memorable of my life, and I remember them fondly because they were shared with a young girl that was roughly my age when the show started and ended. Oddly enough, we shared heartache and growth, and when those final credits rolled on the final episode, The Chosen, I wept. When it was all said and done, I knew there would never be another heroine to compare, and I bid a very fond farewell to one of my favorite characters of all time.

Fast forward a couple of years.

I was browsing the books in my local Barnes and Noble, looking for something to pass the time. My favorite authors weren’t due to for a new release, and I wasn’t in the mood for the usual romance. I wanted something different, something with bite.

A cover got my attention. It was simple but elegant, a pair of alabaster hands palming a ripe red apple. Figuring I had nothing better to do, I snagged the book and purchased it along with a double Mocha Latte. I read it in record time. It was a beautiful story, a romance that used sensuality to sell. Sure, Bella was a tad annoying, but what girl isn’t at that age? And that hunk, Edward, hubba-bubba! Not a bad read at all, and guess what? The sequel, New Moon, was coming soon!

It was a good thing I had the foresight to save that first edition hardback, because soon after, the Twilight frenzy was born.

Now, it’s all about New Moon. The motion picture is on the way and the hype has just begun. As I stare at the numerous billboards lining the walkways of Target and Wal-Mart, I have to ask myself…What is the deal?

Attending the release party at that same Barnes and Noble for Breaking Dawn was a mind-blowing experience. For one, I discovered no book, and I do mean no book, is worth the agonizing shrieks of ecstatic tweens as they clamor for their sparkling vampire fix. Fights broke out over quizzes that indicated your “blood type”, and if you were the parent of the disgruntled girl that got the white paper bracelet that signified Jacob’s preference, Lord help you.

Then it hit me.

The frenzy isn’t about Bella at all. It’s all about Edward – the man that completes her. For without him, she is nothing.

Testing my theory, I pulled out Twilight and read it again, then came New Moon and Eclipse. Yep, it was just as I thought. Bella, the ever normal Mary Sue that is plain and shy but shows up at a new school and becomes uber-popular and snags the attention of the notorious unobtainable vamp himself, is only important so long as the topazed-eyed vegetarian sparkler is at her side. What better way to prove self-worth than to gain the attention of the most beautiful creature in existence, and maintain it permanently?

Jaded and angry, I pulled out my DVD collection of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starting with season one. There were similarities – anxiety, shyness, attempting to fit in.

But then, it happened.

Buffy meets Angel, and in true kick-ass manner, she blows him off. Oh, to be sure, she did so in a sultry fashion. And what do you know? The boy follows her. Thus, one of the most beloved and indelible couples on the small screen was born.

It’s a shame Buffy The Vampire Slayer didn’t get the recognition Twilight has. Though they are notably different (Buffy, though in print and comic format, is inherently a television show), the messages were so much deeper, so much more involved. Sure “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” sounds silly, but that goes to show you that it’s not smart to judge a book by its title, or in this case, the catchy symbolism of a cover.

If Mr. Whedon has some free time, maybe he can schedule an intervention and do the world a favor.

Have Buffy give Bella a call, Joss. The world needs a reality check.

Happy Reading!
Jaime AKA J.A. Saare
http://jasaare.com/

J. A. will be giving away a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate to one randomly drawn commenter from her blog tour so don’t forget to comment here to have a chance to win. For details of JA Saare’s entire blog tour go here.

Which heroine do you prefer? Buffy or Bella? What do you think makes a good heroine?