Robot Dogs

It's been a little while since Sony's robot dog, Aibo, has been off the market. Now there is a new robot dog, Genibo, from South Korea's Dasatech. Apparently it's 30cm tall, weighs 1.5kg, and can understand 100 commands. It has Bluetooth technology to interact with a computer, a camera built into it's snout for it to act as a watchdog, and it can manuever around objects by itself. It's not yet available, but if Aibo costed around $2000 a pop, Genibo should be expected to be quite pricey too.

Ok so all of these robot dogs are a great testament to the advancement of technology, but they will never replace a real live dog. Can robot dogs snuggle up and keep you warm while you're sleeping on the couch? Can they eat up the food scraps that drop on to the floor while you're making dinner? Or what about personality? Everyone knows robots don't have any personality. You just can't replace the real thing.

The Most Beautiful Bulldog

Should have been me. But I didn't know about this contest before so I couldn't enter it. It's the annual beautiful bulldog competition for a Drake mascot held in Des Moines, Iowa, which starts the Drake Relays. So the winner is a white bully named Hannah. She wore a Drake's cheerleader outfit and beat out a boy bully named Porterhouse (great name!) who was dressed as a construction worker.

Mama and Papa saw a Winnie the Pooh outfit on another dog and they are now looking for the same outfit for me. I'd look super cute in a Winnie the Pooh outfit. So if you've spotted one, please let me know! Every year Mama says she's going to make me a Halloween costume, and every year she doesn't. Maybe if I bug her to start now, she will have an outfit for me by the time Halloween rolls around.

If you're interested in seeing this Hannah winner, check out the news page she was on: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/25/AR2006042501189.html
- but frankly I think I look better. You can also see the pictures of some of the other contestants at yahoo.com.

Happy Earth Day

It's Earth Day today. What are you doing to celebrate?

I'm recycling my empty bottles.

And sharing my drinks with my friends.

I'm helping to clear the trash from the parks.

And I'm taking the public transit.

I'm also planting flowers.

What are you going to do to help save the environment?

Thank You Papa

For taking care of me everyday. Especially since I am feeling sick today. I had an accidental poo in the house today. Papa was very nice to me and didn't get upset with me. I don't know why my tummy feels funny, but I do know that I need to go poo more often than usual. Papa cleaned me up well and gave me a pat on the head.

I'm not sure what it is that's making me sick. Maybe it's those new cookies that Mama bought for me from the grocery store. But cookies don't usually make me have a sick tummy or make me have a fever and the shakes. I hope this goes away soon. I'd be so embarrassed to have another accident in the house again.

Congratulations Are In Order

Happy 21st birthday Uncle Allen! He's probably out with the ladies getting all celebrated out and having a good time. I hope he's not wearing the beer goggles tonight though because with his past track record he really needs his friends to make his decisions for him. Otanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu!

And a big congrats to my Auntie Frances for getting the job in Japan! I hope she gets to go somewhere nice and meets a lot of nice people. I look forward to seeing all of her Japan pictures and listen to all of her stories. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Toronto Bulldog Meet-up

I met some other bullies today at the Toronto Bulldog Meet-up. I've never seen so many dogs that look just like me!! It was a lot of fun. Drooly water isn't as tasty as fresh water, but I'll take what I can get when I'm playing outside!

I think her name is Buttercup, but I can't read her t-shirt.

This was the most noisy group of dogs I've ever met! Everyone was panting and snorting up a storm!

This pup's name is Zoe, she's almost 2 years old. We didn't really get along so nicely at the beginning, but afterwards she was following me around and we had fun playing tag with the ball.

I had a good time. I barely made it all the way home. I was so darn tired on the TTC ride, I didn't even care that people wanted to pet me. I think I'll be sleeping all tomorrow to just make up for the exercise of today.

I'm Not Fat

I'm just big boned. The new next door neighbour thinks I am fat. Another guy I see sometimes when I go grocery shopping with Mama and Papa thinks I'm fat too. I don't think I'm fat. Well okay if you put me next to a Chihauhau, I'm enormous. But next to another bulldog? I'm tiny! Mama always says I'm a "manageable size". I'm built like a tank, low to the ground and strong. I'm not fat. I have a few flabby bits, like around my neck, and tummy, and you can kind of see the folds near my feet. Those wrinkles give me personality. But look at my broad shoulders! I'm super muscular! And my well-defined waist line! What girl wouldn't love to have a physique like mine?

Smells Like Roast Beef for Lunch

Mama and Papa took a small trip to IKEA this weekend. They brought me back a new bed (yay! I'm so spoiled) and some neat lights to hang over my crate to make it look all hip and stuff. I've seen those IKEA catalogues and my favourite thing inside are those little tents made for kids. I would like to have one of my own too, but there's no room in our apartment for one.

Next weekend there is a Toronto Bulldog Meet-up event. Mama and Papa are bringing me along to meet other bullies in Toronto. I'm super excited to meet other dogs that look just like me! I hope we'll have a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to it. Here's the link to the website if you are interested: http://engbulldog.meetup.com/14/?a=wm1_mem3

This is a picture of me on my walk today. Mama and I were waiting for Papa in the grocery store, and all I could focus on was the smell of the roast beef from the deli. Divine!

I Think I May Be In a Bit of Trouble

Mama left me this morning with a peanut butter stuffed Kong and my crate door wide open. She told me it was an experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to see if I would come out of my crate after she left for the lab. To bring you up to speed, I've been feeling a bit weirded out when I have to come out of my crate. I have no problems going into the crate, I just have issues coming out. So anyway, back to the story: Mama left me at 9:30am this morning and Papa came home at 1:00pm, so I had about 3.5 hours of alone time. Papa walked into the bedroom and this is what he saw:

He didn't tell Mama right away, he just took pictures of the evidence first. When Mama came home later in the evening, Papa showed her what I did. Both Mama and Papa were pretty unimpressed by my destruction. I don't think Mama is going to try this experiment with me again.

Just Like Me

This is Charlie, a 7 month old bulldog. He weighs 55 lbs already! I'm only 43lbs. His owner says he's supposed to max out at 70lbs. That's pretty hefty. The neat thing about Charlie is that he is brindle just like me! I rarely run into other bullies that are brindle. We had fun posing for the camera and waiting for cookies from Mama.

I like walking through Yorkville, you never know who you will run into. Last week Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman were in Yorkville. But I don't think they are here in Toronto anymore. We didn't see any celebrities today, but with all the attention I got, you'd think I were a celebrity too.

Spring Forward

Did you turn your clocks one hour ahead last night before bedtime? Unless you live in Japan, you didn't have to do this. It's kind of a strange phenomenon that we need to do in the summer and the fall to save the number of daylight hours. It doesn't really matter much to me, since I sleep during the day anyway.

Happy April Fool's Day!

This morning I woke Mama up really early for April Fool's Day! I licked her toes which were peaking out from under the blankets and kept snorting for 5 minutes until she finally got up (Mama sure is lazy sometimes!). It was really funny because Mama loves to sleep in when she can! But it wasn't all a joke, because I really had to go potty.

Mama got back at me with her own April Fool's Joke. She gave me a cookie and left me the cookie box. I tried to get the rest of the cookies out, but the box was empty! It seems more like revenge than a joke to me. But I'll stop pouting since I got a cookie anyway.