Death by Doxie: The Many Moods of Elfi Edition

Alert and interested (with a hint of paranoia)

Neurotic and annoyed (with a hint of paranoia)

Very, very sleepy...

Death by Doxie: The Black and White Edition

I've always been a sucker for black and white photography.  There's something about seeing the world sans colour which adds a certain depth to images.  I love the way it brings pattern, shape and shadow to the fore.  

My camera has a black and white setting which I've been playing around with.  It's probably just my imagination, but I think setting the camera to b&w (rather than changing from colour to b&w in post production) gives the image a more rounded quality?  What do you think?

Do you love black and white photos too?

Death by Doxie: The Talk-to-the-paw Edition

Sometimes it's hard being such a handsome hound, being the centre of attention.  Sometimes even Elfi gets a bit sick of the pouch-arazzi.  I'm putting the camera away now Elfi, I promise...

Death by Doxie: The Archives

Seeing as I've been away from the hounds for 12 whole days, I don't have any new photos of them to bore entertain you with, so I've delved in to the archives and found some adorable puppy shots (thank goodness I don't have children or else I'm sure they'd disown me for posting photos of them in their diapers...).

Anyhoo, here's Ferdi looking tiny and a little bit dapper in a grey hoodie.

Enjoy.

Death by Doxie: The Balloon Edition

Sunday morning and while we were having a delightful and much needed sleep in (Korea v Uruguay last night!), the boys were busy making stuff; twisting balloons and folding paper.

I was most happy to see this balloon doxie that Sam made, especially since orange is one of my favourite colours at the moment.  Not sure if Elfi was as impressed.

On a side note, we took the dogs for a walk through Namdaemun Market (yes, it is the largest retail market in Seoul and it is right on our door step - dangerous!) and random strangers were pointing at Elfi and saying 'your dog is fat'.  Which makes me think she really, really needs to go on a diet.  I mean it this time. (But look at those eyes, could you say no?).

Death by Doxie

I bought some beanbags recently (and before you go all interior-design-snobbery on me, they are cube beanbags from Muji - the home of streamlined, simple chic.  So there).  They were meant for my step-sons, but while the boys are back in their first home for a bit the dogs have kind of taken them over.

I should probably kick them off but how could I!  Ferdi looks way too comfortable, right?  I especially like his expression in the first photo, like he's on the brink of getting away with something just a little bit naughty!  Yeah Ferdi!

Strawberry jam on toast

I love my two hounds, I totally do.  But my gosh can they make you feel like a horrible, horrible person when you're trying to treat them for an illness.  Ferdi (that's him up there) has a nasty ear infection at the moment, which means I get the joy of giving him antibiotics and pinning him down to clean his ears twice a day.

So now, Ferdi hates me.  He seems to think I am some kind of devil woman whose only purpose is to squirt liquids in his ear and shove strange powders down his throat.

The worst part is, you can't explain to a dog 'it hurts in the short-term but it will make you feel better in the long run' (well you can, but it just makes you look like a crazy lady who talks to her dogs.  I know.)  Even when you give them a dog lollipop afterwards for being brave I don't think they really understand it.  Next time, they just want to skip straight to the lollipop.

Anyway, after this mornings ear cleaning he ran and hid under the bed.  And when I tried to get him out he growled at me!  He never growls!

And the only way I could lure him out?  Hot buttery toast with strawberry jam.  OK, I may have eaten all some of it (yummo!), but a little trail of crumbs and Ferdi is out from under the bed and happy to see me again...until tonight, at least.

UPDATE - June 21: I just took Ferdi to the vet and his ear is better, but not best.  So it's another week of him hiding under the bed and thinking I'm evil.  About to go stock up on toast, butter and jam.  Hoping it'll make us both feel better...

Death by Doxie*

I'm a sucker for alliteration, so I wanted to have a regular 'Daily Dose of Doxie' post. But whilst the chances of me posting a dachshund photo every single day are actually surprisingly high, I've opted instead for a little less sausage dog and a little more outright plagiarism (see note below).  Hence 'Death by Doxie'.  I will commit to one dachshund feature a week though, okay?  So, here's Elfi about a month ago enjoying spring in the gorgeous Namsan park.

Namsan is a mountain right in the heart of Seoul and right near our apartment.  It looks a little like this and is a beautiful place to go exploring.  The dogs love it, and so do I!

It's now hot and humid here (boo), and before that it was hot and dry (yay), and before that - when this photo was taken - it was just sunny and nice and warm, with spring flowers and fresh green growth everywhere.  Beautiful! (By the way, before that it was freezing and windy and grey and snowy.  I am already fretting about getting through my first full winter here, with average temps around -2 degrees celsius.  Help!)

Anyhoo, I haven't seen what autumn is like yet but I can say that if you're planning to visit Seoul, spring really is a beautiful time of year.

*with apologies to @pilgrim_lee for blatantly ripping off her words...

Things that go woof!

This is Elfi - our short hair miniature dachshund.  Isn't she a handsome hound?

Sometimes I think Elfi has more fans on Twitter than me.  Actually, I know Elfi has more fans.  The lovely Pilgrim over at draw! pilgrim has even requested that Elfi gets her own blog.  

Woof, woof, woof!