Turbo Taj - Border Collie Superstar

Border Collie Art and Photography Prints

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 01:07:00 +0000

Greeting cards, art prints, framed prints and canvas prints featuring Turbo Taj and other animal art and photography can be viewed and purchased from my online gallery

Michelle Wrighton Art and Photography Prints

Thanks for visiting my blog! I love visiting blogs so please leave your paw prints in the comments section so I know where to find you:) http://petartist.com.au

Dances With Bubbles

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:35:00 +0000

Hai Doggies!

I have a new hobby, its called Dancing with Bubbles and its almost as much fun as chasing sheepz.

This is me in the backyard, going to investigate what Uncle AJ was up to.

I soon found out that he had BUBBLES and so I started to dance!!!

Doing the Twist

And the Foxtrot

Then the Alligator

Next I tried the Hokey Pokey...you put your right paw in...

Then I finished up with a little bit of Salsa!

Now I am sure that other pups out there Dance with Bubbles as well, how about you show your photos as well?

Thanks for visiting my blog! I love visiting blogs so please leave your paw prints in the comments section so I know where to find you:)

Woofs and buttsniffs

TurboTaj
http://petartist.com.au

Just call us Cone heads

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Well Hai!

I know its been a long time since my last post, what can I say, Mum has been busy and can't seem to fit her role as my secretary into her busy schedule. Ok, well that's not completely true, she has been sick as well as busy, but mum and dad still manage to have fun and play with us, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

But I did want to tell you all about something really awful that happened to Trinity and me way back in June before my Birthday, and it was all Mum's fault so I wanted to show you the photographic evidence. Anyway, one morning Mum got us up really early and we went in the car (I love the car, but Trinity hates it). I thought we were going somewhere real fun, but we ended up at the vets - Mum left both of us there all day for something called spey and neutering and Trini had her hernia fixed as well.

I'm not quite sure what all that means, other than the vet people made me go to sleep and when I woke up I had this bucket on my head and I was in so much pain I couldn't walk properly! Trinity had a bucket on her head as well, so I know how stupid I must have looked.

It was all mum's fault, she took us and left us there. Then when we got home that night mum got the camera out and took photos which wasn't very nice, but seeing as she took them, I guess I better show you all.

As you can see, me and Trinity were not very happy. I made sure Mum knew I was mad at her! I ignored her for the first week - except I had to make sure she stayed in the room with me, and that she stayed up looking after me for the first few nights. Then I let her sleep in the lounge room with me so that I could lean up against her so I could sleep. I was in so much pain and I couldn't walk, or lay down or get comfortable - it was horrible!

Apparently my surgery was complicated and I had to have three big cuts, and the vet had to get his hands right inside my tummy to fix things up, which is why I was so sore! Mum looked after me though I decided to forgive her for taking me to the vets.

As soon as we were better, Mum and Dad took us out for a ride in the car, and we have done lots of other fun things since then that I really want to tell you about, so hopefully Mum will have a bit more time to keep up to date with my blog!

Butt sniffs and Tailwags for now!

Turbo Taj

Thanks for visiting my blog! I love visiting other blogs so please leave your paw prints in the comments section so I know where to find you:)

http://petartist.com.au

Happy 1st Birthday Taj!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Ok well I know I havn't been a good secretary and scribe because I havn't updated Taj's blog for simply forever, but things have been rather hectic and I have really good reasons for not having the time. I do promise to backtrack a bit though with some photos and things that we have done, but thought I had better mark the occasion as today is Taj's first Birthday!

We have PRESENTS!!!!!

YEAH TOYS! I LOVE TOYS!

K, nuff with the stupid hat, gimme the treat now!

I like these toys:) Can I kill them?

Oh Boy. Mother, I better get cake for doing this!

Yeah Baby! We have CAKE!

NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM-NOM

By for now

3TM
(Tia, Taj and Trinity's Mum)

A Touching Story

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:11:00 +0000

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the
scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead
for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of
the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was
broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch
that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate
looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he
got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought
right up."
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler
asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and
continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to
a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never
been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree
and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned
hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, and
then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was
standing by the tree.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said
that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope.
That's hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"
"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave
their best friends behind."

Author unknown

This was so AMAZING!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:07:00 +0000

I really have to share this with everyone,because it is really amazing photography of a never, ever seen before naturally occuring event, that happened last week when mum and dad took me and Tia done to dragonfly river for a long walk.

It got quite hot on our walk, and Tia (who dosn't like to do much, she's a couch potato cat-dog - that is, except for the fact that she can bark, she is more like a cat than a dog), anyhoo, she was hot and got a bit fed up by the end and tried to sit down in the middle of the path because she didn't want to move anymore.

Me on the other hand, I had plenty of energy coz I knew we were heading down to the river so I could cool off and have a swim. But the absolutely amazing, never-ever- seen-before by anyone in the whole wide world thing was that Tia (yes my Shar-Pei, cat-dog water hating sister) actually went in the water and flopped down in it!

I didn't really pay much attention (too busy chasing dragonflies and swimming) but mum and dad were very shocked and mum was so glad that she had taken the little camera with her to record the never-ever-seen-before event!

Here is the evidence that Tia willingly, of her own violition got wet!
Of course, I was too busy doing this to pay Tia much attention!

Tia sitting in the River

Tia laying in the water

Tia being rude and ignoring mum and dad for draggin her out for a walk in the coutryside.

Tia "How could you do anything that would *make* me go in water?"

And of course, a blog post wouldn't complete without some photos of me!

Woofs and buttsniffs!

Turbo Taj

Too many to count!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:21:00 +0000

I love it when mum and dad go to the shop because they usually bring something home for us pups:)

This morning mum got us (me and Trin that is, Tia dosn't play with toys) a new rope bone each, and because all of my other ones have been, umm well broken, they got me lots of these....(Amber does this look familiar to you?)

I will share them with Trinity of course, but she dosn't (yet) share my deep devotion to these glorious round things which are just the best invention ever. I'm teaching her though and she will jump into the pool after her special yellow ball. Mum took this video of her yesterday. Of course, she dosn't have my style and grace, but I think she is pretty darn clever for a 12 week old puppy, don't you?

Woofs! This is the life!

Turbo Taj

K9 Keepy-Off

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:33:00 +0000

My cousin Smudge came to visit the weekend before Trinity came to live with us. We had a lot of fun running and playing and swimming in the pool (you might remember the photos mum posted a few weeks ago of the crocodile in my pool?)

Well this time mum took some video of me and Smudge in the pool playing Keepy-off with the ball. Smudge likes to keep it away from me, and I like to grab it from him real quick so that mum can throw it again!

Introducing Trinity!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:11:00 +0000

I am the luckiest dog! I have a new baby sister to play with because my mum and dad adopted a little Border Collie puppy on Thursday. She is dad's special dog, like I am mum's special dog, even though I love everyone, and Tia is everyones special dog, but she loves everyone too.

My little sisters name is Trinity (Trin for short), apparently dad likes some movie called Matrix. She did have a different name (Jarrah) when she came home, which everybody liked, but they didn't think it suited her coz she is little and petite. Mum says her new name suits her because not only is she number three dog, but she also has three black marks on her face.

Tia is not so sure about Trinity yet (although she is not ignoring trin like she igmored me for the first month). I think Trinity is great fun, she likes to play bitey face with me, and she like my toys - but she can only play with the toys that I say she can play with (definitely not my LAMBIE!).

Trinity has her own toys, but I really like the eagle that dad bought her. Mum says I am not allowed to play with that, because it has sticky-out bits...and you know that I don't think toys should have sticky-out bits like eyes, ears or noses, so I have to perform surgery on them.

Trinity is a working bred border collie and we had to travel a long way in the car to get to her sheep farm. Trinity has a small medical condition (something to do with her teeth) that is why she needed to be adopted to a special home. Mum said something about us both going back for sheepdog training in a few months, which sounds like fun, I like sheeps.

Anyway, I suppose you want to see what she looks like now, so here are some photos.

This is me and Trin asleep in the kitchen, you can see how much bigger I am.

We were both really tired the morning after we got Trin because we didn't get home until it was really dark and way past my bedtime. Don't we look cute together?

And this is me jumping in the pool after my dumbell, just because I can!

Dad might start a blog for Trinity, so I will let you all know her address (I won't let mum start one, because she can't even keep up with posting all the things *I* do (like my agility classes, and obedience classes and trips to the river, and visits from my cousin, as well as the new training method she is teaching me, as well as finishing the videos that she has taken of me to put on youtube.) I think I will have to start barking at her to make her hurry up and get a move on!

Barks and buttsniffs

Turbo Taj

Fun in the Pool - Video

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 08:24:00 +0000

Finally, I can go back in the pool! Lucky it hasn't been too hot the last couple of days, because mum and dad wouldn't let me go in the pool...I don't know why but I think it has something to do with the stuff they stick between my shoulder blades to keep the fleas away.

Anyway, mum filmed me doing my favourite thing this morning, and my big kid, who is 12 years old edited the video and put it all together, with my theme song - check it out! Mum and I think she is pretty clever doing that - this is only her second video, the first one she made yesterday was of me doing agility training. Please let her know what you think so hopefully she will keep making more videos of me:)

Woofs and buttsniffs!

Turbo Taj

Look out World, here comes Air Taj!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:16:00 +0000

Move over Michael Jordan, here comes Air Taj!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

More powerful than a locomotive!

Able to leap Koolie Crocodiles in a single bound!

Seriously, what else is a Border Collie meant to do on a hot Summer's day
when it is just too hot to run around?

Border Collie, Full of grace.

Or not.

Ah well, I come close, but nobody's perfect!

Woofs and buttsniffs

Turbo Taj

There's a Crocodile in my Pool

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:40:00 +0000

My best mate, Smudge came over for a play yesterday. It was such a hot day that we spent alot of time swimming in the pool.

Smudge is a Koolie (an Australian herding breed) and he is a month younger than me.
Smudge lives in the country, and mum reckons he might finally be bigger
than me next time we see him.

I can beat him in swimming races.

And I don't mind sharing my pool toys with him.

Smudge: "Oh crap, Taj is gonna get me!"

But something strange happened to Smudge when he got wet.

He turned into a crocodile!

He didn't actually want any of my toys.

He just didn't want me to have them!

But I'm clever, and I'm quick! He can't keep my toys away from me forever!

And every now and then I made sure I splashed him in the face when I jumped in:)

He's not really as ferocious as he looks, and I can still swim faster than he can!

Mum says I have my first obedience class tonight, and we go back to puppy agility tomorrow, I can't wait!

Woofs and Tailwags,

Turbo Taj

When I grow up....................(Agility Photos)

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:31:00 +0000

I'm going to be an Agility star just like my dad!

My mum went to watch the first agility trial for 2008 the other night (the CAWA Agility Committee Fundraiser) and my dad (my dog dad, not my human dad!) was there competing against the other clever dogs.

I didn't get to go (this was the first time mum had been to see one and of course she had to take the camera). The photos sure look like all the dogs were having fun, and I can't wait to start back with my agility classess in a week or two, although mum says its going to be a long while before I can compete because I'm still too young.

Anyhowl, here are some photos of my dad .

Mum says he's very handsome, and thats why I am handsome too.
Hmmppfff. Handsome Shmansome, that stuff is for sissy's!

Mum says she kind of hopes that my coat dosn't get quite as thick as his because
I look big enough already, plus I already get very hot this summer!

My dad's name is Cypher, although on my Birth Certificate his name is
Nahrof Quick Change ADM2 JDM3 ADO4 JDO5 SPDX GD SD ET
(all those letters are the titles he has won, told you he's a superstar!).

He sure looks like he is having fun!

This next dog going through the tunnel (aka the"Canine Projector Shute")
is not a relative of mine, but he was very fast!

First jump of the triple

Second jump of the triple

Woo Hoo! Last jump of the triple, and dosn't he look pleased with himself!

This Border Collie is not a relative either.

Neither is this dog (a relative OR a Border Collie for that matter).

These are pretty big jumps that these clever dogs are going over!

Here's a German Shepherd Dog going through the tyre jump.
(When I grow up, Dad will make me one of these for the back yard).

And this one is just plain funny!

Now you know my mum, these wern't the only photos she took at the agility competition. In fact, she evn got sidetracked and took photos of some horses before she even got to the agility trial! I tell ya, give the woman a camera and she's off in LaLa land!

Ok, I'll let her post one horse photo here on my blog, but will have to have a look in her Flickr Gallery to see the other agility and horse photos (which she still hasn't finished uploading!).

Hrrrmmmpfff! I believe that this is now two blog posts that don't have a photo of me in them. Mum better sort that out pretty quick or I might have to go chew up one of her shoes!

Woofs and butt sniffs!

Turbo Taj

The Shock! The Horror! They had fun without me!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:31:00 +0000

Well, all I can say is that I am not amused!

The other day, my family went out to some wonderful place that obviously had oodles of interesting animals to chase, things to see and new and exciting smells to smell (they thought I wouldn't know, but I could tell from their clothes when they got home, plus heres the photographic evidence) and they left me at home!

Now mum wants to show you all some photos of their big adventure without me, how rude is she?

I like cats! I'm good with cats!
I would have played with this one gently so I didn't hurt it!

And just look at these African Painted Dogs - they had a big area to run around in and I would have loved to play chasey and bitey face with them!

These little creatures are so cute, they're called Meerkats - like I said I like cats...
maybe MeeRkat stands for Me chase afteR cat?

That would have been fun;)

Ok, I'm an honest kind of guy, so I'll admit this thing looks a bit freaky -
I mean where is its FUR? I don't think I would have played with him.

Now, these two baboons on the otherhand,
well I'm always ready for a game of bitey-face!

Not so sure about this fella either (I think its the no-fur thing),
but I don't think he would have minded me having a swim in his pool!

I could have caught some of those fish - I like fish for dinner!

I know all about kangaroos, we get them in our backyard. I even chased two down the hill and through the bush the other day. Come to think about it, mum and dad wern't to happy about that. They were happy that I came back though (after five minutes or so when I lost sight of 'roos). Maybe that's why the family didn't take me on this big adventure?

Now this creature is a little Numbat (which apparently is very rare and endangered Australian native species), and I am sure that I could have bought it home to live happily in my toy box with my lambies. I love soft toys and I am very gentle with them.

Well, except for the ones that have sticky-out bits. I don't like sticky-out bits on my soft toys. That would be why my big eyed fish and lobster are now blind. And why Shrek is now deaf. Oh, and both my lambies don't have horns anymore. But I was very gentle and only removed the sticky-out bits that I didn't like (I'm a Border Collie - I'm very precise about these things). Although one of Shreks ears and one of lambies horns tasted pretty good so I did eat them, and no mum wasn't happy about that.

I think if I was allowed to have this Numbat toy, I would have to very gentley remove those ears - they stick out too much! Maybe thats why they didn't take me on this great adventure!

I don't think I have ever seen something that looks quite like this.
But I reckon it probably tastes like chicken.
I love chicken.

Mum would like to show you some more of her photos, but I'm saying that this is *MY* blog and enough is enough. Its bad enough they left me at home and went and had this great adventure at the Zoo without me!

But, if you really want to see more of mum's photos, you can see them in her Flickr.com Gallery and she will be adding more photos soon. You can even see more photos of me over there as well!

Now I think its about time Mum got off the computer and took me for a swim!

Woofs and wags and make sure your family takes you out for some FUN!

Turbo Taj

Border Collie Heaven (aka the river)

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Howdy blogdogs!

Well, I know we havn't posted for a little while, you can blame my mum for that, she has been too busy taking photo's with her new dslr camera, but at least she hasn't been to busy to take me to my favourite place - Border Collie Heaven - where I get to run around, chase heaps of dragonflies and swim as much as I want to!

I wish all my dog blog friends could come and have a puppy picnic, look how much fun it is! And I know my mum would LOVE to take all your photos:)

Blue Water Baby

Where'd It Go? (or why are dragonflies so sneaky?)

Oops! That was a bit deeper than I expected!

Jump For Joy!

(Can you tell my daddy is a Jumping Champion?)

Border Collie Tennis Ball Tolling Retriever.

Butterfly ears

I can jump puddles

Blue Reflections

Sigh. Mum won't let me wonder off to far,
she keeps calling my back every time I go adventuring up river.

High Velocity Shake.

The only way to get water out of a long coat.
The trick to this trick is to first go stand next to the person
who does *not* want to get wet,
then shake it up baby!

And these are the fast flying creatures that are so much fun to chase!

What a great day we had! And because it was so hot, I got to go for another swim in the pool when we got hom:)

That's all for now,

Woofs and buttsniffs, and don't forget to have fun with your humans!

Turbo Taj

Dad bought Mum an DSLR!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:59:00 +0000

Howdy friends!

I have to tell you all that my mum is just the happiest camper, because Dad bought her a Nikon D40x dSLR camera (too take lots and lots of photos of me of course!!!). She hasn't even read the manual yet (and reallys needs to so she can work out how to use it properly), but here are some of the first photos that she has taken with the new black beastie;)

Every morning I go outside and patrol the yard to see what new smells I can sniff out.

And this one is of one of the cats that I share my house with. This one is Gandalf. Sometimes we call him Sir Gandalf Foozlebum because, well he's a cat and he's a bit of a snob!

These are some photos of my cousin Smudge, he came over for a visit and a swim in my pool today. Smudge likes to play with the squeaky balls too.

I think Mum had as much fun today as I did!

Woofs and tailwags!

Turbo Taj

Max and Me

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:31:00 +0000

I got to play with my friend Max the other day. Max is a Malinois Belgian Shepherd, she is about 6 weeks older than me and belongs to my nanna and pop.

We went for a swim, which I loved and Max hated (she's weird - I can't imagine *any* dog not liking swimming). I had to teach her a lesson or two because she is bigger than me and was being a bit rough, but then we played for ages and had a great time.

Mum says she apologizes for the quality of the pictures, but the sun was in the wrong position to get good ones.

After we had a swim, we hopped into the kids iceburg and played bitey-face.

Max bit my toes so I bit her elbow.

Max bit my face so I bit her foot.

Every now and again I caught mum taking photos of us through the fence.

There she goes with that camera again!

Just call me "Taj Crazy Teeth".

Its hard work playing bitey face on a hot day!

This seemed like as good a spot as any to have a rest and cool down,
- its a good life being a puppy and having fun!

Woofs,

Taj

Operation Bring Beau Home

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:12:00 +0000

In 2008, Dogs with Blogs worldwide are uniting to help bring Beau home.

Beau was stolen from his home in Guanaba, Queensland, Australia on 1 July 2003. Beau's Mum has not stopped looking for him since.

Beau is a registered English Setter, a fairly rare breed of dog in Australia. If you know of anyone who has purchased, found or obtained an adult male English Setter since July 2003, please visit Beau's website and look at all his photos.

Beau is an Orange Belton in colour - this means that he has orange/tan markings through his coat and tail and spots on his face an legs. The rest of his coat is white (not cream or red). His fur is short on his body and face with longer 'feathering' fur on his ears, legs, tail and tummy (although this longer hair might be clipped off).

Beau has a very distinctive face: he has a lot of orange/tan colouring and freckle like spots on his face , hazel eyes, a small pink mark in the bottom corner of one eye where the pigment is missing, and most disitinctive is his HEART SHAPED NOSE.

English Setters are medium sized dogs - about the same size as a Golden Retriever or Labrador.

Beau was micro-chipped and unsterilized when he was stolen (he may have been sterilized since then).

Beau's mum has searched Australia wide and has borrowed thousands and thousands of dollars for newspaper and magazine advertisements, flyers, leaflets, brouchures and mass mailings to vets, dog businesses, dog rescue groups, pounds, shelters, dog groomers, dog friendly accomodation and many other places Australia wide.

Beau's mum is offering a$10,000 REWARD for the safe return of Beau, no questions asked. Beau's mum just wants him back.

To read more about Beau and his Mum's desperate attempts to find him, please visit his website Finding Beau

You can even download and print this Finding Beau Flyer to put up on your local noticeboard.

These youtube.com are about Beau and his mum's efforts to find him.

Beau's brother Hammer has a blog where you can be kept up to date on what is happening inthe search for Beau.

Trooper Taj, reporting for duty. Operation Bring Beau Home.

Please help spread the word and return Beau to his mum in 2008!

How to Hypnotize a Border Collie

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:55:00 +0000

In order to hypnotize a Border Collie, you need two things. The Border Collie (of course) and the all important magical, alluring hypnotizing tug-toy!

First of all, you start waving the tug toy to get his attention....
(this step usually takes less than .0897 seconds to execute).

Then you move tug-toy left and right like this....

Then you pull it up and down like this....

....so your Border Collie looks like this.....

Then you spin the tug-toy around like this...

It won't be long before the Border Collie starts to do this....

And when he starts to look like this, you know you have...

...a tug-toy hypnotized Border Collie!

Disclaimer: No Border Collies or magical, alluring hypntotizing tug-toys were injured in the making of this blog post, however, the photographer is still feeling dizzy.

Tia - The Dog Fairy and a tricky video

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:15:00 +0000

I know everyone likes to see photos of Tia as well as me, so I thought we would do a post just for Tia, although Mum says Tia's a lot harder to photograph than I am (Ed: photographers nightmare - tiny eyes, black fur, wrinkles and camera shy!).

Here's a video of Tia doing tricks - "high five", "gimme ten", "drop" "shake hands". I was only a baby then and you can see me sticking my head in the way:)

This is Tia being the Dog Fairy

I don't think she was very impressed.

Here she is doing the 'Hippo Face'

Mum says this is one of the nicest photos she has taken of Tia.

And another one.

Wing nut ears!

Isn't she pretty, wrinkles and all?

Whhheeeee!!! I can Walk on Water!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:39:00 +0000

I had the best-est, most fun-est day yesterday! It was so hot, so Mum took me and the kids to a little river we have close to home, and I know I'm pretty clever (being a Border Collie and all), but look at me, I can actually WALK ON WATER!!!

Turbo Taj - Super Star!
(Ed: other than minor cropping of the background, this photo is straight out of the camera)

This is what this great place looks like, Mum says its even prettier in winter and you can see what it looks like if you have a look at the pictures of Solar the Siberian in her "Dogs" set in her Flickr.com album.

I tried to catch some little fish, but they were pretty quick!

I got to swim and swim and swim some more!

(Ed: Cue theme song from Jaws)

I'm not sure what happened to the rest of me, but its attached to my tail somewhere!

Mum thought I was noble looking, but I was really just eyeing off the ducks.

Border Collies are much better than Retrieving Water Spaniels!

The Face Plant was, of course, intentional.

I had to keep an eye on my kids though, just for a second at a time. I had the major zoomies and couldn't stop running and jumping and swimming. Mum said I got a bit silly and she had to put the retractable lead on me to spoil all my fun.

Nobody told me that there were holes in the water, but they all laughed when I fell in.

I even got to chase dragonflies!

I barked and barked...

and chased them some more...

I got so excited chasing the dragonflies that I fell in the water.

Mum said the only time my feet were still was when I did this....

...and this.

The one good thing about being on the retractable lead was that mum could reel me in,
those underwater rocks sure were slippery!

Mum said that she would have had another 500 or so photos to share with you all, but she was laughing so hard, most of them turned out blurry.

Its great to see all my friends adding their funny photos to our competition, my mum and dad sure are laughing lots!

Woofs,

Taj

Happy New Year - And Its competition time!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 15:45:00 +0000

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

I hope everypup and every human had a safe night - and nobody got scared by the fireworks!

To celebrate the New Year, my mum and dad are holding two new competitions that are free to enter for Dog Lovers everywhere!

The first competition starting today is for a prize of a $100 (AUD) Amazon shopping Gift Card for the Dogsites member that makes the most forum posts from 1st January 2008 to 30th March 2008. How cool is that! Join in the discussion forum, learn some new doggy things, share your doggy experiences, meet new doggy friends, have some fun AND you get the chance to win this great prize!!!

The second competition is a photography competition and the theme is "Funny Photo". The funniest Dog photos will be chosen by Dogsites visitors using a rating vote system, so make sure you tell all your friends to come along and vote for your photos! The prizes are awesome and include an original 9"x12" Pet Portrait of your dog created by my Mum (who's a multi award winning animal and wildlife artist), a years subscription to the excellent dog magazine, National Dog, and a $50.00 gift voucher for Amazon.com.

Now what dog lover couldn't resist these competitions?

To find out more about these great competitions, please visit

PS: You can see my Dog Page while your there!

Woofs and Tailwags

Turbo Taj

Five months old today!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:40:00 +0000

Well, it might be the last day of 2007, but today is also my five month birthday, so as a special treat mum and dad and my kids took me to a new park to play.

There is a small river that runs through it and mum said I would be able to swim in it, but when we got there mum was a spoil-sport and said definitely no swimming as the water was too dirty (probably because it is summer and has been very hot).

I was not impressed, it was a hot day and I really wanted to go for a swim, I don't care if the water was dirty! But at least Mum bought the chucka and I got to chase my tennis ball.

Then dad threw the ball with the chucka and the ball bounced off a tree and into the river. But my dad's a good dad, he got the ball out for me (of course, I could have got it myself, but they wouldn't let me go in the water!)

So I got to chase my ball again for a while, but then...

Somehow my ball rolled over the edge of the steep part of the river bank and ended up back in the water.

I knew that I could get it if they just let me!

Dad said that it was too far down and that we had to say goodbye to that ball.

Mum said nevermind, that was why she bought extra tennis balls with us, but I really, really, really wanted the purple and green one that was in the water, not a poor substitute red and green one!

My dad knew how much I wanted that ball so he tried to get it out for me. He tried lots of different things to catch that ball.

You can see the big branch that he tried to fish the ball out with.

It took a long time, so mum took me for a walk up the river. I still really wanted that ball. Us Border Collies don't forget things or give up easy you know.

Then Dad called us back because, after about 20 minutes of trying, he had finally caught the ball!

But the thing is, I didn't actually *want* the ball, what I really wanted was to go into the river myself to fetch it!

So I carried it back to the river bank...

And rolled it over the edge, just like I do in the pool when I want to go for a swim...

Mum and dad said I was a little monster and that it could stay there now.

Bye bye ball, it was fun while it lasted, I'll miss you!

Woofs

Taj.

I can count to three (videos and photos)

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:24:00 +0000

We didn't do much today (Mum says they are all still recovering from the lead up to Christmas). I did get to go for a swim with everyone (I'm always the first one in the pool nowdays), but we spent a lot of itme inside sleeping today...that was until I decided that mum had to take me outside to play ball, us Border COllies just can't sit around all day without doing anything.

I learnt to count to three when I was a baby, but just before Christmas Mum taught me a new game when we are playing ball. I have to watch her arm and when she gives me the signal I have to turn away, move away from her, turn back and then lay down and I am not supposed to move until mum says my release word which is 'ok'. Then when mum throws the ball, I am not allowed to run and get the ball until she counts to 'three'.

Heres a couple of videos of me palying the 'away' game. The second video is a blooper, I am sure mum said 'three' not 'twelve'!

And because Mum just can't help herself with that stupid camera, here's some photo's that she took while making me wait for the ball.

If I watch realllllly closely, sometimes I can tell which direction the ball will go before mum even throws it for me.

Did you know that Border Collies crouch because it helps our legs launch us like rockets!

If I make my self into a Border Collie pancake maybe she will throw the damn ball!

Mum loves this photo, she says I look very regal and dignified and this is one she is
probably going to do a painting of.

To be honest, I was just wondering if it was dinner time.

Woofs for now!

Taj

My Big Sister

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Wrighton Artist) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:43:00 +0000

You might be wondering why I have so many photos of me on my blog and not many of my big sister Tia...well thats because Tia dosn't like having her photo taken very much. Mum says its difficult to get good photos of Tia because of her wrinkles and black fur (Tia is a Chinese Shar-Pei - you know the dogs with lots of wrinkles?)

Well today Mum was able to get a few photos of Tia that don't make her look like a bizarre wrinkled blur.

In this photo, Tia is telling mum to rack off with that camera!

Then mum got this one while Tia was looking through the fence at someone on the street.

Three seconds later Tia started with the hippopotamus face which means that she is done with having her photo taken.

Meanwhile, the kids and I went for a swim (Tia hates water and refuses to be outside when we are swimming, silly girl, its so much fun!).

I wait my turn and make sure I am careful not to dive into the pool when the kids are in the way.

Lucky I have a sense of humour and don't really mind mum posting my less elegant photos, like this one of my bellyflop.

Tia makes herself cool by turning herself into a Shar-Pei pancake and then
falling asleep (which is why mum was able to take this photo).

I guess I should explain that there is actually one more very good reason
why there are not that many photos of Tia on this blog.

This is the reason.

The puparazzi belongs to me!