Category Archives: corgi
The Moving Chronicles (Part 3)
It’s getting very close to the move, now, and even the functional items have started to be boxed. And the corgis…
…are not happy at all.
This morning, as I was taping up boxes, I found them hiding in their crates:
This is what we do now… sit ‘n watch ‘n wonder about all these boxes. We feel safest in our crates, though. Will you pack us, too?
Then tonight, while watching TV to try to relax, I was attacked by clingy corgis. I guess they wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving them… (Leia never clings like this except in the dead cold of winter!)
If we surround her, she can’t go anywhere without us!
I wish there was some way to tell dogs what is happening. Then maybe they wouldn’t be so freaked out. As I type, they are right near me on the floor, watching. Always watching.
But don’t worry, corgis… when the time comes to move, I’ll make sure I pack you, too!
The Moving Chronicles (Part 2)
The dogs continue to think “something’s up.” Their kitchen is quickly becoming a cardboard castle, with boxes stacking up. Yoda follows me around. Even in the 90 + degree heat wave we’re having, he sits on my lap as often as possible (yes, even outdoors) to make sure I don’t go anywhere.
When the movers come, and when we first get to the new house, I’m going to have to close him in his crate, where he feels most safe in the world (aside from on my lap).
In other news, I have been researching invisible fences. The house comes with an invisible fence, which I think might be a better option than putting up chicken wire around the fence of a five-acre lot. It looks like the key to training dogs is to instill in them a sense of fear of the fence–to lead them up to the fence (marked by flags for now) but then lead them away with a sense of urgency or even fear in one’s voice. Since Yoda is afraid of everything, this might not be too hard to do.
The corgis in “feral mode”
The corgis in “civilized mode”
I just wonder… the corgis sometimes go into “feral mode.” When they see an animal or hear a dog getting agitated, they go nuts, sometimes attacking each other or biting on their leashes if they are on a walk, and for a while they stop listening to me. I look in their eyes, and they are in full-on hunter/herder mode. Then, as quickly as it started, they look back at me and become civilized again. But I wonder: if they go into “feral mode” with an invisible fence, is even the threat of a correction from the collar enough to stop their natural instinct?
Has anyone had experience with this? I’ve heard nothing but good things about invisible fences (in terms of keeping dogs confined–not keeping other things out), but I’m skeptical. In any case, I get to try it in about a week!
The Moving Chronicles (Part 1)
For the past few months, my husband and I have been packing up the house in preparation for an upgrade. Moving day is approaching, and–well–the corgis have started to notice.
It started the day I packed up six boxes of kitchenware. I stacked these near the kitchen table, and Yoda knew something was up immediately. When I came back from work, he ran to his crate and looked at me with that “Lassie” look–letting me know he had something to tell me. Well–his crate had all kinds of puke in it (I will spare you a picture). The fact that he threw up in his crate told me just how upset he is about the house being packed up–he goes into his crate (which I leave open for him during the day) when he is afraid or tired. And he has thrown up for less upsetting things before (did I mention Yoda is afraid of everything?).
Since then, Leia has been overjoyed, hiding behind boxes and finding new and exciting sleeping nooks.
Leia finding a cozy sleeping nook among the boxes.
Yoda has been more hesitant. He’s been following me everywhere, and he’s even being clingy with “his friend,” as I call my husband to him. Normally, he is hesitant with my husband, but as the picture below demonstrates, he’s just fine being cuddly (it was such a rare occurrence, I had to snap a poorly-lit picture from my cell phone to capture the moment!).
A rare moment–Yoda cuddling with someone other than me!
Other than that, my biggest challenge as of now is keeping the corgis from eating all the cardboard boxes. I wonder if other dogs like eating cardboard as much as mine. I try to stop them, of course, but I can’t watch them all the time. I snapped this picture while the corgis were innocently sitting on the cardboard boxes, but the temptation must have been too much. As soon as I returned to the kitchen to pack, they had started pulling off chunks of cardboard to eat!
“All quiet for now–but as soon as she puts down her camera and resumes packing, we’re eating this cardboard!”
I’ll be back with more updates soon, as I’m sure the challenges of moving with two dogs will continue to present new opportunities to share!
The Stars in Verse
It’s the middle of the Corgi-Versary celebration, and what better way than to add some “Verse”? Here are four limericks introducing the four main characters of the series:
There once was a doggy named Zeph
He was afraid of things right and left.
But he put away fear
And perked up his ear
And discovered the cause of the theft.
.
There once was a puppy named Sapphie
Whose demeanor left her quite happy.
Her favorite thing was her food,
Her bed, toys, and scarf, too—
Loving everything, she squealed, loud and yappy.
.
Courtney, the middle school girl
Lived in her secure, text-messaging world.
But a burglar broke in
And stifled her grin,
Leaving her teenage world all awhirl.
.
Adam’s the star of the book.
Like a detective, he knows where to look.
He’ll solve any crime
With just enough time
To read to Zeph from his new comic book.
Want to review Corgi Capers?
Do you love to read? Want to write a review of Corgi Capers?
From now until the end of the Corgi-Versary Celebration, I’m offering free electronic copies of Corgi Capers: Deceit on Dorset Drive in exchange for an honest book review (I want the good, the bad, and the ugly!).
Please email me to request your copy, and include the name of your blog, Goodreads account, Amazon username, and/or any other location you would post the review.
Thanks for your interest, and happy reading!
Name That Cat!
Edit: Please note, this contest has now ended. You can view the results here. Congratulations to the winners, and look for Corgi Capers 3 soon!
Happy Corgi-Versary! As part of the celebration, I’m offering the chance for two readers to name a character in the next book in the series. To enter, take the quiz below, which is based on events in the Corgi Capers series. The two readers earning the highest score will win! In the case of a tie, I will conduct a random drawing of those with the highest score.
Halloween-themed Corgi Capers Book 2: The Sorceress of Stoney Brook
Winners will get to name and describe a character from the upcoming Corgi Capers 3. Each winner will also receive an autographed copy of the book when it is released.
The first character is a feline. Many of the ideas from my book come from real-life events I experience with my corgis. But I decided even before I finished Book 2 that Book 3 would feature a cat even though my corgis had never really encountered a cat before. As if fate could read my mind, a cat has recently entered their lives. It began with a blue collar found stuck in the fence of our backyard. Then a cat started showing up in the drainage area behind our house. Now, taking the corgis for a walk means Cat Control. The corgis’ new purpose in life seems to be patrolling the area for signs of two cats—a grey and a calico. The winner of this contest gets to describe and name the feline character in Corgi Capers 3. While we’re talking cats, check out this free short story about the corgis and their discovery of a neighborhood kitty!
The second character is Adam’s friend at the firehouse, where he volunteers. This can be a male or a female but should be close to Adam’s age (anywhere from 8 – 14 years old would be appropriate).
Two winners will get to choose the name and description of a feline or human character that will be featured in the upcoming Corgi Capers 3. Winners will receive an acknowledgement in the book as well as an autographed copy (for US addresses only; International winners will receive an electronic copy). The book is meant for children ages 7 – 12, so final approval of names and descriptions will rest with the author and publisher. Names or descriptions that are incendiary, suggestive, or allude to people or characters of ill repute, or under copyright or other restrictions, or that are likely to create other problems, will be rejected, and winner may choose an alternate name and/or description. Contest is open to entrants 18 years of age and older. Children under 18 wanting to enter the contest must have a parent/guardian enter for them.
Use the link below to answer the 9-question quiz. If you’re stuck, you can find the answers in Corgi Capers (or likely by poking around http://www.CorgiCapers.com!)
Ready to Name the Characters? Take the quiz here, and be sure to enter your email and character names in the last question! Good luck!
Edit: Please note, this contest has now ended. You can view the results here. Congratulations to the winners, and look for Corgi Capers 3 soon!
Corgi-Versary Giveaway!
Want to win a copy of Corgi Capers 1 or 2? How about a t-shirt? Enter using the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win. Drawing will be held on February 26th. Good luck!
Yoda on Christmas Trees
Yoda: This is as close as I get!
So, there’s this really scary thing… the Big Scary. It glows, and it’s big, and it has these scary shiny things all over it, and it seems like it never goes away!
I don’t understand. It looks like a tree, but it isn’t real, and I certainly can’t pee on it (I’m much too scared to even try). Almost as scary are all the big plastic tubs that emerge when the Big Scary comes. One of them smells like pine cones, and another smells like cinnamon. And they have these frightening jingly things in them. I hate when my Person takes out the boxes. The only thing they’re good for is hiding behind. But they don’t stay out as long as the Big Scary. And when the boxes go away, I have nowhere to hide.
Which is what I do pretty much the whole time my person is decorating the Big Scary.
Even worse is the fact that my sister likes to explore the Big Scary. She’s always nosing around the packages underneath. Often she gets yelled at for knocking round shiny things off the Big Scary. And when she gets yelled at, I’m the one who gets upset. She tells me that one of the packages under the Big Scary smells like bacon treats, but I don’t buy that at all. But since I’m her big brother, I have to watch her and make sure she’s okay… as much as it terrifies me. So I watch her from on top of the stairs. I just keep real quiet, though. That way the Big Scary can’t hear me. My Person tells me I need to relax, but I don’t understand how anyone can be relaxed with a Big Scary decorating their living room!
Last year, the Big Scary eventually went away. But it took a long, long time. Maybe if I keep watching it, I can make it leave. Until then, we’ll all just have to be careful. Seasons Greetings, and I hope you never wake to find a Big Scary in your house.
Editor’s Note: Yoda is the kind-hearted, but hesitant, corgi inspiration behind the character Zeph in the Corgi Capers mystery series.
A Corgi Thanksgiving
The corgis had lots of fun visiting friends and family (canine and human) for Thanksgiving. Here are some of their adventures:
First stop: Pennsylvania!
Leia was okay during the car ride there. She tends to be hyper, so every now and again she would stand up and cry, and wiggle her whole body with excitement. Yoda, as always, just at there being good. When they arrived in Pennsylvania, Buster was very happy to see them.
Yoda the Corgi and Buster the Boxer playing together. Buster never seems to get tired, but Yoda can keep up!
While the boys were playing, Miss Leia found her way to Buster’s food dish. She thought she was being sneaky, taking a mouthful of food at a time and running away with it, but I caught her on film!
They were tired from all the playtime with Buster, so the corgis slept most of the way to Maryland late that night:
In Maryland, the corgis encountered many other dogs: Crispin, Sophie, and Zuko.
After a while, all the dog activity became too much for Leia, and she found a nice, cozy hiding spot in the basement.
Her batteries charged just fine that night, however, and she was ready for more corgi capers the next morning. While I went to get something from my car–literally 20 seconds of not watching her–she found a pile of, well–it was brown, sticky, gooey, and stinky! And she rolled in it…
Leia, exiled to the tie-out while we finished lunch (you could smell her a mile off!)
That whole patch of fur on the front is supposed to be bright white–yuk! How can such a cute little dog get into so much trouble?
Leia’s best pal in the world was not amused.
But Zuko thought it was pretty funny!
Then it was time for Leia to have a bath.
After bath time, the corgis and their canine and human pals went for a very long walk at the park (Yoda is still too afraid to cross over the wooden bridge–he goes all the way around). Then, dinner (the dogs were all very successful at begging). The corgis and their human pals are very thankful for all they have–family, friends, food, freedom… and of course, a warm, safe place to sleep:
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a Good Night!
Howl-o-ween Blog Hop + Giveaway
Halloween and the Imagination
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and as a kid I never understood why. But this year, perusing a Halloween store and then driving around a rural area and observing all the Halloween decorations, I think I understand.
Halloween lets the imagination free—like a ghost escaping the grave for its yearly romp around the world.
Winter is too sleepy and dreary to allow the imagination full reign. It’s dulled by cold nights and dark mornings.
In springtime, the imagination is too fulfilled with relief that winter is gone. Spring cleaning and yard work take precedence.
During summertime, the mind is too happy enjoying summer. Whose imagination has time to reign when there are pools and beaches, barbeques and vacations?
by Marji Cooper
No, during those first parts of the year, the mind is busy saving up experiences. It’s during the fall that the mind can finally spend them. The heat of summer cools, and the air takes on that crisp quality, with the sweet scent of decaying leaves always lurking. The trees turn the world into a surreal, magical place. And at Halloween, there are no rules. Yes, Christmas is imaginative, but as Jack Skellington proved, there are rules that cannot be broken. Christmas is all about warmth and happiness. As countless English teachers and professors have pointed out to me, happiness doesn’t make for good literature. It doesn’t push any boundaries.
Corgi Capers Book 2
Halloween has no rules. Halloween stories can be happy. They can also be sad, melancholy, nostalgic, macabre, twisted, and imaginative. Literally, the imagination is the only limit, and that’s what I love so much about this time of year.
In my newest book, Corgi Capers: The Sorceress of Stoney Brook, Adam Hollinger lets his imagination run away with him—to the point that he is convinced his new neighbors are a pair of witches. Using his detective skills, he must (reluctantly) face his fears to determine whether they are, in fact, witches. It’s still got baseball and bullying and—of course—lots of corgis to help with the detective work. But this second book in the series is all about imagination at the most imaginative time of the year.
As part of this blog hop, you have a choice of one of the following books: Corgi Capers: Deceit on Dorset Drive (the first in the series); Corgi Capers 2: The Sorceress of Stoney Brook (Halloween-themed); or For Whom My Heart Beats Eternal (a trio of time-travel stories for ages 16 and up—romance, post-apocalyptic, and sci-fi-fantasy). You can check out the descriptions here.
Enter using the Rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Corgi Capers 