Birthday Week: Ammo turns 3!

ammo the dachshund's birthday weekWelcome to Birthday Week! On October 5th I turn 3 years old, and since I think Birthdays are super amazing (especially mine), we’re going to celebrate ALL-WEEK-LONG!

I’m really just hoping that means I get presents and treats all week long too, but regardless I think it will be a really fun bash! I’ve even got some fun prizes for my “guests” (that’s you btw) and some super cool DIY stuff to share! So make sure you check in everyday (and sometimes twice a day), because this is gonna totally be a blast in a glass bowl.

So stick around for the fun, and make sure you check back later today when we really get the bash going!

Wild Ride

Holy Cannoli! Boy did I have a busy weekend!

Ammo and Trooper at the fair

This picture of me and Trooper pretty much sums up the adventurous weekend I had. Don’t worry, I didn’t actually have to ride a bull, but I did have to entertain lots of children (and adults), sniff a whole bunch of dog butts, eat funnel cake, and I even ran through an agility course…twice!

ammo the dachshund with the painting pony

ammo the dachshund with the painting pony

ammo the dachshund with the painting pony

As you can see, I’m a pretty hard working Dachshund.

trooper and ammo at the chadds ford days

To prove my point, here’s a BEFORE shot of me and Trooper just getting started on our weekend adventure at the Chadds Ford Days.

trooper and ammo chadds ford days

And here’s us AFTER a weekend full of excitement!

trooper and ammo chadds ford days

Even super dogs need to catch up on their sleep once in a while.

 

Dog Days of Summer

Hey Pals! Today and tomorrow I’m hanging out at the Chadd’s Ford Historical Society Dog Days of Summer II event! From 10am – 5pm I’ll be mixing and mingling with all my friends (and doing a few tricks too with my pal Minnow the Painting Pony).

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

I hope to shake paws with everyone! And don’t worry, even if you can’t make it, you can check out all the fun by following my facebook page!

Chadds Ford Historical Society

Goat Monster

On a recent trip to Highland Orchards I met some dogs goats monsters.

goats

Mom reminded me that I have met goats before when I went to the corn maze last year.

ammo the dachshund meets goats

True, maybe I had seen goats before, but these were not the SAME goats.

ammo the dachshund meets goats

I know, because I sniffed them.

ammo the dachshund meets goats

I mean they smelled friendly enough I guess.

ammo the dachshund meets goats

But friendly or not, I quickly realized there was like a bazillion of them….and only one of me. Yikes!

ammo the dachshund meets goats

I may have spent the rest of the day looking over my shoulder – you never know when a group of goats monsters might sneak up behind you!

Ludwigs Day 2

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

I’ll admit, after Day 1 at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show I was a little tired. It’s hard being adorable all the time.

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

But, mom brought out the big guns (aka chicken) and I was more than happy to show everyone my favorite tricks!

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

Not trying to brag, but no one plays dead like I do!

minnow the painting pony

Minnow drew a crowd too with his amazing painting skills……but really…..I stole the show!

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

“Super Ammo” knows how to make everyone laugh.

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

Even when you have technical difficulties with your stunt helmet.

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

In fact, I got so much love after my performances that I think Minnow was jealous!

ammo the dachshund with painting pony

All that excitement really wears a boy out!

ammo the dachshund napping

When I got back to the farm I took a well deserved nap. Which actually ended up being pretty short lived…

ammo and trooper

Because Trooper was just begging to be chased!

You can check out more pictures from our adventure on the Painting Pony Blog!

Hurricane Irene

On Saturday evening Hurricane Irene made it’s way towards my home in Pennsylvania. I’ve never been in a hurricane before (after all I’m only 2!), so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew enough to be a little scared, especially since mom and dad brought in all of our outdoor patio stuff, and mom weatherproofed the shop on Saturday morning.

Several hours into the storm we lost power, only moments after we heard of a Tornado warning for our area on the news. So into the basement we went to hunker down for about 20 minutes before the threat passed.

I of course used this time to practice my scary bark threats – you know – to tell Irene to get outta here!

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

The next morning I woke to a still very windy and rainy mess outside – which meant I had to spend most of the day inside. If you can’t tell I was a little depressed. Mom and Dad tried to keep me occupied by playing scrabble with me (especially since there still was no power), but I really just wanted to go exploring.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

In the late afternoon the storm finally cleared, and we headed out for a drive to take care of the ponies (who weathered the storm just fine).

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

I couldn’t believe how much the water had risen along the Brandywine, which runs just below the farm.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

On the way back we stopped by the shop to make sure that it fared the storm ok.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Luckily there was no water damage even though many of the streets in town were flooded. But there was some wind damage to the awning out front. Mom says she hopes it’s not too expensive to fix, I told her I’d try to sell a painting to help pay for it!

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Power was out at both the shop and at home, so lucky for me I got to spend the evening playing board games with my family. The “Chester County” game continued on into the wee hours of the night.

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

ammo the dachshund hurricane irene

Power at the house was out until mid-day Monday – which makes me very glad that I’m a dog, and I don’t require indoor plumbing!

 

P.S. I hope that all my friends weathered the storm ok and no one suffered any major damage. I’ll be searching for my groundhogs tomorrow to make sure they made it through the storm ok.

The Dog Days of Summer

I have some exciting news! Next month I’m going to be making some very special public appearances. First up I will be at the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show on September 3rd – 4th with my best pal Minnow the Painting Pony. We’re going to be parked out at my booth all day where we will have artwork for sale (by both me and the pony!) and we’ll be showing everyone some of our favorite tricks all day long. We also might be performing some of our acts in the main arena – when I have more details I will let everyone know! And as always the Ludwigs Corner Horse Show is a dog friendly event – so bring along all of your furry friends!

dog paddling over to chincoteague

"Dog Paddling Over to Chincoteague" painting by Minnow and Ammo - 2009

Also I will be at the Chadds Ford Historical Society Dog Days of Summer Event. The event is on September 10th -11th from 10am – 5pm – and the best part is….it’s a DOG FRIENDLY event too!

I’m going to have a booth set up where I’ll be selling some of my great artwork along with the Painting Ponies’ artwork too. Minnow the Painting Pony might also be in attendance – but we have to wait and see if they can make room for him (he is kinda hefty! hehe).

ludwigs corner horse show

I hope I’ll get to see some of my facebook and blog friends at these events! Pretty soon I’m going to need a date book to keep track of all my appearances!

You can see a list of all the events I will be attending this year on the Painting Pony Calendar page!

Say What?

Ammo the dachshund

Rumor has it that mom’s recapping all of Minnow’s adventures on Chincoteague Island last week on his blog. Which also means she’s hogging all my computer time….jeesh!

ammo the dachshund

So while I patiently (or not so patiently depending on how you look at it) wait my turn on the computer – you can head on over to Minnow’s blog to check out all the fun I missed when they went to Chincoteague. And don’t forget, there is one more day to enter my giveaway for a FREE Scratch Art Painting! It just might be your lucky day!

Super Ammo Vs. Super Trooper

Last year I was invited to perform at the Keystone Dachshund Races during their lunch break, it was my very first performance ever as a young and inexperienced 1 year old! I thought I did ok, considering I was new to the game and had only learned most of my tricks in a matter of a few weeks. You can watch my performance from last year here. (I’m WAY better at my tricks now!)

Well this year when they invited me back to perform, I knew I had to up the anti a little. So since my bestest performing pony pal, Minnow, couldn’t come with me – I asked my pal Trooper to fill in for him. Now Trooper is new to the whole performing thing, and I told him he had to learn a whole bunch of new tricks if he wanted to perform with me.

In the end we put on a Super entertaining duel between two friends. Here’s a taste of how it all went down:

(P.S. if you want the full effect – with my super awesome hero music – you’ll have to catch one of my live performances! Apparently youtube isn’t super music friendly!)

Performing at the Dachshund Races is very hard. Because not only does the stage smell like a bazillion other doxies (butt sniffing heaven!), but it is also littered with dropped treats. Talk about hitting the jackpot, bacon bits, hot dogs, cookies and more! It’s super hard to concentrate on your super tricks when working for treats seems pointless since free ones are on the floor!

But, me and Trooper pulled it off, and I’m sure we made a few people giggle!

Better luck winning the trophy next year Trooper! This super doxie is unstoppable!

Heavy Weight

Yes, you read that right. I was in the Heavy Weight division at the Keystone Dachshund Races this year. You might not be able to tell by looking at me, but I’m a hefty 20lb “tweenie”. (and no, that does not mean I’m fat). It just means that I’m too big to be a mini dachshund and too small to be a standard dachshund, and it puts me in the weight class with the big dogs!

In my 5 Qualifying heats I earned three first places and two third places, which earned me three racing spots in the semi-finals.

In my semi-final runs I was up against some stiff competition, but in my final race I narrowly beat my fellow heavy weight competitor, earning me the coveted spot to run in the FINAL RACE!

Basically I beat out all of the heavy weights in my division, now it was time to run against the lean, mean, mini-dachshund, Dudley!

I raced my little heart out, but in the end, Dudley had a narrow edge on me – beating me to the line by a nose!

Mom and Dad were proud of me no matter what my finish. And I’m just glad I redeemed myself from my horrible racing skills from the past 2 years (in my defense I was just trying to play with all the other puppies – I’m a friendly guy!).

You can watch my previous racing escapades here and here.

And now, here’s my montage of all of my racing fun this year:

Stay tuned for more details about my big performance with my pal Trooper!

 

P.S. I guess this means I AM faster than a speeding bullet! huh?