When Your Dog Is Depressed

This is my dog Asterix.
He is depressed.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: Hang on just a minute, Martinette. Dogs don't GET DEPRESSED! That is simply ridiculous.
Well, I have to tell you something, my friend. Dogs do get depressed. And that dog in the picture up there, he is depressed. Honestly.

I'll even tell you why.

Ever since we got little Asterix from the SPCA (I think that's where it was), I could tell that he was a special kind of dog. Not only was he more attention-seekery than our other dogs Brutus and Sheba, but he was like INTUITIVE about how you were feeling.
I promise you, every time I have ever cried in Asterix's vicinity, he has come over to me and tried to give me hugs (this involves him standing very close to me, or sometimes climbing into my lap etc.) And to this day he still does it!!!! How cute is that?!?!?!

So I know that Asterix is very emotionally-sensitive.
Anyway, so Asterix has a very close bond with my brother Cecil. During Summer when Cecil comes home to visit, he and Asterix sleep outside on a mattress. Every night, without fail. And Asterix knows this now.
But this Summer, because Cecil is married now, he only slept outside on the mattress with Asterix for one night. But boy was Asterix ecstatic that night!!!! My mum told me that as soon as Cecil put the mattress outside, Asterix was curled up on it and waited for hours for Cecil to come out and go to sleep. Mum said that Cecil couldn't even get the bed made up because Asterix was lying on it expectantly. How cute is that?! You can see how close the bond is between Asterix and Cecil.

Anyway. So Cecil left Kaitaia on his way back to Dunedin a few days ago. And after that... OH DEAR! Asterix started losing the plot a little bit.
He doesn't want to be left alone. If the other dogs are outside he'll sit in front of the ranch slider until we let him in, and then he'll go into my parents room and curl up by himself (like in the picture).
He also growls at us now, and picks fights with the other dogs.
He's also stopped eating, he only ever finishes about half of the food we give him for dinner.

Poor Asterix :(

Yesterday I spent the day watching movies and had him on my lap the whole time, I just want him to feel happy again! Poor guy. Dad says when I leave for Uni Asterix is going to flip out again.
He has separation anxiety, and abandonment issues as well. What are you supposed to do?
Dad says we just have to make him feel loved.
When I came home from church today, Asterix jumped into my lap and sat there for a while, so I think he may be feeling a bit better.


My depressed dog has shown me how love is so important to everyone and everything. The only way Asterix is going to feel better is if we show him that we love him. And then when I abandon him in a month its back to square one... :(

Funny how animals aren't so different from us.
<3

Twenty Twelve!

Ok so this is the first chance I've had to write a blog entry this year.
That sounds bad, but you have to remember its only the 4th of January!!
I've spent the last few days with some friends who have been road tripping around New Zealand.
I went to Cape Reinga for the first time in at least 7 years or something. It looks really cool there now!
Very different to how I remember it anyway...
Yesterday we also went to Waitangi, and I'd never been there before so I found it really interesting. Its funny how I've been living in the Far North for over fifteen years yet I'd never been to see Waitangi yet.
I guess you'd expect us to go there on school trips but we never did.
Ah well, I've seen it now so it's all good!!!

One thing I actually wanted to get a written account of was my Sunday Dress Rule that I managed to stick to for the whole of 2011.
What it involved was wearing a dress or skirt to every Sunday church service I attended. Rain, shine or snow, I'd have to wear a dress. Of course I didn't HAVE to wear a dress, but it was just a challenge to myself.
This whole thing came about because my Mum had told me a few years earlier that she only ever wears dresses or skirts to church (which is a lie, because when she was in Dunedin she wore pants, hahaha) But anyway, I remembered that and when 2011 rolled around I thought I may as well try to wear a dress every Sunday.
There were of course the handful of Sundays that I didn't make it to church, and those days I didn't wear a dress. But I promise you, every church service I was at- I was wearing a dress or skirt.
It got harder to abide by this rule the colder Dunedin got last year, but I managed to stick with it.
I think the hardest time was when we had an insane amount of snowfall on a Sunday, but I just chucked some tights on underneath my dress, put on my wool coat and I was good to go!

I actually found the "Have-to-wear-a-dress-on-Sunday" to be a really good way of challenging myself to dress outside of my comfort zone. It forced me to wear a dress at least once a week, and once you get into the hang of wearing a dress once a week, its easier to wear them more often!!! These days I wear dresses more often than not, which is a drastic change to how I've dressed in previous years. I wore jeans pretty much everyday. No experimentation. Where's the fun in that?!?!

Anyway. This blog entry is mainly about me wearing dresses..... But girls, seriously, wearing dresses is so much fun! I would recommend it to everyone! If I can wear a dress almost every Sunday of 2011, I'm sure you can too! :-P

ps- Less than 6 weeks left of my time in Kaitaia! Summer is halfway over.

Is Christmas Over Already?

Hello Blog.

I was going to write this on actual Christmas but I'll be honest, I was feeling too lazy.
We had our annual family braai in Kerikeri again, it was meant to be in Whangarei this year but because of unforeseeable circumstances it was changed to Kerikeri. I think it was better that way.
Firstly: it meant only one hour of travel for those from Kaitaia, as opposed to two hours. And the Whangarei-ans only had to travel an hour as well! WIN WIN WIN!

This year has actually been the most un-Christmas-iest Christmas I have ever experienced!
I think this is definitely due to the fact I didn't make it back home until a few days before Christmas.
Usually I start decorating the house in early December. I put up Christmas lights all around the lounge, chuck a few pieces of tinsel here and there, and of course put up our tree and over-decorate it with heaps and heaps of random sparkly things and Christmasy objects.

But not this year!!!!!
Because it was only a few days before Christmas I really couldn't be bothered decorating the house. It takes a whole afternoon to put it all up, and then another whole afternoon to take it all down.
Can't. Be. Bothered.

I might do it next year though, seeing as I had a break from it this year.

To be honest though, the whole "decorate your house all Christmasy" seems a little strange to me now.
None of the decorations really have anything to do with the birth of Jesus.
That is what Christmas is about, after all.
For that reason I'm kinda glad we had a very minimalist Christmas. I only got a few chocolates as presents, but you know what? I am happy about that.
I don't need more stuff.
At least chocolates can get eaten in a matter of days (or hours, depending on who you are). I cannot even tell you the amount of times I've gotten things for Christmas that I've never been able to use and it just ends up cluttering up my life.

I think I'd just prefer not to give or receive any presents at Christmas time, unless its food. Food is always good. Hahaha.

Anyway though, the braai in Kerikeri was fun. And very civil.
I think my cousins and I are all maturing.
There were no outbursts or dramas this year. We all just sat around and talked to each other like... well... adults!
Its pretty strange. But good.
All in all, pretty decent Christmas though.
The fact that its not about us but really about Jesus was very apparent to me.
So for that I'm glad. Its easy to forget it sometimes.