I don't track my birthdays, but it's always nice to get special treatment. This year we went to a cottage by a lake. There were so many new smells. It was very exciting! I couldn't count how many wild animals had passed by there! Everywhere I sniffed, there was something interesting. I peed here, there, and everywhere outside, so that when other animals come by they'll be able to smell that I was there too.

We went for a walk in the woods, and I stayed at the back of the pack so I could mark the path with my pee. On the way back, I led the pack home following my scent marks and the smell of the humans' footprints. We dogs can always sniff our way back home.

This is my official 12th Birthday portrait, taken at the end of our walk, on some really old rocks near the cottage. It was the bestest birthday ever!

Cousin Kinsey came to visit. We sniffed one another to say hello. I liked her big smell. I think she liked my smell too because she paid a lot of attention to me. She wanted to play, but she was too big and too rough for me. She kept trying to whack me with her huge paws. I tried to get away from her by sitting on the footstool.

It made me feel safer. But she still came at me and I had to growl to let her know that I didn't want to play fight. She rolled over and showed me her belly to acknowledge my senior status in our extended pack. For us dogs, it's all about smell, and not about size. Cousin Kinsey could smell that I'm a mature male, eventhough I look like a puppy.

We got some biscuits to eat. Kinsey begged the leader of my pack for more biscuits ... and she managed to get extras for both of us. We drooled as we munched on them. Biscuits always taste better when there's another dog eating them too.