A to Z Guide to Happiness

Two cute dogs, Bella the Westie and Ollie the Papillon, show you how to be happy and bring happiness wherever you are, by following their paw steps with their friends and family.
You will see them having fun, relaxing, following their dreams and giving all their love. They will give you tips on finding and spreading happiness and inspirational quotations.

Read Pascal Inard's full bibliography here with list of all published and forthcoming work.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

The story of our fuzzy slippers !


When we were children, we both loved dogs; Isabelle’s dogs was called Vania, Pascal’s dog was called Fifi.


 
When we had our children, we lived in France in an apartment but it wasn’t a good environment to have a dog. We missed having a dog in the family, but it was a good thing we didn’t have one because bringing it to Australia would have been very difficult. They don’t allow dogs unless they are put in quarantine and it would have been a traumatising experience for both the dog and us. Later when we found a house with a fenced backyard, it was time to think about having a dog. Isabelle had fallen in love with Westies a long time ago when she saw a commercial on TV for a famous brand of dog food.  Pascal looked forward to having a pair of fuzzy slippers like Fifi was.

 
When we saw Bella for the first time at her breeder’s house, it was love at first sight, but we had no idea how she would change our lives.


 
Bella is a very fussy eater so we had to find the best dog food for her. She also loves the pancakes we make ! She is very playful and affectionate and complains very loudly if we forget that it's time for her walk
One day, Isabella started trying some clothes that had been worn by our children when they were little on Bella. She found that they suited her and that she was patient and enjoyed all the attention she was getting when Pascal was taking photographs, not to mention the treats she was getting afterwards. The movie “Julie and Julia” gave us the idea to start this blog and the popularity of the blog led us to publishing a book “Paw Steps to Happiness”.

 
This book brought a lot of happiness around us, we gave some to the Australian Animal Protection Society, Starlight children’s foundation and some retirement houses.
After Bella’s book, we wrote a book on our country of birth "Dear France, Sweet country of my childhood". It was recently featured in French Provincial Magazine.


 
We are now preparing another book and we say thank you to Bella for giving us this wonderful opportunity . She is such a wonderful friend for us, we don’t mind that she isn’t our fuzzy slippers, we have found these instead !




Take care my friends and have a great week-end !



"I've got my own fuzzy slippers, they're great for keeping my ears warm !"

Friday, April 6, 2012

Move over Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Bella is here !

I wonder what this is, it looks yummy !


It's delicious !


What's happening ? I feel funny !


Oh my dog, what is this ?


Bella help, it's gonna eat me !


Move over Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Bella is here !


Don't you worry Ollie, I'll get him !


{After a long battle...}
Would you like some crocodile steak for lunch Ollie ?


- What happened Ollie ? 
- After you ate that mushroom, you started barking something about a crocodile !
- Yes, it was trying to eat you and then we ended up eating it !
- I think you had a bad dream Bella, you better stay away from those mushrooms !
- 







Take care my friends and have a great Easter !

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Camping adventures.

This year we didn't go away on a vacation, so Dad put up the tent in our backyard so we could sleep outside.


Hey Ollie, come and join me, it's great in here !


Bella, I'm scared of Tasmanian devils, do you think we'll be safe in here ?


Don't worry, they only live in Tasmania, and they can't swim so they won't be able to reach us !


I love to smell the flowers...



(All photos by Pascal Inard, except for the tasmanian devil : Wayne McLean ( jgritz)  [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons



I have decided to be happy because it's good for my health
Voltaire


Take care my friends and have a great week !

Friday, January 20, 2012

Look who's looking after Mum's dolls !

I am looking after Mum's dolls while she is knitting and sewing some clothes for them.


Ollie, can you please come and help me, I have too many to look after on my own !


I'm coming Bella !



Thanks Ollie, Can you look after the little ones, they are tired !


All right Bella,. I will take them for a stroll in their beautiful pram.


What a beautiful family Mum has, it's keeping her busy, and us too.


The family went to see the beautiful birds of Sherbrooke Forest (Dandenong ranges, Australia)



They are very friendly and not at all shy (if you have some seeds to give to them...)


This is a beautiful king parrot


...and a Rosella





Dad published an article on MyFrenchLife on a French new year's tradition, it's quite funny !






Take care my friends and have a great week-end !



Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year !!!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with our family, and we hope yours was great too.


Here we are with our beautiful sisters


Our lovely Mum and our sister


Our Dad and our sister


Mom and Dad made the thirteen desserts, which is a Tradition from Provence in France - read more about it here and get the recipe for delicious calissons here


For the new year, like most dogs, we don't like the noise of fireworks, but Dad found a way to enjoy a beautiful light show in silence. Do you know how he did it ? He took photos of the beautiful decorated houses while moving his camera and zooming to get these special effects :



We have not written many blog posts lately or visited our friends' blogs and there are two reasons for this :
The first one is that our brother was bullied at school because he was in our blog; Some school children made fun of him and picked on him when they found him in our blog by searching for his name. This made us sad because this is a blog about happiness and we didn't want anyone to be hurt because of that. So we will not put his name or photo any more in the blog.
The second reason is that our Mom and Dad were very busy promoting their book "Dear France, sweet country of our childhood". They also have a blog www.dearfrance.net - they have done some book signings and our Mom made some beautiful cards and bookmarks that you can see (and buy) on their blog. Here is a sample :







Best wishes of joy, health and happiness to all our friends for the new year !
If you've enjoyed reading this article, you will love our book "A to Z Guide to Happiness - A gift from dogs to their owners (and everyone else).

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