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<title>Chasing My Tale</title>
<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale</link>
<description>Dogster diary for the dog Robin</description>
<language>en</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2013 by Robin &amp; Dogster</copyright>
<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 14:23:23 PDT</pubDate>
<generator>Dogster Pet-o-matic Gennie - http://www.dogster.com</generator>
<ttl>360</ttl>

	<item>
		<title>Goodbye, Dear Friend</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/769853</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:59:19 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/769853</guid>
		<description>Robin came with me to vet school.  The old man put up with me being gone for hours, and my attempts  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Robin came with me to vet school.  The old man put up with me being gone for hours, and my attempts at trying to find him a suitable dog-sibling to keep him company.  He began a slow decline, where I noticed a marked difference but everyone else would say he looked good for his age.  He started having mild and infrequent seizures that started us on a search to find out what was wrong with him.  Living in the Pacific Northwest, I had to fight hard to finally get someone to run a titer for Coccidioides immitus (Valley Fever), since it wasn't a typical presentation in an area where they don't have the fungus.  We finally ran it, and it was consistent with concurrent infection.  We began treatment with fluconazole, and his seizures stopped, but his liver started giving out in less than a year, so we stopped treatment.  He lost so much weight, and would often circle in rooms, but he still wanted to be with me, so I gave him all the time he wanted.  On the morning of December 4, 2011, Robin "told" me it was time.   A classmate drove us in to school, where Robin was euthanized, and many tears were shed. 

Goodbye, my dear friend, you are sorely missed.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Thank You, Dogster</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/690668</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:06:32 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/690668</guid>
		<description>Thank you, Dogster, for choosing me as a Daily Diary Pick for a second time!  I am flattered, but ce ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Thank you, Dogster, for choosing me as a Daily Diary Pick for a second time!  I am flattered, but certainly not humbled by the accolades.  

Age has taught me nothing of humility, instead, it has taught me to feel entitled.  Entitled to the best sleeping spot next to human mom (as close to her face as possible), entitled to walk when and where I want, and entitled to play only when I want to play.  These ARE the golden years.

BaRooOOOoo!]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>A Close Call</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/690344</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 9 Sep 2010 14:58:36 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/690344</guid>
		<description>Human mom was gone for 8 days.  I thought she had abandoned us with her friend and that obnoxious do ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Human mom was gone for 8 days.  I thought she had abandoned us with her friend and that obnoxious dog, Dante.  He's twice my size and clobbers me when he wants to play.  For some reason Kira likes Dante; at least their playing kept them from pestering me.   I was so happy when human mom came to get us, I ran around like a pup and waggled my tail.  I even console surfed part of the way home, just like I did in my slightly younger years.  How I missed my beds and the couch, it's good to be home.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>It's Been A While</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/683988</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:06:32 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/683988</guid>
		<description>It has been a LONG time since I've been left alone with the computer for long enough to compose anot ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ It has been a LONG time since I've been left alone with the computer for long enough to compose another entry.  Human mom has completed her fist year of vet school, and it's been rough on both of us, and let's face it, I'm not exactly a pup anymore.  I just turned 13 a month ago, but you're only as old as you feel right?  

The stress of living alone took its toll on me.  I howled in our apartment when Human-mom was gone.  She got new downstairs neighbors, and they started complaining.  She called the man-child "Day Sleeper" because his beef with me was that I disturbed his precious beauty rest since he got home around 3 am and she left just before 8 am.  Give me a break.  Her father normally functions on four hours of sleep and a nap, and he's not cranky at all.  Anyway, so Day Sleeper's wife leaves us the flowery notes, the first one about me being lonely and howling (which the last neighbors claimed to have barely heard after asked about it) and thus "interfering with his sleep schedule."  The jerk didn't work more than 4 days a week and left around 10:30pm, what was he doing with his day?  It's not like apartment livers have barn chores or house maintenance.  Maybe he needed 20 hours of sleep a day.  Anyway, the second note was complaining about my food puzzle toy being bumped around - they thought it was as bad as the howling.  He came up to complain personally when mom chose to ignore such an asinine complaint as a 23 lb dog playing with a 1 lb toy.  He came to intimidate her, but human-mom is fierce, unfortunately, she chose to be diplomatic rather than telling Day Sleeper where we could put my toy if he thought it was too loud.  Then he had the gall to say he wouldn't care if a human was making the noise, it was just that it was me, a dog.  I nearly tore him a new you-know-what.  Human-mom thought about telling him to get rid of what must be his wife's Golden Retriever if he hated dogs so much and moving to an apartment that didn't allow dogs, since there are plenty in this town.  She should have.  But she didn't.  She apologized that he felt that way, and promised to take my toy away, though she couldn't imagine a dog my size making that much noise with a small toy.  And then, the only think that made her absence bearable was stuffed in a closet.  Later, she tried adopting a Greyhound.  I liked him, he was good company.   But Day Sleeper strikes again.  He complained to management that the Greyhound moved around when human-mom left.  The management told human-mom to lock us upstairs in the bedroom during "quiet hours" which are 9pm to 9am.  Human-mom asked to transfer to a downstairs unit, since she knew nothing would please princess Day Sleeper.  We had to be locked up until the move, and didn't much care for that, but it beat eviction I thought.  The Greyhound couldn't stand not being able to see the front door and escaped an x-pen, a crate, and eventually, learned how to open doors after trying to gnaw through the doorframe.  Human-mom called the adoption network to ask for suggestions on managing it, but they only said they had to take him back.  I was very sad.  Human-mom could no longer stand seeing Day Sleeper's car in the parking lot (it was there practically ALL the time), and occasionally glimpsing him, so we went through with the move.  

When human-mom finished her finals, she took me up to a Basenji Rescue and Transport foster's house to meet and take home a young female Basenji!  I was so happy to have a Basenji friend!  On the whole, Kira is good to have around, but I am getting old.  She wants to play ALL the time!  I'll be napping, then she pounces on me and nips me, expecting me to play.  Youngsters.  At least she's cute, but she can be so irritating, and human-mom says, "Oh, Robin, she just wants to play!  Play with her, Robs."  Ha.  I play when I want to, not every waking hour.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>The Farmer's Market</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/623879</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:13:26 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/623879</guid>
		<description>Today I was forced to attend the farmer's market.  I was not particularly thrilled, as I had to play ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Today I was forced to attend the farmer's market.  I was not particularly thrilled, as I had to play the canine good citizen and refrain from tripping people and allowing humans of all ages to adore me.  The human pups are sort of fun, before they start talking.  A very small one was sort of cute, in a pink, hairless sort of way, and she was very gentle, which I appreciate.  Later, I was approached by two kind, tiny and elderly female humans.  They petted me, and adored me, then the one holding a bag in one hand asked if she could give me a treat.  As I internally screamed "YES, YES! Give the treat!"  I saw the battle inside my human's head, which lasted a fraction of a second.  Humans like to give trashy grain-filled treats usually, which I don't mind, but she does.  Fortunately, my human said, "Sure, he'd love that."  Oh so slowly she opened the plastic back, releasing a heavenly aroma of smoked pig, revealing... a PIG SNOUT!  I will never again resist going to a farmer's market.  Today was one of the best days of my life.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>The Pacific Northwest</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/621060</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:29:22 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/621060</guid>
		<description>Well, I was dragged to Oregon via car.  What a LONG trip.  Every time we were near the car, I'd jump ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Well, I was dragged to Oregon via car.  What a LONG trip.  Every time we were near the car, I'd jump in if a door was open, just to remind the humans that I was NOT being left behind.  I keep waiting until this horrid vacation is over so that we can go home, but that silly human that I've adopted keeps calling this "apartment" home.  Something about us having to live here for four years, until she finishes vet school!

There is not nearly enough sun here, and everything is so... green and damp.  Finding a suitable place to... what's the euphemism humans use... "do my business" is practically impossible.  And they say it gets wetter!  Water can actually fall from the sky for 24 hours straight!  We don't even have a backyard, let alone one with cover!  Why on earth did we move from her pack's house, this is clearly a step down.

While I am glad that I no longer have to put up with that unstable mutt at the human pack's house, it does get rather lonely.  Especially when my human is gone.  She caught me howling when she returned from some sort of unsuccessful hunting foray (I assume unsuccessful, since she only came back with plant matter).  We would have had some sort of meat if she had taken me.  I'm trying to convince her that if she's going to be leaving me for the better part of the day soon, to find me another Basenji.  We'll see how that goes, she seems to be resisting based on the potential for total apartment destruction.  What does she think could happen?  That she'll return to a crater where her apartment used to be?  Okay, so in the case of Basenjis, that isn't too much of a stretch.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Here Comes the Rain</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/607712</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:02:30 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/607712</guid>
		<description>It has been a while since I've been left unattended with a computer, my diary has been neglected! 
 ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ It has been a while since I've been left unattended with a computer, my diary has been neglected! 

Well, human-Mom finally made her mind up.  We will be moving to Oregon in September to go to the vet school there.  Actually, she will be going to the school, while I sit home alone all day.  Why didn't she pick the school that accepted her in Pomona??? There is so much rain in Oregon, she knows how I feel about rain!  At least it doesn't snow much near the school.  I have to say that I'm not thrilled with the idea of moving into an apartment where water falls from the sky all winter.  I'd better have a litter-box there, because I'm not setting paw outside when it's wet.

Other than the impending move, there's not much to report.  I'm still not allowed to eat the chickens or goats (or cat for that matter).  Since the chickens have been around for over a year now, cotton-tail rabbits have moved into the backyard.  Until then, they never came into the backyard when I was at the Cave Creek house, apparently, the chickens must have told them that my smell wasn't anything to worry about.  The little rabbit morsels hear the backdoor open, so I never catch them unawares, and they make it under the gate before I can catch them.  If only I could reach the WD-40, I'd grease that door up so well that the rabbits wouldn't know I was coming till they were in my belly.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I can FLY!!!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/537368</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:39:45 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/537368</guid>
		<description>I may be a silver fox, but my age can still catch up with me.  I have intermittent lameness in my sh ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I may be a silver fox, but my age can still catch up with me.  I have intermittent lameness in my shoulder, sometimes brought on by the cold, usually when I'm play-clobbered by a larger ogre/dog (read: Gideon), and sometimes when I jump off the couch or bed wrong.  The limp only usually lasts for a day or two, and it certainly doesn't stop me from being as bad as I want to be.  Recently my shoulder lameness lasted longer - about seven days.

A week before Thanksgiving, when my shoulder was acting up, my wonderful adopted human started giving me Cosequin.  That stuff is fantastic!  After two weeks of the loading dose, I felt so good that I ran across the dining table!  I never thought I could jump that high.  Alas, the humans had already eaten, so there was no food to snatch, just havoc to wreak.   I love my Cosequin.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Through My Ear</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/528976</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:05:39 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/528976</guid>
		<description>So the humans bought that book on bioacoustics with two Basenjis on the cover, Through a Dog's Ear.  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ So the humans bought that book on bioacoustics with two Basenjis on the cover, Through a Dog's Ear.  I think they just bought it because the Basenjis look remarkably like a certain handsome resident of their household (me!).  

I have few noise-phobias, but loud bangs that sound like gun shots make me run for home, not car backfires, but nail guns at construction sites really scare me.  I doubt the CD that came with the book will help me with that, but it is peaceful music (don't tell the humans I admitted that).

On an unrelated "note" (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun), the extended human family is coming here for Thanksgiving.  What a relief!  I don't like being alone on the Holidays.  Also, guests are bound to leave food unattended or give me scraps that Keri would never let me have, like rolls!  I can't wait to try the heritage turkey (I'm shooting for the whole bird, but I'll take what I can get).]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>What an Honor!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/491642</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 7 Aug 2008 07:22:13 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/491642</guid>
		<description>Diary of the Day, and I don't even have a speech prepared!   Not that a speech is the same when you  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Diary of the Day, and I don't even have a speech prepared!   Not that a speech is the same when you deliver it through the human's computer... it would really only be a manuscript.   

I think this prestigious honor merits some sort of extravagant food reward (raw bison meat for breakfast doesn't count in my book).  Maybe a free trip to the garbage can (without being forced to vomit up my treasures afterwards).  I wonder if I can convince my human Mom to take me on a canned hunt, she thinks they are cruel but what does she know?  I sure would like to eat an oryx.  I'd even settle to be let off the leash for a  hunt through the desert, those cottontail rabbits and various lizards look mighty tasty.... Hold that thought, I hear my favorite word being called!  COOKIE!!!!   BaROOooo!!!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>The Food Store</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/489930</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 3 Aug 2008 13:46:51 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/489930</guid>
		<description>Yesterday I got to go to the glorious food store.  So many smells, so much to eat...  I wanted to cl ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Yesterday I got to go to the glorious food store.  So many smells, so much to eat...  I wanted to clean out the meat freezers but only managed to come away with reasonably priced bison and quail meat.  I suppose I'll just have to make do.  The humans say that I am spoiled, but I can't see it.  I feel terribly deprived.

In the store, we ran into a UMD (unneutered male dog).  Man, I HATE UMDs.  The doofus appeared to want to play, but I was on guard.  I couldn't figure out why he got to keep his, when I had to give mine up when I was given up for adoption.  It isn't fair.  Just thinking about it puts my hackles up.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>New Food!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/487205</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:26:50 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/487205</guid>
		<description>Well, those delicious looking goats have been taking up a lot of the humans' time, much to my chagri ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Well, those delicious looking goats have been taking up a lot of the humans' time, much to my chagrin.  I think they look ripe enough to eat by now, too bad I haven't convinced the humans to eat those goats.  Human Mom says that they are pets that will one day provide us with some milk as well.  Patience has never been one of my virtues.

On the up side, I am getting new food.  I'm not as wild about The Honest Kitchen's complete dehydrated meals, it's a textural thing after reconstituting - sticks to the bowl too much.  But the Prefrence base combined with Bravo's venison grind - Heaven!  I can't wait till next meal-time!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>New Additions</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/435895</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:54:06 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/435895</guid>
		<description>Life has changed.  One of my human mother's horses is gone... she seemed very sad about it.  I reall ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Life has changed.  One of my human mother's horses is gone... she seemed very sad about it.  I really only care that she was upset.  I think  there was something about euthanasia... I don't pay much attention to the horses, they only take attention away from me, and they are too big to eat.  I have no interest in them.  I do have interest in the two new critters that the humans brought home to keep the remaining horse company.  Baby goats - kids.  Ooooh, they look so tasty!!!!  They are taken into the backyard once or twice a day to eat the weeds, and the way they bounce around makes me CRAZY!  Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to scratch my way through the back door to feast upon them.   I still outweigh the kids by a couple of pounds, so I'd better hurry up and figure that out before they are big enough to give me a serious head-butting.  This must be a covert operation, as the humans intend to keep the soon-to-be-castrated male as a pet for the horse, and the female as a dairy goat.  But then again, goat milk and cheese is pretty darn tasty, maybe I will let her live to provide me with lovely dairy products that mom will obligingly make for me... and serve to me while I lounge in the sun in the backyard... well a Basenji can dream, can't he??]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>It's the Most Stressful Time of the Year</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/400534</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 12 Dec 2007 09:12:09 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/400534</guid>
		<description>The past week has been really stressful for me.  The humans were busy moving stuff into boxes and re ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ The past week has been really stressful for me.  The humans were busy moving stuff into boxes and relocating bookshelves into my room and the spare room.  They bought a baby gate.  Whatever is going on cannot be good.  I'm really afraid that they're preparing to move.  

Now they've got guys coming in and out of the house laying tile where the smelly old  carpet was!  I loved that smelly carpet - good to roll around on.  Worst of all, I'm locked inside the living room all day (which is also jam-packed with stuff), and I'm not allowed on it at night to smell what's been done!  Oh the frusteration. 

So, I'm still not sure what's going on, but I think they might just be replacing a bunch of carpet from the great room, hallway and den with tile.  I'll be glad when it's over.

Last night - or this morning, rather - I woke up at 2:30 am and had a good long howl while still curled up in my sleeping position.  I just lifted my head and let it out.  It freaked my human mother out.  She got so worried she turned on the light.  I just blinked a bit, got up, turned a few circles, then went back to sleep pinned against her side.  At least I deprived her of most of the morning's rest, since she was trying to figure out what that was about.  I even got Gideon to howl with me from his sleeping area in the living room.  We woke the house up, then went back to sleep.  Serve them right for turning our world upside down.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Today I Turn the Big One-Oh</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/329512</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:23:16 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/329512</guid>
		<description>So today I am ten years old... my how the time flies.  It seems like only yesterday I found my true  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ So today I am ten years old... my how the time flies.  It seems like only yesterday I found my true home with my adopted human mother.  Well, you're only as old as you feel, and I feel like a spry pup of four years old!   Silly humans still ask how old I am, and when my mother answers ten years old, they are shocked that I'm not ten months old!  Do they not see the grey around my face?  That's the only sign of my age.   It's hard to be a Silver Fox.

I heard the humans talking of taking me to Bonnie's Barkery for my birthday trip and getting me something "special" ... I hope it's edible.  They also said Gideon can come to make it a "party"  I don't know about that... that guy is still a little unstable if you ask me.  But I think we have to wait until the dishwasher repair man comes.  I told them not to bother having that thing repaired, I would gladly do all of the dishes.  Except the coffee cups - they're on their own with the poisonous dishes.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>My &quot;Vacation&quot;</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/323789</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:07:43 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/323789</guid>
		<description>Okay, so what's the fuss humans make over vacations?  We get in the car, drive FOREVER, stay in some ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Okay, so what's the fuss humans make over vacations?  We get in the car, drive FOREVER, stay in some tiny room that I can't be alone in, I have to be tied to a chair during meals eaten out on patios, and I have to be out almost all day!  It's exhausting!  I will say this, the beach has many nice smells, though I prefer to pretend that the ocean does not exist.

All the humans around the beach treated me like some sort of celebrity.  Almost all of them had to stop us from our glorious walks to ask about me or pet me.  Many actually commented on what a good dog I was, me, a Basenji!  I can be quite a gentleman.  I got to go in a book store, where someone called me very well behaved and beautiful.  While waiting at a cross walk, some people in a car stopped at a light told me that I was beautiful - they had Basenjis too, and they seemed quite excited to see another one - you Basenji owners are freaks?  You know that?  My mom is the same nutty way.  

It was nice to be adored, but I'm glad to be back, all that activity made me tired.  I am an old dog now, I officially turn ten years old this month.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Behind the Times</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/315795</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 26 May 2007 20:24:55 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/315795</guid>
		<description>Okay, so I haven't had much time alone to be on the computer to compose diary entries.  Which is nic ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Okay, so I haven't had much time alone to be on the computer to compose diary entries.  Which is nice, I suppose, I do love having company.  

Everything is same ol' same ol' around here, except that my walks seem to be getting progressively more prickly.  I've actually started pulling out the stray cactus that finds its way into my paws instead of waiting for Mom to do it.  Yesterday though, I got a spine in my tongue.  Mom pulled it out for me, she's the only one I'd even consider let doing it (she is alpha, after all), and MAN, was I relieved she got it!  I hate this desert living thing.   Can't we live someplace civilized?!?!  

On the plus side, I get to go on vacation with Mom and her mom (the same-species kind, rather than the adopted multi-species pack variety).  We're going to Del Mar in California.  I'm not looking forward to the car ride, but I hear there is no cactus, so I'm pleased.  I'm not thrilled about the copious amounts of sea water, but the beach sounds nice.

Okay, so down to business:

7 INTERESTING THINGS

The Rules
(Hint: Copy and paste the rules so you don't have to type them again):

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Dogs who are tagged, need to post in their diary the rules and their 7 pawsome facts. Then choose 7 dogs to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to bark them a pmail that they have been tagged and to read your diary, or, send them a fun Rosette announcing they've been Tagged!

-----------------------------My 7 Pawsome Facts-----------------------------
1.  I was adopted when I was 7 years old by someone who actually understands Basenjis - and now I love my life
2.  I would rather explode than go outside to potty or walk when it's raining
3.  One of my favorite foods (all of them are my favorite, really) is used napkins
4.  Stealing socks (dirty or clean) is an irresistible passtime of mine
5.  Trash can dining is my dirty little pleasure
6.  After I get up in the morning, I wash my face then writhe about on either the couch or the carpet, sometimes  both
7.  I have caught and killed at least one rabbit, which I was very proud of, but did not know how to open.

I am tagging-
Ollie
Gideon
Sushi
Denny
Tiki

(the others have been tagged I think, if not, I apologize, and feel free to incorporate this into your diaries anyway!)]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I'm trying to hibernate</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/265822</link>

				<pubdate>Wed, 31 Jan 2007 15:58:55 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/265822</guid>
		<description>I hate the winter.  I don't even bother to go outside to relieve myself if it's too cold.  And anyth ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I hate the winter.  I don't even bother to go outside to relieve myself if it's too cold.  And anything under 50 degrees Fahrenheit qualifies as cold, and under 40 degrees is downright uninhabitable. 

A while ago (a week, maybe more, who keeps track?) it SNOWED in Cave Creek, Arizona.  Confound this winter!!  It was wretched.  I refused pointe blanc to go outside to, as the humans so quaintly call it, "potty."  After 23 hours of holding it in, I was rudely shoved outside and told to "hurry and potty."  Disgraceful.  It is my right to rupture my bladder and bowels if I so choose.  But it had turned drizzley, and I will NOT venture into the wetness to add to the accumulating water on the ground.  So in spite of my "masters," I looked directly at Mother, who is clearly the alpha of our motley pack, and relieved myself on the doormat.  Ha.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I want a job</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/228293</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 4 Nov 2006 14:10:18 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/228293</guid>
		<description>So, I keep trying to convince the humans that I need to get a job as a dishwasher at Carlos O'Brien' ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ So, I keep trying to convince the humans that I need to get a job as a dishwasher at Carlos O'Brien's (that's where Mom's parents work).  I'd be really good at it!   I jump in the dishwashing machine every time it's open to show them how good I am at cleaning dirty dishes.  They just chuckle and tell me I'm a good prerinse.  Mom posted a picture of me doing it.  Maybe it could be a pictoral resume for anyone in the food service industry in a position to hire.  If you see this and have an opening for a dishwasher, contact me!  I'd lick all the plates so clean you wouldn't even need to waste water on it!]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>No News is Good News!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/193013</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:05:48 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/193013</guid>
		<description>I think we're safe from having a stressful and let's face it, a rather frightening move.  It's Augus ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I think we're safe from having a stressful and let's face it, a rather frightening move.  It's August 13th, and Mom still hasn't heard from that vet school in California that she was an alternate for.  I'm happy, I don't much care for change, and something tells me that she'd have less time to devote to properly adore me if she was in.  I'm happy to put it off for as long as possible... maybe she won't ever get in!  That'd be great!  She could just stay at home forever and love me.  But let's not get too cuddly, that disgusts me.  Sure she's disappointed, but I am pleased with her lack of news.  Baroo!

Well, she did hear back from that vet school in New Zealand.  They offered her one of 7 places that she was vieing for.  Luckily for me, they sent her the offer of place less than a month before we'd have to move there, so she declined the offer!  I was so afraid of quarantine, and frankly air planes scare me, especially if I have to ride in a sardine can for what is it, 20 hours?  No thank you.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Another Year Older</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/171829</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:57:23 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/171829</guid>
		<description>Well, today is my ninth whelp-day, and my &quot;mother&quot; spent the day at work.  Hmph.  She cavorts about  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Well, today is my ninth whelp-day, and my "mother" spent the day at work.  Hmph.  She cavorts about all day with horses (she works in horse breeding now), then comes home and gives me another "birthday biscuit."  Allow me to curb my enthusiasm.  Where's the cake?  Isn't that some sort of human ritual?  Every time a human has a whelp-day, they get a cake, right?  Oh well, at least she got home earlier than she did yesterday.  I had to wait until three-thirty yesterday!  It was unbearable.  Last week, she had the audacity to stay out until five assisting with some embryo flush on a mare brought to the farm she leaves me to "work" at.  Isn't this some form of neglect?  

Speaking of neglect, she didn't say goodbye to me before leaving for work once.  She snuck out while I was in the backyard, so I had to spend the whole day looking for her.  It was very upsetting.  This is not how things work.  She must say goodbye to me and tell me to be good (ha!), then she can leave.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Oh, for a Glimpse into the Future...</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/147048</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:45:18 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/147048</guid>
		<description>Mom and my future appears to be up in the air.  She talks to me about it, but I can tell it's weighi ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Mom and my future appears to be up in the air.  She talks to me about it, but I can tell it's weighing heavily on her mind - she's always a little worried.  We're moving from Tucson soon she says, right after her graduation.  Then we'll go to her parents' house in Cave Creek for at least the summer.  She didn't get accepted into vet school, but she's on two of what the humans call "alternate lists."  I think that the jist of those is that she waits all summer, fretting a larger and larger ulcer, until the schools tell her whether they have a "seat" for her or not.  If she is offered a "seat" (I don't see why they'd give her a chair, and it'd be expensive to mail I imagine... it must not be that kind of seat...) we'll either live in Pomona, California or in Palmerston North in New Zealand.  

I hope she isn't accepted in New Zealand.  The thought of a plane scares me.  And quarantine!  I don't want to think about it.  I hope we go to California.  I hear the weather is nice there.  I don't want to stay in Cave Creek very long.  She goes out to tend to horses and leaves me in the house!  I hate when she does that!  She takes Gideon, I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed off-leash.  Heck, I might even be able to catch us a coney for supper.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>The Biggest Zit EVER</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/139057</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 4 Apr 2006 21:46:06 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/139057</guid>
		<description>I am terribly embarrassed to say: I get pimples.  Not all over the place like those Dungens and Drag ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I am terribly embarrassed to say: I get pimples.  Not all over the place like those Dungens and Dragons playing adolescents, but randomly.  Mom and my vet, Tanya, thought they were sebacous cysts, simply brought on with old age... until Mom squeezed one on my hind leg.  It had been there for at least a month (it felt like an eternity... so much pressure!!) and it was of epic proportions - almost a centimeter in diameter!  Well, she squeezed it, just to make sure that it was contained within my skin (anything deeper could be cancerous) and that's when it happened.  A blackhead the size of an engorged tick popped out of it.  It felt SO good to have it out!

Today was strange.  Mom was gone a little longer than normal, when she came back, she was missing at least 13 inches from that strange head-fur that humans seem to get.  She said she donated it to "locks for love," whatever that is, I don't see why locks would feel loved because you give them fur.  But while she was gone, the pimple on my shoulder that put my previously detailed leg pimple to shame errupted.  I was sitting next to the roommate, Rachel, when my skin could no longer take the pressure exerted on it by what Rachel fondly refers to as "Mount Vesuvious" or sometimes "Mount Pimpleton," "Mount Robin," and so on and so forth.  She took a paper towel to the bead of exudate on Mt. Pimple, and it errupted.  The relief is indescribable!  The past few days I'd been really acting up because of the pressurized pain in my shoulder.  But there's still some left in the wreckage of my poor shoulder, I hope it doesn't grow.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Sensory Overload</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/122520</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 19 Feb 2006 15:29:52 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/122520</guid>
		<description>My mom took me to the Arizona Animal Fair with Rachel and Ollie.  It was CRAZY!  So many smells!  So ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ My mom took me to the Arizona Animal Fair with Rachel and Ollie.  It was CRAZY!  So many smells!  So many sights!  And even a few sight hounds.  We got samples galore (Mom's sort of cheap, she doesn't buy me nearly enough food and treats), and Mom bought me a new "going out" collar and leash combo (from Lola Limited, you can find them online at www.lolalimited.net).  I'm okay with that, if that means we get to go out more, but I think they make me look a little sissy.  Mom and Rachel say that it's okay for sight hounds, but I don't know... Oh well, I've been de-masculinated anyway, what do I care.

We met 3 other Basenjis!  They were all younger than me, but it was good to see those I can speak with.  We aslo saw two Pharoh Hounds (it's nice to see dogs modeled after those my kind romped with back in the ancient days).  I saw some UGLY hairless dogs, I didn't even want to sniff them! I wasn't sure if ugly is catching.  I sniffed some old pug mix and his human screeched at pushed me away then didn't even look at my mom and said to someone else, "I didn't want that dog to hurt her."  Sheesh!  I was just smelling.  Why take your dog to a huge dog-friendly event if you think a whisp of air will hurt your dog?  Silly humans.

Lots of people wanted to talk to Mom about me and my brethren.  Some trainers at one booth tried to lecture us on "proper" dog training.  HA!  They'd only worked with one Basenji-mix.  I stand on a slack leash, walk on a slack leash, and usually listen to Mom, yet they think that walking on a zippy leash is some sort of sin, as with sleeping in bed with the human pack.  Mom tried to leave as politely as possible, she doesn't need to buy training.  I know, she somehow manages to get me to do her will... usually!]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>On Creating Diversions</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/116682</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 2 Feb 2006 18:16:37 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/116682</guid>
		<description>I am a cunning prince of thieves.  Yes, I was aptly named after Robin Hood (or Robin Wood, depending ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I am a cunning prince of thieves.  Yes, I was aptly named after Robin Hood (or Robin Wood, depending on your source).  

It is difficult to steal from the trash while a human roommate is sitting right next to it.  The one called Rachel keeps an irritatingly close eye on me and calls me "Trash Picker."  So, to get in to the trash I created a most ingenious diversion.  I knocked over her laundry hamper, and while she was picking up the scattered unmentionables, I darted to the trash and ran out with a tissue!  Much to my chagrin, she noticed, chased me down and retrieved her precious garbage.  I must now plot a more decietful way to get to her trash.  She proves a worthy opponent.  If only she were as simple as her dog; it usually only takes decietful play bow to get him away from even a rawhide for me to steal!  He's catching on too though.    Back to the drawing board!]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Christmas Break Rocks!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/110429</link>

				<pubdate>Fri, 13 Jan 2006 10:52:46 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/110429</guid>
		<description>Mom took me to her parents' house, she calls them my grandparents.  I'm pretty sure that they are no ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Mom took me to her parents' house, she calls them my grandparents.  I'm pretty sure that they are not; biologically especially!  I mean, I love my mom and all, and "Grandma" is pretty nice to me too, but they are all severely deformed.  They walk on their hind legs, which are put together all wrong.  Their knees aren't even close to their bodies!  Anyway, that's another subject.  Christmas was great, even though I'm a pagan (my mom says I'm a heathen), I got lots of presents!

On Christmas morning, while the humans were opening their gifts, I broke into the spare bedroom where I know they hide the dog gifts (I'd already scouted it out).  I took what looked like the best gift - it wasn't shrink wrapped, or otherwise impossible to get into - a Zbone!  Oh, it was so good!  I took it out to the living room in front of their Christmass Tree and tried to eat my new bone around that silly tag around the middle of it.  

We went on lots of walks with "Grandma" and her bratty dog Gideon.  The dog is crazy, he keeps telling me that he's "a people" and that only people can sit on the couch and get attention from the other people.  But the humans made him sit nicely with me.  Ha!

I got into lots of cactus.  I saw a cheeky little sparrow, oh, he was asking for it.  So I ran after him.  I would've caught the little bugger if that baby staghorn cholla hadn't been in the way.  I'm embarassed to say that I ran straight into it.  Mom had to pick all of the stickers out.  It hurt like crazy and I didn't want her to touch it.   She had to pick me up and hold me while "Grandma" picked the rest out.  I don't know if I can show my face in Cave Creek ever again.  It was so humiliating.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>What's this talk of colder weather???</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/98909</link>

				<pubdate>Fri, 2 Dec 2005 20:29:42 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/98909</guid>
		<description>So, inside the house it has been between 71 and 74 degrees Farenheit.  That is COLD, I've been shive ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ So, inside the house it has been between 71 and 74 degrees Farenheit.  That is COLD, I've been shivering!  In the mornings, if it's below 45 degrees, I won't even go outside in the backyard to pee.  I'm pretty sure that my urine will freeze while I'm peeing; and an icicle right there is NOT appealing.

Mom asks me what I'm going to do if we move somewhere with snow while she goes to vet school.  SNOW??  We might have to live in snow?  I don't think so!  She'd better teach me how that toilet thing works because I will NOT be going outside.  Maybe she could get me one of those training toilets that humans use on their pups, those are a better hieght for me; I don't want to fall into toilet water anymore than I want to go outside.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I can't hold it anymore, I'm gonna poop in the house!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/94211</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:45:43 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/94211</guid>
		<description>I'm having a rough day.  Mom has her early morning class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Curse this shor ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I'm having a rough day.  Mom has her early morning class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Curse this shortened winter days!  The later the sun rises the less likely she is to take me on a walk on these early days.  That means that I cannot relieve my bowels until she walks me.  If that takes until tommorrow, so be it.  I shall not give in poop in the backyard.  It's so hard to hold though, every time I think I'm gonna mess the house, I act up.  I knock things over, jump on the humans sitting on the couch and sometimes I stand on them, scratch at the doors, bat the bin my leash is kept in, etc.  I keep going out, but I will not poo until my walk.  I mean it.  I'll hold it.  Oh, it hurts!!!  I need to go eat some garbage, excuse me.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Attention Vet Schools: please let Mom know if she's in or not NOW</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/82293</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 9 Oct 2005 17:04:39 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/82293</guid>
		<description>Okay, so now that my mom got all her vet school applications more or less in, you'd think things wou ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Okay, so now that my mom got all her vet school applications more or less in, you'd think things would start getting better.  Well, you'd be wrong.  Apparently there's still the stress of waiting, and where we will end up, etc., etc.  ARGH!  I can't take it any more!!!  I've been hiding under the bed, but that doesn't seem to shield me from Mom's feelings.  She's actually quite nice to me, but I'm so sensitive to her feelings.  

My re-birthday was September 30th.  Mom didn't remember.  She gave me a short walk then went to class without even mentioning that it was our one year "anniversary," or my first re-birthday.  So while she was at school I shut myself up in the bathroom.

Mom and our roommate (I now think of her as Mom II) looked pretty confused when they finally discovered me in the bathroom.  I had turned over the mana-recepticle (aka "trash" can), which has a step-lid, strewn about the contents, scattered the bath mats around, and pulled the towels off the door before I gave up and waited for someone to open the door.  I could shut it alright, but when I wanted out, I realized that I can't open door knobs.

Still Mom didn't remember my re-birthday until OCTOBER 3RD.  And then all she did was apologize for forgetting, gave me a good scratch and then a single biscuit.  I'm not saying that I was expecting a huge suprise party with a hot Basenji female hidden in a cake or anything, but I certainly didn't expect her to FORGET.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Summer vacation isn't what I thought it would be</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/62466</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 26 Jul 2005 11:29:54 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/62466</guid>
		<description>My mom has been on &quot;summer vacation&quot; but it doesn't fit the picture of a vacation that I had in my h ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ My mom has been on "summer vacation" but it doesn't fit the picture of a vacation that I had in my head.  I thought we'd be lounging on a dog beach with an endless supply of cookies and kibble.  Instead, we're sweating away in Cave Creek and I see Mom less than during the school year!  She works too much.  Well, she calls it working but I know she's cheating on me.  She comes back smelling of other dogs and CATS.  Sometimes she smells of horses too.  She has been dressing up those matching pajamas that humans at the doctor's wear.  I don't like this one bit.  I know she needs a vacation, I can feel her stress, which means that by now I need one too!  She needs to take me to Rocky Point or something and buy me some beef and cheese tacos.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I Had a Rough Night</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/42368</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 1 May 2005 09:13:39 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/42368</guid>
		<description>First, on our evening walk, Mom wouldn't let me eat a tantalizing bit of petrified bagel with cream  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ First, on our evening walk, Mom wouldn't let me eat a tantalizing bit of petrified bagel with cream cheese.  I discovered this little treasure under a bush a few days ago, and Mom grabbed me by the nose and told me to "DROP IT."  I did, but have regretted it since, and when I saw that it was still there, I began to run for it, until mom stopped me and made me "leave it."  Ugh.  She does that all the time.

It all really  started when the humans finished dinner last night.  Part of their meal included mashed potatoes and vegitarian gravey.  Not the same as real gravey, but it has flour in it, so count me in!  Except that they didn't.  Mom let that dumb and rather deformed Basenji that they call a "Shar-pei" clean the gravey pan before it was washed by their standards.  Sure, she gave me a cookie, but that's not the same at all!!  I don't care if flour will ruin my kidneys, it's so good!

When I began my retaliation for not getting nearly enough people food, I got yelled at a lot.  I don't think that destroying the toys Mom had just sewn back together is worthy of a "Robin, NO."  Then the toy I was devoting all of my love to (I like to hug my toys... with my teeth), would be yanked from me and put on "time out."  Then a rope would be shoved in my face.  If that's what I hand originally wanted, that's what I would have been trying to consume.  Moms, sheesh.  Later, when my mom was taking a shower, I went into our roommates' room and ate a pair of the she-human's underwear!  They were clean, but that's the only pair I could find to eat.  That's when she yelled at me, I got upset, and pouted on my bed.  When I had decided that I had made my point, I came out and laid on the couch with the humans.  Whenever Ollie got too close, or even looked at me funny, I told him to scram.  Then the humans would tell me to stop, that Ollie can be near, blah, blah, blah.  But they know as well as I do that three humans and a Basenji fill up the whole couch, and there's no room for one more.  To compound matters, they made fun of my "get outta here" voice.  They call it a "gremlin voice" filled with "impotent rage."]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I Have a Problem</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/41135</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 25 Apr 2005 18:41:43 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/41135</guid>
		<description>I must take ownership in this, and admit that  I battle depression.  Perhaps it is because I am so r ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I must take ownership in this, and admit that  I battle depression.  Perhaps it is because I am so routinely humiliated.  Those she-humans that I must endure watch Dr. Phil every time they can, and he says that I must own it if I wish to get past it.   Today I attempted to take my own life by eating one of those neck warmer bags.   Fortunately (or not, depending on how you look at it) it was filled only with corn, and there are not even chemicals that coat it.  It's not the first attempt I've made on my life.  I'm coming clean...

I started by playing with discarded ladies razors from the ever divine bathroom trash.  The first time I did it, I ran into the livingroom, where the humans were sitting, watching CSI, I believe, flipping it into the air, letting it drop, pouncing on it, and flipping it again.  I did the same routine on two more occasions.

After the first razor incident, but before the second, I tried to poke my eye out while my mom left me alone in an outdoor cage (because it was a "nice" day).   She'll never know what happened, and I do not intend to tell her, ever.  She certainly lost it when she saw that one of my eyes had normal dilation and the other was a pin-prick, even in low light.  She stared at my funny eye for a long time, hoping it would go back to normal, praying it was not a sign of some neurological problem.  I poked it later that night against a chair that my "gramma" was sitting it, and I SCREAMED.  

I also have tried ingesting plastic.  Any kind really, but especially these wonderful plastic tubes that the she-humans only deposit in the mana-recepticle (that's what I call the bathroom "trash") only for one week every month.  Just before they rip them away from me, they screech something about an applicator.  

I have been known to dive into patches of staghorn cholla.  Sometimes I get them in my feet, sometimes my chest, and sometimes my face.  I never did anything about them, hoping that I would bleed out from the wounds, but my mom always jumps in and pulls every last "pokey-ouchie" from my maimed body.  

Lately, I've been eating the cotton from my rope toys, but those only seem to cause what the humans giggle at and call "danglers."  I call them excruciating and embarassing.  At least I get the last laugh when my mom has to wipe my curly-tailed behind.  And now the best rope toy for eating has been taken away because of the threat of something called an "impaction."  

I'm going to do the best I can to get past this.  I am very loved in this home, and Mom tells me that I'm not allowed die for at least another seven years.  Additionally, I must stay healthy.  I love my new mom, despite how much she likes to embarass me.  Besides, I can dish it right back at her.  I like to release my "shooty-poo" along main roads and in front of college-aged males when she's walking me.  Hehehe.  I guess life isn't so bad.  I could use an extra feeding or two, or three...]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Someone Call the ASPCA!!!</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/40638</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 23 Apr 2005 10:23:16 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/40638</guid>
		<description>Okay, so though I am slightly embarassed to admit it, I love my mom, A LOT.  I cry when she leaves m ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Okay, so though I am slightly embarassed to admit it, I love my mom, A LOT.  I cry when she leaves me to get in the shower.  If she leaves me home with a different humanoid creature, I fret about the house.  I've even started waggling my tail when she gets home.  I try to contain myself, but a slow waggle somehow escapes.  But sometimes, she really humiliates me and I want to run away.

Those rotten she-humans that I live with tied bandanas around my head and shoulders, and called me a babushka.  They laughed and laughed AND then they took pictures.  I spent a good deal of my time as a "babushka" staring at the front and back doors, willing them to open so I could run away from home.  NOW, my mom is posting a picture of the event.  She really takes advantage of my patience sometimes.  Doesn't that constitute cruelty to animals?  I would call the ASPCA if only I could reach that infernal telephone device they hang so high on the wall.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Letting My Guard Down Around Schizophrenics</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/40271</link>

				<pubdate>Thu, 21 Apr 2005 15:59:13 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/40271</guid>
		<description>For purposes of my own preservation, I have realized that I need to be able to control Ollie.  He is ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ For purposes of my own preservation, I have realized that I need to be able to control Ollie.  He is much bigger than I, and he has multiple personalities.  One of his personalities likes my mom, the other seems to think that she'll lock him outside forever, so he sometimes won't go outside to potty when she offers, and instead hides under a desk.  He also incorporates bits of the news and the science that he hears our humans discussing into his reality.  He seems to think that he's some sort of genius scientist now.  I didn't know that dogs became schizophrenic.  He's a little like that Gollum character in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.  I call him Ollie and Snuffles.   Speaking of books, I just finished reading this very informative book entitled "The Prince" by a Niccolo Machiavelli, who suggests being friendly with those who may take your power, but keep them in check.  

I like sleeping on Ollie's bed.  Not only is it more comfortable than my own, and far stinkier (I like that), it is located in a prime spot for surveying the rest of the house.  One day, Ollie was laying on his bed, and that just wouldn't work.  So I pandered to his play drive and engaged in a play bow in front of him, and acted excited.  As soon as Ollie got up and off his bed, I commandered it, and laid down.  Poor brute didn't see that coming!  A few weeks later, I realized that as slow as Ollie may be, that trick would probably stop working soon, so I actually played with him.  We actually wrestled, I slapped him in the face with my paws, ran circles around him, got bit in the ears.  That ogre has an ear obsession, just because he has these ridiculously tiny and useless ears.  I tried to bite them back, but it's too hard, they're such small targets on that giant head of his.  When he tried to climb on my back, I'd squirt out and smack him in the face with my paws.  I got so slimy from Ollie's disgusting mouth that my mother gave me a BATH.  I don't know what was worse.   

I might finally be comfortable in my new home, I am starting to openly play, I'm letting down my guard.  They don't beat me here.  But my mom's roommate gave me a terrible fright when she tried to step over me.  I thought she was going to kick me.  I have never been kicked here, but I used to, Mom and Rachel figured it out by my reaction.  So I thought, the honeymoon must be over, and I hid under Mom's bed for two hours until Mom got home.  The rest of the night I stayed away from Rachel.  Now I know that they won't do things like that to me, but I have such terrible memories.  I want to leave my past behind me, I don't want the humans to know how I used to be treated , but sometimes my reactions belie me.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>Meditations On Spiteful Retaliation</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/36452</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 4 Apr 2005 22:40:33 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/36452</guid>
		<description>Perhaps being vindictive is not an overly self-affirming behavior.  It seems that when we lash out,  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Perhaps being vindictive is not an overly self-affirming behavior.  It seems that when we lash out, we ultimately hurt ourselves...  but oh how sweet revenge is in the moment it is executed!

Among other tactics I employ to get my human mother to take me out on that horrid stymie she calls a "leash," I get freakishly wild when I feel we are going to skip one or more walks.  Today, my atopic human refused to take me on our evening walk, so I began to wildly fling my rope bone about.  When that failed to get her up to brave the unusually high pollencount floating about in the wind, I began to ingest the rope bone.  She though I was just shredding as I am apt to do.  Hahaha!  I fooled her!  Tragically, I ingested a few too many cotton fibers, and vomited.  How embarassing.  I was hoping to let them work their way through my intestines to form a blockage, or even better, create danglers that hang from my rear in a public area to truely humiliate my mother.  No such luck.  And no second walk.  At least I can always get her to take me on my morning walks by refusing to "go potty," as the humans so adorably call it.  

I have learned that while my tactics give me immediate gratification via winning the battle of wills, I either get noxious or endure bladder pressure that can become so painful that I have to spread my legs out when I sit.  However, I don't think I shall change my ways any time soon.  I still dervive far too much pleasure from defeating my mom.  I rarely emerge victorious in most battles, I have to take what I can.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Karmic Balance</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/36176</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 3 Apr 2005 22:20:19 PDT</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/36176</guid>
		<description>Since being neutered last August (some garbage about needing to be sterile to be adopted), I have fe ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Since being neutered last August (some garbage about needing to be sterile to be adopted), I have few pleasures in life.   Someone should be prosecuting the heartless humanoid that wrote in that clause!  But I diverge.  One pleasure I have in my life is watching Ollie be tortured via baths and nail trimmings.  Yesterday I got a good show.   I thought I was bad about having my nails done, but Ollie, woah.  He screeches and writhes and otherwise makes a delightful scene.  He doesn't try to jump out of the bath as much as I do, but it's still fun to watch.  I like to run up and chortle at him and his mom.

Ollie deserved to have those awful things done to him... well he earned it today.  He had rage-filled outbursts at me today.  Once we were playing tug with a toy, something we hardly do because I hate to play, it's so demeaning.  Then again when his mom was tickling him and he bumped into me.  As though it were my fault that he is unweildly!  I'm glad he's as filled with impotent rage as I am, otherwise we'd both nurse a lot of wounds.  I vocalize my rage, but don't follow through, he occasionally freaks out and makes barky noises at me while mushing his deformed face (I hear he was hideously born that way) into my back.]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>On Sunshine and Dustbaths</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/34944</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 29 Mar 2005 12:42:24 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/34944</guid>
		<description>Living in Arizona is fantastic in the late winter through early spring.  The humans and I have been  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Living in Arizona is fantastic in the late winter through early spring.  The humans and I have been basking in the sun.  Well, so does Ollie, but he almost ruins it for me.  He lays on the concrete,  which reaches the approximate temperature of the sun, and overheats.  He pants and his feet start to sweat, but he won't move.  I've tried telling him to lay in the dirt, it's much cooler, but he won't because the humans don't like that.  He actually cares about what the humans think!  I couldn't care less if I tried, although Mom will give me a bath if I get too dirty.  I hate baths.  Disgusting water and soap; I shudder to think of it.  Well, I'm off to sunbathe and roll about in the dust.   I hope Mom doesn't remember which parts of me are supposed to be white...]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>I Dance on Tables</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/29567</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 5 Mar 2005 12:23:22 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/29567</guid>
		<description>I have discovered at least one advantage to being thin.  I can now jump on tables to eat unattended  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I have discovered at least one advantage to being thin.  I can now jump on tables to eat unattended goodies.   I laughed so hard I thought I'd make a mess in the house when Mom came around the hall corner to find me standing on the table, engorging myself upon Ollie's uneaten food!  And our human roommate thought his food would be safe up there, HA! BAROO!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>I Can Control Human Minds</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/29311</link>

				<pubdate>Fri, 4 Mar 2005 08:08:53 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/29311</guid>
		<description>I think Mom really likes buying me things.  I'm okay with that, especially when thoses things are tr ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I think Mom really likes buying me things.  I'm okay with that, especially when thoses things are treats.  She bought me a new collar recently, which we both like because it looks more African than my old rolled bridal leather collar.  I'm quite handsome in it.  Additionally, since I've been wearing it, my power of telepathic mind control has been enhanced.  Mom bought me a new dog bed that's HUGE!  It's a round pillow that's almost four feet in diameter... as round as I wish I was.  Before the new collar, she didn't seem to get the message that I wanted one that big when I spent all my time comandering Ollie's huge bed, or when I ate my smaller one.  She thinks I ate the small one because I was angry about being left behind when she went to the horse show.  HAHaha aha... okay, maybe that was part of it.  Plus, the humans in my life are finally calling me by my real name, Quakzar of the Jungle.  Well, they still call me Robin sometimes, but they are a primitive species, one can't expect too much of them.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Never Enter a Battle of Wills With a Basenji</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/28642</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 1 Mar 2005 08:37:33 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/28642</guid>
		<description>Since giving up plans for world domination, I have taken up a delightful new hobby.  I refuse to pot ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Since giving up plans for world domination, I have taken up a delightful new hobby.  I refuse to potty in the backyard before the evening hours.  It makes Mom so nervous and angry.  The look on her face as I approach the twelvth hour since my last bladder evacuation is priceless!  The only downside is that we get into a battle of wills.  I want to go for a walk to do my business.  She refuses to take me out because she seems to think that letting me "win" is a bad thing.  Well I've got news for her: I have an iron will and a strong bladder!  Besides, she usually breaks down before one in the afternoon.  Sometimes it hurts to sit with my feet squarly underneath me, like usual, so I have to spread them out a little farther to prevent excess pressure on my bladder.  I am horribly offended that my human roommates suggest that I have a "recycling system,"  drinking my urine by licking myself to prevent trips outside or unsightly messes in the house.  I do nothing of the sort!  I hope Mom loses her will to fight me and takes me for a walk soon, I really have to go!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Of Broken Dreams and Arabian Horses</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/28585</link>

				<pubdate>Mon, 28 Feb 2005 22:07:22 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/28585</guid>
		<description>At long last I have given up my quest for world domination.  It was a difficult decision that I have ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ At long last I have given up my quest for world domination.  It was a difficult decision that I have been wrestling with, and have thus had nothing worth writing for some time now.  It is time to give up the dream, the legions of crickets that my she-human roommate feeds to her amphibions and reptile will not form an insurgent uprising.  I have been caught more than once staring intently at those insects, controlling their feeble minds, but alas, I have not the opposable thumbs required to open the lids of their containers to free them.

Mom took me to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Much to my chagrin, they still have that wretched mutt who doesn't like me encroaching.  At least they kept us separate for most of the visit.  He's twice my size!  My ideal weight, but I wish I weighed 51 pounds in pure fat, not muscle.  I can't believe Mom actually PLAYED with that vile creature.  She pets it, and hugs it, and gives it cookies... I don't get it.  She also takes it out to feed those horse things.  She really likes them, especially the one she calls her little Arab, but I couldn't care less about horses.  They are far to large to hunt and they are certainly not Basenjis, so I am indifferent to their presence, so long as they don't get close to stepping on me.  

Speaking of Arabs, Mom took me to the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.  I didn't much care for that, but it beat being left alone.  It was muddy and overrun with those horse things.  I will say that those Arabians are good looking, for being non-Basenjis.  I hear that the Pharoahs had Arabian Horses along with my kind.  I guess that makes them okay.  Most people at the Show recognized me as the noble breed that I am!  Not one philistine screeched "is that a Jack Russel?"  Believe it or not, some humans have actually asked my Mother that.  Ugh.  I am a full-grown Basenji!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Today, I have reached a new low.</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/12655</link>

				<pubdate>Sun, 5 Dec 2004 21:00:36 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/12655</guid>
		<description>I thought I would never be more humiliated than when that she-human &quot;mommy dearest&quot; of mine put thos ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ I thought I would never be more humiliated than when that she-human "mommy dearest" of mine put those awful antlers on my head.  Alas, I was wrong.  Today she bought me a *shudder* coat.  I was terribly excited when she got my leash and asked me if I should like to go to Petsmart.  Petsmart has all sorts of wonderful smells, and food... aisles and aisles of food mmmmm.  But I digress.  She subjected me to two coat fittings.  And there were other people and dogs there!  They crooned, "oh, how cute" over me, and petted me, telling me how "handsome" I looked in those wretched coats.  That I would be the envy of the neigborhood.  Envy, ha!  More like laughing stock.  I almost got off without a coat, but some meddlsome Petsmart employee volunteered to get an aviator coat in my correct size.  So close.

When we got home, mom told our roommates about her precious coat, then got it out of the bag to show it to them.  I assumed she meant to put it on me, but I am no mindless  runway model!  When she looked at me, I ran for it.  But she caught me.  She always catches me.  She put that horrid aviator jacket on me, and then she and our human roommate giggled and said how cute I looked, etc.  Thanks, but I'd rather continue to shiver uncontrollably on our walks than endure that embarassment.  Ollie, our Shar-pei roommate, told me to get used to it, his mom dresses him up all the time.   At least I think that's what he said.  I don't speak Shar-pei, it's hard to decipher through all that wrinkly skin.  Anyway, I think he's slightly... challanged.   I try to ignore him.

Then mom took me for a walk.  I was so embarassed to have to wear my coat.  She said because I have so little hair and skin that I have to wear it.  I walked behind her with my head lowered in shame for much of the walk.  I'm glad I didn't run into anyone I know!]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	

	<item>
		<title>I'll run away if I have to wear holiday hats ever again</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/12442</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 4 Dec 2004 12:58:51 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/12442</guid>
		<description>Well, things have finally calmed down enough for me write out my inner workings.  Mom was practicall ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Well, things have finally calmed down enough for me write out my inner workings.  Mom was practically unbearable for the last week.  She stayed up late, worried nonstop, stayed planted in front of books, papers and her laptop for the whole week.  She kept muttering something about it being "crunch time" for students.  I don't know what that means in a human context, but I think crunch time is happy...  I mean, biscuits and dog cookies are crunchy.  I like crunchy things, I guess it gets lost in translation.  Anyway, she was so worked up she gave me nervous tummy.  I couldn't take her anxiety, it contaminated the whole house!  I tried hiding under her bed, and that was a little better.  I tried to jet out the door every time it opened, but those humans are too fast.  When mom took the garbage out, I squirted out the weak point in the second back gate.  Ha!  They thought putting up a stronger gate in front of the old one would stop a Basenji.  Mom caught me before I got to the street.  But it was only because I got distracted by some other dogs.  I think they were trash talkin' my momma, jumping around behind their fence and whatnot.  Hmph.  But things have calmed down a bit now.  I feel much better now that mom does too.  

But I still haven't quite forgiven her for embarassing me.  Just before that fabulous feasting holiday humans call Thanksgiving (and thanks indeed!  such glorious food!)  that she-human I sometimes call "mom" put antlers and a santa hat on my head to take my picture.   Ugh!  And then she has the audacity to use it as my primary dogster photo!  Grrr.]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>Humans and the weather are nuisances</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/10894</link>

				<pubdate>Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:26:22 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/10894</guid>
		<description>Yesterday it rained.  Ugh.  Water falling from the sky, making everything cold and wet.  Blah.  Mom  ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ Yesterday it rained.  Ugh.  Water falling from the sky, making everything cold and wet.  Blah.  Mom thought I was strange when I refused to go out from under the porch to pee when the rain let up.  I can't believe she expected me trot out on the damp ground!  In fact, I refused to go out this morning too.  When we went for our walk I finally found a suitably gravelly place to relieve my aching bladder.  I can't believe this place doesn't have a dry gravelly spot for me too pee in the backyard!  Or at least my own sandbox in the house so that I don't have to brave the elements !

Sometimes I can't stand humans.  I have this itchy spot on my inner thigh, and the wretched she-humans that I live with will not let me lick it in peace!  They are too dense to understand that when I lick it, it feels better; if I stop, it hurts.  Therefore, I must lick it non-stop.  Sure, I'm licking a hole in my leg, but it feels so deliciously blissful to soothe it with my tongue.  My mom bought an anti-itch spray today, and it tastes awful.  Now I can't lick my hot spot into a larger and larger crater.  Grrrr.  Well, as humans say, there's a silver lining to every cloud: it doesn't itch anymore.  But that sprayer is scary!

I went to Petsmart with Mom to by the spray, and she wouldn't let me choose which isles to shop.  Oh well.  I've been there before, and I still can't find the how-to books on world domination.  I haven't seen any world domination paraphernalia, come to think of it.  I'm trying to get Mom in on my plans, she could be useful; and let's face it, I'm not getting any younger.  I'm pushing 8 orbits around the sun! or 8 years in human-speak.  If I'm going to achieve global domination, I'd better get a move on it!  

Mom thinks I sleep a lot; however, I'm secretly channeling humans in positions of potential world power.  I wasted months of my life controlling Nader; I thought it'd be a closer presidential race for him. ..  Human politics, go figure.  I also spent a large part of the last four years channeling that vice president human.  Through him, I tried to get the president human, what’s-his-face, tree?  shrub?  No, Bush! Right, Bush.  Trying to get him to invade Canada.  No one would've seen that coming.  And from there I could invade the rest of the Americas, then on to Europe, Africa, and finally Asia.  Asia must be last; I’ve read that they have the most humans on that continent.  One mustn't get involved with a land war in Asia without the rest of the world! By then my channeling powers should be so great that the world will accept me as their sovereign, and all shall bow before me!  And all shall bake me bread, lots of bread, chalk-full of wheat!  Wheat, divine food, which I am not to have because of my basenji digestive tract or some such hoo-ha.  I shall have human-servants to feed me loaves of bread!  And meat!  Fresh, raw meat!  I shall be fed conies, and venison, game hens!  And all ethnic foods, and every thing else until I weigh at least 100 pounds!  I shall be rolled from room to room!  Muahahahahaha!]]></content:encoded>
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	<item>
		<title>it's hard to chase a curly tail</title>
		<link>http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/10396</link>

				<pubdate>Sat, 20 Nov 2004 11:50:12 PST</pubdate>
		<author>Robin ~ writing at dogster.com</author>
		<category></category>		
		<guid ispermalink="true">http://www.dogster.com/dogs/88973/diary/Chasing_my_tale/10396</guid>
		<description>It has been approximately one and a half months (human time) since I have infliltrated this new she- ...</description>

		<content:encoded><![CDATA[ It has been approximately one and a half months (human time) since I have infliltrated this new she-human's home.   After careful observation of her habits, I have decided that she will probably not abandon me as my last she-human did.  I was turned over to BRAT because the last she-human married some jerk that was breedist.  He said they couldn't keep me because I was a Basenji and he wanted a different breed.  I should start an activist movement for misunderstood breeds.  However, humans don't seem to understand Basenji-speak.  They just laugh at what they call "noises," "chortles" and "woofs."  

I like my new human.  Other humans call her "Keri," but she calls herself my "mom," though she played no part in whelping, nor even raising me.    She lets me sleep in her bed and she showers me with affection, which I love.  But she starves me, and says that 34 pounds is far too much for a Basenji to weigh.  She says I should weigh a mere 25 pounds!

     Bah!  I weighed more than that when I was dropped off at a BRAT foster home.  Now I'm wasting away to practically nothing!  I have but a thin lining of fat now, and I even have a discernable waistline!  And still she and our roommates call me a "fattie."  And when I get cookies, they give me these horrid dried pieces of cardboard that they call "fat boy biscuits."  Even more humiliating, my "mom" makes me do tricks to get them.  Before her, I barely knew to sit for a treat.  Now she makes me shake paws, lay down, guess which hand she has a bit of cookie in, and worst of all, wave.  To wave I must sit down while waving both paws in the air like a circus idiot.  But I'm so hungry all the time that I conceed.  Didn't anyone tell her that Basenjis don't do tricks???

     However, the upside of her thinking me fat is that we go for two walks every day.  We usually patrol the neighborhood for a half hour each time!  I'd like to go farther, and she won't let me chase the cats (foul creatures).  Speaking of demonic cats, I was shocked to find that her home pack of humans (she calls them her "parents" or my "granma" and "granpaw") actually keep one in their house!  And they do nothing about it!  They won't let me chase the rotten beast out of their house!  They even console it, and call it a poor kitty.  I know when my mom does it, she reeks of cat afterward.

      *GASP*  my mom returns!  I must abort my journal before she learns of my typing skills!  Curse my lack of opposable digits, I type so slowly with these paws!]]></content:encoded>
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