Adorable, annoying puppy at the Bark Park

It was a Bark Park day, hooray!

When we got there, a grey four month old pittie (that my person and I could have sworn to dogness was actually only 9-10 weeks old) came galloping over to meet us. Her name is London and OMD, she is full of energy and mischief!

She ran after me, sort of, while I ran for the ball. To be honest, she only went about halfway and then waited for me to return. When I got tired, she tried to nip at my tongue. Yeah, I know it sticks out all funny, but to try and bite it? I looked at my person and sighed, and we gently disengaged with the puppy and moved to another corner of the park.

I am sure *I* was never so annoying in all my days. Not possible. Well, I do get into mischief at home once in a while, but I don't try to chew tongues!

I had fun meeting several other dogs who all enjoyed playing with the pittie pup.

Then we went to the grocery store and I had to nudge my person many times to get her out of her disoriented state at the juice cooler. I was very proud of myself. She was proud of me, too. She knelt down right then and there to pet me and give me the praise I always deserve, being a most fantastic dog, you know.

We vote. And then play.

Usually, we do our errands after I get a play session or long walk, but yesterday was different.

I was suited up and we drove around in our traveling den, looking for red, white and blue so that she could "vote." I would have helped, but I have some trouble with human colors.

When we found the place with the colors, I was happy. New, potential fans of the Iris is Fabulous Fan Club!

We didn't have to stand in line to prepare to vote, but it took a long time. My person was fielding questions about me while trying to sign in. She had to go from station to station and I ended up just doing downs each time she stopped.

Finally, we were ready to vote! It was the most boring thing ever. Don't even ask me about it, though I'll tell you I was laying down the entire time.

After the voting (aka most-boring-thing-ever), My person and I both got an "I Voted" sticker. Mine went on the pouch of my harness. People laughed. My person thanked my new fans for being volunteers and FINALLY we were on our way to the dog park.

I ran around and met several new, nice dogs. I even played with a strange human who was throwing the ball for three of us, but only one at a time got to run! This was new and strange, but I got my turn and sat when it was not my turn (with a bit of help from my person).

It was fun, and I met a Rottie, and an English Setter, and a Lab mix, a Great Dane and a little Springer Spaniel. I love to play!

How to successfully interrupt a human's nap for a walk

Find the human's face and orient yourself directly in front.

Stare. Sigh.

Move in closer. Stare. Sigh again.

Lick the face once.

When they grumble and turn their face away, reorient yourself to focus on the face from the other side of the bed.

Stare. Sigh.

When the human opens her eyes, lick her face. Walk toward the door. Don't forget to wear your most winsome aspect on your face as you turn and watch her watch you walking toward the door.

If the human does not follow, begin the process again. I guarantee that this will work!

Then, enjoy the company of your human however you please. Congratulations!

Asked for SD ID at BestBuy

We were having a fun day. I got to chase the ball first thing in the morning, then we went to the Doctor's office with my big buddy, we went to a restaurant where everyone admired me... well, not in an obvious way. Silently, but a dog can perceive admiration using special canine senses.

We went to Walmart and I almost got run over by a cart pushed by a woman with an infant in a car seat! I'm sure she admired me too, once she quit growling about us being in her way.

We shopped at BestBuy next. My person and our big buddy got human things and "paid" for them, whatever that means.

As we left, the guy in yellow at the door stopped us to ask whether I had SD ID. My person explained the law that ID is not required. The man rolled his eyes and we left.

My person decided that that would not be the end of it. While our buddy went to another store, we went to the car and got a card made by PSDS that has National law and CA law and the 800 number for the Americans with Disabilities hotline.

We returned to BestBuy and my person put on a smile and handed the man the card. She said she knew that there was a lot of mis-information out there and that this might help him and his coworkers.

He looked it over, and thanked her, saying that some people said one thing and others said something entirely different. My person commiserated, and they parted very pleasantly.

We rejoined our big buddy at the next store over, where I was greatly admired (again, silently).

My person thinks I've been to too many pet stores lately, because I seem to think that each check-out staff is going to give me a treat.

Well, duh! That's all part of admiration of Dog.

New Friends

I met a great pup this morning at the Bark Park. We stop by there after dropping off my big buddy at work nearby. Usually, we are the only ones playing!

Today, Penny the Chocolate Lab came, and bow-wow-WOW did we have fun! I haven't played chase since seeing my little husky friend where we used to live.

Penny is much faster than she looks. I had to really put paws to the ground to catch up with her. My person tried to get a photo of us playing, but I happen to know that when she points that thing at me, she really wants me to sit or lie down and pose.

Penny was so much fun, I hope I see her again soon!

We went to the grocery store after playing. The manager there loves me. But, of course, right? BOL!

We walked over to Walmart before getting in the traveling den to go home.

When we drove to pick up my big buddy after work, he brought some of his co-workers out to meet me! Wow, even more new friends! I think I am the official dog of the company because I had my picture taken in the lobby with the company logo. If I'm not, I should be, because I'm just a fabulous dog. : )

Updates

My human has not been able to take dictation for a long time, so my diary has been neglected terribly. She is quite sorry and will do her best to make it up to me. I foresee many extra play sessions.

I like my new den. It has two levels and a convenient carpeted hill where I can run up and down as I please.

Our friend lives here, too! I love having another pack member. He's like a litter-mate, being sort of goofy and always ready to play with me and treat me the way a duchess should be treated by her admirers.

Our days weren't very busy, but now we're always doing something, it seems. I wake my person up before the sun comes up. After an early morning walk, we drive our friend to work because he hurt his knee going up the carpeted hill.

After breakfast, we trot around the den and take things from one place and put them in machines and then take them out and put somewhere else.

Late morning is when we go to the dog park. After I meet and greet my friends, new and old, I chase the ball. I have to rest a while, and then we run our errands, such as visiting the library where there is a peaceful greyhound therapy dog. Someday, I'm' going to be a therapy dog and have kids read to me and people love on me all day long...

We take a well-earned nap before it is time to get our friend from work. He is always so happy to see me!

I get my dinner, a long chew session with my latest chew, and then a final potty break before I run up the carpeted hill to my HUGE bed. I could have lots of friends over and we would all fit on my bed. BOL!

And that is my usual day. I'm so glad my person can take dictation again!

A new den

That's why my person has not been keeping up with my diary properly. We packed up all of our things during the summer and had them brought to the den where our big buddy lives. It's so far away that we can't see our SD friends any more.

I got to hang out with Ollie a lot before we left, because his people helped us shovel our things into boxes. Ollie and I were prepared to help, but there was no time for jumping into boxes or chewing on them. Our people were moving too quickly! We never would have finished getting packed without our pack. My person didn't want to leave our friends, but our big buddy needed us and we need him, too.

The next day, people came and took all of the boxes away and we played fetch in our empty den one last time before hopping into our traveling den for the trip to our new den.

I made a lot of new friends at the hotel where we stayed on the way. Of course, BOL! Everybody loves me.

I don't know how my person found our new den. I couldn't smell our big buddy at all, but when we finally slowed down, I sat up to see him standing in front of our new den. Yay!!!!

My new den has stairs. I love to run up and down and up and down as I follow my person around. I have a new bed, too! It used to be part of a papa-san chair and it is huge! All of my friends could fit on it with me if they could visit. Or if we could take my new bed to visit them, I'm sure we could fit it in our traveling den...

It's almost time for my big buddy to wake up and come downstairs to pet me before heading away in his traveling den to earn our living. I have to choose a toy and get into position so that I can help him put on his shoes.

The dreaded cone

I don't know how it happened, but I was rushed into surgery yesterday to remove an infected cyst.

It was perfectly okay until the vet stuck a needle in it last week and sucked out a bit to test for malignancy. Benign. Tiny thing, didn't bother me a bit. Suddenly, it was growing, though.

So now I wear The Cone and can't play indoors or out and have to lie in my crate and can't chew on my bully sticks without help because I can't use my paws!

Our friend Linda come over yesterday specifically to entertain me. We had planned on going out to lunch with her, but since I'm stuck here, she brought the fun to us.

I love her so much! She knows just how to scratch underneath a cone and get to the best places.

Just another 5 or 6 days of this. Let's see if I can drive my human nuts. BOL!

A new friend

I have a new friend to play with in the morning at the dog park. Ace, the little husky who won't take no for an answer.

My person is very picky about whom I get to interact with and after watching Ace from the other side of the dog park, she thought he would be safe to play with.

She was right! At first, I was sort of annoyed by his shenanigans. I just wanted to chase my ball. But then he won me with his sunny personality and invitations to chase him.

He can't run super fast -- he has a couple of pins in a hip from being hit by a car before he was adopted by his person -- so he jumps up on the picnic table whenever he wants some space.

I may not jump up on the picnic table, even when off-duty, so I wait for him to stop teasing me and jump back down so that we can wrestle some more.

My person is not doing the best, but we're getting through our days. She's still doing that boring thing where she uses a handful of sticks to tangle yarn together into socks (not for ME thank goodness). We're taking lots of walks, too. She doesn't bring her sticks and yarn on walks, so she pays a lot of attention to me.

It's been a difficult time, but we're here still

My person hasn't felt up to updating my diary and I didn't whine.

We have been busy. We've been on BART and CalTrain to go run errands and visit others, but we've been staying home a lot, too. My person has taken up something that involves two sticks and a bunch of string she manipulates into rows of snarls.

She calls it knitting and I call it boring! The good thing about it is that I usually get a nice bully stick to chew on while she does this.

An update on my person's father. After some scary moments, he made an excellent recovery. Hooray!

My friend Ollie and his people came over to our den the other day, but we didn't get to lie next to each other. The people knitted or worked on the computer for hours. A solo down-stay is hard when my friend is just a few feet away, but I got better at it.

Regardless of the weather, my person takes me to the dog park next door every day first thing in the morning for a long game of fetch. We have glow-in-the-dark balls now, so it is a whole new game.

Tomorrow we take CalTrain to our tdoc appointment and I'm probably going to get a bath before. I've been running through mud this morning. Ugh. I'm going to insist that my person take a bath, too, just to be fair. Then we can both smell like nothing interesting has been going on.