Needs work

I need to work on the Jedi Mind Trick. You know, where I look at the tennis ball and look at the available person and then they throw the ball for me?
I can't get the trick to work before sunrise while Mom is letting the chickens out of their house and then she scoops the morning poop. It must have something to do with the dew on the grass or the chill in the air.
Gotta work on this deal.

Outside the Wire

Since I came to this home, I have only been outside the fenced yard while I am on a leash to go for a walk.
We all *stay* nicely when the gate is open as people or the mower or something else goes through. We are cool. We have a very nice yard to run and play and relax in. I have never tried to escape.
I bet you are thinking I am going to say I did try to escape. I did get outside the wire. Mom invited me!
I was the only dog outside at the time. Mom needed to move the lawn sprinklers around near the driveway. She invited me to go out the gate with her! She stepped outside the gate and waited. I stayed very close to her. She started to walk to the sprinkler to move it, I got to sniff around.
It was fun! She let me sniff around. She called to me and I came right back to her. She gave me some good tummy rubbing and told me I was a good boy. I got to sniff around some more. Each time she would call me I would come back to her. She was very proud of me.
The little Zoe dog gets to go outside the wire with Dad. I am glad to know that Mom trusts me to stick close.

Company

We have two ladies for company. I was scared of them when they first got here. But now I know they are nice. There is an older lady. She is slow and doesn't do much. She gives me gentle pets.
The other lady is my kind of lady. She is a dog lady. You can smell two girl Cocker Spaniels on her. She plays with me. She learned real fast how to throw the soft egg ball. She played and played with me. Her fingers sometimes come crawling like a spider at me. Then the fingers either throw the egg ball or scratch me. She even gives nice leg massages.
She is nice. We went for a walk this morning and I got to walk with her for awhile. Her elbow is sore and I wasn't walking very nicely. I had to then walk with Dad.
When we got back home she still liked me. I still got a leg massage.
She is nice, I like her.

Sparkle Pup

When I stand in the sprinkler water I get little sparkles on my shiny black hair. Mom called me her Sparkle Pup.
Now that I am inside I am just wet. Sparkles are gone.
I've got that wet dog smell now.

Scary Truck, Scary Men

It was a day just like any other day. Things were going fine. Ate breakfast. Went outside. Checked out the yard. Tried the Jedi Mind Trick with Mom.
Came inside. Went outside when Cindy or Zoe barked. Ran to the fence when Cindy started barking at a horse. Tried the Mind Trick again and this time it worked for a few throws.
Things went terribly scary this afternoon.
A big delivery truck pulled in our driveway. The other dogs started barking. I started to panic. Zoe and Drover were asked to go into their crates. They did.
Mom wanted me to go into my crate. I ran around the house like a crazed, well, dog. Brother tried to get me to go into my crate. No deal. Around I ran. Brother went outside to talk to the delivery truck men. Mom cornered me by the back door and was able to grab my collar. I finally zoomed into my crate, pulling the door closed behind me. Well, Mom closed it and that made me feel better.
Then I could see one man come in the back door. Mom, Brother and the man went downstairs. I could hear them talking and soon they came back upstairs. I was being very quiet in my crate but Drover was barking like crazy.
Then two men came in with a new freezer. Downstairs they went. Soon upstairs they came with our old freezer. This must have been fine with Mom. They weren't robbing us or anything. Drover still barked.
We stayed in our crates until we heard the truck pulling away. I ran downstairs, once, to see what the deal was down there. Mom and Brother were doing something down there, but it was kinda scary so I came back upstairs. I waited for them at the top of the stairs.
Why did this send me into a panic? Mom really doesn't know what to do to help me.

Tennis, Anyone?

I have been learning a lot of stuff around here since I got to my new home. I have barked about the things I have learned in other diary entries so I won't cover those again.
But I am also Teaching the Schnauzers a thing or two.
Yep, I am teaching them how to play with tennis balls. I love to have someone throw the tennis ball for me. I run to catch it. I bring the ball back in hopes the person will throw it again. The two Schnauzers are starting to play with the tennis balls too. They will run after them and bring them back. They aren't very good at "release" or "drop it" yet. They are still learning.
I am also planning on teaching them something special. If you are familiar with the Star Wars movies you will know of the Jedi Force Suggestion or Jedi Mind Trick. Here is how I use that. I look at a tennis ball that is within reach. I look at the person that is closest. I look at the tennis ball again. I look at the person again. I can usually get the trick to work. The person will reach down, grab the ball and throw it for me to retrieve! It usually works, unless Mom has her hands full of the laundry basket, groceries or gardening tools. It sometimes works when she in on pooper scooper patrol and has the tools in her hands!
Hey! Maybe you can try the Jedi Mind Trick on a person to get them to play or give you treats!

Bonding Time

Up until this morning, I was usually seen Velcro-ed to Mom. As Drover has told you, she is a fascinating woman. I like to follow her all around.
Something changed this morning. All of us dogs went for a walk and Dad walked me. I pulled on the leash some. He would talk to me and I would stop pulling. I walked pretty nicely most of the time. He told me I was doing good when I didn't pull.
So when we got home, Dad brushed the little Zoe-dog. That looked nice. That looked like it would feel good. So I hung around. I even got in the way a time or two. Dad took the hint. When he was done brushing Zoe, I got a turn at the spa! bol
That sure felt good! I had a lot of undercoat that he brushed off. Now Mom has brushed me before. But this sure felt nice being brushed by Dad.
With the walk and the spa treatment, me and Dad are buddies now.

And as a side note, it isn't such a scary day today. That is good.

Scary day

I don't know what came over me today. It was a scary day. I was real jumpy and every little sound made me twitch.
There was one time I was laying in the living room and Brother came out of his room. He really scared me and I fell/ran down the stairs. He didn't even say anything to make me jump.
Mom thinks maybe it was the wind blowing that made me nervous. It was real windy and that made new noises that I haven't heard before, or had a chance to get used to.
Maybe that was it, maybe it was something else.
If you have any ideas, please let me know. I sure hope tomorrow isn't so scary.

I'm shrinking

At least I think I am shrinking.
I like to play fight with the little Zoe-dog. She can fit under Mom's chair at the desk. We play fight while she is under there. She sometimes gets under the desk where people feet fit.
I must be shrinking because I found out I could fit my head under the chair. Then almost all of my body fit under the chair. Now all of me fits under the desk where Mom's legs and feet are.
I guess I must be shrinking. Or maybe I am just thinking small.

Mom hit me

I know that is a shocking title isn't it? Well, I should say Mom tapped me.
Let me explain what happened.
We had all been outside. Mom was taking down the clean laundry from the line. We all came in and Mom noticed a fly had come in with us. This wasn't a common housefly. She could have chased that kind of fly down with a swatter. This was a deerfly, they have a painful bite.
This deerfly sat down on my left hip. He didn't move. Mom put down the basket of laundry. She didn't want to hit me, but she didn't want me to be bitten by that ornery fly. So she hit me, well, she tapped me where that fly was sitting. Just enough to drop him to the floor. She grabbed a book from the nearby table and squashed that deerfly.
I must admit, I didn't know what was happening. I thought I was a bad dog. I cringed. I am not saying but Mom is pretty sure I have been hit with hands before at my first home. She apologized for scaring me.
She wasn't mad at me. That is a relief. And I didn't get bitten by that bad fly.