Update

It has been quite a while since my Mom got around to this - so a lot has happened. I have been VERY good. (sort of). I have stopped having accidents in the house - it is a little inconvenient for me, but it makes mom and dad happy. I have eaten a few more books, the arm of the futon couch, mom's good sunglasses, a window sill, a shelf, a pen, and other things. Fortunately, my parents are all new age 'reward the good, ignore the bad' so basically, I can get away with almost anything! And, check this out, every morning they put cheese into my toys to keep me busy while they are at work! It is awesome! We go to the dog park a lot and my grandparents came to visit and brought me really good treats! Mom and Dad went on vacation for a week and Amanda, the world's best house sitter, took really good care of me, Theo and Woody (that is the cat). In fact, Amanda fell for the old 'the gentle leader is hurting my nose, please take it off' ploy - it worked! So I got to go on walks without the leader - ya hoo! I am really happy here. I love my brother and we have fun tormenting the cat. I have a boyfriend named Carlos who comes over to play every so often. Mom and Dad even took Theo and I to Diary Queen for a Doggie Sunday! It was SO good! I have a nice cozy bed that I sleep on and during the day I hang out on the futon and play with my toys. My parents leave the TV on for me - my favorite show is Matlock. Mom says it is the 'Law and Order' of yesteryear - whatever that means. I have a lot of toys and I have eaten a number of toys too. And, they scratch my ears and belly whenever I want.

Just an update

First, I am VERY excited that my cousin Rasher has joined dogster. He is Irish and has an accent that I think is SO funny. I haven't actually met him because he lives far away but we talk on the phone when our parents are gone. (He thinks my Minnesota accent is funny too.)

Mom has been too busy to write much, but some updates for you...I ate my mom's shampoo. It is Aveda and therefore something called 'expensive for hair care products', she wasn't too happy until she realized that now there are many holes for the shampoo to come out of verses just one.

I also learned how much fun it is to dig in the yard! I am even teaching my brother how to do it. Mom and Dad don't seem too keen, but until they start coming out with us everytime we need go, even at 5:00 am, I guess they don't have much say in the matter. I continually outsmart my parents - it is so much fun!

Also this past week I ate the remote. It was a piece of junk anyways and it didn't even taste that good! I guess it was a replacement for the replacement that Lucy ate. Lucy lived here a long time ago, before Theo even.

Dogs on Film

First, let me say that I had a wonderful weekend! I was very well behaved and spent a lot of quality time with mom and dad. We went on a walk around Lake Harriet and I was able to say hi to a lot of dogs and I was very polite and social.

Today however, their doggie cam caught me in the act. Dad just got a new palm pilot and there was something that looked so tasty about the wire that syncs the palm to the computer. I kept my eye on it and today (I was left alone for maybe 2 hours) when I got a little bored I remembered where Dad had put it on the desk and just stood up on my hindlegs and grabbed it. If it wasn't for the doggie cam we would have just insinuated that the cat knocked it on the ground and as the innocent dogs who found it - we thought it was a toy.

Not a good start to the week. But I think it will get better.

Doggie Cam

I have had good days and bad days. Since my last entry, I don’t think I have eaten anything that I wasn’t supposed to! Well, this morning I may have started pulling branches of the red bud tree that my parents planted a year ago. They were not to happy about that – but hopefully they will get me some outdoor toys in addition to all the indoor toys I have.

I am not doing so well with house-training thing though. Thankfully, my parents are patient. I went to dog school for the first time. Dad wanted me to concentrate but there were way too many things to smell. He talked to the trainer about my problems when I am left a lone and she thought it was extreme separation anxiety and since all the toys with treats stuck in them were not helping that maybe I needed doggie drugs that would help me relax. So, Dad took me to the vet the next day who said “Can’t you guys just get a normal dog for once?!” I guess that behavior problems have run in the family. The vet looked me over though and said that he did not see me as overly anxious. He suggested filming me while they leave. That way they can find out if I am destructive and messy because of boredom or anxiety. Now dad has rigged a nanny cam of sorts. He borrowed a camera and has it stuck to the ceiling. No offense, but if this thing is supposed to be hidden – it isn’t working. Tomorrow they are going film Theo and I. I am a little uncomfortable. Dogs’ time without their people is sort of sacred – if they think we are going to do what we usually do, they can think again.

One other thing – my vet and trainer are the best in the business!

Update

This morning - dad did the usual routine of leaving toys everywhere with food in it - but I guess I was just still hungry because I grabbed a sack of organic tomatoes and ate them. They were good and pesticide free! Better than the Goo Gone I ate last week. Then my tummy responded to the tomatoes and dad came home to a smelly house.

You know, I am trying - really I am. I just forget sometimes and I guess mom and dad don't always remember to hide everything since they are still finding out about my cunning capabilities. Wish me luck tomorrow - I start school!

I had a good day!!

Guess what everyone!?
I had a very good day today. Mom and dad went to work and when they got home they found the house in perfect condition! I did not eat any pillows, books, or chairs! My parents were very happy!

Eating Goo Gone - Yuck O

It has been two weeks and four days since I was brought to this place. I think I forgot to mention in my previuos entry that I ate a book of my dads - the day after he started it. Mom is trying to tape the pages together.

So this morning, dad gave Theo and I chew chips. Mom was still sleeping he let us into the living room as to let her sleep.Then he took a shower. Since he is a carpenter he often leaves things to go to work with him at the front door. Well, there was a bottle of Goo Gone - it looked good. So I ate it. It was almost empty, but it made my stomach feel bad, so I had an accident in the living room. Fortunately I am feeling much better - and oddly very clean inside.

When mom and dad left this morning they put NINE tasty treats around. They are all meant to challenge my mind - so there are treats in kongs, things frozen in bones, etc. They want to keep me as occupied as possible. We'll see. I am just not sure how I will be feeling today.

the Kennel

My silly parents were not sure how to deal with me. They were concerned that the kennel they had purchased me was too small, so dad went and got the deluxe model. He froze my breakfast in a Kong and put it in my kennel which was ok, but honestly, I just am not the kenneling type. There was a dog bed outside of the kennel and I thought it might as well be inside the kennel with me. So I pulled, and tugged, and pulled and ripped it up as I got it inside the kennel - on one of the last few tugs the front wall fell in - I was free!! Ya Hoo! Solved that problem.

That night my dad put about fifty of those little plastic wire tie things to reinforce my crate. Whatever. So Thursday - they sort of won. I did not get out of the crate, but I redid the edging on the curtains that were hung near the crate - te he! Also, I was able to slide the obnoxious plastic tray out of the kennel. Of course then I was standing on the wires which was not very comfortable. Fortunately they were not gone too long. Dad put more ties on the kennel then so I could not get the tray out.

Then Friday, here we go again...into the kennel with the frozen breakfast kong...Really, I just did not like the kennel and what part of that were they not understanding? So, I just bent the door and squeezed through. It was a tight fit - luckily I am pretty skinny. I was pretty annoyed at them though, so, my brother and I wrestled in the living room, knocked over a lamp, got the cat to push things off the dining room table, pulled all the pillows off the bed and couches and chewed a few up too. Ate my dad's slippers too. That is the last time he tries kenneling me.

They returned the crate that weekend. I outsmarted my humans!!!!

Throughout all of this my dad is getting more and more creative with freezing my breakfasts. First it was dog food and water - oh...how...tasty.... Now, I got him up to dog food, chicken broth, and cheese! He is also putting treats in other toys for me. It is fun!

This week, they are putting the gates up between the kitchen and the dining room, but I have access to the kitchen, bedroom, and front room. My dad hides everything each morning - all the pillows are put in closest I can't reach. My mom locks up her computer, etc. The only thing I could find to eat today was a little wooden dog, dad found all the peices and glued it back together.

I like these people - I know some humans would not be responding very positively to me - but they are understanding (knock on wood). They think that since I am nice to humans and animals that everything else they can deal with. And, they blame alot of this on me having been in a shelter for a few months - the shelter was great, but it did not have all these house rules.

First Few Days

My folks brought me home on a Monday. They had just returned from New York city and were exhausted. They actually changed to earlier flights so they could get me earlier. That night, mom was super tired and had to go to work the next day. They put me a kennel, like the shelter told them to, and I freaked. Needless to say it took all of 45 seconds for my mom to say 'maybe she doesn't need the kennel to night'. (It is a small house, even if the kennel was on the other side of the house they would still hear me.) I slept fine on the rug next to the bed.

My dad did not work the following two days. That was cool, we just hung out and he took me a few places.

Thursday was the first day they left me a lone for an extended amount of time. They put Theo, my brother and I, in the kitchen with baby gates between the kitchen and dining room. It was very easy to knock down the bottom baby gate - so I enjoyed the run of the house and was actually good, I think.

On Friday, they were more careful with how they placed the baby gates so I couldn't knock them down. But, I quickly learned that the door leading to the bedroom really only needed a nudge to open (it is one of those old bungalows - standard layout with a bedroom off the kitchen). Well, that day I ate a few things - a few couch pillows and a beenie baby, nothing that was priceless or anything. My parents just thought that the door had not latched - I let them believe it. They did not leave me alone much over the weekend.

On Monday, my dad doubled checked that the door was latched before he left, and when they came home they figured out that I had just been turning the knob. So, thinking they were smarter than I, they put a lock on the door - one of those things that you slide over when the door is closed and it goes into a latch thing... any ways, they thought I might scratch the door so they spent like an hour figuring out how to cover the door with a big piece of canvas to protect it. (The woodwork in this house is really nice). And, it worked - I could not get out. So, to show them my feelings about being treated like a caged animal I ate the moulding off the back door, stole the bannanas off the counter and chewed up candles that were on the kitchen table. My dad is a carpenter, so he can fix the moulding - and bannanas are certainly replaceable - like candles.