4th of July in my new hometown!

Recently, our family has been relocating our den. This is the first time we've ever done this... Our new den is more spacious, and has stairs in it! Oh, how I love racing up and down stairs! Wheee! Mom and Dad call our den a townhouse, but as far as I can tell, we've left town! I will miss Hollywood, and all it's "glamorous" smells! But our new place has bunnies, and some dreaded gang called "coyotes"! Mom and Dad say I'm not to play with them!

Yesterday I went with my family to the big fireworks show at the mall of our new hometown. I was the only dog there. Mom says most dogs get scared by these things. I was a little startled, but mom kept my mind off it by playing ball with me. She's a smart Mom! I even watched some of the fireworks! Mom says she's trying to "bomb-proof" me, so I hope I won't blow -up or something!?! Maybe someday I could grow up to be one of those search-and-rescue dogs? Hmmm...

So much new to explore... chat at ya later!

~"D"

Old friends and SCARY monsters!!!

Hey Sam!

Guess what??? Jessie's back!!! Last Monday I started a new obedience class called Intermediate Competition Prep. It's okay, I guess...I have to be real serious and all, which is sooooo hard! Jessie and her mom came to this class. It was really great to see her again! And guess what else...? She's all growed up, and real pretty, too! She seemed really happy to be back!

Class was going pretty well...Mom says I'm not the worst in the class, but I'm not the best either, oh well... We had to do this thing where I'm heeling next to mom then as we pass my towel, she tell me to "down" and she keeps walking while I lay on the towel. It went okay for a couple of times, but the next time I was about to lay down on my towel, I realized I wasn't the only one on my towel! EEeeekkkk! HOLY %$@#, what the heck is that!?!?!???!?!?!?! I jumped back as quickly as I could and tried t0 get a look from a safe distance. Mom was like "what?" And as I danced around pointing at it, she saw it too....

It was a HORRIBLE HAIRY EIGHT-LEGGED MONSTER...translucently ghosty, creeping across my towel!!!! Yeeeeccchhh! I expected Mom to scream and run away with me........ later she would thank me for saving her from the beast!!!!

But instead she started LAUGHING!!!! She told me it was okay, and kicked the monster from my towel! Wow, she was either brave or crazy!!! Then, as if she dismissed the whole thing, she told me again, to lay down on the towel...WHAT?! WAS SHE CRAZY?!?!?!?! Uh uh, no way, Jose!!!!! Nothin' doin'!!! As a matter of fact, you can just forget about me layin' down, anywhere, for the rest of the night!!!! I kept trying to jump up on Mom to tell her "NO." I even bit down on the leash and tried to drag her away!!!!

Mom fought me, and tried a few more times to get me to lay down, and finally she told our instructor what had happened because people were starting to look at us funny! The instructor told Mom that she shouldn't force me, cause it might make me more afraid....Yeah!!!... So that was it for me for the rest of the night!

I guess October really is full of scary monsters!

Until later, keep a wary eye out,

Dolce

P.S. Jessie came back to agility yesterday, too!

(Dolce's mom would like to note that the "eight-legged monster" was a really a spider smaller that a dime! ) :)

Bark-BQ for the Bayou!

Hi Sam!

I had a good weekend! Saturday was agility class , and it was GREAT as usual! Mom has a really hard time keeping up with me, cause I'm so fast! She says she has absolutely no time to think! We were practicing jump sequences with lots of turns. The trainer tells mom she need to tell me what's next as soon as I've "committed" to the previous obstacle, but sometime mom forgets or something and then I have to over correct cause I go shooting right past her. This time it caused me to knock down the whole triple jump, cause I took it at an angle, and ended up trying to clear the sides instead of the bars! I almost made it clean!!! Dad came to watch and we got some pictures, but mom says most of the time he missed my action shots cause the camera's too slow! Oh well, we'll try to get some good ones to post soon.

Sunday we went to something called Bark BQ for the Bayou at Barrington Dog Park. It was a BBQ and fund raiser for Hurricane Katrina pets. I t was a bunch of fun cause I hadn't been to this park before. I think Mom and Dad were proud of me cause I didn't terrorize all the other dogs. I just kept to myself more. Also, I let Mom and Dad play ball with me, and I came to them when ever they called. I think I made Mom really happy!

When we got home I helped them wash the car. Then Dad gave me a bath, and Mom blow dried me and brushed me.

So all in all a pretty good weekend.........except for the bath-part!

Later,

Dolce

Uh oh... I think I blew it!!!

Hi Sam,

Mom's really mad at me this time! Last night me and mom and dad walked to the park, and as usual we ran into my friend "Daisy," the Old English Sheepdog. I don't know why all the adults keep referring to her as "old," she's not even two yet, and she's DEFINITELY not English! She told me she was born in some, eerrh.. lone star state, then she moved to L.A. when she was little??? So, don't ask me, adults are weird!!!

Anyway, mom usually lets me play off leash with Daisy which I LOVE, cause Daisy's crazy and goofy just like me! So as soon as she let me go, I took off runing with Daisy in hot pursuit! I love to play "catch me if you can!"
We were runnin' soooo fast! :) Mainly we just tear around the place causing havoc, and mess with the people trying to play soccer. But just when I seem to be having the most fun, mom always wants me to stop!!! I don't understand! I could hear her yelling over and over to for me to stop and come to her, but nooo way, I just acted like I couldn't hear her! HA! What's she gonna do about it?!?

Well that worked for a while, but at some point I was gonna have to go home with them, you know... So, I finally slowed down, and let mom catch me. And catch me she did, boy was it embarassing! She was "ticked" (if ya know what I mean)!!! Then when she got done with me it was dad's turn.

After that mom and dad decided we should just walk around and calm down. Long story short(er), mom didn't say much to me the rest of the night. And when I tried to help her with that bird-perch-thing, she kept telling me to go away! :(

Later I heard mommy and dad talking, and she said she was really upset because she had put in so much time, and effort to train me, and obviously I don't have "any respect for her!" She went on saying I "must not care about her because I wouldn't even listen to her!" ..................................................

I'm sorry mommy, pleeeaase don't be mad! I luv you! :D

Dolce

p.s. I think mom's getting over it, cause she didn't seems so mad once she got some sleep!

Jessie's getting better!

Hi Sam,

Mom has been talking to Jessie's mom, and she heard Jessie is getting better! It still going to be while before I get to see her, though. Mom says Jessie has to rest in her crate for the next month. A whole MONTH!?!? Can you believe that? I would go nuts! My poor little friend! Jessie, if your mom reads this to you, I'm gonna miss you a bunch! Agility won't be the same without you! :(

Hey, speaking of agility, I think tomorrow's "FUN DAY!" Actually I've heard mom and dad referring to it as Saturday, but to me it's "FUN DAY!" On "FUN DAY" I have my classes at the park with my friends. Mom says I should be extra good in my morning class cause it's the last day of "Advanced Novice Obedience." I hate having to be "good!" I like CRAZY!!!!!!!!! Later, in the afternoon, we are starting a new session of agility, with new friends! I LOVE agility! The only thing I don't like is waiting my turn! I don't understand why some of my friends don't seem to enjoy it as much as I do?! Sometimes I get so excited, and I try to run so fast, I fall off the catwalk! Mom doesn't like it when this happens, but I don't care...that means I get to do it again!! :)

Gotta go...keep it fuzzy-side up!

Dolce

a BAD day!! :(

Dear Sam,

I'm sssoooooo sad! I'm very worried about my friend, Jessie!

All weekend everything was good... I had obedience on Saturday morning, and agility with my friends Jessie and Leilah in the afternoon. This was our last "beginning" agility class and when the new session starts next week, the classes are going to be smaller. We were told that there were some spaces open in the more advanced class, and some of us were going to move up. They told all of us that they would send us an email saying which class we would be in.

So yesterday evening, mom got the email, but it only said the time, so it was hard to tell if we got promoted or not?!? Mom emailed Jessie's and Leilah's moms to see what they thought cause we were all listed as being in the same class. And besides the fact that we all really wanted to be together, mom said we must have moved up, cause our friends are really good for beginners, so we were in good company!

After several emails between our moms, and one or two to the agility director, we figured out we had "fished our wish!" All three of us had moved up, and we were together!! YYYAAAYYY! We were all soooo happy! Mommy and daddy went out to dinner to celebrate, and this time they didn't make stay in the bathroom! Wow, I must be a big girl now!

But something bad happened last night after mom signed off the internet thing, and she didn't find out until she checked her email today...

If I understand what I've overheard... Last night Jessie, who by the way is a super cute and talented eight month old Golden Retriever, was running around in her backyard, around their swimming pool, playing with her older GR sister, Emma, and she had an accident! Somehow she slammed into the railing at the steps of the pool and broke her left femur, right at the growth plate! I know this must be bad, because mom is very worried about her, and about her mom, Nancy. Mom says Jessie has to have surgery, and we won't know how she's going to heal for a while. Jessie's mom is worried Jessie will never be able to do agility again! Either way, I sure am gonna miss her for the next couple of months! :( I just wanna howl!!!

I know it could be worse, but I don't want anything to happen to my friend! Please help me send good thoughts her way. Jessie's such a nice puppy. I wish I could give her a big lick across the face!

Ooohh, I don't know what to do! We're just waiting to hear from Jessie's mom to see how she is.
Hope we hear some good news soon. We love you Jessie! Get well soon!

Dolce

Status Quo

Dear Sam,

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote, but nothing as eventful as my birthday has happened for a while (I'm sure mom and dad are happy about that)!

People and pups here at dogster have been really nice sending me good wishes for getting over my little accident, and wanna say "Thanks!" I'm all good! No skin of my ba-.......eerrhhh...chin! ;)

Nothing much to report. Mom says I'm driving her crazy cause I'm going through my rebellious stage, something about add-ole-S-scents???? I don't know what that's about, all I know is I LOVE to run and JUMP over anything, and sometimes this causes me to forget to listen to mom and dad! Mom tells me that if I had my own yard, I could run and jump all day, but we still don't have a yard... :( She also says with the price of houses in Los Angeles being so high, everyone in the family has to pull their own weight, and bring home some bacon. She says if I want a yard I need to get a job, too! But I don't see what that has to do with bacon? In the mean time, she keeps trying to teach me silly things that I don't completely understand. Mom says if I learn these things then maybe I can get a movie job! I think she's kidding...kinda!?!

Well that's it for now! Keep on wiggling!

Dolce

My crazy 1st Birthday!!!!

Dear Sam,

Today is my 1st birthday! Last night Mom started baking me birthday cake - well she says it's more of a meatloaf - whatever that is?! She made made it out of ground turkey, brown rice, eggs, cheddar cheese, a little spaghetti sauce, and a few, light spices. Then she "iced" it with mashed potatoes!! She wouldn't let me eat it last night though, she said I had to wait 'til my b-day.

So today we woke up early to go to my latest obedience class. I like my new class because I get to see all my old friends as well as some new ones. There are about 12 dogs in my class. I also like this session because we get to do bar-jumps, and solid-jumps, and even broad-jumps!!! And I love it because jumping involves running, and I LOVE to go FAST!!!!! The rest of class went fine it just wasn't as fun cause they make you be all serious and stuff.

When class was coming to an end, our teacher, Karen, told everyone that Mom had brought my cake. So after class, everyone stayed to celebrate with me. WOW! Boy was it good! Some of my pals were so excited they forgot to chew! After that, everyone sung happy birthday to me...boy was it embarassing!

After the cake, me and a few other dogs decided to practice some more jumps...wooohooo! It was the best...that is until I saw the sheep!!! Dagger, my new German Shepherd friend, left his sheep-toy lying on the grass, alone! Ohhh how I longed to play with it....! (well I AM a herding dog you know!) Mom caught me eyeing it and said "NO," but I couldn't resist! The moment she took her eyes off me, I grabbed it and ran as fast as I could! Mom started yelling "here" and I know what that means, but ooohh the sheep is sooooo cool! So I ran under this mobile-office -trailer-thing that was brand new in the park, and some thing happened, I think I got stuck on something for a second, actually I don't really know what happened!?! I just know that Mom was REALLY upset that I had disobeyed her because she was now yelling, again, "HERE!!!" I was thinking "What, Mom?" "I'm fine!!!" But Mom was afraid I was going to get myself hurt, and by the time I ran back to Mom, and slowed down, I realized she was right... Actually, I had hurt myself!!!

Mom grabbed me by the collar and praised me for coming back, though I think she secretly wanted to kill me for going so crazy! When she let go, she looked down and realized she had blood on her hand. Apparently, I was bleeding. (I really didn't think too much of it. I just didn't want to give the sheep-toy back!) But Mom discovered the bleeding was coming from my chin/throat. Fortunately, it wasn't a lot of blood, so Mom took me to the restroom to try to get a better look and wipe a bit of the blood off my white chest. Boy was I a sight!

In the restroom, Mom couldn't really see the wound because I have so much fur, and I kept wiggling, making it hard for her...(you see, I didn't want to leave the park and my friends)! Mom decided that there wasn't THAT much blood, and I didn't seem to care, so we went back to talk and hang out with my friends. That's when Daggar and I started wrestling and playing pretty rough, cause he's a big boy. We stayed around for about another hour. By that time my ears were all chewed on, and my head was all wet with Dagger kisses (between you and me...I think he likes me alot)! Boy was I sight! I looked like I had been in a dog fight!!! So, Mom decided to take me home cause she was getting tired, and thought it might be a good idea to get a better look at my wound.

When we got home Mom told Dad what had happened, and the two of them decided to pin me down and have a looksy. When Mom saw it, she was like "Wow, that's worse than I thought!" So after a few moments of discussion, and a few phone calls, we were on way to one of those expensive, weekend, emergency clinics! BOOOOO!!!!

It turns out the doctors said I had a "laceration" (whatever that is), and I needed a few staples....Eeek! Staples don't sound good!!!! Mom and dad were told to leave me. That sucked!!! Once they were gone, the doctor shaved my chin, and gave me some funky drug called a sedative, so that I wouldn't wiggle so much while he was trying to put those sharp, metal things in my chin. Whoooaa! That stuff was trippy! For a few minutes I went limp. But before the doctor could finish with the three staples, I was already almost back to normal. A simple sedative can't keep someone like me down!

In an hour, Mom and Dad were back to pick me up. They couldn't believe I had been given a sedative! I was as wiggly and crazy as ever! I liked all the people at the docters' office . the doctor even let me lick his face. Now I have to take antibioitics for the next week, and go to my normal doctor to get the staple removed in two weeks.

I missed my agility class today, and mom's not too happy about that. We both really love it, but the doctor said I'm supposed to take it easy for the next two weeks...............Yeah, right!!!

Well that's it for now. It's about 5pm and I think I might finally take a nap. I mean after all, I did run and jump around ALL morning, eat a bunch of turkey, and have a sedative, a girl does need a LITTLE rest!! Just a day in the life a real grown-up dog...

Yours,

Dolce