Dogster

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My life as a guardian angel

Slipping and sliding!

Woof!!
I was thinking about what winter was like before I crossed the bridge.

I remember when I was just a pup, my mom had let me outside and she heard me barking. Upon checking on me, she had no idea what I was barking at. There was no one around, and I was looking up...it was then that she figured out that I was barking at the snowflakes! What did I know, I had never met a snowflake before, as it rarely snowed in the house.
A couple of years later, there was a bunch of snow and ice on the ground (another typical Michigan winter). For some reason, my family decided I needed boots. You know, for millions of years dogs have gotten along nicely without boots, and there's a reason for that. They put these boots on me, and then laughed at the way I walked around the house, lifting each foot high into the air, trying to kick the boots off. After they were satisfied that I could walk, we went outside on the driveway. I didn't move...until they threw a ball, that is. Then, I moved in ways a normal dog isn't suppose to move. All four feet went in a different direction. I was able to compose myself (finally) and took off running. The only problem with this was, I was on ice...you don't stop or steer when you're on ice! Luckily, a snow drift stopped me.
Just a question...why do humans think it is so funny to make a snowball, throw it into the snow-filled yard, and then watch a ball-obsessed dog search aimlessly for it? I don't get it either.

Yeah, winter wasn't really my cup of tea...
Wooby

Christmas time

Woof!!
Christmas is tomorrow...boy do I have some great memories!

Before I crossed the Bridge, I used to be very helpful to my family at Christmas.
I would make sure my dad hung the Christmas lights just right, ready to lend a paw if needed. I helped mom and the girls make cookies. Okay, so I ate more than I baked, but the broken ones don't count! I kept a careful eye on them when they put the tree up to make sure they didn't try to decorate it with any of my tennis or racquet balls (or any of my other toys for that matter). When it came time to hang the stockings, who's head do you think was shoved in the toe of each stocking just to make sure nothing was missed from the year before??? That's right, I stepped up!
I was also the rearranger of packages underneath the tree. My family occasionally caught me under the tree, digging packages out. Of course, they didn't really seem to appreciate that little move. It was their fault, as one year when I was young, they decided to try to hide my stocking way up underneath the tree, behind a bunch of packages. It didn't work. I found my stocking, nearly knocking the tree down in the process.
When it was time to open presents, I would go from person to person, helping them open their packages. The girls, and the rest of my family, always got a big kick out of watching me tear the paper off the boxes. They didn't, however, find it amusing that they had a hard time seeing what was inside the box because I would have my head buried in there, making sure there was nothing inside for me!
Then, at the end of the festivities, when it was time to clean up....hey! I can't do everything. A dog's gotta sleep sometime!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone on both sides of the Bridge!
Wooby

Water

Woof!

You know something, I'm so glad it's so clean here over the bridge. I don't ever need a bath.
Of course, when I was alive, I never felt I needed a bath, but my family disagreed. I would try to hide when they were getting the bath ready, but they knew my weakness. All anyone had to do to get me to come out of hiding was bounce a ball. Just one bounce, that's all it took. That's all it ever took, and I would find myself in the tub.
It wasn't that I didn't want to smell good, I just didn't like getting wet. And it wasn't just the bath I didn't like either. I didn't like getting squirted with the hose, and I didn't like going swimming.
My family tried to make me like swimming, taking me out on an enjoyable boat ride and then insisting I get in the water when we got to the shallows. I never understood their apparent love of water.
One time, I got tricked into swimming by Mother Nature. Yeah, you heard me right, Mother Nature tricked me!
My sister was at the end of our street, fishing (we lived on a lake). My other sister walked me down there to see what she was doing.
All I know was that she threw a small red and white "ball" for the fish, and I knew I had to get it. I guess it didn't occur to me that fish live in water. I had been standing in the grass on the shore, and I tried to walk out on these big, round green things. Turns out, they were lily pads. Lily pads that live on the surface of water. The water was kind of deep right there, and I sank like a rock!
Once I remembered how to do the "doggie paddle", I made my way out of the darned water, and back to the shore, where both of my sisters were laughing their pants off. Great, I thought, I could have been eaten by a bluegill, and they were laughing.
Yeah, it was hilarious. I didn't even manage to get the "ball". That one was on it's own.
Wooby