I am 7 years old today

Wow, it's been such a long time since mom updated my diary for me. this is a special day for me - I am 7 years old today. that sounds pretty darned old, but mom says I am still young and not to worry about a silly number!

I am hoping for a little ice cream treat tonight to celebrate my birthday. Maybe I'll get to go get it with mom? that would be fun! It's been so wet and windy and cold lately, that we don't get outside as much as I'd like. Well, to be perfectly honest, I tend to stick my nose out the door and then go right back inside! who wants to potty in the wet and wind? Not me!

So I'm off to celebrate by taking an all day nap! BOL

Hugs
Sparky

My Home Coming Anniversary

We don't really celebrate this anniversary, but mom keeps track of it of course - it's 4 years today that mom and dad brought me home. She says she still remembers how excited she was to have me and how scared she was to raise a puppy. See she'd never done that before and she wanted to make sure she did it right. I'm not complaining - I think she did a great job! I'm a pretty happy guy most of the time and I love my mom and dad a lot. Even when she says I am "chunky" and need to cut back on the kibble a bit. Shucks mom - just more of me to love! and more to keep you warm at night too!
So she's been looking at my puppy pictures today and remembering all those fun times - like trying to teach me to use a potty pad (never worked!) and learning to walk on a leash (which I do great!) and trying to teach me to come when I was called (sometimes I do that if I feel like it) and the first time I ever barked! Now I bark way too much she says - but I have learned what Quiet means and listen most of the time. Then there are the things that I taught her - sleeping in mom's bed is way better than that dumb crate! who's bright idea was that anyway? Didn't last long, did it mom!?! And how to play fetch and which toys are the very best to get me. And that bringing home puppies was not the way to make me happier! It's OK now though - I really do love my siblings - most of the time anyway. So it's been a great four years! I'm sure glad you found me mom!
Sparky

I had a Birthday!

I had my 4th Birthday (and mom forgot to write in my diary on my birthday - shame on you mom) and it was just like the day before and the next day too! I don't feel any older or different. I did get a new toy though. Mom said just one cause it was just Christmas and I got a bunch of new toys then. Katie and Molly and even Tucker tried to take it away and play with it of course. That's OK, I can share my toys pretty good.

It's starting to get a little warmer now days. And the sun stays up later in the evenings too. I won't be long and it will be light enough when mom gets home to have a walk. I like to go for walks, I just don't care too much for the getting ready part. Have to put on that darned harness - which doesn't feel bad - I just don't want to put it on. I much prefer to walk with just a collar. But my over-protective mom says that it's not good for my little neck to have a collar pulling on it. And that if she needs to grab me up real fast a collar is no help at all, but a harness is. Now what I can't figure out, is why she'd want to grab me up fast? Doesn't she know that I am a big, brave guy and can scare off those big, scary dogs? Well, maybe not - OK I'll wear the harness.

Other than that, not a lot happening right now. We didn't get our usual January snow and I kind of missed that. Katie is getting older and isn't quite as annoying as she used to be. She still tries to play with me and sometimes I will and sometimes I just don't feel like it. She has started to run and fetch my toy with me and lots of times I just let her get it and carry it back to mom. It's OK most of the time anyway!

Happy New Year 2009

It's the beginning of a new year - 2009 - and I am going to be 4 years old real soon. I am such a grown up doggy now. I can still play like a puppy when I want to though.

I really don't have any big plans for 2009. I will try to get over the guarding my food dish which I just started doing recently. That one has mom very puzzled. There is always plenty of food and I never did it before - even with the puppies. But I guess since I went on my diet, I have become a bit more possessive - maybe I'm worried that my tummy will be empty?

We had an awesome Christmas and mom was on vacation and home every day with us for 11 days! We have all loved having her here with us. We follow her around and keep pretty close tabs on what she's doing and where she is. She thinks thats pretty cool cause we are way more mellow in the evenings that way. But that's coming to an end - today is the last day of her vacation and tomorrow we are back to the work schedule. I am going to miss having her home with me. We each got new toys for Christmas and it's fun having new stuff to play fetch with. And of course they all squeak which is what a good toy is supposed to do. We even got to have a mini play day with Nina and Charlie. I love my Auntie C! She's the first dog mom that I met and really, really liked and I still do. She sits on the floor with me and throws toys for me and that makes her really great in my book!

I am looking forward to warmer days - we even had some snow in December - which is very weird for Oregon. No white Christmas though and mom said it was a good thing. To hard for the people to drive around to visit their families. I could really do without visitors in my house, so that wouldn't matter to me at all. The thing that is bad about snow is that it takes mom a lot longer to come home to us and dinner is late! BOL

Happy New Year to all my friends!
Hugs
Sparky

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving has come and gone for this year. What a busy long weekend we've had. First we had mom's daughter and her family and dad's son's over for Thanksgiving dinner. There were 6 little skin kids running around and that didn't make me real happy. They played with my toys and held them up real high so I couldn't play tug with them. Finally they tossed them for me and then I was a happy boy - playing fetch - I love that game. Then on Friday we mostly hung out at home helping mom make some new collars. On Saturday mom went Christmas shopping and then we went for a nice walk when she got home. It was 60+ outside! That is just awesome for this time of year. Dad started to hang the outside Christmas lights too. And he didn't have to wear a coat or have freezing cold hands - but he ran out of lights, so he had to buy more and finish today. I can't wait until it gets dark out so they come on and we can see how pretty they look. It's all foggy today - the sun hasn't come out and now it's almost time for it to be dark, so probably won't see it at all today.

It's been a long time since I wrote anything in my diary. Mom says she's been really busy with other stuff. But if it comes to writing in my diary or playing fetch with me - have to tell you fetch wins!

So that's it for now. I promise to try to motivate mom to write more often for me. My 4th birthday is coming up in January! I can't believe I am so grown up. Neither can mom - she says it can't be almost 4 years since we found each other. I'm still glad we found each other and she brought me home. And I still snuggle with her at night too! I don't think I'll ever be too old for that!

Sparks

Diary Picks of the Day

My Diary was a pick of the day today. Thanks Dogster HQ! I am very honored to be picked. There are a lot of really pawsome diaries out there - but have to admit I loved the attention and that my diary got a lot of extra attention. I even made some new pals! and that is always a lot of fun.

I am going to work on mom and see if she won't keep my diary up a little bit better than she has. I tell her I have stuff to say - but she says she's busy and she'll do it later. Wonder when that is? I love my mom, don't get me wrong, and she loves me too, but she sure is busy and doesn't always put things in the order I wish she would.

She did throw my toys for me tonight. I chase it and catch it and then I kill it! She tells me how smart I am and how what a good job I've done and then we do it again - and again - and again! What a great game.

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by today and read my diary. And it looks like a lot of you left me bones too! Thanks for those too. And thanks for the pals requests and the rosettes too. You are all just pawsome friends.

Hugs
Sparky

Fall is Coming

Wow, this summer just zoomed by! It was such a nice summer too. We had lots of fun. Fancy came to stay with us again, and that was nice. I like her, she's not a puppy! And we had some human company too - my dad's daughter and husband came to visit us. They played throw the toys really well and that always makes me happy.

I got the barkies a lot - and that doesn't make mom very happy. But there are so many kids out on my sidewalk during the summer. Last year there weren't as many. And I do have to let mom know when they are out there. They might do something bad - you never know!

I am doing much better at play days too. I join in and play with some of the other pups. Not the really "active" ones, but there are some calmer Chi's there and we'll have a little game of chase. I like that. I miss Sylvie though. She went to live at another house and can't come anymore. I am very nice when they all come to visit me at my house too.

I am still pretty grumpy with Katie. I just can't help it. She is all happy and ready to play all the time and she gets in my face! Really! She likes to paw at my face and try to get me to play with her. IN THE MORNING! Right when I first wake up. I really don't like to wake up - I'd sleep in if I could - but just leave me alone for a little while and I'll be fine. But Katie can't do that - she wants to play. So I grump at her. Then she goes and bothers Tucker! He likes it though - those two deserve each other - Really they do! You'd almost think they were related - which they aren't - cause they act a lot alike sometimes.

Like mom talked about on Katie's diary, we aren't taking many walks anymore. And actually - that is fine with me. I hide under the big bed when mom gets the leashes and harnesses out. I'm kind of lazy - I like the walk once I'm doing it - but I like my bed too! Or the sunny spot on the rug. But the big dogs scare us so bad when they run at us. Mom is so afraid that one of us is going to get hurt. She takes us two at a time sometimes, but that's two walks for mom and she says she's almost as lazy as me! BOL When all four of us walk together and a big dog runs out and scares us, there is no way for her to pick us all up and get us out of the big dog's path. Anyway, maybe it will get better and those big dogs will start following the rules - I sure hope so.

Overall it's been a great summer and I really hate to see it get cooler. Mom says we still have some nice sunny days coming - I sure hope so.

Hugs
Sparky

Mom Brought Home Guests

Guess what? Mom brought home two of our play day friends on Saturday when we went to play at Auntie Melody's house. But you know what is funny? Auntie Connie was there with Nina and she took home a friend too! Yep, Fancy and Sylvie came to our house and Chi-Na went home with Nina. So Surprise Charlie! and Brody, Bridget and Reggie - you have company just like me! BOL It really was a pretty fun visit. I am kind of the resident grump anyway, so no one really expects me to play. But I did! I liked to play with Sylvie. I am a little shy is all and it takes me a while to decide if I want to take a chance and see if they will play with me. Sylvie is so pretty and she is such a sweetheart, that when I asked her to play she did! I was very careful to play easy with her too cause she is just a little thing. I wasn't bossy like Tucker or bratty like Katie either. Me and Molly are the nice ones at our house! BOL well we both have our moments! I even took a couple walks with Molly and Sylvie and I was very polite and waited for those girls when they did their sniffing too. Have to confess, I did steal a half-eaten treat from Sylvie. Now I didn't mess with Fancy - I can tell that she's the boss at her house. Does that make me smarter than Tucker? I'd like to think so! Anyway, I liked having overnight guests - it was fun and they are welcome to come and visit me again anytime they want!

Heat Wave

Man oh Man is it HOT! it was close to 100 yesterday and that is not normal. Thank goodness we have AC in the house. We hung out there for most of the past couple days. We do our sunbathing early in the morning when it's only in the 70's and then spend the rest of the day indoors. The silly humans decided to have a BBQ yesterday cause dad's daughter and son-in-law were visiting from Michigan. They thought it felt GOOD outside. Me and Mom disagreed. But we hung out on the deck and panted - mom too! BOL not really. Finally a nice cool breeze came and then it was nice to be outside. Then we woke up in the middle of the night and the wind was blowing really, really hard and it was spooky. It moved the chairs around on the deck and the hanging plants were dancing around. Mom wouldn't let us go outside cause she said it was blowing so hard, it might knock us over. Of course I barked. I have been living up to my nickname of Barky Sparky all weekend. Poor mom says her ears hurt and she got a headache listening to us. Sorry mom.
Other than that, not much happening. We are very glad the rain stopped. EVen if it's a bit on the HOT side. The yard its getting pretty cause the flowers are blooming. And some of them smell really good too. We are having playdays again and that is always fun. We miss our friends during the rainy winter weather. I have lost a bit of weight and mom says I am a very handsome boy. I am learning that when my bowl is empty, I cannot clean up Molly or Katie's bowl like I used to. I still hide when mom tries to get us ready for walks. I don't like that harness very much and she says I have to wear it - even for walks. Bummer.

Diet Update

I had to go and visit Dr. B for my post-op check up yesterday afternoon and they put me on the dreaded scale. I was very good and didn't wiggle around - sat like a big boy on that dumb thing. And guess what? I lost weight! YIPPEE I was 12.2 lbs and yesterday I was 11.5 lbs. Mommy said she was very proud of me and that it's paying off. Oh Yeah - she's not the one on less food! She says soon I'll be all slim and trim and have more energy. I think I'd rather have more food! My ouchies are all healed up and you can't even see where they were. Dr. B does good work! And I am so happy that it won't ever happen again too. I wasn't very thrilled to see Dr. B again, but he is a nice guy and so by the end of the visit (after the booster shot and blood draw for my heartworm test) I gave him a big, wet lick on his nose! He tried to give me a treat, but I wouldn't take it (it wasn't chicken!) and mommy said that was OK that I don't have to eat any treats I don't want. After all, I am watching my waistline!