Goals for the New Year

I have 3 goals for the new year:

1) Be nicer towards strangers. Away trips to Pabby's Pet Pantry have helped me in this regard, but I still have a lot to improve. Especially when it comes to the neighbors; I don't like them hanging out so close to my house!

2) Become Enkidu's walking partner. I am doing very well with this goal already. Daddy has switched the pairings for our daily walk and Enkidu much prefers strolling the neighborhood with me than with Fozzie Bear.

3) Beat Boomer ONCE in wrestling. I am getting better. The good Captain is teaching me how to position my body to block offensive moves, so I am getting better at dogdging. I still try to use my front paw to swat her though, and this leaves me off-balance and open to her counter-attack... which leaves me on the floor on my back. I need to be more patient and study her winning tactics more closely....

All I want for Christmas is....

1) Lots and lots of TREATS

2) To "say hello" to the mailman

3) For Daddy to stop harrassing me when I am trying to sleep.... I know I am cute, but geez! You're smothering me, Daddy!

4) For Enkidu to play with me. :o(

5) For the ground to freeze in the back yard so I can run and run and run some more

Pabby's Pet Pantry

I love Pabby's. Mommy has taken me there twice in the last week. Usually I am very timid and scared around strangers, and tend to nip at them if they make sudden movements (sorry!!!) but not at Pabby's. The employees are super-nice and always shower me with treats when I arrive. Not just little treats, but big fat biscuits that are like 4x the size of the ones I get at home!

Today I went to Pabby's with Mommy and Daddy and they bought me a nice new winter coat. I have a little bit of an Elkhound fur coat, but not a whole lot of undercoat (just on my hind legs, really). And I am so skinny you can see my ribs (it's the Whippet in me!). Mommy feels bad taking me on long walks in the winter because I might get cold, but now I have a sportin' tartan winter jacket, complete with the cutest scarf! I modeled it when I was at Pabby's and all the employees agreed that I was adorable!!!

Bedtime

Bedtime is my new favorite time of day. When Hayden was sleeping over, Mommy would call out, "Bedtime!" and Hayden and I would rush upstairs with her and hop into bed. We got to cuddle while Boomer and Fozzie stayed downstairs with Daddy (he comes up to bed much later). They didn't know what they were missing.

Now that Hayden is back in his own home, bedtime has become my bonding time with Mommy. The only bad thing is that when Boomer, Fozzie and Daddy finally come upstairs, I usually end up on the floor on my doggie bed. ... not bad, but it's not like sharing the big bed with Mommy.

I'm sick

Mommy and Daddy are taking me to the Vet in a little bit. Me and my brother Enkidu have been sick all weekend with the runs. Enkidu has it worse, though; he was throwing up yesterday and there was some red in his runs this morning. Mommy and Daddy are worried and so off to the Vet we go.

Enkidu's butt is shaved!

Well, technically it's his lower back... right where his curly tail lays over. My poor brother!!!

Friday when Dad got home, he was scratching Enkidu's butt and felt some scabs. Mommy took a look and noticed that not only were there scabs, but the hair in that area was all oily and greasy. With his fluffy Elkhound undercoat it made it really hard to see what was going on skin-level. Fearing the development of a hot spot, Daddy got out the clippers and shaved the area (I didn't actually get to see this part, since Mommy put all us other doggies in our crates so as not to bother Enkidu during the "operation").

Once shaved, we could see the scabs, they were small and a bit inflamed. By the next day, though, the spot looked tons better. Enkidu even seemed peppier and I gave him several kisses on the nose to tell him how happy I was (although I don't think he liked that too much!!!).

After witnessing this, I'm glad that I am only half-Elkhound and barely have any undercoat at all! Enkidu has a big "hole" on his back now!!!

I miss Hayden!

At first I thought he was annoying... taking my mommy and Boomer away from me and getting in my face... but you know what? After a few days, I realized that we like a lot of the same things: playing with Boomer, playing tug-o-war, curling up in bed with Mommy, running around in the back yard. Hayden turned out to be a really cool pup and a good friend.

Hayden went home last week to his Mommy, who was back from vacation. The house is much quieter now, and a little lonlier too. I hope that Hayden will come back real soon to visit!!!

New dog in the house

There's an interloper in my house! My parents are puppy-sitting Hayden (my sister Boomer's boyfriend) for 2.5 weeks while his mom visits her family in China. I've definately smelled Hayden's smell before... sometimes my mommy comes home with his scent on her, and there have been times that Boomer & Fozzie have left the house and come back with his smell.... but I've never actually MET the dog until now.

Hayden is a 90 lb black labrador retriever. I'm a little annoyed at how he just comes right in and takes over MY family. He's sleeping on my parent's bed, Boomer is wrestling with him instead of me; even Fozzie plays tug with him (I've been trying to play with Fozzie for months unsuccessfully!).

But WORST OF ALL.... he follows MY MOMMY around the house. Don't come between me and my mommy! If Mommy is cuddling with me and Hayden comes over, I show him my pinkies and give a warning growl (yeah, I get yelled at by Mommy when I do that, but then I make my "cute face" and wag my tail, and she caves like nobody's business, hee-hee).

Escape of the skunk

I almost had this big critter last night! Mommy let all us doggies out in the back yard about 11pm. I circled around the yard, as usual, when I spotted it..... a black-and-white critter with a big fluffy tail! It was sooooo much bigger than the usual squirrels!!! I think I remember seeing one last summer.... it had an interesting smell....

I ran over to the fence where I spotted it.... and DRAT it was on the other side, but facing me. We stared at each other for a second, and then I barked and barked. Mommy came running over, yelling all sorts of commands at me, but I was transfixed on this critter, so close to my yard. Mommy was saying, "Winry! It's a skunk! Come here! Winry, COME! Winry, TREATS! Cheese! Din-Din!!!" Fozzie, my brother, started to come over to see what all the commotion was about, but Mommy grabbed him by the collar and took him inside. I was too quick for Mommy to catch though!

Eventually the skunk lumbered away. Mommy was so happy that I didn't end up smelly like last time. I'm just sad I couldn't get closer to that critter.

I'm such a bad girl!

Mommy is sad. I was a bad girl this week. When no one was looking, I stole a pair of Daddy's silky boxer shorts out of the laundry and chewed them up. Well, I did more than chew them up.... I ATE them too. All that was left was the elastic waistband and half a leg each.

No one noticed the violated undies because I pushed them under the sofa. No one noticed until one afternoon, Daddy took me for a walk and out came a slim strip of undie. Daddy was perplexed as to its origin, and called Mommy but its description didn't ring any bells. The next morning Mommy woke up to the sound of me throwing up.... three more strips of undie. After a wash in the sink for the puked-up pieces Daddy realized what I had done and the hunt was on for the rest of the boxers.

Needless to say, for the past 3 days I have been passing undies. I don't feel sick yet and am trying to assure Mommy I'll stay that way.

Mommy has never seen a dog, especially one as old as me, that steals more things and eats them. Right now she has the downstairs gated off so I'll stay down here with her, and I have to go in my crate whenever Mommy or Daddy showers or goes outside to garden. Mommy says it's for my own good.... but you know I'm going to try like the dickens to find a way around this! I have a favortie bone that I chew for hours, but every once in a while I like to broaden my horizons.