I'm 4 Years Old

Wow it's been a very long time since mom has updated my diary for me. I convinced her that my birthday tomorrow is a great reason to get busy and write for me. Of course it's kind of a gray boring day, so that didn't hurt my case. We already went on our walk today because it looks like it could rain anytime and we didn't want to miss a walk.

Hard to believe that I'm 4 years old already. Some days it feels like I just came here to live with mom. But a lot has happened in those 4 years - like getting my baby sister! I love my Katie a lot and don't know what I'd do without her to snuggle with. I am a lot better in regard to my allergies now. The vet finally found something that helps me and most of my hair has grown back too. I'm not as playful as I used to be, but that could be because of the medicine I take for my itching. It makes me a little sleepy but not as itchy. We still don't know exactly what it is that causes the itching though. The yeast infections on my skin and in my ears is under control too. So all in all I am a pretty happy girl. Especially when I can curl up on mom's lap like I'm doing right now. I love that the very most.

Nothing big planned for tomorrow - but mom is sure to make me a nice dinner and that's always a good thing!

It's February

Wow, it's already February and the weather is getting better - warmer and that's such a nice thing. Makes it so much easier to find a sunny spot in the house to nap in!

I am going to visit Dr. B on Saturday and hopefully we can start testing other foods now. It's been two very long months of that kibble and venison. I'm not so fond of the potatoes and mom thinks they were giving me a rash, so no more potato cookies. They were pretty good too. She is letting me have some veggies - carrots and brocolli so far - and so far I am just fine with those. I think the next thing will be chicken! I love chicken - sure hope it doesn't make me itchy. Mom also changed all our soap to fragrance and dye free and I haven't had a rash on my tummy for about a week. And she put Bag Balm on my tummy before my bath and no rash! I think I have very sensitive skin - so does she. Kind of a bummer, but what you have is what you have and you just work with it!

Let's see - it's been pretty quiet around our house after all the mess and people at the holidays. Pretty nice really. Dad has worked a little now and then and he's going to be working for about 6 weeks starting this week. That made mom and dad really happy. I miss sitting on his arm to read the newspaper though - he gets up too early for the paper to even be here now. Katie is growing up and isn't nearly as annoying as before. We still love to nap together in our little bed during the day. It's really been nice having a little sister to hang with.

That's it for this time!
Molly

Happy New Year 2009

Christmas was awesome! All those toys that mom put in my stocking have squeakers in them! And I got a new little rabbit and the squeaker works really good in it tummy. That is my favorite toy ever! There were other toys in that stocking too, but the rabbit was the best one. The little kids came back and I was very good again! Much better than Tucker who scared the little girl and Sparky who just wanted to bark at them all. Katie did pretty good with the kids too - they are a little scary cause they don't look where they are walking, but I keep close tabs on their feet so I don't get stepped on.

I did have to go and see Dr. B and it wasn't so bad. He even took blood from me. All the tests came back very good though and Dr B thinks I have food allergies. So now I have to eat this special food that isn't all that great. Mom chops it up for me in the food processor cause it's really big and my mouth is so tiny. That helps some. And she found some venison (which is the only meat I can have) and dried some for me for snacks and some ground so I can have it on my kibble. The other ingrediant in the food is potoato, so yesterday she made me some pototo cookies! They turned out pretty good and it was nice to have something different to eat. It's been 4 weeks and I have at least another 4 - 6 weeks to go before we can start testing different foods (one at a time) to see if we can figure out what makes me itch. I also got new medicine for my ears and now they are feeling a lot better. And no more itch pills! YIPPEE! I hated those things - especially when I could have tuna or peanut butter to hide them in. It's nice not to itch, but I sure miss my chicken. Hope it's not chicken that I'm allergic too, but mom thinks it just might be. Oh well, I bet mom finds something yummy for me to eat.

I have become a huge daddy's girl lately. He got laid off from his job, so he's been home with us a lot. He holds me when he reads the newspaper and I snuggle with him at night when we go to bed too. He's nice and warm and his arm is a great place to nap. Mom says we look very cute cause he's so big and I'm so tiny. I still like mom of course and curl up on her lap whenever dad isn't there! BOL I just think dad got left out of the cuddles a lot and needed one us of to really, really like cuddling with him. It's my job now - and I think he's glad I got it!

Hugs and licks,
Molly

Thanksgiving Weekend

Having a long weekend sure has been nice - having mom home with us everyday for four whole days. Got some nice lap time in - and I love laptime. It's almost over now though. Mom says her vacation at Christmas is getting close and then she'll be home with us for over a week. I can hardly wait!

We put up the Christmas decorations yesterday. My stocking is hanging there on the fireplace, so I know it's close. Nothing in it yet though. A little box came in the mail the other day, but mom wouldn't let any of us take even a little peak to see what was in it. And now it's living in the toy closet. I bet whatever is in there will be in our stockings soon. I heard her tell dad that there is another box coming with lots of stuff in it. I hope they all have squeakers in them! BOL

Last time I wrote about my skin and the allergies - well, the allergies didn't go away with fall coming. I still chew on my tush. Just one side too - it makes the hair stand up and mom says I look lopsided when I do that. I am taking the itch pills again but they don't do much. My skin is way better though. Had to give up sweet potatoes and carrots and anything starchy or sweet - but that nasty yeast seems to be gone. And mom puts acidophilus in my dinner. It seems to be working, so we're going to keep going with it. Now I hear her talking about taking me for a checkup with Dr. B. I really don't see the need for that - but you know how mom's can be.

I know that Tucker and Sparky really didn't like the kids that came over for Thanksgiving - but I didn't mind them at all. In fact the oldest one cuddled me really good. I kind of like kids - if they are calm when they want to pet me and don't bop me on top of my head anyway. Mom says it's probably because there were kids around in my first home. She is so happy that at least one of us seems to like kids! Thanksgiving was great - turkey for dinner there is still some leftover that we get with dinner.

That about wraps it up for me!
Molly

I'm Feeling Better

That Medicine is really helping me a lot. The allergy pills are in little bits of tuna, which I love, so I never find them and they help so much. The other medicine is clearing up my skin. I am acting like myself again. I play and snuggle with mom at night too. My ears are all better - thank goodness - I hate having those drops in there. We still have a few more times to go on those so I guess I'll just have to endure it. So that's all great news! And hopefully since fall is on the way, I won't have to worry about pills until spring!
Hugs
Molly

Vet Visit

I got to go visit Dr. Ashley yesterday. She is the doggy allergy and dermatology vet I go see for my skin problems. Dr. A and the vet techs are just awesome! I love them all and they think I am so cute - I guess that really helps me think they are special! They have decided that I have some type of environmental allergy. Probably grass or pollen or something like that. When the allergy flares up then my skin gets irritated and the yeast starts to grow. That's why I have lost most of the hair on my neck and tummy. So now I have a bunch of new medicine and stuff - pills for the itching, fish oil for my food, ear medicine to clear up the yeast in my ears, new shampoo to help clear the overgrowth of yeast on my skin and some medicine that tastes like chicken that make especially for me. That's still coming - mom has to order it. See I am special! Mom is now washing my feet and tummy every night before bed. Just in case I have pollen or stuff stuck on me. So I hope I will stop itching really soon. Until then mom is putting that junk in my ears which I hate. And taking those darned pills twice a day - I keep finding them no matter what mom puts them in. I think she's going to try some cream cheese. That might be yummy - even if I find the pill, the stuff she tries to hide it in tastes really good. And the bad news is that I haven't lost any weight at all. Still weigh 5 lbs! That's not too bad, but mom swears I need to lose 1/2 a pound.

Now for the funniest part! There was a black and white cocker spaniel in the waiting area when I got done. She was a pretty girl, but I decided that I didn't like her one bit. I stood right by mom's feet (a nice safe place to hang out) and growled at her. Big growls too. Mom said to stop it, she's a nice doggy. But the doggy's mom said she is not a nice doggy! Mom had to laugh - guess I knew what I was growling about after all! BOL

Busy Summer

It's been such a busy summer so far at our house! Fancy came back to stay with us for two weeks in July. Mom says she can come anytime - she is an awesome houseguest! We all did really well most of the time. Tucker was still a little b..t head to her sometimes, but all that got him was a timeout - well, Fancy too! Hard to tell who "said" what to whom that got the disagreement started. Fancy is fun to play with too - she played tug with Katie and she loved that. She didn't join us in the chase game though. And she got to have baths with me and Katie too. Warm towels and snuggles with mom - then a blow dry! It was great!

Dad is painting the house and that is really interesting. Seems like it's been going on forever! Sparky got one of his feet in the paint tray and left little paw prints on the deck. Mom loves them, but dad says it's not a good thing. I think he needs a sense of humor! But I love my dad! He lets me lay on his arm while he reads the paper. Doesn't bug me, just lets me lay there like the princess I am!

We are on a major collar quest for me. Mom worries about the lack of hair on my neck and that the collars she has been getting me are causing it. So I haven't worn a collar for a long time. But that makes mom nervous too. No ID tag in case I get out of the yard by accident. So our pal Nikki finds a great one for me! It's made of a hemp/silk blend and it's so soft and shiny too. It's actually a kitten collar, but it fits like it was made just for me! It's a pretty creamy white. Who would have guessed that hemp could be so nice. And it's supposed to be helpful for pups with hair loss problems and neck rashes - so we'll see how it goes. Mom is also making collars for us now too - I think she is having too much fun with it! Katie has two new ones right now. She looks really cute in them. Mom says recycling the buckles from our old, worn out collars and buying the tiny amounts of fabric and ribbon makes it very affordable and they are so cute too. No more nylon webbing collars for us! And it keeps mom busy!

We've been having play days too and having such a good time! We've had our friends at our house twice and we've gone to their houses too. We still have three more planned while we can count on good weather. Hopefully the weather will stay nice and we can have more than that. The moms take tons of pictures of us and that's fun. I don't mind posing for pictures! Speaking of posing - Dad has decided that he wants pictures of all of us on his motorcycle! I am not real thrilled about sitting way up there on that thing, but I did it! There's a picture on my page. Actually we all have a picture on our page. Sparky did the best! At least it wasn't making noise!

I think that catches us up!

A Visit From my Mother

My mother, Fancy and our friend Sylvie came to stay with us on July 5 and stayed until yesterday. It was a really fun visit. Fancy is Katie's mother too - and you know what? we really don't care that we're related at all. It was just fun to have a couple of our play day friends come and stay with us. Fancy liked to play fetch the kong balls with Tucker, but Sylvie liked to play chase with me and Tucker too. Katie was kind of a brat - she would growl at Sylvie if she got too close to mom or to her. She even tried that with Fancy, but Fancy told her to knock it off and she did. So we had a really full house - 6 little doggies running around. Mom said it was fun to have us all there. We did have to take walks in shifts though. I guess mom wasn't brave enough to try and walk 6 of us at the same time. So Tucker, Fancy and Katie would go first (they all like to walk fast) and then when they were done me and Sparky and Sylvie would go for our walk. It worked out just fine cause we like to walk slower. Mom says she got lots of good exercise that way too. We even shared our treats nicely and the bed at night too. The house seemed a little empty last night without Fancy and Sylvie, but we know that they missed their mom and their mom missed them - so it's good that they went back to their house!

Summer is Here

Well summer finally got here and it's working real hard to make up for all the rain we had. It is really, really hot now. Too hot to sunbathe even - except for early in the morning. And it's almost too hot to sleep under the blankets at night too and that is my favorite place to sleep. All the sunshine is making the flowers bloom and that means more fun stuff to bring inside and chew up on the rug! Mommy loves it when I decorate for her. In fact I did some decorating this morning - right after she vacuumed the rug!

I met some new people this weekend. They were very nice and gave very good belly rubs. They are my dad's daughter and her husband. They said I was very pretty and so dainty. The only bad part was that mommy and dad were gone a little more than usual. But then they had a BBQ yesterday with dad's son's and another girlfriend so that kind of made up for it. I don't think one of the son's and his girlfriend are dog people if you know what I mean - but the other one comes over a lot and I like him OK. That's the one that Tucker barks at so much - I don't understand it really, he's an OK guy. And most of the time he's in the garage with daddy doing stuff to their motorcycles anyway.

We got to try some new foods this weekend and I am not real impressed. Mommy was so excited about these things called strawberries that she brought home. So we all got a little piece. None of us would eat them! We did have fun with a lettuce leaf though. Ate some of it and tore it up all over the kitchen floor! Now that was fun! Almost as much fun as ice cubes!

A Long Walk

I know that Katie has already talked about the Doggie Dash, but I thought I should comment as well! After all, I am the oldest and should get to put in my two cents worth! BOL It was fun and I loved being carried and told how cute me and Katie were riding along in that carrier. We snuggled in and just poked our heads out so we didn't miss anything. It was a very long walk to get to the park, so we were justified in riding for a while. And there were lots of very big dogs (they were all very nice and polite) and I am really scared of bigger doggies. So riding up there in the carrier was THE way to go for me. Of course where I go, so does Katie. We also got to pose for some pictures with our dog mommy, Fancy and with my dog daddy, Peco. Me and Fancy look so much alike we make really cute pictures! And my daddy is very handsome! Of course Katie's mom is Fancy too, but she doesn't look so much like her as I do. And Katie doesn't stand still for pictures very well. It was a lot of fun, except for having to ride in a kennel in the car. I really prefer my car seat! Didn't miss those brothers of mine one bit! It was pretty great having a day with mommy! We were really tired when we got home too - even mommy. That's a lot of walking - but it was for a great cause and I really hope it helps some doggies find their forever homes.