I HATE FIREWORKS!!!

Gotta make this a quick post as I'm on my way to hide under the desk. There are scary noises coming from outside. Mommy says it's neighborhood kids shooting off firecrackers. I don't like it. It's worse than thunder. But I'll be okay. I don't sedatives or anything. I'll just do my "sad eyes" thing at Mommy to make her think that I'm more scared than I really am so that she'll give me extra attention. (I mean, sometimes ya gotta use your fears to your advantage, right?)

Finally comandeered the computer. . .

Wow. It's been over six months since Mommy has let me post a diary entry. We've visited the Dogster site since then, I just haven't gotten a chance to write. So, tonight I'm comandeering the computer! It's hard to believe we've been living in Chicago for almost a year now. It's such a great place. And it's great to see Mommy happy again. I haven't been especially fond of the cold winter, but considering I have a warm bed to sleep in every night, I guess this Artic Midwest thing is okay. The dog park is actually kinda fun when it's snowy. It makes it a little hard to eat sticks though. And that has become my favorite pasttime at the park. Mommy is constantly telling me: "Drop it," "No eating wood," and "Step away from the stick." So I have to be sneaky. I usually humor her and drop the sticks when she tells me to, but they taste soooo good!

Hey! Check out my new photo if you haven't already seen it. It was taken by Bettie & Penn's Dad. Bettie & Penn are friends of mine from the dog park. Their Dad is a photographer and he took some great shots of us last summer. Mommy says she'll post the other pics soon too. (Though her definition of "soon" seems to be quite broad.) Anyway, Bettie & Penn also have Dogster pages. And they have some really great photos on their pages. You should check them out. A lot of people say that Bettie and I look a lot alike. Maybe we should take a Dogster poll on it. People could vote "yes" be sending a zealie or something.

Oh, before I forget, did everyone know that "International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day" was last week? When Mommy first told me about it, I was a little confused. I mean, I appreciate dog biscuits every day! What's not to appreciate? Mom said we could bake dog biscuits to celebrate and even bought all the ingredients, but then she realized we didn't have any biscuit sheets (she called them "cookie sheets") so the biscuit baking has been postponed. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Sniff ya later!
-Choc

Extra time with Mommy

OK, so Mommy has been home a lot lately, and that means she should give me more time to write in my Dogster Diary, right? Well, apparently not so much. And I have SO much to say. Guess I'll say some of it, and just hope she lets me post another entry soon.

You may be wondering why Mommy has been home more. She had surgery last week, and while she's feeling much better, she's not allowed to go back to work until the doctor says she can. So that means she gets to spend more time with me!

I was a little confused about the whole surgery thing, by the way. She explained it to me. And she said that Grandma was going to come to take care of me while Mommy was in the hospital, but that Grandma and I would also being staying at Baby Z's house with his family in Evanston while Mommy was in the hospital. It was kinda confusing, but I had extra people around to pet me (not to mention Baby Z to play with!) so while I missed Mommy, it wasn't so bad. I was soooo excited to see Mommy when she got home, though. And she was excited to see me. I love my Mommy so much! And she loves me!

Well, Mommy wants the computer back, as usual. Geez. Well, maybe since she'll still be on medical leave for awhile, she'll let me have more time on Dogster. We'll see.

Sniff ya later!
-Choc

Sweet Home Chicago!

Mommy was sooo right! Chicago is a fabulous City!!! I've been wanting to write about for awhile, but Mommy has been hogging the computer (as usual!). After our visit here in February, we went back to Pennsylvania to finish packing and hire movers. We officially moved to Chicago in late March. We spent the first couple days with Mommy's friends. I was so excited to see the Baby, and he was really excited to see me. Baby Z even has his own name for me: "Dah." Sorta like "dog" without the "g" at the end.

We've been in our apartment in Edgewater for a few months now. It's really nice. I'm not too fond of the hardwood floors, but Mommy put a big area rug in the bedroom, so when I jump off the bed I don't slip. She says that it also keeps me from moving the bed. She claimed that I was moving the bed when I jumped onto and off of it, by making it roll a little from the force of my jump. I thought about trying to convince her that the dogs across the hall did it, but I didn't think she'd buy it. Oh well.

The best part about Chgo is that it is so dog-friendly. We go to an "unofficial" dog-friendly area almost every day. I have made tons of new friends there. Mommy says that I have a more productive social life than she does! I've learned a lot about "playing." I never really did a lot of it before. I've always loved attention and meeting other dogs, but I've learned how to chase and kinda wrestle with other dogs. Mommy keeps telling me to watch the dogs who play a special game called "fetch" so that I can learn how to do that. I've watched it. I understand what they do. I just don't understand the purpose of it. The human throws the ball. The dog goes to "fetch" it and brings it back to the human. The human throws it again. They just do it over and over. I figure if the human threw the ball across the field, then they must have wanted to put it there. After all, they just throw it again after the dog brings it back. Hm, maybe those dogs just need to train the humans not to keep throwing the darn ball. But the dogs who play this "fetch" thing really seem to enjoy it.

Well, I should let Mom have the computer back. She'll want to check her e-mail again before we go for a walk and go to bed. I hope she'll let me write in my diary more often now.

Sniff ya later!
-Choc

P.S. Oh, I just remembered: I meant to mention that I haven't been sick since we moved to Chgo (well, except the day I was eating some shrubbery that I mistook for grass until Mommy made me stop). So, I guess that means Mommy was right. It was Pennsylvania's fault. I was fine in Texas and now I'm fine in Chicago. We both also REALLY happy here.

Chicago's pretty cool (and also very COLD)

So, we've been in Chicago for a week now, staying with friends of Mommy. Her friends have a cute baby and he and I have become friends. Hopefully Mom will post a photo of the two of us together.

My says she found a great apt for us. It has central air. Something she says she never worried about before she adopted me, but now she says its very important, 'cause she says Chicago gets really hot in the summer and I need the central air. She said we'll have to climb two flights of stairs at the apartment, but she said that they are carpeted.

The house we're staying in right now doesn't have carpeted stairs. I've had some problems with them, but seem to have it figured out, though I did fall on them yesterday. They also have floors everywhere here! There are area rugs, but still lots of floors. I don't really like floors, they are slippery, especially when I get excited and try to do my happy dance. I have to try to remember to only do my happy dance when I'm on the rug. Mommy says the apartment in Chicago has floors, but that she'll get area rugs. (She prefers carpet too.)

OH, and she said there's a park right next to the apartment building! Cool! The friends we're staying with have a yard, so I've been out in it a few times. It doesn't have the greatest fence, so I took the opportunity to visit the neighbors' yard. Mommy wasn't amused. And she was right, the grass wasn't greener on the other side of the fence. You can't even see the grass here. There is snow EVERYWHERE! And it's cold, but it still seems to be a nice place. I just hope Mommy knows what she's doing uprooting us and moving to a new place again so soon. But she seems happy while we've been visiting her. And she says we'll both be happy once we move here. I definitely like visiting here. The Baby is tons of fun. I hope I'll get to see him and play with him once we move here and have our own apartment.

Gotta sign off now. Sniff ya later!
-Choc

It's been awhile. . .

I don't know if anyone cruising Dogster ever reads my diary, but if anyone is reading, youv'e probably noticed that it's been awhile since I've barked an entry. It's Mom's fault! After all, she's the only one who knows who to type.

I'd been sick for awhile. After a few visits to the vet and some tests & x-rays, the best diagnosis is that I have a "sensitive stomach." (Of course, it's certainly not too sensitive for belly rubs!) So, I'm on a special diet. The vet called it a "bland diet," but I like a LOT better than the Iam's weight control food Mommy had been feeding me since she adopted me. Only problem is that I don't get treats very often AT ALL. But, I haven't thrown up in a few weeks, so that's good. Mommy was getting tired of cleaning up the messes.

In other news, Mommy said we're moving to Chicago! She says it's a very dog-friendly city. The job that Mommy moved us half-way across the country for did not work out. It didn't end too well, either. But, Mommy has been so much happier now that she doesn't have to go to "that place" every day. She nows refers to it as either "that place" or "the seventh level of hell." Yep, she was pretty miserable. But in a couple months we'll be living Chicago. Mommy has been packing frenetically and creates a new obstacle course of boxes for me navigate through every day. At least our apt here is larger than the one in we had in Lubbock. Especially the living room. It makes it much easier to wind my way around the boxes to get to the couch.

Yes, the couch. I now have permanent couch privileges. Mommy was reluctant to grant me this concession, but then she rationalized that her $1600 sofa-sleeper sectional is about ten years old, so it's not quite the prized possession it once was. It's still in great shape ('cause I don't chew on furniture or anything like that.) And it's very comfy. Mommy said that when she first bought it, she wouldn't let food anywhere near it. -- I guess that means she actually ate at the dining room table. She's only done that a few times that I can remember. She usually sits on the couch watching TV when she eats dinner. (Unfortunately she never shares her food with me. She says it's "people food" and I'm not a "people." Oh well, can't have everything.

For Christmas, Mom bought me a Dogster Plus account. Now she can add captions to my photos. She can probably do all sorts of other fun stuff, but she hasn't tried to.

I hope I make new friends in Chgo. I have three friends here. I've met a bunch of dogs when we've been out walking, but there are three who I always run to greet when I see them: Amber, Charlie, and Buddy. Amber is a little obsessive-compulsive. She likes to look out the window and then barks and runs in circles when she sees us walk by (actually she does that whenever she sees ANYONE walk by). Charlie is a 16-year-old pug. He's deaf and his eyesight is really bad. He has other geriatric problems, but keeps on truckin' along. His Daddy takes very good care of him. Charlie even has a couple vets who are "specialists." Buddy is my newest friend. He has the energy of Nacho (my best friend in Lubbock). He's still a puppy and I didn't know what to think of him at first because he was so rambunctious. He's calmed down a little since then and we get along great. Charlie is a Standard Poodle/Scottie mix. Imagine the face of a Scottie on a bigger dog.

Well, Mom wants to check her e-mail now, so I guess that means she'll be signing off Dogster soon. I'll try to get her to let me write more often.

Sniff ya later!
Choc

10/14 - Finally!

Finally have a chance to do another diary entry. Mom has been hogging the computer lately, I tried to hint at her yesterday buy plunking myself down beside her and sticking my head up through her arms while she was typing and just staring at the screen. It didn't work. I know, I know, since I'm home alone during the day, I could write an entry then, right? Nope. I don't know how to use the computer. An since I don't have opposable thumbs, typing would be kinda difficult anyway. So, I need to wait for Mom to help me out.

I'm well on my way to getting Mommy fully trained. As you know, it took awhile but I trained her that I am supposed to sleep on the bed too. Last night (when she using the computer) I put a paw up on the couch to test the water. She said "No," so I stopped. But then when she was lying on the couch watching amovie later, I took a running start and jumped up on the couch to lie on top of her. It worked! (Of course, the fact that was on top of her and she couldn't push me down helped.) She scootched over a little and I got to lie there while she watched the rest of the movie. I'm pleased with how well this training thing is going. I'll be eating people food in no time at this rate!

Speaking of people food, I have been getting a few bites each day. I'm on antibiotics (more about that later) and since I can spit out a pill faster than Mom can drop it down my throat, I get my meds in a bite of people food. Mommy had made some mashed potatoes and I got my pills in that for a couple days. Then she switched to ice cream. My favorite! Now I get ice cream every day! Pills aren't so bad when you get ice cream. . .

OK, the antibiotics. Last Thursday night I started throwing up. It was a miserably long night, I was wretching a lot and Mommy was tossing and turning. (The fact that she managed to get us locked out of the building and we didn't get back in until almost 3am didn't help.) I threw up again in the morning and ate a lot of grass but it wasn't helping. Mom went into work for a few hours and then came home and took me to the vet. The vet took x-rays and told Mommy that at some point in my life I had been shot. You could see the little pieces of metal in the x-ray. (That wasn't was making me sick - just a side note of how rough my life was before I lived at the shelter and ultimately got adopted.) The vet said there was no blockage, and it was probably something I ate on a walk. (I always try to eat stuff from the ground. Mommy tells me not to, but sometimes I manage to gobble something up before she notices.) Anyway, I'm doing much better now. I still have another couple days of antibiotics which means another few days of ice cream. (Hm, do you think I have Mommy trained well enough to keep letting me have ice cream every day after I finish the med regimen?)

Sniff ya later!
-Choc

9/27 - "Baseball" translates to fewer belly rubs

I am always trying to understand Mommny when she speaks in Humanese
(and believe me, she does it a lot. Generally I just react with what I think are appropriate facial expressions, and that seems to please her.) I think I have figured out a new Humanese word, it is "baseball" and it means Mommy listens to the radio over the internet while people play some sort of game, and I get fewer belly runs as a result. It's crucial for the Cubbies to win. They're from Chicago. The Cubs are Mom's favorite team. The Cubs lost (again) tonight, so now it is crucial for the Padres to beat the Brewers. She's glued to her laptop and I won't be getting much lovin' and attention' until she stops stressing over the score.

So, I figured I could at least get her to post a diary entry for me. Last night she was so excited because she found a website for Steve Goodman that plays the song "Go Cubs Go." She was listening to it (and singing along) while she was watching the game. Then she e-mailed a link to that website to Baxter's Mom back in TX. Bax and his family are also Cubs Fans. Baxter's Mom called my Mom and they talked for awhile, it gave Mommy a chance to vent about some of the stress she's facing at work. I was glad that she had a new audience as I've already heard all about it, and I could just take a nap.

While I'm a little miffed that my belly rubs are playing second string to this "baseball" thing, I really do hope the Cubs go all the way. It makes Mommy so happy when they win. And she hasn't adjusted as well to our new life here as I have. So she needs to find things to reduce her stress and make her happy. I always think belly rubs help. Maybe the next time she's lying on her back, I'll try to figure out how to rub her belly.

Sniff ya later!
Choc

9/13/07 - sometimes you gotta be obvious

Mom hasn't added a diary entry for me in a while and I thought it was about she did so. So, when she sat down and turned on her laptop, I plunked myself down between her and the coffee table and stared at the screen. She got the idea. Now I'm lying on the floor and have one of her feet trapped underneath me so that she has to stay where she is until she has finished my diary entry.

Um, yeah, guess I shoulda thought about the fact that I don't much to say before I convinced Mom to log on. Oops. Okay, here's something: chasing squirrels is fun. I didn't have squirrels to chase in Texas. I chased birds sometimes, and even caught a couple (Mom was not amused by my hunting prowess). Here in Pennsylvania I've encountered strange little furry things which Mommy calls "squirrels." They are really fun to try to chase, but again, Mom says she doesn't want me to catch them, so she doesn't let me run very far. I caught her off guard a couple days ago. She didn't see the squirrel and was looking the other direction when I took off. By the time she tried to put the brake on my leash (it's a retractable leash), I was at the end of it and almost pulled her off her feet. Unfortunately, it now means that she keeps a better eye out for the squirrels too.

OK. I think I'll let Mom stop typing and maybe let her rub my belly for awhile.

Sniff ya later!
-Choc

9/8/07 - new treats

Mommy received a belated b-day gift from my uncle (her brother) and his family yesterday. Inside the box was a bag of dog treats on which they'd written "For Choc." Mommy said that was silly, because she was certainly bright enough to figure out that the treats for me instead of her. After she opened them, she said the "For Choc" note was a good idea because they were jerky treats and she was tempted to try them herself. I sat waiting patiently while she was sniffing the treat and considering whether to take a bite. Finally she gave one to me, saying "Chew it." It was really yummy! Mommy admonished me not "chewing "it. But I did chew it!!! I chewed it twice. Then I swallowed it. She gave me another one today, this time I humored her and chewed about six times before swallowing. Humans are silly sometimes. She also doesn't like it when I eat stuff off the ground when we're out walking. Every time I try to do it, she tells me we need to review the "no-eating-stuff-from-the-ground" rule. Well, SHE calls it a rule. Personally, I think of it as more of a guideline.

It's soon time for a walk and then bed. I suppose I need to let Mom check her own e-mail.

Sniff ya later!
-Choc