Every smell is a good smell

Dog days

I don't know about the rest of you, but I could really use a break from all this heat and humidity. It cuts down on the amount of energy Akera and I have for romping outside.

Yesterday mom and dad spent some time in the garden, also known as "the place where I'm not allowed to pee." Later that evening mom was busy blanching broccoli for freezing and shredding zucchini for bread. I tried a piece of the broccoli that mom dropped on the floor. I didn't like it, so mom called over Akera who eats anything.

Speaking of eating anything. Akera got put on a diet by her doctor. She's not to happy and is trying to eat anything she can put in her mouth now. She did manage to lose all the weight prescribed by the doctor and now she's on "maintenence," whatever that is.

On another note, mom's belly keeps getting bigger. It's making it very hard to snuggle on the couch with her. I'm still not to sure about this baby thing, so I've been sticking extra close to mom.

Roses and posies

Akera and I found a new way to irritate mom. We roll in interesting smells (the smellier the better). Mom and dad had friends over on Sunday and while we were all outside Akera and I found this wonderful thing that smelled so cool. Mom gave us both baths afterward.

However, the next day, when mom let us outside to use the facilities, I found something else and brought that smell back to her. She was sooo happy. I even got spot bath out of it.

On another note, Akera had to sleep in her crate last night because she was all greasy from her Frontline application. I escaped that treatment because my fur was still wet from the spot bath. I think I'm getting Frontlined tonight though because mom said I was sleeping in my crate tonight. Darn.

Baby blues

A few weeks ago mom started acting all funny and was spending a lot of time in the bathroom. She even slept in there a couple of times. I don't mind when she does this because the bathroom floor is nice and cool.

On top of that she's been telling me "no" whenever I try to walk on top of her, especially when I get anywhere near her belly. In case you didn't know, mom hardly ever tells me no because I'm her baby...

Then a few days ago dad was telling mom that she wasn't going to be able to call me the baby anymore after the real baby came. REAL BABY? What's this? I didn't sign up for one of those squaking, squealing things that mom's friends bring over all the time. The only thing good about babies is that they grow up to be toddlers who drop food everywhere. Well, that and they smell good.

Sittin' pretty

A few months ago mom and dad wrangled all the furbabies together and loaded us into the car. Of course Akera & I had no problems with this. We're old pros at car rides. K-Kat and Ralph (the guinea pig) weren't very pleased.

Anyway, we went to mom's workplace, but into a different building. There were all these other dogs there and this guy with a funny black machine that clicked and flashed. I didn't so much care about him, but there was this lady with him who had cookies! I have a very hard time thinking about Cookies! without putting an exclamation point after them.

The lady told me if I sat and stared really hard at her while the guy played with his clicky, flashy thing, then she'd give me a cookie! Of course I gave them my best stare. Mom and dad have the pictures to prove it, and mom put it on my page.

I'm sorry

I know, it's been a long while since I barked anything new. Since my last entry spring has sprung (not that you could tell that with how cold it is today) and mom is feeling much better. Her new medicine is helping and so are the longer days.

There for a while I was going to work 2 or 3 times a week, but mom told me the other day that I wasn't going to be coming with as much anymore. Apparently her boss is allergic to dogs. He never complained about me, in fact, mom found out about this from another coworker. That means trips to work are reserved for a special treat or when mom's feeling especially blue.

Blue Christmas

There must be something about the weather that gets humans down. Mom has been having lots of trouble with her anxiety lately. The docs have her on some new medicine. I hope it works soon. The good side of this is that I get to go to work pretty often. That pink tag mom had me get earlier sure is coming in useful.

Today I met the Dean, who is mom's #1 boss. He seemed nice enough and asked questions about me, not that I did much. I was in the middle of a nap under mom's desk and just opened my eyes a bit when I heard them talking about me.

It's only a few more days until Santa Paws comes. I've been monitoring my stocking and it has a few interesting bulges in it. I did overhear mom and dad talking about how Akera and I will have to share our Christmas present this year. Sometimes I wish for the days when I was an only dog... then Akera comes over and we get to wrestling and I forget all about it.

Access baby

Yesterday mom took me to work with her and I took this test thingy. This strange lady came into the cubicle and petted me really roughly and talked loudly. Then we went for walk and she threw her clipboard in front of me, asked some lady in the hallway to pet me and introduced me to another dog. Mom says I did very well and this morning she got a shiny pink tag that says "P.G.O.D. 79" on it. Mom says it means I get to go to work with her.

Fostering bad will

A couple of weeks ago mom brought home another dog. He was an Anatolian Shephard mix named Chester. Mom, and dad kind of, agreed to foster him for 2 weeks for our local humane society while they worked to get him placed with a rescue group. Chester wasn't too bad. He still had all his boy parts, but all three of us got along pretty well. Chester thought it was his job to mark everything vertical in our yard so I had to run around after him remarking. It was a vicious cycle. He was pretty much housebroken, pretty much meaning he only marked in 2 places in the house and had no other accidents.

So things were looking good, then mom started to notice things about him... like how he would growl at mom whenever he had a "food" toy like a natural bone or a kong. This of course made mom investigate whether or not he was food aggressive. He was. Whever mom would get close to him and bend over like she was going to take away the bowl he would give her a warning growl.

Mom was willing to overlook these things because he was a great dog otherwise, and it was only for two weeks. In fact, he even got to the point where he was allowed to go outside off-lead with Akera and I. We had tons of fun racing around the yard.

Then it happened... he found the chicken pen. Chester and the rooster tustled and Chester won. Mom was very upset so Chester ended up going back to the humane society before his two weeks at our house were up. Mom felt bad, but she was afraid for our other chickens.

Long story short, the folks at the humane society weren't interested in any of the information mom was going to tell them about Chester's food aggression and other temperments. They were just judgemental because she was bringing him back in. This is one dog-loving household that won't be fostering for the local shelter again.

Bestest, bestest friends

I love summer. There's the garden to tend, the chickens to chase, swimming, and plenty of puddles, and these long meandering walks with mom and her friends. Akera and I made mom very proud when we heeled beautifully on our most recent walk. It's no small feat to heel beside mom's knee when Akera keeps trying to crowd me out of the way. Anyway, by the end of the walk mom let me off lead - and I kept heeling anyway. She was so impressed that she told me I was the bestest dog in the world. Duh, I already knew that.

Doggone days of summer

They call these the dog days of summer, but really, what about this heat and humidity could a dog like? I've been spending my days lazing around the house, drinking lots of water, and keeping an eye on Akera and Ralph.

Mom tried to talk dad into letting her bring home another dog the other day. His name is scrambles and he's a young Australian Shephard that' s not having a good time at the local shelter. Mom wants to foster him, but dad says absolutely not. What's one more dog when you've already got 2.5?

Great Dane fact of the day: Great Danes and chickens don't mix well. I think Akera is having nightmares about those birds and trying to get into their pen.

Squeeky Wheeky

I can't say much now cuz mom's in a hurry and needs to turn off the computer, but I wanted to let you all know that we got a new family member the other day. His name is Ralph. He poops out these banana shaped niblets that Akera and I think taste wonderful, but mom and dad keep shooing us away from them. Anyway, mom says Ralph is a guinea pig that she got from a rescue group at work. I'm kind of afraid of him, especially when he runs toward me. Mom says I shouldn't be afraid, but I can't help it. He's got these big teeth, he shows no fear of me when I bounce toward him and whenever I sniff him he makes this squeaky wheeky sound.

My Tail of Devotion for Bandit

This is a special Tail of Devotion

See All Tails of Devotion

All better

Akera is all better. She's allowed to run and play with me again. She's also started nibbling on the back of my neck again. I didn't miss that when she stopped doing it, but I guess I'd rather have a little nibbling and a lot of playing than nothing at all.

Last weekend mom dogsat for Stoli and Lilly and Gabe came to visit. Dad said we sounded like a herd of cattle romping through the house. I'm sure anyone who saw us wondered what the deal was with the black and white dogs being chased by the red dogs.

Model thin

Akera has been feeling much better lately. She wants to run and wrestle with me sooo bad, but mom and dad won't let her. I can't wait for her treatment to be done so we can at least go outside to pee on things together. I have noticed that my normally svelte lady is putting on a few pounds. Akera's blaming it on the prednisone, but I don't mind. I thought she was a little too thin anyway.

Shhh, he's sleeping

Don't tell mom, but one of dad's friends came over late last night and he's sleeping in the sewing room. Mom was asleep when he got here so she hasn't seen him, but I can smell him in there. I'm stalking the door waiting for it to open so I can run in and pounce on him.

Woohoo!

Dog of the week is fun! I'm making so many new friends. It's almost like going to the dog park for an entire day!

While I'm happy for me, and Akera who's doing well with the heartworm treatment, I've got my paws crossed for Barbaro, the horse who won the Kentucky Derby and then was injured in the Preakness Stakes. He's got a long road to recovery. Good luck Barbaro

Trading spaces

I love my new pillow. It's so soft and fluffy and good to sleep on. Unfortunately Akera likes it too. Every night mom puts one pillow on one side of the bed and the other pillow on the other side... and every night Akera and I switch back and forth a couple of time trying to figure out which spot is best.

Last night Akera was especially naughty and kept pulling dirty clothes out of the close hamper. When mom woke up this morning there were three pairs of underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of pants on the floor beside the bed. Akera never destroys the clothes. She just drags them around with her.

Yesterday mom let me play in one of the big mud puddles near our house. It was so much fun. What wasn't fun was the hour I had to spend in the mudroom while my paws dried enough for her to brush the mud out.

snuggly soft

My mommy loves me. Last night she was sewing away on this big thing and then she spent some time stuffing stuffing and a few cedar chips into it. I was of course curious. Whenever stuffing is involved I investigate. I just love to pull stuffing out of my toys. Anyway, mom finished putting the stuffing in, zipped this thing up and told me to climb on. I turns out mom made me a huge doggie pillow. Akera took over my old blue plaid one so mom decided to make me a new one.

Would you know it, Akera tried to steal this one too. Mom wouldn't let her though. I like my new pillow, it's fluffy and mom laid it on the floor in front of the fan, just where I like to crash for the night.

Not fair

Akera came home last night. She wasn' ther normal self though. She was calm and slept a lot. Mom hovered over her too. Usually she's fawning over me, but Akera was getting all the attention. While I was happy to see her, I didn't think she deserved that fluffy nest mom made in her crate, or the bone she tossed in there either. Once mom and dad were done with dinner and mom was busy petting Akera I snuck under her arm, into the crate and stole that bone. Mom took it back.

All by myself

Yesterday mom came home from work and found me in the midst of a serious wrestle and slobber session with two labs. Dad's friend Rob brought his boys Duncan and Socrates out to enjoy our large yard. Enjoy they did.

Then right before Duncan and Socs left mom's friend Jen and her husband Russ came over. More fun for me. Mom and Jen left for a short while to pick up Stoli and Lily. When they got back I thought mom was going to let Akera out of the back so I ran over and was sniffing the door like crazy. No Akera though. Instead they unloaded the largest crate I've ever seen and set it up in the living room.

All last night Akera didn't come home, even when I walked up to mom and begged her to go get Akera and bring her back... I miss my sister.

Where'd you go?

Dad took Akera away this morning. She has heartworms and has to spend some time with the doctor to get better. Mom promised me that I don't have to worry about getting heartworms because she faithfully gives me my preventative. Akera's former owners didn't give any to her I guess.

Now Akera's life is in danger because they made that choice. Even though she farts, constantly picks on me, and takes up most of the bed I still miss her.

Mom says she'll come home in 2 days, but that she has to be quiet for a very long time until those nasty worms are all out of her system. I hope everything goes okay.

The poke and the prod

Friday was my annual wellness checkup with the vet. I happen to love going to the vet's office. All those smells, all those new people, and treats! And I always get french fries on the way home.

Mom took Akera, myself and K-Kat in at the same time. We all got the usual pokes and prods, but this time there were some unfamiliar people doing the poking. Mom switched vets on us because she just got a job at the Purdue Vet School. I like this vet just fine, but the student who gave me one of my injections didn't do such a good job. The next day I hurt very, very bad. So bad I didn't want to walk or lay on that side. Whenever anyone even grazed my side I yelped. I've never had that problem before so mom's not sure what caused it.

I'm all better now though.

Welcome friends

Yesterday mom went to visit the new neighbors and I got to ride along. Akera had to stay home with dad because last time we took a ride over to their house she sat in the back of the SUV and barked the WHOLE time we were there.

I even got to sniff noses (and other parts) with Stoli and Lily. I really, really like Lily. Stoli and I pretty much ignored each other once we'd peed on every stationary object. Lily and I had a blast running and wrestling. Usually I try to get romantic with every dog that I meet, but mom said I did very well with these guys. I even ventured into their house and didn't try to take a single toy. Mom says I must have done so well because they remind me of Truman.

Hello neighbor

When you live in the country new people moving in three miles away is cause for excitement. It's even better when you kind of know the people who are moving in - and when they have dogs... my favorite kind of dogs... golden retrievers.

A couple that mom and dad know recently moved into a farm house over the creek and through a couple of fields. They have two goldens, Stoli and Lily. I haven't met them yet, but I'm looking forward to it. My bestest friend ever growing up was Truman a golden retreiver, so in my book all goldens are good. I don't know if I love them quite as much as the beagles that I torture at dog park events, but I definitely like them.

Slacker

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written - but that's because mom got a new job and some friends moved into the neighborhood. There hasn't been a lot of free time. Plus the weather has been wonderful and mom and dad have been busy landscaping the house.

I view landscaping as just one more place to mark my territory, so it's alright with me. Akera really likes it too because mom has been walking in neighboring fields to pick up field stone. (The farmers love this, and mom gets landscaping material for free) Anyway, for some reason Akera adores running like a maniac in freshly plowed fields so when mom's hiking through them Akera's running laps around her. Personally, I think it's more fun to lay in the shade and watch Akera and mom work. Mom has threatened to harness Akera to a sled so she can help pull the rocks back to the house.

Great dane fact of the day: great dane inside = couch potato; great dane outside=tazmanian devil

New job

I got to work with mom all last week. Most them time I crashed on the floor in her cubicle or spent my time in the mailroom downstairs. Every morning when she'd ask me if I wanted to go with I'd get all excited - but then when we'd get to work I was ready to go home again. Work is BORING! I mean the first day or so everyone was making a big deal over me, but then they got used to me being there and all I had to do was sleep.

Hardly workin'

I got to go to work with Mom on Friday! It was sooo cool. She was getting ready for work and heading out the door when she asked if I wanted to go for a ride. Of course I jumped at the chance.

I spent most of my time in her cubicle and then she took me to the vet during her lunch hour. Fortunately it was Friday and there weren't that many people in the office.

I had to go to the vet because I'd been throwing up during the middle of the night. Come to find out I've got what's called bilious vomitting syndrome. Basically it means I throw up if my tummy gets too empty (like during the long night). So mom makes sure I've got some food near my crate upstairs and I've been right as rain ever since. This health "problem" is pretty cool. It means more goodies for me?:)

False alarm

I gave mom plenty to worry about last night. She woke up to the sound of me heaving like I was going to throw up. She got up with me, but I didn't bring anything up except stomach bile. I did it two more times in the night. The final time mom got up and just sat with me a while. When mom noticed the red spot on my nose where I'd rubbed it raw trying to bury something she got even more serious about finding vomit - but I hid it really well because mom never found it.

Anyway, this morning I got my temperature taken an my gums examined. Everything looks fine, and I'm eating and drinking like there was nothing wrong. Mom put me in my crate for the day just in case. Akera's laughing at me because usually it's only her that gets locked up.

Wrigley returns

I saw the demon dog Wrigley last weekend. You know what? He wasn't a demon anymore. In fact I really enjoyed having him around we wrestled and played tuggy with Akera's rope toy. It was like having a normal sized playmate.

Wrigley's sister Gizzy came with as well. Gizzy weighs 10 pounds, but she doesn't take any crap. Akera was running away from her.

This weekend my brother Gabe is coming to visit - and there's a dog park for a day event in town. Mom says we're going, but she's not sure if she'll take both of us into the enclosure at one time. This will be Akera's first visit to the dog park. I've got my paws crossed that she doesn't embarass me.

Laundry day

There are certain things that humans shouldn't be allowed to do. Washing the extremely soft and snuggly comforter from mom and dad's bed should be one of them. As far as I'm concerned mom washing that blanket was an act of animal cruelty. Not becuase I don't love the smell of freshly laundered bedding, but because mom isn't letting me on the bed.

Akera is particularly confused by this turn of events. One, because she hasn't been in the house as long as I have so she doesn't know about mom's cleaning standards, and two, because she believes that the bed and the couch are her domains. You should have seen Akera this morning. Mom let her out of her crate and she immediately raced over to jump on the bed. When mom rather forcefully told her no, she turned, looked at mom and slunk around to the other side of the bed thinking that she could sneak up over there. Mom wasn't fooled.

We all went downstairs for a potty break and as we were leaving the bedroom mom closed the door -- and made sure it latched. The importance of this act didn't dawn on Akera until she raced into the house, sprinted past mom, and scooted upstairs only to almost crash into the closed door. She also couldn't push it open with her nose. Oh the cruelty.

Watch your fingers

I made mom fall down the other day. See we were unloading the last of the groceries and when we were headed in the house, mom was watching me to make sure that I didn't get squished under the garage door instead of watching where she was going. She ended up tripping over two coolers (that dad should have put away weeks ago) and jamming her finger really bad. After she spent some time hopping around and clutching her finger we went into the house.

The first doctors she went to said she broke her finger and they made her wear this funny metal thingy. Akera and I couldn't get enough of smelling and licking that thing.

Then today she went to another doctor who specializes in these kind of things and he said the finger wasn't broken and that she didn't have to wear the metal thingy anymore.

Yippee - that means yummy snacks when mom's piddling in the kitchen. With that metal thingy she wasn't able to wash dishes (and therefore hesitant to cook since dad isn't the world's best dish washer).

Jailbreak!

As I told you a post or two ago, mom recently installed a pet barrier in the back of her SUV. The following weekend we took a trip up north to visit the family so mom decided to test the barrier. She loaded up the car, laid an old sleeping bag on the floor in the back and threw in a couple kongs and other "safe for non supervised fun" toys. They area looked so comfy that mom considered riding back there, but she decided against it.

Anyway, she then instructed Akera and I to jump in (which we did with relish thinking we'd simply jump over the seats). By the time we spied the barrier it was too late and the back door was already shut. After Akera and I argued over a choice toy and which of us got which side things seemed to be going well.

However, about an hour from grandma's house I crawled into mom's lap. She was surprised (of course) and when she turned around to see where I'd gotten out she discovered that I'd pushed aside some of the junk in the back seat and weasled my way under the barrier (because one of the backseats was folded down). Akera was busy trying to squeeze through the same hole, but only her head would fit.

Needless to say on the way back home mom fix my escape route by putting the seats up. I managed to survive the trip by napping, picking on Akera and trying to poke my head through the barrier bars... but mostly by napping.

Tax tips

Mom and dad have been discussing deductions and W2s for a couple of days now. I don't know what all of it means, but dad keeps saying it's too bad they can't claim me as a deduction since they spend enough money on me.

In other news, mom purchased a pet barrier system last weekend. Grandma called her from Tractor Supply Company and said they had them on super duper clearance. (Like $10 clearance) She installed it in the car Monday evening and had Akera and I hop in to make sure we'd fit in the space. I'm not sure I like the thing, but mom seems happy. She thinks she won't have to vaccuum the car as often... I plan to shed extra when I'm riding back there so we'll see.

Other than that things have been as usual around here. This coming weekend is our last trip home for a while, but I've heard that Will, Amanda and Corbin might come visit. I've also heard talk about Gizzy and Wrigley coming down for a weekend and Blue coming back for a visit. Let the doggie fun begin!

The great escape

Recently I've been trying to open Akera's cage door when mom and dad crate her for the night. I've always been able to use my paw to pull open my crate door when it's closed (but not locked). So in my doggie wisdom I've started trying to do the same to free Akera in the evenings. Mom's counting the days until I learn how to flip the latches.

* Mom's note: while Bandit's attempts are cute now, and will be cute the first couple of times he succeeds, I don't think he realizes that if he consistently frees Akera from her crate that means he'll get crated too.

The googily woogily ball

It's been so long since I've written I've almost forgotten my touch typing skills. Christmas turned out well. Mom was able to get her story done on Christmas Eve, so she didn't have to go back into work until Jan. 2. Yippee! That meant Akera and I got to spend loads of time watching television and cleaning the house with mom. Well, mom cleaned and Akera and I managed to shed hair on everything. Oh - and best of all, I not only got the grunting duck that I asked for, but I also got a grunting goose. Mom said she was in the store and couldn't decide if she should get me the goose that matches my first grunting duck, or the duck that had the most lifelike grunt she's ever heard, so she got both. Akera's not allowed to play with them because she likes to shred toys.

Not that Akera didn't get a haul too. She got a rope/ball tuggy toy from Grandma Hagen and a green and red knobbly wobbly ball from mom and dad. I really like that knobbly wobbly ball. (Dad calls it a googily woogily ball and mom laughs every time) We've already had numerous tug-o-war matches with the rope toy.

This weekend we're going back to visit the grandparents again. Mom says it's time to refill our freezer with beef. I think that means tasty snacks for me :)

Bah Humbug

Mom is very sad. She wasn't able to get her magazine story done for work so that means she can't take Christmas vacation like she planned.

I really enjoy it when mom is home from work for the holidays, so I think Akera and I are goin to run into mom's office and growl at her boss.

Long weekends

Long weekend rock. Mom and dad have time to laze about in bed in the morning, which means that Akera and I have time to hop on the bed and wrestle to our hearts content on top of their legs, and sometimes their torsos. Dad draws the line at my butt sitting on top of his face for these sessions.

Long weekends also mean visitors and last weekend we had Lucy over to watch the Packers game with her people and mom and dad. Akera and Lucy got along like peanut butter and jelly, while Lucy and I got along like, well, velcro and saran wrap. What I mean is that I wanted to be velcroed to Lucy and Lucy wanted nothing to do with me. What? I love Lucy, I wanted to show Lucy how much I love her by sniffing her constantly and trying to do unmentionables to her. Instead mom banished me to my crate for a while and then allowed me to come downstairs and sit beside her, but only if I was wearing my gentle leader and attached to a leash. Stupid gentle leader.

Anyway, Akera has a new picture of her and Lucy, a min pin, playing. Note that I'm nowhere to be found in the picture. Hurrumph!

Hide and seek

Today Akera and I decided it would be a good idea to hide from mom when she called us back in the house. We hid so well that she went and got dad and they got into the car to come look for us. Mom was sure that we'd run down the gravel road to the neighboring farm. Silly her.

As she and dad were backing out of the garage, dad noticed that Akera and I hadn't really left mom's sight... we were just all the way out to the grove of trees in the field behind the house. We were having such a good time running in circles chasing each other around that grove.

Mom called us back, and of course we came running. Akera got there much faster than me because she has way longer legs. All those snow drifts are hard work. One minute I'm running flat out on top of the drift and the next my legs have pushed through the top layer and I fly nose first into the drift.

Houseguests

Didn't Mark Twain say that houseguests and fish both stink after three days? I tend to agree. Since last Friday Riley and Titan, two great pyrenees dogs, have been staying with us. Their parents are in Cancun on their honeymoon. Of course mom agreed to dogsit while they were gone.

Things started out fine, we'd just gotten some snow so the whole pack of us were outside playing in the snow, but then Chris left and Titan and Riley stayed. Now I've got three dogs that weigh more than 100 pounds competing with me for space on the bed. I keep trying to dominate Titan (the bigger of the two) and I've got him pretty much cowed, but sometimes he gets sassy. Mom and dad are tired of my antics and keep telling me to stop being a grouchy old man. I can't help it, at a little over 2 years old I'm the geriatric of the bunch.

On a good note, I haven't seen hide nor hair of the cat since the boys came to stay. Only 4 more days to go.

Great dane fact of the day: Great pyrenees dogs make great danes look small.

Wish List

Dear Santa,

I've been a very good dog this year. In fact, I've got a new sister who picks on me constantly, so I think that deserves some extra special treats this year. I've typed out my list for your reference.

1. Grunting goose toy
2. Beggin strips
3. Tennis balls
4. Peanut butter
5. Longer legs so I can keep up with Akera
6. A larger crate
7. A set of stairs leading up to the kitchen counter
8. Snow all year round
9. Swimming all year round
10. An endless supply of kisses and hugs from mom
11. More bushes to pee on
12. In case you didn't notice before, Beggin strips

And, one final wish, but you might have to have a conversation with God about it... I wish Akera and K-Kat would become friends.

Say cheese

Last night mom put my reindeer antlers on, and then she put a santa hat on Akera and she made us sit in front of the Christmas tree to pose for pictures. I excel at this type of activity - first because I'm smart and I know what stay means, and second, because I'm a ham and enjoy the treats and lovin' that I get when I do a good job. Patience is key with these photo sessions.

Akera did really well with the santa hat, she didn't even care it was there (I don't like my antlers) but she struggled with the stay part of the excercise. As in, everytime mom would get us positioned and then hold up the treat to get us to perk up our ears Akera would stand up and walk toward the camera. One time she layed down and barked.

Needless to say, mom has many more pictures featuring my tortured expression than she does of Akera and I sitting nicely before the tree. Fortunately the cat wasn't included in this photo session. But something tells me that day isn't far off.

Great dane fact of the day: Even though Akera's a couch potato - she can't sit still for one minute when there's a treat involved.

Christmas is coming

Mom decorated the house for Christmas last night. She put up my stocking and hid my Christmas present in it. I think it's a stuffed duck that quacks. I stared at my stocking for 30 minutes last night trying to use my Jedi powers to make it fall down, but it didn't work. I know there's a toy in there though, I can see the top of it sticking out.

I got to feast on some venison on Saturday. Dad got a buck, and Jake and I were more than willing to gnaw on the leg bones. Mom gave me a quick rinse with the garden hose (brrrr!) because I got a little messy when I was working on that bone.

Family togetherness

This morning mom got up a little early and let Akera out of her crate and then climbed back into bed. Akera immediately hopped on the bed and nestled in between mom and dad's legs. I got a little jealous of that, so I hopped up and walked up mom's body, licked her face then curled up on top of mom and dad's pillows right between their heads. That wasn't the most comfortable though, so I inched my way down under the covers right by their chests.

Dog fact of the day: One full sized bed + two humans + one great dane + a bandito dog = no room for movement, or for the cat when she wants to hop on the bed too.

Snugglebug

This morning I thought it would be fun to wake mom up at 5 a.m. by whining next to her head. I normally go out at 6 or 6:30 so mom wasn't in too much of a rush to wake up. Instead she flipped back the covers and pulled me onto the bed. As soon as I realized she was going to let me snuggle under the covers with her I curled up and started snoozing away. In fact, I was so comfortable that I stretched out and scootched over when mom made the mistake of turning on her side. That way I had plenty of room and mom was stuck in between dad and I.

GD fact of the day

Great Dane fact of the day: One small pile of regurgitated cat food + one great dane with a cast iron stomach = a spotless floor.

Groceries galore

In recent days mom has been bringing all kinds of tasty smelling things into the house. I think she's preparing for hibernation as much food as she's carting in every day. I did hear mention of the trip home for Thanksgiving. As I recall the humans drop a lot of food on the floor during that day. Or should I say, uncle Andrew, grandma, and grandpa drop a lot of food on the floor during that day.

Deer season has arrived

Note to self: Never, ever, let grandma's neighbor kid attach a leash to my collar. Akera allowed it to happen this weekend and spent the next two days being tugged around by said kid. She retaliated by learning how to pull him off his feet and dragging him across the grass and then the driveway to get back to mom.

On another note. I successfully wrangled a deer leg away from Jake and spent an enjoyable afternoon listening to my baser instincts and chewing the heck out of that bone. Mmmmm good. Akera on the other hand was handed a choice bit of meat, took it into her mouth, moved it around a bit and let it drop to the floor. I quickly gobbled it up.

Bambi schmamby this is a buck snort!

This coming weekend is one of my favorite times of the year. It's opening day for deer hunting season in Indiana and that means yummy treats in the garage if dad or grandpa or one of their friends is successful in the hunt. It should be interesting to see how Akera and Jake determine who gets the biggest bone. Jake's dominant, but Akera's a girl. I plan to wait until both of them are squabling over the bone and then run in and snatch it. Ah the spoils of war. Poor Frank though, grandma says he's not allowed to have any. It makes him sick.

Boxes again?

I've seen boxes coming into our house again. I remember what happened last time mom brought boxes into the house... there was packing and lots of people and then leaving my familiar territory.

Fortunately these boxes are centering themselves around Nick and Blue's room. In fact, Nick and Blue haven't been around much lately... maybe Blue's moving out?

I did hear mom talking about how I wouldn't miss Blue because I hadn't even been looking for him when he was gone on the weekends.

Batten down the hatches

Something - which from this point forth will be known as hurricane Kyra - came through the house the other day. I think the best way to describe this experience is that if it wasn't tied down, Kyra tore it apart, drug it to another room, or ate it. She even pulled food off the pantry shelves. So now whenever mom and dad leave Kyra gets locked in a crate in the mudroom. She hides in the morning and stays as far away from the mudroom as possible, but mom keeps telling her that the crate is better than the dog pound (I know that mom would NEVER let one of us furbabies go to the pound, but Kyra hasn't figured this out yet.).

Great Dane fact of the day: When a great dane eats a large container full of Nestle Quick (and spills piles of it all around the house) she is extremely hyper for the remainder of the day.

Mom?

We're back, and I was right, we did stay at Frank and Jake's house. Frank didn't destroy any of our toys. Akera, Jake, Frank, and I had fun racing around the yard. Grandma's horses weren't sure what to make of our playing, but we had fun anyway. And Frank has trouble keeping up with us because he's got such nubbly little dachshund legs. Akera's tall enough that she can stick her head through the fence and drink water from the horse trough. I'm jealous. I have to run all the way back to the garage and get a drink out of Jake's bowl.

This might be the last time I write for a while. Mom hasn't been feeling too good and she's been spending a lot of time on the couch. She's got some medicine that's supposed to make her feel better. I hope it works because I miss my fun mom.

Road trip

I think we're going on a trip again. Akera and I watched mom sort out some Frank proof toys this morning and put them on top the entertainment center. I say Frank proof because Frank has a tendency to shred any toy that comes within five feet of him.

If she's sorting out Frank proof toys that means that we're staying at Frank and Jake's house. Akera's only been there once, and never overnight, so this will be interesting.

I was so excited about the packing this morning that I tried to hop in the car this morning when dad opened the door. I was supposed to be going potty one last time before mom and dad left for work, but I'd much rather go for a ride.

Attack!

Last night mom was vacuuming the dining room and Akera thought the big noisy, blue machine was attacking mom. She tried to attack the vacuum cleaner and I tried to get her to stop attacking it. It was quite the picture. Mom pushing the vacuum back and forth, Akera chasing it and barking at it, and me chasing Akera and barking at her. While I thought it was great fun, mom wasn't that impressed with our antics.

Zoe spent the weekend with us last weekend and all went well, except for the accidents that Zoe's prone to having in the house. Mom says it's all the medicine she has to take.

Trading spaces

Actually, I don't want to trade spaces so much as siblings. Akera the heffalump has managed to weasle her way onto the bed. Mom will let her snuggle up there until dad comes to bed (then we both get moved to the floor). What I want to know is how this happened. Wasn't mom the one who swore that Akera was too big to be on the bed, that she'd never let her on the bed, that I was the only dog special enough to snuggle on the bed?

On another note. Zoey's coming to stay at our house this weekend. Her great grandparents are celebrating their 60th anniversary (congratulations!) so she's going to have a doggy lumber party with me while her dad flies back to Canada. This is good. Whenever Zoey visits we get lots of treats and peanut butter.

There's a chill in the air

I sure do like the lower temperatures we've had the past couple of days. There's nothing like a brisk run around the yard (with Akera close on my heels) when it's nice and cool outside. Of course the more Akera and I play, the more we eat. We've decided to see how long it takes before we eat mom and dad out of house and home.

Brrrh!

Water from garden hoses is cold. I'm speaking from experience. You see, ever since Akera became part of my life I've walked around in a permanent state of crunchiness.

Mom finally decided that she couldn't stand our stink anymore so she dug out the shampoo (and doggie conditioner for my long hair) and caught Akera to begin the bathing. Mom thought that Akera would just stand there (like I do) for her bath. She was kind of right. Akera stood there for the first 5 or so minutes, just enough time for mom to get her wet and soaped up... then she decided to trot away. Then when dad tried to catch her she decided to do doggie zoomies around the yard. Dad was still trying to catch her, but he was laughing too hard because he said every time she ran by him he got a big wiff of apples from the shampoo. While it was frustrating to have a soapy dog flying around the yard, it was also funny. I was outside for this and mom made me stay put while she and dad tried to catch the big dog. Finally mom decided that she, dad, and I would all just go in the house and leave Akera by herself. Akera was not happy about this and quickly came running to mom to go inside too. Mom grabbed her collor and slipped a leash around her neck. Akera's bath finished with no further trouble.

My bath was tame in comparison, but I can tell you this. I much prefer the temperature regulated goodness of the water in the bathtub. I did manage to get a couple good full body shakes in during the course of the bath. Mom ended up just as wet as me. And while I look beautiful after my coat is shiny and fluffy from baths, dad says I look skinny and mangy when my hair is all matted down from the water. Mom told me I'm always beautiful.

Going, going, gone

Last night mom let Akera, Blue and me out like normal and we raced around like idiots... like normal, but then something completely new happened.

We were all running around the yard and then a truck drove by and then about five minutes later the dog that's usually riding in that truck went streaking down the road trying to catch up with the truck. I saw him first and immediately decided that I needed to make sure that he wasn't coming into my yard. When Akera and Blue saw me running toward this strange dog they immediately picked up the chase. Mom yelled and I listened and stopped before leaving the yard (good me!) and then Blue got a little bit out of the yard, but was still in the ditch and he turned around for mom's yells (decent Blue) but Akera, oh Akera. She kept running and running, chasing that dog down the middle of the road. She caught up pretty quickly and the were tearing down the road together.

Mom ran back to the house, knocked on the window and told dad to grab his keys because the dog was a quarter mile down the road. He ran out of the house really quickly, threw Blue back in the door and all three of us hopped into the car.

By the time we got onto the road Akera was half a mile from our driveway, but she had stopped and the other dog had stopped. Akera was turning around heading back to the house and the other dog was trying to get her to keep running. When Akera caught site of mom and dad's car she started galloping back toward us so dad stopped the car and was going to get out. Mom said, "Wait I want to see what she does." So we waited and Akera trotted past the car and then came around the side of the car to mom's door. Of course mom gave in, opened the door and let Akera in, but she couldn't be mad because Akera had turned around and was coming back to the house.

The drama was intense I tell you.

Snap, crackle, crunch

Have you ever played so long and so hard with your favorite doggie sibling that you're coat is covered in slobber? I don't mind that so much, but what I do mind (and mom too) is how my coat becomes crunchy after that slobber dries.

It's permanent

It must be permanent this thing with Akera staying loose in the house when mom and dad are gone. I don't mind so much, except this morning as mom and dad were leaving she wasn't budging from the bed. I hope she understands that the bed is my territory. She hasn't had any problems except that one incident with the basket

That's one way to get in trouble

Yesterday mom and dad did something shocking. They left the house and left Akera outside the mud room. I wasn't too sure about this so I trotted back upstairs to my post on the bed and slept until Nick and Blue woke up. I have no idea what Akera did. I do know that when mom and dad got home, dad found the plastic protector for one of mom's longaberger baskets laying in the middle of the dining room floor. It had incriminating teeth marks in it. Fortunately the basket survived the attack. It's beyond me why some dogs would choose to chew on plastic instead of the nice aged maple of the basket. Maybe Akera knew she'd get in too much trouble if she chewed the basket, but couldn't help herself about the plastic.

Oh, and before you ask. I know it was Akera who pulled that basket off the shelf because it was too tall for Blue or me to reach.

Hello to all my first time readers - being the daily diary pick is lots of fun. I'm making all kinds of new friends. That's great because Akera and I have a bet going to see who can get the most pup pals.

Labor day

First off, three day weekends rock. Mom and dad have so much time to do stuff with us. This weekend we drove back to northern Indiana to visit the family. Akera was a big (and I mean big on many levels) hit with everyone. She behaved like a princess and had a blast playing with Gabe and I. She also met Violet, (a feist/lab mix), Lady (a Jack Russell), Jake (a german shepherd/lab mix), Frank (a dachshund), Rudy (a pomeranian), Sadie (a shepherd mix) and Jack, (my other brother who lives with mom's aunt). Jack looks nothing like either Gabe or me.

She also got to go to mom's cousin's birthday party with mom and grandma - they left Gabe and me behind. (The nerve) and she met the other grandma's horses Keista and Shiquito. Akera's almost as big as quito, because he's a small pony.

I got back at Akera for that trip to the birthday party though. Dad drove over to his dad's house to visit for a while and only took me with him. Ah, sweet undivided attention.

Darn it

Sometimes I wish I were as tall as Akera... Times like this morning when mom walked out of the kitchen to do something and left her two pieces of toast sitting on the counter. Of course Akera snatched one. Mom wouldn't have even noticed either if Akera hadn't walked into the dining room and proceeded to chomp and gulp the thing down right in front of her.

Great dane fact of the day: Great danes, while large and capable of sneakiness, are not good food snatchers.

Road trip

We're going away this weekend. I know it because mom was making lists this morning and she packed my traveling bag with treats and leashes and bowls and stuff. I can't wait. I think we're going back to visit Gabe. Too much excitement.

Akera wasn't sure what the bag meant, or why I was so excited when mom started packing it, but she perked up when she saw mom put a container of dog treats in it.

Joke via the Publicity Hound

An oldie, but a goodie... and so accurate.

Dogs think, "You feed me, you take care of my every need, you must
be a God!"

Cats think,"You feed me, you take care of my every need, I must be
a God!"

5 days and counting

Only 5 days until I get to go back to Plymouth to visit the grandmas and grandpas. Unfortunately one of my grandmas will be visiting her family in Minnesota, so I won't be able to see her, but I'll get to see the other three. Mom says it's going to be Labor Day weekend so that means we'll be there for three whole days. She's got the weekend cram packed with stuff to do, so I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time with Grandpa, dad and Gabe... oh and Akera. This will be her first trip back to my second favoritest place on earth (the first being home of course) so she'd better behave.

Gabe did come down to visit me this weekend. I hadn't seen him in such a long time that it was tails wagging, crazy running and lots of play biting and growling. In fact, when he first got there and grandpa got out of his car I hopped in the open door and jumped into the back seat to say hi right away. We wrestled in there a little bit and then Gabe jumped out. Boy was he surprised to see Akera... and she was shocked to see him. We're now going to call Gabe "mini me." He and Akera are two peas in a pod and they had so much fun running and running around the yard. I ran with them for a while and then came back to sit by mom and dad.

Great dane fact of the day: When a great dane decides she wants out of the mud room to sleep in mom and dad's room at night, she's capable of quite a hissy fit and she will pull some of the wood trim off the door.

No Truman?

Last weekend Truman's parents visited mom and dad and they didn't bring Truman with them. I was miffed about this so only got a little spastic about them stopping by. How could they make the hours long drive from Columbus and not bring my best friend? Pretty soon I'm going to forget what he smells like.

Akera really, really like Kevin and Melanie. She couldn't get enoug of them. In fact, when they were sitting on the couch she grabbed the peanut butter Kong that mom dug out from under the end table earlier in the day and climbed onto the couch between them and flopped down. I know that was a run-on sentence, but that's really the only way to describe what it was like. Melanie found the whole Akera thing hilarious and actually encouraged her to sit by them. There's no accounting for taste.

Anyway, Melanie works for a dog training school in Columbus, Ohio and went to their store the next day and bought another Kong for Akera... where's the love for me I ask?

Nonstop

The fun just never ends around here. Zoey went home yesterday (but not before scaring the bejesus out of mom by having a siezure in the kitchen). However, Grandma came down to spend some time with mom. Mom hasn't been feeling well lately, and as much as I hate to admit this, sometimes dogs just can't do the same stuff that mom's can. Anway, I was kind of miffed at grandma because she didn't bring Gabe and I could smell him on her stuff.

Akera really like Grandma, she spent a lot of time snuffling in Grandma's neck and ears whenever she sat down. Grandma says that Akera is just like Gabe, only lots bigger.

Mom said that Truman's parents are coming to visit next weekend, but that Truman's staying in Ohio... don't these people know that they must bring their dogs with them when they come visit? Gabe and Truman are two of my most favoritest dogs.

Great dane fact of the day: Pitting 1 small beagle-australian shepherd cross and 1 large-sized lab-sharpei cross against a great dane = 1 extra-large great dane yelping and running as the two holy terrors streak around the yard and house after her. Yet she always comes back for more.

House guests

Akera and I have had enough of our houseguests. Both Blue and Zoey are pretty rough players, as in they like to bite hard when they play. Just a couple of days ago Zoey ran across the yard at full tilt and body slammed Akera hard enough she tripped to the ground. I'm pretty good at defending myself. While I don't bite them back, I make it abundantly clear by showing my teeth and producing the meanest growl ever that I don't appreciate the rough playing. Poor Akera though, she's kind of a big chicken so she just runs.

Great dane fact of the day: My sister is afraid of the rain. When we went outside this morning Akera didn't want to do her business and then when she was done she ran back to mom and stood right next to her under the umbrella.

Dogyard 400

I love running. I especially love running when Akera and Blue and Zoey are all chasing me. But what I love best about running is that I can corner better than any of the dogs in the yard. That means that when it seems like they're all going to catch up to me and bowl me over, I can turn tail and run in another direction. My outside running is a combination of zoomies and flat out running... you can tell the difference because when I'm zooming my tail is kind of arched up and out and down in a circle and my butt tucks. When I'm really, really racing my tail is streaking in a straight line behind me and my tongue is hanging out flapping in the wind. Either way I have a huge smile on my face.

Great Dane fact of the day: Small mixed-breed dogs take 5 steps for every 1 great dane step.

Leader of the pack

Yes indeedy, I'm the leader of the pack around the house. This week my pack has expanded to include Zoey - one of my friends from the old Plex. Zoey's dad went to Canada to visit friends and family so mom and dad agreed to dogsit. That means there are four dogs in my house right now. Mom's getting a little frazzled. I try to keep everyone in order, but I think Zoey has fallen in love with Akera so it's tough to keep the activity level down.

I think part of the reason mom's frazzled is because Zoey has to have so much medicine. She's got epilepsy so she's got two different pills and one liquid to take twice a day. Plus she had a series of siezures a while ago that really messed with her housetraining so she sometimes has accidents.

Anyway. We're all enjoying the chance to run in a big pack and play together. I think mom will be glad when her dog chore time goes back down to 30 minutes instead of an hour :)

Sit, down, stay

Mom met the lady who teaches obedience at the local kennel club today. The next session of classes starts in a week or so - and she's thinking of putting me in the class.

Maybe if I do really well in the classes mom'll enter me in the Mutt Strut that's coming up. See, the dog park association is putting on a fun dog show with classes like best mutt, best trick, celebrity look alike and so on. I think I have her talked into putting me in best trick... and maybe most doggie pushups.

Great dane fact of the day: Dane tongues are the length of my head and drop large amounts of saliva back into the water bucket.

Hamster

Mom just had a funny thought. What if the alpha dogs at Dogster decided to develop another pet site... this one for pocket pets. They could call it Hamster.

Schweeshk

Mom got this new toy out last night. At least, I think it's a toy. It makes this swishy, squeeky noise when she squeezes it, but she won't let me play with it. She called it a squirt bottle.

I did notice she only played with it when Akera was doing bad things like trying to steal popcorn out of the bowl and getting really rowdy while she was sitting in the couch. Akera doesn't seem to like the squirt bottle too much. I think it may have something to do with the water that shoots out of it when mom squeezes it.

Great dane fact of the day: While Akera enjoys drinking water from the end of the hose, a small mist of water coming from a squirt bottle scares the crud out of her.

Run like the wind

Last night mom and dad decided to bite the bullet and let Akera run around the yard with me. When we both realized that she was off-leash I took off in a mad dash and she followed me. Man can she run fast. I love running in circles as fast as I can and Akera had a blast following me. I think she would have preferred running in a straight line, but I bow to my border collie heritage and enjoy circling and circling until I can't make the circle any smaller.

Great dane fact of the day: To avoid being run over by a great dane - turn sharp corners.

Uh oh... BAD DOG!

Akera really did it this time. She had mom and dad lulled into a sense of security about her behavior in the house. So much so that they let her have free roam and were taking her outside on the same schedule as me. Big mistake. She had an "accident" in the house yesterday.

When mom caught her in the act (she knew something was up when she heard that sound) she yelled and told her bad dog and took her outside really quickly. Akera knew she was bad because she tucked her tail and walked right beside mom when they headed to the door. Usually she's leading the way.

Anyway, when mom yelled bad dog I thought she meant me so I went and hid in my crate. After mom came back in and put Akera in the mud room so she could clean up the mess I came and found her and tried to help her clean up the mess by licking her face. She told me it wasn't my fault and gave me hugs and kisses and told me that I was a good dog.

On another note, having Akera here means that I'm working on my obedience training again. On Saturday I successfully did a one minute sit stay and a one minute down stay. Both off lead. I'm a little weak on my recalls. I did okay coming to mom, but I stopped and sat a little too far away and I have trouble returning to the heel position. However, I'm much better than Akera at obedience. She doesn't even know to sit when mom stops, but she's trying.

Great Dane fact of the day: Great Dane "accidents" are the size of small ponds.

My new sister

As you can tell from the photos Akera is here to stay. She's even go ther own Dogster page now and she's issued a challenge about getting more pupster pals than me. I just told her, "We'll see."

Last night mom went to bed before putting Akera in the mud room and when dad came to bed he decided to just leave her in the bedroom with us. Darned if she didn't do perfectly all night long. She curled up on a blanket on the floor beside the bed and snoozed all night. I had to quickly grab all my special toys and hide them in my crate so she couldn't get to them.

One good thing. Akera is very proficient at waking dad up in the morning. She takes the side closest to the edge of the bed and sticks her nose in his face and I hop up on the bed and cover the other side. That way he can't escape slobbery dog kisses by turning his head.

Great Dane fact of the day: don't tell mom, but I don't think Akera's all that bad.

Smooshed

1 smallish 35 pound dog jealously guarding mom's lap + 1 brand new to the household great dane who's already grown very attached to said mom = a very smooshed and mad Bandito.

Great Dane fact of the day: 35 pounds of determined dog can wrestle a coveted toy out of the mouth of a great dane.


Mom's note* Bandit and Akera are doing pretty well together. This is their 4th day as brother and sister and I'm happy to report that the snipping and picking has greatly diminished. For the time being Bandit is still alpha dog.

Oh Great Dane!

Well, mom was wrong. The Great Danish did come to live with us (I know she's a great dane, but it's so much more fun to imagine a large sticky bun). Mom brought her home on Saturday. Akera has taken to the routine at our house like a duck in water... it's a bit disturbing for me, because I haven't adjusted to the routine of sharing my people.

I discovered that if I plop myself on mom's lap when she's sitting on the floor playing with both of us, she has trouble reaching around me to pet Akera. In fact, she gets so caught up in giving me hugs and kisses that she forgets about that big dog... well almost. Akera's pretty much too big to forget. She's 110 pounds of doggiedom and she wiggles when she gets really excited.

Great dane fact of the day: My entire head fits inside her mouth and when it comes out it's very wet and sticky.

Great Danish Part Duex

Much to my dismay, the Great Danish that mom was talking about turned out to be an enormous dog instead of a car-sized cinamon roll like I hoped.

The story behind the GD is that mom wants another dog - a big dog.

Mom and dad went to look at what was supposed to be a German Shepherd yesterday, but she didn't pass mom's temperment test when they were looking at her, so she didn't get to come home with us. Poor girl (more about her later). Then mom was telling one of her co-workers about the other dog and the person said, "How do you feel about Great Danes?" Mom told them that dad loved Great Danes and grew up with one as a child. Come to find out there's a 1 yr old GD who's mom and dad aren't really giving her the attention she needs so she might come to live with us. Hunter, a dog from my old home in the apartment complex, was a GD and he was huge!

update:

It doesn't look like Kyra is going to be coming home with us though... one of her current "owners" decided that he couldn't let her go for less than $200 (after mom and dad were told she was just looking for a new home, not that she was for sale). I've got my paws crossed that Kyra finds a good new home.

Fair days

This week mom and I went to her old county fair. I have one word to describe that event... TURKEYS.

Those birds are big, noisy and smelly.

Other than the turkeys I had a grand time hanging out in the rabbit barn while mom helped with the dairy goat and rabbit shows and caught up with old friends. The dairy goat judge really likes me and remembered me from last year.

Then we came home and spent yesterday vegetating in the house with dad.

We've gotten really bad storms the past two nights, so I've been keeping mom company as she paces around the house. Mom's more afraid of storms than I am.

Mmmm Mmmmm Good

Don't tell anyone, but last night Blue and I got into the cat's food while mom and dad went out to dinner with Blue's dad.

Normally Blue would be in his crate when his dad was gone, but mom said it would be okay to let us stay in the mudroom. She was wrong. While they were gone Blue and I discovered a small bag of exta cat food that wouldn't fit into the storage container. One of us (I'm not telling who) chewed a hole through the bag and we both feasted on the goodies.

Mom kicked herself for not putting the bag up higher when she walked out the door, and she told Blue's dad to expect some really runny poo :)

Great Danish

So mom talked to dad today and she says they're going to look at a great danish soon. I want to go look at it too - anything named after a large pastry has got to be good.

Go Dogster!

Wowwee Dogster, I'm so happy that you've got border collies as your featured dog breed. BCs are the best (at least according to our people).

Things around our house have been pretty quiet. Dad stopped shooting off those fireworks and mom's finally getting back into her normal routine of feeding me, playing with me, loving on me and in general worshipping me, rather than unpacking all those boxes. There's still some stuff left to unpack, but mom's finally letting people come over to the house.

In fact, Zoey is supposed to come visit me soon. Her dad and my dad are going to walk through the gamebird preserve that's a couple miles down the road and Zoey and I are going to run and wrestle till our tongues are dragging on the ground. Zoey's dad says that she's very bored in the backyard now because all her playmates moved away.

WHAT was that?

Fireworks are not my friend.

Oh sweet pandemonium

While things my house are never quiet for long, this past week has been especially crazy.

First off - the heat. I'm not usually one to complain, but man, why'd you have to buy me a house that doesn't have central air? At least you could have asked for cooler weather this summer. Unfortunately the temps have been the mid to upper 90s and when you figure in Indiana's famous humidity we've had days that feel like 115 (literally). But you and dad redeemed yourself. You found me a window air conditioner and installed it just over my crate. Coincidence? I think not. It doesn't matter that my crate just happens to sit in the master bedroom, or that my crate is below the only window that's not directly over your bed.

Second - mowing. Because I was a city dog before moving to this 2 acres in the country, I'd never really had any experience with lawnmowers. Wow, those things are loud and smelly. Dad spent hours trying to tame one yesterday by riding it around in circles in the yard. I could tell the mower was mad about this because it kept grabbing the grass and spitting it out the side.

Third - painting. Mom has decided she wants to try out different colors for her hair and face because every night she gets out the ladder and some paint and this rolly thingy and changes the color of the walls. Most of the paint ends up on the wall, but some of it gets in her hair and face. Let me tell you, painting stinks. One, because paint stinks, and two, because we don't have central air, so mom sweats while she's painting. While the smells aren't pleasant, I really enjoy the salty taste when I lick mom's legs as she's on the ladder.

Fourth - carpet cleaning. I thought the vacuum was bad, but mom's got this new thing she calls the carpet cleaner. It's just as loud as the vacuum, but it leaves the carpet wet (if I left the carpet wet I'd be in trouble). Anyway, it leaves the carpet wet and I'm not allowed to walk on it until it dries. I really don't like the carpet cleaner because mom uses it in conjunction with the nasty vacuum, it's loud, and because it's allowed to wet the floor, but I can't.

Fifth - the moving. Enough with the moving already. I thought once you packed all those boxes you'd be done, but now you're taking everything back out of the boxes and there's stuff on the floors, on the furniture and even more still in the boxes. Could you make up your mind already?

Sixth - Blue. For anyone who knows Blue, I don't have to say more, but for those of you who've never met him... Blue is a beagle, australian shephard mix who dad's friend rescued from the Indy Humane Society. Blue's special. We think he got run over by a car as a puppy because he's got this weird wobbly gate and he's pretty unsteady on his feet, that and he has no fear. The neighbors like to say, "Blue has stared death in the eye and lived to tell about it." Seriously, nothing scares him. Anyway, back to my story. Blue has moved in with us (along with his person, Nick)

Seventh - More moving. As if our move wasn't bad enough, Dad's friend Nick is in the process of looking for a job and needs someplace to stay, so he's using the extra room. That meant that yesterday dad and Nick spent the day moving more stuff.

All this commotion around the house is so exhausting that I need a vacation just to recover from moving. Oh - and mom just told me that Gabe's coming to visit tonight. Gabe and Blue in the same house. There will be no sleeping. I'd better go warn the cat.

Oh the trauma

Well, mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and Will and Amanda and a bunch of other people did something really weird this weekend. They took all the boxes mom had been putting stuff in and loaded them into trailers and trucks and drove them out to that other house. There were several trips like this, but mom and amanda and grandma only helped with the first one. Then they stayed at the new house and put this really smelly colored stuff all over the walls. I'm still trying to figure that one out, but mom seems determined to do it in all the rooms of the house. I don't have much time. Mom's in a rush to get something done at work and then she's going home to play with boxes some more. We still don't have internet at the new house, so it'll be a while before I'm able to write again.

We're moving!

I finally figured out what all the boxes are for. Mom and dad came home early yesterday and mom said... "Guess what Bandit? We bought you a house!" I was thinking a dogloo or some outside thing and I wasn't happy about it, but then they loaded me into the car and took me to "my house."

It's huge! And best of all there's two acres of trees and grass and weeds for me to pee on to my heart's content. Mom took me inside and we walked from room to room checking stuff out. I, of course, smelled everything, but I was a very good boy and didn't lift my leg on anything. And when mom was cleaning the cabinets and dad was changing the locks I decided it would be a good time to take a nap so I sprawled out in the middle of the kitchen.

I'm so excited. And mom told me that Grandma's coming down tomorrow to help pack... yippee, all kinds of fun!

The deepest water ever

This weekend mom and dad and I went camping again. This time we went to Summit Lake State Park. Mom and dad had never been there before. They found out there's not much to do, especially when it rains the entire weekend. Fortunately mom's whole family was along. There were 23 of us, so there were at least some people to talk to, and other dogs to play with.

The highlight of the weekend was when mom took me swimming on Friday afternoon. We went to this big thing of water that mom called a lake. I've never been to a lake before, but this one was big. There were lots of geese and fishermen, but we stayed away from both and mom tossed sticks for me to catch. She also brought my tennis ball, I'm getting the hang of getting the ball from the water. I'm not the biggest fan of sticking my nose under water to get it, so I prefer to just bring back sticks.

Gabe went with us to the lake, but he didn't like it. He seemed to think it was too much like a bath and the only time he would get in was when mom went in all the way past her knees and called him to follow her.

Where's the electrity when you need it?

Boy the static electricity I usually carry in my coat could have helped mom and dad out last night. That is, if I could find a way to put it into the electrical grid in our neighborhood.

Mom and dad were settled in for a watching a couple of episodes of Coupling when the power suddenly went off. It was weird because their weren't any storms or wind or anything. The power just went out. Anyway, the entire apartment complex then walked outside and jokingly blamed each other for turning out the lights. Mom and dad spent the next couple of hours waiting for the lights to come back on and talking with all the neighbors. I got to come outside for part of it the time, but it was so warm out that I walked over to the door and stood there until mom let me back inside.

I don't like this

There's something strange going on in our house. For a couple of weeks now mom's been stashing cardboard boxes in the corner of the living room. Well they've escaped. Now they're all over the house and I think mom is trying to weight them down so they can't move around on her anymore. She keeps putting bunches of stuff inside them and then sealing them up.

I didn't mind when the boxes moved in, but the fact that mom keeps putting stuff inside them has me nervous. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Last night mom was in the bathroom putting a bunch of stuff into boxes so I came in and nosed her arm to get her to stop. She stopped for a little bit, let me sniff what was in the box gave me some kisses and then went back to what she was doing. I went to lay in my crate for a while. That didn't stop her packing, so this morning when she left for work I dug every kleenex out of the bedroom trash and shredded them into little pieces and left them on the floor for her. She really likes it when I do that.

Swimming

I almost forgot. I got to go swimming last week. Mom and dad took Tuesday off work to celebrate their anniversary (whatever that is) and they spent the morning with me at Wildcat Creek. Mom wasn't sure what I'd think of the water since I haven't been in it in a couple months, but as soon as we got there I trotted right up the the creek's edge and got my feet wet. Then mom started tossing sticks for me. Mom says I did very well and that I'm getting braver about swimming in deeper, faster moving water.

In fact, I got so brave that once when mom threw my stick into the water I ignored it and swam all the way to the other side of the creek where there was this really big stick. I grabbed it and tried to bring it back with me, but dad told me to leave the tree alone and mom called me back. So I swam right through the fastest moving part of the creek and ended up at mom's feet. It was perfect because that's my favorite place to shake all the water out of my coat.

It's like a sauna

Man is it hot outside. Fortunately mom has been keeping me inside quite a bit and having Blue come over to play. I'm beginning to appreciate the advantages of air conditioning.

Several things happened this weekend.

Gabe came to visit on Saturday and then mom loaded him and me into the back of her SUV and she and dad and grandma and grandpa also climbed in. We drove for about 20 minutes and stopped at this strange house in the middle of the country. Mom let Gabe and I out to go potty and we ran around and peed on everything in site. It was great fun. It would have been better if they'd have let us come inside with them when they went into the house, but mom said I can't come inside until after they sign the papers... could this be where I'm going to live? I'm going to have to ask mom.

I also got a bath this weekend. It's time for my flea and tick medication and mom likes me to be clean before she puts it on so I spent about an hour last night being bathed, blow dried and getting my hair trimmed up. I look pretty good if I do say so myself.

George

We got a new neighbor dog the other day. Two of mom and dad's friends adopted a dog from the local human society. His name is George and he's a cocker spaniel. He doesn't like me very much. He keeps trying to tell me that he's dominant and I keep telling him I agree, but he's not listening. Mom says if I would just roll over on my back instead of just sitting and lifting my paw then maybe he'd get the picture.

Campdog

We did the coolest thing last weekend. Mom and dad took a couple extra days off work and we headed back north to Potato Creek State Park for a family vacation, but that's not the coolest part.

We got there and mom and dad dropped the cat off at grandma and grandpa's house (that's the best part) then we got back in the car, picked up this big red trailer thingy and mom loaded grandma's horse into it. Then we drove with the horse to this place where there were a bunch of people with lots of horses and dogs and fires and stuff and we spent four days there. Mom and dad slept in this dome thing they called a tent. I slept with them and had a grand time when a raccoon decided to dig through the trash that dad and Gizzy's dad forgot to put away before going to bed.

Oh yeah, Gizzy and Wrigley were there too, but Wrigley had to go stay at his grandma's house because his dad said he couldn't handle Wrigley while camping. Mom and Gizzy's mom spent a lot of time riding horses, I mainly stayed at the campsite with dad and some of his friends. I was such a good dog that they let me off lead and I just stayed by the campfire and dad or mom the whole weekend. (But shhhh, don't tell the DNR folks cuz it's against the rules for me not to wear a leash.)

A walk with a cloud

So yesterday I was in the backyard playing with all the other dogs when my friend Chris walked into the yard with this big, fluffy, white thing on a leash. Mom kept calling it Riley, but I'm pretty sure it's just a small cloud.

Come to find out "Riley" is staying with us for a couple of days while his dad is in Chicago for a job interview. He's not too bad. He leaves my toys alone and mainly just lays in the floor. Last night he kept mom up quite a bit because he wasn't happy about being in his crate in a strange house. He barked for what felt like forever and man is he an early riser. He woke us all up at 5:30 this morning. Mom got up and took us both out to do our business and then we came upstairs for some play time with dad.

Dad was really happy that mom encouraged me to jump on the bed and then lifted Riley up there. He and the cat had been all snuggled in until Riley and I started playing around. Then Riley fell off the bed, so I jumped onto the floor to keep him company.

Mom says Riley is a Great Pyrenees puppy. He's nothing like any other puppy I've met. He's only three months old and he already weighs as much as me!

darn that petfinder

Ever since mom got the news that we're buying a house she's been lobbying dad for a second dog. She keeps telling him that I need a companion since we'll be living in the middle of nowhere (she never asked my opinion on that). He seems to have caved. Her hours spent searching have dramatically increased and she's got two dogs that she'd like to go see. While I appreciate her wish to keep me happy, I'm not sure that I want to give up the coveted "only dog" position. Right now I'm the focus of all grandma and grandpa's attention when I go home, I don't think I want to share that spotlight, or my toys.

New Digs

Woohoo! Mom and dad came home yesterday and told me that they'd bought me a new house. Mom said it's got two acres and lots more space than what we're living in now. I can't wait to go sniff it out and pee on all the trees and corners, but I'll miss all my backyard pals. I guess it's good that mom's working real hard to get the dog park built.

Anyway, I'm off to wish mom and dad luck. They've got to hire a home inspector and decide which bank they're going to use.

I am trying to figure out why mom moved all these boxes into our house though. She brought them home a couple of nights ago and they're just sitting in the living room. The cat wants to climb inside them and just hang out, but I'm trying to figure out what they're there for first.

Just call me entertaining

I did the coolest thing last week. Mom, dad, the cat, and I traveled back to northern Indiana for several things, but most importantly for me.

I visited Grandma's first grade classroom and I showed all the kids my tricks. I did rollover, beg, high five, shake, and tunnel. I even rolled over inside the tunnel, even though mom forgot my real tunnel at home and dad had to create a makeshift one for me. I thought it was great fun, except when the kids screamed and kept creeping closer to me. I barked at them a couple of times, and got distracted from my tricks once or twice, but all in all mom was proud of me. By the end of my 20 minutes of fame I even did rollover and high five for two of the kids in the class. K-Kat came along for the ride and joined me in the classroom, but all she knows how to do is walk on a leash and sit. My tricks were much better.

Oh, and grandma showed me a cool bumper sticker she got for her new car. It says, "I love my grandpuppy." Haha, mom thought it was cool, but dad said it was "just sick."

I'm so sleepy

Wow, talk about hectic days. Mom and dad have been driving all over creation looking at houses for us. They haven't found the right one yet. Every time they think maybe this is it... someone else puts in a bid, or they find out something like, "Oh we plan to build a subdivision in the field right behind that house and none of the lots will be more than an acre." Yikes! So they keep looking, and I keep thinking that I could probably sniff out the perfect house if they'd just let me ride along.

Mom also managed to get sick this week. She missed two whole days of work. Not that it was any fun for me. All she did was lay on the couch and blow her nose and cough all day. Dad was grumbling last night about the lack of dinners being cooked and laundry being done, mom just looked at him and coughed. She did encourage me to wake him up very early this morning though.

Oh yeah, one last exciting thing. Mom applied for a job at the Vet school here on campus. She said she likes her current job, but this one offers a lot more money, and she's heard rumors that the vet school allows you to bring your pets to work. That'd be way cool!

House hunting

Mom and dad have been busy looking at houses because they say it's time for us to move. Well, mom's been saying it's time to move for a year now, but she's finally got dad involved in the hunt. All this means that I get left at home in the evenings when they go look at these places. I'm not used to being left alone for more than a couple hours at a time, so when they come home I'm ecstatic.

I do have one complaint. I need a chance to sniff these places out before we move there. Afterall, isn't my opinion the most important?

Oh yeah

I almost forgot to mention. I got to meet Harvey, Moorea, Marisol and Samwise at the Dog Park for a Day. Moorea really like me, although she was very shy. Harvey just said "hey" and then ran around saying hi to the other dogs. Marisol and Sam were busy playing with the bigger dogs, but they said hi too.

And mom said I should mention that Wrigley is doing really well in his new home. His new people say he's wiggled his way right into their hearts and that he's learning very quickly. He started obedience training a couple of days ago, and (cross your fingers) hasn't had any accidents in the house. Yippee for Wrigley!

Busy as a bee

Man, things have been busy around here. It started with the dog park for a day... there were 300 dogs there! I got doggie overload and just sort of ran around the dog park sniffing and checking everything out, but was a very good ambassador while mom was signing in dogs and people at the registration tent.

Then mom and dad starting taking lots of car rides without me, and they're still doing it. They're talking about bedrooms and square feet and barns. It's all Greek to me, but mom has assured me that I'll enjoy the end product of all these trips.

Plus we've had lots of visitors and tons of time out in the backyard with all the neighborhood dogs. The weather has been great for games of fetch and running in a big pack with the other dogs from the Plex. Just so you know how many dogs were there they are: Jasmine, Sadie, Blue, Riley, Rolly, and Zoey and Zoey (no that's not a typo, there are two Zoeys). Sometimes Rudy comes outside, but he doesn't like all the other dogs running around (especially me :( ) and sometimes Shadow sneaks out of his house to visit us too.

Last weekend we went home to visit Frank and Jake, but mom was sneaky and scheduled an appointment for me at the vet while we were there. I got my spring shots, my heartworm test, and the annual poke and prod. This year mom got a Bordatella shot for me since I'm spending so much time with other dogs. I can't say that I enjoy all those needles, but I handled it like a trooper and even wagged my tail at the Dr. He said I seem to have a very good temperment. Of course I do!

Say cheese

Mom got some film developed today. As you can see my smiling face had a starring role in many of the photos.

She got a picture of me eating one of the delicious peanut butter biscuits she made for me, and another of Truman and I hanging out by the screen door when he visited from Ohio. There's also a picture of me playing with Blue and another of me pestering the cat. Doesn't the cat look like she loves the attention? If you can't tell I'm trying to get her to play ball with me. I even put my green rubbery ball thingy on the rocking chair right beside her, but she just sat there, so I poked her in the head with my nose.

Dad gave mom a hard time about all the pictures featuring yours truly. He said that 17 pictures in a roll of film with 24 exposures is going overboard. I can't help it if I'm a ham.

Good riddence Wrigley

Actually, I shouldn't say good riddence. It got to the point where I actually liked playing with him. I still didn't like it when he tried to eat my bones, but other than that I shared well and put up with his puppy antics.

However, on Easter weekend we all made the trip back home and on Friday night Wrigley and I went to visit Gizzy and her people. When we got back in the truck Wrigley didn't come with us... he stayed with Gizzy.

The next morning mom and I drove over to Gizzy's grandma's house to pick up my brother Gabe and Wrigley was there. In fact it was Wrigley, Gizzy, Sadie, Jack, Gabe and me all in one house. Talk about a lot dogs.

Wrigley's new mom says he's doing pretty well, but he still has trouble with marking. She's hoping that his visit to the vet tomorrow for something she calls a "snip, snip" will help him.

Pug alert

I made a new friend last weekend. One of dad's old friends from high school came to visit and he brought his pug puppy with him. His name is Moose, he's 3 months old, and he loves to pick on me. At first I couldn't figure out what he was because he has no nose and makes these odd grunty, wheezy noises. After I figured out he was a dog we had a good time.

Oh yeah! Mom told me Truman's coming to visit this weekend. It's been doggy central around here. I'm going to have to tell Blue that Truman's coming. He loves to grab onto his lips and tug as hard as he can.

Wrigley the demon dog

Well, Wrigley's here... I don't like him. Mom spends too much time with him, he gets to go on our walks, he tries to play with my toys and he peed on mom and dad's bed last night.

That last one requires more explanation. Wrigley has been at our house for 5 days now. Mom's kept him on a pretty short leash, literally. He's been wearing a gentle leader and his leash is tied around her waist. She did this with me for a while when I was in training and it helped me learn that I'm supposed to pay attention to her even when she's not watching me. Anyway, that's been going pretty well so Wrigley's allowed short periods of complete freedom. Well last night he did so well that mom decided to let him be loose for longer - six hours longer. He did really well (mom says). He and I played a little bit, he layed next to mom's feet for quite a while and he even snuggled on the couch a bit. Mom was so happy that she called Wrigley's future mom to tell him how well he was doing.

While she was on the phone we all went upstairs to gather some laundry and that's when it happned. Mom was distracted by the phone and housework and Wrigley took the opportunity to mark his territory on the corner of the bed. Mom was not happy. She yelled and told Wrigley NO BAD DOG! and made him go outside really quickly. Then he went into his crate while she was cleaning up his mess.

Mom said that I'm supposed to relay that Wrigley has vastly improved since the first day that he came here and that I'm supposed to give him a chance since he's nine months old, has never lived inside the house, has never been around other dogs, and was starved for attention. But I'm counting the days until he leaves and I can have my home back to normal.

Dreary days

Well, we're back to snow, wind and cold here in the Midwest. For two glorious days this week it was beautiful outside... and now this. I sure hope the sun comes out soon. Mom's volunteering at the dog park for a day on April 3 in our community and it would be bad if the weather was yucky... although all the mud that was in the field last time was great fun.

3 weeks and counting

The word is in. On March 20 I will have a new brother... well sort of. Mom and dad have agreed to give Wrigley, a cocker spaniel mix a temporary home and some much needed training. Then he's going to live with mom's cousin and her dog Gizzy.

While I'm excited that I'm going to be sharing my home with another dog, I'm a little nervous too. Are there going to be enough toys to go around? Mine are all in use and I can't give any of them up. And what about treats? Mom's got my treat barn chock full of treats, but she's been stingy about giving them to me.

I also heard mom mentioning that another dog in the house would be a good idea because I'm getting rather, ummm... selfish. How do I tell her I'm not selfish, I just like things to go my way?

Wrigley

Mom came home from work today and told me that I'm going to have a house guest soon.

One of her coworkers has decided she can't keep her dog. Apparently he's decided he likes the taste of drywall and he's eaten a hole in his person's garage wall. He's also chewed off part of the door trim and pealed some drywall tape off too.

I stopped mom at this point in the story and asked why the dog was in the garage and mom told me that that's where he lives. He spends his whole day locked up in the garage waiting for his people to come home. When they do get home he goes outside for a little bit and then has to go back into the garage.

Anyway, mom has some ideas about why Wrigley has been misbehaving and she wants to give him a shot at being a good boy. She's already got a couple of leads on a new home for him. Here's to hoping that Wrigley's destructive tendencies aren't permanent. Maybe I need to talk to mom about a safe for my toys.

Just call me the bandito

Mom had a dog park meeting tonight (part of the reason the turtle tank episode was such a big deal). But I know she's not mad at me because when she came back she had a new bandana for me. I get to wear bandanas because Bandits wear bandanas :) Anyway, this one's baby blue and has our dog park association logo on it. Gabe is going to be jealous when I see him next.

Crash, splash and dash

Well it finally happened. My exuberance finally got me (and mom) in trouble.

When she came home from work today I was sooo happy to see her that I grabbed one of my bones and ran up to her for some lovin'.

Everything was fine until she and I started to do our normal run around the house and act crazy thing. You see I still had a bone in my mouth and when I swung my head around the bone came out and CRASH it went into the side of the turtle's aquarium. Then splash a bunch of water starting rushing out, so I dashed up the stairs as quick as I could because mom started yelling at dad to get a towel and help her. It wasn't a good scene.

* No turtles were hurt in the process of this story. Fortunately we have a back up turtle home.

Rise and shine

There's no better way to start the day than with an early morning play session with dad.

1. Find grunting duck, squeeking stocking or some other grungy toy.
2. Play with said toy for a while, make sure to get it good and slimy.
3. Walk over to dad's side of the bed, check to see if his eyes are open... it's best if they're not.
4. Walk back over to mom's side of bed, pick up sopping wet toy and hop onto bed.
5. Pace up and down the bed, then proceed to end of bed next to dad's feet.
6. Walk up dad's body, work especially hard on foot placement. Grunts, groans and "Dog no" sounds mean you're doing good.
7. Sit on dad's chest.
8. Hold toy in mouth, look down at dad, drop toy in his face, crack mouth into grin and start light panting.
9. Allow small drop of drool to drip off tongue onto dad's face.
10. If no response from dad, begin licking.
11. If dad buries head in pillow begin snorkeling under pillow and blowing air out of nose.
12. When mom walks in the room run to end of bed for petting and being told, "Good dog, wake him up."
13. When dad starts to grumble and move jump from bed, sit pretty and wait to go outside.
14. After coming in from outside, proceed upstairs to bed, hop on, lay down and sleep for rest of day.

Nothin' goin'

Wouldn't you know it, my dairy is one of today's picks and I don't have much to bark about.

Yesterday mom and I went through all my tricks again. I remembered them all, even how to walk through my tunnel and roll over inside it. Mom left the tunnel up for a while after we were done and I kept walking through it hoping she'd give me some treats. She's been rather stingy with the treats lately, something about watching my waistline.

Hey, come to think of it, she did mention that I'm going to visit Gabe, Frank and Jake this weekend. That must mean we're going to grandma and grandpa's house again. Yipee, two weekends in a row. When we get there I'm going to stick right beside mom because she has to go out to the horse pasture and say goodbye to her horse Sugar. Mom was very sad about her at the beginning of the week because she went to the rainbow bridge and she wasn't able to be there with her before she left. So I'm gearing up for another round of tears. I'm packing my grunting duck, my christmas penguin, and my kong. Hopefully I can give mom these when she's feeling down and it'll make her feel better.

Therapy dog

I think missed my calling as a therapy dog. Mom was very sad last night because her horse died. She was a crying a whole bunch, but I did my best to make her feel better. I sat really close to her and then I leaned into her chest and buried my head under her chin. I also put my paw on top of her hand and just generally stuck to her like glue. I didn't move until she told me that she'd be okay and then I curled up on the floor beside her chair.

Truman's back!

I went back north to visit Grandma and Granpa with mom and dad this weekend. On the way back mom kept telling me Truman was going to be at home when we got there... I gave her the tilty head look because I haven't heard anything about Truman in quite a while. He left one day and never came back. Anyway. We got home and walked over to the neighbor's house and when I went in there was Truman! I was soo excited I almost piddled on the floor. We romped and wrestled for a while, but Blue kept trying to tug on our ears and tails so we ended up sitting by our mom's so they could protect us.

I wish it weren't so muddy and rainy outside. Truman and I love to run around the back yard together... I wouldn't mind the mud, but I think mom might have a problem with it:)

Where'd Gus go?

When mom and I signed on to dogster this morning we noticed something amiss. One of our favorite pup pals gus was missing from mom's corral... this is strange. Mom did some investigating and it appears that he's been removed from dogster. Gus I hope you're okay! We miss you.

Hilarity ensues

One grunting duck dog toy
One ornery mom
One dad who dislikes being poked

Add them all up and what do you get? Mom and dad losing it with laughter when dad says, "Stop poking me," and mom replies, "I'm not doing it," as she pokes dad with the duck's bill.

Balding Bandit

Do they make Rogain for dogs? I've developed a quarter-sized bald patch on the side of my nose. Mom and dad haven't been able to figure out who or what did it (though many fingers have been pointed at the cat and Blue). I'm not telling who it was because I'm no squeeler. Either way, I'm concerned about whether it will affect my abilities with the ladies.

Uh oh

I got in trouble today. It wasn't really my fault, honest. I tried to blame it on dad, but mom was just made at both of us then.

You see, a couple of weeks ago I decided to hop on mom and dad's bed with muddy paws. Mom wasn't mad that time... but apparently the combination of a bad week at work last week, having no luck finding someplace new to live, and my muddy paw prints all over a FRESHLY (mom wanted me to stress that) laundered comforter pushed her over the edge. I've been trying to suck up to her all day by giving her my patented sad puppy eyes and wagging my tail at her, but she's not biting this time. I think I'd better get ready to move into the doghouse... wait we don't have a dog house... uh oh.

Hopping mad

Whoooweee, mom was hopping mad this morning. You see, we live in a townhouse, but it's attached to several other townhouses in a complex. Normally this is a pretty nice arrangement. I have lots of friends in the backyard, rent is low and best of all they allow pets, but sometimes...

I've talked before about how people don't like to clean up after their dogs (and the girls that are the worst are veterinary technician students, go figure) but the past couple of days have been atrocious.

First off, a couple of days ago another dog, no telling who, decided to go potty ON our back patio. No biggie if their person would have cleaned it up. No such luck. Then this morning, mom walked out to her car to go to work and someone had vomited all down the side of her car. Disgusting! Mom was livid. She woke the neighbors up trying to figure out who had done it. No one took responsibility. Mom came back into the house, broke down in tears, and told dad she hates living here and that we're moving.

So I'm going to be extra special good and loving today, because I know mom's not very happy and I want to show her that I love her. My charge to every dog out there is to go to your human right now and show them how much you appreciate them, it'll make them smile.

Dog Park!

Mom came home from work all excited today. While she was there she got an e-mail that the mayor announced a location for our permanent dog park. The city has agreed to let us use Shamrock Park, the place we had our dog park for a day.

Now it's time for fundraising - so I'm dusting off my best hat, and polishing my leash, so mom and I can go door to door selling homemade dog cookies. Look out girl scouts, Bandit's comin' through town.

It's electric

My pup pal Hayle wrote about static electricity a couple of days ago. I'd never really had any experience with this thing/substance? until this weekend, but I'm more than ready to back up Hayle's claim that it's a nuisance.

Mom and dad and I share a room at grandma and grandpa's house, and I woke mom up at about 7 a.m. for my morning business. There's nothing like playing with toys after a productive morning stroll, and I really enjoy playing with Frank's toys before he gets up in the morning. One of my favorite things to do is lay on my back and toss and grab at a toy while scratching my back on the carpet. Scratching necessitates a back and forth motion... and apparently back and forth rubbing on carpet in the middle of winter creates static.

When I stood up my tail was poofed out to twice it's normal size and just walking made my hair crackle. I went over see what mom was laughing about, touched her with my nose and whammo! Wowsers, that's all I can say.

Gabe, Jake and Frank Oh My!

I spent this weekend at grandma and grandpa's house. Mom and dad went up for some family time and took me with them (of course). It was good to play with Frank and Jake, but I had the most fun with Gabe. Mom let us both outside and we ran and ran and ran in the hayfield. It was hard work too, because the field was covered with about 4 inches of snow that had this slippery slidy crust on top.

All that playing wore us out. When mom and grandma went to the basement to inventory mom's china, Gabe and I stretched out on the floor for a good long nap. Grandma came upstairs a couple of times to check on us because we were "being too quiet." Usually we get in trouble for wrestling too much. Is there no making these people happy?

Learning to listen

Mom told me that she's looking into some obedience classes for me. She sent out a message to our dog park group asking for suggestions of classes in the area. Something about how I heel very well at home and for the most part on our walks, but have trouble when I'm around other dogs. I can't help it. PetsMart has too many good smells and I just want to sniff and play with those other dogs.

The good life

My regular dog food is good again (and mom let me have a couple of nibbles of some cheese yesterday). I'm still taking pills, but I'm being good and eating them mixed with some moist food, rather than making mom shove them down my throat.

I'm sooo appreciative of how well mom took care of me while I was sick that showed her how much I love her last night. I took over her side of the bed just to be close to her. Of course that made it a little crowded when dad came to bed, but it was nice snuggling between them. I'm a horizontal sleeper, and to sleep between them I really have to sleep vertically or in a little ball, so I got up and left in the middle of the night.

I'm back

That's right. I'm back with a vengeance. I've been greeting mom and dad at the door with my usual whines and jumps (even though mom has tried to teach me numerous times not to jump on people). Last night I played with Blue when he came over for puppysitting, ate all my food, and drank enough water to please mom. Now if I could just get her to stop shoving pills down my throat. She tricked me for a while by putting them in some soft food, but I figured it out this morning and kept spitting out the pill. She finally resorted to the "open mouth, shove it in method."

My namesake

Some people have asked if I was named after Bandit on Little House on the Prairie.

In truth, mom and dad don't know. You see, my dad named me. He said I looked like a bandit. Later someone mentioned the T.V. show to them and dad got thinking. Dad's mom watched a lot of Little House on the Prairie when he was growing up, so maybe it was a subconsious thing?

So mom started looking for a photo, and found this... http://thefeedandseed.tripod.com/lhotppic4.jpg

Do you think I look like Laura's Bandit?

Puppysitting

My new (but getting old fast) job of puppy sitter was taken to new levels last night. Blue still hasn't gotten the hang of pottying outside... and well, last night he had an accident, a big one, in the house. Boy did it stink.

I was upstairs napping in my crate and mom was watching me (she's such a worrywart) when dad starting yelling for her to come downstairs. By the time she got there the deed was done.

I don't know why they don't just take him outside as soon as he starts pacing back and forth. I mean, even I know what that means.

I'm eating again!

Well, they say you can't keep a good dog down... or something like that. Either way, my appetite is back in a big way. Mom's got me on some special "bland" food and I keep begging for more of it. Then today, when mom and dad were eating lunch... I begged. I haven't done that in days. Mom was soooo happy that she almost jumped. However, she didn't give me anything and the number of treats I've gotten has dropped dramatically (to zero). What gives there?

Either way, I'm feeling better, but mom sure has been trying to get me to drink lots of water. I'll drink when I'm thirsty maam.

Vet visit

Mom tricked me this afternoon. She asked me if I wanted to go for a ride... OF COURSE! Anway, I hopped in the car and when we stopped, we were at the vet.

Darn it all. I think it may have had something to do with my keeping mom up all night a couple of days ago, and the fact that she found that pile of vomit that I hid from her yesterday. She's very worried about me.

Anway, the vet poked and prodded and the consensus is that I'm dehydrated. So I got some subcutaneous fluids and mom was told that I need to be on some bland dog food for a couple of days. Yuck, plus I get to have pills shoved down my throat again. Oh - I almost forgot, I've got this funny jiggly lump on my back from when they poked me with the needle and when I shake it feels funny so I keep turning around to look at it.

(Note to self: Stop getting sick and thus avoid the vet and those hated pills.)

Mom told the vet she would keep a real good eye on me and if my appetite didn't come back in the next day, or if I had any more vomiting she'd bring me right back in. Then she told me that I'm pretty expensive for a free dog... the nerve.

What goes down just comes back up

Uggh...

I've come down with a bad doggy bug. I kept mom up all night last night because I started throwing up at 1 a.m. and didn't stop until about 9:30 this morning.

Mom let me have too much water after I puked a pile bigger than my head. That was a mistake, and as soon as she realized it she took me into the bathroom (there was no time to get outside) and I jumped in the tub and tossed up my accounts in there. Finally mom just laid some blankets across one end of the tub and encouraged me to lay in there. I curled up on the blankets and every time I had to throw up I walked up by the drain. Mom kept telling me I was a good boy and petting my head.

She slept on the bathroom floor with me all night. Once when she was napping and I had to throw up again I jumped back in the tub to do it all by myself. Even in my darkest hour, I've remembered my housetraining (I had some stuff shooting out the other end this morning when I went outside) and do my best to help mom keep the house clean.

Cross your fingers because it's 3:20 and I've managed to keep down some more water (in small doses!) and a little bit of boiled chicken and rice that mom made for me. And I haven't had to make any emergency trips outside for that other business. Hopefully this is only a 24 hour bug, otherwise it's a trip to the emergency clinic.

Hours spent bathroom bonding with mom: 8.5
Stomach emptying episodes: 10
Emergency trips outside: 1
Times mom asked me why I never get sick during regular vet clinic hours: 3

Basking in the sun

Mom ignored me today.

She and the cat decided that all the sunlight streaming through the windows deserved to be absorbed. So mom grabbed a pillow and blanket and made herself comfortable. The cat thought this was wonderful and flopped down right beside her.

This bothered me, and I tried to show mom by walking between her and the cat (blocking the sun), and snorkeling in the blanket. I also brought mom my new cow toy, and not-so-gently placed in her head, but she ignored me. Nothing seemed to work, so I went upstairs to pester dad while he was playing the banjo. He really likes it when I walk across the music he has laid out on the guest bed.

Danger Will Robinson

This snow stuff is nice, but I long for the warm, sunny days of summer when mom and dad let me run in the backyard with all the other dogs in our complex.

Mom's been really upset about the backyard lately because our neighbors don't pick up after their dogs... and because Duke turned out to be really mean (he attacked my friend Zoey and made her neck bleed). And, his people still turn him loose without being outside with him or looking for other dogs. Fortunately mom knows the people who run this place and mentioned the transgressions to them. She said she hates being a tattle tale, but the situation out back has gotten unhealthy (and dangerous!).

Needless to say, she's really stepped up her efforts to find a new place to live. Apparently it's tough finding someplace that will allow me to live there too. I don't know why. I'm the sweetest, most well-behaved doggy ever.

A brief rest

Well, having Blue over was fun, but I had some trouble sharing my toys. I wasn't mad that he was picking them up and playing with them, but I kept walking over to mom and taking whatever she was trying to give him. Then Blue and I got toy overload because we emptied the entire toy basket.

I didn't hide my rawhide bone very well before he came over (it was laying in front of the television) so he picked that up right away. Mom took it from him and hid it in my treat barn.

I upset mom when she took Blue out to go potty and I decided to jump over the baby gate to watch them out the back door. It made the loudest racket and scared me silly, but mom wasn't in the mood to laugh. It was wet and raining outside and Blue hasn't learned how to potty quickly.

We ended the evening by hopping on the couch, stretching out and settling in for a long nap.

My new job

Mom told me Blue's coming over tonight, so I've got a lot to do to get ready for my stint as puppysitter.

1. Sort toys into puppyproof and Bandit-only
2. Check strength of babygate barring entrance to the cat's basement liar (wouldn't want Blue getting lost down there!)
3. Hide rawhide bone in couch cushions
4. Lick all crumbs or other food niblets off the floor.
5. Inventory treats
6. Practice looking cute. Don't want Blue to one-up me there.
7. Find place to escape Blue's sharp puppy teeth. I think dad's recliner will do.
8. Nap, nap, nap. I've got to save my energy for tonight

Blue's vet visit yesterday went well. He's got a clean bill of health so we can play all night long!

Welcome Blue

I made a new friend yesteday.

His name is blue and he's a very playful beagle/australian shephard mix. At least that's what mom's guessing. He passed my acceptance test with flying colors, I tried to do unmentionable things to him and he simply turned around and bit my ear. I was fine with that. The only thing I didn't like was when he tried to do unmentionable things to mommy's leg, and when he bit her in the arm. The bite must have hurt because she yelled "ouch" and "Blue no."

I can't wait until Blue's new dad has to go to work. Mom offered to puppysit since Blue's younger than we expected (6 months) and since Nick works at night. I don't care about any of that, I just care that it means I'll get to wrestle and play and be silly for several hours.

Mom said it was okay for us to meet because Blue had all of his shots and stuff and I had all of mine, although she's worried now because Blue sounded a little congested when she visited him this morning. Nick is taking him to the vet for his wellness checkup today so we'll know more then. I hope I don't get a doggy cold from him. I've had a cold twice, and didn't like it. Mom kept shoving pills down my throat because I spit them out if she hides them in cheese or meat. Plus, I was coughing and sneezing all the time.

A new friend!

When we woke up this morning there was snow covering the backyard. Right away I convinced mom to take me outside for playtime. When we came back in dad's friend Nick came over to see if mom would go to the Humane Society with him.

Nick's going to get a dog! That's very good because when I went over to his house last night I searched for Truman and couldn't find him anywhere. It still sorta smelled like him, but all his toys were gone (I checked under the couch and everything) and he wasn't around.

Anyway, they went to our local shelter and there were lots of dogs, but all of them were too big or too young. Nick wants an older dog. So tomorrow mom and dad and Nick are going to the Indianapolis shelter because they found a beagle on their Web site.

I'm exited because I'm getting a new friend. Mom says I have to give him quarantine time though. She doesn't want me picking up any bugs.

Mom found a puppy at the shelter that she wanted to bring home. He was an Australian Cattle Dog mix (mom has a thing for herding breeds). She said he reminded her of her old cattle dog Oreo. I never met Oreo, but he trained mom how to teach me how to do stuff, so he must have been cool. I'm fine with a new brother, but dad says no.

Boredom

I'm about fed up with this cold weather. I have so much energy and no one to expend it with. No more wrestle dates with Truman or backyard romps with Zoey (Truman moved away and mom says it's too muddy to play with Zoey).

Dad's friend Nick is talking about getting a dog. Truman used to live with Nick until his parents moved away, so I think Nick is lonely. Anyway, dad says the new dog could be a buddy for me, and mom agrees, she also said she thinks it might save her throwing arm if she doesn't have to play fetch with me so much. The cat is even rooting for a new dog. She says having two dogs around a couple of days a week would be much better than my daily pestering. I'm not going to tell her that I'll still pester her even if another dog moves into the neighborhood.

Play with me

This ice is something else. Mom took me outside for some excercise and when I ran around the back yard it crunched under my feet. Plus, when I was running after my tennis ball and tried to stop, I slid right past it. It was fun once I figured out I could plant my front feet and my butt would swing around so I was facing mom with the ball.

After we went inside I spent the night trying to get the cat to play with me. I licked her ears, prodded her butt and all around pestered her. When none of that worked, I got a ball and rolled it toward her. She still just layed there. Finally I put her entire head in my mouth. She pulled it out and then gave me the squinty eye look. Mom took pictures, I'm sure she'll post them. I love getting my picture taken. When mom got the camera out I ran over to her and sat pretty, but she put it down and ignored me, so I went back to pestering the cat. Then mom picked the camera up again and I walked back over to her. We did this for 5 or 6 minutes until I was finally bored with it and just continued pestering the cat. Wouldn't you know it, that's when she took the picture.

Ice, ice baby

Uggh, there's ice everywhere.

I went outside to potty this morning and everything was covered in ice. I was fine until I tried to lift my leg. Apparently putting most of my weight on my back leg was too much for the ice. Whenever I lifted my leg the ice under my other foot cracked and popped. It scared the bejesus out of me. I tried like 5 times to do my business and it happened every time. Finally I gave up (because I couldn't hold it anymore) and just squatted. I'll be glad when all this ice melts and the backyard is a mud pit again.

Wait and see

Today is a wait and see day.

The weatherman claims we're getting an ice storm. Mom said she's coming home early if we really do start getting ice from the sky. I'm pumped about the possibility of another day with both mom and dad home.

Last night the cat was laying in the rocking chair all curled up when I wanted to play with her, so I walked up, stuck my nose through the slats and poked her in the hinder. She jumped! It was so funny, even mom laughed. Dad told me to stop pestering the cat, but I know if I could have poked her a few more times she would have played with me. Since the cat was off limits I brought my tennis ball, my rubber ball, my Christmas penguin and my rawhide bone over to mom to get her to play with me.

Weather prediction #2

You might notice there's no weather prediction #1. That's because our weather man gave us two predictions at once.

1. Flood warning-It appears that Purdue's beloved location on the banks of the Wabash isn't all it's cracked up to be. The river was over flood stage last night, and now they're saying we're getting more rain/ice/snow

2. Winter storm warning-The guys with the radar can't decide if we're going to get rain, snow or ice... the smart money is on ice... but either way, they're telling people to duck and cover. Mom was going to go grocery shopping tonight, but now she's grumping about crazy people buying all the bread, milk and eggs at the grocery store. I don't know about you, but those ingredients = french toast to me.

HiHo, HiHo it's off to work mom goes

Mom had to go back to work today. I was very confused when she got up way early and put on her nice clothes.

When she got home she told me that she'd made some phone calls about finding a new place to live. I love my current house, but a new one with lots more space to run and a barn for mom's horse would be really cool. Unfortunately we live in a college town so rent is really high and dad's still a grad student, so buying isn't an option.

I'm glad I get to let mom worry about finding shelter. I'm more concerned with the new rawhide bone I got for Christmas. I finally remembered I need to chew on it instead of carrying it around in my mouth.

Goings on

So many things happened this weekend that I don't know what to write about first.

I'll start with the most exciting. Mom made me cookies! I have to say that the cookie episode started out as a disappointment. Mom and her mom (more about grandma and grandpa's visit later) walked in the door with a bunch of bags and darned if they didn't smell like PetsMart. What's this? Mom visited my store... one of the only stores I get to go into... and she didn't take me with her? I was miffed until she pulled stuff out of the PetsMart bag. The first thing was a new collar. It's red and green and has flashing lights. I liked it so much that I literally begged to model it right then and there. Dad said it was "sick." But the next item out of the bag was the most exciting. It smelled wonderful and mom said it was a mix for my very own cookies. I was upset about missing out on all the Christmas cookies this year, so this made up for that. We made them last night and I can't wait to taste their peanutty goodness later today. The one that I taste tested was soooo good that I kept licking the floor after it was gone. There might have been crumbs there!

The other exciting thing from this weekend was that Gabe came down. He rode with Grandma and Grandpa and spent the night. We ran all around the house wrestling and scaring the cat. Once mom let us outside and we ran laps around the backyard. Then when mom let us back in the house we bolted up the stairs and I jumped on mom's bed. I got in trouble for that when mom spotted my muddy pawprints on her comforter.

Oh - and my friends Will and Amanda came by again. They brought the baby again, but after a sniff or two of his feet (when I sniffed his feet he started kicking) all was good. Will even played tuggy and fetch with me for a while. I love Will!

There is some sad news to report. Mom put on her "work" clothes and left me early this morning. She didn't seem happy about going, but she told me to be a good dog and then walked out the door. I jumped up in the chair and watched her leave.

That's it from here. It was such an exciting weekend that I'm going to hop into bed with dad and snuggle in for a good nap.

Hello out there

I got a new neighbor!

His name is Duke and he's a malamute... I haven't met him yet. Yesterday dad looked outside and saw him sniffing the bush in front of our house, but we didn't see his parents anywhere. When mom and dad went outside to investigate they found Duke running loose and his front door open but no one was home. Mom called him over and convinced him to go back inside. Such excitement. I was staring out our big window and barking my head off the whole time.

Truman may have moved away, but I'm going to treat Duke as his replacement. I've got to go tell mom that all that barking I've been doing is just to welcome him into the neighborhood.

Oh the weather outside was frightful

That's right, the weather was frightful. It got into the single digits outside, and that was without the wind chill. Thankfully I had the comfort of my mom's lap for the 2 hour ride to grandma's house.

Christmas was good. Not only did I get to visit with Frank, Jake and Gabe, but I got Christmas gifts from all of them. Now I have a festive red, green and white tug toy (courtesy of Gabe) and box of training treats from Frank and Jake. For me they're not training treats though. They're "Oh isn't he sooo cute treats!"

I was dissapointed in the snow levels back north and the number of goodies I was able to con people out of on Christmas day. You'd think with 40 people in the house a dog would get at least a few good snacks, but mom made an announcement about how sick I got after Thanksgiving and pretty much everyone went easy on the treats.

About the snow, mom said they had more in Lafayette than they did where we were. I got to play in it when we came back after Christmas, but it all melted today. It's supposed to get up to 50 degrees tomorrow and my friend Zoey is back from visiting her grandparents in Alabama. I hope that means outside play time. All that mud in the back yard will only add to our fun.

Note to self: My crate + one can of sprite precariously balanced on top + mom and dad leaving for an bit of shopping = crust/sticky fur and a bath.

Something's afoot

I'm so excited! Mom came home for lunch today and instead of eating, she packed a whole bunch of stuff in the car. All those boxes with the bows and ribbon and her big suitcase and my dogfood and my traveling bag went in there. I thought we were getting ready to go so I was dancing on the floor beside her. Then she walked out the door, got in dad's truck and left. I don't know what's going on, but I think we're taking a trip. I can barely wait. Mom said there's a couple feet of snow at grandma and grandpa's house. Ours melted away today.

Busy, busy, busy as a bee

Wow, there sure is a lot going on around here, and I know it means a trip because mom starting gathering all my stuff today. She got my leashes and some treats and my traveling food and water bowl and put them on top of the entertainment center. And she's got my reindeer antlers and moose antlers up there too. She's been having me wear the antlers around the house "practicing" for Christmas day.

She and dad have been digging out bags and packing things too, and mom's running around cleaning and doing lots of laundry... all things that lead up to a trip. I am a little concerned. I've noticed the cat's stuff sitting next to mine. I think that means she's coming with. I don't mind it much, except when we're in the car and the cat sits on the console between the front seats. I can't put my head on dad's shoulder then.

(Right now I'm licking mom's feet... they taste soooo good!)

Mom says I won't be able to write for a while when we're at grandma and grandpa's houses, so I'll have lots to write about when I come back. She did mention something about making cookies with her cousins when she got home, that means lots of goodies dropped on the floor for Gabe (my brother who lives with Grandma and Grandpa) to eat. I can't wait. I love Christmas!

Where's Ohio?

Last week I spent a lot of time with Truman, my golden retriever friend from next door, but I haven't seen him in a couple of days. Mom mentioned to dad that she thought I might miss Truman now that he's in Ohio. I don't know where Ohio is, but I hope it's not far. Truman was my swimming buddy. He was always willing to hop in the water and fetch sticks. I'll keep an eye out for him.

Lookin good

A few days ago I got a hair trim. Mom said my tail and feet and underline needed some sprucing up. So she put some newspaper down on the living room floor and snipped away until I looked fabulous...even though it doesn't take much, I always look fabulous.

What's a puppy mill?

My mom was very sad this morning. She checked her e-mail and found a message from someone in our dog park group (we're trying to get a dog park built in our area so a bunch of two-leggers formed a group that does stuff to raise money and advocate the need for a park).

Anyway, back to the reason mom was sad. This lady forwarded an e-mail to the group that told about a humane society looking for foster homes for puppies seized from a puppy mill. I don't know what a puppy mill is, but mom said there are almost 40 puppies that are looking for foster homes until they can find a forever home. She wrote the lady back and suggested that a group of 15 or 20 dog park members get together and offer to foster one dog each. They could also car pool to go get the puppies because they live pretty far away in some place called DuQuoin, Illinois.

Dad's not to sure he wants another puppy in the house (I give him as much doggie lovin as he can handle, he says), but mom's working on him about it. I'm not sure what I think about the possibility of another dog living here. Could be fun...I'd better go inventory my toys to make sure there's enough to share.

Yummy

I got a cookie last night. It was a yummy oatmeal buttescotch cookie that mom was holding on to while she leaned out the door to ask dad a question. It was good. Sometimes the things you take on the sly taste the very best. I could tell mom wanted to tell me I was bad for taking that cookie out of her hand, but she was laughing too hard.

Invasion!

Listen up all you dogs out there, I have something important to report. For the past three nights the cat has chosen to sleep on the bed with my two leggers. This is not acceptable and I'm calling on all my canine friends to tell me the best way to scare this cat away. Mom and dad have been heard making appreciative comments about the devotion the cat is showing and wondering what's made her suddenly so snuggly. I know! She's trying to remove me from the favorite pet position.

Personally I prefer to sleep in my crate, so it's not like I can guard the bed against her, and I've recently gotten in trouble for trying to nose her off the bed.

I've also noticed that the cat has more attitude lately and that she's been initiating our play sessions. Normally I would rejoice that someone wants to play with me, but our playtime is tempered by my knowledge that she's going to hop onto the bed and snuggle later in the night.

I'm at my wits end. I'll lose the favored pet position if I start an offensive, but if I site back and do nothing I may lose too.

Wait, I just heard mom saying that she prefers dogs over cats... shwueew.

Uh Oh

I got in trouble yesterday. Mom came upstairs and saw that I was sifting through the trash again. I haven't done that in a long time, but there was some kleenex in there that I just couldn't ignore.

Huh?

Something weird just happened. Dad told mom not to feed me something...usually it's the other way around.

Workin' 9 to 5

Mom went back into work this evening and normally that would be bad, but this time she took me with her! It was cool. I got to climb a bunch of stairs, walk around the office, each some french fries and bark at the cleaning lady.

I got in trouble for barking, mom said it's a big old building and my barks echoed too much. The cleaning lady just laughed and then left me alone. When she came back later I went over to meet her.

I spent most of my time at the office laying on the floor next to mom. She was painting some big picture on the wall. When we left I trotted around like I owned the building. Mom said it was a good thing the Dean wasn't in his office because he might not like dogs.

Hey, there's something crawling around under the fouton in the office. Gotta go check it out!

Mud boggin'

When mom got home from work last night she took me outside and threw my tennis ball for like an half hour. It was soooo fun! And then, my friend Zoey came out and we wrestled and ran and played IN THE MUD! Zoey and I got kind of mad at each other at the end of play time. She body slammed me, so I growled and chased after her. I think I scared her because she whined and then ran toward her daddy. I don't understand why, she's way bigger than I am.

Anyway when we came back inside mom wouldn't let me get on the furniture or play like I normally do. She told dad that I was getting a bath because I was filthy. I only had a some mud on my paws and my sides. Dad just laughed.

Later mom and dad went to the store (no toys for me though) and Dad's friend Chris came over. Mom was busy making cookies, so I thought she forgot all about the bath. She didn't.

I went upstairs with her because I thought she was going to bed but then she walked into the bathroom and told me to come with her.

She pointed at the tub and told me "in." Like the good dog that I am, I got in and then she sprayed me with water and rubbed in this stinky stuff on me then sprayed me again. I don't like baths. When she was done spraying me she dried me off. I like the feeling so much that I groaned while she was drying me. Then she let me out of the tub and brought out that darn blow dryer. It's not that I'm scared of it, I'd just rather it didn't blow near my face. Luckily mom was just interested in drying my body.

When it was time to leave the bathroom I was so happy that I burst out of the room and ran laps around the house. Dad laughed and called me poofy dog. I can't help it that my hair gets poofy when it's been blow dried. After that I jumped on their bed to put wet pawprints on it and then climbed in my crate to sleep. Mom told me I could come on the bed with them, but I decided my crate was more comfortable.

Mmmmm Turkey!

We just got back from another trip home to visit Gabe, Frank and Jake. Dad's friend shot a deer, so I got to taste raw meat. It was okay, but Jake didn't want me near it. I got back at him though. He turned his back and I stole one of his bones. Unfortunately mom wouldn't let me bring it in the house.

Speaking of eating, I begged so much at Thanksgiving that everyone gave me something off their plate. I got cheese and ham and turkey. Dad tried to give me a piece of his chocolate chip cookie and mom told him no... so he gave me a cracker instead. I paid for all that food the next day though. Mom got back from after thanksgiving shopping and came to let me out of my crate and I threw up right in front of her. Uggh, it was gross. I felt so guilty and yucky that all I wanted to do was snuggle up to her. I spent a couple of minutes taking it easy (that's not easy to do with Gabe around, he's ADHD), went outside for some fresh air and was good as new.

When we got back home I discovered something bad. There aren't any presents for me in the house... I checked. None under the bed or in the bags of shopping or under the tree. I punished mom by sitting next to dad that evening. The only good news is that the cat doesn't have any presents yet either.

Company's comin'

I knew something was up this morning when mom got out the vacuum and started cleaning the entire house.

I was right. Later that afternoon my friend Will came over (mom say's Will is dad's friend but he's my friend most). When he walked in the door he had all this stuff with him and his special friend Amanda was carrying this big chair thing that was making noises and smelled good. When she set the chair down something inside squeeked and grunted and mom and dad were standing around it going oooh and aaaah.

I tried to nose my way in to see what was going on, but mom made me go upstairs. She told dad to take me go upstairs until I calmed down and the baby got fed. I wondered... What's a baby?

Boy did I find out. They're miniature two-leggers and they get lots of attention. Will seemed to pay special attention to it, so he didn't play with me as much as he used to. I was sad so I went up to him and laid my head on his knee while he was holding the new thing. He petted me and then went back to looking at it.

One time they laid it on the ground and let me sniff it. He smelled like milk and Will and bunches of other good things. (And one bad thing, he smelled like what I go outside to do). But after Amanda pulled this stinky thing out from under him he smelled fine again. I checked, the it was the "thing" that stinky, not him.

I decided he was okay, so when they put him in his bouncy chair I sat right beside him and watched him, but I looked at mom to make sure it was okay. She told me I was a good boy. One time I licked his ears (I Love Ears!) and everyone laughed at me and tried to take my picture so I moved up real close to the camera, but they kept trying to get me to get close the baby.

I don't know what I think about baby's, they seem pretty cool. The cat was jealous, so I'm one up on her.

Mom said something to dad about how I passed another test to be a family dog and it looks like it will be okay for me to be around babies...

I wonder what that means?