NOSE ALERT

Well it is that time of year when I stick my nose out the back door and try to figure out the temperature. Yesterday it was cold, I mean the kind of cold that makes me turn around and go back to my favorite warm spot. Maybe I am getting too use to a warm environment. When I was found by my adoptive family I lived in a building with a very small heater and was open to the outside. It was only 34 degrees out when my family adopted me and it had been colder months before that. Now when it is 34 degrees outside I get to stay in my nice warm home unless I need the outside. Last night they let me stay in while they went to run an errand. I must remember to look super comfy so they let me stay inside. I do like the snow and can stay out in it for hours but it wasn't snowy, it was just cold, which is never any fun. I guess all the warm weather is going to disappear now.

Have a wwwrrrrwarm winter.

Something happened to the day

I am so confused, it gets dark so fast. My mom woke me up late, I was waiting in my crate for an extra hour. My food comes late and I feel like I am starving. I have to keep running to my food bowl to give mom the hint. Forget about walk time when my mom works, because it gets so dark. I do not like to walk in the dark too many shadows. I get scared. One morning mom took me for a walk with a light on her head just so she could see where to put her feet. I wish she had put one on me so I could see if anything was lurking around the trees.  I hope this doesn't happen again. She thinks she is putting me to bed early, but I am thinking why am I still up. Something about saving daylight, I hope they save it soon, because I would like it back.

Happy walking and wear clothes that glow especially in the dark.

Leaves

What are those things that fall from the sky, skitter across the lawn and hide my bathroom place? I will be walking along and one will sneak up behind me, all I hear is rustle, rustle but when I turn it stops. Once when I was walking with mommy one fell right in front of me then ran to the left. Mommy keeps saying it's okay, but is it? What if they are monsters? Sometimes I have dreams about them chasing me, my little feet try to run away, but they keep coming. Then when it is windy out they all jump from the trees, they like the high up places, but now there are more and more of them hitting the ground. What is a dog supposed to do? I need to figure this out before they take over everything. Happy Fall.

New training for my parents

I think I have successfully trained my humans on when to let me out, when I want food and/or water and when I want a treat. I have successfully employed the sock retrieval method of training. With this training I grab a sock and run to the back door, this is where my food, treats and of course my escape to the backyard to chase squirrels. Now if I stand at the door with my back to it, they know I want food or water. If I turn to the snack holder then they know I want a snack. And of course the door means out. Sometimes I have to touch the handle with my paw, it takes some smarts to help them understand. But today I went to the kitchen sans sock and stood facing the water bowl. EUREKA they got it. I still have to employ the sock sometimes, because they might be in another room and I need them in the kitchen. But I think we are being successful. Who knew that giving them their sock back would be considered a treat to them. YEAH ME.

Guess what?

This is a breakthrough my mom and dad let me stay in the house by myself. Usually they crate me if I am going to stay in the house. When they had the gates up they would let me stay in the kitchen. Most of the time I was left outside, which I did not mind because I got to say hello to everyone who passed the gate. But for the last few days because it has been so hot, I got to stay inside. I was very careful not to mess up the house. Though I did go sleep in their bed, but don't let them know. I tried to straighten out the bed, but it kept getting messier. But I have the run of the household, yeah. Now if I could only talk them into letting me walk with them without the leash.

Good girl

Good girl my favorite words to hear. I usually get a few of those a day, but not always when we are on walks. My mom never says bad girl, unless I do something really bad. I am happy to report that I have been getting more and more GOOD GIRL. Yesterday I was being silly, my mom dropped a pair of  socks when she came out of the garage with some towels and golf stuff. I immediately grabbed the sock. She said GOOD GIRL, take them to the house. I did and ran in with them, but I overdid it and would not give her the socks back. She did not say bad girl, but tempted me with treats to get the socks back. (I taught her that trick.) I use the socks to get treats or outside, it always works. Anyway, we had a great walk and she did not have to pull on my leash very much, or tell me not to chase squirrels, or grumble at dogs. I sometime do this if I am scared. I hope I get more GOOD GIRLS today.

I was right

My boy left today. He took me for a walk, played with me for a little bit and then poof. Well not exactly poof, he got the big pack and his boots ( I really wanted to tear up the boots, but well, I'm a good girl, not.)  Anyway, my dad got all sad and my mom was like "he has to go so he can finish and get back home", though I really think she was sad too. I think she was being a stoat, or some word like that, but she does not want my boy to be up north in the winter winds. To make mom happy when she came home I laid on her feet, just she knows she is loved. When dad comes home I will let him give me hugs and belly rubs. Good times, but I hate being right.

Happy Happy Sad Sad

My boy who is walking the AT has been home for a week, yeah me. But everyday he leaves for several hours, which means my mom leaves for several hours and comes back without him. Then she leaves again and picks him up. One day it took forever, for them to come home. I was soooo worried, did something happen, did they abandon me, all these thoughts were in my head. It was dark when they got back and all seemed well. I ran and ran and ran I was so happy and excited to see them. But I feel a disturbance in the force. My boy is getting the big thing ready with all the boxes and bags and I don't know what else. I think he is getting ready to leave me again. I am thinking I won't see him for a bit. I am not sure I like this coming and going. If he leaves I am going to be sooo sad. WOOWOOWOO.

Summer Lazies

It is summer and I a mostly black dog have no time to deal with 80+ degrees. I go on a walk with my mom early in the morning before it gets too hot and feel all groggy when I come home. We do not even do a long walk. I drink two bowls of water and find the coolest place to sleep. I hate water so though my mom suggests I cool down with a bath or hose, I run away. So while my mom was watering plants, I ran inside, but I really wanted to be outside because my buddy was barking, just couldn't risk an accidental hose squirt (that is what my mom says-accidental my eye teeth.) Anyway, I had a bath yesterday. I am hoping for some cool evenings, so that mom will change her walk time.  Or better yet give me a two walks morning and night. For right now I am just going to sleep under the table. Pleasant dreams.

SUMMER

Schools out forever, well until that thing called Fall. But this means my mommy gets to stay home with me, walk me and not be as tired. I am so happy because I get to sleep in. When she works I have to get up at 5:30, but she let me sleep today. Of course, I have been waiting for her to take me on a walk, she has shoes on and looks like she wants to, but we have not left yet. I keep opening the back door and standing there. When she comes to the door, I run to the fence. You would think she would get the hint. She says I have to wait as she is waiting on someone to fix something. Not sure what but they are late and she is getting mad. I hope she doesn't wait too long because I hate walking in the heat. I'll let you know if I get to go walking, my favorite thing to do, besides tear up socks and gloves.

I hate ticks

For some reason my yard is not the safe haven it used to be. Besides having to avoid the bees when my dad works with them. The big green snake like thing that shoots water out of its mouth when my parents are in the garden is also bumming me out. In addition, my parents now say we have ticks in the yard. I had one on me. I did not even know it was on me until my mom freaked out when she saw it on my body. She tried to knock it off but it was firmly attached. I did not like her messing with it, so I got up and started running around the house. She finally waited until my dad got home, then they tried to torture me some more by pulling on it with a cold metal thing and a stinky thing that smelled like medicine. I was not happy. Mom keeps looking at the spot. I hope I do not get another one of those things, and probably so does my mom.

C'est La VIE or It's a Dog's Life

I have not written in awhile as I am only doing the same thing everyday, with very few highlights. I am a dog after all. The biggest highlight was when the whole family was together for a week. My boy was here, but my girl came home. Then at the end of the week, I was put in a boarding kennel. Which I really didn't mind because I got to play with lots and lots of dogs. I really did not want to come home but my friends said they were going to leave soon, so I went with my human family. But to my dismay the boy was not there. I looked everywhere for him, the basement (his favorite spot), the bedroom, and outside, but no boy. I think my parents lost him. Maybe on purpose because he had a big bag on his pack with all sorts of stuff in it.

Then my mom went away. She came back the next week, but she had weird smells of a house or place I did not know. While she was gone my girl left for places unknown, which left just me and my dad for 4 days. He doesn't do things like mommy does in the morning. He also let me stay outdoors for long periods of time. My mom always calls me in when I bark too much, but not my dad. He was also outside working on the garden, so I didn't mind being outside. It was also nice and warm. I liked laying in the sun, except when he went in the bee hive or got the hose out to water.

SO that is what happened the last few months in a nutshell, whatever that means. I heard mom say it once, but nutshells are very small, so how do you fit a life into it. Anyway, bye and I will let you know if anything exciting happens.

Big Birds

The other day I was walking with my mom, we had not been down this road for a long time. But there was the weirdest thing, big giant birds standing on one foot. I could not tell what color they were, I can't see colors well. But there were five of them. I stopped and my mom said 'What is it girl?'
Then she followed where I was looking and started to laugh. "It's okay girl there just statues of pink fla mink o's." Or something like that. There were also these weird round things, they looked like balls but they were on top of sticks. Mom said not to worry, but I really wanted to play with the ball things. Mom said the birds were not real, but what if she is wrong. I do not want to run into them, they looked too big to chase, but they might chase me.

Weird bump

I have a bump on my skin. It doesn't bother me but my mom is freaking out. She took me to the vet, which I hated. He stuck a sharp thing in it and then made me wait and wait. Plus I had to get my regular meds and a pooh sample. OWWOOO. I was not happy with my mom. The vet said it might be a histo something or other and should fix itself, but if it grows instead of shrinks I need to go back. My mom wants it to be nothing and my boy keeps trying to get me to go back. Why are they trying to torture me? I hope it disappears soon.

I WANT ATTENTION

Mom went back to work yesterday, she looked really tired when she came home, but I wanted to play. I mean she was home and why not play. She got changed and sat down, why did she sit down, so of course I grabbed the tissues and tore them up. Eventually, she decided to take me for a walk, after the boy told her she should relax with a walk instead of playing some computer game. But boy was it cold and snowing. It was so nice when it was warm outside. It was a short walk but it was nice to get out of the backyard. I am happy I have a backyard to play in but my favorite thing is to get out of the fence. Anyway, it was fun, even if short. I played duck with her and then she took a nap. I was kind of waiting for her to do this, I even gave her a hint by sleeping on the floor. As soon as she laid down on the couch, I jumped up and laid on her legs. I guess she got the hint, not as stupid afterall. We got a pretty good nap in, but of course I still wanted attention, and tried to get them to feed me from the table, but no success, I was stuck with my dog food, boring. I hope today we do something fun.

OOPS

So sorry I haven't blogged, I have been sad because my mom is not feeling well and she won't take me on a walk. She just keeps barking at me and I don't know why. Then she pets me and says I am a good dog, why does she bark? When she falls asleep on the couch I am happy because I get to snuggle with her. I hate the couch because it is too cold, but she puts a blanket on just for me to sleep in the crook of her legs. I have been trying to get her to play by grabbing her socks, tax paperwork, tissues and anything else that would cause her to chase me, but she just yells at me and sends the boy to grab the things from me. I think she is feeling a little better because she took me for a walk yesterday when it was 65 degrees out, but today it is only 45 degrees and she has not budged from the couch and she started barking again. I hope this barking stops soon and we can play some more outside.

SNOW

It's snowing and I have been out several times today. I love the snow, hate the rain. My mom always wonders why, but I know. You see, the rain is loud and hurts when it hits my back, but snow is soft and quiet, except when it sleets. I went for a walk first thing this morning,  I was so excited I almost pulled my mom down. I still couldn't help jumping and running in the snow so mom took me to a playground and let me run around her. But  I go scared because it was all fenced in and I did not know how to get out. Mom calmed me down and said follow me. She knows everything. Then we played in the snow. But I growled and mom said I guess it is time to go inside. I have been watching out the window at the snow falling it has been doing it all day. I have seen some of my friends and their owners let them off the leash, but mom won't let me off my leash. I don't think she trusts me. It could be all the times I have run away. Anyway, when I see my friends outside I run to the back door to go out. Then yeah I get to great them at the back gate. I love the snow.