hello

Lazy? Me?

2006-06-05T09:21:00.000-05:00

I'm officially a bad blogger. It's been very hard keeping up with it. My humans are either around or they've turned the computer off! So I'm finally figuring those things out.

What's happened that you need to know about? I got to see Meat the other day! That was really exciting! We played and played and played. And I still wanted to keep playing but he had to leave. Something about flying to California. I didn't know he could fly. He's never shown me. Of course, my humans haven't shown me either and they talk about flying. I've even heard them talk about taking me flying. So we'll see what all that's about one day, I guess.

I am finally allowed to get close to the littlest human! He's really a lot of fun. But watch out for those hands! He's got a grip. He really likes me. He laughs at me and giggles. I love that! I really like to get my nose up to his nose and give him a little kiss. And his feet smell funny too! They smell different from the human feet. We played in my tunnel. Well, he played in it and I watched at one of the openings. His dark haired human sat with him at one opening and my human sat at the other end. She wouldn't let me go inside the tunnel but held me and let me watch the littlest human play.

I play bacci! It's really a lot of fun. I'm not sure what the rules are. The humans throw the balls and I chase them and move them around. Sometimes my human gets really excited and he call me a good girl and other times he tells me I moved the wrong ball. I always get lots of laughs and attention when I play with them. The humans don't let me try to catch the balls though. I have to wait until they throw the ball and it's landed before I can get it.

I see all of my humans on a pretty regular basis. I haven't seen the little human (not the littlest human) in a long time. She always gives me toys and walks me around. She's lots of fun.

I'm trying to make friends with a cat! He lives at my friends' house. We are still trying to figure each other out. I really want to play with him and I think maybe he wants to play too, but he just plays funny. I try all kinds of things. I lay down and be really quiet, but then I just can't take it anymore so I stand up and bark at him. I have my tail wagging and I'll even bow to him so he knows I want to play. He doesn't seem to react to that so well. and he really doesn't like me drinking from his water bowl. If just realized that his water is so much better than the water they put in my bowl, he wouldn't get so upset. Hmmm. Maybe it's special water and I'm not suppose to drink it because it's something special because he's a cat. Well, it's better than what they put in my bowl. That's all I got to say.

Well, it's time for my mid-late morning nap.

So much to talk about...

2005-12-22T07:58:00.000-06:00

Okay, I know there was a lot to talk about, but I can't remember everything. I have had a lot of fun lately though. My owners have started jogging and I get to go on a jog with one of them. It's pretty fun, but I want to go fast and she does not. My humans had a Christmas party and it was really unfair because they got to eat goose and turkey and I LOVE goose and turkey. I got to meet the little baby. He's cute, but he doesn't eat the goose and turkey so I didn't pay much attention to him. I did smell him. He smells different from the big humans. And can he make a noise! All the humans were taking turns holding him and rocking him and carrying him around. But he still made this noise. He was unhappy and I think the humans didn't know how to make him happy again. There is a possum living in our backyard. Every night I go outside and watch for him to come out and play. The game is that he comes out and I bark and jump at him and see if I can get him. He is always just out of reach. I'm sure I've forgotten to tell you all kinds of stuff, like how I'm learning to play with cats and how fun Thanksgiving was - especially the turkey part. I get to go visit my cousins (? not sure what they are) and we will play and play and play and play and play and rest and play and play and play and play and eat and play and play and play and play and WALK! and...

Do Dogs Think?

2005-10-06T15:58:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite people sent this to my human. She liked it so much she sent this to the author:
Dear Mr. Katz,
I couldn't agree more with your article. While I think that dogs do go through an "adolescence", I don't think it's like human adolescence. Rather it's a stage in a dog's life where they are no longer puppy and not a "senior" but very active and learning boundaries. I have a rescue dog. I have been doing a lot of reading by Trish King and Patricia McConnell and find most of what they have to say very helpful. Since my husband and I have started using low-key commands that reinforce our leadership status, she has responded quite well. We also try to follow the simple rule that our trainer told us, set your dog up for success. (This was, by the way, a PetsMart trainer.) While I would like my dog not to get into the trash, a piece of chocolate cake was in there and my dog found it and proceeded to eat it, even after we walked through the door. Now the garbage lives in the garage. Setting your dog up for success is far easier than trying to catch them in the act and much funner than having to induce vomitting. One of the first things the PetsMart trainer told us was that dogs don't understand guilt. They understand that a person is angry and try to act in a submissive manner so that the anger isn't redirected to them. I'm really surprised that your friend's vet and trainer actually thought the dog was trying to get revenge for being left alone. It's really too bad, but I'm glad her dog did not end up with the same fate as the other dog mentioned in your article.
Great article!

So I'm sure you're asking why is he one of my favorite people? Because he is so nice to me and feeds me stuff like cheetos and cauliflower!

Saturday is game day! Sunday is game day!

2005-10-03T16:08:00.000-05:00

Yes! Saturday AND Sunday are game day!
I got to run around and play and try to knock over the humans before they threw their frisbees. I kept having to stay and sit and I think they don't understand the game. I sit and watch very attentively and right before one of the humans throws his frisbee, I launch at him! The idea is they are still suppose to throw the frisbee to the goal. It's more interactive that way. I got to play in the creek. My human was a bit upset because I wasn't listening. I got tired pretty quick and gave up my rebellious antics. I did get to run around a lot. That is always fun! Ru-unning!
I played hide and seek with my humans. It was tons of fun! They would hide and I would stay in one spot and then they call for me to come and I'd come running and find them. It was easy because they yelled and so I knew pretty much where they were. The fun part was that once I found one human the other human would start yelling for me to come. I got lots of praises and lots of running! It was so much fun.
I got to go to the big hardware store. I love that place! There are always new people to smell and there's this old lady that always says hi to me and pets me. She's really nice. Sometimes I jump on people that are not paying attention to me when they pass. This time was really funny. My human was waiting for me to sit before opening the door to let me out and this guy asked if she was going to open the windows for me. What for, I don't know. My human doesn't let me jump out the windows. We bought stuff and then we went to the car and my human made a phone call and we went back in for more stuff! It was even more fun because this time I rode on a cart! It was fun.
And then at night I got to play this game where I chased my human for a treat! Such a fun idea! Chasing - I love! Treats - I love! I had to chase her around these poles. I'm not really sure about that, but whatever. I got me treats!

Swimming is Fun?

2005-09-27T11:04:00.000-05:00

I got to go to St. Edwards Park over the weekend and I jumped into the creek! Now it was a little deeper than I thought it would be and was a little startled. Luckily, I was out with humans and the tall guy that lives with my humans fished me out. It was really hot outside so it was a nice refreshment. So nice, in fact, that I tried to jump in on the way back! But they sensed my attempt and kept me out of the water. I guess they didn't want the car to get wet. It was lots of fun. I am getting braver about the water and when I went to Walnut Creek with my humans I did a lot more jumping around in the water. I got to meet lots of people and dogs this weekend. I really like. There was a new dog a couple of blocks down that was always outside when I came by. He is not from Austin and we had ourselves a little fling. My humans wouldn't let us be alone though and so we just sniffed each other and jumped around. He was really cute and maybe he'll visit again soon. This morning, he was gone. I was a little sad, but I'll be even happier next time I see Buford. I got to eat this new yummy treat! It's got fish and sweet potatoes in it! YUMMMY!!!! My humans put it on my food to spice it up and they also freeze it in my Kong!! I love my kong!! I find it in my crate, wrapped up in my blanket and then I pull it out and I get to lick it and lick it and taste all the yummies in it and I chew it and it is so good!! I just heard a squirrel or maybe it was the cat that goes under our deck. I need to check it out.

Long Walk.

2005-09-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

So Saturday I got to go on a long walk with lots of other people by the Capitol. It was really awesome. I even broke a law. I played in the fountain in the lawn of the Capitol. There were lots of people and lots of dogs. I played a little but kept mostly walking. It was a long walk but they had water along the way and I got treats. I was a really good girl. well, mostly except for when I was biting my leash and wanting to play with my humans. I was bored. We were just sitting around before we started walking. Why couldn't we just walk from the beginning? We had to stand in line before we could even start walking. Humans are weird. They played this song before we started walking and I got to show off my Ninja Kick that I've been secretly working on. As soon as the music started and they were singing about Kung Fu fighting, I jumped up and did my kick whirling around in a circle. My man human was always asking me to do the Ninja Kick before the walk. I think he saw me practicing one day. I barked at some doggies and they barked at me and we wanted to play but our humans wouldn't let us. I got to sniff lots of butts, dog AND human. It was really fun. I wasn't nearly as tired at the end of this walk as I was the walk we went on in May. It was lots of fun. I love going on walks!!

Partying a little hard

2005-09-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I guess I partied a little too hard. While my humans were out, I got into the trash. And what a yummy time that was! I ate cheese - the rind and all. I ate some other unidentified objects. And I ate chocolate cake!!! It was so good. So good in fact, that when my humans came home, I couldn't resist it and kept licking it. Of course, I got in trouble for the trash. But then, my humans took me outside and with a turkey baster, made me drink three tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide! (Thanks Emergency Hospital.) And I ate grass like a mad cow. Trying to get as much in as possible. Next thing I knew, I'm puking my guts out like I drank all night long! I was pretty pissed. After I puked out what felt like my whole stomach, I drank a little water, and rested in the grass. We went back inside and I took a nap. I wasn't very pleased with my humans and gave them the cold shoulder for a while but then it was okay and I played and played and played and played.

Diligence...

2005-07-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

That's what I need. I have been really busy but it's been so long since I last wrote anything that it would be silly to try and catch up on everything now. Except to say that I went swimming and was not pleased. I ate lots of ribs and bones. I smelled a lot of stinky stuff and rolled in lots of nasty things. I went for walks and ate some popsicles - beef and cheese flavored. YUMMY!!! But right now I'm really not pleased because I have a cone on my head. I had foot "surgery" again. I was good for the doctor and his helpers. My humans think I'm going to lick the bandages off and go at my stitches, which, yeah, I will. But I get stuck on everything and can't get on the couch or go upstairs. I'll try to be more diligent about updating my entries. And if you're really sorry for me, you can bring me a pig's ear. A whole pig would be nice too, but probably overkill.

So much to catch up on!

2005-06-21T18:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my humans went off on a trip and I got to spend a whole week at Doggy Play Day!! It was so much fun! I played and played every day and got along really well with all the other doggies. I have to say that I am a little upset at being dropped off some place without preparation for a WHOLE WEEK. I have been letting my humans know as much with all of my misbehaving when they are gone longer than they should be or not paying enough attention to me. They'll learn their lesson soon and then I'll be a really good doggy again.

I went to the park this weekend. That was lots of fun. My humans made a small pond in my backyard that I have been playing in. It's cleaner than the ones at the park. And I can drink the water without having to gag on moss and other green stuff.

Today I got into the trash because there was some really yummy smelling food in there. I don't know why they thought the "leftovers were old" because they tasted GREAT to me! I had a stuffed cabbage and onions and mushrooms [from Drakula, a Romanian restaurant in Austin that is highly recommended!]. I cleaned that box out! And then I took to a piece of foil that had some meat on it. YUMMY! Romanian leftovers and meat scraps!

I have been so good at keeping my humans guessing about my "separation anxiety" that in the mornings my male human takes me for a walk before anyone else gets up and I have been going without my leash the last couple of days! It is so much fun, but I am really good because I don't want to get in trouble. I stay close to him and follow all the commands he tells me. It's so cool in the mornings right now so I enjoy my walk a whole lot.

My human is calling me to go out and play outside. I think she wants to go play in the pond.

Singing...

2005-06-03T08:03:00.000-05:00

At least that's what they called it. I got to see all of my people friends sit around and sing and laugh. I went outside and found the stinkiest spot EVER. I rolled around in it and had a great time. My human didn't like it very much and so she took me into the bathroom and tried to wash it all off, but she was not successful. I picked the stinkiest stuff. It still smells this morning. Last night I got to play with the small human. It was awesome. She was hand feeding me. Stinky stuff. Friends. Hand feeding. Lots of butts to smell. Life is great.

Camping

2005-05-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

Going camping is like going to the park only full blast. Friday I went camping and watched my humans set up our den and make a fire and eat. I roamed all around and secured the area first. I smelled everything and looked over the cliff to make sure everything was all right. It was really fun. I got to eat some cheese and some sticks that had marshmallow residue on it. When it was really dark, we went into our den and slept. It's really fun because I get to sleep on their feet and I look out the windows to make sure everything is in good order. When I hear something that doesn't fit, I first give a low growl and then a bark. I slept really late because I was keeping watch in the night. We got up and it started raining so we went back inside. There was all kinds of loud noises crashing and lights flashing and I am not ashamed to say I was frightened. I couldn't understand why my humans weren't frightened. It's not something you want to be stuck in the middle. When the rain finally stopped we went outside and I got to look around some more and sniff. There were a few large trucks that came through our territory, so I barked and chased them away. There were people in the water below the cliff and I told them that they were not safe and should get back in the boat and back on the land, but they didn't listen to me. My humans didn't understand either. Some more people came later. I really like them because they have a small human that plays with me. She eats stuff and then lets me sniff and lick her hands. It's pretty cool. She tries to feed me her cookies and crackers and really anything she can find. I know what things I shouldn't eat so I don't eat them. She may think they are good, but I'm not eating rocks and flowers. Well, I did eat some flowers, but they made me sneeze really really bad. I sneezed several times and my whole body shaked and my mouth and nose twitched up on one side. I decided not to eat them anymore. She likes to take my leash and walk around with me. I don't run or pull really hard with her. I know she's really small. We went to the water on the other side of the cove. It was a harrowing experience for me. I didn't understand why the humans wouldn't stay out of the water. Just in the shallowest parts are okay, but going far out where your belly is way beneath the water isn't right. My male human kept jumping off the cliff and swimming really far out and trying to get me to go really deep. He just wouldn't understand. I was whining and barking and pleading with him to stay. I had to take drastic measures finally. I took hold of his finger and dragged him in to shore. When he tried to jump off the cliff, I tried to get his sandles and one time I took his wrist but he got rather angry with me. More people came and they did the same thing. I did get to ride in a boat and that was fun. It was okay if they were in the boat. They weren't deep in the water. My humans took me for a boat ride and that was fun. They had to paddle around and the boat would rock whenever I ran from one side to the other. It was really cool. I finally gave up on the people, the best I could anyway, and tried to save the sponges they were floating on. No reason to endanger them. Then one human was climbing up the cliff and tried to get close to him, but he was too far out. He calls me beast and loves on me. Eventually, my humans and I left and we went for a car ride. I ate some deer poop. It was really smelly. I got to run around and play some more and sniff and explore. Then it was night time and we went to sleep. As soon as we went into our den another big storm started. It was really scary. I tried to be brave and stayed down at my humans feet until they invited me up. Then later I sat on my female human's head. She didn't really like it because she moved immediately. They tried to keep me calm and relax with me but it is hard when the walls are moving everywhere and you have to talk really loud to be heard. Eventually it stopped and I was so glad because I didn't know how much more I could take. I went to sleep for a while and then it was morning. We went on a long walk and it was lots of fun. I didn't have to be on my leash so I could run around and check out behind all the bushes and in the trees. Then we had lunch and I ate some nibbles of food. After lunch we packed up and went home and I slept the whole entire way. It was such a great weekend. I had lots of fun with all my friends. Next time I hope there are no storms and no playing in deep water.

PLAY!!!!

2005-05-24T07:10:00.000-05:00

I have been super busy! Friday I got to go see other dogs and play all day! It was so much fun. We wrestled and ran and sniffed things and dug holes! Super fun! My humans picked me up and there were lots of people at my house. I would have played with them a lot more but because I had played all day I took a nap. They took my lead and napped also. Then they all left. I got the house to myself, which is always awesome. I get to go in and out of my special door and keep all of the animals away. Saturday some other doggies came over. Lots of people came over but my humans kept putting me on a leash and then putting me in my crate. By the end of the night, I was really tired of being in my crate. I got to play play play. I had so much fun. I would have enjoyed playing with the other dogs some more, but we just couldn't get along. So I played a lot with the humans and their little humans. They are the really cool ones. They like to pet me and I have so much fun. Sunday we got up and went to the PARK! That was really awesome. I got to run around without the leash and I played in the water and chased other dogs and had lots of fun. My humans were eating some really sweet smelling plant and then broke off the flowers for me to eat. It was really good. I had to play and run though so I left the flower eating to them. It was super busy. We all took naps afterwards and then my humans left for a while, but came back and we all rested again. Yesterday I had the day pretty much to myself. My male human came home and took me for a walk which is always really cool. They left me in the evening and I got bored so I got into the trash. I did find an interesting piece of styrofoam that had some meat on it and a cheese wrapper. I had lots of fun licking those. But it wasn't nearly as fun as it use to be. I didn't take the trash all over the house. I've got a bone that I've been working on, so I have been really concentrating on that. Today I got to play with lots of dogs again. I have so much fun when I go play. I can barely stay awake long enough dinner. Tomorrow I will rest. I have been so busy.

People are weird

2005-05-18T21:22:00.000-05:00

Man, people are really weird. So tonight, I dug up my bone that I keep in my secret hiding spot. I brought it inside, and man, my human, the female one, was all weird. Telling me how good I was that I brought in my other bone. (I have two stashed out in the yard.) I just brought it in to admire it. No big deal, really. Then I took it outside. She was all harrassing me about how I brought it in and where did I bury it. And she says "bury" strange. I mean like bur-rey. Most people it sounds like berry. Whatever. People are weird. I got to play with a dog today. I took my humans on a walk and we went to some weird place I can't go inside, but there are all these weird wheeled things that everyone pushes around. So the male human went inside and the female stayed outside with me. She wouldn't let me inside the place. It was cool. I had a lot to sniff and taste so whatever the male human was doing couldn't have been that interesting. On the walk back to my castle, we saw this other dog. She was really cool, but my humans wanted to go home. But I got to play for a little bit. The other dog's human came outside and was asking if everything was alright. I guess she never saw two dogs play before. Some strange guy came today and took away all the wood that was in the backyard. I had lots of fun things to chase inside it before it went out on the big white slab. Some long, skinny, kinda wet things and then something that had some legs and a long tail (like me!) except it was really small and slimy. They were fun to play with but they like hide and go seek. I took my bone inside tonight and I'll keep my humans up eating on it. That's the best because the female just tells me to got to sleep but the male gets frustrated and will take it away. It's my own game that I see how long I can play with things really loud and obnoxiously.

Stranger!

2005-05-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning, I smelled a strange person coming close to the house. So I barked and barked and my human told me to go outside and check it out. Like I wasn't going to already. The stranger left the gate open and so I ran outside. My human saw the gate was open also. I could hear her saying all kinds of strange words as she came after me. I met a nice person that I kept jumping on but he was kind of afraid of me I think. He held his hands up a little like I was going to eat them. My human made me go inside and she closed off my special door! So I had to let that man know what was up since I couldn't come out and play. Why else would he have come?

Sleeping...

2005-05-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

This is my routine. Wake up and take my human for a walk while it's still dark. Watch him do some weird routine of taking some strange objects from a box, that I am not allowed to lick and then put those objects into some other strange containers way up high. Then I go up stairs where my other human is still sleeping and I take my early morning nap. Eventually she gets up and my other human leaves for some place. After she gets into the water, which is just a really silly time. Why do the humans do that every day? I, personally, don't like water unless we're at the PARK! I love the park. Parks are lots of fun. I wonder if I'll go to the park today.