The Smell Of The World

When Mom and I go for our walks, I love to take a few minutes every time and roll around on my back.  I wiggle; I roll; sometimes I look for hills so I can slide down them.  Great fun!  I laugh and wag my tail and enjoy it as much as I can, every single time.  Mom isn't sure why I do this, but here's the secret.  I love the way everything smells, and I want to smell like it; and I want everything to smell like me, so everyone knows I've been there and called dibbs.  I always laugh to myself whenever Mom says that the house smells like dog (which it never does for long, sadly, she's constantly making things smell boring); it doesn't smell like dog, it smells like the world.  And the world smells like me.

I Don't Know Why Mom Doesn't Understand

I have found the one thing on the planet that is more compelling than the sound of Mom's voice.

Duck poop.

Studio?

I'm not sure what to think about this studio thing.  Mom has been in school for a while but I don't mind it; she goes to class, comes back and hangs out with me, goes to class again, and comes back again.  But studio lasts foreverrrrr!  Mom leaves me lots of things to do, but I like hanging out with her and I get bored.  So for this reason, I don't like it.

On the other hand, she says I get to go to studio with her tomorrow.  We're spending the whole day there.  I'm not sure about this.  I really like being at home, so it's a strange idea to spend that much time away from it.  But I like being with Mom more than anything else, so if she has to be somewhere else I'm excited I get to stay with her. 

I already have lots of friends there, like Bob and Dustin and Michelle and Courtney and Jen; and I know that lots more people are looking forward to meeting me.  I guess I'll just have to wait and see what it's like.  Maybe it won't be so bad after all.

Why Run When You Can Run FAST!

Mom says the walks I take are four times longer than the ones she takes, because I go ahead, fall behind, and make interesting detours, while she just walks in a boring old straight line.  This is good because it means I have four times as much fun when we're outside!  She doesn't put me on the leash any more unless we're going to a new place because I'm so good at walking on our usual path, and I love to do it by myself!

I love walking so much, but I love running more, and I learned this week that it's EVEN FUNNER, when you run, to run fast.  It's great!!  I hit the ground so hard Mom says it sounds like a horse galloping!  It feels soooo good.  My legs stretch until my paws barely touch the ground in between lopes and it feels like I'm flying.  Sometimes I run like this when I see squirrels or ducks or geese; I go as fast as I can to try to chase them!  Even more often, though, I just run for joy.  It makes my heart and my muscles feel great and it's my favorite kind of tired to be when I'm tired from running fast.

When Excitement Is In The Air, So Is My Butt

I love going outside.  LOVE going outside.  I get really wiggly and happy every time Mom jingles her keys and asks me, "Outside?"  We have a ritual for this (like we do for everything - I love that Mom gives me so many things to do, because I get to be good at all of them!).  She doesn't want me to burst out the door, so I have to lay down before she opens it.  Sometimes, though, it's just too exciting, and I can't lay all the way down.  I can get my front half down but my tail is too happy and my butt stays in the air.  Sometimes it takes her a while to open the door because she's laughing too hard, I don't know why; I just keep wagging until she decides it's time!

Bath Time Strategy

Sigh.  I don't really like taking baths.  I have figured out, though, that if you have to take one, there are some things you can do to make it easier to bear.  For example, I like to sit still.  This way, all the water goes where it's supposed to every time and we get through it really quick.  I like that!  I also figured out that if I tilt my head up when Mom washes my face, neither soap nor water ever gets in my eyes.  She got excited when I figured that out and called me a Very good Dog; but that's just common sense, I think.

Hm.  Why do they call it "taking" a bath?  You can't give it back.  I guess they call it that because you can't really refuse to be given one...I would if I could!

I think it's really funny how Mom and I trade.  When we start, she's clean and (she says) Im' dirty; by the time we're done, I'm clean (as a whistle, which is strange - how can a noise be clean?) and she's got lots of my dirt on her.  I think this is a very funny trick.

The funnest part comes afterwards, when we play the towel game; Mom attacks me with a towel and I tug and play on it like the fierce dog I am.  And then at the end of the game, I'm dry!

Where? There!

Mom and I have made up a great game together.  It's called "Where's Henry?"  Here is how it goes.

Anytime she leaves the house and the weather outside is comfortable to me, Mom opens the window in our bedroom.  It overlooks the parking lot so if I feel like watching stuff I can just hop up and look out.  That's fun.  Well, every time she goes, she stops when she gets to the parking lot, and looks back to tell me goodbye.  I'm always at the window, watching her go...I wish she never had to go.

But then comes the great part!  When she comes back, she knows I'm sleeping really hard, so she calls out: "Where's Henry?"  Sometimes it takes me a minute to hear her, get up, and stretch, but then I do, and I hop up in the window.  The minute we see each other she exclaims, "There's Henry!"  And we both win the game!

It's one of the most fun things we do.  It almost makes me mind her leaving less, because I know we're going to get to play the game when she comes back!