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!

Miss USA

I miss Harley. And my Oma. And my aunt Manda. I don't remember home being this boring, but there's nothing to do. Mom did put a bone down for me, but I don't care. I want Harley to want it so I can steal it. What am I supposed to watch here?

On The Road Again

Mom and I are on an adventure!  We are in a place called Illenoy.  It smells a lot the same as home, although I can't figure out where they keep their duck pond.

This is the first big trip I've taken with Mom.  The last one I took was from the shelter in Tennessee where my old family brought me, to the shelter in Ann Arbor where Mom came and got me.  I didn't really like that trip.  There were lots of other dogs and cats with me, and there wasn't any fun.

This trip is GREAT so far, though.  My friend Kathy came and got us pretty early in the morning and then we spent ages and ages in the car (although when we got to Illenoy it was still morning - okay, so maybe the trip wasn't that long...but it sure felt like it).  Sometimes I sniffed out the windows, but I liked the way that Kathy drove, so mostly I just lay down and went to sleep.  We stopped a couple of times and I liked stretching my legs and declaring ownership of new and really interesting places, but I didn't mind getting right back in the car when I was done.

Now we are in Aunt Barbara's house, and I like it here very much.  Mom brought my Blankey, my Bone, and my very own bowls, and put them around her bed just like we have them at home, so I know just where I belong.  We went for a walk tonight and even though Mom didn't put the leash on me, I knew just where to walk (I think the street is very interesting but she prefers that I stay on the sidewalk, so I usually try to humor her); and when it was time to turn around, I knew just where to go.  In fact I ran ahead and was waiting for her in the garage, laughing because she's so much slower on her two long legs than I am on my four short ones.  She didn't mind that I was laughing, though.  She hugged me and rubbed me and reminded me that she knows that I am a Good Boy.  Now we are upstairs and we are both very tired and ready for bed.  I like taking trips.  I wonder when the next one will be?

Sometimes You Do Things Just Because You Can

In my old life, I used to hunt things.  When we're out on our walks I point for Mom, the interesting stuff that she might want to shoot; but she never does.  (I'm kind of glad, because I don't like sudden loud noises.)  I don't bark at little things but I love to watch them move, and if I see a squirrel in a tree I put my front paws up on the tree and watch intently until it disappears.

I don't mind not hunting any more but I still like to do it sometimes, and I've found something I can catch all the time and it doesn't bother either me or Mom: butterflies.  I love chasing butterflies!  And they like me too, because they're always fluttering around me.  I don't hunt every one I see because I like them.  They're pretty.

When I'm ready to hunt, though, I'll point, and then I'll chase it.  I get so excited I almost bounce when I run!  And then when I catch it I put my nose to its back and push it to the ground.  I push it very gently because even though I'm hunting it, I don't want to kill it or anything.  And then, once it's fluttering between the grass and my nose, I'm done and I run off again, usually to stare at the ducks in the pond.  I love being good at hunting!  And hunting butterflies is way more fun than the kind I used to do.

Meaning-full eyes

I made a new friend today.  Her name is Michelle.  I fell in love with her.  I plan to ask her to marry me when I grow up.  I loved sitting in her lap and watching her and her hands tasted very interesting and it was fun taking a walk with her.  

She said an interesting thing that I didn't understand, though.  She said that I made very good eye contact.  What does that mean?  I never once touched my eyes to hers, although I did look at them a lot, because they're a different color from Mom's and I thought it was cool.  But I never touched them.  Or Mom's either.  Maybe I should have.  Maybe that's one of those things where someone tells me "good boy" even though I haven't done the thing yet.  Maybe I'll try it next time and see what it's like.  If it gets me even more hugs, I'll make lots and lots and lots of eye contact.

Priorities

Tonight Mom was having some more turkey tacos.  (I'm very glad about it.  Maybe she will have them every day, like I have dog food every day.  What could be better than turkey tacos?  Except for maybe my dog food.  That's pretty tasty stuff.)  She doesn't give me food from her plate but sometimes she'll set stuff on the ground for me to eat.  Sometimes it's yucky stuff like peas or ice.  Sometimes it's amazing stuff like turkey or hamsicles.  Today it was turkey.  Once she set some down and I was on the other side of the table from it.  It's kind of a little table, littler than me.  But I LOVE turkey and you know the fastest way to get to what you want is a straight line; so, I walked right under the table.  I sort of lifted it up on my back like an elephant with a rider, but I didn't notice until after I was done with the turkey...yum.

Turkey Tacos

Mom let my friend Dustin come over for dinner tonight.  We had turkey tacos.  Well, they had the taco part.  All I really wanted was the turkey part.  YUM.  You know what else is tasty?  That greasy spot on the sidewalk.  I love to lick it.  I don't know why Mom tells me "no" every time I do.  She should try it.  Then she wouldn't fuss any more, I bet.

Parking

Today me and Mom went to the park out behind our house.  I taught her things to do at a park and she taught me one.  First, I taught her to play fetch.  She throws the stick and then I run and look at it very intently, and then she comes and gets it and we do it all over again.  This is so fun!  One time I brought her the stick and she got all excited, but it's more fun when we go get it together.  For a little while she read outside and I decided to take a nap right behind her.  She lay down and she showed me that I make a very nice pillow for when she lays her head down.  I liked this new kind of snuggle.

My favorite part was when I itched my back.  We were sitting on a very steep hill, and when I lay on my belly I had a hard time keeping myself on the hill (except for the time I was being Mom's pillow, which was part of the reason I liked it because she was holding me up).  But when I lay on my back to itch it, the most fun thing happens - I slide all the way down the hill!  I ran up the hill to slide down it again just because it was so much fun.

I hope we go back to the park again tomorrow.  Mom doesn't know it but I am planning to run after those ducks in the pond very soon now...

Nose Adventures

Tonight Mom and I went on a long-ish walk.  It's not the longest one we've ever had, but since she got sick we've been taking really short walks.  I didn't mind.  Even the short ones make her cough really bad and the coughing sound made me sad.  But now she's feeling better, so we went out for a long time tonight.  It was a little bit dark so I followed my nose to find interesting things while we were out.  One was ducks.  Ducks are AMAZING.  Soon I will figure out a way to chase them in the pond, or maybe sneak up on them so they don't go in the water.  I can't wait to see what happens when I jump right in the middle of a big group of them.

I also found a frog.  A live one.  There's a dead one on our path, but I don't like that so much.  I mean, it smells really interesting, but it just sits there.  That's not much fun.  The live one was, though.  I saw it and thought it was just a rock, so I smelled it to see what kind of rock it was.  Imagine how excited I was when the rock jumped into the bushes!  I followed it for a minute and pushed it down with my nose, just to let it know who was boss.  That's one rock-impersonating frog that won't be messing with me or Mom, no sir.

I also found one more thing that I thought was a frog, but it turned out it was just a leaf that stuck to my nose.

A Pill, A Pomplamoose, And A Party

I've had a big couple of days!  I wanted to write my story last night, but Mom hogged the computer and then she fell asleep.  I guess it's okay because I was pretty tired, too.

It all started yesterday morning when she came home with a new kind of treat called a heartwarm pill.  I don't know why they call it heartwarm; it didn't make my heart feel like anything.  It sure was tasty, though!  I wanted another one today but I didn't get one.  Maybe I'll get one tomorrow.  I like this pill thing.

A little later she was playing some music on that machine she always uses to make tapping noises with her fingers.  I don't usually mind the music she plays.  Actually I don't usually pay much attention to it.  But this new stuff, it was really cool!  It wasn't just sounds, it was pictures too.  I loved the colors and the interesting noises.  I watched a lot of it!  Mom called it Pomplamoose.  I don't know if that's another word for music or a new kind of noise, but I like it.

Then, after she came home and I had my dinner, we went out.  We do this every evening, but it's usually for a walk.  This time my friend Neal came and got us and took us to a new place where there was a party. I didn't know what a party was, but it seems to be the word for a lot of people with a lot of music (but no Pomplamoose) and REALLY good pork.  I was a little nervous about all the people, but they all liked me and called me a good dog, so as long as I could be close to Mom, it was okay.  We stayed for a really long time and after a while I just went to sleep.  I don't usually lay down anywhere but my own Blankey, but it sort of felt okay there.  My friends Selena and Dustin were there too, and with so many friends around me even though stuff was really different, I was also mostly okay with it.

I loved riding in cars to and from the party (thanks, Neal and Dustin!) and it was kind of fun making lots of new friends, but the very best part was going back to my very own home and going to sleep.

Home Work

Mom was busy all day today working on something called home work.  Sometimes she also called it math. I don't know what math is but it sounds like the noise I make when I'm trying to spit something out, so I sort of think it isn't fun, even though she spent more time with it today than she did with me.  And how is it supposed to be home work when she didn't work on anything at home?  I think home work would be something like chewing my Blankey, or checking the smells outside our door, or carpet swimming.

Likes

I like crackers.  I love macaroni and cheese.  I like hot dog buns and I don't mind when they're a little stale.  I only like lima beans when they're cold and the right consistency to squish between your toes.  I love water but I don't like ice.  I like the stars from chicken and star soup, and I hope Mom lets me try the chicken too someday.  I lick ham like a popsicle.  I think it's interesting to turn my water bowl upside down, but only when it's full.

I Have The OCD (Ordinary Concerns Of A Dog)

I like routine.  I love knowing what's going to happen because it makes me happy to be good at things I get to do over and over.  Mom and I do lots of things together every day.  We go for walks, we eat, we have snuggle sessions, and we do these things together every day because doing them makes every day great.

Even though we like to do a lot of stuff together, there are some things she does every day that I don't do, and I have some things I like to do that she doesn't.  For example, every time we come home, Mom checks the lock on the door.  This seems silly to me.  It's not like we're going to fall out of our house.  What I do when we come home is go straight to the kitchen.  This is worth doing because you never know if some new food has been spilled in there while we were gone!  Actually, that has never happened.  But it might.  And as soon as it does, I will know, because I check.  Every single time.

We also do different things when we wake up.  When Mom wakes up, she likes to brush her teeth.  (Yet another example of her making something weird/boring.)  When I wake up, I like to go out on our balcony to make sure everything is still there - the ducks, the pond, and the bugs, and oh yeah those white fuzzy things that float on the air - just like it was yesterday.  So far, it always has been; but it's very important to check.

One thing we have in common is that even though we're laid back, we both like things just the way we like them.  Mom seems to have a place for everything!  So I like to be this way too.  Sometimes when Mom is working in the living room she'll bring my toys onto my living room Blankey.  But that is not where they belong.  They belong on the bedroom Blankey.  So every time she moves them, I wait for her to sit down, and then I have to get up and bring the toy all the way back.  Sometimes I have to do this more than once in a day.  I don't know why she keeps moving my things when I just have to put them back.  That Mom.  She sure can be hard to train sometimes.

She's never a lost cause, though.  Just today I trained her on one more new trick.  She had gotten me a couple of chew toys when I came to live with her, but they're not fun.  They're interesting shapes and I like to smell them, but I'm not going to chew them.  (I sort of wish she'd just chew them up herself if she thinks they're all that tasty.)  But today she came home with a great one - a pork pancake!!  It looked just like a pancake but it's waaaaay better because it was made of pig bits and then on top of that it was wonnnnderfully stinky.  I licked it and licked it and licked it and then I couldn't stand it and I chewed it right up.  I hope she brings home lots and lots more of those.

Of course, she gave it to me in the living room, so I had to bring it to my bed Blankey before I could devote the proper attention to it.  But it was still pretty great.

Better Than A Card

Mom's still a little sick today.  I have felt bad that she's had to do all the nose-blowing and coughing and stuff alone.  It's so much nicer, if you have to go through something yucky, to go through it with a friend, don't you think?  So this morning I realized there was one way I could show her how much I sympathize with her.  She turned off the alarm, got out of bed to blow her nose, and then as she was coming over to pet me, I very proudly and solemnly threw up on the floor.  (I'm actually sort of glad I did it anyway.  I ate some weird bugs yesterday and I don't think one or two of them agreed with my tummy.)  Ta dum!  Isn't having family great?

Napping, Parking, And Walking

Man!  Mom sure has been sick for a long time!  Three days, that's weeks in dog time!  The good part about it was all the napping.  Mom doesn't usually nap near enough but it looks like she finally learned how to sleep almost as much as I do.  Oh, and the other thing she didn't do was make everything weird and boring.  I'm sorry she didn't feel good but that part was definitely worth it.  I'm glad she's done sneezing though.  That got really tiring.  I think she was just doing most of them for attention anyway.

She says we get to go to the dog park soon.  Sometimes when she says stuff like this I just don't know what it's supposed to mean.  (Like "central air".)  Aren't all parks dog parks?  I'm looking forward to going, though, to see what she's talking about.  Maybe a dog park is like a car park, a place where people leave their dogs when they don't need them for a little while.  That would be sort of fun, actually.  I like meeting new dogs, especially ones that are bigger than me.

Tonight since it is so hot outside we are going for our walk after the sun sets.  I'm not used to going very far when it's dark, but that's when the ducks go to bed on our pond and the bats come out and I love watching all of them move around.  I think it's going to be great fun!

Crackers and Kleenex

I can't write too much today.  My Mom is pretty sick and I have to take care of her.  This means that I don't run away when she sneezes even though it surprises me, and that I very carefully clean up soup crackers that she drops so that she doesn't step on them, and that I only decorate the house with some of the Kleenex that she's not using any more, and that I stand or sit or sleep super close all the time just in case she needs to pet me really quick.

She's not getting better yet - probably because she took a bath, I could have told her that wasn't a good idea - so tomorrow I think I will offer to let her tear up my Garfield some because this always makes me feel good.  I started teaching her "come" and "stay" yesterday but we can't work on it unless she has a voice, so I hope she feels better soon.  Even though she's sick, we still had a lot of hugs and treats, so it was still a pretty great day.

Reasons To Smile And How To Do It With Your Butt

It is really great to be a dog.  I do things all the time that make me happy.  I never see Mom do the same things but I guess Moms have different things things that they do to make them happy.  Although you'd kind of think tearing up Garfield and having lots of dog food would be fun for everyone.

One of the things I love to do is go carpet swimming.  You do this too, right?  Where you turn upside down and then wiggle as far as you can along the carpet?  It makes my itchy back feel sooooo good!  Sleeping in the sunshine is another thing I love to do.  Have you ever noticed how much better your sleep is better when you do it in the sunshine?  I had one of my recurring dreams this morning, the barking one, where I'm running as fast as I can and barking as much as I can and having the most fun ever, and I just know it was because it was a sun nap.

Mom pet me for a long time this morning and that is one of my very favorite reasons to smile.  When I came to live with her she even taught me a new way to smile.  With my butt!  Can you smile with your butt?  This is how I do it.  When she pets me, sometimes I get very intent and I forget to be happy.  (Do you ever do that?  When something happens that you love so much you forget how much you like it?)  So she likes to remind me by helping to wag my tail.  Isn't that clever?  She pets me from my head to my butt; and then, instead of stopping at my tail, she lifts it a little bit, and reminds me that it's okay to wag it if I want to.  Sometimes I wag and sometimes I don't.  But I always like it when she reminds me.

Right now I am very tired from a long walk we took.  We didn't think it was hot, but by the end of it, boy!  It sure was.  It's time for me to take another sun nap, and then I think I'll see if me and Mom can practice smiling some more.  That will be just great.

Ew, De Good Dog

What an interesting day today was!  After it started out with taking a clean, I wasn't sure what was going to happen next.  But it turned out it was really fun.

After Mom and me hung out, she went back to that Flim Flam place, and just as I hoped, she came back smelling like bacon.  Yum.  She also brought Angie for me to meet.  Angie loves me.  I love Angie.  I love Angie so much it was hard for me to remember how bad I had to go to the bathroom.  We went for a little walk together with Mom and Angie let me know that I'm a good dog, a beautiful dog, and that she wants a dog.  I hope she gets one; then maybe I can play with it!

Mom and Angie had to go somewhere for a while.  When they came back just Mom came inside and Angie went to her house.  We had another little walk, and when we came back home Mom did one of my favorite of her tricks, where she sits down on the front steps to pet me and rub me and tell me how good I am.  Today she seemed to have extra fun petting me.  She said that being clean made me extra soft and smell good.  She kept saying I smelled like Ew, De Good Dog.  I don't know why this is a good thing.  But it made her laugh, and that made me happy.

That afternoon we went back out on the balcony.  Mom gave me a present - another new Blankey!  Now I have a place to lay when we're outside together.  I don't know why I never noticed how fun the balcony is before.  I guess it's because it's been so hot, and being hot makes me kind of grumpy.  But today was really nice, so we did, Mom on her chair and me on my Blankey.

After a while she pulled out a new thing.  I didn't know what it was at first.  It looked like somebody had stuck a lot of little teeth on a mitten.  It's bright red, like my leash, so that was kind of fun.  It didn't smell like much.  Mom put it on her hand and then tried to pet me with it and that made me nervous for a minute - where did her hand go and what was that weird thing that was trying to pet me!  It could have been trying to eat me, for all I knew!

But then, oh my gosh!  I discovered that the tooth-mitten was wonderful.  Really really really wonderful, actually.  When she pet me with it it made me go very still so she wouldn't stop doing it.  She pet me all over with nice, slow pets.  From my head to my tail.  Through the thick fur on my chest.  She tickled my belly with it.  Over and over and over, she pet me, and sometimes she followed it up with her other hand, which was nice because somehow the tooth-mitten made a lot of my hair come off, so her Mom-hand could brush that away.  One time she asked me, "Why aren't you wagging your tail?  Doesn't this make you happy, Henry?"  If I could, I would have told her that sometimes me not wagging my tail is like her tears of joy.  You look sad, but really you're as happy as it's possible to be.

She did this for a really, really long time.  Afterwards I lay down.  The rub and the sun made me so sleepy.  She started bugging me again almost immediately.  I swear, sometimes it seems like Mom wants attention all the time!  But she didn't need me to do anything but stay still.  This time she was messing with my claws.  Sometimes the clip-clip-clip noise made me nervous and I would tense up a little; but she'd just hold the paw up in the air, and actually it was easier to relax than be worried, because really nothing bad was happening.  So I'd relax, and she'd go back to clip-clip-clip.  It wasn't wonderful like the tooth-mitten, and I don't know what she did, but the next time I stood up, my paws felt kind of nice.

This evening, I'm soft and I smell like Ew De Good Dog, my feet feel nice, I'm super relaxed, I made a new friend, discovered a new fun place in my very own house, got a brand new Blankey, and learned that sometimes peas show up in the bathtub.  Today turned out to be great, after all.

So That's What A Bath Is

I had sort of forgotten what a bath is.  I remember now.  It's the time when I have to get wet everywhere and when Mom makes me smell weird and boring, like when she cleans the house.  I guess bath is another word for clean.  ...I don't really like taking a clean.

It took Mom a while to get me into the tub.  She talked to me for a long time, telling me what a good boy I am.  This is true.  We both know it.  So why was she telling me?  Right off the bat, this made me a little suspicious.  Then she put peas in the tub, and I forgot to be suspicious.  I love peas.  LOVE THEM.

So there I was, in the tub.  And do you know what she did?  That woman poured water ALL OVER ME!  And if it didn't get in a place - and I won't tell you all the places it did go - she poured it again, and rubbed it in.  Okay, I did kind of like the rubbing part.  That made me stay still.  I wasn't happy; but at least I was getting some pets out of the deal.

So there I was, wet in the tub.  And do you know what else she did?  That woman started rubbing something into my fur!  Everywhere, again!  Okay, it smelled a little nice.  Like sunflowers.  And it felt super great to have a finger massage deep down into my skin.  It was kind of relaxing, actually.  If it hasn't been for the wet part and the tub part, I think it would have been really fun.  As it was, I just sort of stood there and let her give me a massage.  I figured she realized it was the least she could do.  After the massage, MORE water, and then...the bath was over!  And she was telling me even more what a good boy I am.  Well, yeah, after putting up with that nonsense, you bet I am!  

When we were done she squeezed the water off of me and my tail - that was kind of fun, too - and then she just stood there.  Well, not exactly.  She kept offering me a milkshake.  "Shake, Henry?" she'd say, and I was fine with this, so I kept waiting for her to bring one.  But she never did.  "Shake, Henry?"  Wait..........nothing.  "Shake?"  ..........nothing again.  I don't know why she was doing that.  Seems kind of mean to me.  Anyway, she seemed to tire of this game after a little while, so she let me get out of the tub.  So I did and then I finally got to get all the water off me!  I might be a little dog in a big world, I'm only 24" high, but I dried off really hard and got water almost as high as the ceiling.  In both the bathroom AND the bedroom.  I bet Mom was impressed!

Now I'm sitting on the balcony with Mom.  I like the balcony.  Birds fly close to the railing, which is very exciting; sometimes fish splash in the water, which is almost as exciting; and of course the air smells amazing.  It's like watching all your favorite TV channels at once.  We played the towel game - where she rubs me with a towel and tells me what a good boy I am some more - and somehow now I am a lot less wet, so the air just feels good on my skin.   My weird, boring skin.

Today better be a great day.

Things A Hot Dog Does

It is really hot.  Really, really, really, really, really hot.  Mom says the heat makes me logy.  I wish this word rhymed with doggy.  Since it doesn't, I don't care if the heat makes me it or not.  I've figured out some things that make it easier to put up with being really, really, really, really, really hot like this.

First of all, I don't think we should have to go out in it, but Mom says I have to.  I try to "find it" really close to the door, but she still makes us go farther.  She calls it stretching our legs.  I think she should stretch her legs without me.  But since I have to go too, here is what I do.  I pick where we go (the library! that house with the big black dog! my favorite bumpy sidewalk! that cool rosebush!).  Then, when she feels we've gone a good enough way, I simply stop pretending that I'm interested in what I'm smelling and turn around, and then we go home.  Mom thinks it's funny that I'll make a U-turn right in the middle of the sidewalk.  I don't really know why.

After we come inside, I figured out another way to keep cool.  There is this awesome-sauce room in our house that's very small, but just the right size for me.  Most of it has this wonderful cool smooth floor, but part of it has a little dog rug (Mom calls it something else - a towelmat, or a showerthingie, or something).  This way I can do my favorite things: lay on a floor that feels good to my skin AND rearrange something.

Mom says she doesn't know why I'm so hot all the time, that I'm a Southern dog and that I should be used to it.  I think that's a silly reason not to be hot.  She also says that it could be much worse and then says something about "central air".  That's another silly thing.  How can air be central?  It's everywhere.

The great news is, Mom says she's got a new way for me to keep cool.  Tomorrow - I'm going to have a bath!!  A nice cool one.  I thought I remembered not liking "bath", but I'm pretty excited about the thought of cooling down with one.  I can't wait to try it.  Plus I get a new thing of my very own to rearrange called a "towel".  I think I'm going to love this "bath" thing.

I am teaching Mom to pet me more and more each day.  This morning I showed her how fun it is to wake up with dog paws on your chest!  She loved it.  I can't decide whether to do the same thing tomorrow or surprise her with something new.

I drank lots of water, I didn't sleep in the sun, we got to go out in the rain for a minute (I liked the wet on my paws), and Mom gave me lots of treats to do things I already know how to do anyway, like "sit" and "chill out" and "heel" and "Henry".  Oh, and I've almost got my Garfield's head all the way off.  Today was such a great day!

No Scaredy Cat

I think it's okay to be nervous about or scared of things.  The way I look at it, I don't know what most things are!  But when I come across something I don't understand and it scares me, I always try to get a little closer to it to see if I can understand maybe what it is or how it moves or what it smells like; that way, when I see it again, I know I don't have to be scared of it any more.

There are a lot of things that used to scare me that don't any more.  Mom loves lists, so I'm making one just for her.

stairs
grass
tall grass
cars
little kids

trucks

laughing

can tabs

talking on the phone (people on the phone, not me on the phone)
doors
little hills
bugs that move fast
carpet
thresholds
my toys
curbs
space
"sit"
movies

landscaping rocks

the kitchen light

I think that's it.

I have to say one extra thing about stairs.  I used to be afraid of them.  All of them!  Both the kinds that go up AND the kinds that go down.  I had to creep up on them, and then move very slowly, because I was sort of hoping that they wouldn't notice me; but a lot of times they tripped me up, anyway.

Now I love stairs.  Love them!  There are some stairs just in front of our house and when we get home from our walks Mom lets me RUN up the stairs and then RUN back down the stairs and then RUN back up one more time just because it's so fun!!  And sometimes on our walks we go to the library that's close to our house.  It has three doors and all three doors have stairs in front of them and every time we go there I get to go up all three sets of stairs.

Today on our first walk there were no stairs, but there were lots of ducks.  I didn't mess with the ducks, but I quivered...Mom says when I can do "come" like a Very Good dog, that's when I can go play with the ducks.  Oh!  And I also found a HUGE puddle of water that I can't wait to splash in.  I wanted to jump in so bad today I was quivering for that too.  It's fun to quiver from being happy and excited and not from being scared.  And then, on our second walk, we got to go to the library, and then come home; so many stairs, so much fun.

How fun it is learning not to be scared of things any more.  What a great day today was.

Training Day

Even though she is a little slow, I love my Mom and I know that she is trainable.  She learned that I don't like to eat stinky skunk feet for food; she learned to wake up in the middle of the night when I ask for a petting; she's learned that she only has to tell me no once and doesn't have to fuss at me, because it makes me very sad when she thinks I'm a bad dog.

Now I have to train her about treats.  She thinks I don't like treats.  That's silly.  I love them!  But the first treats she tried to give me weren't fun.  They weren't as bad as that yucky food; but they just weren't worth doing anything for.  I guess it was a little like being given bone-shaped cardboard.  Tell me, would you do a trick for a piece of bone-shaped cardboard?  Sometimes I'd do the things she asked me to, but only because I liked being called a good dog over and over again, not because I wanted one of those yucky things.

I think she's figured it out though!  She found something delicious that looks like a stick but that tastes like awesome sauce.  I love it!!!  I did "sit" four paws + four paws times in a row, just to get another nibble at those sticks.  Mr. Newmansown, you must be a VERY good dog to have figured out how to make these treat sticks.  Please send my Mom lots more.

It's time to have fun with training, now that I know "sit" and she knows "treats".  Now we get to figure out what to train each other to do next.  What a great day today is!

Not Sure About This

Mom seemed very excited today.  I was glad that she was happy.  Then she started talking about people coming over.  I wasn't sure about this, but I was willing to try it out.  But did you know that when people come over... the house has to get clean???  The floor no longer has the right amount of dog hair on it, my Blankeys smell weird (Mom says they smell clean, but clean must be her word for weird/boring), my crate no longer has fun smears of peanut butter on the bottom - she even washed my bowls.  Doesn't she know how long it took me to get the right lick marks all over them??  And now I have to start from scratch.  She said something about a bath today.  I don't really remember what this is, though I'm pretty sure she didn't do one, but I vaguely remember not liking it.

After Mom totally messed up the house, that's when we started having fun.  My friends Neal and Selena came over; I've played with them before and I already like them, so I guess it was okay that Mom let them come to visit us inside too.  They were really nice and pet me as much as I wanted, so even though I thought about hiding in my crate until they left, I actually had fun being part of the party.  (Also, those cheesy poofs were GOOD.  If that's what parties mean,  I hope Mom has one every day!)

I hated the end part.  Loud noises make me run away and make me feel sad and scared at the same time.  Mom and I figured out though that if she turns the kitchen fan on high and I squeeze myself against the far back corner, I can't hear the explosions any more.  Plus, the cool kitchen floor feels nice on my skin...mostly I like my pretty fur coat, but today I was one hot dog.  So the kitchen it is, for now, and every now and then Mom comes in and sits on the floor and tells me what a good boy I am.  I agree, but it's really nice that she knows it too.

So, today was a strange day.  The good thing is, I have discovered that when I lay down in the kitchen I can find things under the cabinets like cheesecake crumbs and more cheesy poofs, so I don't mind as much about the fireworks, because I'm having a late night snack.  Plus, Mom seems happy, and she says I was a good dog while Neal and Selena were here, so she's happy with me too, so I guess that means it was a great day.  (Still, I hope she doesn't run the vacuum every day.  What if it gets my tail??)

Soon we get to go to bed.  This is always fun.  I like to find different places that I can lay and still see Mom.  Sometimes I wake her up in the middle of the night just to see if she'll pet me.  She always does.  I think I'll check again tonight, though, just to be sure.  

A Full Morning

Today Mom went to Flim Flam.  I don't know what that is, but she smells like pancakes and bacon when she comes back from it, so I like it.

When she came back, it was time for my breakfast.  I was sort of dreading it because my food is really, really nasty.  It's a lot like licking dirty skunk feet, but worse.  I keep not eating it, but she keeps giving it to me, and I'm really hungry, so most days I just have to suck it up.  But today was different!  She mixed some new food into my bowl!  Man, that stuff was tasty!  I like it so much I eat it like treats.  I didn't even mind that she mixed it into my regular food.  I figured out that if I took a big mouthful from the bowl and set it down on the floor, I could just pick out the new stuff and eat it.  Yay!  No more skunk feet food!

That's a really big adventure for one day, but I've already had another one.  When I came to live with my Mom, she gave me my very own Blankey.  It's just my size and I really like laying on it.  Mom knows how much I like it so she moves it when she moves around in the house so I can be with both Blankey and Mom.  I don't even mind when she washes it (though to be honest, I don't know why she does; she seems to take it away when it starts smelling really interesting).  The thing is, sometimes she forgets to move Blankey into the room where she is.  Then I have to make a hard decision: do I hang out with Mom, or do I lay on Blankey??

But guess what: today I got a new Blankey!  It's a little different; it's a sheet, folded up; but it's my favorite kind of material to chew, and Mom said that since it's mine, I'm allowed to chew it.  I asked her very nicely if I could chew her pants, and she said no.  That kind of hurt my feelings, and secretly made me a little mad.  But then I started chewing on new-Blankey, and I didn't mind about the pants any more.  Don't you just love chewing the thing you lay on?  And now I can be with Mom AND Blankey, all the time!

I think I get to take a nap for the rest of the day.  What a great day.