A Dog's Life

Wow! It's been a busy weekend here in my den. That's right. MY den. I just let the humans live here. Sometimes I snuggle them to make them happy.

Anyway, Sunday was my mommy's birthday! She's fifty-leven hundred years old...or something like that. Since it was Mommy's special day, my grandparents came to town! All 4 of them. You'll never believe this, but NONE of them brought me treats! Come ON people. Daddy's grandparents came to town too and Uncle Ryan came over too. Uncle Ryan's birthday is in a couple of days, so everyone went out to eat. Wait...everyone with two legs went out to eat. First, the forgot treats and then they didn't even take me with them. I see how it is. It's ok though. I barked and barked and barked until they got home. Daddy's family went home after that, but Mommy's stayed the night.

ON Mommy's birthday, the Kentucky Kitty Cats played and won! Daddy was so happy. Mommy was too because she said they usually lose on her birthday. That's not nice. Everyone in town is pretty excited now though. I'm happy cause I like kitty cats. I play staring contest with them I also got to hang out with Grandma and Daddy while Mommy and Grandpa went someplace. They were OK to hang out with I guess, but I just really wanted to go with Mommy.

These are the flowers Daddy sent Mom. She liked them a lot. I liked barking at the delivery guy. Dad also got Mom a card, but I stoled it and changed some parts around since it was that human mushy gushy junk and made it more "I love my mommy." Daddy found it and fussed at me, but Mom thought it was funny. I wouldn't have had to stealed it if Daddy had just taken me to the store like I asked!

P.S. I didn't really stealed the card. Daddy was just having fun. Mom and Dad both know I can't write myself!

Another Thing to Share

I've been in a sharing mood lately (if you wanted to come rub my belly). I found this when I came across my new Twitter fur-iend, Wesley's, blog. I have to agree with all of these reasons to have a dog, of course!

Having a dog means…

1. It means you’ll always have someone who genuinely wants to have dinner with you. [My mom looked at Dad when she read this one, who then looked at me, who was begging while Dad ate his dinner]

2. It means there’s always someone at home waiting for you. (And, sometimes waiting on you. To throw that ball.)

3. It means you’ll always be needed. And loved. And worthy of some tail-wagging.

4. It means there will always be someone who doesn’t judge you. Unless you forget a dog walk or meal time. At those rare instances, you might have to wait 2 seconds for forgiveness. Okay, done.

5. It means there’s someone who—despite #’s 1-4—is still their own being, capable of their own (sometimes irritating) decisions. And, physiologically speaking, could survive without you. Just doesn’t want to.

6. It means there’s always, always, always at least one happy living being in your home. Can you put a price on that?

Life Lessons

While I'm still in the mood of sharing things from the internets, here's another one for you:

Life Lessons My Dog Taught Me.

Mom found it while searching for something else. Humans are so easily dis-squirrel? No...leaf. Anyway...where was I? Oh, yeah! So the lessons were written by Scout and Bandit (and Bailey and Murphy)'s mom. You can read more about their adventures here.

Training the Humans

I found this while browsing the interweb one day (you didn't think I just barked the whole time Mom and Dad leave me alone did you?) and thought I'd pass it on. I'm a pretty good people trainer. They're almost 100% on a lot of these! Oh, and since I'm a rule follower, I found it on Petophobia.com.

• After your humans give you a bath, don’t let them towel-dry you! Instead, run to their bed, jump up and dry yourself off on the sheets. This is especially good if it’s right before your humans bedtime.
• Act like a convicted criminal. When the humans come home, put your ears back, tail between your legs, chin down and act as if you have done something really bad. Then, watch as the humans frantically search the house for the damage they think you have caused (Note: This only works when you have done absolutely nothing wrong).
• Let the humans teach you a brand new trick. Learn it perfectly. Then the humans try to demonstrate it to someone else, stare blankly back at the humans. Pretend you have no idea what they’re talking about.
• Make your humans be patient. When you go outside to go pee, sniff around the entire yard as your humans wait. Act as if the spot you choose to go pee will ultimately decide the fate of the earth.
• Draw attention to the human. When out for a walk always pick the busiest, most visible spot to go poop. Take your time and make sure everyone watches. This works particularly well if your humans have forgotten to bring a plastic bag.
• When out for a walk, alternate between choking and coughing every time a strange human walks by.
• Make your own rules. Don’t always bring back the stick when playing fetch with the humans. Make them go and chase it once in a while.
• Hide from your humans. When your humans come home, don’t greet them at the door. Instead, hide from them, and make them think something terrible has happened to you (don’t reappear until one of your humans is panic- stricken and close to tears).
• When your human calls you to come back in, always take your time. Walk as slowly as possible back to the door.
• Wake up twenty minutes before the alarm clock is set to go off and make the humans take you out for your morning pee. As soon as you get back inside, fall asleep (humans can rarely fall back asleep after going outside, this will drive them nuts!).

Spring

Today may have been one if the greatest days ever. Winter wasn't much fun, since it's so cold. My yard turned into an ice skating rink a lot. Made it hard for a puppy dog to do his business (if you know what I mean). Not today though! Today was a wonderfully warm day. Mom felt bad that I've been cooped up all winter, so she surprised me. Instead of our usual morning walk, she took me to some place called the "Arboretum." There was a walking trail and lots of new smells. I saw a couple of other puppy dogs and we met new people friends, too.

Here's me enjoying the Arboretum. It's part of the University of Kentucky and sits right across from their football stadium. Where Mom took this picture had a lot of traffic, so I got a little distracted watching the cars.

After the Arboretum, Mom took me to my second favorite place ever-the bank! The lady at the window was kind of busy, but she said since I had waited so patiently, she'd give me my treat while she got Mom's stuff done.

We came home and I had to take a long nap! It's tough being me.

When Mom got home from work, we enjoyed the back yard. Here's me keeping watch over the puppy dogs that live on the other sides of the fence. The dogs on the OTHER other side had to take care of themselves!

Thanks Mom, for the greatest day ever! Next time, think Dad could join us?

Everybody Loves a Jack!

You will never guess what fun Mom and I had today! First, we went on our morning walk. That alone was pretty great. Even better though was we met another dog and his walker. This dog was pretty big and scared me a little at first (don't tell), but his walker said he just wanted to play and we sniffed and all was well. But the best part is his walker asked if I was...wait for it...a PUPPY! ROFB! I'm 6 years old (give or take of course)! Sometimes Mom calls me her old man, since I'm starting got more white on my face. It just made my day!

Then, Mom took me to the V-E-T. Don't worry. I'm fine. We just had to pick up my medicine. Mom likes to bring me so I'm not always scared of V-E-T. Plus I like car rides of all kinds. Anyway, my medicine wasn't quite ready, so to pass time, I charmed the ladies in the office. They were all telling me how cute I was and what a great name I had. They really know how to make a dog's day!

Adopt the Internet Day

I hope everyone knows what today is! In case you haven't heard, today is Petfinder's birthday! They are 15 today. Do you know how many that is in dog years? I don't think I can count that high! To celebrate, they are naming today "Adopt the Internet Day." The goal is to tell at least one person today about pet adoption. There are lots of pets without mommies, daddies, and/or 2-legged puppies to love them.

As I have mentioned before, pet adoption is very important to me since I was adopted!

Here is my Petfinder picture (the one that made Mom fall in love with me). Excuse the quality. Mom couldn't get the scanner to work and since Dad's busy AT work, she just took a picture of the picture. Humans are so weird.

Anyway, Petfinder lets different animal rescue group (like The Haven, where I came from) post pictures and a little description about animals--not just dogs and cats, but birds and guinea pigs too (like how I'm crate-trained, house-broken, and loves nothing more than an evening cuddle). Mom read my description and called to ask more. Since I was living at my foster mom's The Haven arranged for everyone to come meet (well, I met with Mom and Dad by myself first).

If you think you have love in your heart for a pet, please go over to Petfinder to find your new family member. I don't know where I'd be today if it weren't for my mommy and dad. I can say though I wouldn't be nearly as spoiled rotten!

My New Fur-iend

Thanks for the prayers so far. Aunt Melanie took Bear to the V-E-T and the prognosis isn't as bad as we first thought! She has a couple of options she's thinking about though and it's still only going to give a little more time.

But I have something else to talk about: My new fur-iend! My mom and dad have friends that live a few hours away and they came down to visit last week. The best part was they brought their puppy dog, Luna.

We kinda look alike, except she's bigger...and a beagle...and a girl.

One thing we have in common is begging. Here we are trying to convince Luna's mom to give us a fry. It didn't work :(

And here we are begging again, except from Dad (notice a pattern of what we did?). Luckily, our charms worked better on him!

Mom was very proud of my behavior, too. Luna's mom was a little worried that I wouldn't like sharing a house. I shared my house and and yard just fine...Sharing Mom, that was another story. But I only growled (without showing teeth). I did feel the need to follow her around to make sure she didn't get lost or try to take something. I'm glad to have another 4-legged fur-iend. I hope she come back soon. Mom says sometime we'll try to make the trip to see Luna's house. That would probably be fun!

Thoughts and Prayers

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been quiet lately. We had some visitors stay with us last week and Mom and Dad had a busy weekend (luckily it was pretty, so I guilted them into some long walks!). I'll tell you more about my new fur-iend, but for now I need a favor. My Aunt Melanie has two kitty cats and Grandma says one of them is about to go to the Rainbow Bridge. We know Bear will be better off once she does, but it's kind of hard on her mom. Will y'all say a prayer for her today?

For any of you two-legged animals out there that aren't familiar with the Rainbow Bridge, here's an explanation:

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... Author unknown...

Carpet Monsters

You will never believe what Mom and Dad did this weekend. They went out and bought a new Carpet Monster! You know, those things humans plug in and then make a terrible racket? I hate those things. I'm afraid it's going to suck ME up in it! I stay far far away when Mom breaks out the Carpet Monster.

Mom says the new one will pick up my hair better. I don't see why they don't appreciate having little reminders of me all over the house. The good news is the new one is much quieter than the old one. I still don't like it, though.

Why do humans do weird things like this?

Hello Interwebs!

Hi everyone!

My name is Mister and my mommy finally agreed to help me type a blog! I don't have thumbs, so I need some help. But don't get me wrong, I love to play on Mom's computer...usually while she's on it and not paying attention to me :(

This is me on the day I first met my mom and dad. They had been looking for a four-legged friend for awhile and saw my cute picture on Petfinder (more on them another time). My rescue used my obedience school graduation picture. My mommy was a sucker for my hat. I was found wandering around with no collar and "intact" (if you don't know what that means, you don't want to), so some nice person picked me up and brought me to The Haven for Dogs. They found me a foster family to watch me until my fur-ever parents found me. I'm glad they finally did! Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm a Jack Russell/Corgi mix. I'm also almost 6 years old.

This is me enjoying my new yard! I didn't like it too much this winter, when it got frozen over. Running on ice is hard! Luckily it's gone now and I can run with the other dogs nearby.

This is how you'll usually find me. I'm a sucker for a belly rub!

This is my dad, mom, and me on our first family vacation. I'm now an international traveler! Since my foster mom said I love car rides, my fur-ever mom and dad decided they could take me on their vacation to Canada. I'm glad they did, since I had only been home for a week! Canada's pretty great. There's lots of squirrels to watch (and chase) and long walks to take. Best of all, there are a TON of trees. I claimed almost all of them. I can't wait to go back!

So that's my story. I hope you'll hang out and get to know me more. I've never met a strange dog (or cat). Sometimes people scare me a little, but if your human wants to be my friend, I'll come around after a few sniffs...unless they give me a treat. Then I will never leave their side!