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!