Doggie Doors

I am not a Doggie Door Doggie.  Someone please tell my Mom to stop trying to get me to be one! 
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Have you seen a Doggie Door?  Do you know what they are like?  Here is ours.

It's a dark tiny hole with a flap that I have to push with my nose.  WITH MY NOSE!  How unGentile.  I'm much too polite a dog to be pushing into anything where I haven't been invited.  I mean really.  When Mom and Dad go into the closet, I sometimes go with them, but if they don't hold the door open for me, I'm not going to bust my way out.  How uncouth would that be?  I would rather just sit quietly until one of them comes to rescue me.  (Which happens on more occasions than I like to think about.)

But I AM NOT going to push that door open.  Its just not polite.

So here I am, a very nice, polite puppy and Mom wants me to push that flappy thing of a doggie door cover to get to the outside.  You wouldn't believe the lengths she goes to get me to do it.  First, she taped open the door and left me outside.  She even put treats on the inside to trick me into coming in.  I wasn't fooled.  I think she thought I would get lonely and come in. 

I went looking for Bunny Rabbit instead.  I don't need Mom to keep me company.  I can find friends out here if I have to. 

She finally gave up on that idea and let me in.  But then, she taped the door in the other direction and put a bowl of treats on the outside.  She even tried to push me out, but I wouldn't go.

 

Once, she even invited another puppy dog over to show me how to go about it.  I KNOW HOW TO GO ABOUT IT!  I just don't want to do it.  So I just sat down and waited till she took the treats back in.

 



 

Maybe there is a way for me to get over my being finicky about pushing doors open, but I don't know what it is.  And obviously, Mom doesn't know either. 

 

If any of you has any ideas for me, I would sure appreciate hearing it.  And I'll let you know if it works in a later blog.  Just tell me what you think I could try in a Comment below. 

 

Thanks so much,

 

G

Creatures in the Backyard

I've been missing Bob Kat and my Javelinas from Arizona.  There's lots of dogs around here in Clayton, but sometimes its fun to hang out with animals of different stripes , you know what I mean?  I like to broaden my horizons when I can.   

And last week I had some opportunity.  You see, we have a little back yard in our Clayton condo.  It's not as big as Arizona, but it's nice enough.  I sometimes just go out and veg. (Mom would like me to use the Doggie Door, but that's a whole 'nother chapter and I'm not going to get into it tonight.  Suffice it to say, I don't much like the Doggie Door.)

But anyway,  mom was just getting ready to let me out in the morning, and she stopped.  "Look, Guinness,"  she said, I think one of your friends may have followed you here from Arizona."  And there outside, was my Bunny Rabbit!  I think it was my Bunny Rabbit.  He seemed a little smaller than I remembered.

                                     

 I tried to get a better look from every window I could. 

 Mom said I was being silly, I should just go out the Doggie Door.  Why wouldn't she let me out to see my friend?  He was just wriggling his cute little nose at me!

Finally, he snuck under the wood pile.  I think he has a home there.  I hope I see him again.

And tonight we met another creature in the back yard.  Well, I didn't exactly meet him, but I watched Mom meet him and she told me about him.  She went out to light up the gas grill.  I went with her.  Suddenly she just dropped the cover like she saw a ghost in there.  I looked at her to see if she was OK.  She said, "there's a mouse in the grill, I think I'll go cook in the broiler."  A MOUSE in our grill!  How did it get there?  Did it crawl up the legs?  I wondered why she didn't just light the grill anyway, but she said it was a really cute mouse and she couldn't hurt it.  Maybe it lives with Bunny Rabbit in the woodpile.  I hope so.  I want to meet him sometime.

Well, other than a dumb squirrel who keeps running up our tree, I don't think anything else lives in our back yard.  I guess if I used the Doggie Door I could maybe see play with my new friends.  But I won't do it!  It's a stupid door.  Maybe I'll tell you about it next time.

Meanwhile, I hope you have as interesting friends as I do.

Love, 

G.

Back With My Friends

Arizona is a neat place and I really miss my friends, but I have friends in St. Louis, too.  Yesterday we went to the Clayton Dog Park.  I really LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that place!

I was really happy to see my old friends, and I kinda think they were glad to see me, too.  That's Buddy.  He's my buddy!  Get it?  My buddy, and his name is Buddy?  Guess you had to be there.






Anyway, lots of the old gang were there and a few more. 

The little guy is Randy.  He and I used to play a lot.  But I have to be careful, 'cuz I'm lots bigger than he is.  Sometimes we big dogs lose him.  See, there he is under Buddy.  You can just see his little tail sticking up in the back.  Don't sit on him, Buddy!

And this is a new guy, but he's really friendly too.  Just like me!  Actually, I'm a lot nicer.  He was trying to tell me who was boss of the doggie park, but Randy told him to stop and he did. 

And I got my old job back as Official Greeter. 
At first they forgot and everybody thought they
 had to go and greet the new guy.


 But as soon as they understood that I was really back, I got to do the job all by myself.  It's an important job.  Every dog wants to feel wanted at the Dog Park, and I make sure they do!

This is Dottie coming in.  I didn't know her.  She was new and Mom had to help her mom with the code.  But I made sure she felt very welcome!

 Yes,  I really love the ol' Dog Park.  Did I tell you how much I love this dog park?

Hope you have a place to go with lots and lots of friends!

Love, G.
 

The Zen of Travel

I'm back.  Finally!  I thought Mom would never find time to help me put my blog together again.  As soon as she got back to St. Louis, she got so busy she just kept putting me off.  Although, I have to admit, I didn't have that much time do it either.  I had to find all my old friends and figure out how to live in a place that rains a couple of times a week! 

Anyway, we'll leave those thoughts for another blog.  I have to tell you about our trip from Arizona back to St. Louis.  I learned how to really relax and enjoy the 23 hour ride!  Here's how it worked.

First I had to convince Mom to leave that dumb Kong mat back in Arizona.  It was OK to use as a floor in one of my cages, but really -- how comfortable did she think a hard rubber mat can be?  Not very, let me tell you.  So that left lots of room in the back seat.  AND, I had room for both of my very comfy pillows.

Of course, I had to share some space with the cooler.  But there are a lot worse things you can share the back seat with, than a cooler.  Especially, if the top gets left open, just even a little bit.  Now stop that!  I did not raid the cooler.  I'm much more mature these days.  After all, I just turned 2 which as you know makes me a teen-ager in dog years.  And anyway, I couldn't do it.  I tried.

See the cooler was on the other side of the car seat, between the front seat and my seat.  I snuck over there and pretended I was just veggin' out on my thick brown pillow.

See how cool and collected I am.  No one new that the cooler was hidden just under my pillow.



Then, I shifted just a little to get to the top of the cooler.    

 

  Then I was in it!

 



But then Mom laughed and told me to get my head out of the cooler.  How did she know?  She has eyes in the back of her head, I'm just know it!
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After awhile, the motion of the car just mesmerized me.  (Do you like that word?  I just learned what it means.  It means I act like I'm on drugs.  But I'm not on drugs.  I'm just naturally high.)

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 Pretty soon, though, I couldn't keep my eyes open, and I just zonked out on my fluffy pillow.

And before I knew it, we were back in St. Louis!

 

 

If you ever need to travel far, just follow these steps for a very smooth ride!  (But don't do it if you're driving, OK?)

 

 

Love from St. Louis,

 

G