Therapy Dog Needs Therapist

What is it with me?  Or is it them?  Mom and Dad went to play golf yesterday and left me guarding the house.  I did a pretty good job, I thought.  Even though Mom left the food cabinet door wide open:

I didn't let anybody in.  Not the coyotes, not the javelinas, not even the squirrel that showed up the other day.  Did I tell you about that?  

We hardly have any squirrels around here.  In fact I would have said we have no squirrels.  Not like my friends in St. Louis where there are tons of squirrels and I chase 'em and they run up trees, so I don't chase 'em anymore.  It's too frustrating.  But I never saw a squirrel in Scottsdale.  (Like that alliteration?  S-quirrel in S-cottsdale?  S-cottsdale S-quirrel? Sorry.)  Not until two days ago, when one ran across our back wall, just like he belonged there.

Which he didn't, 'cuz that's BobCat's wall!  Am I digressing again?  I think so.  Anyway, I didn't let any of the critters get any food out of the wide open cabinet.

But then I was looking over Dad's papers on the coffee table and I saw a bill for his insurance.  I know how he hates to pay bills, so I took it with me to the bedroom and proceeded to shred it on the bed. 

 If I shred it, he can't pay it, right?  So I thought I was doing him a BIG FAVOR.

But NO.  They came home and I got in trouble for tearing up the Insurance bill.  Even Mom yelled at me.  It wasn't fun.  They were mad. So I got mad.  Then I got even.  I refused to sleep on the bed last night.  See who's happy now!

I don't know.  Is it me?  Do I need Dogological help?

Love and pouts,

G

You need to click on Rainbow Bridge

I told Mom no one would understand that just because a word is blue, that you're supposed to click on it to take you to another place.  But if you click on the blue "Rainbow Bridge" in the blog post, it will take  you to Rainbow Bridge and you won't be as sad anymore.


I need to tell you about a friend of mine.  Her name is Maddie.  I don't have a picture of her, but she looks like this:

Maddie looks like a puppy, but she was really old.  When I first met her in 2014 she was 12 years old.  She liked me right away.   She called me her boyfriend.  She liked Mom a lot too, and sometimes I just had to go break it up 'cuz she would be nuzzling MY mom and ignoring me. 

Lots of times, when we walked around people would say that I looked like Maddie.  We both have black noses, but I didn't think we looked much alike.

These past few months, Maddie was getting smaller and smaller.  She still liked to come talk to me when we would see her, but she was having a really hard time walking.  I could tell she had lost a lot of weight. 

Then yesterday, we saw Maddie's mom without Maddie.  She said that Maddie had given up the ghost and she was really sad.  I could tell mom was really sad too.  We were all sad.  I'll miss Maddie.  I hope I see her when we all go to the Rainbow Bridge.  Mom told me about the Rainbow Bridge.  She says that's where my brothers are and that one day, we will all go to the Rainbow Bridge and play together.  I think that sounds nice.  I hope Maddie is having a good time there.

But, I'm still sad.

I'll be looking for you, Maddie.   

Love, Your G

PS.  If you click on the blue "Rainbow Bridge", it will take you there and make you feel better.  G

  

Happy Javelinas

Actually, I should say, Happy Valentine's Day, but I didn't get any Valentines, so I'm not going to.  I gave my Dad a Valentine card.  It said this:

I picked it out myself.  I thought it was pretty cool, 'cuz he's always complaining that I don't give him enough room at night.  

Anyway, that's not my exciting story about today.  Did I tell you about the Javelina family that lives here on East Mohawk Drive?  There are three of them.  A Momma, a Poppa and a teenager.  We run into them sometimes.

Like last week, when Mom and I went to get the mail, we saw them on a neighbor's porch.  So Mom and I got real quiet and we tried to sneak down the other side of the street to the mail boxes.  But the big Daddy Javelina came storming out to the street and just stared at us.  Mom and me turned very slowly and headed back in the other direction.  We decided to get the mail later in the car.  

Then one day, we were all walking home after our two mile walk around the neighborhood paths. Just as I passed the corner of a house, in the driveway, I came within 4 feet of a huge javalina.  The Daddy.  He was just as surprised as I was.  I stood stock still.  He did too.  Then he bolted through the porch and out the other side.  Mom was right behind me and she saw him bolt.  We were all in shock.  We walked home very very carefully.  

I guess they are living in the neighborhood.  Cuz later that week, when Mom and I went around Rusty Spur, where we go so I can do my "Constitution", there were the three of them right on my green spot grazing.  Mom tried to take a picture.  This is my green spot.

And this is the javelina trying to escape through the bushes.I know it's hard to see him, but the last one was escaping through the bushes as Mom FINALLY got her phone out to take a picture.

And just today, Dad and I went out after my dinner.  There right next to our house, all three of the javalina family were tearing apart Mr. Jim's bushes and trying to eat the roots.  Dad took me back in our house until they went away.  Dad is afraid they will come after me.  But I'm afraid they will come after him.  

I've been sniffing those javelinas out these past couple of weeks.  One day, I'm going to find one and say hello.  I stop my Mom every so often 'cuz I think I see one.  But she just says, "Guinness, that's just a cactus."  You'd think I could tell a cactus from a javelina.  

So that's our excitement for the week.  

Hope you have some fun javelinas to stalk.

Love, G

Molly & Me

I've never told you about my friend, Molly, have I?  She's lots older than me.  I think she's eight now.  She has white on her chin like me, but I'm not old; I'm just prematurely grey.  She's black, black, black like me, except she doesn't have my unique Sargent stripes or my distinctive white Harry Potter lightning bolt on my chest.

Molly is a funny girl.  Sometimes she likes me a lot.  When that happens we play on the grass and chase each other and have a lot of fun.  I do have to be careful because she has a weak back and I don't want to hurt her.  So I don't jump on her back like I do with other big dogs.

Sometimes Molly just ignores me.  Maybe she's playing hard to get.  I don't know, but I just go with the flow.  When she likes to be with me, she pees on every spot I peed on.  So I've started doing it back.  But then she pees on my pee.  It's a never ending pee party.

When she's not peeing on my pee spots, she likes to pretend she's in charge.  So we have a contest to see who gets to go first.  Like last week, I had a bit of a hard time catching up to her:

But I walked really fast and soon, I was the one ahead.

She kept trying to pull ahead, but I made sure I was always first.

I'm not going to let a girl beat me out.  Not me!  But otherwise, I try to be nice to Molly because I think deep down she likes me, too.

Hope you have some nice old friends and that you are nice to them, too.

Love, G

P.S.  Mom says to tell you all to read "Where the Crawfish Sing" by Delia Owens.  She said it was a really good book!   G

New Year's Resolutions

So this year I really AM going to go back and look at my last year's resolutions so I can see if I did pretty good.

Here's what I promised to do:

1.  I promise to always share my Frisbee, especially with puppies who are shy.  'Cuz I know what it's like to be shy and afraid sometimes.

I did that!  In fact I did it so well that Mom had to buy me two new frizbees.  The old one got torn to pieces; the next one was thrown in a tree and never came down (don't worry it wasn't Mom who threw it), and the newest one isn't doing too well either after these two clowns had fun with it!

But I think I get an A+ on sharing my frizbee this year!

My second resolution was:

2.  I will try to be strong.  Sometimes when I go to the Dog Park, I'm ascared and the other dogs know it and they try to bully me.  But if I'm strong then they play with me and I don't feel ascared anymore.

I've been to two new dog parks this year, and my hackles don't go up nearly as often as they used to.  I think even big dogs respect me now.  

So I'm going to give me an A+ on this one too.

And my third resolution

3. I promise to teach the puppies I play with how to play my games so we can all have fun together.

Heck, I even taught my friends to dance.  I'm getting an A+ on that one too.

And resolution #4.  (I'm on a roll here!)

4.  I will take risks, 'cuz I sometimes don't do things I want to do because I'm afraid.  (Like when Mom leaves the door just a little bit open for me so I can come in from the outside.  I sit outside forever because I'm afraid I'll get squished in the door.) 

I don't worry  about getting stuck in the door anymore.  I just push my way in.  (But maybe I have to take off a few points, 'cuz Dad says I need to learn to shut the door behind me.)  I'll give me an A for that one.

And the last one was easy:

5.  And mostly I promise to always have fun and run in the sun (I like being a poet)!

I always have fun in the sun!  Especially when the sun is on the beach!

I get A++++ for #5!

Hope you did as good on your New Year's Resolutions

Love, G

P.S.  Mom says I might be just a little bit too lenient on myself.  But I don't care.  I think I did really good this year.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

And a stocking was hung by the Chimney with care,

 'cuz good ol'  St. Nick had already been there!

Mom took down the stocking & gave it to me;

Is this a trick?  I'm sure it COULD be!

But low and behold, there was stuff that I like

Things good to eat, not some silly old bike.

And this colorful round thing, I think its a ball

Yes, Mom is throwing it straight down the hall.

But what is it made of, I must find out fast

I really don't think this ball's going to last.

Oh, well, at least I enjoyed all the treats;

And this morning mom baked some really good eats.

At least that's what she said she was doing, you see,

She called it a Dutch Baby, but how could that be?

I've met lots of babies and if this one is Dutch,

I can't say that I like them that much!

So hope you all had a wonderful day;

Merry Christmas to all; I'm hitting the hay!

Love G

School Project

Yesterday I went to school to see my kids.  I get so excited that I start singing and whining a couple of miles before we get there.  Mom laughs at me but I can't help it.  I'm just so excited to see them.

Mom had a special project for the kids.  See, last time we got together they all played Doggie Breed Bingo.  They thought it was a lot of fun.  Mom thought it worked great 'cuz the older kids helped the younger kids find the breeds on their cards and nobody cheated.  I didn't like it so much 'cuz they didn't pay as much attention to me as usual.  I liked it better when they all sat on the floor around me and talked while they petted me.  But Mom says, it's not ALL about me.  I thought it was.

Anyway, Mom told the kids that one of the chips had gone missing so if anyone had a Malinois on their card, they would never be able to fill that spot.  So she emailed the company that made the game over in London, and they sent her a new Malinois chip.  I think it might have helped that she told them that she used the game for kids and sent a picture of me.  I'm sure it was my picture that did it!  

When she told this to the kids, they wanted to send a thank you note to the people at the company.  So she brought lots of stuff to make Christmas/Thank You cards.  And they loved that too!  Vance (Mr. Australia I call him, 'cuz he can talk like someone from Australia if he wants to, and he does it a lot!), said, Oh, boy, ART stuff.  I love Art."  I saw Mom look relieved at that.

So they went to work, and I ran back and forth under the table to get pets while they worked.  Four of them did their own cards and three of them worked together on one.  Here is what they came up with:

This is Susan's card.  She is just 5, so she can't write much.  But she had a lot of fun with the Glitter Glue!  In fact, it took four hours before the glue dried!

Vance did this one:

He was pretty clever.  He put scotch tape on the paper where he was going to write in case he didn't like what her wrote and had to change it.  And he did change it.  The first time it said "Thank you."  But why would he change it to Victor?  I don't know.

Eli, Oliver and Andrew made a big card together.  They talked to each other and agreed who was going to put what things where.  Mom said that was a really good sign that things were working.  Here is the front and middle of their card.

Lanny must want to be an artist.  He's the oldest and I really like him.  He drew me!

He doesn't spell so good, but that doesn't bother me.

Mom is going to send the cards to London today.  I can't wait to see what they say.

Hope you get fun Christmas cards and Thank You notes this year!

Love, G