blog of a dog

2010-02-26T09:10:00.001-05:00

If anyone wants to know my further adventures, find me on Dogbook:

http://apps.facebook.com/dogbook/profile/view/8096909

See ya there!

friends

2007-08-20T21:14:00.001-04:00

Summer Vacation

2007-08-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

Hey, I came too! We drove straight past my kennels, and on, and on, and on....

Then we stayed with a guy who only has weekend custody of his own dog, so he was very happy to have me as a guest. He has a great garden, and is a whizz with a ball.

Back in the car for another whole day, till we arrived here, which is an Inn in Maine, by a beautiful beach which I'm not allowed on. Other than that, it's fine. I'm allowed to sleep on the couch- they even give us a rug to put on it, there was a new ball (I've since found others under the hedges), they bring me dog biscuits each evening.

We found some beaches where I could play, mostly rocky, but that's OK. Good walking round here too, lighthouses, cliff paths, lots of other dogs. They tell me it's way too hot at home, over 100 degrees, but here it's mostly good, 70's and 80's, though there have been a couple of storms.

There's a dog day care in town, useful for a wet day, and get this - I had to go for an interview!! They introduced me to a big dog and a small one, to check that I would play nice. Naturally I passed, so I have spent a couple of days there too.

Well, it's thirsty work!

2007-05-05T11:54:00.000-04:00

things I have heard lately

2007-04-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

"Wow, that dog has turned into a lean mean running machine!" (from a friend at bark park)

"That sho' is a purty dawg!" (from one of the landscapers we passed on our way home)

"That dog has GROWN!"(from everybody..)

and less good - "We have to go and get your shots" (from her)

Just for Nic

2007-03-16T20:44:00.000-04:00

Hi Nic, How're you doing, can I give you a lick? Here's my favorite ball - red plastic, fur chewed off, only a token squeak left. Come and play, or I'll chew your jeans!
I've been with the old folks exactly a year now. Seems a long time since climbing out of a laundry basket was a big adventure.
Their house isn't quite as pretty as it was - I've decorated it with chewed-up bones, muddy pawmarks, teethmarks on the furniture, and once when I got a bit frantic, I chewed through the sheetrock. (So if you see a small piece of furniture, and you think "why on earth did they put it there?" - don't look behind it!)
Today I know I've been a bit of a pain, but then it has rained all day and I hate getting wet. I'll give her a cuddle later tonight and all will be forgiven.
Not much to report, really. We still walk on the beach most mornings, just like when I took you out there. We did meet those rottweilers again down there, but now I'm bigger I stand my ground. Guess what? They're afraid of water! If I just stand there in the water up to my tummy they just bark foolishly at me. There's a swan on the pond now, which is fine if he stays there, but he's really big when he's on land. I still get most of my exercise at bark park, wrestling with Cuddles and Oggie, and chasing balls and so on with the kids.
Hey, I know, I'll put YOUR photo up here!

entitled to the couch!

2006-08-17T20:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry, it's been a long time. First, he got sick, spent some time in hospital, then has been convalescing. Second, we have had some really really hot weather, when no-one has felt like doing anything. Third, I had to go to the vet and have two small parts removed....
However, the good news is I'm done with teething, so now I have a lot of eating to catch up on. I weigh 51 pounds this week. I'm going back to school - Randy is there again, and I'm bigger than her now. We have two new dogs in class, a sheepdog puppy, about 4 months old - I'm bigger than her too, and a tiny dachsund, who must weigh about 5 pounds, but doesn't let any of the rest of us boss her around. This is intermediate class now, so I'm learning "heel" (makes a walk pretty boring), letting my folks go first when a door is opened, not jumping up to greet someone, and so on.(But the UPS lady came by today, and I KNOW she has biscuits in her truck )

Hm, this isn't formatting very well. The pictures are of my barkpark friends -Cosmo, PJ, Riptide, Tyler, and Calvin.

Back home

2006-07-08T11:28:00.000-04:00

I stayed at the dog hotel for two weeks, just got back. I grew a lot, now I can jump right onto their bed! We went straight to bark park on the way home so I could say hi to all my friends here. There's a new puppy in the gang now, so I'm not the newbie any more. Today I had fun on the beach, retrieving a stick from the river about 30 times. I can swim now.
The folks went to Alaska while I was enjoying myself. One of their trips was to the home of Jeff King, dog sled champion. He owns about 40 huskys, and there were lots of puppies too. All their visitors were being used for socialisation - no problem.
Actually there were dogs wherever they went. She talked to a man in a park walking a black, brown, and golden retriever. He said he was a professional dog walker, and just walked around letting all the tourists who were missing their own dogs get a furry fix. Then in their last hotel, in Vancouver, the hotel had two official greeters, Holly and Morgan, labrador retrievers again. We're the most friendly lot!

Graduation Day

2006-06-18T17:02:00.000-04:00

Hi fans, sorry I haven't written lately. I've been busy growing (35lbs), hanging out with my friends at the bark park, trying to destroy her knitting, redesigning shoes, chasing squeaky balls, trying to stay cool:
Anyway, today was graduation day. We had our final exam: a circuit of the store, with cues to sit, stay, leave it, down, and so on, which I aced. We practiced staying on a along leash with other stuff going on all round us, then we had to greet people, but I was more focused on the new treats I was getting. After that we had a demo by our trainer's dog, of advanced leash walking. And finally we had to do some tricks, and have our photos taken with the graduation hat on. My heart wasn't in it by then so the photo isn't too great.
So thank you for everything Kari, if you are reading this. I hope we can hook up for intermediate class in the fall, but I will see you anyway when I come shopping for food.

New photos

2006-06-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

I'm growing up, don't you think?

Here's my new collar.

And here is my favorite place to sit -right on top of the cold air vent!

odds and ends

2006-05-30T19:22:00.000-04:00

I'm growing out of my collar, I'll have to send her shopping.
I almost jumped over the baby gate today....
I picked up something nice and smelly on the beach -when she took it from me it turned out to be a dead frog - she wasn't happy...
It's TOO DARN HOT!

BarkPark

2006-05-23T14:48:00.000-04:00

Here are some of my new friends. Our community has a not-much used soccer field which becomes our meeting place. We drag (literally, sometimes) our owners there at eight in the morning and play till we are tired. Most of us bring tennis balls, and throwing doodads for those like my mom who are throwing-challenged. When we unwrapped the doodad we learned a new French word - It said in English and French "no more slobber on your hands". So should you ever need it, the French for slobber is "bave" - cool! Most of the dogs are bigger than me - this week at least, I'm catching up fast - but they are happy to play with me. Just once in a while two or three of them get excited and I run to mom for backup. There are two goldens, (one is a therapy dog, very laid back) two Portuguese water dogs (!), a toy poodle TJ (short for Thomas Jefferson), a large loopy poodle/greyhound, a rottweiler, Cadillac the grownup chocolate lab comes sometimes...More too, I don't have them all straight yet.

Look what I made!

2006-05-19T13:44:00.000-04:00

more photos for my fans

2006-05-12T16:38:00.000-04:00

Day camp

2006-05-12T11:32:00.000-04:00

It's hard to tell the folks much about it, especially as I came home exhausted. I arrived about 8am, was greeted by the owner very nicely, and I trotted off with her, forgetting to say goodbye to my chauffeuse. It's a spendid place, clean large boarding kennels and two large fenced runs, with all the toys and climbing frames etc that you would expect. Out in the country, too. They do training here, in one of the runs, that one is called K9 university. Perhaps we'll look into that when I graduate puppy school. I saw from the blackboard that they were expecting six dogs for day camp that day, so once we all arrived we went outside for most of the morning. We had a rest at lunchtime, and apparently I took the opportunity for a real sleep, with snoring, before starting up again. In the afternoon we met the owner's children, and the girl made a big fuss of me because I'm still cute. She is, too.
I was picked up about five, slept in the car, and most of the evening.
They'll be able to tell how much I enjoyed myself by how enthusiastic I am next week....

Bonus post

2006-05-08T16:59:00.000-04:00

My secretary gets to post twice today because I'm snoozing so much. It's puppy school's fault - both Randy and Sam turned up so we had an exciting hour. I went straight to sleep when I came home and have had to snooze much more today too. We learned some cool things. First we did sit, which I'd already figured out, but we were shown the hand signal and the treat method too. Then we did down, which I also learned fast. From sit, the hand signal scoops down and forward. I just flop down, and there's the treat, right between my paws. Easy peasy. After that we started on loose leash walking, which seems to need lots of treats. The signal is Let's Go, and we start off together. I'm supposed to keep the leash loose, and not pull. If I do, she stops. Then when I go again, she says good boy and I get the treat. I'm thinking I could work this one to my advantage...... If we want to run together, she says Go go go, which is fun, but I do get excited and might add in a bit of nipping, which she doesn't seem to like.
Apart from school, I'm also learning Paw, as a better way to get their attention than the nipping.
And now she tells me she has my play group set up - every Wednesday here: http://williamsburgpetresort.com/ More about that later.

request from my fan club

2006-05-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

They want more photos!!Well I know I'm a very photogenic dog, but there's something about someone pointing a camera in my face that makes me want to rush up to them and take the photo myself. Like this one.

Here's the best they could do at the farmers' market on Satuday:

And here's one where I was too quick for them:

Piranha puppy!

2006-05-06T13:33:00.000-04:00

OK, this is where I admit not everything is sweetness and light in this household. I do have a bit of a problem with mouthiness, and nipping when I want attention. Most of it is caused by teething, I think, and should get better as I get older. It seems to be quite common, but their last dog didn't do it. (he was perfect, yadda, yadda..) She has started putting some nasty-tasting bitter apple on her hands and ankles, also on the leash - spoilsport! When I went for my vet checkup yesterday, they talked about it, and she was given this leaflet headed "Piranha Puppy" There's a name to live up to!! They are already doing most of the things suggested, such as time-outs and lots of exercise. I think my training will help, too, because I really like showing off. I can do a very good sit.
Anyway, I now weigh 23 pounds, more than that huge bag of dog food. I had my first rabies vaccine, just as well, as we came home and read in the local paper about a golden retriever who had been bitten by rabid skunks while in his kennel, not once, but twice, poor soul. They think he will be ok, as he had his shots. Then I had the Bordatella vaccine too - and they put it UP MY NOSE! Eeeugh!
We saw that baby chocolate lab again, too. Four weeks old, and still tiny, but starting on solid food.

more school

2006-05-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

First, here I am helping with the chores. I try to be useful.

I had puppy school again yesterday. Sam was absent, what's up with him? But there was a new student - a german shepherd/coon hound called Randy. Taller than me, but good fun. He was already 6 months old, so knew some of the stuff already. His folks seemed ok too. We learned about the clicker, a gadget she's supposed to use whenever I do something good. That way I know I've done something right, and I will definitely get a treat for it. So this week's homework is - whenever she says "Dylan, watch" I'm supposed to look at her, right into her eyes, then she will click, and I'll get the treat.
I've found I also get treated when I sit, but I think that's next week's lesson. (I'm pretty smart!)

Mirrors?

2006-04-29T17:26:00.000-04:00

I'm confused. In the space between the sewing room and the bathroom, there are closets facing each other, with mirrored doors all the way down to my level. As I walk by, I see lots of little brown dogs either side of me. If I sit down, they all sit down. If I shimmy up to one and try to sniff it, it does it too. Then I try biting, but can't seem to get a grip. So I bark a bit, and the other dogs seem to bark too, but I can't hear anything. I do a bit of prancing and posturing, but all they do is copy me. Worst of all, after I've tried to interact with one row of dogs for a while, I turn round, and there's another row all waiting...

some measurements

2006-04-24T21:25:00.000-04:00

I was playing in the sewing room, and, as tends to happen in there, I got measured!
So here you are:
tail length 8 1/2"
tummy 21"
neck 12"
shoulder to floor 15"
front toes to back toes when stretched out as far as I can reach 36"
Then I ate the tape measure.

Phil came to see me!

2006-04-24T14:03:00.001-04:00

So I had another great weekend. Phil (their first puppy) came to see me and we bonded instantly. Saturday's weather was awful, so we mostly played indoors, but we did get down to the beach on Sunday.
Then I had my first day at school. A very small class, only one other student - a Westie called Sam. This week we were about the same size, but I'm sure I'll be bigger next week. We played around while the people chattered on. I'm much better at the bathroom stuff than he is - I never peed on the sofa! The teacher petted me for a while and I did a lot of mouthing her. She let me do the gentle stuff, but if I tried a real nip she dumped me in the sin bin for a minute. It's hard to find exactly how much of it I can do before the humans get hurt - they object much sooner than the dogs do... Sam didn't seem into that, he just wanted to play with me.
Anyway the teacher also said that with all the growing I have to do, I should sleep a lot - so today I'm doing just that!

Cadillac

2006-04-20T12:22:00.000-04:00

Cadillac is my new friend, though a little scary. We met down on the beach by the marina, he'd brought his family out for a little wet fun. When I met him, he had just learned to swim, and was training them to throw sticks into the water. He is another chocolate lab - who'd have thought we were so common? - one year old and 97 pounds! So doing the math, I need to put on about two pounds a week to be like him, that's a lot of eating.... It looked like a good game, what he was doing, so I waded into the water too. I couldn't work out how to swim though, maybe next time. I'll have to remind her to take the camera, so we can get his photo.
My training of the family is coming on quite well - I have the morning routine organized. He gets up at the crack of dawn - well he usually has a golf game - and lets me out for the necessary, then we take her a cup of coffee in bed. I let her have about 10 minutes to drink it while I chew a slipper or something. Then I "encourage" her to get up and throw on a few clothes, and I take her out for a long walk, being sure to meet my friend Leland on the way, cos he always brings me a biscuit. We try to do something fun, going up to town, or playing chase on the beach, or chasing fir cones while we walk. Today she swung on a swing with me in her lap - weird! When we get back, she has to give me a drink of water, then I let her have breakfast and get showered in peace.
Oh well, here's another picture of me snoozing. I am awake most of the time, honest!

Sunday school

2006-04-16T20:00:00.000-04:00

Not a good idea to eat a dandelion puff. Yuk!

Ice cubes are fun, they skidaddle all around.

Duke-of-Gloucester street in Williamsburg is generally known as DOG street. I walked all the way down and back again. (well, almost)

my trip to the vet

2006-04-14T22:34:00.000-04:00

Actually it was fun, except having stuff stuck into various parts of me. All the staff were excited to see me, so I gave them lots of licks. I weigh 15 1/2 pounds already.
How many people does it take to cut a dog's toenails? Answer, one to hold me still, one to do the work, and one to feed me baby food with a spoon while it's happening. Lamb and rice, good stuff!
And I felt like a huge grown-up dog, because they showed us their youngest patient - a chocolate lab like me, but only 8 days old! He was called Starbuck, about rat-sized, with his eyes still shut. Poor guy had lost his mom.
I had a goody bag to take home, with samples of this and that, and a frisbee. I'd probably chew that to pieces, so its being saved for later.
Anyway they all said I was a fine healthy puppy, so I walked out of there with my tail high.

Busy life

2006-04-12T17:58:00.000-04:00

This morning I was down at the beach with her. Beautiful morning, both ospreys on their nest, though they flew up and squawked a bit as we went by, and I had a good dig in the sand. (Why is that allowed but digging in the garden not allowed?)Anyway, that was hard work, so I had a snooze on the deck afterwards.

I'm growing. I've just munched the last of a 10lb bag of food which I started when I arrived here. I think I've put on about 4lbs. I'm teething, and need to bite things most of the time. My eyes are clear and beautiful now, they were sorta milky at first. My fur is changing too, getting a bit longer and silkier, less of that velvet feel.

Ysterday I took him to Colonial Williamsburg and showed him what a chick magnet I could be. He loved it! When we got back, she was entertaining her book club, so I did the rounds and was petted properly by everybody.

Just checking in

2006-04-08T12:40:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am, a whole week older. She's still chasing around with a camera when I'm trying to sleep. Man, was I petted this morning! Our town has a farmer's market where the dogs and their owners go to socialise, and occasionally buy vegetables. We tried to walk around a bit, but never managed more than a couple of paces before someone else wanted to be introduced. It was fun, and I behaved very well, but all a bit confusing. The other dogs were all bigger than me too. We had to leave when it started to rain and thunder. My fur was getting soggy and I wasn't keen on that.
I'm signed up for puppy school, starting in a couple of weeks. I should meet some friends my size there, I hope.
We have been going for walks in the morning, and I'm getting to know my neighborhood. There's the quiet beach, just us and the ospreys, and the marina beach, where we usually find children to talk to, and the walking trail. Most people will stop and chat to me, but occasionally I will be ignored, very rude, I think. I try running after these people, to remind them of their manners, but they still don't talk to me. How can they resist me?
I did some slipper rearranging this morning while she was in the shower. I don't know why they are kept in the closet - I moved both of hers and all four of his out into the living room - much more convenient!

2006-04-06T14:10:00.000-04:00

Hey, my tail wags!!

What I learned this week

2006-04-04T16:40:00.000-04:00

1. New family is a soft touch!
2. I learned to do steps. Going up is easy, I can run up now. Going down is harder because my center of gravity is forward, if I'm not careful I'll go head-first.
3. Shoes, and especially Ugg slippers, smell good and are fun to chew when no one is looking. Shoelaces are good too, but best when someone is wearing them, they wiggle more.
4. When I poop outside I get a treat. If I remember I'm supposed to pee outside then I get a treat. But pee is harder to control, I'm only little....
5. I relaxed and started to play. I learned to pounce. Pouncing and biting ankles is diapproved of.
6. I quite like my crate really, now they leave the door open. When I need a time out I'll go in there for a rest.
7. I learned I stay in the kitchen while they are eating, and whining doeasn't help. So I'll chew a bone or something.

Not bad for a first week. My goal for week 2 is to work out how to tell them when I need to go outside. I did try standing by the front door today, but they weren't quick enough. Oh well, I'll have to work on their training..

2006-04-03T10:30:00.000-04:00

I had a good weekend. Mike came down to visit - he's not much more than a puppy himself, so we had fun.

And on Sunday I got to read the Washington Post!

Training the family

2006-04-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

A few days along. My folks are exhausted. I'm afraid they didn't get much sleep for the first two nights. They had been reading too many books: "put him in a crate overnight, and if it's a big one, partition it so he can't use half for sleeping and the other half for a bathroom." Huh. First, I freak if shut in - I spent my first weeks with pretty much the whole of a lumber yard to run around in, even at night I still had a big pen. Second, I'm not used to being alone, because I slept in a big heap of brothers. So on the third night they got the message. Yes I was shut in, the laundry room that is. But my crate door was open, there was a nice warm towel to sleep on, and a big soft toy dog to snuggle up to. Much better! Last night I even managed to stay dry.
I generally wake up with the dawn, so the folks are glad the clocks are changing tonight!
I think I'm supposed to do my business outside, I seem to get lots of fuss and a dog biscuit when I do, but it's easy to forget.......
I'm making lots of friends. The big fierce-looking men on the construction site all come and rub my tummy when I go for a walk, and the site manager rushes out of his office to play! Today Mike is coming. I think he was from a previous litter?
She keeps taking photos. I squirm a lot, so there are plenty of useless ones.

My first day

2006-03-29T15:18:00.000-05:00

It started well enough. My new mom came to pick me up, and promised to send photos to the old family. I rode home in the front seat of the car, in a laundry basket that I could almost climb out of. I won't be able to run about by myself so much here, but i'll have to get used to that, I suppose.
She put a collar on me, nasty itchy thing. I keep falling over when I try to scratch. But when she puts the leash on too, and we go outside, that's more fun. We walk together, and run a bit. In a way it's better than being free because then I keep getting stepped on or tripped over, Perhaps I should give these clumsy people a bit more space. Anyway, I met some of the construction people while I was out, and they all made a fuss of me. Oh, and I met my next-door neighbor, a Shi-tsu called Lilly. She wasn't very friendly at first. I expect I shouldn't have chewed her long fur.. But she was more fun after a while.
Did I mention I had a bad night? I hated being in that crate all by myslf, no brothers to cuddle up to. I admit I cried a lot. She had to get up several times and calm me down, but eventually I got into such a state that she put me back in the laundry basket and let me sleep next to her bed. I slept OK then, at least till it got light around 6. Have to admit, we're both pretty tired today.

PS My name is DYLAN!

Supporting crew

2006-03-26T17:52:00.000-05:00

Williamsburg is going to be a great place to live. Walks in Kingsmill on the doggy (sorry I mean people) walking trails, and down by the river, where I can probably go off-leash and get wet. The Saturday farmers' market in town, where all good dogs go to see and be seen. The bark park. The charity walk....
The local vet practice looks very good, with a new building and five vets in residence. Separate dog and cat facilities, none of those supercilious creatures in MY space! Boarding too, with nice big rooms and a fenced yard. Have a look at my vet and be sure to check out the video of the immersion treadmill!
I mentioned PetSmart already, but I can go to school there too. It will be a good way to meet dogs my age.
Finally there are the doggie day spas, two of them, for special days out.

Setting up the nursery

2006-03-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

We should buy PetSmart shares!
I have my PetSmart customer card, and have signed up for the email newsletter, doggie events section. I now have a medium-size crate, which should keep me out of mischief until I've learned where I'm not supposed to go, and also a gate, so I can stay in the kitchen and laundry room when there are people around but busy. She bought me food bowls, full size, a leash and collar, puppy size, shampoo, a brush, and clean-up stuff. And food of course, and some treats. And as I'm a retriever, a squeaky ball and some puppy-size tennis balls.

Here I am!

2006-03-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

Here I am! Love me!
I'd introduce myself except I don't have a name yet. I can tell you I'm a chocolate colored labrador retreiver, six weeks old yesterday, which means my birthday is February 8th.
I'm still living with my mom and my uncle and four of my brothers out in the country, almost in N. Carolina. Which makes me a Southern gentleman, so I should grow up to have excellent manners.
Feel free to suggest a name. The short list right now includes Java, for my coffee color and my new family's computer obsession, Chaucer, Dickens, Nacho, Dylan, Napa......

Here's my dad. Wow! I hope I grow up as handsome. See that blue ribbon? He's an important dog, he must be, he has his own web page:

my dad Winston

And here are my mom and my brothers. Actually I had ten brothers and one sister, but some have already gone. They seemed very small still to be leaving - I'm going to stay another week. I'm getting used to drinking from a dish, but do still like to go back to mom when she lets me.

Some more photos of me, with my new people.