Aunt Barb

Aunt Barb won a contest, so her prize is having me blog about her. That's a seriously great prize, as I'm an uber blogger extraordinaire!!

Aunt Barb loves dogs. She even kissed my cousin, Sam. (See picture.) Barb lives in Tustin, CA so I don't get to see her very often. That makes me super sad because I don't get to play with my cousins, Scooter and Stinkerbell. What? Oh. Ok. Mom says that's Tinkerbell. What does she know!

Aunt Barb used to have a weiner dog. His name was Tousant. He was named after a specially good football player named Tousant Tyler. What? Oh. OK. Mom keeps interrupting me. I wish she'd leave me alone while I do my blogging. Anyway, apparently she thinks she's pretty cool because she remembers Tousant Tyler. (Old people get forgetful, you know.) Yeah, after 53 years, this is her claim to fame. Woo Hoo! What? Oh. OK. I'm going to be lucky to get fed today.

I better go so I can make kissy face with Mom. I do want my supper tonight. I love you, Aunt Barb!! Kiss, kiss.

Gotta go!

Have a ruff day!

Buddy

I'm Lucky in Love!!!

Look at the email I got the other day. What a stud I am!!!

"Hi, Handsome!

My name is Lucky and I have heard a lot about you. I hear that you are really handsome, but are lonely for a girlfriend. (Even though you don't know what to do with one. Whatever that means!) I am going to be a year old next month. I love to play in the snow, but it's kind of boring when my people won't roll in the snow with me. It feels so good. So, I want to have you come here to play with me. We have about a foot of snow and it's nice and cold. And I have a beautiful shiny coat. It's the nicest fur coat you will ever see!

Well, I'm almost dry now after my walk with Aunt Barb, so now I can get out of my jail and run around the house. Aunt Barb is the only one home. Aunt Cindy, Mom and Dad went to a casino to lose some money. Oops, I meant they went gambling! So now I'm going to watch a christmas movie that Aunt Barb got yesterday. Something about Jingle way, and it has some guy named the Governator. Or something like that.

Come see me Buddy! I like you!

Love, Lucky"

Woo Hoo!!! She's a hottie, too, isn't she?!?!

Have a ruff day,

Buddy

Christmas

Hi, Everyone! It's been a long time since I last posted. There was this really cool thing called "Christmas" that just happened. I got oodles of good things in my stocking - plus Aunt Barb and Aunt Cindy sent me a whole bunch of presents.

My favorite present was a stuffed Santa Claus. So far, I've chewed off his nose and his left foot. His insides were pretty dry, though, so Mom pulled them out of my mouth and threw them away. What fun is that?

There was a TREE on top of our kitchen table!!! Can you believe that?!? Who puts a tree in the house. Dad says that they have an even bigger tree that usually goes in the living room, but Mom and Dad were afraid I'd try to eat it. (Guess they know me, huh?)

It's my understanding that my aunts are trying to fix me up with a gorgeous frau named "Lucky". Can't wait to meet her - although I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when I DO meet her. (See the previous "That's Not Funny" post.)

Well, I'd better go!

Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Spreading the love around

Hi, everyone! Mom's been a little too busy to type my blogs up for me lately. Sorry it's been so long.

I know that a popular guy such as myself has to be careful to spread the love around or someone's feelings will get hurt. I have so many toys that this becomes a problem occasionally. I already introduced you to my friend, Elephant, back on June 8th. He's my best friend.

I also have other friends, though. Merry Sunshine has been with me since my graduation from Puppy Kindergarten. She and I like to run around and make a lot of noise. It's strictly a two-person relationship. I bite Merry, and she squeaks. Mom and Dad don't get to play with us.

Then there's Bowser. He and I like to play kind of rough. Generally speaking, this is a 3-person relationship. I'm on one side, Bowser is in the middle, and Mom or Dad is on the other side. This involves playing tug-of-war, with Bowser as the "tuggee". It's great fun, at least for me!

Toys are the best friends. They always let me win. Most of all, though, they're there whenever I need them.

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Love,
Buddy.

The Perfect Host

I like to think that I'm the perfect host. If it's a hot day, I share my pool. If it's a cold day, I share my blanket. Mostly, though, I like to share meals with my guests. Mom and Dad say that's not the way it's supposed to work, but I am, afterall, the one whose opinion counts!

Last night our friends, Bob and Debra Johnson, came over for dinner. It was a lovely meal, with barbecued salmon, a green bean and corn salad, a vegetable casserole and a lovely dessert with pound cake and raspberries. It went perfectly with my dog food appetizer. A small helping of raspberry sherbet cleansed my pallet, and then my breath was fresh enough to kiss everybody.

Best of all, the cats got locked in the bedroom while we had guests. Mom doesn't want anyone to know that the cats jump (ie: sleep) on our dining room table, so we hide them when people are over for dinner. It seems a bit dishonest to me, but as long as the cats are miserable - I'm happy!

Gotta go. Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Good Lookin Dog

I have to say - I am one good looking dog. People stop my Dad all the time to tell him that. Even when Dad is spitting mad because I'm not minding him, people still say "Yeah, but he sure is good looking."

What I don't understand is what makes a dog good looking. Is it my beautiful chocolate brown color? My chiseled nose? Perhaps the way the hair on my rump goes in circles. Maybe it's the fact that I have wavy hair and gold eyes.

Or could it be my special way of turning a phrase? The girls seem to love that. Whenever I bark at them, they melt. (Mom says that's what they're really doing when they try to bite me!) My humility no doubt helps, too.

Whatever it is, I'm happy to be handsome!

Gotta go. Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Cats are Disgusting

I told everyone the other day about how the cats can't swim in my pool because they have germs. Well, here's the proof. Buzz has been hacking and coughing for the past 3 weeks, so Mom took him to the vet. She and Dad were afraid that their best pet (moi!) would get sick too.

The vet gave Buzz a shot of antibirotics (I think it keeps cats from rotting), and gave him a bunch of pills to take, too. Now, Mom and Dad are pretty good about putting pills into these really snazzy tasting pill-pockets. I just gobble them down!! But Buzz wouldn't eat them. The dumb cat doesn't even know a good thing when he has it. So Mom had to jam the pills down Buzz's throat, making them both miserable.

Then, the worst part was that Buzz was so sleepy from the medicine and from being sick, that he got to use my BABY BED!!!! I don't fit in it anymore, but it was still MINE! He's now been sleeping in it 27 or 28 hours every day. What a drama queen. You'd think he was an invalid or something. At least he's stopped hacking on everyone, though.

But...... you guessed it....... now Scrub is starting to cough. Great. One more spoiled cat to put up with.

Better go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

My Own Swimming Pool

It's been crazy hot in Bellingham lately. Not that I'm complaining, but this coat of mine isn't removable. (Note to self: get shaved next summer.) Anyway, Mom went out and bought a swimming pool for me.

It's great fun! I jump in, splash around, drink some of the water and then chase around the yard like a bat outta hell for a few minutes. Then I jump back in. See how that works?

Nobody else can get into my pool unless I say so. My cousin, Sam, can get in because I really like him. The pool is strictly off limits to the cats, though. They're vicious creatures. And they're full of germs. I don't want germs in my pool.

Every night, Mom fills the watering can up with water from my pool - about 10 times! That's how much water it takes to water our dahlias. What's that? Oh yeah. Mom wants to point out that I dug up most of the dahlia tubers, but the ones that survived are still in shock and need lots of water. When she gets done watering the dahlias, she pours out all of the dirty water from my pool and fills it with fresh water.

I'm the luckiest dog in the world!!

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Puppy Jail

Mom says my pestosterone level was supposed to go down after I got fixed. She doesn't think it worked. In the past couple of weeks I've chewed up some shoes. She got to get brand new ones, though, so you'd think she'd be happy about it!

I dug one TINY hole under the fence so the cats could get in and out without having to climb over the fence. I was trying to do them a favor. But NO, I got in trouble. Darn cats.

And Dad's car needed that remodeling. It looked too perfect. Now, with the hand brake chewed up, and the gear shift having some nice bite marks, it looks better than ever. I admit that I chewed the insulation off some wires under the dashboard, but I didn't touch the wires themselves. I'm too smart for that!!

So this is what's led to my latest predicament. I'm now a dog behind bars. Someone help me!!!

I better go before the warden gets back. Have a ruff day!

Love,

Buddy (#00316)

My 1st Cache

Have any of you ever heard of geocaching? It's this great sport where you use a paw-held GPS, and go hunting for caches. Caches are like treasure chests.

When Mom and Dad were in Maupin, Aunt Debbie came down to see me. She and I went geocaching, and we let Mom come, too. Since it was my first time caching, Aunt Debbie thought it would be appropriate to find "The Pointer's Cache". I don't know why she liked that name, though. The only pointing that gets done around me is when I do something wrong - like when Mom asks who chewed up her good shoes, and Dad says "He did it!" and points at me!

Anyway, we went way, way, way (uber far) down this gravel road. I thought we were going to bust a tire. Finally, we got out of the car and started walking on a trail. Then all of a sudden, Mom and Aunt Debbie got really excited and said we were close. Sure enough, we found this big metal box that had all kinds of good stuff in it. We signed our names on a paper that was in the box, and then Mom and Aunt Debbie stole something out of it! I guess it was OK, though, because they put something else in to replace what they took. They said those are the rules. (I don't know if I believe them, though. It seemed kind of sneaky to me!)

I can't wait to go geocaching again. I want to find a dog treat cache. Mom says that when I meet Aunt Barb and Aunt Cindy, we'll be able to go. She says that Aunt Barb is the geocache queen!!!

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Love,
Buddy

Maggie & Me

There's a famous dog named Marley, but I think Maggie should be just as famous. She's a lab / greyhound mix. She came camping with us this weekend. Her mom was there with Nikki, who is my parents' niece. I guess that makes Nikki my people cousin.

Anyway, Maggie and I played the whole time. We were really well-behaved, too. We didn't run in other people's campsites because there was so much to do in our own campsite. Everybody gave us treats. They threw a ball for us. Best of all, there were MILLIONS of sticks for us to chew on!

One thing I noticed is that Maggie smiles and talks a lot. She's so funny that everybody likes her. Sometimes I had a hard time talking because Maggie was ALWAYS talking! You can see what I mean from the pictures.

I hope that I get to see Maggie again. She's one of my favorites!

Camping Again!

We went camping again this weekend. The sky was really, really blue. I ran all over the place and went swimming. Dad let me have part of a hotdog for dinner. It was SO good!!!

While Mom and Dad were smooching by the campfire, I got the camera out of Mom's purse. Isn't that a cool picture of our fire? I suppose it looks a little different to me than it does to people because it's closer to my eye-level.

I got into something this weekend that is really bugging me! The vet says it could be the same poison ivy that Mom got into last weekend. Or maybe it was just something called "nettles". Either way, it's wicked itchy! The vet gave me medicine for the itching. I don't mind the pills. I like anything that goes in my mouth. The spray for my (ahem) manly areas isn't much fun, though. It's really cold! Mom laughed about something called shrinkage. She's weird.

Puppy Prep School starts tomorrow. I'll tell you all about it, and will try to get some pictures of my friends.

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Mom and Dad Must Love Me

Do you ever wonder whether your parents really love you? Sometimes when I get yelled at, I ask myself that question. But then I think about all the things that my parents do for me, and I realize that they must love me.

They feed me, they bathe me, they give me treats, they take me for walks, they clean up my 'leftovers' from the backyard, they give me toys, they play with me.... You get the idea.

What really convinced me, though, is seeing the picture that my mom took of me when she woke up this morning. This is what mom sees every morning, and she still lets me sleep on the bed. Now, I know I'm pretty good looking, but everybody looks a little unshaven first thing in the morning. And remember, when you look at this picture, that I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!

So, Mom and Dad, thanks for loving me.

Camping

I went camping last weekend. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! My Uncle David and Aunt Fawn and their dog, Sam, were with us. Sam looks just like me - only bigger.
It was hot on Saturday, and Mom and Dad didn't want me swimming in the river, so we went to Depression Lake. Sam showed me how to jump into the lake and swim after sticks. He's a better swimmer than me, so he could swim a lot farther. Uncle Dave and Dad would throw the stick into the water just a little ways for me. It was AWESOME!
On Sunday, I was so tired I slept most of the day. Sunday was an important day, too, because I started getting fed just twice a day instead of 3 times a day. Figures. First they get me exercising, now they're going to starve me! Seriously, though, Skagit River Woods is a really fun place to camp and I can't wait to go back there!
Gotta go. Have a ruff day!
Buddy

I'm Still A Stud

Stupid cat. He didn't even get a secretary to type that blog for him. He did it himself. I'm so important that my Mom or Dad does it for me!

I spoke last week about getting fixed. I'm still a stud, though. Look at how good-looking I've become. And I'm not even 6 months old yet. Think of how I'll look by the time I'm one! Dad says the girls will love me but I won't be able to do anything about it. Apparently this happens to a lot of men, too. Mom just snorted at that, but I don't know why.

We're going camping at Skagit River Woods this weekend - if it stops raining. I'll take some pictures and show you our campsite on Monday. My cousin, Sam, is coming camping with us, too. He stays in his parents' trailer, though. Apparently 2 labs in one trailer would just be too much.

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Cat Steps In

I'm taking over today! Buddy gets too much attention. Now it's my turn.

My life has been turned upside down since that dumb dog came to live with us. He gets his own blog, he plays with the camera, he goes to school..... What do I get? Dry cat food.

The picture he published of me was horrible. I am not some bug-eyed creature. Look at how cute I was before he got here. Wasn't I adorable??? Note: picture on left - before dog. Picture in center - after dog. Picture on right - dog. Which paints a happier picture to you? Remember, cats LIKE to sleep. It's HARD to sleep with a dog breathing down your neck.

Mom assures me that she's still a cat person. I think that Dad is, too. Better go before the dog catches me with the computer.

Love to All!!!!

Buzz

Cameras

Everyday someone takes a picture of me with a camera. I'm told that it's for my blog. Couldn't tell it by me. All I do is bark, and then someone writes down what I'm saying. Who knew that there would be photos involved.

Today I "borrowed" the camera from my parents. You can tell by looking that I had some real fun with it. I even figured out how to put it on the table and press pause so I could back up and take a picture of myself. I didn't back up quite fast enough, though, so it's just a partial photo of me.

The picture of my nose is my favorite, though. It's an exceptional nose. That nose has been so many places that most noses would never go (or would never want to be - whatever!) Mom loves my nose, and she kisses it no matter where it's been. Mom is disgusting.

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Mom Calls For A Boycott

This blog is going to get political. Apparently it's something that humans do. I thought it would be inappropriate, but Mom explained how it could affect me too.

We're boycotting a place called Arizona. You see, some of our friends and neighbors are of hispanic descent. I didn't know that. People all look alike to me. In Arizona, though, anyone who looks "different" can be stopped by the police. Police are like dogcatchers for people. (No disrespect intended. We LIKE police!)

Mom says that it would be like if the dogcatcher could pick up my friend Komo just because he's an Akita instead of a lab. Who knew they could tell the difference? The only way I can tell is because of his smell. Do people smell each other, too?

I don't know what I'd do if I went to Arizona and the police picked up my elephant because he's not native to this country. Elephant is my very best friend. He was born here and everything. He's been here longer than me!! He can't help that he's blue instead of chocolate-colored!

So, Arizona, we won't be visiting until you get rid of that stupid law. PHTPHPHH!!!!!!!

Gotta go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

This Was NOT Funny!

I guess the joke's on me! I thought this getting neutered stuff was going to be fun. NOT!!!!! The doctor not only chopped "my boys" off, he pulled out one of my teeth, too! Then to make things worse, the nurses dressed me up in this stupid little scarf and made me look like a girl!

When Mom first picked me up, I had one of those really lame collars on. The kind that make your head look like a satellite. She let me take that off before we got home. Thank goodness! Scrub laughed so hard when he saw me wearing a scarf that I thought he was going to fall off the cupboard. No telling what would have happened to him if I'd have been wearing the collar.

I'm feeling better now, and am also back to being normal. Normal, that is, for a lab. The pain medication makes it so that nothing really hurts, so that's a good thing. By this time on Monday I should be healthy again.

I better go! Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Sick Day

Just a note to Buddy's friends. Buddy has called in sick today due to "unforeseen circumstances." Unforeseen, that is, to him.

Sincerely,
Buddy's Mom

More Cousins

I knew it. I ended up hurting feelings by not including everyone on my last blog. So here's a shout-out to my cousins in GOLDENDALE, WA!!!!


I met Ruby, Rowdy and Maggie a couple of weeks ago. Mom, Dad and I had gone to Maupin, OR on the vacation from Hell. They both ended up in the emergency room at the hospital in The Dalles, OR. Let me point out here that while they were getting all that attention from a bunch of doctors, I was stuck outside in the car! By the time we all got released, it was too late for us to drive home. Aunt Deb and Uncle Tom came to the rescue, though!



We went to Deb and Tom's house to stay for the night. That's where I met my other 3 cousins! They are so much fun. They have a really cool pen outside, on top of a great big hill. They have a building and hay and their own fence. They can run around all day long if they want, or just go lay down. They get to do whatever they want! (Are you listening, Mom and Dad?)



Ruby wasn't completely thrilled by my presence at first, so I ran around outside of their fence. I was accused of taunting them, but that wasn't really true. All I was doing was sticking my tongue out at them and yelling "Phtthp!!!!" Then I took one step too far towards Deb and Tom's house, and I went rolling down the hill. I didn't even care that I should have been embarrassed! It was a gas!


By the next morning we all were getting along great. Maggie (who is GINORMOUS!) liked me the best. Maybe that's because she's part lab. Labs have to stick together you know. Anyway, by then Mom and Dad had time to rest so we left for home. I didn't point out to them beforehand that I'd found something really good to eat outside, and had eaten a mountain of it. So I threw up all the way home.



The end.

Have a ruff day!

Buddy

P.S. Tomorrow I go in to get fixed. I didn't even know I was broken! I'll tell you all about it later!

Cousins

I have a lot of cousins. That just goes with being a dog (and maybe with being Catholic. It's hard to say!) So I promised my CA cousins that I'd give them a mention in my blog.

Here's to Tinkerbell and Scooter! They're both miniature schnauzers (and I do mean MINIATURE!) They're both adorable waifish little things that attract lots of attention. I don't think they could knock a kid over if they tried. I, on the other hand, am rather large and can send a youngster flying with no effort at all! Mom and my Trainer are working on that aspect of my personality.

Tink and Sccoter even dressed themselves up as elves for the annual Christmas card. I'm telling you, these two cousins are real people pleasers! How do you do that, guys? I'd gnaw those hats off so fast, Santa wouldn't even have time to say, "Ho, Ho, Ho"! Can't wait to meet you two someday! Maybe you can teach me a thing or two (or three!)

Have a ruff day!

Love,

Buddy

Graduation!

I did it! I graduated from Puppy Kindergarten. It was so awesome! I got to play with Panzer and Izzy and Komo. (I don't think I'm spelling Komo's name right, so I hope he doesn't read this because he's a really big Akita who could eat me if he wanted to.)

I had a hard time sitting still while everybody was doing their tricks. Fortunately, one of my tricks was "Quiet", so Mom and I got lots of chances to practice that. When it was my turn, I rolled over, which was what I was supposed to do. Mom was so proud, I thought she was going to cry. On the other hand, maybe she was almost crying because I barked so much. (It's hard to tell with her. She's VERY emotional!)

Anyway, I'm signed up to start Puppy Prep School on June 30th and will let you know how that goes.

Have a ruff day!

Buddy

Cats

Cats. I have two of them. Or they have me, depending on who you ask.

They're both yellow and growl a lot. Buzz, the little one, meows a lot, too. It's pretty annoying, especially when he's meowing at me. I don't understand why cats don't want to play with me. Mom says it's because I "lunge" at them. I don't even know what "lunge" means, but it sounds disturbing.

All I want to do is play. Swat them around a little. Pull their tails. Eat their food. I sound like the typical brother, don't I? But no, I get yelled at everytime I try to do one of those things. Yesterday Mom got low blood sugar and tried to feed my food to the cats. No one yelled at her, though!! It's hard being a puppy.

BTW, I graduate from kindergarten tonight! I'm so excited! I've been practicing my "roll-overs" for my graduation trick. I'm getting really good at it, too! I'll let you know how the graduation ceremony goes. Usually all of us puppies end up in a pile biting each other. I hope that's what happens tonight!!

Gotta go. Have a ruff day!

Buddy

The Great Dahlia Massacre

You may remember my post from yesterday, indicating that there was some scrumptious stuff in the new soil in Mom's gardens. It's my absolute belief that no puppy should be expected to ignore said "stuff" in the dirt. So I didn't.

You'd think I killed someone...... or something..... well, actually I did. I mauled a few dahlias. Not all of them, just 20 or so. I couldn't believe my luck when I started digging in that dirt. There they were! These things that looked just like big turds! I was in Heaven. I just dug those things right out, ran around the yard with them hanging from my mouth, took a few bites of each one, and then spit them out! How was I supposed to know that they were my Mom's dahlia tubers???? I'd never even heard of a dahlia tuber! Why would someone name a turd a tuber???

Apparently Dad didn't care for my explanation of the facts. He explained to me that we were both in deep "dirt". He said he'd lay the groundwork with Mom by calling her at work to ask if she left some t-u-b-e-r-s laying around the yard. Well that went over like a lead balloon! She was pretty adamant that she hadn't. She also said that she went all the way to Vancouver to get those t-u-b-e-r-s from Grandma and Grandpa.

There really wasn't much I could do. I can't apologize because those t-u-b-e-r-s were SO tasty, and a puppy, such as myself, shouldn't be left alone with those things. I'll have to wait for Mom to get home to see if I'm going to get any dinner tonight. Maybe I'll just tell her that Dad did it.

Chicken sh*t!

Everytime I poop in the backyard, Mom or Dad comes out to pick it up and throw it away. OK. No problem. I understand that people don't like dog poop in the backyard. But then Mom goes and imports a bunch of dirt with chicken poop in it for our gardens. Now what do chickens have that dogs don't have??? Why couldn't they just use my dog poop for the gardens? They PAID for the chicken poop, for God's sake!

I could use a little spending cash. Why doesn't someone pay me for MY poop?!? I'm coming back in my next life as a chicken.

A Dog's Day

Hi. I'm Buddy Hershey from Bellingham, WA. I'm a 5 month old chocolate lab.

I currently attend Puppy Kindergarten at Tails-A-Waggin School for Highly Intelligent Canines. Or so I'm told. The other dogs there are fun. We like to roll on the ground, sniff each other's butts and jump on people.

Yesterday I learned how to roll over and be quiet. My folks are thrilled.

I have two siblings - Scrub and Buzz. They're both cats. Buzz doesn't like me because I found his secret stash of dead birds. So I ate them. They were tasty. Buzz holds a grudge now.

Scrub just ignores me. Not much to say about that.

Mom says I'm going to be neutered on 6/3. It sounds like fun. She says that I'll get lots of attention and won't feel a thing. Dad just makes a funny whining noise when we talk about it.

Gotta go. Have a ruff day.

Buddy