Mom just called me “Sir Shed-a-Lot”. I’m part pug, what does she expect?
Mom is getting every single puppy hair out of the house, it seems, so the house is as close to sterile as possible before she has surgery tomorrow on her foot. Mom was told to be super careful with her foot because they’re operating on bone and if it gets infected, she’d be one unhappy camper. Nobody wants to be around Mom when she’s an unhappy camper. Trust me. I’m going to do my best to not shed for a while.
Yeah, like THAT’s gonna happen.
Mom is pulling out all of the cushions on all of the couches and chairs and vacuuming EVERYTHING. She’s letting the robot vacuum (she named it “Little Buddy”) run around the house, after she’s vacuumed with the REAL vacuum. I think Mom is a little OCD, but so am I so who am I to judge?
Mom told me she’s found enough hair to create a new puppy, but I’m pretty sure she’s exaggerating. She tends to do that, you know. But if she’s not exaggerating, I hope that the new puppy is fun to play with. He’ll certainly be rockin’ the awesome hair.
Mom takes me to puppy day camp every other week while the cleaning ladies hide my toys clean the house. She says that after her foot surgeon gives her the go-ahead (probably not until July) we’ll go hiking or something, but until then I get to spend a few hours with other puppies.
Mom’s noticed something about me. After I’ve been somewhere a few times, I act like I own the place. This means that if I don’t like or know someone ‘in my place’ they hear about it. In my head, it goes something like this:
Me (Einstein P. Williams): Did I invite you here? Stranger: No Me (Einstein P. Williams): BARK BARK BARK!!!!!
Me (Einstein P. Williams): Are you looking at me without my permission? Stranger: Yes, because you’re the most awesome looking dog I’ve ever seen. Me (Einstein P. Williams): BARK BARK BARK!!!!!
Here’s your warning. If you’re in PetsMart and see the most handsome puggle in Washington State, do not look at me and for heaven’s sake- stay out of my aisle!
I caught mom watching me in the window while I was following the nice girl around the room. She noticed that I wasn’t playing with the other puppies. Instead, I followed the nice girl wherever she went. If she cleaned the windows, I was there to inspect her work. When she mopped the floor, I made sure I could see my reflection. I have to tell you that following cute girls around all day is exhausting. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I actually played with another dog.
Mom asked one of the nice girls that works at puppy camp about why I wasn’t playing- because I ALWAYS play at the puppy park. She said that it takes some time for puppies to warm up to the idea of playing with other puppies without the watchful eye of their mom or dad. Until then, I’ll just help the cute girl clean MY place. She’s doing a great job. I think I’ll give her a raise.
Mom and I like to play the clam shell game. Mom hides a cookie underneath a bone and asks me “which one?” It’s my job to touch the bone where I think the cookie is hidden. Sometimes I’m not very careful and the bone goes sliding all over the floor. Mom has to remind me to be gentle many times during the game.
Sometimes, the trick’s on her. When she’s not looking, I’ll grab the bone with my mouth and take off with it. Do you know why I do that? Because Mom has invented a new game called “trade”. Usually if I have something she wants, she’ll trade me for something I want, like a piece of chicken or cheese. I know how to work the system. Muah ha ha ha ha ha
<- that's my best attempt at an evil laugh.
Mom thought that my friends would enjoy watching me play the game. As you can see, she needs more hands if she’s going to take a video of our game. Maybe we’ll rope Dad into helping us out so we can get a better video.
Mom tells me that I have a sixth sense about other dogs, because I instinctively know which dogs to stay away from. I don’t really care about a dog’s breed, but I do care if they have good manners. Yesterday there were two dogs at the park that didn’t know the dog rules, which includes:
1. Don’t jump on me unless I invite you
2. Don’t continue to bother me when I’ve already let you know that I don’t want to play with you.
I watch each dog as they enter the dog park and see how they interact with the ‘official greeters’ (there’s always a group of dogs that immediately run to the gate whenever a new dog enters the park. I’m not one of them.) If I see the new dog has bad manners, then I stay way far away from that dog. If the dog seems to be a good dog, I’ll introduce myself and we’ll take it from there.
If I don’t like a dog, and that dog won’t leave me alone I’ll stand by Mom and give that dog a high-pitched bark anytime it comes near me, and I’ll show that dog my teeth. There’s no mistaking how I feel. This happened yesterday and the other dog would NOT get the hint. I was really glad when his mom took him out of the park, because he was harshing my buzz.
I’ve been at the dog park at least 200 times in my life and I can count on one paw (that’s four toes) the number of dogs that I’ve had this reaction to. Mom knows that I have my reasons and trusts that I know what I’m doing. She’s cool like that.
I will admit to being prejudiced a little bit against long-haired German shepherds. That’s the only breed that I won’t go near, no matter how well behaved they seem (though truthfully, I’ve yet to meet a well behaved long-hair German shepard at my dog park.) Pits? No problem. Boxers? Love them. Great Danes? My favorite. Bernese Mountain Dog? My best friend (his name is Chester, by the way.)
What about you? Do you have certain dog breeds that you don’t like to play with?
Mom and dad hired some nice ladies to clean our house, so Mom took me to doggy daycamp yesterday so I’d be out of their hair. Mom told me that the only reason I was going to doggy daycamp was that she had several appointments to go to, and I couldn’t come along.
I’m so sure!
I’ll forgive her though, because she was out earning money so she could buy me more toys and stuff.
The nice girls at PetsMart took really good care of me again. I really like it there, even though I don’t act like it when Mom drops me off. I am a really good actor, I think, and Mom believes my performance. I put my body real close to the ground and dug my nails into the grout of the tile to try to drag myself out of the lobby, but that darned leash kept me from finishing my performance.
Normally I nap during the time I was at daycamp, so by the time I got home all I wanted to do was sleep. Dad really liked that, because Mom had to leave for another appointment after I got home and so we became cuddle-buddies.
I"m pretty sure Mom’s going to take me back there again because the nice ladies who clean the house will be here every other week. Since Mom normally has Mondays and Tuesdays off, she told me that when her foot gets better we can also go on hikes when the ladies come to our house.
It’s good to be me. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Contact 
