Dear Santa

Dear Santa:

Mama wants me to write a letter to you saying what I want for Christmas. I really just want to eat all 28 of her nutcrackers (most of them have furry stuff somewhere on them, and they ‘re all made of wood, which I also like to eat).

Seriously, I just want people to be more responsible doggie owners. I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime ever to think it’s okay to hit a dog (I wasn’t hit, but I know many dogs are) so I want anyone who doesn’t understand dogs to not have a dog until they do.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime ever to think it’s okay to get a dog for someone as a present only to not spend time with him/her. Or to give him/her away when they realize how much work we dogs can be.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime ever to think it’s okay to hoard a dog, thinking they are doing the dog a favor and providing a good home by keeping him/her in a crate all day, never letting him/her out to go potty, to eat, to socialize or to exercise. I was done no favors by the person who hoarded me; I ended up with an intestinal disease and afraid of a lot of things. I want people who hoard dogs (and other things) to get help for themselves instead of trying to help the dogs.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime ever to think it’s okay to ignore a dog, never playing with her/him, never talking to him/her, only treating her/him like an object not to be cared about.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime ever to think it’s okay to let their dog run loose without training, without supervision, in places where dogs have no business running loose.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime to not spay or neuter their dogs unless they are planning on being responsible breeders that are kind to all dogs, even the runts.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime to train dogs to fight without reason, as a football player did and I know others do. I don’t want any dog to be trained to be aggressive or to be mean. I’m not considering police dogs and others like them in t his group; they are trained to use force when needed to stop bad guys/gals, but they’re also trained to stop when the humans can take over.

I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime to donate food to the poor without donating food for their dogs. I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime to judge a poor person with a dog as irresponsible; people never can know why poor people became poor. Maybe they had dogs before they became poor. Maybe one day they’ll be poor too and what will happen to their dogs? I hope it never happens, but it could. So Santa, I want people to remember pets when donating to worthy causes.

On the same note, I don’t want anyone anywhere anytime to put getting a dog over feeding their children. It may make the children happy for a while, but it won’t feed them and it won’t help the dogs when they can’t feed them.

Santa, I just want all dogs everywhere all the time to be loved and respected and treated like one of the family.

In fact, I can honestly say I want that for all animals, humans included.

Thanks, Donna

Our friend Donna made a new header for my website, and then mama changed the color scheme to match. What do you all think? Mama thinks it's great. She says I look like Mufasa from The Lion King in that picture, I'm sitting so proud and authoritatively!

Her next step is to try to first, find a textured or embossed background, and second, figure out how to put it on the blog. Then she says it'll be all set!

Thanks Donna!

Here's a rare picture of me in a western vest that ... well ... Donna bought for me way back when mama first adopted me!

The Outside

Mama did the outside of the house today. She only yelled and cussed ONCE! She'd never put lights up before and didn't think she'd be able to do it now, either since she doesn't have a ladder. But she said she found this REALLY COOL (she yelled it, really she did!) tool at Walgreens. It's an extendable pole that has a screw type end on it. It comes with these clip thingies that you first screw onto the pole, then scoop up the wire of the lights and raise it to the eaves of the roof and push until the clip "clips on"! She got the lights up in no time flat!

Then she assembled the animated reindeer. This is when she cussed and yelled, because the instructions were the worst and so unhelpful. But grandpa bailed her out. Oh wait, she cussed after that, when she was trying to hammer in the stakes in the ground. Then she put up the inflatable snowman. She got that in okay, but then had to laugh when she inflated it and it was facing the house!!!! She had it laid out face up and toward the street, but I guess it reversed itself. She had to take it down, turn it, then put it back up. I can't believe she didn't cuss. She didn't. She laughed at this one. Here are some pictures. Her camera isn't that great, so the "big picture if it all" is pretty blurry. But she got an okay one of the reindeer and a really good one of the snowman. (I should tell you that when we got back from our walk earlier, while the snowman was still lying on the ground, we walked up the driveway and I got scared cuz I didn't know what it was!).

Okay, Something's REALLY Happening Here

Mama put a TREE in the living room! Then she put stuff on it. She didn't seem to happy about leaving the bottom part bare, but she said something about keeping someone safe and untempted to gnaw on stuff. What does "gnaw" mean?

Then she put these nutcracker things all over the place. Even ...

In the bathroom!

I have to say, the house looks pretty good. Though she kept me in my crate most of the time while she was putting it all up. I couldn't help it; She has all these fuzzy things she called stockings on the couch. They looked like toys, they felt like toys, they even chewed like toys. How was I supposed to know they weren't toys?

Anyway, she says tomorrow she'll "attack" the outside of the house. Wish her luck; she's never had a house to put lights up on before.

Winners and Losers

Mama's bought me many a toy in the year and a half that she's had me.

Most of them just sit on the floor by the tv set. I don't much play with these ones. Howeverrrr... Sometimes she gets it right, and finds one I really like.

Any toy that gets stuffed with treats, of course, is A-OKAY with me! Mama likes them, too 'cuz they keep me busy and ... well ... quiet.

Then there are Flexa-Foam toys! These are spongy-rubbery type toys that are somewhat flexible, and they squeak! Mama likes that I like these ones best (next to the food stuffed toys) because these toys are tough, and it takes me a long time to destroy them! Check out your local Petsmart (or Safeway, since that's where mama first found Flexa-Foam toys!) and try them for yourselves!

There's Something Happenin' Here

What it is ain't exactly clear. There's a dog lying inside the door. Blocked inside by a big baby gate.

Mama apologizes for this take on Buffalo Springrield's hit song For What It's Worth, written by Stephen Stills. But I couldn't help but come up with something that would explain why mama blocked me IN a room with the baby gate.

Usually she keeps me out of rooms with the doors closed and in the hallway with the big baby gate. Tonight she put me in the computer room with her and then blocked me (and herself, come to think of it) IN the room! She says it has something to do with me barking again. She says that I've taken to barking like mad every night from 6:30 on to bedtime and it's driving her crazy! It usually starts between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. when mama is watching tv.

She watches this weird show where people spin a big wheel and yell out letters. It's really weird: Every time someone guesses a right letter, the doorbell rings! And it IS my job to bark when the doorbell rings, isn't it? Mama tries to tell me it's the tv dinging, not the doorbell, but I don't believe it. So I bark. Only problem is, I often don't stop when the show's over.

The show wasn't on tonight, but I'm so used to the routine that started barking anyway. Mama got real fed up with my it and blocked me in the room with her so I couldn't get to the door to bark. (I barked anyway).

Guessing Games

Mama did a little review of the pictures she has of me on her computer. All I can say is WOW! She picked about 14 of her favorites to share with you here. Be sure to look at them all, and to read what's at the end for a little "Guessing Fun".

This first picture of me on the couch with the leash was taken on my very first day with mama. She says it's one of her favorites because she says I have a playful look on my face that is true to my personality. This pic is followed by several more of her favorites, of which I won't bore you with the details.

These next ones are among her favorites because mama says they show me tolerating other dogs, including 2 BIG Irish Wolfhounds next to me at the park. For two solid months I'd go beserk with fear whenever I laid eyes on these big dogs, so that one in particular is a symbol for mama on how far I'd come.

Mama thinks I'm just adorable when I sleep. The third one was when I was just waking up; mama promises I was NOT drunk!

In that one up there on the right, mama says I look like Mufasa from The Lion King! This one below, she says she should have been scolding me, but I looked too darn cute going after one little kibble!

There you have it, 14 of my mama's favorite pictures of me! Which leads me to one of two "trivial" questions for you to guess: One, how many pictures of me (or related to me) do you think mama has on her computer? And Two, mama submitted one of the above pictures to the Dogs With Blogs site to hopefully be included in their 2008 calendar. Guess which one?