Garbage

I have a very bad habit - I like to get into the garbage. I can't help it - it smells and tastes so good. Every once in a while mom forgets to take the garbage out right away and I sneak into it. I try to hide the fact by dragging little things out the dog door and into the bushes but somehow she finds it.

Casper never wants to go in on it with me - but he sure likes to lick the stuff up once it's outside - so I do all the sneaky stuff. I usually don't get sick or anything - at least not right away. But mom gets very angry and doesn't speak to me for hours. So I'm trying very hard to be a good girl and resist but it's tough!

Birthday Present

Birthday!

I did it! I made it to my tenth birthday!

Seriously, since my last birthday, I almost went to Rainbow Bridge many times:

1-when I was first diagnosed with diabetes and the doctor couldn't do anything because I wouldn't eat so mom decided to take me to the emergency room so they could get me to the Bridge...

2-when I was hospitalized because at the emergency room they said it was worth a try - but I didn't improve all that much - but then I surprised everyone by bouncing back...

3-about a week after I got home from the hospital - but mom & Dr. Linnenbrink got me going again...

4-in the Spring when I was in the ICU in the Orchard Park hospital with sepsis - Dr. Brummer even came in on a Saturday to check me because I wasn't responding to the treatment and screaming whenever someone touched me - but even though it wasn't as fast as expected, I finally came around...

5-i don't know if this counts but my ultrasound showed a liver mass - luckily on the followup ultrasound the mass mysteriously disappeared - so I don't have liver cancer as far as we know!

So I wonder how many lives a dog gets? And we're not counting any risks associated with my cataract surgery here...

Cooped Up

Mom hasn't been taking me out too much lately as it has been raining a lot. I'm the kind of dog who needs to get out for walks and rides. We haven't been down to the canal for over a week - what gives Mom?

Video

Mom figured out how to take a video with her camera today. She needs a little practice on her orientation skills ;)

That thing on the floor is Casper's "Honker" - he's always leaving his toys around...

The Bed

Up until this spring when I got really sick, I never ever slept up on mom's bed before - that was always Casper's spot. But he got reassigned to the floor after I got home from the hospital.

Now I often sleep all night at the end of the bed - but usually I get down because it's cooler on the floor or Casper sneaks back up. We have a rule between us that only one of us can be in the bed at a time. If he tries to come up while I'm on the bed, I growl and bare my teeth at him so he goes away. If I see him on the bed, then I stay away.

I have to admit Casper likes the bed more than I do. I prefer the bathroom floor because it's nice and cool. But if mom wants to keep an eye on me I'll let her put me on the bed.

The bed is also where I get my shots and "droppies". The only place I let mom give me a shot is on my chest so she puts me on my back on the bed. It works out great because I get so happy when the shot is over I can be a little crazy with smooshing up the bed covers!

Words

My top ten favorite words or phrases:

1. "Can" - of dog food.

2. "Go for a walk" - I'm there...

3. "Would you like?" - followed by something good, like "a treat"...

4. "Go for a ride" - let me in the car...

5. "Treat"

6. "Breakfast"

7. "Tummy" - my favorite spot to be pet

8. "Chicken" - mmmmmm

9. "Drink" - i get thirsty a lot...

10. "Cook" - that means mom's making something good

Some words/phrases I hate:

1. ''Collar"

2. "Shot"

3. "Droppies"

4. "No"

5. "Pick you up"

The Master Feeder

This is my neighbor Josh and he lives at Bear's house. He is also known as the "Master Feeder" because when I first got really sick with diabetes I would not eat - even for mom. I would only eat if Josh gave me my food. He even had to come up to the hospital to feed me because I wasn't eating there either and guess what - when he gave me the food, I ate!

Now I eat everything in sight - even the garbage (and that's a topic for another day).

We sometimes call Bear the "Black Casper" because he looks similar to Casper except for having all black fur. I like to visit over in Bear's house - there's always interesting dog toys and people to pet me!

If I ever get sick and won't eat, mom will be calling for the Master Feeder again!

The Diabetes Puzzle

Mom started doing the coca cola polar bear puzzle last year right about the time I got diabetes. It finally got finished the other day - she said every time she worked on it she remembered the week I was very very sick and had to go into the hospital from my diabetes.

Mom's favorite animal, believe it or not, is not an American Eskimo dog but a polar bear! She can't have one as a pet so guess why she got us white doggies?

A couple of weeks ago when we were walking along the canal, a little boy pointed at me & Casper and told his father we looked liked little polar bears. Mom was thrilled!

Mom would have never finished that puzzle without the help of Bear's mom Kay. The "top" part was very very hard and Kay came over and worked on it every so often.

Now they are doing a puzzle called "1000 places to see before you die" - hmmm....

Beelining

Today it rained most of the day and I was bummed because we usually go for a walk in the park on Sundays. Mom did take me out to the store in the pouring rain to get my eye drops.

After we got home I just napped. Later in the day however, the sun came out and mom took us to the soccer field where I like to mosey along as far away as possible from her and then when she is not looking, I make a beeline towards her and run as fast as I can.

Since my eye problems began, I can't always really see mom that far away so I look for something tall and straight - once I got almost all the way to a slide before I realized it wasn't her!

Eye Doctor

I went to vetspecialistsofrochester to see Dr. Burgesser for a checkup today. He says my eye is doing very well. Now I only have to take drops once a day and we don't have to go back for a recheck until November! I will never be able to see out of that eye again but we're trying not to let it get glaucoma which would mean that it would hurt so much it would probably have to be taken out and that would really make mom cry.

Mom took me to the park on the way home - it was fun because I had her all to myself - Casper wasn't pulling us around for a change. Today it's really hot so we just stayed for a little while in the shade and then we came home.

I think I'll just sleep in the air conditioned house for the rest of the day to keep cool.

Doctor's House

I spent the day at the doctor's house. I do that a lot so that they can do tests on me. Mom always puts my food in a brown bag and writes "Snowflake" on it so they know its mine. Doctor Michelle Linnenbrink is my doctor and she's been working with me since last year when I went downhill after being out of the hospital for only a week. She & mom worked together to get me going again.

This time they were so excited because I gained FOUR pounds! I weigh 24 lbs now! Except for my bad eye I'm pretty healthy for a diabetic. I don't have to go back there for two whole months.

When mom comes to pick me up at the end of the day I always get so excited to see her that I act really crazy - sometimes so nuts that she pretends not to know me!

I still have to visit they eye doctor on Saturday so he can check my bad eye - then I shouldn't have to see any more doctors for a while.

Casper

I guess it's time I told you a little more about my brother Casper. He's the smart one and I'm the cute one. He knows a lot more words than I do and he likes to play with toys ALL the time even though he's 10 years old. However, I get all the attention when we go for walks because I'm so cute and fluffy. He's almost as fluffy but he's a standard so he's bigger.

I'm a lot more independent than he is - he's such a "mama's boy". He's also very bad when he goes to the doctor's house whereas mom says I'm a very good girl. He has supersonic hearing and is afraid of loud noises - he HATES the vacuum cleaner. He also likes to chase but he's pretty much stopped chasing vehicles since he tried to get a snow plow and it threw him down the street and into a snowbank.

I guess he's good for some things - like begging mom for treats for us both and every once in a while we play together. I also like him around for protection. All I have to do is bark a little and then he whips out the dog door barking his head off looking for intruders!

Dog Neighbors

There used to be mostly cats on my street until recently when a lot of our neighbors got new dogs. There are 2 Joshes across the street - one of them has a beagle puppy named Duncan and the other has a chow mix from Lollypop Farm named Bear. There's a new airdale next door and a relatively new labradoodle nearby too. Another neighbor keeps saying he's going to get an irish wolfhound (i hope he's not serious - way too big for me to play with). There's also the long-timers like me - a shitzu, a jack russell terrier and a black lab. More dogs have moved in farther down the street too.

Sometimes when we're taking our owners for a walk we all meet up and chat and then it looks like a doggie convention!

Canal

I love to go for walks along the canal. One of the spots I like is where the big barge named the Colonial Belle docks. In the summer there are a lot of barges and I like to walk along and see if there's any doggies on them. We usually see one or two.

Near the restaurants there's always a lot of interesting food smells and people sitting out with ice cream cones. Sometimes I try to lick up the spills but mom usually pulls me away.

Every once in a while a nice person will pet me too!

Party!

I had a quite a day yesterday - mom took me to the big party in Delevan, NY. It was a really long ride - we stopped in Geneseo so I could go potty. At the party I got to see lots of people and 2 german shepard puppies! There was another german shepard dog that didn't move much - mom was laughing at me trying to figure out why and later on she told me it was just a statue. We celebrated 4th of July and Jordyn's 11th birthday. Mom took a picture of me & Jordyn together!


Later on Mom's brother and nephew Tuan gave a concert. It was really nice clarinet/flute duets of patriotic, movie and show music. Tuan is really good! He showed mom his new flute.




I took a good nap on the ride back since it was dark. Casper was really glad to see us when we got home!

I got the seat!

Yay! Last night mom took me, Casper & the 2 neighbor boys to the store so they could buy a new wiffle bat. Normally Casper gets the "seat" near the window and I have to sit in the back which kind of sucks because I'm too short to really see outside from there. Casper won't let anyone sit in his seat. But mom said he had to move and so one of the boys could sit there and right after he *finally* got up I grabbed the seat. Josh was so nice he said I could stay there and he would take the back with Casper - so everybody was happy.

I got to look out the window all the way to the store and then we stopped at the playground - it had lots of tall grass that I could sniff - I'm really into that these days!

Tomorrow we get to go for a *big ride* out of town to go to a party and I get to see niece Jordyn again because it's her birthday. She is so nice - she came with Mom to visit me when I was in the hospital by her house back in April. Mom said she was very good because it was such a looong wait to get to see me! They gave her stickers and her & mom read a magazine where you look for hidden pictures. We all got to go for a walk and sit outside for a while & the next night I was so much better that I got to go home!

Rolling in the grass...

I *love* to find stinky stuff to roll around in. I don't know why mom doesn't think that's cool. Last night I went over to Bear's house and chased him a little around his yard. He's afraid of me even though he's bigger and a lot younger! He didn't want to play anymore so I found a nice spot and rolled around!