A Day at the BarkMore......

                                                                                                                                                                     

It's doggie day care day!

Henry and I love to go to the BarkMore. We have each other for company at home, and the dad comes home every day to see us at lunch time. And, in the summers, the mom is home. But we LOVE to go to day care, the mom calls it our luxury - I think that means we get to go once a week just because we like it so much.

Look where we are!

Once we realize that's where the Subaru has taken us, we get so excited that the mom can hardly get hold of our leashes to get us out of the car. We are so happy to be there that we drag her up the ramp to the front door. As we go in, Henry takes off and runs through the building to size up the potential playmates for the day. I make a bee line to the office.

Henry gets to play with lots of other dogs. When I say he plays, I mean he really plays. Every minute, all day long. When one dog gets tired of playing with him, he finds another. He sleeps better at home for a whole week!

While Henry is playing with the other dogs, I am being pampered by the nice people. Since I really don't like big dogs (and most dogs are bigger than me) I usually jump up on the desk and watch Henry make his rounds. The people talk to me and hold me in their lap. I often have to yap to make sure all the other dogs are minding their manners. The mom checks the BarkMore's facebook page all day to see if they post a picture of us being precious and playful.

Henry, go play!

Sleep tight, Henry!

As much as we love it, though, we are still happy to see the mom come back at the end of the day. We're ready to go home and be with our family and rest up for our next adventure.

Henry is grounded.......

                                                                                    I think Henry is in big trouble.

We were all on the bed sleeping peacefully. Henry pounced on top of the mom and licked her face to wake her up - as if she could have slept through the pounce.

The mom was so sweet - she hugged him and told him he was such a good boy to let her know he needed to go outside. She snuggled with him, stroked him, and carried him out to the backyard. I decided that since I was awake, I would follow them out.


There was a little problem. Henry didn't need to potty. He had apparently remembered in the dead of night that he left his ball outside. He started running all over the yard and sniffing the ground like a blood hound. He then found his ball and came and proudly dropped it at the mom's feet. I tried to save him by squatting and going potty, but I don't think it worked.

The mom grabbed his orange ball, walked back in the house and put it up high. She told Henry he was grounded from playing ball for a week.

We'll see how this goes......

Writing a blog is hard work!

Henry's playing ball, and I have work to do. Keeping up with a blog takes time. So many things to keep up with - is the camera charged? Where's my photographer? Will the mom EVER get off the computer so I can post? And the required thinking.....Henry, please do something silly or adorable for me to write about.

Blogging is just wearing me out!

I hate pill day!

I'm up for a fight!

Every once in a while, the mom gets these boxes out of the cabinets.  It's pill day. When this happens, I know she's going to have to fight - with me!


Henry doesn't make this any easier. The mom just puts the pills in her hands and Henry gobbles them up. Henry will eat anything! But, not this puppy.....

This means trouble!

Maybe if I play dead she'll leave me alone!

The mom always starts out talking to me sweetly and asking me to just eat them like my brother - not a chance. Then she tries to hide them in peanut butter so I will be tricked. Does she think I don't know? I'm great at getting all the peanut butter off and then spitting the pills back in her hand. Sometimes she's silly enough to try this twice.

Then she usually calls for the dad to help. He holds me and the mom pries open my mouth. I try with all my might not to let this happen. But she usually wins. Then she sticks the pill way back in my throat and holds my nose. I really hate this. I wiggle and struggle, but they keep at it and finally I will swallow a pill. Then, they do it again. I hate pill day! I think I heard the mom say she hates pill day, too.

Opposing Eating Habits

I eat like a lady. I eat one kibble at a time and chew it thoroughly before I swallow. Henry eats like a vacuum cleaner. He sucks his food down in one breath. I don't think he chews at all. He never leaves even the smallest crumb in his bowl.

He eats so fast his head is just a blur in the picture!

The mom has tried to slow him down. For a while she made him eat out of this rubber ball with slits, that just spilled a few kibbles at a time. It just made him mad, and he would end up just barking at the rubber ball.

The main problem in our different eating habits is that after Henry is through with his, he wants mine. I have to be on guard at all times. To ease my eating trouble, I get to eat on the ottoman - and sometimes in the morning, I get to eat on the bed. This way the mom and dad can make sure that Henry doesn't bully me into giving him my food. They don't need to worry too much, I've become quite good at growling while I am chewing. But I don't like being stared at the whole time I am eating.

Guarding my last few kibbles.

Photo Shop!!!

The mom has an unusual sense of humor. As if our pictures weren't cute enough, she thinks it is funny to change them on the computer. Well, she doesn't really change them, she just thinks of the idea and asks the husband to touch them up.

The Magic Carpet Picture

I think this is pretty silly - I might like to fly on a magic carpet, but I would never wear that hat!







Here's another one the mom loves. It's not REALLY Henry - it just looks like him. The mom found this picture on notecards at Target. She bought boxes and boxes of them because she thinks it's so funny. She uses them to write letters to her first graders. I want some notecards that look like me!

Play that guitar, Henry!

Home, again.

The mom drove to Nashville and picked us up from Camp Nashville. Playing with Dexter and Polly and being with the girl and the husband was wonderful. I was so excited to see the mom - and I was ready to go home.


Getting home wasn't much fun. Their were lines and lines of cars, and they weren't moving. It seemed like it took forever. One time when we were stopped, there was a big dog in the back of the truck next to us. No leash, no car seat, nothing - just standing in the back of the truck. It made me start yapping. I wanted him to know that he wasn't safe and that the people weren't taking good care of him. I yapped for such a long time that the mom got me out of my car seat and held me in her lap. I heard the mom tell the dad that the trip home was long and noisy. Somebody had to tell that big dog to be careful!

Have I told you that I don't like big dogs????

The mom and dad brought us a plastic box full of shells. We were sure it was for us because they left it on the floor so we could play with it while they were gone. Henry and I had fun taking it to the den and getting it up on the sofa. I chewed one end off since no one was home to help us open it. We lay the shells all over the  couch, and started eating these round things that the mom later called sand dollars. They weren't really yummy, but the cracking noise was great - and we loved how that when we broke them it let sand get everywhere.

Before

After

The sand dollars were almost as much fun as what the dad called barnacles. We took them off of some of the big shells and the mom and dad came home just in time to watch us play soccer with them on the wood floors. They seemed very surprised that we thought about using them that way.

It was all fun until the mom started picking up the pieces of shell and put them back into what was left of the box. Then she ran the vacuum cleaner. We were sad that she then put our fun present up high.

Henry is freed from the crate

I'm not saying that Henry is slow to notice things, but it has taken him a while to notice that everyone is sleeping on the bed but him. The cats, Ella and Salem, sleep on the dad (yes, that's right, I said on the DAD). I, of course sleep on my pillow between the mom and dad. I've noticed that for a few nights, Henry looked up from his crate and cocked his head as he looks at all of us. Finally, one night he looked and looked, let out one big "woof" and the dad couldn't get over there fast enough to open the crate. So now in the bed we are even. Two people, two cats, and two dogs, three males and three females. The mom put his dog bed on the big bed. We'll have to see how this works out. This morning I noticed the dad moved the crate to the garage. I'm not sure who was happier - the dad or Henry.

Henry is worn out!

I've said it before, Henry is one active puppy.

He plays, plays, plays and plays some more. He chases his ball, the cats, me, and sometimes the mom and dad.

Sometimes this results in him falling asleep at unusual times and unusual places. The mom says it reminds her of her yoga poses.

Puppy Pose

Corpse

Bridge

Downward Dog

Henry, please go back to sleep!

Crescent Pose

Please take me for a ride!

I love to ride in the car. I don't care where we are going, let's just go. I really want to see where I am going, so I like to get up on the mom's shoulders while she is driving.
















Henry just wanders around the car until his finds another spot. He thinks I am hogging the best spot. The mom thinks we are going make her have a wreck.

Sometimes at night, my mom will just take me for a ride in the neighborhood to make me happy. It works!


A while back my mom got a new car. Then she got a new idea. Doggie car seats! OH NO.....

They are big and soft and made so that we can see out. OK. They are in the back seat and we each have our own. OK. She puts us in our harnesses and then fastens us in - NOT OK!

I thought yapping might be an effective strategy. It didn't work. I don't know how he pulled it off, but Henry had a better idea. He somehow, in one movement, got himself out of his harness and sailed into the front seat. The mom hollered, she never it saw it coming. She called him Henry Houdini for a while, and then she tightened his harness.

When the mom needs the back seat for people, she takes out the car seats and puts them in the garage. Ella and Salem seem to love the car seats.

They can have them!

Learning to get along

Cats! I'm supposed to hate them and chase them. But, they live in our house and the mom and dad remind Henry and I that they were here first. We've come to an agreement, we will be friends, sometimes. 

Sometimes we have to share the couch.


















Sometimes we have to share the people.



















We have been known to play tricks on Henry - mostly by hiding his ball. Although, the cats have been known to find his ball under a hard to reach place and roll it to Henry.

The mom said she knew we were really friends when we started grooming each other. Here I am grooming Ella, but I like it when she grooms me with her scratchy tongue.

Polly hasn't quite caught on yet. She still wants to catch a kitty.

Henry has a ball!

This is Henry's ball. Just a plain little tennis ball that has a squeaker. It is Henry's life. His prize. His obsession. It borders on mental illness.

Henry wants someone to throw his ball 24/7. When the mom and dad get tired, they put it on a shelf. Henry will sit perfectly still for hours and stare at the ball on the shelf. Then he will stare at the mom and dad and motion to the ball with his head (picture a nervous tick).

One time the mom hid Henry's ball in a drawer. When he begged for his ball she lied and said she didn't know where it was. Henry ran to the drawer and slapped the face of the drawer indignantly with his paw. You can't fool Henry about his ball.

Sometimes the ball bounces down the stairs to the basement. It's gated off (due to a little mischief) so Henry can't chase it down. He'll sit on top of the couch and stare until someone helps him retrieve it.

I don't know when Henry will learn NOT to follow the ball under the couch. He can get under the couch, but he can't get out to save his life. The mom or dad have to rescue him every time.

Sometimes all of this looks cute and smart. Sometimes it just drives everyone crazy. And, there's more!

Henry, you're wearing me out....

Please fence me in....

A while back the mom and dad did the coolest thing for Henry and me. They had this really nice man come and put a black fence around the backyard. Now, Henry and I can run and play without our leashes. It's GREAT!

The mom doesn't let us hang out in the backyard when she or the dad are gone, she thinks we are so cute that someone might steal us.

 I've discovered a few things since the fence went up.

I love to lay in the sun!


Henry digs and digs in the mulch.








It's especially helpful when the family comes to visit....

It also gives Henry a place to play with his ball. Have I told you about Henry and his ball????

Keeping up Gorgeous

The day I was brought to the girl I was scared, and I was a mess.

 I didn't really know I was a mess, because I had always looked this way. At the time I didn't understand what she was doing, but she put me in a sink of warm water (yikes!) but then carefully rubbed me all over with something that smelled wonderful and felt so good on my skin. Then she wrapped me in warm towels and snuggled me for a long time. That was so relaxing that I didn't mind when she stroked me with something I had never had used on me before - she called it a brush. I liked that part, but not that noisy thing that shot out the warm air - at least that didn't last long. She kissed me and told me I was beautiful and smelled much better.

When I went home with the mom, I looked like this.

















A few weeks later, the mom tricked me. I thought I was going to see the treat lady at obedience school, but we turned the wrong way, and she left me with some strangers and a bunch of dogs that I didn't know. I was so happy when she came back to get me. I didn't like "grooming"  at all. But, I did like feeling prissy.

The mom says that looking gorgeous takes a lot of work. Henry looked pretty handsome, too. Doesn't it look like he has on eyeliner?

Beautiful Lily

Have I told you how beautiful Lily is ? She was a pretty little puppy, back then we thought she was all mostly border collie. As she grew, it was obvious that there must be some Welsh Corgie in there too. She's the largest dog in our extended family.

Since she lives so close to Dexter and Polly, they get to see her more than we do. When she comes to our house, or we visit Nashville, Henry follows her around like a puppy dog. I really can't tell if he is smitten (puppy love?) or just so glad to have a play mate that will play hard and the people aren't worried that he will hurt.

I think Lily always looks like she is smiling - as if she is truly happy from the inside out.