Sick Day

Last night I got very sick, I think I ate to much bark at the park. I woke Charis and her parents up five times last night. Now they are giving me a new thing for supper, rice. It's very sticky and it can get a little difficult to eat unless Charis puts some water in it.

Everyone will admit the nicest thing to do when you're sick is lie in bed and relax. Sometimes if feels so good to just roll up in a little cocoon and get all warm. My girl thinks this picture is very funny and calls me a "Hot Dog" (I don't know what that is but it doesn't sound good!). She wrapped me up in my bed to carry me to the living room.

A VERY Long Day

Wow, I'm SO tired right now, I'm half asleep already! This morning, my girl took to to Terwilligar Off Leash park to play with Pilot and Sierra. I had such a good time and I wasn't as hyper as I normally am, even when we first came. After the long walk, they took me to Wendy's and then Shaw Conference Center for Missions Fest (to see the balloons we made and to walk around and visit some of the booths). There was quite a few kids to meet, two were especially noteworthy and they said they would pay money to have videos of them! One was a little toddler in a big fluffy pink snow suit who was petting me very gently on the ear with her little hand. I greeted her which resulted in a little squeal of delight and more petting. Then she and her mom walked on a little ways, but the little girl look back at me and came back for another round of petting. This happened three times and the last time she waddled sideways away to her mother. By then we had a little crowd all giggling.

After walking outside a set of doors from the little girl, we found a little boy who was about one and a half years old who wanted to pet me too. He held out his hand for me to lick just like Charis had showed him and after a little kiss he did a jumpy dance and a happy scream. After that happened many times his father told him to give me a hug so they could go. To this little boy giving a hug meant sticking his head out (which I licked followed by more screams of delight). Then we all had to go... *sigh*

We met another service dog from PADS (Pacific Assistance Dog Society) with his partner. I was sleeping soundly so Charis went and talked with the lady for a few minutes. She had just gotten this dog because her other service dog had retired. I woke up very suddenly and gave one little woof to announce that there was another dog in the vicinity. After that I was too tired to bother trying to play and went right to sleep. Lots of people petted me while I slept, which felt great. On the way home, Charis introduced me to another new thing, the Bus. Big thing, very noisy and wiggly, but I just slept. Mom was wondering if she would have to carry me home from the bus stop! As soon as I realized this was our block my tail shot up in a happy little perky way and we pranced all the way home very happily. I'm going to sleep well tonight.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This morning Charis was taking silly pictures of me. She likes pulling my fur and ears into all sorts of shapes. Here is what she came up with:

When I go to the off leash parks I meet lots of different dogs of all shapes and sizes, I met a pug. I don't want to be a pug, their legs are too short and I like to run fast.

After that I met an Afghan, with their sleek long face. They can run fast with their long legs, but I think they are a little big for me, I don't want too be that big. At least not yet.

On the way back I met a German Sheppard, with their perky ears. Their legs are long and they're not to big but they don't like kibble very much...I just don't understand that.














.....There is something fundamentally wrong about not liking kibble as much.... so in the end, I think I'd rather just be a lab.















Ok all dogs raise their paws if they want to go to bed.















Maybe I'll just be a gorilla instead!

Around Town

Yesterday Charis had a big balloon job for Missions Fest doing balloons. She doesn't normally do decorating however she likes doing this job. I was helping out Charis with the balloons, I was good all day, all eight hours we were at the Shaw Conference Centre. I didn't even mind the balloons when they bounced off of me and I didn't even try to eat the balloon scraps (ok just once at the end). Charis was proud and all the volunteers who know I was there really liked me. I mostly relaxed under the table while they made a ton of noise inflating balloons with helium right beside me. Charis did have me do one fun thing, run really fast up a single flight of stairs, and then we came right back down again! It was a good race, Charis was slow, but I let her win anyway.

On Tuesday Charis took me to the Royal Allberta Museum for a few hours. I only barked at the wolves but I didn't bark when Charis played the sounds of the cyotes barking and howling. The big bison and ploar bears didn't even bother me. Charis let me go down a penguin slide meant for little kids (and puppies too!) it was so much fun, I went twice! Once with Charis and once by myself with her waiting at the bottom. By the time we left the museum I was so tired that I napped at every exibit.

For now, I'm going to have my morning nap, have lunch and then it's off to the off leash park with the big Dogs With Wings puppies. This is going to be a fun afternoon.

One of the latest tricks I'm trying to learn is how to open doors. The house has the kind of handles where you push down and then open the door, instead of round knobs. Charis doesn't like me jumping and I think she doesn't want me to learn this trick. Sometimes she says I'm too smart for my own good. I wonder why because this morning I thought it was great when I opened the front door!

Home Again

For 10 days, I got to go on vacation to a wonderful new home. We did many different things, while my girl was at an international balloon convention in LA. I went to a park many times and even to a school for the first time and had a lot of fun with the kids petting me. Unfortunately now that I'm ready to play everyone's sick, but I don't mind catching up on my sleep too. Here's a sick daddy and sleepy puppy.

For those of you who don't know, my girl is a professional balloon artist (you can find out more at http://GracefulBalloonArt.com). She found out about Dogs With Wings by doing balloons at their silent auction fundraiser two years ago.

Off Leash Park

This week my girl took me to a new place where there is all sorts of dogs of every size shape and colour! Some of the big dogs scare me a little especially if there is more than one. When I'm in the middle of playing, Charis calls me sometimes, and if I run back, she gives me cheese. I love cheese!! Now I can be running away form her to play with another dog, be called, and come running back to my girl. This only works if its not with my siblings, especially Sierra (we like playing to much). Charis was scared of me running away the first time but has gotten over it because I come so well. She's taken me to a puppy park almost every day this week. It's so much fun and I get so tired.

On Wednesday I met up with Pilot and Sierra at a different park and had a blast with all the little dogs. There wasn't many bigger dogs there but I liked playing with the beagles and my siblings the best.



Here is a video of me playing and there is a post on Pilot's blog about it too. Found at http://pilotingwings.blogspot.com/2009/01/more-fun.html


If you look really close, you can see the big cream hairy dog steal the mitten on the way by!

Blog Post

Here I am working on my blog, if you look close, you can even see the first picture of my blog. My girl should have opened a text window so I could type too (what was she thinking??)!

We just finished playing my favorite game, Hide-and-Go-Call. Since I was always with them, I didn't know how to 'come' very well, so we started playing this a few weeks ago. It's kinda like hide-and-go-seek but not quite. Mom goes off into the bedrooms while Charis is in the living room/kitchen and then Mom calls me. I go running all the way to mom (who sometimes hides in clever places like behind doors or in the closet) and then she gives me kibble. Then I wait for Charis to call me. Then I go running all the way to Charis. When I sit nicely Mom calls me and we do that over and over and over again! I love it, it is so much fun, and I get lots of kibble. Sometimes Dad and others play too, then it's very exciting trying to find who has the kibble next!

Bath

I get a bath every other week on Saturday night. This is my 4th bath and though it doesn't make me happy, I don't mind the water and suds. They give me lots of kibble so it's ok. It's a big sink for a laundry room, but it doesn't have much room for my tail anymore, so soon I'll need outdoor baths! After my bath, I get to sit in front of the fire to dry off and warm up. I love being so cozy. Apparently my brother, Pilot, likes the weather cooler, but I could move to Hawaii. When they have their shower, I like to sit on the warm bath mat and get all steamy.



When they washed my towels and blanket, I got to sit and wrap up in my blanket. Then later, I fell asleep all cuddled in it. Yup, it's a pretty good life here.



Charis' note:
Ok I have to brag... Today we took her to West Edmonton Mall for a walk, No other reason, just a walk. I put the haltie on and expected to have her wear it for about 10 minutes until she pawed at it or gave some other indication that it was bugging her. I was just taking it as it came. Blowing all of my expectations away she walked (quite well..ish.. with some pulling) with her haltie on for an hour and a half through the crowds without any signs of it bothering her at all. It was the day before Chinese New Year and on Saturday - Crazy Busy! WOW!!