Get out!

I love my pack.  That's my Mom and Dad.  I stay with them all the time.  If they are in the big room, I go there and snuggle on my couch and look at them.  If they are sleeping, I'm in the bedroom cuddled up in my bed.  And we always walk together. 

Sometimes they go away out of the house.  I don't like it.  I don't like being all by myself.  But I do!  I like some of it!   I always get special treats when they leave me.  I used to get biscuits.  So I would take one to the bedroom and enjoy it in there.  Then I'd go to my couch and, guess what?  MORE biscuits!  Oh, boy!!  Then I'd sleep with my happy tummy until they got back.

Now I have something new!  It's EVEN better!  It's a toy!  Mom puts little tiny treats in it.  They are smelly and tasty. Yummm.  I have to get them out of the toy.  It isn't easy!   But it's fun!  Mostly fun when the treats fall out!  Sometimes I have to bop it around all over the room!  Ha!  

So I don't mind when Mom and Dad leave 'cause I know what's going to happen.  Oh, boy!   A biscuit AND my special toy!  Go on, get out of here!  Hurry up!  I can't wait!

We will never know what Harry's tiny puppyhood was like, but this boy does not know what to do with toys.  Throw a ball and he looks at you.  Give him a pull toy and he drops it.  The closest thing to a toy he has are old dirty socks, and he isn't much interested in them, either.

Determined to introduce some sort of play into his life, I found an "interactive" toy by Kong.  The top screws off and the bottom is weighted so it wobbles and goes back to being upright.  Treats are placed inside and the dog has to nudge it with nose or paws to get the treats to fall out of the small opening.  I had to get on the floor and show Harry what to do.  I wasn't sure if he "got" it until we had to do grocery shopping one day.  Whenever I leave him, he gets special treats.  It's a trick I learned long ago from a dog trainer.  This way the dog anticipates with joy rather than sorrow or anxiety that you are leaving. 

My first clue was that Harry got visibly excited when I took the toy out.  I bought tiny training treats to put inside.  I gave him a biscuit and he ran for the bedroom, as usual.  I left the Kong toy by his couch in the living room and crossed my fingers.  When we came home, the toy was all the way across the room and empty!  He did it!  Good boy!  A second time was also successful, with the toy winding up in the dining room.  And a happy boy who looks forward to his play times!

Talking in my Sleep

I'm all alone!  This is scary!  I'm so scared.  How did I get here?  I keep walking and walking down strange roads.  No matter where I go, I don't know where I am.  It's dark.  What if monsters come after me?  What will I do?  Mom?  Mom, I miss you!! I lost my way......walking, searching............there is a big moon up in the sky.  Maybe if I call it, someone will find me and take me home.  I want to go home!!! Please, somebody help me!! AROOOOOOOOO!  AROOOOOOOOOOO!

 

 

 

It was a strange sound.  Sing-song but melancholy.  Where was it coming from?  Oh, my goodness, it was Harry!  He was sound asleep and his body was twitching all over.  He was having a puppymare.  We have never heard him howl when he is awake, but this was definitely howling.  I wonder if his days as a lost boy sometimes haunt him in his dreams?   Izz okay, baby, Mom is right here, you are safe and sound.

Ruff Night

It's cold!!!  I have my new sweater on to help keep me warm.  But bedtime came and Mom and Dad went to their bed and pulled up the covers.   They don't know there's something in my bed!  I can't sleep in it.......mmmmmmpppphhhh.  So I jump on their bed and they squiggle around so I have some room.  They are so squiggley they bother me.  I can't get comfortable, so I jump down.  That thing is still in my bed........I'll walk around a little.    Guess I'll jump up on the people bed again, maybe they can hold still this time.
Nope!  Dad always turns over or moves his legs.  He IS annoying.  I'll jump down again.
Walk around some more.........
Finally, Dad gets up.  See???  See???? There's something in my bed!  It's a toy.  I have lots of toys.  I don't know why.  I don't know what to do with them.  Yay, Dad!!!  He took it out of my bed!  NOW I can finally get to sleep all snuggled up in my own bed with nobody moving around to bother me.  Ahhhhhh.

The temperatures are frigid.  So glad Harry has his sweater for days and nights like this.  Off to bed to get cozy under the covers.  But Harry is restless.  Up and down, up and down.  His collar jingles when he jumps and walks around.  Oh, he's up again. Jingle, jangle. Now he's down. Jingle, jangle. What is going on?  My husband got up and found one of Harry's toys in the middle of his bed.  It hadn't occurred to him to just pick it up and take it out.  Harry, as a pup it seems, was never played with and he has no idea what to do with his pull toy, his ball, his Frisbee, his cushy toy, nothing.  This was his little green soft toy.  He seems happy to have them but he never actually does anything with them.  Once the offending toy was removed he was able to settle down and sleep through the night.  And so were we!