Shout Out To Esther and Border Collies

Hallie has this very good friend, Esther, who she met when My G started kindergarten.  My G was in the same class as Esther’s son.  Esther and Hallie have been friends ever since.  Esther loves all dogs, but she especially loves border collies.  When they first met, Esther and her family, but mostly Esther, had a really nice dog named, Tess.  In those days, Hallie was still afraid of dogs and Esther and Tess were very understanding of her fear.  One time Esther even picked up some dog poop outside of our house because Hallie thought it was too gross to do it herself. Tess passed a few years ago.  Esther immediately adopted a new border collie, Annie.  She is a good dog mother – very patient, loving and understanding.  Annie was from a border collie rescue and like me, she is one lucky dog.

More recently Esther fostered another border collie through the rescue named Gracie.  She welcomed Gracie into her home and helped her get use to other dogs and to people.  Another family now has Gracie.  It’s good that there are people out there like Esther.  All too often, dogs are mistreated by humans and it’s important that we acknowledge heroes like Esther when they are in our midst.

Can’t Live With ‘Em, Can’t Live Without ‘Em

FAMILY… that’s what I’m talking about.  You can’t live with ‘em and you can’t live without ‘em.  Last week the “GP’s” (that’s grandparents”) came to visit.  They are Hallie’s parents – Bubbe Esther and Zayde Al.  Truth be told I was a lot nicer than I have previously been to them.  You know how much I hate when people visit and take away Hallie’s attention from me.  But this time, for the GP’s, I tried to behave better.  I did pretty well.  I didn’t bark at them all of the time, just some of the time,  and I even think that Zayde Al is a little less scared of me.  Of course, why would anyone be scared of me?

It is Bubbe Esther’s 75th birthday on June 26.  Hallie arranged for her brother, AJ and sister-in-law, Ninsy, to surprise Bubbe and they all had a delicious dinner at a fancy restaurant.  Bubbe was quite surprised and the it sounds like the food was yummy.  Even though I have been behaving so much better, I wasn’t allowed to eat at that restaurant.  And there were no doggie bags for me.

The next day, AJ and Ninsy stopped by the house.  When Ninsy came in she mentioned that I looked fat!  The nerve.  And then later on (within the same half hour), to add insult to injury, she said I was ugly.   What the hell? She must have been having a very bad day – because I know for a fact that she is a wonderful dog mother.  She has two dogs, Barclay and Chester, and I’m sure that she never calls them fat or ugly.  Hallie made her go to the Holocaust Museum and maybe she was just in a bad mood after that experience.  I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt.  But either way… family – you can’t live with ‘em and you can’t live without ‘em.

Happy Mother’s Day

Can it honestly be more than a month since I have written?  Well, truth be told, many of my loyal readers may not know this, but Hallie actually does the typing for this blog.  Being a dog, of course, I have trouble typing – it’s something to do with my thumbs – they aren’t  as flexible as humans.  So, I surf the net, listen to NPR, think of stuff to write about and Hallie does the typing from my dictation.

So, for those of you who know Hallie, you surely know that she has been extremely busy at her work.  She works at the new Holocaust Museum in Skokie, IL.  The museum officially opened on April 19, 2009. Bill Clinton,  Elie Wiesel, Governor Quinn, the German Ambassador and a whole host of others spoke at the opening.  (Please note that no dogs were on the dais).  That girl was working like a mad woman – practically day and night.  B and the boys took care of everything on the home front – but I just felt uncomfortable asking them to take my dictation.

Well, Hallie is slowly coming back to the family – her workload and stress, while still quite big, is shrinking.  Today, Mother’s Day is the day she returns and takes care of my needs.  So, welcome back Hallie.  You are the best Mom a dog could have – you are my alpha dog and I would do anything for you except stop barking at other dogs that pass by our house.  Have a great day and thanks for the nice walk this morning.

Spring Is In the Air?

Was it really just two weeks ago that I wrote a post about warm weather and long walks?  Well, this morning I woke up to cold, sticking-to-the-ground snowy weather.  What’s up with that?    Here I am laying on a warm radiator, Hallie’s drinking her coffee and reading the New York Times, and B wants to go for a walk?  Did he even take one look out there?  I wanted to go for a walk like I wanted a cat to play with – NOT!  But alas, I am a dog – and dogs need their walks for more than exercise – if you know what I mean.  So B donned his winter coat and put on his boots.  I wore my usual fur coat and no boots and out we went.  Brrrrr it was cold.  Luckily I did my business pretty quickly so that we could cut through the alley and head back home.  No need to walk all the way around the block on a day like today.  So, after I write this, I’m spendiing the rest of the day, on the radiator, occasionally looking out the window, but mostly lounging and sleeping – Ahhh nirvana!

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Aaaaahh – it’s mid-March and the living is easy.  The weather was beautiful this weekend.  I looked out my many windows and saw that it was sunny without a cloud in the sky.  I had no idea that it was warmer outside, but it was.  On Saturday Hallie took me for a really long walk to return some movies at Blockbuster.  It was great.  True to form she let me sniff all of the goodies I could find on the  ground.

Today, Hallie and Lil Joe took me for a long walk too.  Hallie also took me to Petco for a full fledge beauty treatment.  I had the works – a bath, conditioner, my teeth brushed, my nails cut and my ears cleaned.  They used some cucumber smelling soap which sounds kind of gross, but it actually smelled quite yummy.  My old friend Suzi no longer works at Petco.  I kind of miss her.  The last time I went to Petco for my treatment, I didn’t behave so well and they couldn’t even cut my nails.  Today, I behaved much better.  I think that I really prefer the ladies giving me my beauty treatments.  Hallie bought me a new toy and some yummy chews.  I would say that this was a perfect weekend for this lucky dog.

Sadness for Martha

I spent most of the day inside today and had a chance to surf the web.   I came across a story about Martha Stewart’s dog who was killed along with 16 other dogs at a kennel in Pennsylvania.  Apparently, a man who worked at the kennel was filling a propane tank and there was an explosion.  That guy is a real hero, because even though he was critically injured, he still tried to save some of the other dogs at the kennel.  Unfortunately, Martha Stewart’s dog, Ghenghis Khan, a chow puppy, was killed.

So, I don’t even know who Martha Stewart is because I am just a dog, but I do know that lots of bad things happen to dogs and other animals all of the time.  If dogs were treated better, there wouldn’t be so many dogs in shelters, looking for good homes like mine.  Every so often some celebrity, like Martha, Oprah or Paris are in the news because of their animals.  I just wish there were more stories about regular people, who take in shelter dogs and try to give them a good life – even though we can be a little crazy at times.

I want to give a shout out  to our good friends, Elaine, Kelsey and Katia.  About a year and a half ago they brought Zachary, an  english bulldog, home from a shelter.  This was like their third or fourth dog from a shelter – maybe more.  They gave Zachary a good home and he wasn’t the easiest dog.  Recently, he became more and more agressive and they had to put him down.  I just know that he is in a better place – thinking about his family and sniffing all over the place.  Rest in peace – Zachary.

On My Mind

You may be wondering what I think about all day.  Here are the top 50 things that I think about during any given day:

1. Food

2. Food

3. Food

4. Are you going to eat that?

5. When are we going for a walk?

6.  Boy is it cold out here.

7. That smells good.

8.  Hmm, that smells good too.

9.  Why is My G yelling at Hallie?

10. Food

11. I’m tired.

12.  I wish that I could get that dog that is outside.

13. Food.

14.  I wonder what Peepers is doing?

15.  Oooh, is that a crumb?

16. Food.

17. Where’s Hallie – I need to write my blog.

18.  Food.

19.  What’s for dinner?

20.  Do you think it is OK to lick the dishes in the dishwasher?

21.  Oh goody, Talk of the Nation is on.

22.  Food.

23.  When is Bark Obama going to get that dog for his girls?

24.  Why does Lil Joe yell at Hallie?

25.  Hallie is sooo sweet.

26.  When is B going to feed me?

27.  Let’s go outside.

28. Let’s go inside.

29.  Is that fish I smell?

30. Where’s my loofa?

31.  Food.

32.  What’s for breakfast?

33.  I’m thirsty.

34.  I have to “go pee pee.”

35.  My nails need to be trimmed.

36.  Food.

37.  B should pick me up and give me some lov’in.

38.  When is Sam coming over – I need someone to bark at.

39.  Food.

40. ZZZZzzzzzz

41.  Slurp, slurp, slurp

42.  Food.

43.  Hmmm what’s in the garbage under the sink?

44.  Hmmm what’s in the pantry?

45.  Those rubber bands make it so hard to get into the pantry.

46.  Food.

47.  I want some turkey.

48.  Is that my loofa under the bed?

49.  Are you going to eat that?

50.  I love Hallie!!!!!

Being Nice to Sam

I often bark at Lil Joe’s friends.  I’m not sure why I do it.  Maybe it’s because Lil Joe is always “egging” me on.  He really riles me up and sometimes it just pisses me off.  So when Lil Joe’s  friends come over, I just transfer my annoyance to his friends.  Sam is a nice boy.  They have been friends since preschool.  Sam comes over and I just bark like crazy at that kid.  His only offense – being Lil Joe’s friend.

Last night Sam slept over.  They came home pretty late – about 10:00.  I was too tired to really bark and do my usual stuff.  When they woke up this morning, I hung out in Lil Joe’s room and laid right on top of Sam.  You know what,  he was a very nice guy to let me lay on him like that.  We laid like that for about ten minutes.  I’m sure Sam what the heck was going on.   I will probably always bark at Sam, but it was nice to share some good times with that kid.

25 Random Things About Me

As you may know, Hallie is spending a lot of her time on Face Book.  Sometimes she leaves her page up and I have noticed that a lot of her friends write these lists of interesting tidbits about themselves.  I like that idea, so below is my list of 25 Things About Me.

1.  I really like Hallie.

2.  I am a rescue dog.

3.  I like food.

4.  I am a Jewish dog.

5.  I always check the pantry to see if here is something good to eat.

6. I also check the garbage.

7.  Wooden blinds taste yummy.

8.  I like to lay on my back and have my tummy rubbed.

9.  Being so cute compensates for a multitude of sins.

10.  I think that My G is part dog because he sleeps so much.

11.  I love loofa dogs.

12.  I wish Peepers would come upstairs sometimes – NOT.

13.  I go to sleep in my spot, but can’t wait until I can sneak into Hallie and B’s bed.

14.  I’m grateful that I don’t have to go into a crate.

15.  Looking out a window is one of my favorite pastimes.

16.  I am a people’s dog – not a dog’s dog.

17.  I like Fiber One pop tarts and cocoa puffs ain’t bad either.

18.  I like to bark at dogs.

19.  I like to bark at Lil Joe’s friends, Sam and Jordan.

20.  I like to listen to NPR.

21.  Bark Obama gives me hope.

22.  I piss My G off the most.

23.  I wish I knew what humans were saying to me – don’t they know that dogs do not speak or uderstand english.

24.  I miss the red hair lady and the bald man.

25.  I AM ONE LUCKY DOG!!!

My Bark Mitzvah

As you know, I am a Jewish dog and I am hoping to celebrate my Bark Mitzvah – to acknowledge my entrance into Jewish grown-up dog-hood.  I know about Bark Mitzvahs, because My G had one, Lil Joe spends a lot of time practicing for his and B conducts one just about every week on Saturdays.  I just know that mine must be soon.  True it is strange that I have yet to make it to a synagogue, but why quibble?

Last week, a woman came over and she sings with a band.  B, Hallie, Lil Joe and me sat with her and discussed what sounded like a really fun party where her band would be playing.  I really think we were talking about my Bark Mitzvah party.  She kept asking Lil Joe what kind of music he likes and what games he wanted to play.  I sat on B’s lap with my paws on the table, listening to her every word.  I hope that at my Bark Mitzvah party the band plays: How Much is that Doggie in the Window, Who Let the Dogs Out, You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog,  and Me and You and a Dog Named Boo.  Those are some of my favorites.  Maybe I should invite Snoop Dog to come too?

I know that a Bark Mitzvah is not only about the party.  I’m really looking forward to it all – the service, my new suit, and my speech.  I just wish Hallie would tell me when it is.  It’s an exciting time for the family.  Enough about me – I wonder when Lil Joe’s Bar Mitzvah is.