Irene

All night long the wind and the rain howled and raged. We laid on the floor listening to the furniture outside getting thrown around. One chair even ended up in the pool The people were upstairs sound asleep. Couldn't they hear what was going on outside? Certainly there would be no dog show tomorrow. But what were we thinking? There is always a dog show.

The dog show is never cancelled. It seems that nothing stops the show from going on. Even last year when a blizzard was coming, we loaded up the car and headed for the beach area where the blizzard was headed, but where the dog show was being held. As the storm headed right for where we were going, the lady was optimistic that it would be OK. We stayed in a hotel that was better suited for the summer time than the cold winter. After the first day of shows, I heard the lady talking to the man about maybe she had made a mistake, maybe she should head home. But he said it was too late. The storm had already begun and we would be driving right into it. So we stayed. The hotel was right across the street from where the show was, but certainly the show would be cancelled. Everyone said so. The snow began to pile up. We made it back to the hotel to settle in and batten down the hatches. During the night the power went off. Surely this was not a good thing to happen. No heat, no electricity. Now what? Well what do you think we did? We went across the street to the dog show. While the town was bracing for evacuations and setting up temporary shelters, we were at the dog show.

We waded across the street to the building. The snow was up to my chest and my lady's waist. But we trudged through. I guess there was some comfort for her to be with people of the same mindset. and trust me there were a lot of people at the show. All of the dogs just looked at each other and thought the same thing. Our people are crazy. We rolled our eyes and shook our heads.

We did finally leave the show after the snow stopped and roads were cleared two days later. It took forever to get home and when we finally did the man rolled his eyes and shook his head. I guess he thought the same thing, dog people were crazy. So on this morning with the weather channel on and the man on the tv telling everyone how to prepare and stay safe during the hurricane, we were watching our people get ready and we knew it was not to be safe but to go tot he dog show. And so we went, the rain was driving and the wind was blowing but we arrived at the dog show with all of the other crazies.

Disappointment

It is hard for me to know that I have let her down. I can see it in her face and feel it in her vibe. Today we found out that there would be no babies for me. I was sent to Colorado for a while to be near where the boy was. I was treated like a queen while I was out there and my only job was to come home with babies inside of me. I have let them all down.

After it is all said and done, the girls that stay have one job, have babies. They kick the ball down the road, advance the generation. My mom did it. The Old Lady. She had her puppies and from her came me. I was chosen to carry on the line. She picked me early and I did not let her down. I was great at the dog shows only needing a few to get my championship. I passed all of my health checks. And I have even given her several babies. The problem has been that these babies have not been nice enough to keep. She has tried from each of my litters to keep a girl, but in each case they did not work out. And believe me my boyfriends have been pretty nice.

My first by was a handsome German dude. We traveled far to see him and in the end we kept Secret, but alas she was not to be. The second by was just as nice. From Mexico. Jada came from this litter and once again she was not going to make the grade. Our last boy was a great guy from Canada called Matten, but again the same story. Even though there were five girls to choose from (I think my lady has pretty high standards).

She found this last boy in Colorado which is why I spent some time with our friends out there. He was nice and we got along just fine. I am not sure what happened. Maybe the plane ride was more stressful than we thought. I just know that all of them are devastated. I am sorry it didn't work out this time, hopefully next time

Rock Star

That is who I am. In my breed I am "the Man". for as long as I can remember, everyone thinks I am great. At the house, the only other one with as much clout as me is "the Old Lady". Anytime people come to the house it is usually to see me. They all love me and I love that they do. Not only am I beautiful ( which I am) but I am smart. And not just regular smart, I am dog smart. I can figure out what the people want and then I do it for them, they love that and I get rewarded for it. It is a pretty sweet deal.

My life. Pretty much going to dog shows, being pampered, meeting girlfriends, being pampered and hanging out at home while being pampered. I travel to the shows, mostly with my lady, but sometimes with my handler. When the lady doesn't come with me it is not as much fun. I am treated more like the others, I spend more time in the crate, I don't get too much attention. But when my lady comes it is a totally different experience. It is then all about me. I get brushed and blow dried. I get to lay on my table and watch the people go by and admire me which I love. I am a big suck up. Everyone who sees me thinks I am great. I do a lot of winning at the dog shows I usually am the Best of my Breed and that makes all of the people happy. I love the applause and I feel just like a Rock Star.

And then there are the lovely ladies. All of those beautiful girls that come my way because of how famous I am. They come from all over. And when they do come, it is a super priority in my family. No time is a bad time for the girlfriend. Last Christmas a girl came from far away. There we all were, on Christmas Eve in the backyard. The people make this happen. I just sit and wait for the "girlfriends" to come. That is what my people call them. My girlfriends. Isn't that cute?

So there you have it, dog shows, girlfriends and than my down time at home. I pretty much drive the bus around here. They worry and fret about Did I eat? Did I poop? Am I feeling myself? How is my coat? Do I look my best? This kind of stuff preoccupies my people. And me, well I just hang around on the couch or in the bed. King of my castle. The man even saves part of his dinner each night for me. Not for anyone else, just for me.

the only time there was ever an issue was when there was another boy here. A while back a boy name Echo lived here. Evidently he was a son of mine, like I cared about that. When he came he was just a baby so I could pretty much ignore him. But than he started to think he was like me. He went to the dog shows and won. He started to get some girlfriends, which I pretty much thought "I don't think so". We started to growl at each other in the backyard. That made the lady very mad and nervous. So we than could not go outside together. We could only be together in the house. She pretty much kept us apart from each other. We led separate lives which was fine by me, as long as mine was not changed. I was still the king, even though he may have thought he was the prince. And than he was gone. Where? I don't know or care. It was just as it should be, me and my girls. For now.. it seems that another boy has arrived. Another son of mine. He is a baby now, so I am not worried. We will have to see how this works out.

Traveling Man

Here we go again. I am watching them pack. Uh oh!!! Where are we going now? It seems that whenever they plan to go somewhere these days I am going with them. And more and more it is me in a crate in the belly of a plane. I am getting really tired of this, but I should be used to it.. I have being doing this for as long as I can remember.

My first trip on a plane was when I was just a baby. One day I am at my house with my mom, brothers and sisters and the next day it is all changed. One by one my siblings left with people I didn't know. For a moment I thought I was staying. That would be nice. Here in Colorado, amongst the beautiful mountains.. This would be a nice life, with mom and all my relatives. But just like that things changed. Literally in the middle of the night, I was packed into the car with my crate, given a kiss and left in the airplane hanger to go who knows where. All night traveling.. Where? Where? Where? and then in the morning again by myself waiting for what would happen next. And then this woman out of nowhere showed up. Calling my name. How in the world did she know my name? I had never seen her before. She opened my crate, picked me up, gave me a big hug and kiss and held me very tight. I didn't know what to make of her, but I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt. I really didn't have too many options. And at the moment she was all I had.

I settled in pretty well in my new house. There people were certainly nice enough and the others were OK. I respected the older ones and made friends with the one girl who was my age. She became my best friend. Frieda, that is her name.

My life seems to be one of traveling. I mostly go in cars, vans or trucks and we usually go to the dogs shows. But at least once a year they load me into a plane to make a long trip far far away. Flying is not my favorite thing to do. I do like the attention I get at the airport, but the time away from my people is pretty stressful. I have travelled pretty much all over the country, but my biggest adventure by far was my trip over to Europe to stay with my friend Tuuli in Finland.

We have driven to the show, but something was different. My lady was different. She seemed anxious and nervous the whole trip. She packed and packed and much of the stuff was for me. That wasn't too unusual. But the really weird thing was once we go to the show, I was not in the show. I am always in the show. That is what I do. For an entire week I hung around the hotel room. I went out and met people, I even saw my first lady from Colorado. She made a big deal about seeing me. I really didn't recognize her, but she certainly was glad to see me.

And then it happened. That last morning. I thought we were going home, but she packed my stuff and brought me to another room where there were two young girls that I didn't know. They certainly seemed nice enough. Now, I am the kind of guy that is pretty friendly and I climbed on their bed and made myself at home. That seemed to make them happy. And then my lady started to cry. They were all crying. They were hugging each other and hugging me. What was going on? And then she left. Where did she go?

So now what? I am in this hotel room, with two people that I don't know. And so began my greatest adventure. I was back in the airplane but now when we landed, all of the people were strangers to me and I did not understand them at all.
Our first stop, yes there was more than one stop, was in a place called Paris. I think this was not the plan because I was taken out of my crate by a man and he and I just stood and watched and waited. I finally saw the night young lady running toward me with panic on her face. I stood up happy to see her, at this point she was all I had and at least I could understand what she was saying to me. There was something about volanoes and closed airports, but finally we were back in the air and to our final destination, Finland where I would spend the next several months.

This new place was different from what I was used to, but also very exciting. We lived in the city in a small apartment, so there was no backyard, but we went for long walks which I loved. One of the first things that happened was that Tuuli introduced me to two beautiful foreign girlfriends. Maybe I was going to like this place afterall.

I settled in there pretty quickly. That is kind of who I am. "If you can't be with the one you love"... You know the rest. I made it work, Lemonade out of lemons so to speak. And than one day I heard my lady's voice. She was here. I ran to the door to see where she was. I ran all over the house. She was calling my name. But Tuuli called me over to her to go on her lap and to look at the machine. That was where her voice was coming from. She was telling me how much she loved me. That was great. I loved to hear her voice. So, when she would call on the box, I would lay on the bed and just listen to her. I felt that one day I would see her again.

Than just like that it was over. We were packing up and getting ready for another trip. This time not just me, but two puppies were coming with us. I learned these were my daughters, but I didn't really care too much about that. Another long ride and than there she was . My lady.. Crying again, struggling to get me out of my crate. I jumped into her arms and hugged her. Boy. I missed her, it was good to be home.

My Humble (or Horrible) beginnings

So, I wasn't born here, but this is where I ended up and boy O boy am I grateful. Where I was born was a very different place with a very different sort of people. The house was completely different from the one I live in now. First, I was the only one of my breed there. Don't get me wrong, there were others, but none like me. All of my siblings were sent away with other people to live, but I stayed. I spent most of those early days outside in my pen. I wasn't with the other dogs because they were bigger than me and liked to fight with each other, and quite frankly I was just has happy to be in my own place away from them. I really didn't like them very much. I didn't have a back yard to run in, but it was my home and I didn't know any better.

Like I said, outside was where I lived. Never in the house Even when it snowed or rained, I would be left outside just a small shelter to protect me. When the weather would come, I would stand outside, looking at the house hoping she would let me in, but then I would be wet and dirty making my chances of going inside almost non existent. So. there I would be, standing out in the weather cold, wet and lonely. But again, I didn't know any better.

Maybe this was when I became afraid of the thunderstorms. When they would come, I would look for the woman hoping that she would bring me in, which she never did and so I would go into the shelter trying to get away but never really able to The pounding and the flashing would really get to me, but I had no other options.

And then it all changed one day. A real nice lady came to the house and took me in her car. We drove to her house. There she had many dogs, but all of them were just like me. I now had friends that I could play with and run in the backyard with. There were no pens outside, we all lived inside the house with the family. I really didn't know how to do that, but I learned quickly from the others. When I would have an accident in the house, she would not get mad but showed me where to go and when I did go outside there would be lots of praise. I wanted to stay here so bad. I did nothing wrong, No barking, no chewing. I just wanted to become invisible so she would never send me back. I wanted her to love me because you see.. Now I knew better.

The Old Lady

So, that is what they call me now. The Old Lady. Ok, I guess in many ways I am. And for the record I have earned the title and wear it proudly. I am 9 years old, and although it may not sound old to you, in big dog years, I am getting up there. I am the oldest one here and have been here the longest. I command a certain amount of respect, not only from the others but from the people as well.

I am pretty set in my ways. Nobody really messes with me. They leave me be to eat and to be outside. I even have the people trained. For example, when they call us all in from the outside, the others are not allowed into the rest of the house. They are restricted to the porch area and family room. When they call us in, they have put a gate up that blocks the way to the rest of the house. The others don't even know there is another part of the house.. But I do. When the call comes, everyone rushes in, but not me. I peek my head in the door to see the status of the gate. If the gate is up, than I remain outside, preferring to be outside by myself than cooped up with the rest. They will call me and beg me, but I refuse until they realize the gate is up. They then will take the gate down and I come in happily to run into the other part of the house where I can go where I please. I can even motion a bit with my head and they will respond to my request. I have them trained pretty well.

I sometimes try to venture up the stairs to where the people sleep. This is hard for me because of my bad knees, so mostly I remain down in the living room on the carpet. Unless we have a thunderstorm. They frighten me and when they come I drag myself up the stairs to sit by the people while they sleep. That makes me feel better and not as afraid. And if the storm is really close I try to climb in bed with them. I always go on the woman's side, she tries to help me up even though the man says no. She is nicer than him, I like her better.

There are a lot of us here. But many of them come and go. Mostly puppies. They stay for a while and then other people come and take them away and I never see them again. I don't get too attached to them because they will probably end up leaving anyway. So, I just do my thing. I find a cool place to lay in the shade outside and I find my own private spot in the house away from the others. The people don't ask too much of me anymore. The others, they get baths and go to dog shows and training classes, but that is all in the past for me. I just lay around and watch their lives while I enjoy mine. And mine is pretty great.

But... it wasn't always like this...

Something new

So.. this is what I am now going to do. I am starting to put my thoughts together for maybe a book or memoir. I am going to use this forum to test out the stories. I will be writing these from the voice of the dogs. Each story will be from a different dog. See if you can guess...

Freida

So Freida threw up... I know that this doesn't mean a whole lot but in the dog breeding world about 2-3 weeks after breeding this is one of the early signs of pregnancy. Nothing else changes with I the dog until almost 6 weeks but there are some subtle changes and this was one of them, I am more hopeful now that this whole production might end with a good outcome. Keeping fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

Typical dog breeding story

So. Freida went out to Colorado to be bred. As it turned out, Andrew was going out there and he took her with him. Too easy right? She was due to come into season the early part of June. Chris was going to drive her tot the dog and it all works out.. Not so fast.... Frieda does not come into season. Week after week nothing.. Now the problem is, chris's daughter paulie is getting married the end of July and getting freida to the dog was getting to be dimmer reality. So plan b.. We need to find another dog. Done. Now. We wait. Freida comes into season. Yea. Kim comes and get Frieda and she is bred over the week. As it turns out, she needed to be bred on the very day of the wedding. She came home last night with mike. Now we wait. Who said this was easy?