Grouchy (Or, Why I Hate My Humans)

Marty said if I was going to be a grouch, I could at least look like one.
  We went to PetSmart and now I have to wear this thing.  I am not happy!

Marty and Lyle and I had to sit in the driveway (in the rain!) and give candy to about a million human puppies who were also all wearing ridiculous things.  

Apparently every year the human puppies have a big training workshop and they work on training all the humans to give them treats at once.  Marty and Lyle must be pretty good at this, because they gave out A LOT of treats.  Every time the human puppies got a treat, I got a treat too.  And if the human puppies wanted to say hello to me, I got an EXTRA treat.  I think we should have these workshops more often, but I don't think Marty should make me dress up.

Marty's friend Phoebe that I met once before is visiting us, and she helped give the human puppies treats too.  She's pretty good at throwing toys and I get away with a lot more from her than I do from some other people.

After we were done training with the human puppies, my friend H. Bill and his family came over for dinner.  This time, H. Bill was wearing fake fur again.  He looked like a mushroom, but when I smelled him, he still smelled like a little human puppy.  H. Bill is a little afraid of me even though I have always been very nice to him, so Marty had me practice lying on my mat a lot.  It was okay because I am training them to give me A LOT of treats for that.

Thursday Mornings

I hate Thursday mornings.  We have to get up super early (it's still dark) and it's freezing, and I don't get to snuggle in bed.  I have a new bed at the farm that goes right next to the crazies, and it's very warm and nice.  I stayed in bed even after Marty and Lyle were up, but they made me go out.






And then, even worse, I had to get in the car for the ride back to the little house.  I really miss the beach and splashed a little in the shower after Marty got out.  Thursday mornings I get almost no playtime before I get stuck in the box.  I hate Thursdays.

More Fun At School

Last night we got in the car and went back to the place we dropped off my great-grandhuman.  Lyle and I stayed in the car (for a LONG time) while Marty went inside to get him.  After that, I had to wait in the car even longer while they went to get dinner.  Did I get anything?  No, of course not.  And there hasn't been any mystery poop for a long time, so they need to stop using that as an excuse!

Today my great-grandhuman was at my house with me all day and he mostly made me stay in my box!  I couldn't believe he didn't want to have me out with him.  Luckily, Joyce and Nita came over to rescue me and Marty came home at lunch.  I have a new favorite food - barbecued pork!  I like it so much I even showed Nita how to get Marty to give me a treat for rolling over.

At dog school tonight I did not do a very good job lying down on the mat like we've been practicing at home.  I bet that means we're going to be practicing a lot more.  Miss Jessica was not that impressed with my "trade" either, but I was just bad at that so Marty will give me the hoof at home more often.  Marty is getting a lot better at walking without tightening the leash.  Tonight we practiced sitting while our humans make stupid noises to each other.  It's super boring, but I did it.  My great-grandhuman got to be a distraction for us to practice leaving things (and humans) alone.  He got so tired from that he went back out to the car and slept through my nosework class!

Nosework is my favorite thing about dog school.  Tonight the boxes had objects all around them, but I wasn't too distracted.  I found my cheese every time and Lyle was so proud of me!

Chessies are supposed to guard the day's catch while their humans go to market, but Marty never catches anything for me to guard.  I guess I will have to find my own things to guard instead.  Tonight I'm guarding the empty computer bag.

Back To The Vet AGAIN

I had to go to the vet again today.  I am getting pretty tired of being poked and prodded, so I hid under the chair and Marty had to pull me out.  Then I fussed and squirmed just to get my temperature taken (in my ear, not the bad way).  When Dr. Richards came to see me, I was such a jerk I had to be squished so she could look at me.  I got poked again, which wasn't any fun, and I got my foot scraped.

My stomach stuff is all better, and my skin stuff is better, and my eyes are better, but the itchy spot on my foot is demodex, so Marty has to squirt stuff on my food every day for a long time and Dr. Richards is going to scrape my foot again in about a month.

I weighed 39.5 pounds today and we're going to start practicing me being better for people to look at me.

Milestones

I have officially outgrown my baby collar.  Marty put my big dog collar on me this morning.  It's just a tiny bit too big, but I think it will fit fine in just a few days.

Taking The Long Way Home

On Sunday we went to see my great-grandhuman again.  I almost don't fit on the bed anymore!  She gave me bites of her dinner and I showed off my tricks.

After we left her, Marty and I took naps in the car until we got to Uncle Rob's.  I took another nap while we were there, and the crazies ate chicken with Uncle Rob for his birthday.  He's almost four!  He's pretty excited for me to come for a visit by myself soon.  I hope we get to do that!

Last Sonic Visit

We had to leave the beach on Saturday morning.  I will miss it a lot.  We stopped at Sonic with my grandhumans one last time on the way home.

Saturday night we stayed at my grandhumans.  Sophie was there again, which was WONDERFUL, but then my cousin Belle came over to spend the night.  She is still very noisy, but she's not nearly as much bigger than me as she used to be and besides, Sophie told her a bunch of times that she wasn't allowed to be mean to me.

Teaching Lyle to Fetch

Humans are not very smart.  I have been trying to teach Lyle to fetch since I got him and he can still only handle very easy retrieves.  On Friday afternoon I decided enough was enough and I FINALLY got him to go into the water for a bumper.  He is still EXTREMELY slow.

Dogs On The Beach

Sophie spent the night with Mr. Tripoli on Thursday night.  I was so jealous.  Friday morning Lyle and my grandhuman went fishing.  I thought that meant I would get private time with Sophie, but Sophie's human took Mr. Tripoli out to the beach with us!  

Sophie and Mr. Tripoli both stole my bumper.  They were too busy making out with each other to focus on retrieving, so I was best.  It's a well known fact that Chessies are superior anyway.

SOPHIE!

Now that I'm back from the beach, I have to catch everyone up on a few other exciting things that happened.  We spent Wednesday night at the farm, where it was absolutely freezing.  Marty brought my box in, but left the door open, so I slept in there so I wouldn't get frostbite.  Thursday morning we had to take my great-grandhuman somewhere, but Lyle and I waited in the car while Lyle dropped him off.  After that, we went back to the beach (by way of Sonic, of course)!

Mr. Tripoli seemed somewhat less excited to see me than he did the last time.  I didn't understand at the time, but it became clear later.  Thursday night Mr. Tripoli's girlfriend came to visit!  Her name is Sophie and she's beautiful.  She's a Golden Retriever and she's about a year old.  I think that's too young for Mr. Tripoli, and I like older women!



If Mr. Tripoli didn't weigh three times as much as I do, I'd totally steal his girl!












Note how Mr. Tripoli is getting complacent in his old age.  Maybe next time I will take Sophie home to live with me!

Happy Birthday To My Aunt Becky

I wanted to go see my Aunt Becky for her birthday today, but Marty said she was celebrating with my great- grandhuman.  I'm a little mad and I might make the crazies take me for a visit next weekend.  I think she should get a puppy of her own for a present, but Marty told me she would be happier just getting to borrow me every once in a while.  I have to admit that, being awesome, like my Aunt Becky and I are, I can see why she'd feel that way.  The crazies probably wouldn't pick her out a puppy that's as awesome as the one she picked out for them.

Nosework

Marty and Lyle went to work today, so I had to stay in the box until Joyce and Nita came to play with me.  I hadn't seen them for a whole week!  We had a good time, and I only had to be in my box for a little while after they left until it was time to go to school.

Tonight at regular school we practiced not chomping our humans when they touch us.  I really don't understand what the big deal is about this, but Marty seems to think it's important, so I'm willing to go along for chicken.  Then we were supposed to practice lying down on our mats, but I preferred to just lie at Marty's feet.  I mean, she's not really very good at throwing the chicken to me, so I was trying to make it easy.  She said I have been slacking on vacation.  I told the other dogs the truth, but Marty and Miss Jessica didn't hear me.  Then we did leave it and I ate the liver cube I was supposed to be leaving.  Haha, that will teach them not to play bumpers with me!

After regular class, we had my nosework class.  I really like to play with the boxes.  The best thing about nosework class is that I get to be in charge instead of Marty being in charge.  (Actually I work with Lyle for nosework.)  And, I get to dress up!  I have a special harness that I only wear for nosework so Marty and Lyle know that I'm the boss!

My First Police Officer

Last night when we were driving back to the little house, we had to pull over.  This time, it wasn't because of mystery poop, it was because a police officer wanted to meet me!  He came right up to my window and shined a light on me.

Apparently, Marty was in too big of a hurry to get us back to the little house.  I didn't know that humans had rules about how fast you could leave the beach, but apparently they do.  Now maybe Marty will understand how I feel when she is trying to make me walk slow!

I tried to get a picture with the nice police officer, but Marty said that wouldn't help anything.  I was a good dog and didn't bark, even when he came back to visit me again.

I Love My Bumper!

After Marty and Lyle FINALLY got done messing around with the stupid puzzle, I made them take me to the beach.  (They've taken me to the beach every day, usually they take me more than once, but today they made me wait FOREVER.)  I was so excited to go to the beach that Marty couldn't walk nice on the leash so finally I told her if she didn't want me to pull I would have to be carried.  Lyle carried me!



Sometimes when Mr. Tripoli walks with us he steals my bumper.  (I try to steal his too, but he is a lot bigger.)  Today we went out without Mr. Tripoli and I got to get all the bumpers by myself!  I want Marty and Lyle to move us to the beach so we can play bumpers every day!

Stupid Puzzles

Uncle Rob had to leave on Sunday, and Brian left on Monday afternoon.  We need more humans (and dogs) to come visit because left to their own devices my humans are slugs.

Last night and today Marty and Lyle and my grandhumans worked on this stupid puzzle.  They worked on it so late last night they slept in EVEN LATER than they usually try to.  And they didn't even finish it, so they worked on it AGAIN this morning.  I tried to tell them this was NOT how we should be spending our vacation, but they ignored me.  So I helped, I ate some pieces so they would finish sooner!

Same Vacation, New House

On Friday night my Uncle Rob came down to the beach to hang out with us.  It's a good thing he did, because on Saturday morning we had to pack everything up into the cars and move out!  I don't think everything would have fit in our cars.

Uncle Rob wanted to watch a soccer game, so I had to wait in the car for a long time.  I told them they should have picked a bar I could go to, like the one in Columbus, but they didn't listen.  I was pretty tired though, because I've been getting a lot of exercise on the beach, so I didn't really mind.

After the soccer game we moved into a new house with just my grandhumans and Mr. Tripoli and Uncle Rob.  (Last week we had a lot of people that my humans go to work with.)  This house does not have a pool, and I am very happy about that, because Marty and Lyle did make me get in a few times at the other house and I DID NOT like it.

On Sunday I got to meet Marty's friend Brian.  He can throw the bumper really far.  He is the first human that has recognized that I am in charge of Marty, not the other way around, so I think he's awesome.

Still On Vacation!

I am getting a lot of complaints about the fact that I haven't updated my blog for a while.  It's not my fault, Marty won't let me type with sandy paws, and I've had sandy paws A LOT!  We're still on vacation and I've been getting a lot of rest in between getting into trouble.

Here's an update on what we've been doing...

Wednesday Marty and Lyle went back to work for a little while and I had to stay in my box.  It was okay because Joyce and Nita came to see me.  I'd been missing them, so it was a good chance to catch up.  When Marty and Lyle got home we went to dog school with Miss Jessica.  On Wednesdays now I have TWO classes.  One regular one about practicing teaching Marty to give me treats and a special class I'm doing with Lyle about sniffing for treats in boxes.  I like that class more.  After class we had to get back in the car for a LONG TIME, but when we finally got out we were back at the beach!  Luckily for everyone, the mystery poop seems to have stopped.

Marty and Lyle tried to put me in my box, but I barked so much that Charley's human came out and said I needed to be quiet so I wouldn't wake up Charley's human puppy.  Haha, success!  I got to sleep out of the box.  I'm way bigger than Charley now, and he's not really sure he wants to play with me anymore.






Good thing that Mr. Tripoli came back to the beach on Thursday night, because he always lets me play with him!

Another Graduation

Tonight was the last one of our Petsmart classes.  Even though Marty and I had been practicing her giving me treats for rolling over, we didn't get to demonstrate.

















We're starting a tradition of crazy eyed graduation pictures.  Check these out!

Back To The Little House

We had to come back to the little house last night because Marty and Lyle have to work, and I have school.  (When do I not have school...)

We had to stop twice and my butt exploded both times.  Don't tell the crazies, but I'm starting to think the mystery poop might be coming from me.

Today we went to see Dr. Richards and Marty went over the whole saga about mystery poop.  It turns out Marty and Lyle are not taking good care of me at all.  I am now on FOUR kinds of medicine.

Where Do You Think She Gets It From?

My grandhuman thinks Marty is a little crazy and that she should settle down and relax about all the mystery pooping.  I spent Monday hanging out with her, mostly napping, and I have decided that the crazy might be genetic.

Digging

I'm still not swimming, but you know what you can do at the beach?  You can dig!  I dug a big hole that was deep enough for me to put my head and shoulders in.  Marty thought there might have been a crab or something, but I was just digging for fun.

More Mystery Poop

So Sunday night it happened again!  Somehow, poop got on the floor.  Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES!  The last time it got on me, and when Marty picked me up it got on her too.  It was really gross.  I'm not sure who's doing this, but it's not cool.

For some reason after the second poop, Marty put me in my crate.  I hated that idea!  I made A LOT of noise and woke up other people at the beach until finally Marty let me out.

After the poop got on me, Marty put me in the shower.  I decided that was a good place for naps.

Bumper At The Beach

Last night Marty put my bumper in the swimming pool.  I will lean down and get it out, but I am not going in there.  She says before the end of the week I will, but she shouldn't be so sure.

Today we went to the beach to play with the bumper.  I had SO MUCH FUN!













Afterwards Lyle and I were completely exhausted and we fell asleep like this.

So Many People

You know where we stopped on the way down here?  SONIC!  You know what I got?  NOTHING!  Marty says it's because of the weird poop that keeps showing up places, but I think it's because my humans are horrible.

When we got to the house there were already a lot of humans here, and a bunch more kept showing up.  They mostly seem okay.  There are two human puppies here, and one of them is only about my size.  She really wants to play with me, and she even tried to get me to teach her how to walk on a leash.  She didn't have any chicken though, so I didn't want to play training.  

I went running down the stairs and some more poop showed up!  This is starting to get weird.  Marty cleaned it up very well, but she's not very happy about it and she says we have to get more spray.

One of the really cool humans brought me a new toy.  It's a ball AND a tug toy!  I really like it, and I even let Mr. Tripoli play with it a little so we could tug.  I am showing everyone how well I have trained Marty to give me treats.  They all seem to think the best trick is "high five"!

I got a special treat out on the deck.  Frozen water!  I like it a lot.  It feels good in my mouth, but it disappears if I ignore it for too long.

A Quick Visit to My Great Grandhuman

We got up on Saturday morning and packed up SO MUCH food to bring down to the beach.  My grandhumans yelled at each other a lot, but Marty said it was okay, they do that before every trip and I shouldn't get upset about it.

We went to see my great grand human again, but only for a few minutes.  She keeps a whole bag of dog biscuits in her room for me, which I think is a VERY good idea.  She said the next time I come to visit I might be too big to get up on her bed to visit, so Marty says we will practice "paws up" so I can still get my treats.

The Trip Down

We're at the beach now, and pretty much everything since my last post has had to do with getting here.

I got to sleep in bed on Wednesday night at the farm because Marty is a bad human and didn't bring my bed up.  It's pretty cold on the floor up there, so she decided it would be okay for me to get in bed.  I slept with my head on the pillow like a human.  I think they should just let me sleep in the bed all the time, but Marty says we are getting a bed to keep at the farm instead.

Thursday night Marty and Lyle abandoned me and Joyce had to come over and check on me.  Now that I know that they always come back, this stresses me out less than it used to.

Friday we drove to Virginia Beach to stay at Mr. Tripoli's house before we came down to the beach.  I was pretty stressed out and my stomach was a little upset.  I'm not really sure what happened, but all of a sudden there was poop in the car.  I sorta thought Marty would be really mad, but she wasn't.  She just stopped the car and cleaned things up while Lyle and I walked around for a while.

This is me watching her clean up.  I really didn't think we should have had to get back in the car after that, but she made us.

When we finally got to Mr. Tripoli's, she put everything in the washer right away including my dinosaur (maybe he's the one that pooped).  We went right to sleep, and somehow while we were sleeping, somehow, poop got on the floor!  It smelled so bad that it woke Marty up.  It was pretty gross in there, so I made her put me outside while she cleaned it up.  She even opened the window!

I'm not really sure what's happening with the poop, but it needs to stop soon!

Agility Practice

Marty and Lyle didn't give me enough exercise today, so I'm amusing myself.  Marty says this is "not really okay", but I say, SHOW ME THE TREATS!

Bumper!

Today I got to retrieve a BUMPER.  This may be the very best thing that's every happened to me.   Marty says bumpers are not for playing they're for working.  But if that's work, then I say bring it on.  I might even be willing to go swimming to be allowed to get a bumper.

I was supposed to start a new class tonight about how to sniff things out, but Miss Jessica got hurt so class got canceled.  I still had my first Real Life Skills class, but that was just more practice of things we already did in Good Manners.  We had new dogs in class and a substitute teacher and I had a hard time paying attention.  Marty says we need to practice more with better distractions.

Mini Chessie

I had another vet visit last night.  Dr. Richards got caught up with emergencies, so we saw Dr. Henderson.  I was kinda nervous about seeing a new doctor, but Marty knew her and said it was okay. I got my regular puppy shot AND my rabies shot.  I was much braver about the shots this time and now I have TWO tags on my collar.  I don't have worms any more, but I am going to do three more days of worm stuff just to be extra sure they don't come back.  My ear gunk is all cleaned up now too.

Bad news though, I have fleas again!  Even though I am on some stuff that's supposed to keep them away from me!  I get to start taking that more often to see if the fleas will stay away.  Marty still thinks it's because we live in a bad neighborhood.  We're all hoping the itchiness is just because of the fleas and not some other dermatitis thing and maybe it will go away now.

I cried when Dr. Henderson messed with my foot, but since I cried when she touched me pretty much everywhere, she thinks my foot is fine.  Marty made us walk all the way to the vet, and Dr. Henderson said if there were anything wrong with my foot, then I would have been limping.  So there.

I showed everyone my tricks and Dr. Henderson said I am very smart.  Dr. Richards came out when we were leaving to get some snuggle time with me and I showed her my tricks too.  I'm awesome.

So, I weighed 27.1 pounds yesterday.  Dogs should be about half their adult weight at 16 weeks, and that would mean I am only going to weigh 54.2 pounds when I am a (not so) big dog.  That's really small for a Chessie, and Marty has started making rude comments about it.  Considering her littermates all say she got the runt gene, I think she should be quiet.

Saying Goodbye to Navidson

Dan picked up Navidson yesterday afternoon, but not before we finally got a chance to check out each other's crates!  Also, Navidson left a WHOLE BOWL of food, and I got to eat it!

Navidson growled at Dan when he came to take him home, which I thought was a little funny, but Dan and Marty did not.  I had a really good time with him here, but it's kinda nice to have Marty and Lyle to myself again.

Showing Navidson The Farm

I brought Navidson up to the farm today.  He'd never been here before.  He says it's like a giant dog park.  I don't know what a dog park is, but if it's like the farm, then it must be fun.

















Navidson makes Marty stay on a leash because he doesn't have her trained as well as Dan.  It kinda stinks for him that he has to watch her like that, but it really stinks for me, because he keeps getting me tied up in the leash!  (Look at my feet.)

We played fetch with tennis balls for a while, but that got boring, so we decided to play tug with firewood.  LOTS more fun!

I get to use big dog dishes when we're at the farm, so I don't mind sharing!

Soccer

Yesterday we went to see a soccer game.  From what I can tell, "soccer" means, sit outside and be hot and watch human puppies play fetch.  Marty did bring me a lot of treats and water, so it could have been worse.  Also, I got to see my friend H. Bill.  When we first went to his house, he was running around with no fake fur like he usually does, but his mom put some on him when we left.  I don't know why, it was way too hot for any kind of fur.

Do you want to know why he's clapping in this pic?  It's because MARTY LET HIM EAT MY CHICKEN!

Some giant dog came over and stuck her face right in mine while we were watching the human puppies.  Marty told me I was a good dog, and Lyle told her human she was a BAD HUMAN.  My humans are the best!

What It's Like To Have Navidson Here

Lyle's Birthday

Did you know humans celebrate their 1/7 birthdays?!  Lyle is 7 and 4/7 today.  I'm hoping to have him trained before he turns 8.  He's a lot of trouble, but I'm glad he's mine.