Squirrels Fear Me

Now that I get to go outside by myself alot, the squirrels scurry away in fear. It's not fair they can climb a tree and I can't but I can get them up there and block their escape. I'm pretty darn good at that. I'm guarding the bird feeders in this picture.

Another out-of-crate disaster happened tonight. Every couple of weeks Mom gives me a test to see if I can behave on my own. I always disappoint them. I just had to try some of that Easter candy and it was inside a beautifully decorated paper mache egg. Now the egg is in the wastebasket along with another bunny that Aunt Betty made. Mom was super mad at me and yelled and everything while I stood there obliviously wagging my tail. I just don't get it.

Mom is starting to take away some of those little white flags. She tries to hide them from me but I know what's going on. Our neighbor, Craig, brought me a new ball to play with but I wouldn't cross through the invisible fence to get it - he had to come in and play with me. Wow, I have a new friend.

Weekend Update

Hey, they have the Weekend Update segment on SNL, don't they? We went to Iowa City again last weekend so I thought you might want to see a picture from our trip. This is Kelby picking me up. Mom and Dad think I'm probably up to 19 pounds, now, so it's a little hard for him to hoist me up very high but I don't mind at all. The kids and I had a great time playing and even though they let me out, by accident, a couple of times, I didn't take off this time. I'm really doing better in the car and don't get sick until we've been on the road for a long, long time.

Have you all heard the news story about dogs being able to diagnose cancer kind of like a doctor? This was in our local newspaper a while back. It seems that a dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than a human's. That's just another way that us dogs show our love, isn't it? There are all kinds of different companion dogs. Me, I just sleep on the cushions and wait for them to play with me.

Another New Toy

New toys serve more than one purpose. First and foremost, they are fun to play with - especially when they're new. The trouble is, I have an incredibly strong bite and can ruin almost all of them. The second reason my folks appreciate new toys is because I'm able to go off and entertain myself for a while. This is the new one that just arrived from Sit Stay. I'm a little confused about its purpose - and its SIZE. It's nearly as long as I am and the squeakers are so imbedded under the tough material I can barely make them work. It does make a good tug-of-war toy, though, so it works for us. Notice how Mom photoshopped out my evil "pet eye".

Meeting the Neighbors

We had encounters with several neighbors yesterday. First, we finally saw Roxie again. She's on her way today to stay at Nana and Papa's while her folks are off to Ireland for two weeks. You know what it means to vacation with retirees?! Lots of long walks. They told us yesterday that Roxie just loves boat-riding with the wind in her hair and all the fun. Here's a picture of her from a couple summers ago when she was on her Aunt Maria and Uncle Jim's boat. They made her wear a harness as they were afraid she might jump. She did miss the jump to the pier and they had to haul her out by the harness. Dad's barber takes their two Westies to our lake and one of them couldn't remember how to do the dog paddle so she started to sink. Van had to jump in the lake to save her! It all sounds pretty darn exciting and we Wires love excitement.

After Roxie, we visited with a neighbor lady down the street who has had her eye on me. Seems they lost their old friend a while ago and think a WFT might be the right one for them. I behave so good while we stand and talk that I lure them into thinking a WFT is easy. Au contraire!

Business Trips

Now that I'm eight months old I have a new privilege. Last Friday Dad came home in the middle of the morning and took me on a business trip with him. This meant riding in the car, which I don't really like very much, and hanging out with Dad which I LOVE. We had to drive south to look at one of his properties. After our business was over (and I barfed), we spent a little time in the park by the river. It was a great day.

Then, on Saturday we drove to the lake to get our stickers for the summer. I've never been there before but they tell me I'm supposed to go boating with them this summer. We walked out onto the shaky docks, saw eight huge deer and then drove through the windy roads. I barfed and then we checked out the campground. Looks like great times are in store for the summer. Can't wait for all the kids to come and join us.

Garbage Man

Like I said earlier, Mom likes to call me "Garbage Man." They sort of gave in and Dad installed a child-proof lock on the garbage side of the cupboard. Mom is always muttering, "I never had child-proof locks on any cupboards when my children were little ... " Anyway, seems it's not "terrier-proof". I was left out of the crate for about 20 minutes while they were both gone last night and somehow managed to strain the garbage through a three inch opening of the cupboard door. After all, there were chicken remnants in there that smelled so enticing. Dad told Mom he hit me but you know he didn't do that. He was actually pretty calmed down by the time Mom got home.

Even though I'm allowed to roam in my backyard domain more freely now, I find the area under the deck the most appealing. Mom keeps begging Dad to get the barrier put up around the base but he says we have to wait for better weather. I am thrilled to dig around in the dirt and get my paws, toenails and beard filthy. I'm hunting for varmints but so far just the smell of the cat is enough to lure me down under.

What's So Bad About Chocolate?

I need to tell you about one of my weekend adventures that just happened an hour ago. We had a bunch of people over at our house and Mom made some yummy treats. Evidently, these were not dog treats and the guests did not come to see me so I was shut in my crate in the library for most of the evening. When I'd finally had enough of that I started whining to be let out and Mom did. I knew everybody wanted to pet me so I made the rounds and even jumped on the lap of an older gentleman. He seemed surprised - but happy, of course. Next, I investigated the table of goodies and quickly helped myself to a "Magic Bar". This delightful dessert of chocolate chips, coconut and nuts went down pretty easy so I snagged another one before the plate was put up high on the counter.

Paige and her mom were here this afternoon for a little while. Since we haven't posted a picture of this granddaughter we thought we'd better show you how cute she is. She will be two next month and here she is wearing her St Patty's day beads and drinking her green "juice". She brought us those green cookies but they weren't dog treats either.

Girl Friends

Enough about the underground fence - you all are probably bored with the same old stories. Dog gets shocked, dog yelps, dog breaks though fence, dog is chased down, dog goes under deck in the new snow, dog is lured with treats, ya-da-ya-da-ya-da. We're still working on it - let's leave it at that.

In the past two days I received email with pictures from two delightful girls: Luci and Roxie. I remember reading about Luci on Axel's blog and about how she turned in to Lucifer during a play date. However, her Mom writes that she is so well behaved she has never been crated and never does the typical terrier stuff like shredding paper and eating "unmentionables" (you know what I mean, Axel). She gets to sleep with her Mom and Dad, just like me, and reports never having a pee accident. I haven't had one in bed either or I'd be banished forever, I'm afraid. In fact, the other night when Dad woke up to me preparing to barf, he quickly hustled me to the toilet and I neatly barfed into the bowl.

Luci sounds a little like my neighbor gal, Roxie. We don't get to see each other too often but it takes Roxie a while to warm up to my charming ways, too. I was so surprised and thrilled when I met Roxie for the first time cause she lives so close to me and we had no idea there was another Wire in the "hood". Both of these gals have fashionable black jackets. I'm envious of that - I only have one big black spot on my side.

Underground Fence - Day 4

All right, I guess I'm not that smart after all. The second time I got to go out this morning, there was a squirrel or something that was the only thing on my mind. I started getting excited about it while I was in the house and Mom made the mistake of letting me out right at that point. I raced to the fence, got shocked, waited for a second of indecision and got shocked again so I kept right on going. I finally stopped when I got three doors down because that's the yard that fences in a Great Pyrenees. He barks alot and has always been a distraction for me. I can't remember his name but he came from Colorado where his job was to keep mountain lions out of their yard. He travels in his own trailer and was a champion, I hear. They also have a Papillon - or Yapillon as they call her. Anyway, Mom pretended to want me to go for a walk with her (the other way) and I fell for it, as usual. I was quickly hustled inside as both Mom and Dad still had wet hair from their shower. Here I am comtemplating the error of my ways.

Last night, when Mom was visiting great-grandma, I was allowed the mature responsibility of not being crated. The kitchen garbage was placed on the counter but all other wastebaskets were within easy reach for me. I proceeded to go from one to the next, pulling out the contents, especially the kleenex, onto the floors. When Mom came home an hour later, there I was, calmly sitting on Dad's leather chair like I'd never left it.

Underground Fence - Day 3

We seem to be making a little progress today. At lunch time, instead of going for a walk, we played in the back yard. This is a totally new and cool sensation for me - being able to really run in my own yard. Look Ma, no leash! I'm still nervous enough (or smart enough) that I'll only do my business in the leaves at the base of the deck but man, it's a blast to run. I almost forgot about the flags once but put the brakes on just in time after I heard that beep. There really isn't much room beside the house so I'm steering clear of that. Once, when the ball went about three feet from the flag I decided it really wasn't a good idea to go any farther.

Holy Cow it's been windy here. Don't I look like my ears are going to catch the wind and take me away? The sporty collar with the big round jewel is the one that Dave from PetStop brought me.

Underground Fence - Day 2

Things have calmed down a bit today. I'm now brave enough to venture out a little ways into the back yard to do my business and then quickly head back onto the deck. Dad's a bit put out with me as I take off when I see either one of the collars now. Mom made a quick trip to Walmart so I could get back to munching my Iam's in hopes there will be no more barfing.

We decided to work on a brand new trick tonight: rolling over. It currently requires being physically rolled over but at least I get the treat. Mom's determined, though, so I'm sure we'll be at it again tomorrow. Mom's having a jolly good time reading a British novel, Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young, so you might notice a slightly different tone in the writing. I usually park myself on a sofa pillow on her lap while she reads in the evening. Yes, of course, there's an important dog character in the book by the name of Benjy.

It's late - gotta' run to the loo for a drink of water and then off to bed with Dad.

Underground Fence - Day 1

My beloved yard has turned against me and I'm having a hard time understanding what happened. There are a bunch of new, white flags marching around the outisde of the back and front yard and I got a new collar from Dave at PetStop. He only has dogs for children so he liked me alot. I thought I had the whole thing figured out cause I hear a little beep as a warning if I get too close to one of the flags. It took me about three times to figure out you have to STOP when you hear the beep or else! Here I am trying to decide what to do about the terror lurking in the back yard.

Then, Dad was feeling like I was so smart and took me to the front yard. I didn't see any flags on the driveway so I charged right on over the wire. YIKES! Dad felt very bad and assumes all responsibility for it. Anyway, I'm now sort of terrified to get off the deck. I barfed twice yesterday and we're not sure if it was caused by my anxiety or if it was due to the freezer-burned chicken strips I thieved from the kitchen waste basket. Mom likes to call me, "Garbage Man."

Andy was here this weekend and played my favorite game, "Chase", with me. He's pretty darn fast but ha-ha he couldn't catch me either. They all did a bit of hollering when Iowa beat Ohio State today. Anyway, the carpet cleaners come tomorrow so maybe Monday won't be too boring.

One of my Dog Cousins

I want to introduce to you Ellie, a Bichon Frise, who lives in Las Vegas. But, the good news is she is moving back to Iowa with my Mom's sister. We haven't met in person yet but I hear she's a sweet little girl and she's shown here with another adorable human cousin of mine, Abby from LaCrosse. My Mom is really happy that her sister is moving back to the midwest so we can all spend more time together like we used to when their Mom and Dad were alive. Ah, Grandpa Paul would have loved me. We have some old pictures around of him and his pet poodle, Candy. Now, one thing I don't care for is that Candy was known to be an obsessive licker and she wore boots and coats on occasion. We are kind of anti-clothes for dogs. No offense to any pup out there who likes clothes or who is forced to wear them by doting families.

Foxy Saturday

So much happened today, I hardly know where to start. First, since it's Saturday, Dad and I got to go to Krape Park. There's always lots to see there, but today was super exciting. We saw irridescent bluebirds just back from their winter vacation, we saw a groundhog and a bunch of noisy geese. Not that interesting, you say? Well, while we over on the "wild side" of the park, a really-truly big, red fox with a bushy tail sprinted right in front of us. It was about six feet away. Good thing Dad had a tight hold on the leash.

Right before lunch we got to meet the new puppy from across the street. He's a beagle named Benz and he's one month younger than me. He lives with an older dog and his yard is fenced in so he doesn't get out for walks too much. We had a wild time playing together. I chased him around in circles so long that I made the tender pads on my back feet bleed. Next time we'll play in the grass. He seems like a real nice pup even though they bought him at a big pet store. We were just reading an article in Bark magazine about how most of those little guys come from puppy mills.

A big thanks to Butchy and Snickers for the toy tips. They pointed us to Sit and Stay where we already have placed a couple of toys in our shopping cart.

Vet Visit

Today we went to the vet to get checked for heartworms. I behaved very well, Dad reports, and the girls thought I was super cute. I now weigh 18 pounds - goodness, I'm getting "solid". Dr. Heitzman rubbed some stuff on my back that is supposed to prevent me from attracting fleas. We have to continue that once-a-month so Mom and Dad don't get any fleas in our bed. We also got heart-worm pills to start next month. Dad jokes that we're on the second million spent on me. Mom couldn't even go to the vet with us because she got a stress fracture in her foot. The good thing was she stayed home with me all day. The bad thing is I'll have to depend on Dad for both of my daily walks for a while. He's usually too busy at work to come home at lunch for the first one, though.

Tonight we watched National Geographic instead of Animal Planet . We knew a show was going to be on called Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan. He runs a Dog Psychology Center and also has his own Dog Whisperer Blog. We watched him rehabilitate dogs like Chip, the Barbarian, a Min Pin that had bitten all of his family members. At the Dog Psychology Center Cesar he has a whole pack of "balanced" dogs so these problem pets can learn to be civilized pack followers - NOT LEADERS. He put Chip on a treadmill to get him a little tired out before he worked on the corrections. Dang, going to his place sounds like Jim Frey's rehab in A Million Little Pieces. Wonder if he got to make a phone call?

Where's the Lake?

Oh my gosh, I woke up this morning and the lake is gone. I'm really confused. Dad says it's because the frost went out of the ground. I suppose that means that the underground fence guy will be coming any day.

Mom brought me a new toy last night that looks like a big, orange donut with another wild-sounding squeaker. Yep, you guessed it, the squeaker has been disabled by yours truly. I don't know why I have to do that because I find those noises to be music to my ears.

Not much exciting on the horizon for me except a vet visit tomorrow to get checked for heartworms. Mom's always so anxious for me to get on the big scale. Kanzi, my predecessor knew what she was supposed to do but I have my nose-to-the-floor smelling all the other animals that have been there so I can't sit still. Anybody want to guess how much I will weigh? My last weigh-in was on January 21st and I was sixteen pounds.

I've been so bored in my crate lately that I chewed the metal off the bottom of my Friend's Forever Dog Park tag. How dumb is that?

Back to Normal - Sort Of

All the company is gone now so life is back to normal - pretty boring during the day. Let's see - the other day a package arrived for me from Cherrybrook. The reason I really like them is that they send me a great dog biscuit, just my size, with each order. Mom ordered our third stripping knife. Since we now have a Course, Medium and Fine, you'd think I'd be looking fine. Maybe this weekend we'll have time for some heavy-duty grooming. The last time I got a bath at home I behaved like a maniacal terrorist. I tore around the house and knocked over lamps and slammed into walls. We have wood floors so I sometimes lose my balance. Mom and Dad seem very entertained when it happens. Mom's still fine-tuning her camera skills and trying to take everything on manual mode. This one doesn't make my nose look too big, does it?

It's been raining all day and somehow a lake has appeared in our back yard. Holy Cow! The water practically comes up to my little knees when I have to wade out there to do my business. Not good.

Life is Good

Great weekend. Two of the grandchildren, Kelby and Erin, came this weekend and a new family member that I've never met. Aunt Fran from Tucson came to see her mom and the rest of the family. Fran loves dogs so she adored me immediately and even said when she doesn't have her big dogs any more she'll get a Wire. She lives on the edge of the desert where they have all kinds of wild animals and have to fence them out.

I got to go to the park with the kids on Saturday because it was such great weather and then today we got about five inches of snow. Now, I have a hard time staying focused and getting my business done and just want to romp around and eat the snow. Plus, I'm fixated on removing the aformentioned cat from under the deck and have got myself stuck under there twice during the past two days.

Heaven was sleeping on the floor with Kelby.

Movies and Barking

I mentioned a movie-with-dogs in my post from a couple of days and just remembered what I heard about the Firewall movie. The dog kind of saves the day in the end. Don't read any further if you haven't seen it. His name is Rusty, I think. These kidnappers get so mad about the dog's barking they toss him out of the van and take the rest of the family to the hideout house. Well, Rusty still manages to do his job and leads Harrison Ford to the right place. See, barking can be ok sometimes.

Mom finds my high bark especially annoying. I really only use this one when I see another dog - a smaller dog. I'm pretty quiet when we come across big dogs but when I see one that I think I could take, I really cause a scene. When we were out at lunch today we saw Bailey, one of the many Westies that seem to inhabit our neighborhood. They never pay any attention to me and are so well-mannered ... well, let's just say I don't appreciate it. I was really ticked, though, when Mom cut our walk short because of my yelping and we just turned around and went home.

Here's a picture of me with Jason and Nic teaching me how to stand on an exercise ball - hey, Axel, it's really not a planet. It's another ball to play with! Jason can do super tricks like jumping over it really fast while doing the splits. I'm not afraid of anything - except balancing on that ball! Kids are great toys, too, aren't they?