Tragedy

Yikes - Dad practically cut off my foot on Wednesday night. Well, I may be exaggerating just a little. He decided to be bold and try to trim my toe nails all by himself. This was really pretty silly, since we all know we have problems getting me to keep still when he holds me and Mom does the trimming. Anyway, Mom came home from the store on Wednesday evening, and there I was looking quite forlorn and locked up in my crate. Since this is highly unusual, Mom mistakenly assumed I'd been naughty. Dad sheepishly admitted he'd cut my toenail "a little bit short" and there had been blood involved. Well, it's actually cut half off but since it wasn't bleeding any more I was totally ready for my evening walk. The vet says we can put some neosporin on it a couple of times a day but if it's not bothering me (and it isn't) then everything's cool. Dad felt pretty awful about hurting me, though, and was sure we would need to make an emergency visit to Dr. Heitzman.

BTW, Jennie, Terence and Diva - we live in Freeport, IL, just west of Rockford and would be so excited and puppy-pleased to have you all come and visit us here for a playdate. If you truly want to set it up, email us at the address listed in our profile. P.S. - maybe we could get Roxie to join us, too. The more wires the merrier.

Tub on the Deck

Wow, we're just so busy working outside these days we don't have much time to write. Last weekend I was shocked to find out that underneath this thing that I've been standing on (to see into the dining room), there's a big tub of water. My folks are into coming out here in the evening and taking a nice, hot soak and looking up at the stars and the moon. Meanwhile, I prowl around the outside and keep a watch for coyotes and cats. Sometimes I relax enough to curl up on one of their towels.

Weekend Update

The weekend started out with bad storms in Iowa. Our family that live in Iowa City called us from their basement on Thursday evening. They had taken both kids down there and they didn't even wake up. Thankfully, they were all ok but there was lots of damage from a tornado in the downtown area. This is one of the pictures they took.

We had lots of company over the weekend and with the little kids around it always means I get to clean up after them. Unfortunately, I found some Easter chocolates before it even got into their hands and we think it gave me some "bad dog" symptoms. I was extra grouchy and hyper and needed a couple of "time-outs" in my crate. Mom finally figured out the cause when I barfed up a bunch of tin foil wrappers in my crate.

Yesterday it rained the entire day so we didn't get out for any exercise at all. The house is back to normal, now, with just the three of us.

More Good Dog Stuff

Last night Mom was tired so we went to bed early to read. We just started, "Marley and Me, Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog" by John Grogan. That title got our interest right away. What a hoot! This book is on the bestseller list and since there were too many holds on it at our library we decided to take advantage of free shipping and make another order from Amazon. John's description of Marley in the car sounds a little bit like me. Marley drools profusely, like I do, and our folks have to keep a towel in the car to wipe off the slobber that projects onto the dashboard. So far, he doesn't seem like a bad dog at all - just an active one.

Dad and I took a spectacular walk right at sunset. We headed to the west to get a better view and when we turned back we were met by an equally beautiful rainbow that seemed like it was put there just for us. Dad believes it was a sign from God since he had had to talk to his mother about hospice earlier in the evening. Interesting, our devotion from Tuesday morning was called, "The Glorious Sunset."

Weekend Update

This was my role the entire weekend. I diligently kept watch so the squirrels didn't clean out the newly-filled bird feeders. I want all the seed dropped on the ground for myself! Mmm... tasty. Since Dave from Pet Stop came on Friday and made some new "corrections" to the invisibile fence, I stayed in the yard. Dad spent many hours putting up a barrier at the base of the deck. This morning while I was out I found the opening through the steps and managed to worm my way through and get nice and dirty. Dad's trying to figure out how to take care of that problem, now.

Indecent Proposal

Wow, I received the most enticing email today from a diva of a wire. Seems she fell in love with me by reading about me and drooling over my pictures on this blog. She proposed that we get together to "make some babies." Amazingly, she lives less than 25 miles from me! I was sooooo very sorry to turn down this offer but proposed that we set up a "play date" instead. You see, I would sorely disappoint her and her folks by not producing what they need. I just look like a hunk of a pup in my pictures but I'm sort of an in-between gender, I guess. Plus, she might change her mind after seeing this picture of one of my newer unpleasant habits - getting a nice, cold drink from the loo.

Slurpy licks to my diva from Illinois. Sighhh.....

Another Break-Through

When Mom came home from Wal-Mart tonight Dad had some pretty sad news to report about my behavior. I must admit that I had another fence break-through when a cat came prowling along my fence line earlier this evening. I took off at the speed of light and the next thing we knew I was on the neighbor's deck trying to dislodge "That Darn Cat". That cat was purr-fectly naughty to run away from me since all I wanted to do was play with that darn cat and instead got a purr-fectly horrible shock in my neck. "Holy Crap"! It has been two weeks since my last break-through and when I ignored the two neighbor cockers this morning, Mom thought I was probably trained. A cocker was standing right at one of the flags and as I started to tentatively advance on it I heard the beep so I quickly retreated. Tonight, I was moving too darn fast to even send a signal to my "wire-brain" to STOP.

Faith - An Amazing Dog

We just heard about this incredible dog that was born with only her back legs. Her family taught her first to hop on them and now she walks everywhere just like my folks do. I was amazed when we sat and watched this video together. You will be too.

Sleep-Over

Last weekend was a totally new experience for me. I had a "sleep-over" at the groomers! Since I had to get groomed (I was too scruffy) the folks decided I should stay over as they were going to Chicago and I never get to travel there with them. I knew something was up when my bag was packed with Iam's, two leashes, harness and toys. They came back and picked me up on Saturday and I wasn't really that anxious to leave. I had a terrierific time! Those girls like me there and boy, do I look good again. But, when they came to pick me up they had Paige in the car so, needless to say, they didn't give me the attention I deserved after our separation. Here I am looking pretty forlorn after she and Dad went downstairs to play with the toys and shut me out! What's up with that? Paige was kinda' bossy and made darn sure I didn't run off with any of "her toys". I thought they were ALL mine.

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.