My favorite thing | Being in the car

Going for drives with mommy and daddy is one of my absolute favorite things to do.  It's right up there with chewing a bone that still has plenty of meat on it; running around the park chasing squirrels; lounging around the bed in the morning getting my belly rubbed by both parents; teasing Dorothy, playing hide and seek with mommy and fetching my ball.

Any time mom or dad say 'Baxter, let's go in car' I run straight to the front door and wait for them to hurry up and go.  It doesn't matter if we're just going up the street to get milk from the corner store - I'm so excited just to be getting in the front seat!  It does tend to make me mad however when they muck around getting ready though while I'm patiently waiting and wagging my tail by the door.  I worry that they've forgotten so I leave my station and look for them.  Once I find them (usually in the bathroom putting last minute touches on their hair or clothes), I bark once to let them know they're taking forever and run back to the door.  After a minute, if that hasn't worked, I'll start yelping and crying on the spot to let them know I'm loosing patience.  If that still isn't working, I'll go right up to them and cry and bark next to them until they say 'ok, ok Bax!' then I know they're right behind me and lead the way back to the front door again.

Most of the time I don't need to resort to anything else but there has been the odd occasion where I've had to try other tactics because it seemed like they'd completely forgotten their promise to 'go in car.'  On these instances I try one of these two things: making mommy pity me or resorting to anarchy.  The pity tactic involves me slumping my shoulders,crying all the way down the hallway to the bedroom, hopping onto the bed and sighing very deeply.  The bathroom mommy's in has a full view of the bed so this always gets her attention and makes her think I'm upset - that's why this tactic is my favorite because it ensures sympathy cuddles and if I'm really lucky, even belly rubs as well as immediate departure!

The anarchy tactic is very different: it involves throwing a tantrum but doesn't always work in my favor because sometimes it makes mommy mad and say things like 'maybe you should stay home until you adjust your attitude.'  But when it does work, it also involves immediate departure. This move is basically me jumping up and down on the spot like a kangaroo I saw on TV once, barking and growling.  If I'm really mad I'll push my luck by jumping on mommy - although this may backfire entire if she's wearing pantyhose and I put a run into it!

Once we're finally in the car, I always sit in the front passenger seat on mommy's lap.  The only time I ever go in the backseat is when I'm wet, covered in mud, being silly, or needed by Dorothy who always sits buckled in back there.  I couldn't last in that spot!  Up front, I can see all around and smell the fresh air that always blows in directly from the vents.  Sometimes I get lucky and mom rolls the window down: sticking my head out of the window is the highlight of the whole trip but I'm more than happy just looking around and eventually curling up on mommy, she always holds me in a way that I can lay down and keep looking out of the window... Bliss!

Free at last

It finally stopped raining today!  We were free at last to go outside for longer than just a potty break so everyone rugged up (except me: it takes a lot for me to get cold) and went outside and played and played!  

Daddy threw my favorite ball around and Dorothy chased me like mad trying to get it off me but I beat her every time!  

I even outran daddy so she never stood a chance!

Once we were tired and the parents frozen cold, we went back inside... 

Reluctantly!

Miserable rainy days

It's been cold and rainy here for days and days.  That's how long I've been without a play or any decent time outside.  Daddy throws my ball down the hallway and mommy tries to distract us by coming home with a new toy for Dorothy and me every time she goes out but while Dorothy falls for it and happily accepts the substitute, I do not.  I let everyone know I want to play outside by moving over to sit by the window and look out.

I'll admit it has been cold - by both human and dog standards - and I haven't exactly wanted to stay outside long after potty breaks but I'm going stir crazy inside already!  I think it showed when Dorothy and I played rougher than usual on Friday night and broke the coffee table (completely by accident I promise!) because then mommy took me along for a drive on Saturday, knowing how much I love the car.  

Being inside the car was great - everything in between was very confusing!  We went to junk pile after junk pile which the humans call 'antique stores' and then to an enormous place called a 'flea market' which doesn't make one ounce of sense to me.  I happily stayed in the car for that part, wondering why dogs get flea treatments to avoid fleas but humans voluntarily go to these flea markets. ???

On the way home, it stopped raining so mom and dad stopped for a picnic and I finally got to run around a park.  This was only great for a couple of minutes though, cause it was very windy and the grass was still wet.  I was actually relieved when we got back in the car and I got wrapped in a towel and fell asleep on mommy's lap.  Being stuck inside the house didn't seem so horrible after that and I was good about it all day yesterday... But today is a new day... and it's still raining! 

My best pout

Bath time

We got our baths today and Dorothy's such a suck up: she acts like she actually enjoys the whole thing but I know it's all an act to make mommy smile and say 'ooo that's so adorable, you're such a good girl Dorothy' and 'I wish Baxter enjoyed his bath times like you do.' 

I don't think this makes me look bad, I think it's the other way around!  There's not a dog anywhere in its right mind that likes a bath!  From start to finish it's a horrible experience: first there's the loud water filling up the tub so we can't hear anything else in the house, making us feel compromised! Then the water goes everywhere and gets inside our ears!  Next there's the overpowering smell of the soap followed by the way humans insist on getting in between our toes and under our tails!  It's just dreadful.

Although I'm cooperative during bath time, it's only to guarantee a smooth (and most importantly quick) process.  I stand frozen just trying to make out any sounds from outside the bathroom to ensure mommy's safety - even though at this moment she's badly mistreating me! I hold my breath so I don't inhale more soap than I have to and I tighten my body while mommy pulls and rubs every one of my limbs.  Once I'm finally out of the tub, I do a quick perimeter search then I shake at least ten times to get every last drop of the horrible feeling water off me. Then I run around the house, brushing myself against every soft surface I can find and attempt to bury my head in the couch cushions, the floor rugs or the blanket on the bed. I hate the clean smell and wet feeling and want it gone ASAP!

Dorothy, on the other hand, is not in her right mind.  She's little miss suck-up, fakey-fake and splishes and splashes the water all around as the tub fills up - no concern for her surrounds or the fact that every other sound in the house is drowned out - she actually makes it worse with all her flopping about!  Mommy throws a toy in the tub for her and Dorothy goes nuts hitting it with her paw or attempting to dive under the water to retrieve it.  Once mommy's wet her all over and puts the shampoo on, Dorothy starts to lick mommy's hands cause she (apparently) loves the taste and smell of it.  I watch with disgust as she then begins to close her eyes and stomp her back leg in pretentious pleasure at being rubbed with shampoo.  She doesn't even try to jerk her legs away from mommy as mommy takes her time cleaning in between her toes.  Once she's rinsed off and mommy's wrapped her in a towel, Dorothy does anything to stay wrapped up in that towel for as long as it takes.  She somehow pulls off the fake act of 'loving' the wet towel feeling all over her.   Mommy holds her like this for a while and Dorothy actually falls asleep!  Like the house could be burning down for all she cares! She has no sense of duty that dog.

...Or maybe she feels safe knowing that I'm taking care of her and the house; just like mommy does.

Total invasion

It's happened!  Everything I feared has come to pass: our yard has become a free-for-all of invading animals.  First it started with the squirrels acting like they owned the place; now a nasty, sneaky neighbors-cat has heard that our yard is defenseless and has started coming over as well!  And mommy still won't let me out!  How can she let this happen?  I mean, who does she think will protect this house while daddy's at work?  I'm seriously not happy about this. 

Look, even Dorothy - my oblivious to everything sister - can now see this is getting out of hand!  It's happening just like I thought: I'm becoming known as the pushover of the street.  I bark my loudest barks and growl my deepest, most threatening growls at this pompous cat but she just sits there smirking at me - knowing she's safe because the squirrels have told her I can't come outside.  

Now that the squirrels and cats are invading at full force - what's next? A bear?!!  Oh, if only I was an outside dog.  There wouldn't be so much as a spider in my yard!

Squirrels taking over the yard

The squirrels around our new place drive me crazy!  No matter which window I look out of during the day; there's a squirrel sitting there, smug as anything and taunting me because I'm stuck inside.  As a city dog, a squirrel is nothing but a toy to me - something to chase when I go the park; so why are they always hanging around the windows when they know I'm stuck inside?  

Turns out there's lots I don't know about squirrels, like how arrogant they could be!  Treating my yard like their own!  Sometimes they run around the whole house - I see them through the front window and bark to let them know my play time's not till later and that they aren't welcome back until then but they tease me in the most annoying way!  It's like they're saying "nah nah, you're in there and can't do anything about it" and run around to my bedroom window where they wait for me to tease me some more.   I already know that's what's going on, so I follow down the hallway, barking about the injustice of it the whole time thinking I'll teach you some manners but when they spot me, they just infuriatingly twitch their tail: "nah nah" and carry on to the backyard where I can always see them through the back door.  

That's when the real taunting begins and by now I''m so mad, I'm shaking!  I bark louder as they climb and swing off the trees, or scale the fence - twitching their tails the whole time.  At first, I used to run to mommy and beg her to let me at them but now I've given up since she always just says: "you have to get used to them Baxter, you need to share the yard." Grrrr! Share the yard?  Doesn't she understand that it's a matter of honor?  I will become the laughing stock of the neighborhood at this rate!  A few times I pretended I had to pee so she's let me out but she didn't fall for that either. 

It's so bad, these squirrels rile me up every day and there's nothing I can do but sit by the backdoor growling my annoyance at their invasion of my yard.  I just hope they remember: once mommy opens this door for my potty break I'm going after them! And this time, I'll get 'em!

Catching up and filling in

It's been a very, very long time since I've found a minute to get online and update my blog.  Over a year actually!  A lot's changed for me, where do I start?  Let's see... mommy got a new job; then her and dad left me with my fav aunt for a whole month while they traveled; then in July, I turned 3 and finally got to meet my Australian grandparents who came for a visit. Along the way there's been lots of travel to exciting new places and... o yeah, we've moved cities!  Now we live in Austin.  PHEW!

Here's a photo reel of some of my highlights for the past year:

Last Christmas, which was also my last peaceful Christmas. I was everyone's favorite and spoiled rotten:

My birthday: mom and dad took me to the pet store where I got choose my own present!

Our trip to Savannah and being on the tour trolley with mom:

Halloween without a costume, just a really awesome toy!

Autumn in Atlanta and having mommy all to myself:

But life didn't stay so wonderful... because last December mom & dad surprised me with a new - and very annoying - baby sister!

Things haven't been the same since, although after almost a year with her being around and following me everywhere, I don't hate her as much anymore... and I guess she's ok to have around when mom's too busy working to play with me.