I’m sad to say that next week Louie will be moving to California. He was one of my first friends that I met at Pawm Springs Dog Park in Sugar Land. Over the past year we spent many evenings chasing each other and wrestling in the grass.

Wrestling with Louie was really a challenge since he was the largest Bichon Frisé I have ever met. He weighed in at 25 pounds which for him was about right. He was just a large guy. We will miss him and his happy bubbly personality, however; we understand that California was his original home. I understand that there are old many friends waiting to see him.

Louie, good luck to you at your new home in California.

April 15th. Time to do my Federal Income Tax.

I’d better finish this since today is April 15th, which is the deadline for mailing in my federal tax forms. Let’s see, I need to enter my adjusted gross income on line 38, then subtract line 40 from 38, multiply $3700 by the number on line 6d.

After that, count the toes on my front paws and divide that into line 43 and enter that number on line 44 and multiply it by the spots on my stomach and enter that number on line 55. Then subtract line 62 from 55 and that is what I owe.

Are you kidding!!! I owe that!!! Sixteen bones – I owe 16 bones. What is the IRS thinking! Are they thinking I’m made of bones?  Come to think of it I guess I am, sort of.

Well, I‘ll have to go dig them up and send them in today. Maybe next year I can count AJ, the cat, as a dependent. Probably not, since dogs don’t have cats and cats don’t have dogs. I would have a difficult time convincing the IRS on that one.

Whew! I’m finally finished. I think I’ll go downstairs and reward myself with a stiff drink and a chicken chew. Good thing that this income tax process only comes once a year. Good luck on your taxes. See y’all later at the dog park.

March 2013

Color me tan and white. Well, sort of. Lately, my gray and black fur has been turning from a grayish black to a tan. I’m sure some of you wished you could transform your gray to a youthful blonde or black.

You want to know how I did it?

Well, I don’t exactly know. If I did then I could package it, sell it, and make a fortune. Alas, it’s probably only in my genes.  All I know is that beginning in January, my fur started to change color. (My mom says that most puppies coats change or that it can be due to diet or the sun.)

No matter the color of your fur, just enjoy it, as it’s nature’s way of protecting our skin from the cold, the sun, and the environment.

The black and gray me. Picture taken fall of 2012.

This is Rambo, my friend that I met at the dog park. Rambo is a blue and tan dachshund that was born as a litter of one. He is still a puppy. He is now over a year old, full of energy, and loves to run and play at the park. His coat of fur is more of a steel blue, which is more colorful in the sun light. He was very active that day which made it difficult to capture a picture of him in the sun.

Yes Rambo, you are blue.

When I was running and playing at the dog park last week, I came across this cutie. At first I couldn’t figure out what breed she was. I knew she didn’t come from the shelter like me so I figured she was probably Pug or a Boston Terrier. Well, I was wrong on both guesses: she was a fourteen week old French Bull Dog.

This was her first visit to the dog park so it was both an exciting and frightening experience. Momo would run with us dog for a few minutes then she would realize that she was alone with all these other dogs. Then she would run back to her mom or any other person sitting in the grass and then jump in their arms for safety. It will take more visits to the dog park before she becomes more comfortable with the rest of us. When you see us dogs running, chasing each other, and wrestling then you can understand that this could be overwhelming for a puppy who is just learning her way around in this world. I told the rest of the dogs that we needed to be nice and gentle with her since one day she is going to grow up and be stronger and faster than us. Just take a close look at her large ears and paws and you’ll see what I mean. See ya at the park.

Ellie Running from Jennifer Cabla on Vimeo
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Video of what I like to do the most at the dog park, that is, run. This video is of my friend, Penny, the beagle, chasing me. We can do this at the dog park since it is enclosed with a chain link fence. This keeps us from running into the street and getting struck by an automobile. When we run we go where ever our fast legs will take us. To all you dogs out there, let your legs send you flying care free through the grass at the dog park. See y’all there and bring your running game.

Ellie going up the attic stairs . . . or not.

My family had to do some maintenance in the attic. So my Grandad opened the attic and pulled down this ladder. He went up the ladder to work in the attic. I thought he could use my help so I decided to follow him.

After all how hard could it be to walk up this ladder thing? Well, not so difficult going up; however, going down was another matter. See us dogs are used to leading off with our front paws and going down the ladder requires us to lead with our back paws. Not so easy.

I did manage to make it back down; however, I think I’ll let him handle the attic work on his own. I’ll just bark up my advice to him from the floor level. After all, what goes up must come down and down I’ll stay.

Ellie barking her advice to Grandad

Hey, stop! My frisbees are in there!

Yesterday my mom decided that my cloth toys needed to be washed – especially my two frisbees. These frisbees have been tossed about at the dog park, caught by me and other dogs with our mouths, and then pulled and dragged in a tug of war.  Well you get the picture – with the dirt and dog saliva, they were filthy.  So Mom gathered up the frisbees and all the other cloth toys and placed them in the washer.  I never thought about cleaning my toys.  After all I get a bath, and my food and water bowls, and bedding are washed; however, I never thought about cleaning my toys.  So gather up your cloth toys, inspect the label, and wash them according to the instructions.  Those that cannot be washed or cleaned should be tossed in the trash.  Clean toys will insure your health and safety and will keep your home safe and clean.

Have fun, play hard, and see y’all at the dog park.

It’s nice to have my clean and fresh smelling frisbee back. Let me see? Who is that over there? I wonder if they would like to play tug of war with a clean frisbee.

This is a picture of me before I went to the groomer. Getting pretty shaggy, right? This January our weather has been warmer than usual here in Texas so I decided it was time to get rid of my winter coat. Normally I don’t trim my winter coat until the end of February; however, we have had some days in the eighty degree range. While chasing the frisbee at the dog park, I thought I was going to come down with a heat stroke. So off to the groomers I went with instructions to give me that summer cut. Check me out below.

I think the groomer gave me a super cool ‘do. Now watch the weather in February turn from warm to extreme cold. If that happens I’ll just put on my sweater. Well it’s time to get my frisbee and head out to the park. See y’all later.

Wire connected to a head phone set.  Well kind of.

Honestly, I thought it was a long black worm next to my family member’s leg.  So I attacked with an aggressive bite.  I bit not just once but twice to make sure it was dead.  And dead it was, at least as far as sound emitting from the ear phones.  Oops!!  My bad!!  I was surprised, but not as surprised as the person listening to their favorite tunes.  I was only doing what I was bred to do—that is to rid the house of spiders, snakes, and any other kinds of vermin.  I guess I’ll just have to put on my sweet and loving pup face and ask for forgiveness.  Well, I hope these can be repaired or else this will cost me some real dog money.