THESE are the "Squirrels of Our Lives"

What a jerk!

Squirrels are jerks! Most people don't think that there are so many squirrels in the city, but ask a dog. they'll tell you. They're everywhere! All I need to do is lift my doggie nose in the air and I can smell them.
We 'specially have a squirrel problem at our house. Granddaddy has a big garden with a grape vine and three big fruit trees. The squirrels love our fruit trees and that makes me and my sister, Coco, very mad! Because we love the fruit from the trees too. The apples make perfect balls for catch and the pears are like tiny footballs. We even throw them back and forth to each other. It's fun!
This morning, I did my fence patrol, just as I always do. Lo and behold, I saw half an apple just sitting on the top of the fence. I sniffed the air. I could still smell the squirrel, but where was he?
Looking around, I couldn't find the squirrel in any of the trees or on any of the fencing. Coco was sniffing out the underbrush around the fence. I took a moment to chase my tail, couldn't catch it, so I stared at my Mama for a minute.
All of the sudden, the wind kicked up from the not-compost-bin direction and I spotted him, sitting low on my dog pen with a frickin' pear in his mouth!
I howled with anger. How dare he sit there with that pear in his mouth and just twitch his puffy tail at me?!? As I bounded toward the back corner of our yard, I felt Coco trotting beside me. That's good. She's tall so she can grab stuff for me. But I am the fierece warrior hunter. I howled again.
The squirrel looked at me, a look of pure terror shining in those small, beady eyes. I snarled, Coco barking beside me. The squirrel scurried up the telephone pole beside the dog pen, seeking sanctuary behind the wooden fence that separates us from my birth mom's old family. Coco and I stood at the fence, pointing up the telephone pole and howling for the squirrel's capture.
Alas, our Mama is not our Daddy and she won't shoot a squirrel with even the BB gun. Coco gave a sniff at the squirrel-filled air and went back to grazing the grass in front of the garden. I stood for a moment, watching the vile squirrel that had invaded my yard. He'll be back. And I'll remember him.
For now, I will take comfort in the fact that I can play kick ball with the pear he dropped.

Blame it on the rain.... or maybe the teething...

Bark! Hey! Teddy here again. It's raining here in Chicago.  I love the rain, but I think that my mama is irritated by it because she has to take me on a bunch of walks now.

That's because I am on house arrest. I have been running out of the yard every time I go out lately, even with supervision. The other night my mama was out in the yard with us and I snucked out as soon as she turned her head to watch my sister, Coco, run toward the front fence. I was sneaky. I slid right out the back, between our neighbors' fence and the barrier my mama and Daddy put up by the dog pen.It didn't even look like I got out of the yard. The barrier hadn't even moved. Because I slid through a small gap.But my mama caught me when I was sliding back through, running back in to the yard to make sure my Daddy couldn't catch me from the street behind us.

Earlier that same day, my sister and partner in crime, Coco, knocked the barrier down for me. Then I was able to just run through the gap because it's about six inches wide. Coco got stuck and my mama caught her. So, since Coco got busted, I just came back through the gap so that I wouldn't get in to more trouble. I knew we had been busted, so we were definitely in trouble. I told Coco play it cool. I ran to my mama's feet and rolled over to show her I submitted. Coco, the dumb dumb, ran past my mama and started jumping at the front fence. Barking at some kids riding by on their bikes! That made my mama even more mad. And here my Daddy thinks I'm bad.

Somewhere in the midst of all this, I forgot to go poop. My stomach really wasn't feeling good later that day. Daddy came home to eat lunch and Coco and I both got super excited. I got so excited that I accidentally pooped on the floor. Even worse, it was on the carpet. My Daddy did not like that. I ran away immediately and tried to hide, ashamed of myself. Luckily, my mama cleaned it up and reminded me how gross it is to use the bathroom on the carpet in the room where we eat, sleep, and watch TV. I had to see her point there.

Those were the third and fourth times I ran away in the past two days. My Mama keeps trying to figure it out, but I just have Spring Fever I guess. I just want to go bark at the squirrels and sniff the flowers. I like watching the kids play in their yards. I love to sniff the chlorine at the pool. It's a wonderful time to run free.

I sure do miss sweet freedom.....

So now my mama has been taking me on long walks. The leash sucks, but it's better than nothing. She told me that I broke their trust and I have to earn my freedom back. If I'm outside I'm on a leash or in my dog pen. I don't have free roam of the yard. Coco does, that lucky heifer. But one day I will earn the privilege back. One day.
Until then I hope Coco doesn't find that ham bone I buried up front.

I kissed a Lab and I liked it....

Hello everybody! Teddy here. Sorry I've been MIA but my Mama and I had a lot of stuff to figure out about my career as a dog who blogs. In the mean time, I have news for all of those who don't know.....

I have a sister.

Yes, that's right. My mama and Daddy got me a sister. She's older than me (she's 2) and much, much bigger. Her name is Coco and she is a Chocolate Lab. Her old family didn't want her anymore because she kept getting in to the garbage. they called her a "destructive dog" and said she frightened their two small children. 

I think she was there before the kids. Maybe they scared her. 

At any rate, I have a sister! For the most part, I really love her. Coco is kind of stupid, but maybe that's because I'm just really, really smart for a dog, but she does try really hard. It took her about two weeks to learn to sit at the door, where as I just do it automatically. But she's always up for a fight. Rolling around, biting each other, barking. It's awesome. And she's super fast at running, so chasing her is a blast. Plus, she's tall so she can reach things that I can't (and sometimes things we aren't supposed to touch, which gets us BOTH in trouble).

For a while she smelled really good. Like I couldn't help myself from wanting to lick her good. My Mama said that she was in heat because she hadn't been spayed yet. She even had to wear a diaper. I felt bad for the diaper, but I licked her face to make her feel better. But now she doesn't smell as good. In fact, I think she may need a bath as bad as I do. (And I'm starting to grow dread locks!) 

Coco is awesome and is my new best friend. Even my cat likes Coco. I'm glad my Mama and Daddy adopted her. Now I have someone to snuggle with at night and someone to play with all through the day.

I'm a happy dog.

No Mas...

Friend of the Week!

Hello all! Teddy the Terrible Terrier here! Last week, I started my Friend of the Week feature and I tried to talk to the HCAC about the animals in their care, but they didn't seem to want to talk to me. Hmmmm.... But this week, I found a great little lady up for adoption, available with a great organization I am confident will be happy to talk with me, Angels Among Us. That's where my aunt Ashley gets fosters from and she's helped bunches of animals find their forever homes this way.
At any rate, I picked Barbie for a very special reason. My Mama used to live with three chihuahuas and she has a special place for those "dumb, shaky monsters" in her heart. So the other day, mama recorded "Beverley Hills Chihuahua". We watched part of it while Daddy was at work and amazingly Daddy watched the end of it with us when he got home! (Believe me, Chihuahuas and Beverley Hills and my Daddy don't belong in the same sentence!)
I learned a very valuable lesson from those chihuahuas in that movie. It's not the size of the dog that matters, it's the size of their spirit. And Barbie looks like she has a great spirit! She;s said to be shy at first, but loves to cover you in kisses. I can't relate to the shy part, but I can definitely relate to the kisses part. I'm thinking about licking my Grammy right now!
Anyway, I hope that you will check out Barbie's Page on Petfinder. Also go check out Angels Among Us and see how you can do more to help this great organization and all the amazing rescue work that they do!
Paws and Kisses!

A little help for my friends....

Friend of the Week

Hello! We're expecting another snow storm up here according to the amount of The Weather Channel my mama is watching today. I think this could be a big one because I hear them calling it "Rocky", like that boxer in my Daddy's favorite movies. I enjoyed the sunshine today. And my Grammy got me some awesome  treats. While I was enjoying the peanut nutter goodness of the inside of my treats, I thought about my poor friends that don't get treats because they are in shelters. So I had a talk with my mama about this. I don't think she understands me all the time, but she did go on PetFinder.com for me and we looked at the pictures together. My heart got all sad when I saw a picture of this dog lady from my mama's hometown. She looked a lot like my cousin Diogi's sister, Yoshimi. Yoshimi was dognapped a few years ago and I told my mama that I wondered if it could be Yoshimi. So we posted the picture to my Uncle Charlie's Facebook page to ask him. But in the mean time, I didn't want this doggie to have to be executed. Because on the website there were big letters that read "Time Up" above her picture and I asked my mama what that meant. She said it meant these poor friends would soon be headed to the Rainbow Bridge. WHAT? I do not like that all. What if that is my cousin Yoshimi? My Uncle Charlie didn't even know she was out there all alone and scared and hurt. Doesn't she deserve a chance to be reunited with him? And even if it's not Yoshimi, she deserves a happy life. So I decided that I will feature a "Friend of the Week" on my blog. And all week I will talk about where that friend comes from and how people can help other friends in the same place.  So that nice lady dog at the top is my first Friend of the Week. I don't know her name, but they call her 12013 on the website. (And how awful is it to be known as a number and not a name? My mama says they did that in the Holocaust.) She is an Australian Shepard. You can find her information at http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/25446795. And check out some other friends while you are there! Stay tuned for more information about the animal control center she is at and how you can help animals in her situation escape this fate! Good luck 12013. I hope you find your forever home!

Snow Dog....

I don't know about other dogs, but I just love the snow. Maybe that's because I was born and raised in Chicago. But if you listen to my Daddy, "This snow ain't snow!" Well, I guess it is. It's white and fluffy and cold and wet and that is what my mama defines as snow. Whatever. It's fun. Do you know how much digging I can do, even in as little as two inches of snow! And I love looking at my paw prints everywhere. That's cool. And you can really see the birds and the squirrels when it snows. I love to stand there and bark at them after I chase them in to a tree.
But my mama made me kind of sad today. She says there are dogs that don't get to go out and play when it snows. She says these doggies are on "death row" and she gets all teary eyed. I don't like things that make my mama sad and I don't like the sound of this "death row". I know everybody likes cute puppies. And there are apparently tons of cute puppies at these shelter thingys. So why don't people just go get the puppies from the shelters? Makes sense to me. But my mama says that not everybody wants to take care of their puppy. Especially when it gets older. I can relate to that. My FurMama didn't like me. She wouldn't give me milk or take care of me when I was a bitty baby. And her flesh family didn't like me or my sister. So they sold my sister because they could. But they were going to give me to the shelter! Thank God they gave me to my Grammy instead, who helped me connect with my mama and Daddy. And I love my mama and my Daddy and my Grammy and my cat sister Furrball. I am so glad that I am adopted. So now I really really want to help my dog friends in shelters find their forever families. I think every dog deserves to play in the snow and laugh when their mama falls down on the ice. And bark at snow birds. And make the snow fly up around them when they run and catch a snow flake in their mouth.
This is my new mission. To make every dog a Snow Dog!

The Next NEXT Karate Kid....

I am a puppy. I like to chew things. I like to bark. A lot. I like to hike my leg up and pee on trees and run as fast as I can and roll around in bad smelling stuff and eat rotten apples that the squirrels throw from the trees and chase the cat. My new favorite thing, though, is being a ninja. My mama talks about being a Ninja all the time. But she's clumsy and she tromps around like an elephant, so I think she's not a good ninja at all. She likes to play this game with my Daddy where she hides from him and jumps out at him. Which is silly because my Daddy is trained to avert sneak attacks. So I used to think she was ridiculous. Until today. My Daddy was play chasing me and I tried sneak up on him. My rotten mama told on me. But Daddy thought I was funny and kept playing my game with me. Chase me and I'd run away then sneak back up on him and try to get his pants leg. It was fun. But I'm not sneaky enough. I think I need to continue my practice so I can become very, very sneaky. Like a REAL ninja. And sneak up on my Daddy and surprise him and make him see that I am a good guard dog, even if I am friendly and small. After all, chihuahuas were warriors. I've seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua with my mama. And I'm bigger than a stinkin' chihuahua. So I can be a warrior too!
As my mama says, "Wax on, wax off Teddy-san". Whatever the heck that means!