Happy Howl-o-ween!!!!

Wow, this is a fun holiday! Today I saw so many other dogs wearing costumes, it was great!

Mom was trying to get me to wear a costume but I wouldn't have any of it - everyone already thinks that I'm a German Shepherd puppy or a Rottweiler puppy because of my coloring, so today that was my costume - I'm a German Shepherd!


Mom bought me a special black cat cookie today for Halloween - she likes black cats a lot, she even has one tattooed on her arm - so I'll be chewing on that instead of her hands for a little while.

Everybody enjoy the holiday - eat lots of candy and cat and doggie cookies!

Love,
Bogart

Bogie in Hollywood

Whew! What a busy day I had today!

First mom and dad had a friend visiting from Santa Fe, so we had a "bavarian breakfast" - no sausages for me tho, and I really wanted to taste some!

Then mom and dad decided that it was time for my first major hike - at first I thought, great! That sounds like fun! - but then I realized that they meant hiking up a big hill near the Griffith Observatory in Hollywood. I took one look up that big hill and tried to protest, but it was to no avail. They were insistent about walking all the way to the top.


It was a lot of work to get up there... and then I could see the Hollywood sign in the distance. I chose this moment to sit and look adorable so mom would rush to get her camera. I could rest for a minute, she could take a picture, we were both happy.


This is me making a face...

Mom got me some treats afterward from the Three Dog Bakery - they were soooo yummy!!! Then it was time to head home.... When we got there I was sooooooo tired, I went right to sleep. Usually I stay awake for awhile, play with the evil stuffed squirrel and chew on a pig ear, but today I was just tired.

Love,

Bogart

I Love My Greenies

Wow, I didn't think I'd like these at first...

They're green bones, and at first they felt kind of like plastic or something, definitely not what I was expecting! Mom bought me a "petite" sized one which is a perfect fit for my mouth right now (not for long!!!). She uses them a lot in the car to distract me from whatever bad thing that I'd prefer to be doing while she's driving... I find them very yummy and they take my mind off of the fact that I'm teething like crazy. Growing 5 pounds or so in a week, all of these puppy teeth still coming in, it's a lot for a doggie to deal with...

But mom really seems to get a kick out of giving me the "best" things she can find - that's why she tried the Greenies. Sometimes I'm able to fool her into thinking that I don't really notice the difference between the cheap stuff and the good stuff... but the Greenies were just too damn good.

Off to chew...

Love,
Bogart

My Day at Panera Bread with Moby

Today I got to go with mom to another one of her favorite places, Panera Bread, for lunch. She always gets the same thing, some weird kind of food called soup (which looks completely unappetizing to me) - she can be so boring sometimes.

She sits me down outside to watch her table (and I guess they don't like it when you bring doggies inside - the barbarians!) while she runs inside to get her food. Doesn't look like much to me - mom is a vegetarian and eats really odd, untasty-looking food - so I sit under the table and munch on a pig ear.

While I was waiting for her to come back with her weird human food, I met the cutest little doggie - just about my size! - and we got to play for a little bit. I liked the way he smelled, he liked the way I smelled, so we played for a few minutes until he had to go to his own table with his humans. They seemed really nice, they played with me too.

His name is Moby and he's a real cutie - I got to kiss him and run around tying up my leash around him, that was fun. Moby is incredibly cool, he can do an amazing trick - he can stand up on his back legs for a really, really long time! I wish I could do that, I was really impressed. But these days I'm far more interested in eating shoelaces than learning exotic tricks...

So a big hi to Moby and his sweet humans! Hope to see you at lunch again sometime!

And a really big thank you to the nice old man in the Iams jacket who gave me a doggie chew toy! That was sooooo sweet, I really enjoyed destroying that in the car on the way back to mom's office.

Love,
Bogart

World's Tallest Dog

Wow, here's a big one!!! A 7-foot tall Great Dane!

I wonder if I'll be that big when I grow up.... I've already got the giant puppy paws!!!

Love,
Bogart

Pig Ears

Ok, so I've discovered the absolutely greatest thing EVER... they're pig ears and they're super tasty. I like the way I can destroy them and nobody yells at me! We got them at Petco, just a little bag with a few in there, but I'm thinking that mom may want to start investing in these... they're just too yummy and even make me consider not biting her hands sometimes!

Mom is trying to train me to sit next to my treats and stare at her until she tells me to start chomping away, that's why I look so funny in this picture!

So many pictures she was taking - so I stuck my tongue out at her, and she liked that too! What's an incredibly cute airedale to do...

Today was the first day that I showed mom that I could actually come down stairs as well - at the post office, again - just 3 stairs, I don't want to spoil her. I did a suitably shabby job, kind of falling down and kind of walking down, so that she believes she taught me something. Seems to make her feel good, and when she feels good she gives me treats so I'm up for that!

Love,
Bogart

The Corner Bakery

I love going to the Corner Bakery with mom at lunch - we go there a lot because she really likes the Caprese sandwich! They're always really, really nice to me there - they bring me my own bowl of water and nobody minds when I destroy a pig ear while they're eating. Mom was trying to take pictures of me sitting outside at the table but I kept on moving (ha!), so the only one that she got was this one with a melted-out background...

But I'm so damn cute I guess it will have to do.

Hard to spot from this photo, but now I have my new spiffy AKC tag on my collar! It goes really well with my bone-shaped Bogart tag (with the little devil horns, whatever was mom thinking when she got that? I'm a little angel....) and I'm really proud to be AKC.

Another rainy day here in LA so just more of the same - playing with boxers outside, stealing a little fresh mozzarella from mom's sandwich when she's not looking. It's good to be adorable...

Love,
Bogart

The Fire Hydrant and Me

Today it's raining here again - well not exactly raining (I really hate the rain so far) but kind of spitting from the sky and it's really dark. Mom woke up and had to actually wake me up to go out for a walk. That never happens, I'm always up first, scoring a good place to pee so that she'll definitely step in it when she stumbles into the living room, then waiting by the food bowl. I don't know, maybe when it's still so dark it makes me really sleepy...


So we went out for a quick poop walk and I discovered something really cool - there is a bright yellow fire hydrant right outside of my house. Boy does it smell interesting. I had to spend some extra time just sorting out all of the dogs that were there before me. I walked around and around and around and I could tell that mom was kind of annoyed. Whenever she looks like that I just walk around something so that my leash gets nice and tangled - and when she tries to untangle it, I can bite it!

Fun times - guess I get to sleep in her office again today. Ah well, no fun to be had running around outside anyway.

Love,
Bogart

Tackling the Stairs

Up until now, my back legs haven't exactly been performing as well as I'd like. Whenever I'd encounter any stairs, steps, curbs, and the like I'd simply whine and mom would pick me up and place me on the higher ground.

I've been really determined to climb both up and down these obstacles. But I've been mostly doing a sort of belly-pull, where I kind of slide down and kind of crawl up like an alligator. Not terrifically dignified, but hey, it kind of works.


Today I suddenly decided to drop the charade - I've been able to climb all along - and stop teasing my mom and dad by making them think that I couldn't do it. I climbed up all of the steps today. Slowly, of course (hey, I still want them to feel sorry for me, and to be able to use their feelings of concern for my benefit) but I made it all the way up. It was just after my morning poop with dad, so he was soooooo proud he ran inside and told mom. She got excited too, but by then I had already begun to feign indifference and pretended that I completely forgot about both the pooping outside and conquering the stairs.


So they made me walk even more - grrrrrrrr - and we went to a new area of the park behind our house. There were more stairs - am I nothing but a performing monkey to these people??? - but there was also a new doggie to meet and sniff.



I still pretend that I can't get up curbs tho - it's fun to watch mom panic as we're crossing a busy street and she has to run and grab me up while I act like I can't make it up or down a big curb.... then I get carried across the intersection like a baby - which was exactly what I wanted in the first place.

Ah, training these humans can be soooo taxing...

Love,
Bogart

Introducing: Kafka

I share my new home with 4 cats - and let me tell you, it's quite an experience. Cats and dogs are soooooo different, they just don't want to play with me! They get upset when I run right into their faces, it's so weird.

Mom explained that the cats have been here the longest so they rule the house. This is a concept that I just don't understand right now. They keep coming up to me like they want to play, then I put out a paw or bark a little, and they make this evil hissing sound and run away!

How can we play if you run away?

Anyway, this kitty cat is Kafka. He's even bigger than me and eats more! He's the only one who won't let me eat his food while he's still trying to eat. He's an orange tabby. Mom says that he's her baby, even tho he's 4 years old! He likes to sleep even more than me, and boy can he jump. For a fat tabby you'd think that he wouldn't be able to jump at all, but last night I watched him stalk a big moth that had gotten inside our living room and then jump straight up about 4 feet into the air. He caught it with one paw, landed, and then ate it. I really admire Kafka for his hunting skills and his keen eyes. Maybe one day he'll like me a little more and we can play moth retrieval together (gotta say it looked like fun)...

Oh, and as of today I weigh 13 pounds! Catching up with you Kafka!!!!

Love,
Bogart

Important Petition - The PETS Act

This is a really important petition for everyone to sign...

Tell Congress - while they might be actually thinking about coming up with plans for dealing with natural disasters - to not forget about including provisions for not abandoning pets in disasters!!!

The PETS Act will require federal evacuation plans to protect pets, and it's a good plan for us all - even if you don't like animals it's good for your karma.

Love,
Bogart

Feeling Lazy...

Today I'm just soooooooo lazy.... I decided to sleep all day, but mom keeps dragging me outside. I keep trying to tell her that I JUST DON'T HAVE TO POOP but she keeps insisting. Not that I'm a big fan of pooping inside, I'm actually almost housetrained, but wouldn't it be easier to just leave me alone and let me SLEEP?

And yes, I really do like to sleep with my head off of my little bed - I insisted that mom bought this one for me at Petco!

I got to play with the boxers again today - I'm starting to relax a little more now and have more fun with them, even tho they're sooooo much bigger than I am! And I'm a little worried about another friend of mine, Heidi, who is one of their little boxer puppies. She's about my age and belongs to a good friend of my mom's and they live in Florida.... be safe Heidi!!!!

Love,
Bogart

I'm Official AKC!!!!

I've been registered now with the American Kennel Club - I'm official!!!

My AKC name is Bogart Handsome Devil

I think it fits.... don't you?

Love,
Bogart

My Day with Boxers

So I'm quickly discovering that I really, really hate rain. Maybe I'm not used to it yet (like dad said this morning - but he was covered in a bright yellow rain suit with a big black rain hat, so what does he know?) but it's just sooooo cold! And the drops seem so big...

That's ok because mom scooped me up and we drove into her work - verrrrrrry slowly - and we made it just fine.

I had the funniest encounter today with two other doggies - they belong to a guy that my mom works with, they're gigantic! They're boxers - a boy and a girl - and I tried to stay still while mom took a picture of me with them but it wasn't easy... (did I mention that they are huge compared to me???). They were really excited to see me, and they didn't jump on me or anything, just a lot of sniffing. I thought the big boy had a cute face so I licked him and he licked me back. It was fun, I'm looking forward to playing with them more.

I thought we were going to start my clicker training today but since it' s raining so hard outside mom thinks it's not a good idea. I heartily agree. I'd much rather sit inside on my doggie pillow and sleep.

Love,
Bogart

Raining Today

Wow, this is my very first thunderstorm - it's all dark and wet outside. Mom let me run out quickly to do my business this morning but she didn't want to come with me... that was odd. So I'm stuck inside for most of the day with mom at her office... this is my in my standard office position, what I do while she works.

So it's back into the car to go back to her office - today I suddenly started to hate my car harness for some reason. It was much more fun to bite it than to wear it.

It's basically my first day learning how to swim - and how to poop almost underwater - with what mom keeps saying is an uncharacteristic amount of rain. I really, really didn't want to poop at my normal time today - that rain is damn cold - even tho mom kept dragging me outside. It was kind of funny to tease her, to go into "kangaroo position" so that she thought I was finally going to poop, only to just sit down on my cute tush and tilt my head to the side in the universal "cute puppy" look.

I have a feeling it's going to be rather uneventful as I'm not going to be allowed to run in the mud. Ah well, maybe another day.

Love,
Bogart

Going to the vet

I was at the vet today to get a checkup. Mom told me we were going, okay no big deal, so we got strapped into the car and we went.

There were so many other doggies and kitties there it was crazy! But all of them were making noise, trying to run away, being mean to the other doggies and kitties.

Not me.

I just sat on dad's lap. I was tired. This was my usual morning nap time.

So it was great when they called my name and I could go into the exam room. I laid down on the exam table to catch a little rest when the vet came in to examine me. Yawn! Go ahead, I thought, poke and prod. I'll just sleep.

They weighed me - I'm 9.3 pounds today - and again said how cute I was (I can get used to this). Then I decided to sleep again (why are they all laughing at me?) when the vet came back in and touched me again. No big deal.

I only figured out after we'd left and got back into the car that the vet had stuck me with some big needle while I was sleeping. So I don't even know if it hurt!

I love being a puppy!!!

Love,
Bogart

Elysian Park

Ohmygosh, today I got to go for a biiiiiiiiig run in the park!!! Grass!!!! I was so excited!!!!!

Mom and dad took me, and it was so much fun! I got to run in the grass, roll in the grass, and there were so many leaves for me to chew on... The grass was a little wet but that doesn't bother me.

So far one of the hardest things for me has been that I can't climb stairs. My back legs just aren't strong enough yet to lift my puppy pot-belly. So today I was running with mom in the park, and she jumped up a little curb and I decided to go for it -- I made a running jump, leaped as high as I could, and I made it!!!! Mom was so excited, I got a whole Vitabone for that!!!

I was SO proud of myself, but I still can't climb stairs. Oh well, maybe soon. With all this running I'm doing every day, I think it won't be too long.

I also had a very special encounter with 5 weiners!!!!! I met my dad's friends today and they have a little weiner dog named Sophie so we all went for a walk in the park, and met up with another lady who has 4 weiners! I've put up a picture of me playing with the weiners (sorry it's blurry, it's from my dad's cellphone) and a big red arrow pointing to me. They were fun - just about my size!

Love,
Bogart

My new cool collar

I have the coolest collar in the whole world. I was going to mention it a few days ago, but I've been so overwhelmed with my big new exciting world that I didn't get a chance to.

My mom never can buy anything simple. It's always got to have cats or spiders or something weird on it. It takes her a long time to find these things, but I watch her searching on the computer and it seems to make her happy.

My dad apparently is from Austria. I don't know anything about what that is, what it means, all I know is that I'm from somewhere else too - Virginia - so maybe it's similar to that. So mom found a collar and leash that have edelweiss on them. That's supposedly some flower that means something to my dad, and she was so happy when they arrived. I put on my collar happily every time we go outside - I really love to wear it, it makes me feel really, really special. Sometimes I like to walk with my leash, sometimes not, it all depends on how much I want to torture my mom that day. And I'm getting better at that...

My mom got my collar here if you want to get one: The Truman Collar

Love,
Bogart

My first visit to the Post Office

So it feels like mom goes to the office every single day - do people really do that? I'd much rather just sit at home all the time, but she feels the need to get in the car and then go out to where a lot of other cars are, and then sit there for awhile and swear. I think it's called "traffic" or something.

Today on our lunch hour we went to the post office. I'm really not sure what they do there, but there were a lot of people waiting with big boxes. Everyone thinks I'm the cutest, so that's always fun, but then those big giant hands start coming toward me and I try to hold on to mom.

Mom had a big box too, and I had to wait while she went up to a big machine. I got very excited when something started to come out of the machine (paper! yeah!) and I tried to pull it out with my teeth. I really thought I was helping, but noooooooooo. Mom took the paper and put it on the box.

Hey, at least I poop outside...

Love,
Bogart

I have a name!!!!!

It's been funny listening to my new mom and my new dad talk about a name for me. Dad keeps calling me Gooby for some weird reason (is that even a name? certainly not a name for a sophisticated pup like me....), and mom is at the computer pretty constantly trying to find doggie names. I guess it's not that easy.

I just call them mom and dad.

But it's kind of funny to watch them argue about my name. With dad, everything sounds kind of like Gooby. He has a funny accent, so I can't always tell what he's saying. Mom is obsessed with gothic things, so she keeps coming up with crazy names that I've never heard of. I didn't expect that I'd get a name anytime soon.

But today that changed. Mom and dad both suddenly came up with my new name: Bogart. Like Humphrey Bogart (some big movie star that I've never heard of - hey, I'm only 2 months old). Apparently a short version of Bogart is Bogey - which is kind of like Gooby to my doggie ears - but they seem to call me Bogart when I'm doing something they don't want me to do, and Bogey the rest of the time.

That's okay with me!

Love,
Bogart

People and their big giant hands

I'm starting to get good at this riding in the car thing.

I have a harness that mom bought for me - it's black nylon with two clips - and so far I don't mind wearing it all that much. She keeps explaining that I have to wear it if I'm in the car, yada yada yada, so she clips it on me and then I can relax. She put my new blanket in the car (or is it another blanket? I don't know....) so I can sleep on it while I'm wearing my harness. I put my head on her lap and there is something about the sound of the car that makes me very sleepy. Even when mom is driving really fast (and she's almost always driving really fast) I can sleep.

Today I went to mom's office again, I'm meeting more people there now. I was a little afraid at first of people and their big giant hands coming at my face, but I'm starting to get over that now. Whenever they do that I just bite their shoes. Pretty effective.

The puppy

My First Real Day in LA

Wow... that was a short rest. I was sleeping so soundly with my new mom, and suddenly a loud noise went off and she jumped and it stopped. Woke me up too, and I almost forgot where I was.

Time to wake up, and that means one important thing to me - FOOD!!!

I have my own bright green bowl, but I was way too excited. My new mom feeds the cats first... they can be kind of mean when I try to sample a little of what they're eating in their bowls. And she has to go around and feed all four of them..... but then it was my turn, and I have to say that I loooooooove my new doggie food!!! I'm eating Nature's Balance, today was Fresh Fish and Sweet Potatoes (whatever they are, I don't care, they're FABULOUS). I gobbled up every bit of my chow and tried again since the cats weren't eating theirs very fast.

The cats make this awful sound when I come close to them while they're eating -- makes me a little nervous -- so I think I'll just pop over and get some of the dry puppy chow.

Today I had my first real car ride -- my mom took me to her office! I have my own little spot there which is very fun, and all the people in the office think I'm super cute. Most of them are too, so far there isn't anyone that I don't like petting me. I don't remember too much about the day since I slept for basically the entire day, only getting up once to go out and poop and then going with mom to lunch.

Ah, the life is easy so far here in Los Angeles. I get a walk in the park behind my new house every morning and then again every night when mom and I get home. Then we feed the local stray cats (Scruffy & Yodel) and then it's back home for more sleeping!!!!

So far so good...

The puppy

Travelling Day

Wow, I don't know how you people do it... this travelling thing.

Today I had to say goodbye to my 11 brothers and sisters, my mom and dad, and all the nice people who made me so happy for the first two months of my life. They put me into a big, plastic crate, stuck lots of papers and things on the outside of it, and brought me somewhere they kept calling the airport...

Roanoke Virginia airport, to be exact.

There was lots of crying, so I started to cry too. I had no idea what was going on, even though I could tell they were trying to explain it all to me. One of my sisters was also with us, she was going somewhere called Sacramento. I was crying and fussing a lot, hey, I'm only 8 weeks old (as of yesterday!) and I'm entitled.

The plane ride was really scary - riding down with the luggage isn't a dignified way for any animal to travel - but I did sleep a lot. Apparently I wasn't the only one sleeping, because the flight from Roanoke to Atlanta was delayed about an hour and a half (what's time when you're stuck in a crate?) and somehow we missed the next flight to Los Angeles.

I slept through most of this, luckily. Apparently my new mom was really upset and yelling at people in the Delta terminal... She was sitting there for a few hours waiting for me and making their lives miserable (go mom!!!) until they found me. I was just on the next plane from Atlanta but no one could tell her that, so she really went into action to make sure that they didn't forget about me. I was about 2 hours late.

But then I finally arrived in Los Angeles. The Delta guy handed me over to my new mom and I was so excited!!!!! She opened the crate door and put a gorgeous new collar on me - it's black and has little edelweiss flowers all over it, with a matching leash - I'm gonna be a stylish doggie!!! She let me pee outside (yeah!!! I'd been waiting hours to do that), then put me into a car harness and let me sleep on her lap while she drove us to our new home. It took a long time but I didn't care, I was nice and warm now, had a good pee, and some water and a bone.

We've arrived at my new home and there are already toys for me to play with!!! I have a big bed with a door, a handsome red blanket and pillow, and a ticking alarm clock that sounds just like my mom's heart beating.

And there are cats.... they're definitely not dogs. I've seen 4 cats around here so far, I'm not sure if there are any more. I'm too tired to play with them today, I guess I'll see if they want to play in the morning.

This first night mom wanted to sleep with me to make sure I wasn't scared - that was nice - so she slept on the living room floor with me all covered in my blanket. 2 of the cats came and slept with us too... they're nice and warm.

So I guess I'll see where the food is in the morning - right now I'm so tired and going to sleep.

The puppy.

Starting out...

Well, I'll bet you're all wondering exactly who I am, and what I'm doing writing a blog.

I'm cutie #3 in the photo above, the one making the face - the other 'dales are my 4 brothers. I have 7 sisters too.

My name is Bogart. Well, at least that's what it's going to be in another week or so when I'm adopted by my new mom.... (I understand she's already picked out this name based on something - I'm sure I'll find out what that is when I meet her, and if not I'll be sure to ask - or to do something to get her attention...).

I'm an airedale puppy. Purebred, very attractive parents. Today I'm exactly 7 weeks old.

In another week I'm going to be flying across the country - I'll admit to being kind of anxious about it - from my cozy home here in Virginia to the big city in Los Angeles.

I guess I'll wait to see how that goes, and tell you all about my trip on my next post... and I'll see what the crazy girl who writes to my current mom and dad every single day because she's so excited to be getting me soon (whew!) is like. Being an Airedale, I'm sure to give you my pure, unadulterated opinion on her - I can't help it, it's in my nature.

The puppy