A tree came inside

Now it’s all brrrr outside again and the white stuff is back. You won’t believe this, but a tree came inside… right inside the house! Maybe it was cold.

Lots of new things around too.

One morning we ripped all the paper off of those new things that were lying around. Oooh, that was fun! They let me help and I ripped and tore with my teethies!

No. 1 got that large item. She uses it to put blankies over.

But, the most exciting thing that happened was right after lunch. Since the humans have trained me to lie down through dinner and always give me some of their food afterward, I’ve gotten the idea that doing a ‘down-stay’ is a good idea if I want a treat at any time, even if they don’t tell me to do it.

So I did a very polite ‘down-stay’ while they were eating lunch, and do you know what I got?
THE BIGGEST DOG BISCUIT I’VE EVER SEEN!

No. 2 got it out of the bag of dog biscuits that I had gotten under the tree. No. 1 said, ‘That big thing’ll make him sick,’ but of course I’m smarter than that. I ate two of the knobs, and then just carried the rest around with me the rest of the day, from the bedroom to the living room and back. There’s nothing better that carrying a big dog biscuit in your mouth.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: October 12th, 2009 under Foods - No Comments.

Good places to sleep

Good places to sleep are mainly on top of No. 2. He’s more floppy than No. 1.

No. 2 is more prone to naps.

See what I mean?

Here’s an example of a place to sleep that is not good. I really wonder about the Klingons sometimes.

What was she thinking?

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: October 11th, 2009 under Naps - 1 Comment.

How I became the Quilt Puppy

You may have noticed that the name of my dogblog is “The Most Excellent Life and Times of Willie the Quilt Puppy.” You may also have wondered, “How did such a thing as a quilt get into the act?”

No. 1 is always fooling around with hunks of cloth. Sometimes she sits at a table and runs a contraption that goes whiiiirrrrr.

Other times she sits with a big blankie on her lap and does things with it. Sharp implements are involved.

At these times I am not allowed to sit on the blankie on her lap. I can lie under the blankie, or I can lie on the part of the blankie that is on the floor (but for some reason she moves it frequently so it’s not all that satisfactory).

In my opinion, the hunks of cloth could be left just the way they are. A pile of them makes a good bed, and they would be fun to scrunch up. No. 1 does not agree. So I abide by her wishes and take up my self-appointed duties as the Quilt Puppy. Here’s my job description.

• Keep No. 1 company in the studio.

• Dog-approve all quilts by lying on them at some stage of completion, testing them for comfiness.

• Fetch spools of thread that have rolled under the sofa.

My favorite quilting activity is the reading of magazines.

Very edifying.

I take my duties seriously. In fact, it will come to pass in a few years’ time that No 1 will name her whole company after me. But that’s another story, one that will be told in the fullness of time.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: September 27th, 2009 under Quilting - No Comments.

They’ve taken leave of their senses

The humans have gone off the deep end. Last night they lined me up and subjected me to the following spectacle.

Not knowing what to make of this behavior, I figured it was best to play along, so I stood up on my hind legs and pawed the air, in the maneuver known as “the papillon wave.”

This episode was followed by tasty treats, which enabled me to get over the shock.

Jazz hands. Really?

Woofs,
Willie

[No. 2 here. For those of you who are wondering, "What is that song?", I'll explain. I'm a folk music fan and dulcimer player, so one of my favorite musicians is John McCutcheon, a dulcimist extraordinaire. At almost every concert, John used to (and probably still does) sing this song, called "Cut the Cake." As John explains it, he wrote it to save the world from the Birthday Dirge, that ghastly song that most of us are subjected to on our birthdays. It's peppy and happy and up-tempo, the way a happy-birthday song should be.]

Posted: September 14th, 2009 under Teenager - No Comments.

It’s getting cooler

The weather isn’t quite as warm now, and it looks like this in the back yard.

Just like dogs, our trees are shedding. They’re turning all their leaves brown and dropping them on the ground. The leaves are crackly and crunchy when you step on them.

For some reason, the humans are not content to let the crunchy leaves stay on the ground. No. 2 rakes them up into big piles. Then the Klingons come along and jump into the piles and scatter them around again. This is fun to watch, except that the colors of the Klingons and the colors of the leaves are about the same, so you have to keep a wary eye out in case of sneak attack.

When they’ve had their fun, they lay around and don’t even help make the piles again.

No. 2 goes away sometimes. I don’t like this. The first clue is when the suitcase comes out.

All of us help him pack. The way we do it is, No. 2 puts the suitcase on the bed. The Klingons get into the suitcase. No. 1 calls out “Socks, underwear, shirts, pants!” No. 2 yells “Check!” I watch with a sinking feeling in my stomach. It’s good to have a human and a spare.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: September 8th, 2009 under The way we do things - 2 Comments.

Our walks after dinner

When it’s warm outside, we go for a walk after dinner. The whole pack goes… me, the humans, and all three of the Klingons. The way we do it is, one of the humans says “Walk!” and we all get ready.

Did you say walk? Now? It's time?

I get my leash on and we all gather in the side yard. Then we go up the road a little ways and turn left. The Klingons are slow, so we have to wait until they all catch up. Then we go down a hill. We stop and look out across a field to an old house where nobody has lived for a long time.

No. 1 says this is her favorite view of all.

Then the funnest part. We go into the woods! There’s a little path there and we all walk through. I stay on the path but the Klingons take the high roads.

At the end of the path we come out behind a house where there’s never anybody there, and my bestest Klingon goes and rolls and flips in a patch of dust. I really don’t know why she enjoys this but I guess it takes all kinds.

Then it’s a race to the finish. No. 2 goes out ahead and calls the race as the Klingons head toward home. I must say that they do not understand the concept of a race, because they go in fits and starts, and they stop to look behind them all the time.

One time on the way home I walked through a patch of weeds, and they grabbed me! I was stuck! Couldn’t move forward, couldn’t move backward. The humans rescued me from these grabby plants and carried me home. “What a mess!” I heard. They took a long time to pick a whole bunch of little bitty green sticky things out of my coat. I heard No. 1 exclaim, “213!” That was not that much fun.

Woofs,
Willie

[No. 1 here... the "house where where there's never anybody there" is a non-residential frat house down the street from us in Gambier, Ohio, a tiny academic town in central Ohio, home to Kenyon College.

No. 2 and I cherished our walks with Willie and the cats. The neighbors always marveled to see three cats walking with us. In fact, they were known as "The Famous Gambier Walking Cats."]

Posted: September 4th, 2009 under Teenager, The way we do things - No Comments.

Marginalized!

Now that the Klingons are over being fazed by me whatsoever, I find myself being ooched off of laps.

It starts out innocently enough.

Little by little, they advance on my position, sometimes even making so bold as to lie right on top of me.

Hey, I was here first!

This is really very thick. It’s obvious they have no respect for a dog’s personal space, or for the fact that possession is 9/10 of the law.

Really?

It always ends the same way. They move in inch by inch, until it’s too much and I give up the lap. I just can’t cuddle up to a Klingon.

The bed I can share. There's more room, and legs.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: August 29th, 2009 under Teenager - No Comments.

Chipmunks are fun for all

Now it looks like this outside our house.

Green is better than white.

It’s warm instead of brrr! and I can run! Run like the wind! I can run just as fast as No. 2.

The Klingons have a little door just for them. They go in and out and in and out. Nowadays, a lot of times when they come back in they bring a friend with them. Chipmunks are the best.

He's inside and we're outside? That's just wrong.

I'm full of Little Friskies right now or else you'd be toast.

Chipmunks run really fast too. They are so fun to chase and if I catch one I bite its tail with my teethies. No. 1 tries to catch them but they get away and run up the curtains or hide under the kitchen cabinets. She tries to lure them out with Cheerios. Usually what happens is, when a chipmunk has been in the house for a few days it really slows down. Then No. 1 is able to put on her thick gloves and catch them and put them back outside. There goes the entertainment.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: August 27th, 2009 under Teenager - No Comments.

I’m a Canine Good Citizen

Besides all the ways that I’ve learned from No. 1 of how to earn treats at home, she took me to a place where there were lots of other dogs and we all had to do the same things over and over again. It wasn’t that much fun. Particularly when we moved outside and they expected me to do a “down” on the GRASS. What? Put my belly down on that prickly, tickly stuff? Ew. I’m a much more civilized dog than that, thank you very much.

After we’d been doing that for a few times, we went to yet another place outdoors. There were tons of other dogs. Here are some of them.

No. 1 says this is a Brittany and a Boston.

A nice boxer.

Um... don't know, but he's big and on the table.

The lineup.

No. 1 and I did a lot of different things while another human watched us and wrote things down. I had to sit, stay, come, walk nicely on my leash, get petted by a stranger, stay behind a barn without howling, and all kinds of things like that.

See how nice I pay attention?

Finally it was over, and I got to go back to the car with No. 2. Soon No 1 came back all excited, waving a paper in the air.

This is what all the excitement was about.

Of course I’m a Canine Good Citizen! My breeder mom and my human pack raised me right!

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: August 24th, 2009 under Other dogs, Teenager - No Comments.

Détente with Klingons

The Klingons are warming up to me. I think. The hissy one chases me around now, and we have conversations. She uses that same voice that they use when they talk to the birdies in the back yard. When she blocks my way I bark at her and she goes eh eh eh eh eh at me.

She's No. 2's favorite Klingon. Go figure.

One time she cornered me in a small place. I bravely stood my ground. She reached out with her paw to swat me — then changed her mind and touched noses instead!

The friendly one is now my bestest Klingon.

We hang out.

The white one makes the best stank face, but she doesn’t seem to care much about me one way or the other. I’m just as glad about that.

Just a little disagreement.

Woofs,
Willie

Posted: August 22nd, 2009 under Teenager - No Comments.