My friend Accord

After we got home from the coast, Mom got a call about the dog they had before me. His name is Accord. I knew he must be a cool dog, cause my Dad talks about him all the time (it gets annoying really "Cordo this. Cordo that. Cordo was perfect...blah blah blah!) So, the call Mom got was that Accord has decided that he doesn't want to be a guide dog. We all have to make our own decisions about this. While Mom and Dad were sad, they were also happy that the right decision was being made for Accord and that he was going to live with my Auntie Diana. I am SUPER excited that I will have a lab friend at family gatherings! When its just me and the herder, I get blocked in places I don't wanna be! Now it will be 2 of us! We still may be herded, but at least we will be stuck somewhere with a friend!

Accord spent a couple days with us before he left for Sacramento. We did lots of running and playing!


He also showed me that he had to sit and be good for meals too!


Then he showed me his box. Let me tell you - this makes me think the boy is kinda odd! There is this box on the floor in the kitchen. I've always thought that it was strange to keep it, but sometime my friend Mr. Kitty sits in it - actually, he sits in that box almost every day. Sometimes he naps there. I prefer a fluffy bed, but whatever. But, here is the real reason they have the box! Some of us learned Go To Bed correctly. Then there is Accord. He got all upset when you asked him to go on a blanket - but had to problems doing this:



What a nut! Then, we headed off to deliver Accord to his new home. We met Auntie Diana and Jennifer at my grandparent's house so we didn't have to leave Accord in a new home - this was as confusing for him, but easier on his emotions (he's such a girly boy!) First, we headed to the waterfront for pictures and a walk.

Then for the big hand off. It was fun having him to play with, but I'm kinda glad he's gone! Now I get Mom and Dad all to myself!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Moving Forward!

Well, I caught you all up on what I was doing while I was "away," but didn't keep you up to date on the current happenings! Ugh! I just may never catch up! So, instead, i will just start from here.

I have a new habit that is driving my parents crazy! They have done so much work on getting me to accept and follow rules and talk about how much I have improved and how great I am doing. So, just to keep them on their toes, I decided to start something new. Whining. Yup! The squeaky, nails-on-a-chalk-board kinda whine that drives people nuts! My favorite time to do it is early on sleep in days. Saturdays are the best (since it is the only real sleep in day they have). You see, the cats and I like to be fed, but when they sleep in, we get fed late. That's a problem for us. So, about the time the alarm normally goes off, I'll throw in a whiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnne. Then another and another.

It's a hard one for them to fix - they don't want to get out of bed and come over to me. They could try to use a squirt bottle on me - I say bring it on! I LOVE getting a squirt of water! I also LOVE being in control. My whining gives me just a little bit of that. If they come to me, they touch me and that makes me happy. If they don't come over to me, I keep on whining. Either way, it's a win-win situation for me and a lose-lose for them. It really is great fun to see Mom's frustration with it. The best was when I decided I needed to get up with Dad at 4:15 AM on Friday. Ha! Take that for not filling my belly when I'm clearly wasting away and about to die of hunger.

Mom's on to me though - I feel her new fix coming and I don't think I'm going to like it. So, I'll have to come up with something new!

Speaking of hunger - I just realized that my dinner is late! Gotta get my whiner primed and working! BELLY EMPTY! STARVING! ABOUT TO KEEL OVER FROM HUNGER!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Kiddie Pool Fun!

So, with my new rules of not being allowed to have Nylabones came some other ideas of what I can do to have fun. Mom was told about one that she only wants to use when we are outside. She took a tupperware dealy and put water in it. Then, she put it in the freezer. Out came a big giant ice cube! I LOVE ice cubes!!

Ice cube now please!

So, when Mom and Dad were out working in the yard, they put out the kiddie pool, filled it with some water and dropped in my giant cube. It was SO much fun!! I REALLY like picking up the big giant cube and holding it in my mouth until it is SO cold that I can't take it any more. Then, I spit it out and with a big SPLASH is goes back into the water! Such fun!



Got it! Uh oh... I think my tongue is stuck! Now what do I do? Nevermind! I fixed it! It's all good!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Lower is better!

Did you know that people play strange games? My whole puppy group went to this place called Scandia a couple weeks ago. People take little balls and hit them with sticks. Sometimes the balls go through loop-to-loops. Some times they go in one place and you have to go down some stairs to see where your ball ended up. Really, it was quite strange. But, the people had a great time!

And you know what they did?? They used us puppies as hazards! How rude! Here were the rules: you HAD to have a puppy leash when it was your turn. (After all, we were there for a puppy meeting!) If we touched the ball, you added a stroke to your score. If we picked up the ball, you got a stroke added. Like we puppies are so likely to do such things?!?! Just to prove how insulted we were by the rules NONE of us touched the balls! Take that rule makers!

It was a fun night! My Dad even won! But not because any of the other puppies were bad! It's because I am his lucky charm! Yea me! I can't wait to go again!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Watch Out! It's Coming After You!

Well, you all know that I love the water already, but I'm still in looking back mode! So, a couple weeks ago, Mom and Dad thought it was warm enough in town to go out to the beach! When we got there, it was SO windy! I thought that my ears were going to blow right off my head!

We all went down to the water. Mom thought I would see the water and jump on in and romp around! But, No! I had totally different ideas! Did you know that when you get close to that water it chases you? I was going to go up and stick my toes in and see how it was. But, the water started coming at me! A line of white foam came streaming towards me! So, I did what any self-respecting lab would do - I turned tail and ran as fast as my feet would take me! That was scary!

Then I decided to give it another chance and see if it would take me on again. I headed back to the water and approached it carefully.

ACK! It got me!! I don't know how it happened! I was watching it SO carefully! But, the water looped around and got me from the side!

When it got me, I decided that maybe the water wasn't so bad! It felt good on my toes! And, if you stand still long enough, the ground starts to disappear under my feet! It kinda disolves! It feels so funny! After a little bit of romping and playing, it was time to go! We took a few more pictures and headed to the car. Look at how my ears are flying in the breeze!


The car ride home gave me time to dry off and take a snooze! All that running makes a girl tired!


I can't wait to go back again!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Father's Day - Looking Back

So, back to updating you all on what I did during my blogging vacation! For Father's Day, we went to see Dad's family. Not only was it Father's Day, but it was also Auntie Diana's Birthday! What fun!! Mom and Dad told me that I would be meeting my dog cousin, Lupe there, so I was super excited. But, Uncle Steven got too sunburned to come! I'm really bummed that I didn't get to meet her!

But, we still had fun! (Mom thinks I probably had more fun without Lupe there - she's pretty bossy!) I got to meet most of the rest of the family - so that was cool! I put on my best greeting face for each of them:

That should work, right?? When it didn't, I had to tell people to pet me. Then, I talked to them to demand some petting!


Instead of petting me, they started calling me Chewbacca! I'm not sure why. In my head I was saying "PET ME PET ME PET ME!" But, instead of petting me, they all say "Aawoowooowoowoo to you too!" Then they would laugh at me! I was a it confused by it all.

We took a family picture for the day too.


Now that I've been thinking about getting pets, I think I'm gonna go put my cute face on and see what happens!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Conference Weekend

Since I spent a whole month off from blogging, I think I need to go back and update you on some of the stuff that I did. I am always doing something new! Its been nothing but fun - which is why I took some time away from the paw top computer. Its hard to have fun and keep up with your blogging!

A couple weeks ago, Mom, Gram, Auntie Susan and I all met up with a whole lotta women! It was insane! There was so much estrogen in the building that I almost came in season! Ha! We listened to a woman named Beth Moore speak. We did lots of singing too. It was a lot like church - but instead of 200 of my friends, it was 6,000 women! But some of my church friends were there. I always think it is kinda odd to go out of town and be someplace totally new and run into people who I know! Look at all these women! At least they were mostly dog loving women, who liked to give belly rubs!

I sat and watched when I wasn't asleep Even when the lights were out, I did my best to stay awake and pay attention.

At least a cute little cross named Dot had to sit and be good through the conference too! She looked like she would be super fun to play with! She's an 8 month old black cross and I really really wanted to play! But, we had to be good! But, eventually, I decided I was bored. So, I got out my "Are you kiddding me??" face and put all my energy behind it.


How could that face not convince you that I was ready to go?!?!

I will tell you a secret about the weekend though... Mom, Gram and Auntie Sue stayed in a hotel together. Because the others had the sniffles, Mom decided to sleep on the floor - WITH ME!!! I slept under the table that was in the room and Mom slept next to me. It was great! (And don't listen to Mom! It didn't smell *that* bad when I tooted in her face!)

Oh well, it was a fun weekend! Even if it was stinkin hot! No place should be 110 degrees! Ouch! Time to cool off!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

One last day!

It was almost time to go home, but we still wanted to get some fun in before the loooooong car ride home. So, we went in to Morro Bay to look around. Dad wanted to go check out the rock, but it was really crowded over there! So, we went around the back side of the rock to look at the water.

Dreaming of going out for a swim and SO bummed that I don't get any more ocean play this weekend.

We stopped for a family picture too. I hear this one will end up framed and on the wall at home. Yippy! I am finally making the wall! But seriously, enough was enough! That rock was really hard to sit on! I'm pretty skinny ya know - not much padding back there! Here's my "I'm done!" face.

Then it was time to head back to the house to pack up and take off. I like riding in Papa's truck. I get to sit up front with Gram. It's a great place to be!

No really! It's great even if I have my bummed out face on! I was bummed cause vacation was over and we were heading home. Though, I was looking forward to a long nap! I was pooped!

Starting this week, I will be posting about my adventures during my hiatus. So, keep checking back to see the fun I had!

Love and Licks,
Poppy

Happy 4th of July!

What a day of excitement and fun! There's only one part of the day that I would have changed. I would have had the silly people make sure they had a non-leather leash when went to the beach! Getting my feet wet is just not enough to satisfy me!

So, we got up early and headed into Cayucos for breakfast. The staff people there were weird - they were all dressed like hippies! It's not like it was Halloween people! But, it was cool cause they ate out on the deck, so Lester got to come too!

Then, it was out for the parade! We took some pictures while waiting for the start.

Then the parade started coming! The big giant flag was really cool!

So far away from our farm, but even here there was a dancing chicken!

Hey! Look! There are our hippies from breakfast! Oooh... The Sea Shanty of Love! Got it!


This one made my Dad drool! I didn't know that people can drool too! But, he loves old cars and flames!


Then, it was off to the beach to look at the sand castles. We had to walk quite a way to get there. Look at all the people! It was crazy crowded!

The sand castles were really cool! I thought sand was just for digging in! Who knew you could build stuff out of it!

I did have one scary moment though! There was a shark on the beach and I thought it was going to eat me! It was super scary! But, then I realized it was made of sand and I would be ok!


After that scare, I really wanted to go in the water. But, we didn't have a flexi leash with us - just my good leather leash. I got to get my tooties wet, but that was all. I cried a little.

Mom and Dad promised they would take me for a swim later in the afternoon, but I was SO tired when we got home that I conked out! By the time I was up and moving again, there was so much going on at the beach that I couldn't go. No fireworks for me! I stayed snug and a bug in my crate while the family went to the beach for the show. Lester told me that we were better off at home. Of course, he's a wimp! I think it would have been fun! OH well - maybe next year!

Vacation Time!

Yesterday was a way long day! After hours of work, I had to sit in the car for-EVER!! We stopped in some place called Salinas for dinner, then it was back in the car. I didn't think they were ever going to let me out! But, finally we stopped the car and got out at a house I have never been to before. But, my grandparents were there and so was Lester! (He's the golden retriever that lives with my grandparents - he tried to teach me to swim on my last trip to Fresno)

It was fun to see him, but right after we got there, it was time for bed! Let me tell you - that was NOT working for me! And since we didn't have a crate, I got up and down all night long! It was SO much fun to bug Mom and Dad all night!

This morning, we woke up and hung out around the house - the people call it the Beach House. I don't know why - there isn't any beach in the house. Dad and I hung out on the deck and played with bubbles - it was such fun! Gram kept telling me that bubbles don't taste good - but I thought they did!


Then we headed off to Avila Beach for some shopping and wandering around. That wasn't too exciting - I wasn't even allowed on the beach! Actually -we didn't try to go. It was a no dogs beach and what fun is sand and water with your puppy coat on?? None!

We ended up at a place called Avila Farm. There were all sorts of friends there! Goats! Roosters! Sheep! Peacocks! Cows and mini horses! It was SO much fun to see all the animals! There was also a big giant tire. It was SO big I could sit inside!

After a nap at home, the best was yet to come! After the people ate dinner, we went over to a house near by. When we drove up, there were 2 dogs out on the balcony - a lab and a cross. Mom started saying hi to the lab - called him Pele. Hey! I've heard that name before! Mom raised him a long time ago and he now lives with their friends. The cross is also a CC dog. Her name is Loden. We visted with them for a little while, then we went off to the beach! Yippy!!!

I had SO much fun romping in the waves! I love jumping over the white foam and into the water! I love racing through the water at full speed. It was SO much fun! The seaweed smells SO good! I love sniff sniff sniffing it!

Of course, Dad caught me in an intimate moment on the beach. All that fun in the sun(set) gets a girls tummy a little upset, ya know?? But, my Dad always has that camera going and caught me!


Lots more on tomorrow's agenda! I'm gonna need a week of work to recover from this! Time for bed! I think I'm gonna let Mom and Dad sleep tonight! I'm zonked!

Love and Licks,
Poppy