Wednesday, January 31, 2007

OK Hershey, you can have it ...

Dear Hershey,

I feel really guilty about telling you 'Finders Keepers - Losers Weepers' about the purple football. You can have it back. I haven't even chewed on it. I will give it to you when I see you. It isn't nice to keep things that belong to others and it is your football. Sorry, I sounded ugly.

My carpet is dry and it doesn't smell bad either. I can't figure it out! It looks fluffy and clean. Mom has been home a lot more lately. I get to go outside more often and I can lay beside her when she knits or uses the computer. When she does leave, she doesn't lock me in the kitchen. That is pretty nice because I can look out the front window and bark anytime I want.

Mom told me that you got a crib for the baby that will be coming to your house soon. How is the baby going to get there Hershey? Do babies drive like people do? Mom told that it is your job to keep Nixon from sleeping in the crib. Is that true? Do you need me to come help you?

Gotta go bark. Someone is walking past my house.

Love, Copper

Monday, January 29, 2007

Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers Hershey !!!



Dear Hershey,
Remember that purple football you got for Christmas? ... the one you could not find when you went to go home to Virginia? Well, I found it today and 'finders keepers, losers weepers.' I found it between the ottoman and the TV.
Mom moved the ottoman so that this evil man could come and tinkle ALL OVER MY CARPETS! I am not allowed to tinkle on the carpet but Mom paid this man to do it today! That must have been what happened, even though I am only guessing because I did not see it. He came with blue hoses and a truck and I barked at him but he did not go away. In fact, Mom made me go upstairs. She shut the door so I did not see what he did but when I came downstairs, the carpet was wet everywhere downstairs. Mom and I have been in the kitchen ALL DAY! And I thought I was going to get to have fun with her on her first day off!
So, since I found the football, I am keeping it. Maybe Mom will stuff it and give it to me tomorrow when my fluffy carpet is dry. Right now I am laying in her lap which is NOT big enough, while she types at the kitchen table! (She is petting me though Dachsies!)
Miss you lots Hershey.
Love, Copper


P.S. They have purple squirrels at Busy Buddy. We have to tell Ivy!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Hot CHOCOLATE is yummy ......

I had a real treat today! I got to drink some real hot chocolate! Mom didn't mean to give it to me but she did! You see, she made herself a nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows and went into the living room and set it down on the coffee table. Then she accidentally knocked it over and spilled it all over the coffee table and the carpet. It was a bit huge mess! I helped her clean it up as much as I could. I know dogs are not supposed to have chocolate and Mom knows dogs are not supposed to have chocoate. But, let's just say she was so upset that she couldn't pay attention to me licking it up and her cleaning it up at the same time ....... and I got to taste it. It was yummy. Mom got it all up with the carpet cleaner that sort of works most of the time. Luckily, she says a man is coming to clean my carpets tomorrow.

I don't have a picture of this but I am really getting neglected by my Mom and this knitting. Knitting, knitting, knitting ... it is all she has done this weekend, I tell you! Tonight I just got up in her face under the knitting and said "Hey, remember ME? Pay attention to ME!" Mom's hands were on the knitting and so could not take a picture. She did put the knitting down and pet me a little..... but just a a little.

Tomorrow is the first day Mom does not have to go to work. I wonder what we will do????

Friday, January 26, 2007

Surprise!!!!

Well Dogfriends. One more day is over and my Mom told me what the surprise is! It is not a new puppy, although she has still not ruled out getting a
friend for me.

It is not a while box of rawhides for me to eat all by myself.




It is not a visit from Hershey, although she says he will come see me soon.




It is not a new fancy dog bed, although this one is pretty cool.

The surprise is that my Mom has quit her job and will be staying home with me! ... at least for a while. She is taking some time off to .........be sad about out losing her Mom and my Dad's Dad ........ to clean out some closets ..... to have a yard sale .... to knit things for the grandbaby ..... and to go see Hershey when the baby comes. She says she and I will go for slow sniffy walks everyday!

Wowie zowie .... I finally get my Mom back. She says she may get another job in a few months because I may need more money for dog cookies. What a wonderful surprise. She is excited about taking some time off and getting some things in order. She is excited about going to see Hershey and she is excited about knitting. I sure hope she does not knit this for me. Yikes.



Wednesday, January 24, 2007

One more day ....

I have been thinking and thinking ... all day .... about what it could be. One more day Mom told me tonight. Is it a new puppy? nah ... Maybe a trip to see Hershey. Nah ... he is coming for a baby shower in mid February. I don't know what it could be.

I did not throw up today. Mom bought me a bed from Target. She said it was only $9.99. It isn't really even big enough for me! Maybe it has to do with one more day???????? Oh well, I better go to bed so that one more day will be over quicker.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Relaxing in sunny Florida .....


Hey dogfriends. I told you yesterday that I got to lay in sunspots at my Grandaddy's house. Well, naturally my Mom took pictures of me.
I did not get to do much when I was in Florida because my Mom and my Dad were busy somewhere else packing up and sorting through stuff .... something they said was very very sad. But I was happy because I was relaxing in the sun in the sunspots at Grandaddy's house ..... except when I saw the big birds. Then I barked.
Today, Mom went to work again today and to make her feel bad about it .... I threw up in the kitchen while she was gone. She found it when she got home. ....... It worked. ...... She felt bad. Today she told me two more days. And no, Hershey is not coming in two more days. It is a big special thing and it happens in two more days. I can't wait to see what it is. Maybe if I throw up again tomorrow, it will get here sooner.
Two more days.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Very tall birds .....

Well, I am back from my car ride to Florida. I don't have a lot of stories to tell you. I did not do a lot except keep my Grandaddy company. It is easy to keep him company. I like him a lot. He has a nice house. It has a lot of sunspots that you can lay in. I don't have many sunspots at my house.


For tonight I just have to show you these giant birds I saw at Grandaddy's house. I do not know what they are but there were very tall, maybe 3 feet tall I guess. They made a lot of noise when they talked. Maybe Isabella can tell me what they are? They were there every morning. They stuck together like friends.





This morning my Mom said something weird to me when she locked me in the kitchen. She said "Only three more days Copper.... only three more." What do you think she means dogfriends?

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

I'm going on a car ride ... a car ride ... a car ride ....

Mom says we are going to Florida tomorrow! That means a car ride! I think we are going to Grandaddy's house. I will take more pictures and post more about my adventures this time. I should go visit Isabella! Yeah, a car ride!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

I just want to say that I love ice cream ......


Sometimes my Mom and Dad take me on car rides to get ice cream. I mean they get ice cream for themselves ..... they don't take me to buy me ice cream. I do get to lick the lid or the bowl if they get ice cream. I love it ........and I hope it is not too terrible bad for me to eat in small quantities ... like licks. Licks can't be bad can they?
My Mom likes chocolate ice cream and my Dad likes other flavors. They never get beef or chicken flavored ice cream, or liver flavor. I wonder why? That would be really good. Maybe I should write to Dairy Queen.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A tribute to my sister Holly ....

Hana asked about Holly and any other furkids our family our family has had. I can only tell you what I know from the stories I have been told because I am only 3 years old and I was not around then. But this is what I have been told.

This family has had their share of furkids .... or scalekids in the case of the fish. They have had hamsters, and fish and a couple of rabbits. The hamsters were fun. The girl in the family really wanted them and as I remember from the story, got them as a present. They were supposed to be two boys but turned out indeed to be a girl and a boy and so successfully introduced the two humans kids to the "birds and the bees". The kids found that the hamsters ran around in their cages at night and made so much noise that they had to live in another room a lot of the time so that the kids could sleep. The hamsters raised a couple of litters of little hamsters that grew up and went away to pet stores and soon they had separate accommodations and lived solitary lives until they went to hamster heaven. The boy won a goldfish at the school carnival that lived several years as a solitary fish!!!! The rabbits were fun for a couple of weeks but after that they were kind of a pain. They were somewhat wild and were too much for the kids to handle. They scratched them because they did not really want to be held, and because they scratched, no one wanted to handle them often enough to get them used to being handled. If they got away, it was impossible to catch them because the family did not have a fenced in yard then. So, they soon went away to live at a farm.

The human kids were old enough now for a dog and asked for one often, particularly the human girl. When the girl human was in the fourth grade, her teacher was a very big fan of dogs and this only served to fan the flame of the girl humans desire for a dog of her own. So one day Santa Claus brought the boy and girl a wiggly brown dachshund puppy. Now, I know that people discourage Santa from bringing puppies and kittens to people for Christmas but this was planned and executed well and made the best Christmas ever for two little kids. The kids had just watched a Haley Mills movie and decided to name the puppy Haley. Then, because it was Christmas, quickly changed it to Holly.

Holly was the perfect dog. She ran after the kids and played with them in the woods behind the house (where I am not allowed, I might add!) She had a great sense of smell and could track the kids from the house and find where they were playing in the woods. She went camping in the neighbors yard with the boy and ate marshmallows and hot dogs off the ground (Hey, I never get to do that!) She jumped in the creek and swam down the creek to follow the boy when he ran along side it because she could not make it through the brush. She had scars on her chest from her adventures with the boy.

She would let the girl dress her in doll clothes and in costumes at Halloween. She went to a pet show with the girl and wore a blue bow around her neck. She would sleep with the kids every night and especially loved slumber parties where she could sleep in the sleeping bag of every child throughout the night. She would lay next to them 24/7 if they were sick. She understood what it meant when Mom or Dad said "Go wake up _____." and would go upstairs and jump in that kid's bed and lick them and wake them up. She waited up for them when they went on dates.

She would go on long car rides to Grammy and Grandaddy's house and chew on purple monster in the car most of the way. She had her own little dufflebag and knew she was going too when her duffle bag came out of the closet. When she was there, she barked at their many squirrels and scratched up her chest hunting the lizards in their rock garden.

She had managed to get her two kids through college and had gotten them both married. In the meantime, I (Copper) came along and was adopted because my Mom knew it was going to be be hard for her to let Holly go. We never played much togther but she grew to like my company, even if my puppyness irritated her a lot of the time.

She had bladder stones and got urinary tract infections, but an expensive canned dog food managed that problem well. She developed cloudy eyes and started to not see well. She put on some weight, as dachshunds are prone to do, and we later discovered it was probably due to a malfunctioning thyroid. Medication for her thyroid was needed now. She eventually got skin problems that were insurmountable and memory problems that combined with her now almost non-existence eyesight and lack of hearing and old age (15) made her not a dog anymore, but an addled, confused, sick animal who was scared and hurting and afraid all of the time. She got lost in the house and didn't respond to us in any way, except to be afraid when you surprised her by coming near her. It was terribly sad, in the end, to continually see her with her nose pointed into yet another corner of some room, stuck there and unable to think of how to get out. It was just too sad for us to watch.


Miss Cindy finally put Holly to sleep one day about sunset, on her own front porch, in her own front yard and she is buried not far from the porch where we can all be close to her. The plaque says "Good Girl" because that is how the family used to praise her. She was indeed a "Good Girl."



The plaque is really a flat brick that the now grown girl painted for her as a marker. The pot-dog is made of clay pots.

Me and Holly in a bed in the kitchen.

She loved to be covered up, especially in cold weather.


I am a year old and Holly is 14 in this picture.


Visiting Grammy and Grandaddy at Christmas. She couldn't find her way around the house. She was tired and even though this was right by the front door, she just laid down and went to sleep right in a busy spot.


Towards the end at about 15.

Rest in peace Holly. You were a good girl.

Dogfriends - As an aid to other old dogs and to honor Holly, please feel free to copy and paste the hint about scents in the entry below titled "For doggies who can't see very well anymore." and post it on your site.
It is a hint worth passing around. Thanks.






Thursday, January 11, 2007

A tip for doggies who can't see very well anymore ...


Hey dogfriends. I get this email called "DogAge Tip of the Week" and I just have to share the tip they sent to me this week. It so would have helped my old sister Holly when she got to where she could not see very well anymore. She had things in her eyes that made her nto be able to see very well when she got old. Here is the tip from DogAge.com:
Let His Sniffer Be His Eyes
Janaury 11, 2007
Blind dogs rely on smelling and hearing to make their way in the world. Here's how you can take advantage of Fido's keenest sense. Bumping into things and having trouble navigating is not uncommon for dogs who are vision-impaired. You can minimize mishaps and make getting around a lot easier by marking each area of the house with a different scent, using pinecones, candles, or air fresheners to create a sniffable map of his surroundings. Try a drop of vanilla extract by his food and water dishes, a spot of peppermint essential oil on his bed, and your favorite potpourri by the door you use when taking him out for walks.
My lazy Mom finally took the Christmas tree down today. She set her own personal record for the length of time she left a Christmas tree up, but she is trying to not be too hard on herself after everything that has happened this year. Besides, we didn't put it up till 3 days before Christmas.


I got a GIRLFRIEND!!!!



Meet Ginger. She's my new girlfriend. Miss Cindy, my doctor, gave her to me! She is so pretty ..... and she SQUEAKS! Mom says I can't demolish her. This is what her tag says:
My name is Ginger
because of my color
but I'm as sweet
as gingerbread too.
I love to take long naps in your lap
and snuggle up close to you.
I love getting treats
and good things to eat,
but my favorite is a kiss on the nose.
Take me home with you and you'll see,
I can't get enough of those!


Kinda sounds like a description of me!

Ok, enough pictures Mom ... she's mine!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Thanks Dad!!!!


I got a meatball! It just fell from the sky! Dad tried to pick it up off the floor but I got to it first! It was HOT and I had to hold it in my mouth for a minute before I ate it but it was SO GOOD! I did not know people food tasted so yummy! I am going to hang around by the stove more often!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Now Mom really wants a camera phone ....



Yesterday my Mom came home from running errands and she told me a story. She said she went to Petsmart to use a $2 coupon that was about to expire (she bought me treats!) and she saw a beautiful dog..... actually two beautiful dogs. The first one was beautiful brown dachshund. He had a dappled coat and he was very interested in everything in the store. (I would have been interested in everything in the store if she had taken me!)

Then she saw a big beautiful dog like she had seen in dog blogs. It was one of the biggest dogs she had ever seen and was one of the most beautiful dogs she had ever seen. She asked the man if it was a Huskie. He said no, he had two huskies but this dog was an Alaskian Malamute. We don't have many Alaskian Malamutes in Augusta so Mom had never ever seen one before in person. The thing Mom noticed was the coat on this dog. She has since looked at images of them on the internet to show you what it looked like but this dog's coat was a little different from the pictures on the internet. The man explained that the dark hairs on the top of his coat were "guard hairs." On this dog they laid on top of the undercoat in almost stripes. It was the most beautiful coat she had ever seen (except for mine.) She told me she wished she had been able to take a picture of her to show you Northern Breeds. It was a girl dog. Mom petted the dog (and I could smell it when she got home!) and it was a very nice dog. But it sure had a pretty coat.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Thursday, January 04, 2007

I've been tagged ....


Isabella tagged me to give you my 5 New Year's Resolutions. I had to think about that a lot.... and I am still thinking. But I guess I can do it. Let's see.


1. Take my Mom on more slow sniffy walks. I would love to go on one everyday. Everydog should write her back and make her feel really guilty about not taking me for walks more often. She quit taking me for walks because she says I dawdle too much!


2. Meet more dogs with blogs and blog about more interesting stuff. I need to have a more exciting life first though.
3. Visit my grandaddy in Florida more often and learn to like it on his screened in porch.

4. Do something cute enough to get on Amimal Planet's Funniest Home Videos. It is on every afternoon when Mom comes home from work but does she enter me? No!


5. Get a doggie girlfriend, even a cyber one. If I can't get one to come live with me, maybe I can have a blog girlfriend. All this talk about engagement collars has made me want a girlfriend.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Two can play at this game ....


Since Hershey published an embarrassing picture of me on his blog today, I am giving you all this embarrasing picture of him practicing to be a real live baby.

As you may know, there is a rumor that a baby is coming to his house. I don't know how that works ... I have been to his house and I have not seen any babies in the neighborhood, or in his yard or anything. Not very many people know where they live, certainly not any babies anyway. But his mother says a baby is coming. Maybe they could not answer the door for a while.

So here is a picture of Hershey filling in to demonstrate a baby sling. Hershey did NOT ask to be carried around in this by the way. He says he can't BARK from here! He might like to be carried around in it at Petsmart ... he always gets scared in the pet store. I won't tell you what he did the last time he went there. VERY embarrasing. But, I shouldn't talk ... I get scared in there too ... and I went to school there.

Monday, January 01, 2007

This is for Hana ....




This is for Hana. We have the same toy.
Hana, I think it is supposed to be a dog. I tore one ear off. The dirty spot is where the squeaker is. I love it.
Happy New Year everydog!!!!