Winter Walk

I love nicer weather, because it always means "Walkie!"

Yesterday, after some serious harness adjusting (for Patches), we hit the pavement and began our very first 3-mile walk of 2008! At first, my mama tried to keep us out of all the puddles...but gave up after realizing that her efforts were futile. We knew that playing in puddles would lead to bathtime, but it was worth the trade off. Patches especially attacked them with much gusto - slamming 2 paws into each puddle for the biggest splash possible, getting me and mama every time!

Here we are checking out a cat in someone's yard.


We passed a store front, and Patches went absolutely nutty - - he thought there was another handsome Beaglier behind the glass door. Ruff, ruff! I had to tell him that it was our own reflection. Silly puppy!


Check out how incredibly dirty we are! Our bath water was black. I don't look as dirty as Patchy - but it's only because I have black fur...mama said we were both yucky to the max. But, we sure had fun.

The Game

When Patches was a just a little teeney baby, he used to gather up all of our toys and sit on them so that I couldn't play with what I wanted. It used to make me upset, but I've figured out that it's a pretty genius idea and started using this little game in my own life, for my own advantage. If Patches complains, I can simply remind him that he's the one who taught me this trick.

This is a never-before seen baby picture that my mama just found in her camera!

Every now and then we get to enjoy a nice hard tooth scraping bone. I love bones so much, and my mama likes them too because they redirect my attention to something that I am allowed and encouraged to destroy.

This is me, hoarding both mine and Patches bones:

Patches fianlly figured out that I took claim to his bone and came over to investigate. He stood on the top of his kennel and stared at me for about 10 minutes before I looked up and gave him the stink eye.

Patches knew he was defeated, so he thought he would try to barter with me and brought over a chewed up Bar-B-Chew as a trade. Not so fast little one! I only take fair and even trades, my friend, and that corn cob is missing all of it's corn! If it was a new chewie right out of the package then maybe I would consider it. (Maybe, but probably not...seeing how I could just steal that also and lay on top of it as well.)

In response, I gingerly placed my free hand on my new bone, for added drama.

100

Now that I am feeling better, I am going to copy my mama, and some other human friends with cute pups, and list 100 things about your favorite hybrid puppies. (BTW - my vet lady told my mama that I am no longer a puppy - on paper. She's really depressed about that, but said that I will be her baby puppy FURever.)


1. I have a white lightening mark on my chest.
2. All of my toe nails are black, except for one nail that is divided equally as black and white.
3. I do not like MEN with beards. I bark like crazy at them.
4. I officially have 2 kennels - a soft one and a steal bar one. I hated the soft one.
5. Patches swallowed all but 2 of his baby teeth.
6. I taught Patches how to do the 360 degree poop, so our backyard is even more full of land minds!
7. Patches kisses my eyeballs all the time.
8. I have a curly tail that only uncurls when I fall asleep.
9. When we think we are being particularly good, we will sit by our treat drawer.
10. Patches pee's on command when you say the word "Potty."
11. When I stand up on my hind legs, I toot.
12. That toot is often loud.
13. I get called "stinky piggy" all the time.
14. I have both of my dew claws.
15. Patches' dew claws were amputated before my mama found him.
16. We wear matching collars in similar colors - but not the same exact collar.
17. We have collars for every season, and most holidays.
18. A stuffie lasts about 24 hours, tops, in our house.
19. I am the one who destroys it.
20. I also destroy all of our chewie toys too.
21. I have super strong teeth!
22. Patches puts his nose up my butt every morning.
23. Patches goes into his kennel every night without issue.
24. I whine, unless my mama gets on her hands and knees and sticks her head into my kennel, and holds my face and puts her forehead on my forehead and tells me in a soothing voice "Sparky, lay down and go to bed."
25. We each get an apple treat each time we get into our kennels.
26. We know when mama says "Kennels!" that it is time to settle in for the day/night.
27. I win every game of tug-of-war. (see #21)
28. Patches always out runs me during a game of fetch.
29. Patches has a couple of black pads on his paws.
30. We both love playing with my pop's remote control helicopter.
31. Patches is fast enough now that he can jump and catch the helicopter in the air.
32. Patches doesn't chew his food.
33. He knows better than to try to take from my bowl.
34. He will patiently wait until I am finished to check for any leftovers. I check his bowl as well, because you never know!
35. We both love vegetables.
36. (but) Patches especially likes lettuce.
37. We have to wait at the bottom of the stairs until my mama says "OK" after coming in from outside.
38. I am the only pup in this family allowed off-leash.
39. Neither of us are allowed out of our kennels while the humans are away at work or play, because mama said we are untrustworthy. Whatever mama!
40. Me and Patches like to sit under the desk by the space heater in the winter.
41. Patches immediately settles down and goes to sleep when you put a blanket loosely over his head.
42. When my mama lays down on the couch, I nap on her chest, while Patches cuddles between her legs.
43. I go nutty when I hear "Wanna go bye-bye car?"
44. Patches goes nutty when he hears the word "breakfast."
45. We miss Suki and Joey - as their blog was one of the first we ever read.
46. I destroyed my mama's couch by biting 2 holes - 1 in each arm - and digging out all of the stuffing while she was in the shower.
47. Patches has not destroyed a single shoe in his life.
48. I've destroyed about 10 pairs.
49. We've both destroyed dozens of pairs of underwear!
50. I love going on long, long walks.
51. Patches and I are both 1/2 beagle.
52. Patches has actually grown taller than me at the current moment, even though I have 5 pounds on him.
53. My favorite room in our apartment is the bathroom, because it's full of tasty goodies hidden in kleenex.
54. When my parent's eat dinner, I sit so quietly on the chair that I sometimes fall asleep.
55. Patches never sits quietly, and his often in banished to his kennel or kept behind a gate because he will try to taste their food.
56. Ice cream is my favorite food of all time.
57. I watch TV, and not just Animal Planet.
58. My grandma's voice causes my "lipstick" to come out.
59. Neither me nor Patchy can become fathers...sorry ladies.
60. Patches' ears are so long that they can almost wrap around his entire head!
61. My favorite show off trick is roll over.
62. Patches doesn't listen very well, but he has a great recall and excellent sit/stay.
63. Patches shivers when his feet get wet.
64. We have never met a cat in real life.
65. Patches had kennel cough when he first came home as a baby.
66. Patches has the following nicknames: Patchy, Patch-man, Patchy-poo and Patchwork Quilt.
67. I have the following nicknames: Sparky boy, Sparkplug and Sparky-barky.
68. Patches does not walk well on a leash. He pulls like crazy and has to wear a funny harness.
69. Sweaters suck.
70. Patches has reversable ears - one side is black, and the other is brown.
71. I attack falling snow.
72. Patches loves to dig in snow or sand.
73. We got to bed every night at 10:00pm.
74. We wake up every morning at 6:59am.
75. Patches starts to loose steam at 9:30 and often falls alseep on the couch before bedtime.
76. I love bathtime!
77. My chin is starting to turn gray even though I am only a year old.
78. I have human-like armpits.
79. Patches no longer fits into his winter sweater, which was big on him only a month ago. 80. I like to dance around on my hind legs.
81. Patches has black whiskers on the right side of his face, and white whiskers on his left side. (My Pop has known this for a long time, but my Mama just figured this out!)
82. Patches throws his whole body into his barks and bays.
83. I am so glad that we joined DWB last year!
84. Patches likes hot sauce.
85. When my parents got back from vacation last year, a bottle of tequila leaked in their luggage and I took it upon myself to roll around in the clothes.
86. My mama allows me to lick the left over milk from her cereal bowl in the morning.
87. On my pet sheet at the vet, it says that I have a malformed jaw due to my overbite.
88. My awesome overbite allows me to smile, with teeth.
89. Patches hides from birds.
90. I am afraid of the spin cycle from the washing machine.
91. Patches likes to stretch his body out on people.
92. My mama makes us run up and down the stairs at night to tucker us out and get out blood flowing.
93. Patches can not sleep without one of his too-small beds in his kennel.
94. When I sit on my hind legs, all of my fat and rolls gather around my hips.
95. Patches is obsessed with my jowls.
96. Our favorite treats are dried apples wrapped in dehydrated chicken strips. Yum!
97. I love my Furminator, even though it doesn't take a whole lot of my fur. (I don't shed much.)
98. I can't wait for summer so that I can get my pool filled.
99. I become entraced when I hear my mama's heart beat.
100. Patches and I are best friends, and brothers.

We challenge our DWB friends to come up with 100 things about them too! (Some of your pawrents have already participated!) BTW - this took me 3 days to complete.

My brother is sick, as a dog

Sorry we haven't updated in some time...it's been a war zone at our house, and I've been trying to stay out of the way. Sparky was terribly sick this weekend - making all kinds of messes everywhere.

It started Friday evening, right before our Mama came home from work. I heard all these strange noises coming from his kennel (our kennels are separated by a chair so we can't see each other and cause trouble). The, I smelled some serious yuckiness. When Mama walked in, she said "oh no...I smell poo. Ahhhhh! Liquid poo!!!!" She then ushered us outside to do our business, which included Sparky making a mess on the sidewalk. Gross!

As soon as Sparky crossed the threshold, he puked.

(Kat's Note: If I didn't see him actually vomit, I would've thought it came out of the other end. It stunk sooooooooo bad. Poor little guy.)

Even worse, as Mama was picking it up she was gagging all over the place, and I thought that I, Patches the Beaglier, would have to call my Pop for backup! As soon as Mama turned around to compose herself, Sparky poo'ed watery stuff again.

Sparky wasn't allowed to play at all that night, as my Mama had to hold him. Everytime someone took their eyes off of him he would get sick in the corner. On Saturday, he started to poo blood, so Mama packed him up and took him to the vet lady. She was terribly worried. The stole some of Sparky's blood and put a spoon up his rear and did some tests. Sparky (and I, by proxy) were put on a white rice diet.

All's better now, and Spark's test came back as normal. Thank goodness. Life is just so much more fun when my brother isn't a sickie.

Whew!

What a weekend we had! Patches and I are still recovering, as are Mama and Pop!

Our parents went to a wedding in Pittsburgh this weekend, and Patches and I went to the Pet Lodge for a little vacation. We had such a great time. Mama packed up our kibble, some toys - including our Kongs - and a bag full of tasty treats for us to enjoy while we were there. The best part...we got to attend Doggie Day Care every day we were there!!! (Patches even got to go this time, because he no longer has his balls, and is perfectly healed!)

I like Doggie Day Care, but not as much as Patches. That boy just loves to play with all kinds of dogs - big ones, little ones, stinky ones...it doesn't matter. He ended up sleeping like a log. I am a little more reserved, and stick to pups who are my size however I still had a blast.

I feel a wee bit sad for my mama though, because we didn't even say a proper goodbye to her when she dropped us off last Thursday. We were too distracted by the play equipment waiting for us. I'm sure she was crushed. I missed her so much though, and smothered her with love when she came home.

We've been sleeping like champions ever since!

Oh, How I've Grown!

Me, at 8 weeks old:


Me, today at 6 months old:


Mama says I'm all legs! (If you look closely you can see my scar. Sniff.) I'm finally growing into my ears! I also have more brown on my face and around my eyes, and more patches on my - et' hem - groin.

Looks as thought I will never lose that darn Hitler 'stache...

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

Happy New Year to everypup!

Sorry we haven't been around - Patches had his manly bits removed, and it's been quite an experience here for the humans trying to keep us separated, and keep Patches from running and jumping. So far, he hasn't had to wear the collar, even though he can totally reach his wound! (I could never reach mine, since I had, and still have, a little belly chunk in the way.)

I think it would be fun to recount the year, and all the adventures I had along the way. I also think that everypup should play this game...so if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!!!!!

January - I met every human in my new family.

February - I learned how to poo in the snow and started blogging!

March - I was neutered, which was a breeze, celebrated with a huge bone, and learned that I like asparagus.

April - I became a back-up dancer for the Howling Jowls, destroyed some bunny ears, and graduated puppy class!

May - Someone destroyed my Mama's couch, I gave instructions on how to Party like a Rock Star, and introduced my beloved Black Dog.

June - My pop and I were almost attacked by a pack of Pitt Bulls (we weren't hurt), and I ate Frosty Paws for the very first time.

July - I celebrated July 4th by noshing on a marshmallow, and ran for Mayor without even knowing!

August - Patches arrived!!!!

September - I celebrated my birthday, and in a totally unrelated act, snuck some of my mama's cake. Patches and I also mastered the "dual-leash."

October - We went camping and hung out by the fire, and ran off-leash for a while....and, we were forced to dress up in silly costumes.

November - I ate my mama's Ocean's 11 DVD, but as Sophie LaBrador pointed out - I didn't eat the faces of the mega-stars. See, I'm not that naughty.

December - Merry Christmas!

Patches goes to work

This morning I was rejected for the very first time.

It hurt like crazy, zipping right through my fragile heart!

Bright and early, Sparky and I packed up our things and headed off to Doggie Day Care for the day, while Mama went to work and Pop went to the Casino to hang with some buds. Because I am 6 months and 1 day old, and not neutered yet (whatever that means!), I was told that I could not stay. Mama tried to get them to bend their rules, since I am getting neutered next Friday, but they didn't budge. Sparky got to stay, but I had to go.

But that's OK, because I get to hang out with Mama at her work! I've been really busy sniffing all the corners and barking at everyone who walks in the door. I'm like, the official mascot of the office! Mama made me a bed out of a box and her coat and I took a little nap right under her desk.

This afternoon I am going to help everyone with their lunches. After all, I have to make sure that their sandwiches are fit for human consumption now that I am in charge of keeping all these people safe and sound. I can't wait to tell Sparky all about my day...he's going to be so jealous!

Today is my Gotcha Day!

1 year ago today (at around 3:00pm, EST) I was found by my mama. I'm going to do something a little different today, and let my mama tell you all the story of my homecoming...

Last year, on December 20, I woke up and announced to Nathan (Sparky's Pop) that I would be getting a dog that day. We had had the discussion for about a year, and I was always shot down - but that day I was not taking no for an answer. That day began a 10 day vacation from work, so I had the time to spend with a new dog to get them accimated into our world. Of course, Nathan did not believe that I would be so bold.

I had no idea what kind of dog I wanted, except that I did want a puppy - - I just sort of felt that the dog would pick me and not the other way around. I visited the local animal shelter and played with a couple of the dogs there (not puppies), but none of them felt right. I spoke with the staff at the shelter and they explained that there was a waiting list for puppies, and that they don't receive them often. After careful consideration, I made my way to one of the pet stores. (I have gotten some negative feedback from some about purchasing a dog through a pet store, but that is a choice I made that worked for us.)

I peaked inside the kennels and this little black dog with soulful eyes peered back at me. I immediately knew that I had to visit with him. This puppy was the most hugable dog I have ever had the pleasure to meet. He kissed my cheek and nuzzled into my neck, and when I put him down he immediately wanted to be picked up again. His birthday is September 29 - which is the anniversary of Nathan and my first date! I knew right then that I would be walking out with this dog!

After the paperwork was completed, and I was several hundred dollars lighter, the little black dog and I walked out through the mall to my car in the parking lot. Of course, we stopped for every person who asked if they could pet him, and like a champ the puppy allowed it and welcomed it! Since our home was ill-equiped for an animal, I stopped by my sister's house and had her dog sit, while I did a little shopping. She and her children were thrilled that I had gotten a dog and were happy to play and cuddle our new addition.

I stocked up on food, treats, bowls, bedding, a kennel, collars and leashes and toys of all kinds - all before calling Nathan to tell him what I was coming home with! When I finally got around to telling him, he didn't believe me. We made plans to meet for dinner at a restaurant, but before I left I took a picture of our new baby, so he would know that I was not joking.

This is the shot I showed him during dinner...and have never looked back. Our little black dog was officially named two weeks later. (Yes, it took us that long!) Sparky gave unconditional love from DAY ONE. I can not imagine life without our little fellow.

Thanks Mama!!!

Dear Santa Paws

Dear Santa Paws,

I am sorry that I barked at you the other day when we attempted to have our pictures taken with you, but I do have to protect my mama. I hope you understand. I am so very excited right now because this is my first ever Christmas! I've been so good - - as good as a 6-month old puppy can be. I've kept *my* destruction contained to dog toys and bones, and not the livingroom couch like another pup I know. Overall I have been a loving, playful and attentive puppy, so I am hoping that you may grant me a couple of requests for Christmas...

Santa, please keep all of our DWB friends in your heart over this Christmas season. Some have lost family members, while others have gained. There are a couple in particular who are going through some tough times - so just look over them for me. If you could send them some hugs, that would be wonderful. If you need any extra drool - let me know and I'll make some for you!

Please send me 8 extra pounds so that I will be as big as Sparky. We are already the same height, but I need the poundage, so I can knock him over and pin him down.

Please teach my mama how to use her camera without the flash.

I would really like one of these for Christmas. Sparky tells me that the water in the toilet is tastier than the water in our dishes, but the bathroom door is constantly closed, and this would be a pawesome compromise.

Thank you Santa Paws!!! Merry Christmas!

Patches, the Beaglier