Yet Another Bath

Mom did it again. Yep. Yet another bath. Hrmph.

Tomorrow (Sept. 18) is my birthday. I'm gonna be 14 years old. You would THINK that Mom would cut me some slack with the medicated baths, especially since this is a special week...

Nope. No such luck.

Trust me when I say that I did not go into the tub willingly.

At least Mom refilled the toy box in the bathroom. That provided some distraction during blow-drying. (See Mom's orange hair dryer?)

Had to go back to the toy box to liberate another toy.

More plucking.

After Mom opened the gate and let me out of the bathroom, I'm happy to report that I successfully saved all three of those squeakies from the bathroom.

And that's why Mom has to refill the toy box in the bathroom. I try to save all of the toys from horrible baths.
   

Photo Session

This spring, I participated in the Mutt Strut and raised money for my local animal shelter. My friends were so very generous this year, and I ended up raising a whopping $783 for the shelter! Thanks again to everyone who donated...big, big thanks!

Since I raised so much, I won a photo session with a pet photographer. That was pretty cool. Mom went with me and we took our neighbor (my favorite person), too.

The pictures I posted on Wednesday after my vet appointment were sort of sad pics, so I thought this would be a good time to share my photo session pics.  Enjoy!

I should have been a super model...

Here's Mom and our neighbor and me!

She is, by far, the best neighbor ever. She keeps treats on hand in different sizes for all of the dogs in the neighborhood. And she has special doggie beds and bully sticks and toys at her house JUST for ME!

It was a hot day, so I started panting in some of the pics.

Scritches on my head!

You can't tell, but I made a break for it after this pic and Mom had to chase me down. *evil snickers*

You'll note that Mom made me wear pink bows...

But at least she gave me some good belly rubs!

 

Disgruntled Pup

I'm not a happy Buttons tonight. Not one bit.

Mom took me to the vet this afternoon. That's right, my friends. The VET.

The vet gave me a rabies shot in my rump. Yep -- right in my rump. Then she messed with my scabby spots (from my allergies) and messed with my ears.

If that wasn't bad enough, Mom had the nerve to tell the vet that I'd been having some issues with my hiney and the vet did an exam back there. It was NOT fun. How embarrassing!!!

According to the vet, I've got an ear infection (again), and my hiney glands are infected, too. The vet gave Mom ointment for my ear and put some ointment IN my...um...glands. (I do not recommend that procedure...)

 
It was a tough afternoon. I'm making Mom go to bed early tonight.
   

Another Stand-Off

On our walk tonight, I decided that we were going to go visit our neighbor.

She lives right over there.

So I decided to go visit, but sadly, that's as close as I got to her house. I stood there and stood there and stood there. Mom rudely refused to let me go visit because she "claimed" she had laundry and dishes to do.

I think maybe she knows that our neighbor is my favorite person...
   

Ongoing Battles

One morning late last week, Mom put her clean work shirt on the bed and went off to brush her teeth. I couldn't pass that up that wonderful opportunity.

White dog + clean black shirt = pure ornery brilliance.

Unfortunately, Mom retaliated with this...

Yes, my friends, she made me take another bath. She claimed that I had poo on my hiney and that I needed that medicated shampoo for my scabby allergy spots. Personally, however, I feel this was purely an act of vengeance on her part.

Call PETA. Baths are inhumane.

   

Retaliation

Mom destroyed my underground lair. All the hours I spend shredding paper under there...gone.

So, in retaliation, I shredded a potty pad.

Don't worry. It's not like I use those to take care of my business. In fact, Mom just puts them out in places where I have sometimes have accidents if my tummy's upset. She calls it "preventative." I call it "shreddable."
 

Retaliation makes me sleepy...
 

My Underground Lair

I was minding my own business, snoozing on the big bed, when Mom suddenly interrupted me and wrecked havoc on my entire world.

Seriously.

You see, for a couple of years now, I've spent my nights perfecting my underground lair. (That's what I like to call the area under Mom's bed.)

While Mom was sleeping, I moved her boxes around...hid toys under there...shredded papers...stole Mom's socks...etc. And until now, Mom just left me alone. I was allowed to...um..."decorate" my space however I liked.

Until this dreadful day.

Mom announced that something smelled under the bed and it was time to see what I had been up to under there. She got the surprise of her life when she moved the mattress and lifted up the box springs.

She got a good view of my handiwork. I'd sure been busy under there.

I surveyed my work. Looks a little different with light. I'm usually working in the dark under there.

Yep. That's my stuff.

So Mom took an hour or two and cleaned out my decor. (How rude!) In among all of the shredded papers and magazines she found:

• 82 dog toys
• 1 dog toy carcass
• 1 random toy squeaker
• 1 toy ear
• 1 toy leg
• a dozen or more of her socks
• 1 of her shirts

There was an old spot on the carpet, too, so Mom used cleaner on that and then used a fan to dry it.

Worst part is that Mom never could find anything that actually smelled. She destroyed my mess and never found anything stinky!

Guess I'm going to have to start decorating all over again.
 

Time for the Mutt Strut!

Each year since I got adopted by my forever-and-ever Mom, we've joined the fun at the Mutt Strut for the local humane society. It's the big spring fundraiser for the shelter.

I was actually adopted from Companion Critters in New Jersey, but since I live in Illinois now, I like to help Mom support the animals here, too. We're trying to spread the love.

I'm not usually a fan of meeting other dogs in the fur, but it's for a good cause, so I don't complain much. Last year we took my stroller, and I hung out in there to keep away from some of the overly-friendly mutts who were strutting.

So...would you consider sponsoring me in the Mutt Strut? I'd really appreciate it...and so would Mom...and so would all of those animals at the shelter here in town.

Thanks for considering it!
   

Mischief Maker

Even though my blog has been a little quiet lately, please don't think that I haven't been up to mischief. You can rest assured that I have.

Last night, for example, Mom had trouble sleeping because I kept shredding papers under her bed.

And the other day we had some beautiful sunshine, so I kept acting like I had to go emergency potty outside. Did I have to potty? Noooo... I just wanted to sniff and sit in the sun!  (Mom was on to my antics after my second trip outside in an hour with no pottying going on.)

 
And my best mischief lately? Well, that was on Friday night. It was my neighbor's 80th birthday, so Mom and I went to visit her in the evening. While Mom was showing her something on her computer, I found a new toy to play with in my neighbor's bedroom.

I plucked and plucked at my new toy. Then Mom came looking for me.

Turns out it wasn't a toy that I was making little tooth holes in. It was a pair of my neighbor's underwear...
 
Oopsie.
 

Let Me Stink

I was minding my own business, snoozing in the middle of Mom's bed...

...when all of sudden, THIS happened:

Oh, the horror.

Mom said when I went to the vet after my seizure a week ago, I was so stinky that the vet musta thought I was a homeless dog. I have to go back to the vet tomorrow to have some broken teeth taken out, so Mom was determined that I was going to smell like lavender stuff instead of stinky dog butt.

Hrmph.

I think we should have consulted the vet BEFORE the bath to see if that really mattered.

After all, maybe the vet prefers stinky dogs...

Seizure Scare

Early, early, early on Thursday morning, I woke Mom up 'cause I didn't feel quite right. Turns out that I was having a seizure.

Mom took me to the emergency clinic, but I felt fine after we got there, so we turned around and came back home. Mom called my regular vet and they said I needed to come in for blood work and a once-over.

So we went to the vet yesterday morning. Mom didn't give me any breakfast (BOOO!) and the vet poked me with a needle (BOOOO!).

We got good news, though. The vet said that I'm o.k. and told Mom to just keep an eye on me. My blood work came back good, too. My liver enzymes are still way, way too high, but they're lower than they were last year. That was really great news!

Mom and I took it easy for the rest of the day. We went over to our neighbor's house and hung out on her patio. I love sitting in the sun puddles there!

My neighbor puts out toys, bully sticks, and milkbones for me. On a nice, cushy rug. There was a water bowl, too.

Did you see what her sign says?

"Dog friendly. Beware of owner." Our neighbor doesn't have a doggie...besides me, of course!

Good sun puddles after good news from the vet. Can't beat that!
 

Beautiful Weathers

Last weekend we had super nice weather, so Mom and I decided to go walk around the pond by our house.

I made sure to stop and sniff this pole on the way. See those dogs in that door? They barked and barked and barked! I took my time and showed them who's boss.

This is some of the last of the snow that's left around here. It's all been melting and melting.

The dog station seems to be missing something...the trash can! Hope the park people bring it back soon. That's important for poops.

Of course I found mud on our walk.

We got about a quarter of the way around the pond when I decided that I'd walked enough. I gave Mom this look.

Then we turned around and walked back home.

See this bench?  There was a nice family sitting there when we walked by the first time. You know what I did?  I pooped right by them. They laughed. Mom was not amused.

When we got back home I rolled and rolled.

That was a nice walk. Well, kinda.