Emma: A Dog's Perspective

Happy ThanksBirthday to Me!

2009-11-28T08:07:00.014-05:00

Mommy says my birthday is Thanksgiving Day. I actually was born right around what humans call 9-11 which was not a good day. I adopted my Mommy around Thanksgiving so that's what my birthday day has become. It's my ThanksBirthday and this year I am 8 years old!

This year was very special. A few days before ThanksBirthday, Mommy came home with a big box. She said my Aunt Barbara and CJ had sent a bunch of birthday presents to me at the place where Mommy works! I could smell some really good stuff in there and wanted to open them right away. But she put all the gifts on a shelf way up high and said I couldn't open them until my ThanksBirthday. That was torture.

Finally my big day arrived! We went hiking in the morning. The water looked very cold and I decided I did not want a repeat of last week. I stayed dry. So did Mommy's shoes.

When we got home I bwwwffed because I wanted to open my presents NOW. So that's what we did.

Wow! I had presents from Aunt Barbara and CJ, from my Aunt Terry at Lacey Pet Supply where Mommy used to work a long time ago, and presents from Mommy! But I needed some help. My brother used to open presents but since I am rather Queenly, I decided to let Mommy do all the work.

Look at what I got! I got a really cool BIG alligator from my Aunt Barbara and CJ, a great stuffed cat from my Aunt Terry, and a...a seat belt from Mommy.

Hmm. This does not look like a fun gift to me. The look on my face says it all.

Mommy said this attaches to those strappy things in the back seat of the car and then I won't be able to jump into the front seat anymore. Well, I loved all my other presents!

I sat on the floor and played with my presents. Then Mommy turned the TV on and guess who was on? My favorite, Bobby Flay! Mommy says she's not crazy about him and that he's ok, but I love to listen to him. His voice talks a lot about steak and stuff. That makes me happy. When he's on, I always come into the living room. Mommy thinks I'm weird.

Then I was hungry so Mommy gave me my ThanksBirthday dinner. I had turkey meatloaf with no onions especially for me, mushed red potatoes and cooked carrots. Good stuff! Science Diet should come out with something like this!

I had my rawhide bone that Aunt Barbara and CJ gave me for dessert.

What a great day! Then I had Turkey-itis. I was done.

Grounded?

2009-11-23T10:29:00.016-05:00

This weekend was nice and sunny. Mommy decided to take me hiking in her favorite park called Wells Mills. She goes there a lot to fish but I have never gotten to go there with her before, so I was very excited.

I got to walk out on the floating dock and look down at the fish.

It’s a nice, big lake and there are a lot of geese and ducks there that like it too.

We walked a lot in the woods and I had to stay on the leash because there were a lot of other people there walking their dogs too. It was fun anyway. We did a lot better with the leash thing this time.

Mommy and I were pretty tired by the end of our walk. It was almost time to go home and then Mommy decided to let me off my leash and run along the part of the lake where she goes fishing. That was fun!

I saw some very interesting trees and stuff down a little hill so I decided to go check them out.

Oops. Bad idea.

I didn’t see the little-but-very-deep-stream at the bottom of the hill. It was so deep I even got my tushy wet! I climbed up onto a tiny little island on the other side of the stream.

That's me, way far away in the middle of the picture, surrounded by lots of stuff.

Mommy called me to come back but that water was COLD and I was not getting my tushy wet again. I looked for another way to get across but I was still stuck.

Mommy was getting a little mad. Well, more than a little mad. For about a half hour she told me to get across that stream because she was not getting wet in that COLD water to come and get me. Well, I wasn’t either.

We walked back and forth, trying to find a place for me to cross over without getting wet. Mommy threatened me, tried to bribe me, pleaded with me and yelled at me. I was not about to get wet. So Mommy had to.

She rolled her sweatpant leg up, put one of her shoes in the COLD water, reached over and grabbed my collar and pulled me over. The water was over her knee and she even got her pants wet. But she pulled my collar so quickly that I didn’t even get my tushy wet again. Boy, was I happy to be back on the other side! I jumped up on Mommy and licked her face and thanked her for saving me! I was so happy!

Mommy, however, was not happy at all. At all.

We walked back to the car. That’s me being very wet and Mommy being a very wet, mad shadow. She didn’t say anything to me at all.

Uh oh. That’s never good.

Once we got in the car I got The Lecture.

She told me I was grounded. She said for a week I was not allowed to go outside, pee, poop, sniff, wag my tail or watch TV. I thought that was pretty unrealistic, especially the TV part. And this is my Birthday Week so this would not be a good week to be grounded. I decided to sniff the air one last time just in case she meant business.

It’s a good thing Mommies have a very short memory because when we got home, I ran around the yard and sniffed, peed and pooped. Mommy hugged me even though I was very wet.

When we got in the house, Mommy changed her clothes and shoes and got ready to go somewhere. She even turned on the TV for me.

I happily laid down in my sunbeam and dried off.

They Put the Trees in the Wrong Places

2009-11-08T09:56:00.009-05:00

Mommy and I woke up yesterday to a beautiful, sunny day. It wasn't very cold at all. We've had a lot of rain on weekends and we haven't done a lot of hiking lately. So yesterday when Mommy put the leash on me and took me to My Car, I was very excited.

At first she took me to a place where we never went before. It was in an area they call the Pine Barrens. But some bad kids had been there first. We started walking through the sugar sand and there were a lot of very interesting smells but there was also a lot of broken glass. Mommy decided to take me back to the car. I was not excited about going back to the car because I kept wanting to smell stuff. I thought we were going home. But Mommy had a surprise for me.

There's a big park in town called Gille Park. Humans run around in a 1 mile circle there and there are a lot of fields where kids throw and catch balls. Mommy said we would go there but there was just one condition-I would have to stay on my leash. I didn't think that would be an issue so I told her I would go and help pull her around the park.

To give me as much freedom as she could, Mommy took my 10 foot leash and attached it to my 20 foot retractable leash so she could pull me in if someone was riding a bike or running by us. If not, then I would be able to sniff a lot of new stuff in a pretty unrestricted manner. (Boy, since I started this blog, my vocab is much better than it used to be.)

So we got out of the car and went toward some trees. A lot of trees. I mean, I'm talking about a whole big bunch of trees.

Now, when Mommy and I walk in the woods and I'm off the leash, I like trees. But in this park, if you're a dog and you're on a leash, I think the trees are all in the wrong spots.

We had some issues.

Once she got me out of this mess, we walked around a big field that I couldn't run on. Sheesh. We walked some more and there were some trees that I was interested. I pulled Mommy toward these trees.

We seemed to be doing better with the tree placement.

That was short-lived.

Then we saw some trees that were bunched up together. I had to check these out.

This was not working for me.

We finally got out of that mess. A little farther up I saw a very dumb thing.

They had put a sign about dogs right in the way of where a dog would need to go if on a long leash. What were they thinking?

After that I decided to follow my instinct and sniff off the path.

Finally we were both pretty tired so we went home. I was very happy to lie down and take a nap in my sunbeam where there are no trees.

My Trip to the Vet

2009-10-29T08:05:00.006-04:00

I had Poopitis for a few days. Because of that, Mommy gave me rice and chicken, which was much better than my regular food, so maybe I should have Poopitis more often. It would be ok if my tummy didn't feel so ughy.

Mommy took me to the vet. When we got in the car, she told me we were going to the vet but I was hoping the vet was in the woods so I could sniff stuff. But the vet was in a big house.

We sat in the waiting room and I sniffed the fish tank. Then I sat on the bench and waited. Mommy said the benches there were for people, not dogs. I was slightly offended but I sat back down on the floor anyway.

Then I heard someone call my name so I took Mommy to that person. Then we walked down a hall to a room. We walked in and the person said how cute I was, which was obvious. Then she closed the door behind her and left Mommy and me in the examination room.

I decided to perform an examination on the examination room.

Mommy had brought my poop in a bag. I didn't know she liked my poop so much that she wanted to carry it around with her, but sometimes she's kinda hard to figure out.

Then the vet came in. She was very nice and kissed my face and hugged me, saying how cute I was. It never gets old. She told Mommy my poop was negative. Mommy looked happy. Then the vet did something I thought was very rude.

When dogs meet each other, we sniff tushies. But when vets meet dogs, they don't sniff tushies. They stick a thingie UP our tushies. This is not proper dog etiquette. If vets are so smart about dogs, how can they not know this? Just plain rude, they are. Just sniff my tushy but don't mess with it, please.

So I peed on the floor.

Sheesh.

After that I saw the window and I thought it would be a good thing if that window was open so I could leave.

Finally it was time to go. The vet gave Mommy some pills and said I was fine and just needed special food for my sensitive tummy. Mommy was feeding me really good food from the pet shop she used to work in but it has to be gooder food now. I hope that involves steak somewhere. Probably not.

I was really happy when we drove away. I told Mommy to step on it.

I Was Cold...What's the Big Deal?

2009-10-17T12:29:00.006-04:00

I can't even sleep around here with the Mamarazzi and that camera. But it's a good thing I am extremely photogenic.

Last night Mommy was ready to go to bed. When she walked into the bedroom, she saw I already went to bed. Since I was cold, I thought this would be a good idea.

She started laughing so loud that she woke me up.

I decided to peek out from under to see what she thought was so funny.

I didn't see anything. She is too easily amused. I went back to sleep.

I hear that my Cousin Crackerjack, who I call CJ, does this too. Here is a picture of CJ:

Oh, wait. That's right. Since my Aunt Barbara has only had her camera for 2 years, she hasn't figured out how to use it yet. But that's ok. She is still my coolest Aunt! Maybe she has a friend that can help her out? (SUBTLE HINT?)

I Got Mugged

2009-10-10T16:37:00.008-04:00

My Mommy works with some very cool humans. One of these humans is my Aunt Barbara. Aunt Barbara is owned by a distant relative of mine, a beagle named Crackerjack. That means Aunt Barbara is a dog lover.

That also automatically qualifies Aunt Barbara as very cool on 2 levels; owned by a dog and that dog is a beagle.

Mommy and Aunt Barbara actually have only met in person once for about 15 minutes. They didn't know each other then. Mommy's bosses, Uncle Ed and Aunt Ellen, work for the company that Aunt Barbara also works for and my Mommy was also at work at the time.

I know, humans can get complicated, but stay with me here.

Since a lot of Mommy's work is done by computer, Aunt Barbara and Mommy had emailed each other a lot about work stuff. But in July, when my brother died, Aunt Barbara sent my Mommy the most coolest email and soon after that I started this blog which Mommy told Aunt Barbara about.

She reads it so I wanted to make my Aunt Barbara famous due to her very cool coolness.

One day last week my Uncle Ed had just come back from a work meeting with my very cool Aunt Barbara. Uncle Ed walked over to Mommy's desk with a box. On the box it said, "To Linda, Love, Crackerjack".

Mommy was speechless which believe me, is very rare.

She opened the box and look what was inside!

This is the side that Mommy saw first. Uncle Ed told her to turn the mug around. When Mommy saw what was there, she started crying.

She said they were good tears. I know she misses my brother. But I think she was really crying because another human did something so very kind and unexpected. Kind of like how I feel when Mommy comes home with a new blanket for me to mess up and I wasn't expecting it.

Thank you, Cousin Crackerjack for giving your human that idea! Brilliant! But I would expect nothing less from a beagle.

When Mommy showed me the mug, I got a little weepy too.

Thank you, Aunt Barbara. I never met you but you are my favorite Aunt! Did I mention you are very cool?

A Very Tiring Morning

2009-09-29T08:15:00.003-04:00

This morning was a little frustrating. I was trying to get through to Mommy by my only means possible; The Bwwwf and the Face.

First I tried this, with a bwwwf:

She said, “Emma, you just came in!”

Then I tried this, with a beagle brooorrrrorrow:

Mommy looked at me in amazement and said, “Emma! We just came back from a walk!”

In exasperation, I went near the door to give her a HINT with both a bwwwwf and a brooooorrrorrrrrow and tried this:

“Emma, what??? You’ve already been outside 4 times in the last hour plus a walk! What more could you possibly want?”

Finally she got the idea and let me out again.

When I was done and came back in the house, I had to rest from all the stress.

What part of, “I really, really, really need to go outside because the neighbor’s cat got out again and it’s on the other side of the fence and I need to look at it and sniff the air and stuff so I gotta go out NOW!” did she not understand?

I was exhausted.

New Stuff

2009-09-23T08:24:00.005-04:00

After I re-designed our old comforter, Mommy was not too happy with the final look of it. So she went out and bought me a new blanket for the bed that I allow her to share with me.

It doesn't have that fluffy stuff in the middle but it's nice and fuzzy. I like it a lot.

It makes me sleepy...

My History Lesson

2009-09-13T11:34:00.014-04:00

Mommy had to be at work today but it was nice and cool out so she told me she was taking me before work to my favorite place, Double Trouble Park so I could swim in My Creek.

Once we got there we saw a lot of cars that belonged to a lot of dogs who owned a lot of humans. Luckily Mommy brought my very long leash so I could sort of feel like I was off that leash thing. Mommy said it gave me 35 feet of room. That was better than 10 feet so I didn't complain too much.

I think the leash is so that I can pull her along. Maybe that's it. She is very slow. I haven't really figured out why I need one yet.

We finally got to My Bridge and then I couldn't wait to swim in My Creek.

I discovered a very odd fish.

Then I was done.

On the way back to My Car, Mommy decided she wanted to tell me about how historic this place is. She showed me lots of things that I had no interest in.

Here we are reading about the bridge.
Here I am sniffing more important things.

Here she showed me a house where the cranberry people used to stay.
Here I am pretending to listen but I am actually watching the poodle that just walked by.

Here she showed me the schoolhouse that the cranberry people's kids used to use.
Here I am actually watching a schnauzer.

Here there was a tall skinny house. She said something because I heard "blah blah blah".
Here I was watching some kids and their mutt.

I think I was there to help Mommy look normal so it would look like she was talking to me instead of herself.

I have a tough job sometimes.

The Storm

2009-09-11T14:34:00.007-04:00

Last night we had a big storm. It was very loud. I don't like loud noises, like firecrackers.

At one point it got very loud so I went under the covers in the bed.

This is a bad outline of where I am.

Then later it got quieter so I came out from under the covers to see if it was safe.

When Mommy woke up this morning she saw this.

I tried to tell her I didn't do it but I can't tell that story very convincingly lately because I am now the only dog. However, I was able to convince Mommy that I must have done it in my sleep because I don't even chew my toys up and they are all intact and I am a very well behaved individual.

Would an innocent face like this do anything as bad as that?

My Warthog

2009-09-08T21:36:00.003-04:00

I got a furcut today. Mommy said I was really good because I didn't pee on the groomer.

So Mommy surprised me by giving me a new toy. This is my warthog. I like the noise he makes when he gets squished. It sounds like "thwwwwww". It also sounds like the sound I make sometimes in the yard when I...well, never mind.

I have been stomping on him all night to make the noise.

He is bigger than my head.

Going to the groomer has it's rewards.

Mud Dog

2009-09-04T13:32:00.001-04:00

Mommy has been working a lot lately. It's been real hot too so she didn't want to drive me anywhere in the car since it doesn't have something she calls AC. But last weekend she surprised me and told me we would take a quick trip to Eno Park. I like it there. They have a lot of mud.

We got there and I couldn't wait for Mommy to catch up with me. She is kind of slow.

They have a lot of bridges there. I like them. The wood feels funny under my feet and I have have fun running on them.

Then I saw there was a lot of mud under the bridge. It was calling me.

I answered.

After I got nice and muddy we walked again. We got to a part where Mommy said things called mushrooms were growing. She said there was fungus among us. The first time, it was funny. I think 6 times was unnecessary.

I decided to go for a little swim. I did not get my tushy wet. Richard, one of the humans who reads my blog, says that no self respecting lady wants to get her tushy wet. I think he is right.

Then we met Sophie and her people. Sophie was very pretty and very fast.

Here is Sophie's back end.

Here is her front end with her fast back end behind the tree.

Then I jumped up on Sophie's humans so they could get a close up look at how cute I was. For some reason they did not like that and they also didn't like my mud on their clothes so they put Sophie's leash on and then went on walking.

Oh well.

We crossed another bridge. I waited for Mommy.

Again.

We got back to the water part and I went in again. I think this time I may have accidentally gotten a wet tush. At least I kept my tail dry.

Then we went home. Mommy dried me off with a towel. I thought that was not a realistic approach to the problem. I decided to dry myself off on the bed.

That way I knew I would not get my cave wet.

My Friends

2009-08-21T06:38:00.000-04:00

Every morning we walk past my Mommy's friend Mary's house. I have known Mary my whole life. Mary loves dogs. I love Mary.

Mary just got a new dog. I like her new dog, too. Her name is Ivy. I think Ivy likes me too.

Mary had a dog before named Sweetie. My brother did not like Sweetie so we had not seen Mary a lot. Sweetie is now where my brother is, in heaven. Mommy said they probably like each other a lot now and play together.

Mary said Ivy is a 4 year old Boston Terrier who Mary's son adopted for her from an animal rescue place, like where my brother came from. Mary also said Ivy looks for me every morning. That's good because I look for Ivy too.

Our Mommies said Ivy and I will play together very soon without a fence between us. That will be fun because Ivy does some very cool things with her tongue that I would like her to teach me.

Ivy has a very noble profile.

This is my friend Nannette. I like her a lot, too. She lives next door on the other side of our fence. She has a very nice big dog named Baby Girl and a human boy too. She walks Baby Girl past my house almost every morning. I really like Baby Girl and the human boy whose name is Jeremy. My brother did not like Baby Girl either but he did like the boy, Jeremy. Good thing my brother liked me!

Baby Girl is very shy. Maybe one day we can be friends too without a fence.

Bog Dog

2009-08-20T08:08:00.011-04:00

A few days ago Mommy took me to our new favorite place, Double Trouble park. I told Mommy they named it after the 2 of us. She said no but I think she's wrong. She said it's a place where many, many, many, many years ago humans used to farm things called cranberries in things called bogs. I asked her what a bog was. She told me it's the thing that the old man and cute young man stand in in the Ocean Spray cranberry commercials on TV. I said ok, whatever. I mostly watch Animal Planet.

Since we go there a lot, now I know where I'm going. I wish Mommy would hurry up. I am walking past an old building where they used to do stuff with the cranberries.

She needs to grow a couple more legs or something.

Then we got to My Creek. That water sure got very close to My Tushy.

At My Creek I even have My Own Island.

Then Mommy had an idea. She decided to show me the bogs. This is what they look like in winter.

She thought there would be water there. But someone takes the water away in the summer. That's ok because it was fun to run through.

I ran through the exact same place that Mommy took the winter picture.

Mommy was smiling until I got done running around and came back to her. I think I smelled great. Mommy did not think so.

I wanted to keep the mud but Mommy found a place called a gully where she told me to go down and swim. Being an Official Water Dog now, I did.

That was fun! I lost all my mud but I can always get some more.

It would be even more fun if I could drive home sometimes.

I Am Such A Water Dog

2009-08-17T10:15:00.001-04:00

Double trouble is becoming my favorite place. The water there is only up to my knees.

If I had knees.

It's a pretty color too because all the pines make it that way. Mommy took me back there this weekend.

I almost got my tushy wet.

Our Most Excellent Day

2009-08-12T08:02:00.017-04:00

Mommy and I spent all day together last Sunday because she didn't have to work anywhere! She told me Saturday night and I was very excited because she said we would do Emma things all day, which is exactly the way I like it.

But when we woke up Sunday it was raining. I do not do rain.

So Mommy went to the store and came back with a surprise for me...my very own Cheap Carpet! Complete with Cheap Wrinkles!

Here I am trying to help roll out the Cheap Carpet.

I helped so much that Mommy told me to go outside for a few minutes. I don't know how I'm supposed to help while I'm outside but I guess I worked so hard Mommy decided I deserved a break.

And then the rain stopped!

So Mommy took me to Double Trouble Park. We found out that I like the creek there. I don't like to get my tushy wet but here I am with almost the rest of me in the water.

I found other cool places to investigate too.

They have a metal barrier fence type thingie and I thought it was a lot of fun watching Mommy try to climb over and under them to try to follow me. She made a lot of weird noises while she tried to see where I was headed. Some of them were "OOOF" and "OWW".

Then I found a very wonderful puddle to run all the way through. Mommy made a lot of noises again but I can't say what they were here.

Finally it was time to go home. Mommy says I am turning into a great Car Dog.

Then we rested a little bit. But Mommy had even another surprise for me...my Very Own Pool!

Here I am helping her fill the pool.

Mommy says I look like someone named Yoda here.

I like my pool. I don't have to get my tushy wet.

Then for dinner Mommy let me have some cheesesteak and ice cream!

Boy, what a fun day! I was tired but I was very happy. I love my Mommy.

Just Chillin'

2009-08-07T08:09:00.007-04:00

I like sleeping and hanging out under the desk. It's my favorite place. If Mommy can't find me anywhere, this is where I will be. I was trying very hard to do nothing and she took this picture of me. Here you can see my 2 different color eyes that only show up as 2 different colors when that annoying flash thingie goes off on the camera.

Sometimes Mommy worries that I like it here too much.

What she doesn't realize is while she is at work I am working very hard to do a lot of nothing so that by the time she comes home I am tired and need to rest from doing all the nothing.

But because she worries, sometimes I come out and sit in the middle of stuff. For some reason this makes her feel better.

Then I am tired from sitting in the middle of stuff so I go back to the desk. Mommy calls this my cave.

Now I'm tired from typing.

Going For A Sniff

2009-08-05T09:24:00.008-04:00

Mommy has been taking me for walks every morning. But she says I don't walk. She says I waltz.

I asked her what a waltz is. She said it's when I go Sniff Walk Walk, Sniff Walk Walk.

Except she said it's usually more like Walk Sniff Sniff, Walk Sniff Sniff.

So I walk.

Sniff.

Mommy said when the weather gets cooler we will try jogging. She said jogging is what old, fat people do when they can't run very well. Mommy fits into that category. She said if we jog, I will not be able to waltz.

I may not like jogging.

I Went To Work

2009-08-02T12:14:00.009-04:00

Last week one day, Mommy took me to where they give her money for my dog food for sitting at a desk all day. She calls it “work”. She brought me there so I wouldn’t have to stay home alone for that afternoon. That made me happy.

Mommy works for Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ed during the day. I never met them yet. Mommy says they’re like family to her and they have dogs. Mommy also told me if I’m bad she’s gonna send me to Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ed’s because they don’t let their dogs on the furniture and their dogs don’t sleep with them at night on their bed. She said their dogs are extremely well cared for and Uncle Ed takes them for runs everyday so that doesn’t sound too bad to me at all, except for the bed and furniture part. But then Mommy said their dogs stay in crates when no one is home.

I have a zero tolerance policy for crates. I better be good.

The day Mommy took me to work, she brought me there for a few minutes very early in the morning so I wouldn’t get “too excited” later on that day when she brought me there after lunch. I have a history of leakiness. I can’t help it if there’s a cocker spaniel in my bloodline somewhere.

She took me up these things she calls “stairs”. I never saw these things before. We don’t have them in my house. I figured them out quickly because I am smart.

Later when we went back, I knew where I was because I had pre-smelled it except now I had more time to smell stuff. We were the only ones there so I still didn’t get to meet Aunt Ellen and Uncle Ed but I smelled them. They smell like very nice humans.

Where she works is a weird place. They have floors that are made of wood, like the trees my brother used to pee on. Mommy told me it would not be a good thing for me to pee on these floors.

I thought about what she said about the crate. I did not pee.

There were no recliners for me to sit on. There was no TV. They had computers. As you can tell, I know my way around a computer a little but I still don’t know why Mommy looks at one all day. I guess she likes them a lot. I like them a little. It takes a long time to type with paws.

I walked around and smelled everything I could. There wasn't much. They only have desks and papers there. There was one interesting garbage can in the kitchen area but I had already smelled that in the morning. After 15 minutes or so I had finished smelling everything and I told Mommy we could go now. I bwffed to let her know. She said we couldn’t leave until the big hand was on the 12 and the little hand was on the 5.

She tries but she is just stupid sometimes. Even I knew all the clocks were digital.

This is a picture of me working.

Mommy told me I was very well behaved. She even paid me for my work. I got Snausages.

Getting Through To Mommy

2009-08-01T13:09:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I told Mommy that I wanted to go somewhere. It's a little hard getting through to her sometimes. I went to the door and she left me out. I bwffed. I'm not really a barker; I'm more of a bwffer. She opened the door and saw me sitting there, staring at her, trying to send her a brain message.

Thank goodness the lightbulb went on.

She got my leash and off we went to Eno Park. Mommy took me there when I was a baby. I haven't been there in about a long time so it was exciting. When we pulled into the lot there was only one other car there which meant I could go off the leash. Yesssssss!

We walked into the woods part. There's something she calls an "overlook" that is made out of wood. Mommy decided she wanted to take pictures and listen to birds. I, on the other paw, just wanted to get going. There was so much to smell! I don't understand why she doesn't stick her nose in bushes sometimes, honestly...

There's a bridge I love to walk over. I don't know why but I like to go back and forth on it. I looked to my left because I smelled something but I didn't see anything.

Then I looked to my right and it smelled better. There was a big, strange looking dog watching me. It didn't run because I don't have a mean bone in my body and the weird dog could sense that.

The weird dog looked a little afraid so I didn't want to scare it. But Mommy told me it wasn't a dog. She told me the weird dog was called a deer. Whatever. I saw it and it was nice but I needed to keep going. I had stuff to smell.

I kept smelling stuff until we got to the car and headed home. When we got home I was tired so I went to lay down on the bed.

I was tired but happy!

New Beginnings

2009-08-01T10:08:00.002-04:00

My name is Emma. I am 7 1/2 years old. I am what they call a mutt except Mommy calls me Miss Beagle Head, amongst other nicknames. I live with my Mommy and 5 birds.

Mommy writes a couple of blogs and I am no dummy. I told Mommy I want in. She said ok because she wants me to be happy, especially now.

Right now we are going through a rough time because my brother Luke died a few days ago, on July 27th.

He was a little sick but the vet gave him some yucky pills and he felt better. But he secretly told me he didn't feel so great. We hid it from Mommy because she worries a lot. He went to bed as usual and fell asleep with his head on Mommy's pillow, except he never woke up. Mommy is very, very sad and so am I. We are trying to adjust, especially me.

I don't remember this but Mommy told me she got me at 4 1/2 weeks old because someone needed to find me a home. Mommy says I was a handful so when I was 7 months old she adopted an older dog, Val, who also needed a home, to try to show me how to behave like other dogs. I trained Val very quickly and then soon after that we got Luke, who I also trained. Val lived with us for a few years until she died and then it was just my brother and I, Mommy and the stupid birds. So I really can't ever remember being the only dog.

Mommy stayed home from work Monday. She has very nice people that she goes to everyday. She sits at a desk and then they give her money. They told her to go home and spend time with me.

When I was little before I had siblings, Mommy used to take me hiking. I kinda remember that because we have gone back to some of those places and I know where I am, except there's always new smells. Since I am Miss Beagle Head, I love smelling stuff.

So on Monday Mommy took me to a new place. It had a stream and even though I don't like to swim at all, I went in. Mommy was very surprised but happy.

It was fun especially because I got to go in the car. Someday I want to drive because I have a license. It's on my collar. But Mommy says I would be sticking my head out the window too much and not concentrating on the road, so I can't drive yet.

Mommy also works at night sometimes. She goes to a place where they sell lots of good smelling stuff. They call it a supermarket. She worked last night and it was my first time alone when the sky made those scary noises and lit up. I was very afraid because my brother wasn't here and the birds are no help, either. I shook a lot but I didn't pee. I was really happy to see Mommy when she got home.

Mommy thinks I don't like her very much because I like to lie under the desk and not spend time with her like my brother did. I like Mommy a lot but since I am The Queen, another nickname Mommy gave me, I live by my own rules a lot.

I will need to be patient with her until she learns.