My upset tummy

I had a little bit of a problem this week. It all started with bones (or so Sally says). Every birthday and Christmas and sometimes in between, Santa or Sally or Steph or Ken gets me a rawhide bone. I love rawhide bones more than anything. They are tasty and fun to chew on. I can chew on one for hours and hours. This year, Santa got one each for, me, Mollie and Willie. Since I love them so much, I chewed on mine for a couple hours one night and then Mollie's the next night and then Willie's the night after that.

Well, the day after that, I got a very upset tummy. My tummy hurt and I had to go outside a lot. Sally said it was because of the the bones I had chewed but I don't think bones could ever make me feel unwell. I lay on the couch a lot and generally felt very sorry for myself. Everyone was very nice to me, even Mollie. The best thing was that Sally added rice to my breakfast and supper. Sally says that rice is something called a bland diet. I don't exactly know what a bland diet is, but it certainly tastes delicious. Sally said that if I didn't feel better, she would add chicken instead of my kibble.

On the second and third day, I still had an upset tummy but I felt really well and ran around. Sally said it was a good thing because if I was still upset she was going to take me to the vet. You know that I hate going to the vet, so I am glad I felt better. Steph told me that in the future, I could only chew my bones for a short while. She said "all things in moderation." I don't understand that but I think it means I don't get my bones as much as I would like.

Well, I finally felt all better and Sally said it looked like my tummy felt fine (which I could have told her - I don't know why she was telling me that!), so I celebrated by running up to the cats' room when no one was looking and eating a bowl of their food. I don't know why Steph and Sally got so upset. They should have been very happy that I was feeling so well.

Updates on our resolutions.

In my last blog, I told you about the resolutions that I was going to make everyone keep. It hasn't gone very well, so today, I think I will update you on each one. Mine is going very well. This morning I told Sally that we had to get my blog done nice and early. Sally wanted to eat breakfast and do some other things, so I was very patient and now we are working on it. I don't actually type - my paws are too big for the keys. If I try to type one letter, about 5 different letters come up on the screen. We sit on the couch in the living room, and I tell Sally what to write and she does it. Sally says this is called dictation.

The resolution I gave Sally was to not take me to the groomer or vet. Sally did a very good job until yesterday. I was all happy when she put my leash on - I'm not sure why because I don't even like walks. I was even happy and brave when we got in the car. Suddenly, when we pulled up outside the groomer, I realized Sally had betrayed me and was making me go to the beauty shop (that's what Sally calls the groomer). I hate it there, even though they are all nice to me and ooh and ahh over me. The one benefit is I smell very nice and Sally and Steph and Ken all want to cuddle me.

Ken's resolution was to give me as many freeze dried liver treats as I want. He never tried, not even for a day. The very first morning, I asked him for some and he said no. There is no arguing with Ken when he makes up his mind - Sally says he is stubborn like me - so I decided it would be better not to even try.

Steph's resolution was to take naps all day long so that I could nap with her. This sort of worked a couple of times, except Sally was the one who I napped with on one couch while Steph napped on another. Steph doesn't seem to want to take lots of naps and if she takes one upstairs, she never takes me with her. She says I can sleep on her bed, occasionally, but only under special circumstances. Apparently, daytime naps aren't special enough.

Mollie's resolution was to stop asking Ken and Sally to take her out all the time, since I have to go out whenever she does. I think Mollie is asking to go out even more than before her resolution so that I will have to go out even more than before!

Willie's resolution was to stop taking my toys and to start letting me win all the games we play. I don't think Willie understands resolutions very well, because he just does what he does, regardless of what people tell him to do.

Well, I think my resolution plan was definitely not a success. I have a whole year (that's a lot of blogs) to come up with new resolutions, so I will be better at getting everyone to do what I want next year. See you next week!

My Resolutions (for everyone else!)

Sally told me that today is the start of a whole new year. She said that is why there were lots of scary people making lots of scary noise in the middle of the night last night. Sally also told me that on this day each year, everyone does something called making resolutions. These are things that people are going to do no matter what. I think that I am good enough already but Sally told me my resolution is going to be writing my blog every single week, even though it's Sally who doesn't help me turn on the computer, causing me to not be able to write my blog. I decided that since Sally told me what my resolution is going to be, I am going to tell all my friends what their resolutions are going to be. I'm going to make a list.

Sally: will no longer take Harvey to the groomer or the vet, because Harvey hates it.

Ken: will give Harvey as many freeze dried liver treats as Harvey wants, regardless of whether he poops outside or not (Harvey, not Ken!).

Steph: will take naps all day long so that Harvey can take naps with her all day long.

Mollie: will stop asking Ken and Sally to take them out all the time, since Harvey has to go out also whenever she does.

Willie: will stop taking toys from Harvey and start letting him win all the games they play.

I think that if I can make everyone do all these things, I am going to have a great coming year!

Happy New Year, everyone!!!!

Our special treats

Every month, Sally gives each of us dogs a tiny little treat. It is quite delicious but not really enough. The other thing Sally does at the same time is put some water on our backs, just a tiny bit. I love getting the treat, but I always wonder why Sally puts water on us. It's not enough for a bath so I don't really understand it. Today, when Sally gave us our treats, I looked at the box they come in and I was shocked. The reason we get the little treats is so that bugs don't get in us!! Then I looked at the box where the water comes from and that is so that bugs don't get on us!! At first, I was very upset; I am a very clean dog and I go to the groomer often so that I always smell very nice and have a very fluffy tail. The thought of getting bugs on me (or even worse, in me) is ridiculous!! Well, I was too worried to ask Sally about this, since she is the one who is giving us this stuff, so I went and asked Steph. Steph told me that even the cleanest dogs there are can get naughty little bugs on them. It's not the dog's fault or even the human's fault. It's the bad little bugs! Steph said that the bugs are itchy enough on their own, but sometimes they can spread germs or other things so that the dog gets sick. The treat Sally gives us each month is actually a pill that protects us against the germs and whatever the other things are. Steph said that it is very important we get our medicine now that it is starting to get warmer. I told my friend Mollie about this and she told me she knew all about it, although I think she was just saying that so that I wouldn't think I was smarter than her. We agreed not to tell Willie, since he is naughty (like the bugs!!) and wouldn't take the pill if he knew it was medicine!!

My Walk

I have had a very exciting afternoon. Everyday, Sally takes my friend Willie on a walk. Willie loves his walks and nags Sally all morning to take him. After Willie’s walk today, Mollie decided she really wanted to go too, even though her knees hurt! Well, when Sally said she would take Mollie, I was very upset. I wanted to go on a walk. So when Sally opened the front door to take Mollie out, for the first time ever I ran out. When I got outside, I was very excited but not very sure where to go, so I ran around and around the front yard and even went into the next yard over!! Sally and Steph were screaming, but not in an angry way. They just wanted me to come back. After I had run around for what seemed like a long time (Sally says it was about 20 seconds), I went back into the house and Sally and Mollie went for their walk. When Sally got home, I told her I wanted to go on a walk. Sally asked if I was sure, and I said yes, so she helped me put on my cupcake harness and we set off for a walk. I’m not sure exactly what I thought a walk was, but I hated it. We seemed to walk for miles and miles (Sally says it was around the block). I’m not sure what our house looks like from the outside so I kept trying to go in all the houses, and Sally laughed at me each time and said “Oh Harvey!”. Normally, when I am happy, I wag my tail. I was so upset that I let my tail drag on the ground and it got lots of leaves and bits of mud in it!! Steph wouldn’t let me sit on the couch until Sally picked all the bits out of my tail, and Sally says we are going to have to brush my tail tonight, which I hate!! I always thought walks sounded like lots of fun, and Mollie and Willie are always happy when they come home from them. I think in the future, I will stick to running around in the dog run!!

When I Go To Bed

Every night, I go upstairs to bed with my family. I sleep with Sally. She has a big bed with lots of pillows and covers. Going up the stairs is not as straight forward as it sounds. I get ambushed by that little black cat, Lucy. She tries to hit and hisses and Sally says, "Knock it off Lucy!" Then when I get upstairs, I sometimes get distracted and go in the wrong room, the one where the cat food is. But Sally calls "Harvey, where are you?" and then I go in the right room. I get on the bed (with a little help) and then Sally gives me my bone. I can't have my bone downstairs because the other dogs try to take it and when I bury it in the couch, Steph gets cross. I lie on the bed and chew my bone and I am very happy. Sally reads her book and when it's time to put the light out, she says, "OK Harvey, time to go to sleep," and she takes the bone away. One night I didn't want to not chew my bone so I growled. It was only a little pretend growl but Sally overreacted and shouted at me and didn't let me have the bone back for a whole week. I will make sure I don't make that mistake again. I sleep at the foot of the bed. That means by Sally's feet. If I get cold or scared, I move up and cuddle under the blankets with Sally. One slight problem with that is that Clarence sleeps on Sally's head and Olive sleeps on top of Sally, so I have to be very careful not to upset either of them. Once in a while Lucy gets on the bed but Olive doesn't like her very much so she usually sleeps somewhere else. I stay warm and cozy all night and I love sleeping in Sally's bed. I'm very pleased she doesn't let Mollie and Willie come upstairs. That would be too much. Once or twice, I have climbed out of bed during the night. I can't get back on by myself, so I put my paws up by Sally and I cry. Then she says, "Oh Harvey!" and she has to get out of bed and help me back into bed. I'm not sure why it bothers her. In the morning, Ken opens the door and he says, "Come on Harvey!" and then it's alright for me to jump off the bed, and I rush downstairs and Ken lets Mollie and Willie out of their cages and he says, "Come on you lot, lets go outside" and you know what we do out there!! Then We come into the kitchen again and Ken gives us our breakfast and Steph gets breakfast for Sally and Ken. I enjoy my family life!!

My New Year's Blog

Hello everyone! Sally says it's been a whole year since I did a blog. So first of all let me say I will not be telling you everything that's happened in the last year because that would be a very long blog. I have had a very exciting year. Probably the most exciting thing is that Sally and Steph and Ken went away on a cruise at Christmastime, and Mollie and I went to Al and Eddy's place (they're our groomers) to be looked after. The cats and Willie went somewhere else. Oh, I must tell you something about Willie first. He is going to see a behavior doctor; more about that in future blogs. ANYWAY, when I went to stay with Al and Eddy, I thought I would be very miserable because I like being with Sally. But guess what??!! I had a great time. I missed Sally but I ran around all day with the other dogs. There are lots of dogs there. I even chased around in the snow, and Al and Eddy had to wash my paws every time I came back inside, but they didn't seem to mind. I should point out that Mollie was not part of the gang. She did her usual princess thing and Eddy had to keep giving her cuddles. She is a whiner. I was very pleased when Sally came to get me but I'm looking forward to going back there at Christmas. I am very pleased to be sharing my news again and I will tell you more next week. Oh, I must remember to tell you about Luna's visit. Bye for now - Harvey.