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.

My sick friend

My friend Willie has been very unwell for several weeks. He suddenly just slowed right down and got very bad tempered. He stayed in his cage and didn’t want to play or even eat!!  I was very worried.  Steph and Sally took him to see Dr. Keller.  She did some tests and gave him fluids.  They put the fluids (I think that’s a doctor name for water) under his skin. It makes a big lump, but it goes away. Then he got even sadder, and Dr. Pasdo decided to remove a lymph node to “see what was going on”.  He gave Willie pills. Willie licked the wound and made it all nasty so now he has to wear an e collar – that’s like a lampshade. It’s healing very quickly. Dr. Pasdo also gave him some pills called Pred. My goodness. What a difference they make! He rushes around, eats everything and has improved a lot. He still isn’t being like himself, but he’s much better. It seems he might have some sort of weird illness caused by a tick bite.. probably from years ago! Before he came to live with us! Isn’t that terrible? Ken, Sally and Steph have been paying him a lot of attention. A lot. Of attention. I don’t mind. I understand. He’s very sick. I’m not. A lot. Of attention. I hope he’s all better, very soon, so that things can get back to normal.

My new toy

This morning I told steph that I would like to do one of my blogs.  I was very worried because I haven't done one for a long time, and so many things have happened in that time. Steph told me not to worry – we would have a “Fresh Start”. I told her that sounded like a shampoo. Steph said it meant we would just start talking about new things, and not bother ourselves with what was past. I liked that idea. Steph is very smart. I want to tell everyone about Mollie and the new toy. Sally bought a toy dog at the pet store. It cost $5 and the money is to help little dogs who don't have homes. I used to be one of those, but Sally found me and now I am the luckiest dog in the whole world. Anyway, Sally let Mollie play with the new toy (really it was for me, but Mollie thinks everything is for her. Very spoiled little dog). Every time Willie and I walked towards her, or even just looked at her, that naughty Mollie snarled and growled and snapped at us. It was terrible! Then – it got even worse! Steph put her hand out to pet Mollie and tell her to calm down and Mollie snarled and snapped at Steph! Oh my goodness! Steph and Ken are the rulers of this house – even Sally has to listen them (sometimes). We all know that you never even growl at Steph. Well, she was very upset. She took away the toy and told Mollie she was a very bad little dog. Mollie was so mean – she kept snapping at me and Willie and  Clarence. He wasn't even interested in the toy dog! So then Steph said Mollie had to have a timeout. That doesn't mean you have to go outside, it means you get put in your cage, without any toys, and stay there until you are calm and nice again. That never happens to me because I am always calm and nice.  Sally suggested that we buy two more toy dogs then we would each have one. Steph said “I think not” and Sally said “I concur”. They often talk like that. Isn't it funny?  I love them very much, although Sally is my favorite. I'm very pleased that I've had a “Fresh Start” with my blog. From now on I'm going to blog every day. Or nearly every day. It makes me happy. Oh, Mollie stayed in her cage for one hour. Then Steph cuddled her and everyone was happy again. 

Sitting on the Couch

My blog today is more about Willie than me. Well almost!! When I want to sit on the couch next to Sally or Steph, I jump onto the couch and lie down. Now that seems the right thing to do, but quite often, everyone yells, "Harvey, what are you doing?" and  it turns out that I'm on top of Willie or Clarence. Sally and Steph and Ken make a big fuss about rescuing whoever I've sat on. I don't know why because it doesn't bother me in the least. I'm quite comfortable as long as they don't move too much. Last night, I landed on Willie and he poked his head out from underneath my tail and it made everyone laugh because it looked as if he had a wig on. Sally says my tail is so beautiful that it makes a lovely wig. Willie must have thought so too because he stayed there long enough for Ken to take his picture.

Mollie's party

I promised Mollie that I would tell all my friends about her birthday party. Her birthday was on July 13th, but we had the party last weekend. She was 10 years old. We had our funny pointy party hats to wear, but we also used them like little dishes, hanging around our necks - Sally put special little treats in them. She thought it would make us like the hats more. It didn't, but the treats were lovely. We gave Mollie some toys and we sang "Happy Birthday Dear Mollie" and then we had a big fight over who would play with the new toys. Ken took photos and it was a lovely party. Even Mollie enjoyed it and she is very hard to please.

A little more about me

Today I suggested to Sally that we tell people a little bit more about my background. Before I came to live with Sally, I belonged, together with a lot of other dogs, to a nice old lady lady who had trouble caring for so many dogs. We never went outside. She had newspaper on the kitchen floor for us to use and she didn't have visitors, so I wasn't used to other people. The lady fed us properly and loved us but then she died. I was taken to a shelter and they didn't really know what to do with me because I was so frightened of people and frightened of being outside. Sally came to the shelter and rescued me. We loved each other very much right from the start, but it has taken me a long time to accept other people. I love Steph and Ken but I'm still worried about strangers. Sally has been very patient and I now understand that I have to make my bathroom visits outside, like Mollie and Willie. For a long time I didn't want to go in the dog run. Now I go outside and everyone is very pleased with me. When I want to come back inside, I stand up on my back legs and hit the screen door. Mollie and Willie are very impressed. They never thought of doing that. Sally says now we are going to take lots of walks with me on a lead. I'm not sure about that, but she seems to think I'll enjoy it eventually. I like seeing other dogs, but the people with them always want to pet me and that bothers me. Did you know that you don't have to run in a dog run? You can just walk. And when you go for a walk, you can run. And if you poop on a walk, they carefully put your poop in a little bag and bring it home again! It's very confusing!! I love my family.