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It is the best time of year for a puppy- spring! This is my first spring, and I hardly even know what to do with myself! I mean, it is amazing- grass is green and growing, there are tons of animals, we go outside more, the weather is warm, and the sun is glorious! Forgot what I said about caniwulf- the moon is nothing compared to the sun! It is warm and glorious, and I just love to bask in it. I sleep in it whenever I can, and if there is a spot that is shining in the house (the backpart, because the house faces north/south, and we are such a high latitude that sunshine, those strips of sun that lie on the carpet or the floor, are found where the windows that face the backyard are, and there are only two good ones of those, one in the dining room, one in the office.) If I find a strip of sun, I just plop down in it, and in less than 30 seconds I am passed out. It is amazing. Back in the winter I had to lie next to the heaters in the hallways!

I love going outside now, the weather is so good- it is making me crazy. I run around barking my head off, I am constantly jumping and trying to play, I do my crazy dance whenever I can, then I find myself a sunstrip and plop down to nap before I get up and do it again. Its the springtime crazies! I also haven’t been eating much food. Grandpa says that his dogs aren’t eating much either and its just because its spring (see the last post about pickyness).

CRAZY CRAZY SPRINGTIME WOOF! Now where is the sun?

The TV, you might be surprised to find out, is one of my favorite things in the entire world! Don’t get me wrong- I am not fooled by the noise or the colored pictures going across the screen. I know they aren’t real, and to be honest, I am not sure why my parents are so infatuated with it, it seems a little ridiculous to pay attention to a gray box with funny noises that makes light, especially when I am so cute, and hanging out right there!

It is my favorite thing because when the gray box makes noise and flashes is light, I have the attention of my parents! They sit on the couch (my favorite place) and I can play, look out the window, or sleep on them. They’ll throw my ball while watching TV, or pet me, and it is generally very comfortable. And- more importantly- they are home when that box is on! I don’t like it when they leave, so that is very good, I think. When they are upstairs with those paper things that they read, or at the other light boxes that make sound (the computers I think) they just ignore me, and clatter away at those key thingys. Sometimes I get to sit on mom’s lap, but they are usually absorbed, and I just have to chill.

The gray box downstairs is a wonderful thing. It is too bad that I heard they may be getting rid of it soon! I don’t know why! They spend more time there than they do upstairs.

Last night Paul came over. I went crazy! I love seeing new people, they are so much fun, but it is weird for me. For instance, I love making new friends and I wag my tail so hard I think it will fly off. I jump up and try to lick them or bite them so that they will play with me and they’ll know I want to be friends. But then they usually get mad or kick me off, or dad and mom grabs me and I just don’t understand why- I mean I am being more polite than most of dogs are.

So far my favorite is Nick- he’ll let me chew anything- his watch, his belt, his hand. And he’ll wrestle me and lets me bite. Mom and Dad don’t seem to appreciate that Nick knows what a dog wants. Other people are afraid of dogs- I mean seriously, how can you be afraid of dogs? I mean, what could I do? A little dog like me couldn’t eat you. I guess there is a cultural difference to Dogs, and Oxford being so international, there are a lot of cultures I get to meet.

For instance- Greek people love Dogs. Artemis- the girl who is doing something with the living room, was very excited to see me, and I was excited to see her, but she didn’t let me nip her, so that was kind of dull.

Caribbean people don’t like me at all, they move away from me when I jump at them, and I have to bark at them so they will pay attention to me, which seems to make them even more unhappy. Why? I don’t know, my dad seems to like me just fine.

British people, especially old people love me! They say I am a real dog, and will let me jump and bite even on their nice clothes when I go for walks! They say the weirdest things, but I think it may be because they understand dogs! I ran into an old lady on my last walk, and she grabbed me and played with me, it was a lot of fun! She even said I looked like Winston Churchill, whoever that is, he must be handsome, though, because he has my name!

My only problem is when other people sit on my dad’s chair. But I have a trick to get them off. I jump on their laps, climbing my way up if I have to, then I nip at them until they try to get me off. When they lean forward, I get behind them and push them from the back of the seat until they have to get off! It seems to work- I have already managed it on Paul and Sasha, and no one else seems willing to try!

Its so exciting to see new people, I wish they would like me as much as I like them!

Woof!

Plus I just got some worm and flea medicine that makes me a little crazy.

Plus my eye is acting a little funny.

My walk today was unsatisfying- too short.

What does this mean? DOGGY DESTRUCTOR RAMPAGE!!!!

The following is the aftermath of the raid I performed on the carpets- the red arrows indicate destruction! Pay close attention, for this destruction was only managed by me running around the house like a crazy person then sliding on the carpet as I grabbed the front with my teeth and ripping it a little bit. Then I would tuck my tail between my legs and bound as fast as I could to the next carpet doing the same thing, back and forth, back and forth, never stopping!!!

Of course, I saved the worst for last. I am fond of chewing wood up, as you can see in the next picture, but I managed to get the leg off the table! Muwhahahahaha! I was scolded severely, but I don’t see what the big deal is, the table was teetery, and dad fixed it right up with some glue. However because Dad only just managed to catch the table before it spilled everything on me, I had the fear of God put into me so I settled down a bit.

Plus, now more interesting things were happening, and I could ignore all the itchy restlessness!

MuwahahahaWoof!

Its funny how people don’t believe that a puppy can write a blog. They say that I am too young, or too short,or that my paws can’t reach all the home keys at once, or that I can’t read and write or set up an online blogspace. Now I admit that my father does help me with the blog- he set it up for me and taught me how to use it. It is his website after all. But I am in an Oxford education family who puts higher education at the top of priorities for me.

Puppy training is just the beginning! That is just manners and etiquette and lets me play with other puppies. To date I have learned Cyrillic script, Greek Script, and two poems- Jabberwocky, and The Tyger (my favorite), and mom has started reading me Harry Potter! I even learned how to play Go this morning while mom and dad were trying to figure it out over morning coffee!

I don’t consider myself a smarter than average puppy, just clever. And I suppose that the reason is because I spend most of my time in a library while my parents are working. (See picture below). After all, when I have chewed all the rawhide, I can better myself through reading! The sun is also nice in the afternoon because it shines right through the window and gives me a nice warm reading space to lie in!

I guess the real question is, why are my parents so bored that they are reading William Blake to me? Well I do request those things. I constantly climb up into my mother’s lap to see what she is reading, or get between dad’s feet to get at his files- I mean, what is more interesting than me? So I get read to when I do those things, and after a while it became second nature!

People sarcastically ask my dad in conversation about the website if I have a puppy blog up. I guess they think that would be silly because dogs can’t blog! They are usually shocked to find out that I actually do. So if you don’t believe I can blog, why do people always ask me if I have a blog? And now that you are reading it, oh non-believer, are you enjoying it?!

You know, its a dog’s life!

Woof!

The boiler went out yesterday, which was very distressing for me, because I like the warm weather. Mom and Dad seemed upset that it was so cold, but they got to put on extra jumpers and hats, while I just had to suffer!

As it got colder, I just decided to sleep in my chair up in the office, where it is pretty warm. However, when Mom and Dad got done working, they decided that I needed to go to bed. After some discussion of whether or not I should sleep in my kennel in the cold, they decided that maybe I shouldn’t, but rather sleep in their room.

I was really excited to hear this news, especially when dad changed and took me to his room! I immediately jumped into bed, but they had other thoughts in mind for my sleep, and it wasn’t in their bed, which frankly, just stunk.

You see, sometimes in the morning when Dad is tired, or I wake him up too early because mom didn’t let me outside long enough to do my business before bed. He takes me upstairs to sleep in bed with them for an hour or so before he gets up. I love this! I run all the way upstairs, and immediately jump into bed with mom, and get under the covers as fast as I can. When dad gets in bed, I find a nice, warm spot between both mom and dad and fall asleep instantly under the covers, its like a den away from my kennel- and super warm!

I figured this would be what would happen, because frankly I don’t like blankets, because it makes it just look like there are people heads floating in bed with no bodies, because I can’t see their legs, and so I was super excited.

First he just put my chair with the blanket into their room in the corner so I could sleep there. But I kept leaping into bed and digging under the covers so that I could make sure his legs were still attached to his head. Thinking I just wanted to be under the bed, he made me this: My Sheet Fortress!

I was fine with being in the tent fortress when Dad was just sitting there close to me, but when he got all the way into bed, I just wasn’t having it!

Finally Mom tried to get me into bed to sleep there, but to be honest, I just wanted my own kennel back, so I asked to go downstairs, and ended up spending the night downstairs. Mom took my blanket with me, so I could still be under that, and it wasn’t so cold with the blanket. However, I did learn my lesson, and woke Dad up by howling at 545 in the morning that way I could go to the bathroom, and then get back into bed with them! I spent the morning between Dad’s hip and Mom’s butt.

Although, I just have one last note. Mom said I looked like a princess in a princess bed. Wrong! I was a guard dog in his fort…

Woof! I just had the very strange epiphany that I live with two very strange animals indeed. I mean, they are nothing like dogs, and yet I just allow them to run around my den all willy nilly! I feel like I have a good understanding about how they should behave in dog terms- but when you think about it, we are just different animals living in the same den!

First- why can’t they go in the grass like everyone else?

Second- they eat so high up! They need to share.

Third- they never sleep when I want to, and when I want to play, they just sit in front of a coloured light box. (Yes- coloured, I’m English).

Fourth- They don’t bite! They don’t like it when I bite!

I see the other dogs with their dog parents, and they are the same as us, but different. That is as profound as I can offer, but I know something is up. I mean, maybe everyone else is just strange.

Have you noticed how similar I am becoming to mom and dad? I heard that dogs and their owners tend to look the same- it is coming true in our case! Which is good for them, because I am the hottest dog in all of England! I know dad is afraid that I am going to get a really big head, but so far so good!

I guess it is good that different animals can live together- it won’t be Eden here until I can sit on the furniture and sleep with my kennel door open and use the toast maker, but every day we get a little closer!

Bark!