Thumper

                                                                         
Yesterday was an interesting day.  It was the first day in a while that FM let me stay out of dog jail with the others.   She said as long as I remember the things she showed me were mine and what things are hers (including the walls) that I could stay out.   I made sure I didn't leave any traces of chewing on things of hers!

Last night FM took me and Teddy (my new best buddy) for a car ride.   I was pretty scared even though FM kept telling me we were going to see Doc Terri and she was going to give me an adjustment and hopefully I'd feel tons better.  Well I didn't know what that meant and I wasn't all that sure I was thrilled about it or the ride or that she got out of the car and left me and Teddy sit in there alone, so I kinda had a piddle accident - okay it was a gusher.   FM took me into this office and she and Doc Terri talked to me and showed me this gray thing that thumps and showed me that it wouldn't hurt.   I stood very very still as Doc Terri used it on my back, then on my ribs, then on my shoulders and my sternum.   I almost felt relaxeded after she was done and FM picked me up.   Doc Terri is a ver nice lady.

On the way home though all the anxiety hit my stomach and I pukeded up in the crate.   FM and Teddy were like 'peeeuuuuueeeee' so they were opening windows and turning on the vent!   I couldn't move and I was so scared FM was going to be mad - but she wasn't.  She just let me out in the garage when we got home, took all the puked and peed on stuff out of the crate, set it aside and we went in the house where she took off my now stinky harness and jammers.

Then we got dinner!!!  Ahhh the best part of the day.

More Outside Time

Wow! Have I mentioned how cool it is that FM took down all the extra fencing in the back yard and now we dogs have all this extra space to run around in? I think there is even MORE space outside the gate (cuz the big black dog Paqui keeps heading to the gate like we might get to go there) but FM keeps telling us that she has to do fence mending before we can go out there. That's okay cuz I'm liking what we have already! Cool man!

The new foster boy Roni is hanging outside almost as much as me. FM said we must not have got to spend much outside time in our previous homes cuz she has to come ask us to come in the house all the time.

Yesterday was the warmest day yet and everyone including FM was outside int he back yard. FM cleaned up the yard then just stood out there and gave everyone pets and loves. No I didn't go ask for any of my own, I still don't trust that. While she wasn't watching though I started running around and almost picked up the one toy laying in the yard. I dropped it though and she picked it up and threw it for me and said I could have it. I don't trust that she won't take it away so I just ignored her.

I've found that the blonde fuzzy dog likes to run run run like me. We had a blast yesterday playing in the yard. He likes to play race and chase and he also likes to wrestle so I did that with him and it was seriously FUN! I kinda "let my hair down" so to speak. I was panting hard by the time we were done so we took a drink break and then did some more. Mom caught the action and the video is at the end of this post.

I also visited some more with my friend Sue finally. She had lots to tell me that FM had asked her to say. Well I have lots to say too so guess that is fair. Forgive FM (who is typing this for me) if she doesn't get all the details right but basically Sue explained that I get to make the decision if I stay with FM forever or not. I told her I'd think about it but that if I go I want to go with the fuzzy one (Teddy). Sue also asked if I liked to go for walks and I told her I do but I walk behind FM because I need to know what she is doing. I also told her that I really like being groomed cuz it makes me feel "sexy". Okay so maybe I'm a little bit vain! heehee Sue explained too that next month FM has to take a short trip and has another pet sitter lady coming in to take care of us and she wants to make sure I'm okay with that. I explained that I need to meet this other lady and it is probably okay as long as she isn't mean and doesn't just tell me 'no' all the time. Sue also said that FM has this thing called a motorhome and that all the dogs get to go on trips in the motorhome to places they've not been before and do I want to do that. I told her I thought it sounded like fun and I want to be able to see out the windows to see where we are going! I also showed Sue that there is this new guy here called Roni and asked if HE is staying for good. She said no probably not that he is eventually going to go to a new home. I told her that is okay and that I like him. Sue said she wasn't sure at first if I was talking about the dog called Roni or not cuz the picture I have of him looked to her like a pig. FM explained to Sue that my vision of Roni might look that way and showed Sue a picture of what Roni does look like. Bingo! Same one - I knew she just wasn't seeing the real dog like I do.

Sue also said FM wanted to know if I was liking the lap time we have every night and I said I do but it is weird because I've never had lap time that was pleasant so that it takes me a while to settle in. She also asked me why I was chewing on things I shouldn't back before I was staying in doggie jail. I told Sue that geez, no one has explained to me what I can play with and what I can't. (FM promises to try to start making that more clear.) I also did tell Sue that I really really like being outside with the cool ground on my feet!!!

So I am so glad I get to talk to Sue and someone finally is listening to me! FM seems happy that I'm talking to Sue too and that Sue is so gracious as to share with her what I'm saying. I also reminded Sue that I just need time to adjust.....

Crazy

                                                              
Louie here, reporting on the weekend.   It's been busy here and crazy man!

The weather has been pretty nice and FM on Friday night opened up the back yard so we can run and play in the whole yard not just the one end.   That's pretty cool but the long side is still wet and got some snow piles left on it.   Still there are lots of new interesting things to explore on the "other side".

Yesterday FM took me and the xolo boys for another one of her "walkies".  I went too with my jammies, harness vest and the leash thingie again.   I still don't like being tethered to FM with that leash thingie but I did walk and she kept telling me it was okay and that I didn't need to get all worried every time she stopped, that sometimes she has to stop and make the boys come sit by her and me too (altho I don't like it) when cars go by or stuff like that so that we stay safe.

Today FM gave everyone baths and haircuts INCLUDING ME!  Can you believe it!   It wasn't all that bad really and she kept telling me how totally handsome I really am and how much more we'd see that if I had my hair done and a shave.

The other thing that happened this week was another kinda ugly fat naked dog showed up.  He's not nearly as handsome as me (my opinion) but seems like an okay kinda dude.  FM said he's staying here for a short time while she finds a forever home for him (him too huh?).  He doesn't seem to care much about us other dogs but likes to hang with FM.   He yelled and yelled the first couple nights he was here but now sleeps in the crate next to mine and doesn't make hardly any noise.   FM said he would do better waiting for his new home here than at this place called the "shelter" so that's why he came to visit for a while.   Whatever dude!

My "model" pose, don't you love how I can make my ears swing in the wind?

My friend Sue talked to FM today and said that I'd visited her.   Sue told FM I have lots to say and boy do I!   I'm so glad some human will listen for a change and FM seems to understand some of what I tell Sue.   I explained to Sue that sometime I get these itchy gums and that I really want my very own private bone to chew on to help that.  FM told me tonight she'll make sure I have one of my very own in my quarters tomorrow while she is at work and one in my bed at night if I need it.  That way the other dogs won't get to steal it. 

I have new quarters for now during the day.  See yesterday I escaped out of the short expen while FM was gone running errands.   I'd figured out last week that I was tall enough to get over it and tried it a couple times when FM came home from work and wasn't getting me out soon enough (and I just want to do it on my own dangit) and FM just put me back in for a couple minutes after telling me I needed to wait for her, then she got me out.  So I figured I'd just do it while she wasn't here and maybe that would fix it.   Now I see there is a gi-huge crate in the place where my expen was and I bet that is where I'll stay tomorrow.  Hmmmmm....

More Yard - YAY

                                                                    
FM has finally opened up the back yard and you should see my muddy feet.  She also took a couple new shots of me in our short time in the front yard this morning but I'm liking that we now have running room in the back!  How cool!  I like the big yard and being outside cuz there isn't any way anyone could catch me out here!

I also figured out that when FM comes home that I can beat her to the punch and jump/climb out of the short doggie jail.   She then puts me back in - hey wait a minute!   She explains to me that I need to wait for her to let me out to be safe and puts me in, walks away, then comes right back to pick me up and get me out (which doesn't thrill me at all).   That's MY new trick for the week - whatdoya think?  FM said it isn't all that clever.  Hmmmmm.....

Don't ya love my flying hair look.  Don't I look like a model or something?

Walkies

                                                                         

I'm here to tell you I am currently one pooped pup!   FM got up this morning and like she does every Sunday morning told the other dogs that she was going to go for a walk.   Little did I know I wouldn't be plopped in doggie jail but she told me she was going to pick me up and put on some jammies and my new harness and I was going with!  What???

So she dressed me up in Elliott's jammies (the others were in the wash), cinched them up so I couldn't walk out of them (they are too big really), put my new harness on and then hooked a leash on that.   She picked me up to take me outside and when she put me down and Tara and Teddy were running amuck in the front yard I freaked out.  I didn't want to be that close to her.   She just said I'd be fine, called Tara and Teddy to walk out the gate and started walking.   Well I didn't think THAT was cool.   But she had this thing hooked to my harness and she just kept telling me I was okay and to walk with them.   I did finally about 1/2 way down the driveway.  This is really weird!   How can I get away from her if I'm hooked to this leash thingy.   Dangit.

So I made sure I always walked behind her (so she couldn't see me - I'm doing my best invisible act as usual you know) and Tara and Teddy ran off ahead of us - hey wait a minute how come they get to run loose?   FM said that I can't run loose until I learn to walk on a leash and that is isn't "that" restricting.

Well dangit we walked and walked and walked (note from FM - "we did the 3 mile loop").   I had a little freak-a-zoid moment when we got to the irrigation ditch and there was this metal thing over the road.  Now FM and Tara and Teddy walked around it but I didn't want to do that, I'd have to get too close to FM in that limited space so I tried to walk on it.   Well that didn't go all that well and I kinda crashed.  Once FM helped me across (she kept me from falling through with that leash thingy) she pointed out that "gee that didn't work so well did it?".  Then she showed me very slowly how to walk AROUND it - back and forth.  Much better.  

FM seemed to be limping a bit so at one point she stopped to adjust her shoe and socks and I didn't really like the idea that she stopped and ran to the end of the leash, but she just called to me nicely told me to come up and kinda reeled me in.  She didn't even pick me up!  Hey wait a minute.  She just petted me and told me how brave and good I was doing.

FM says that exercise will do me good and if I really do want to go do things like I told Sue that I need to be able to trust and be trusted on the leash thingy.  

Here are some great shots of me the last couple days out in the front yard....

Incoming!!!

Louie Speaks!

                                                                          
So FM found this really cool new friend that knows how to talk my language.   The humans call her an animal communicator - I'm just happy she lets me talk to her and she (her name is Sue) said she'd tell my FM what I'm saying so we can start getting on the same page.   So I show Sue lots of pictures and she translates them for my foster Mom.

So I explained to Sue how the one home I was in had these two little kids, one was a little girl and one was a baby and then there was a Mom there too.   It was a horrible place to be.  I thought it would be a great home but then the little girl insisted on always picking me up by my front legs and it hurt really bad and it still hurts if someone does that and I really need to be picked up the correct way - with a hand under my chest for support.  Then the baby would pinch on me and one time it pinched me and I didn't bite the baby but the Mom thought I did and then she threw this big ol hissy fit and yelled and screamed at me and said she never wanted me there anyway (I kinda got that) and was going to send me away -- and she did!   It was horrible aweful.

I also told Sue that I'm like 4 or 5 years old (in my time perception) and that I've had lots of names but that Louie is "okay".   I also told her I've been in lots of places since the little kid house and asked if this one was finally the last one.   FM had told Sue to tell me (and she did) that the decision hasn't been made yet if I'm going to stay or go to a great forever home.  But there won't be a lot of other homes in my future.  I asked Sue to please tell FM that "if" I go to another home I don't want to be where there are human children and I want to be somewhere with older humans that like to go do things with me.

I did ask Sue to please tell FM that I need to know what she is going to do with me before she does it.  If she wants to pick me up, to tell me first, if she is going to put me down, to tell me first.   Sue also told me FM wants to do some training stuff with me and I said that was okay as long as FM explains it to me first.  I also said that I really do like to be held but I want some one on one time with FM so I can relax and sit with her and not have to compete with anything else but that she has to tell me when we are going to do that and also tell me when she needs to put me down so she can get up.

I showed Sue lots of pictures of a black dog.   Black hairy dog, black dog, big black dog.   That is the dog that I like to play with.   FM says she is pretty sure that is her big black xolo Paqui who she has seen me try to play with.

I also showed Sue that everytime in my past that I started to play with toys that they were always taken away.  I also told her that it seems like everything in my life to this point has been one big cruel joke.  That every time I start to trust in something, it gets taken away.   So I just don't trust.  But I also told her I do like my FM I just am not ready to trust this is all for real.

I showed Sue too that this new place is kinda chaotic.  Lots going on but I like the other dogs a bunch but one thing I don't understand is why there are different rules for different dogs.  Sue explained that not every dog is the same so that some rules are different because each dog is different.   I still wonder why we can't all have the same rules.   I'm kinda confused about it and I'm a very black and white kinda guy.

I did show her that I really like being outside and told her I do want to go "do" things (like the other dogs).   Sue said that will come as FM and I gain trust in each other.  

I got to "talk" to Sue twice this week and she said that I have lots to say but that she can't always talk to me for a long period of time at once but that we can talk more and she'll talk to FM about what I have to say.   FM also told Sue to ask me why I started eating the house and that my staying in dog jail during the day is to keep me safe but if I can suggest someplace else that I could stay and not eat dangerous stuff she'd consider it.

I'm so happy (and so is FM) that we've found someone that can help break the ice for us and FM promises to take all this to heart and change some things about how she is with me.  YAY!   Finally someone that understands!

Louie Here

                                                                     
FM said to tell  you all she is sorry again for not typing my blog in as often as she should.  She said really we've not done much officially lately as she wants me to just learn to "hang" so that is what I'm trying to figure out how to do.   It's harder than you think.  

The only other news I have is that I started talking to this lady named Sue.   She is talking to me at the request of my FM and has said she is open to me telling her all about myself.   I think I might just do that.   She has this special gift to be able to understand what I'm saying and translate it so humans can understand.   She also is able to help me understand what FM wants me to know.   Kinda weird but really cool if we can get it to work I think.  

Meanwhile I'm so happy it is kinda looking like Spring.  The dog yard here at foster central has almost no snow left in it and we actually saw sunshine out there yesterday and that was cool.  Maybe now FM will take this silly jammies thing off me!   Other than that it is the routine as usual here and that works for me.   My new favorite thing is to rip the eyes out of all the toys I can get ahold of when FM isn't in the room!