My Favorite Time of Year!

I LOVE snow! I also love to help wrap Christmas presents. Here I am helping Mom wrap her Secret Santa gifts...

Whew - that was exhausting!

Moving on up!

Mom and I have been in our new hood for a month now. I am getting used to the new space - especially a bigger yard and a dog park close by!

I also love that we have a bunch of windows on the main level (we only have one level!) so I can look out and bark at passersby. Here I am in one of my favorite new places to sit and ponder life...

Happy Halloween!

This year my costume was not very exciting. Mom said she looked around for one, but nothing was big enough to fit me! I just decided to wear one of her t-shirts from her volunteer job at Feed My Starving Children.

We went to Petsmart and met up with some friends! Mom was the only human in the whole place that dressed up. She said she felt like a dork, but I thought she looked cute:)

Then we had a costume party! Look how cute Ginger is as a Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl...

Mom and her friend Amy carved some pumpkins last night. I helped by eating the slimy insides!

Happy Halloween Everybody!

Date Night

Last Friday I had a date with THREE girl doggies - Sam, Mandy and Ginger! We went to the Champlin dog park. Here I am with some new friends...

And here I am trying to play fetch with Mom, but some annoying dog kept trying to take the chuck it away (in front).

And here we are on the ride home - do I smell wet dog??

The colors were even changing on the trail - I love Fall! Can you see that I snuck in the picture?



I'm a helper

Whenever Mom makes the bed I always join in to help. I love to jump in the center just as she is trying to tuck in sheets. My very favorite is to climb on the inflatable bed as she is blowing it up!

Gee, do you think there's a hole in this one?

L-O-L-A

We had some new neighbors move in last week and I now have a new girlfriend! At first we were scared of each other - I am scared of little doggies (ever since I got attacked by one). Now we play outside together and run around the neighborhood. This morning we woke up at the same time and had our potty time together. We each tried to get into the other's house, but that didn't go over well. I don't have an actual picture of Lola, but Mom found one that looks a lot like her - isn't she cute?

Of course, we just found out we are moving to Plymouth so Lola and I may have to have a long distance relationship. I just know I am going to make new friends in our new hood - I can't wait!

Tigger vs. Lion

Some people seem to think I look like a lion because I am big and yellow! I got a new friend the other day - a talking Tigger!

When I touch his tummy he talks! Well, not anymore...

Tigger: 0. Lion: 1.

A new meaning of "Eat and Drink"

Here I am swimming in a local lake! I gulp as I paddle - what a refreshing way to stay cool! Mom let me off the leash after realizing I wasn't gonna swim to the other side of the lake...

This is completely unrelated, but Mom made me post a picture of the U2 concert she went to on Saturday night. She can't stop talking about Bono. I have to admit - it looks pretty cool. I would have had FUN running around that place!

Beat the Heat

I miss winter these days...it is so darn hot out that even I don't want to play outside! All I want to do is lay over the air conditioning vents. Last night our a/c wasn't kicking out cold air - Mom kept hosing me down.

I'm a great babysitter!

Last weekend we took care of three other doggies and one cat! I wasn't sure how I would like the cat, but it was a fun time! Here are some photos of my new friends:

This is Sam (Mom calls her Sammy Sue)

Here is Mandy (Mom calls her Mandy May)

Then there is Ginger (Ginger Snap is Mom's name for her)

And then there's Jo (JoJo per Mom) and me. I look scared don't I?

Here we are all together (without Jo who was enjoying his dinner in the laundry room)

And lastly, here I am in the tub at their house. It is Mom's favorite color!

Mom and I are on vacation for the next two weeks so I am sure I will have lots to write about!

I'm a big boy now!

Everyone says how big I am! Some people even refer to me as "Big Barkley". I don't feel very big. I still sit on Mom's lap with no problems. I do hear her shriek when I step on her foot - don't know what that's about. Even when we are sitting on the deck I crawl up on her. She was once on a tri-fold chair laying on her stomach and I crawled right up and got on her back. She giggled and giggled until the chair broke. Thankfully we weren't hurt. And we both fit in the bed - although she does ask me to move a lot. She doesn't seem to understand that I sleep best when I sprawl out on my back with my feet spread eagle. Oh well - I just jump down to my big boy beds on the floor.

And for the record, if you have never been to a dog park, I suggest you try it. There are dogs of ALL sizes - the biggest one I remember was J.D. He was a 232 pound great dane that slobbered all over Mom. She loved him! She said he was like a horse! He was too fat to run very fast though. I was dwarfed next to him!

Happy Camper

I spent the weekend at Camp Bow Wow! I was told Mom could see me remotely on "Camper Cams", so I behaved. I passed my orientation with flying colors!

On a less happy note, we had another nasty tick situation. I heard at the dog park that this year is a particularly bad tick season. Mom was petting my head and immediately called me into the bathroom. I know what that means. The tweezer came out and she picked and said "Eww" about a hundred times. For the most part I just stayed still, but this time it hurt! She told me later that there was an egg sack on an embedded tick that broke and tiny ticks crawled all over her and a few on me. She eventually got everything - and I think part of my skull with it:( I don't know if this is related, but I got a long shower last night with weird smelling shampoo. I feel much better now though and Mom says I am extra fuzzy - she can't stop snuggling with me! I secretly like it.

Where have I been?

I have been a busy guy...I haven't written since there was snow! And if you live in Minnesota, you know that wasn't too long ago! Well, I have busy taking walks, staying at the pet lodge when Mom visits Grandpaw and going to the dog park. At my last vet visit I weighed in at 108 pounds - I guess that makes me a big guy. No wonder people on their balconies yell that as we walk by on our evening strolls. I have heard "That is one big dog!" or "What a handsome huge boy!" - or my personal favorite "Now he is quite a specimen!". Mom tells me every day how cute I am, but I never get a big head. She sure doesn't seem to think I am so cute when I come home from the park covered in mud/sludge though:

Here is one of my more handsome moments:

Until next time...I promise it won't be so long this time!

Why do I have whiskers?

This is what I look like when I ponder...Mom thinks I look inquisitive since I raise my eyebrows. In this picture I am trying to figure out why I have whiskers. Whenever I play with people (especially Auntie Wendy), I shove toys in their face. I want them to grab on so I can pull! When they pull the toy, they often grab a whisker or two by mistake. I never say anything, but it doesn't feel very good.

And since it is STILL so cold outside I get icicles on my whiskers when we go to the dog park! I get a nice rub down when we get home with a fleece scarf to get me warm again. Since I can't figure out what purpose whiskers serve I will just go with icicle holders...but what are they for in the summer?

Houseguest

Little Lottie (Lottie Lu as Mom calls her) arrived at our house yesterday. She will be staying with us this week. Lottie is 13 weeks old, housebroken and very fun to play with! She can even handle it when I play rough! She wants to snuggle though, and I only like to snuggle with humans. Is that weird?

Here she is laying in one of my beds. I don't mind sharing - especially when it comes to HER toys. Lottie is such a sweetheart and I can't imagine how rough it was for her in her short life...she and her two sisters were found in a foreclosed trailer. Can you believe someone would just leave little puppies behind? She is in foster care now and up for adoption so if you know of anyone who wants a sweet little girl that has a lot of love to give she can be found at Ruff Start Rescue: http://www.ruffstartrescue.com/animals/detail?AnimalID=2984029 Her sisters Lucy and Lizzie are there too!
Here's one more pic of us snoozing after a long day of play!

My Liebchen

We watched a documentary on the movie Born Free last night on PBS. You can watch it online if you want to:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/elsas-legacy-the-born-free-story/introduction/6139/
Mom and I watched it with fascination. I even saw her get teary-eyed a few times (nothing new there). She kept telling me that I looked like Elsa, the lioness. I will admit that there is a resemblance...especially when I POUNCE! I also noticed that Elsa's mom called her "Liebchen". Mom calls me that too! I guess it is a German term of endearment. You can be the judge if we look alike or not:

Only Child

I am a happy-go-lucky kinda dog. I love everyone - canine or human. When we are on our walks I love to run toward any other body I see (with a few exceptions of crabby dogs in our hood). At the dog park I sniff and sniff until I can't sniff anymore...however...I LOVE being the only puppy in my house. Mom keeps talking about getting me a baby brother or sister, and I wish she would just realize that we are very happy with just the two of us. I wish someone would tell her to STOP looking at other doggies online! I get all the attention - and let's face it - at 105.5 pounds I take up a lot of space!

Our bed barely fits the two of us, so I don't know what she is thinking by adding another fuzzy body to the mix! She did put the blow up bed in the room on the floor. I lay on it sometimes since it makes funny noises when I lay on it. But it is no where near as comfortable as our big bed! Maybe Mom is going to move down to the blow up bed soon. That would be nice because then I would have more room in the big bed.

Here I am all snuggled up last weekend. I am very tolerant as I let Mom baby me a lot. Secretly, I love it. Shhh...don't tell her that.