Happy Birthday to Me!

It's official: I'm a big girl! No, I haven't put on weight. I haven't grown tall enough to play basketball. I haven't set a record for playing with MEE-YOWs.

I'm a year old!

Last year at this time (May 13) I was born in California. I have six brothers and sisters. Here's a picture (left) of Keilus - she lives in Maryland, where the crabs are.

If you have trouble telling us apart, there's a reason... we wear the same style of birthday hat.








I spent the beginning of the week with Auntie Phyllis.

She's not my real auntie (if she were, she'd have fuzzy ears and a tail). But she loves dogs so much, and takes care of them so well, that she's Auntie Phyllis to all of us.

She took me to the library (Zebrina was there, too) so kids could read to me. I wish somebody had taken pictures because not only did the children like me, but they also pasted five-pointed stickers on my face after they read each book! I always knew I had STAR quality!

On my birthday she took me to class, where my PRs met us. We CCI pups have class together every two weeks. Sometimes it's a field trip - maybe to a fire station or a retirement place - but most of the time, we practice what we're learning at home.


Here we are doing "cradle."

You lie down on your person's lap on the floor and let everything show. Not ladylike, but nobody minds. I don't like cradling much. That's why my dad has his hand on my chest to keep me where I should be.




My friend Augie would rather be bouncing around, too. He has the very best bounce I've ever seen.

But some pups just lie there and snooze - or smile. Here's Emmy!







This is my teacher, Megan, talking to Nara and her PR mom. We have a lot of little kids in class right now.














Everybody needs to learn to sit. This is Malin. It's harder to "sit - stay." We like "sit - get up - run around" better. But that isn't a command.


"Down" doesn't mean, "Get off the furniture"; it means we get all our feet and our tummies on the floor. This is a very good napping command.









Here's a harder one: "Stand." It gets boring. But you're not supposed to sit - you need to keep standing. I'm getting pretty good at this one.



"Roll" is good for tummy scratches.








We learn to walk beside our people in the right way - not too far ahead, not too far behind, not sniffing the floor as we go.


(This - well, this is what sometimes happens when the little guys come to class.)

"Jump" means to get on something above the floor - like maybe a table at the vet's office. I like "jump," but this counter is too slippery.














We even learn how to go through doorways with good
manners. This is cute little Rio.

This is "visit." You stick your face in your person's lap and look up adoringly. If you do it just right, you should get a treat - or at least an "Awwww."











We learn to take things in our mouths and then drop them when we're told. This is Sherwood. He's a CCI release dog. He's been a therapy dog for five years, and he knows all the commands perfectly! We all look up to him.




And here I am, starting to do a "lap." I think it should be half a lap, because only half of me should get up there. But then, that much of me takes up a person's whole lap. We learn this because maybe our person will be in a wheelchair and won't be able to bend over to give us attention. So we go where the best attention is. Very sensible.

After we did all our schoolwork (and there's more than this), we had birthday cake!


Auntie Phyllis made it out of people food that is all right for dogs to eat once in a while.









Mmmmm! My mom wanted to get a shot of me eating the cake, but she didn't move fast enough. Even the crumbs were good.





It was too rich for the little puppies, but we big dogs loved it!

The Queen Reports

I've been busy lately!

The latest thing I've done was to go with my PR mom when she got her latest mammogram. (No pictures, obviously!) New sights, new people, new smells, lots of attention... but I was a good girl and stayed in my corner, um, most of the time. My mom says annual mammograms are good for her health (and she was happy when we were done). But I'm sure glad we dogs don't have to do it!

So here is the most gorgeous Lab in Colorado posing on the deck on Easter Sunday. My PRs call it their deck. Actually, it's my throne room. From it, I, Queen Kelda the Magnificent, regard my vast domain. And now that the snow's gone, it's even more fun!

I entertained my cousin Zebrina on it. And off it. And around it.

She's my cousin because my PRs raised her before they raised me. She lives in town with people who spoil her rotten - and she loves it.





Here is what she looked like when she was a little puppy.








She didn't get to be a Canine Companion for Independence because she worries about things. Service dogs shouldn't do much of that because it keeps them from taking good care of their people. But now she has other people to take care of. She says it's just the right place for her!




She goes to the library! Here's a picture of her and another cousin, Olivia.

Children read to them! I don't know if they read back. As you can see, the sock monkey does, though.



She is a good citizen - yes, she is; both she and Olivia also passed their Canine Good Citizen tests. They have impressive badges to wear on their capes.




My friend Gamay and I went to Zebrina's birthday party at the library not long ago. (Gamay is the cute black Lab on the right.)



It sure was a good cake! (ZB shared it. She really did.)

Later on, she stayed at my house for a couple of days.

Cousins share!

What else have we done in my domain? We had a birthday party! Not for me - that's next week - but for my PR dad and some others of our family.


Here is Katie, one of the birthday girls. She likes me pretty well. Katie and her sisters stayed at our house overnight. That was fun!








Here is Megan. She's gotten tall enough to reach the door handle. Hey, I could do that, too, but there's no point. Doggy paws don't work well on doorknobs.









Here is Jenna. She used to be really afraid of dogs! She was afraid of Zebrina and Olivia and some of my cousins before them. But she isn't so afraid of me (unless I get really bouncy). My mom says it's because she is taller now than we dogs are. I say it's because I'm so cute.



The frisbee was fun! Tasted good, too. Um, I don't have it any more.

Oh well... the Queen still has a lot to learn!

Playing Keep-Away for a Good Reason

Last blog, my PR mom was "teaching." This week, I guess I am. But first... I'll show you how we celebrated Easter Sunday here. My PRs had told me about my Creator's resurrection... but I had an idea that there was also supposed to be a little springtime-and-flowers ambiance. Right?



I ask you! Does this look like springtime???

Well, all right. I'll put on my teacher's hat now.



(How embarrassing. But at least it isn't my Gentle Leader.)













Mom picked up a little booklet at the vet's office when she was getting me some Heartguard. It's called, "101 Things You Didn't Know Could Harm Your Pet." Although the booklet sells pet insurance, it also warns about things Mom says dog people should know. Dogs, too.

As marvelous as we canines are - especially CCI dogs - there are actually things out there that can hurt us! Can you imagine? So, my fellow four-footies (including MEE-YOWs, I guess), let's keep away from these things this summer. Happily for you, I'm not going to list all 101! But here are some of the good ones:

HOME, SWEET HOME: Maybe we'll never get into the medicine cabinet (it's too high up), but if we find a pill on the floor we're liable to check it out with our tongues. So don't let us find aspirin, ibuprofen, or other such things. Keep us away from vitamins and any kind of people medicine. Keep us away from diet pills and insulin. To us, the stuff looks like doggy treats!



(...These are dog treats.)








(On the other hand, these are not....)



Keep us away, too, from detergent, fabric softener, drain cleaner, any kind of bug spray, mouse (or rat or snail) bait, and mothballs. (What the moths are doing playing with balls I don't know.) Keep us away from paint thinners, tobacco, and liquid potpourri. Whew! I mean, let us have carrots, puppy biscuits, and peanut butter (yeah!), but not Drano, cigar butts, or dryer sheets!


NOW GROWING IN A YARD NEAR YOU: I'm (ahem) much too grown up to nibble on plants... except that little one over there. Oh, and that one looks interesting, too.

So this is part of the HUGE no-no list: lilies, ferns, ivy, bittersweet, morning glories, daffodils, hyacinths, honeysuckle, iris, lantana, lilies of the valley (they're cute), oleander (nasty!), privet, tulips, wisterias, and yews. They look great, but plant 'em where we can't get to 'em.


FOODIE WARNING: Like most Labs (and lots of other pups), I'll do almost anything for food (except have my nails trimmed)! But we get very sick if we even try out chocolate, coffee (I almost tried that the other day!), garlic, grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, salt, tea leaves, booze, wine, avocados, raw yeast dough, anything with xylitol (like gum), food with a lot of fat on it, or food that's moldy. I've never tasted chocolate (my mom kindly eats it for me). I hear I'm getting a cake for my birthday next month... but not a chocolate one!


THESE ARE NOT GOOD TOYS... but if we find 'em, we'll play with 'em! Keep us from finding batteries (chew toys!), twist-ties, coins, rubber bands, socks or nylons (I've heard hospital stories about those!), string, dental floss, jewelry (ouch!), pins, cotton swabs, buttons, plastic wrap, paper clips, or little bitty balls. They're small enough to chew and swallow, but once they get inside me I'm in trouble. So are you.


CONTRARY TO POPULAR OPINION... toilets are not good for us to drink from! So give us lots of fresh water in beautiful, big, clean bowls (preferably in gorgeous colors with our names painted on them), and keep the toilet lid down, thank you.

THE GREAT OUTDOORS... won't be great for me if I get stuck by the neck in a broken fence (or lattice), or if I run out an open gate or wide place in the fence. Don't let me get into gasoline or (shudder) anti-freeze - it's sweet but even a tiny bit can kill me! - weed killer, bug spray, or compost (made out of stuff that smells good to me), especially if it's moldy. Remember, we delightful dogs try out anything we find interesting. We just can't help ourselves.

Don't invite me to your yard if you have COCOA-BEAN SHELL MULCH around your trees or in your flower beds. It'll smell good and taste good, but it's related to chocolate - it can make me so sick you wouldn't believe it.

Don't ever leave me alone in your POOL or HOT TUB! No dog can swim that well! Do you know how hard it is to get out if you're weighed down with wet fur? Scary.


Speaking of scary, a reliable source (my cousin Zebrina - I'll write about her visit later) told me INDEPENDENCE DAY is coming up this summer. She says Fourth of July is all about scary decorations in the sky and scary noises on the ground (just down the street!). When she was a little pup she was so scared she couldn't even stay in the back yard, and had to go inside and hide in a corner. My mom says many dogs run away and get hurt because fireworks are so scary. They'll thank people who protect them from all that, no matter how much fun the people have with it.

Sigh. This one isn't in the booklet, but my PRs said to tell you. Learn NOT TO COUNTER-SURF! (Counter-surfing is higher-up hoovering. You know what hoovering is, right?) Sorry, guys! It's fun, but we feel so smart standing tall and reaching up to the counter that we're not always smart about what we take off it. We should not practice our "up" command on the kitchen or bathroom counter without supervision (my new word). Yes, I know the commercial where the dog takes the man's sandwich off the counter and puts the MEE-YOW there, but that's make-believe.

Do your people want to know more? Tell them to talk to your vet. (You don't have to be there.)

We dogs - our Creator's finest work (ahem) - are so wonderful that of course people will want to keep us safe and happy. We need to wag our tails even more, and let them pet us more, when they do. We could even take them for more walks. (That's good for them, too.)