reason i love camp #106

my new friend chloe... not cleo like my sister, but so similar... anyway chloe, evidently likes to play with something called a skunk, and i like to play with her... so guess what? i kinda smell a little skunky. i don't think it is so bad, and to be honest i don't even think moms have noticed really. Navani says i will get a bath on friday.. i was hoping they had forgotten about baths, i haven't gotten one in a while.

oh, and reasons i love camp #107: free food. last week i discovered that when mom is talking to navani in the morning, you know, telling her i am such a good boy and stuff, well i figured out that i was alone in a space with navani's lunch. that was as good as an invitation to share, right? so i helped myself to some grapefruit. turns out it is delicious. navani said something to mom when she picked me up and mentioned that it didn't even have sugar on it.... i wanna try it again with sugar...mmmmm. the next daymom packed a grapfruit and i thought i was gonna have a special treat. turns out, it was for navani.

what time is it?

i am so confused these days. i get up at usual time, like when i feel like it's time to wake up and go out, and moms keep saying it's only 4. i'm not really sure what 4 is, but i think i used to get up in the 5's. but now i am so hungry and so ready to go out when i wake up, even if it is the 4's...that i just start walking back and forth from one side of the bed to the other. and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth... finally one mom gets up and takes me ouuuuuuut! moms seem a little mad, but i don't know how to fix it! i love to get up!

it ain't no thing

so, my friend bailey chewed my new collar today... but no big deal. mom says she's gonna send it to Lupine and get a new one. she told navani not to worry. she was real calm about it. gosh, i wish i could be calm sometimes! now i'm wicked excited to get a new collar.

snuggler

i think one of my absolute favorite things, i mean, besides dinner time, is snuggling. i love to get up on the couch with mom and take a little snooze. I used to climb into bed with moms in the wee hours of the morning so that when they woke up i would be all snuggled in. i thought it was great. moms say there just isn't enough room on the bed, i think it would be fine if they just moved over a little. sometimes there's enough room for cleo, which is weird, but i guess she is a little smaller, mostly she is kinda spoiled... okay, so i am a little jealous.
so mostly i just love when mom bends her knees and invites my up while lying on the couch. it's the best! nighty-night...

snow is cool

I'm good-looking, at least that's what my mom's tell me. i don't know because every time i see myself in the slider i bark. it makes moms laugh.
so it's been snowing at home on the mountain. I love it. I love the snow for so many reasons; I love it because it tastes so good. I love it because it is chilly and fun to run through. the bummer is that ther is no snow at camp, in fact there is no snow when you get midway down the mountain. I know because i look out the window on the way in the morning. mom's been taking it nice and slow down the mountain in the morning, which is cool, 'cause i get to look around even more. there is snow on the ski trails. I am hoping mom will take me for a hike this weekend, so we can play some more in the snow.

back to my old self

well, today was much better. my good friend kyan said everyone has bad days, and boy do i believe him. today was rainy and yucky, but it felt much better. mom got me from camp and i felt good. better than that even, when i got home, i found a nice warm spot in the pink chair and conked right out. home feels so good on a cold, rainy night... and it's even better when you know you are a "good boy".

anbody can have a blah day

Navani said i really was not myself today. I didn't feel like myself. I was out of sorts i guess... a long weekend away made me feel a little nervous. i just stuck to her like glue. i even got short with a playmate. she read my mind when she said i needed some alone time. mom gave me some more when i got home. i spent some good time in my crate resting and regrouping. i feel better now and i hope tomorrow will be a better day.... sigh.....

my crate, my friend

I have recently realized that i like my crate. in fact, i like it a whole lot when the door is not closed. i love that sometimes when i go in i get dinner. i love the treats that moms give me when i go in. sometimes i just can't handle it when moms go away and i am in there. i want to go with them. i hate being left behind. i bent my old crate and broke the bottom. mom's were not pleased, but i was just so upset. i was glad they just didn't decide to trash the whole idea of a crate. i got a new one at something called a "yard sale" . the coolest thing is that the new crate came with a large teddy bear in it. i love this teddy bear. this is a picture of me with it. it is one of my favorite babies. i love my babies.
today we went to target. it was fine. i stayed in the car and i was a good boy... see i'm also getting used to staying in the car for a little while. no more chewing on the seat, that was baby stuff. i like it best when cleo is with me in the car. even though she was sleeping, it feels better even when i just listen to her snore. i watched all the people come in and out of the big red store. lots of people. moms got me a special rope toy and a yummy treat. they say i can have it tomorrow... i can't even wait. i want to steal it out of the bag.
so in general i would say that i am being a good boy and adjusting to this place called vermont.

life is good

vermont makes me really tired. lately i've been spending time every day napping with mom. it's mostly wonderful...i lay down on the couch and put my head in her lap. sometimes she works on the computer or reads, and i just nap nap nap away. when i sleep, i often dream about camp...running around with my best friend willy at camp or visiting elroy our neighbor.

this is my friend willy

if i get afraid in my dream, mom puts her hand on my belly and i can relax. i love my moms. my friend at camp, bailey, thinks he's my person. he bites on my collar and i have to follow him all around. i guess it's kind of fun. moms really like my new camp because every friday when they pick me up they say i smell soooo good. i get a bath at camp every friday and moms seem to really like that. in vermont, life is good.

this is my friend bailey.

holy moley! I love vermont!

Moms moved us to this cool new place called vermont. it is wicked cool! first of all, we have this cool house, not just an apartment. we live in the middle of the woods on top of a mountain... we're talking wilderness. mom and i saw a moose on the way to school the other day. Yeah i went to school with my mom for two days until i got into a new camp. I now go to a place called BoneHead Buddies
I really like it, and it makes me tired. on mondays they take us swimming in the pond. I can't wait for monday!!!
Oh, i almost forgot, i've made a bunch of friends here already. Our neighbor's name is ELROY. he is a cool dog with crazy hair... i wish i could be a little shaggy.
oh, and we went to waterbury and met new friends, Maggie and Sammy, and went swimming and hiking there. it was awesome. cleo even made friends with them.
gosh, we have been busy.

the dog whisperer

a couple of weeks ago, we went to camp. this is mom s' dad jim and brother zach. that is cleo with her dad. cleo and jim have this special bond. she really likes him. he makes me a little nervous. he has a very loud voice, and sometimes i feel like i should hide behind my moms. but not cleo. she loves jim. that other dog is buddy. buddy is mom s' parents' dog. he likes me. a lot. i started barking at him when he came too close to me because he made me nervous. i never bark at other dogs, but buddy doesn't stop following me. i like visiting camp.

today was a very, very exciting day. we went to a place called punkatasset in concord. this is me swimming with my new friend kyra. she was fast but i was faster. she liked chasing the ball in the water just as much as me. she also had a special stick and i kept stealing it away. i think she liked me. then, i made another friend with nicky. she stayed with her dads for a little bit at first, but then she started to play with us. i think cleo felt a little left out when i played with my new friends, but she was so grumpy, no one could tell.

after a long swim, moms took cle and me on a long hike. it was so exciting, and there were lots of new smells, and just when i thought it was almost over, we climbed the biggest hill ever! i ran up it. twice. moms said they saw a big deer in the woods but i didn't see it. lucky for the deer i didn't see it.
i haven't been going to camp every day because moms are home! weeeeeeeeee! i miss my camp friends, but i know i will get to see them soon. maybe i will even stay over night. i don't like staying over night though, i am scared of the dark.

adventures

i love to swim. moms took me on two.... TWO adventures!!!this weekend. we spent lots of time in the woods and i got to go swimming. so, mom s got this new book when mom m was away. it lists all this cool stuff to do for our family. we had so much fun. i even got to go off-leash and then swimming in a swamp. moms weren't too happy about that, and then cleo and i had to have baths outside with the new hose. i was a little nervous about the hose. it was cold and it sprayed my face. but the more mom sprayed me, the more i kinda liked it. i still think i smelled better before though. whoa, and boy was cleo tired. she was panting and drooling even. she's kinda out of shape. don't tell her i said so. she's fast asleep right now. pooped. i'm a little tired too. camp tomorrow mom says. Yay! Here are some pictures of the rest of the family.

the cheez-it incident

so mom M is vermont, and mom S is missing her terribly, and so am i. cleo doesn't seem to mind, but i feel like everything is all messed up. i'm still going to camp and everything, but when i come home, i feel a little nervous. sometimes when i feel nervous i bark. sometimes i jump and sometimes when i feel real stressed i nip a little. well, last night i was home with mom and holly, and i really wanted the cheez-its on the table. they were calling my name, in fact. "jaaacccck" they called. so i ate them, and then it was a mess. i had to go in my crate and then i felt real nervous so i barked. i barked a lot. i feel kinda bad because i think mom thinks it's her, but it's not, it's just that things are different. i have a hard time with different.
but hey, on the bright side, my mysterious bald spot is growing in, and mom will be back soon, at least that's what lily tells me. she says, moms never leave for long.

all walks of life

last sunday we went for a walk in the city. a very long walk. moms said it was six miles, and that it was the AIDS walk. i don't really know what six miles, or aids is, but we walked FAR. we were in boston, and there were lots of other friends for me to meet. i especially liked my new friend tommy. he was shorter than me and kind of reddish, and he kept licking my lips. it was a little strange...i usually do the licking of lips. it was a good thing cleo wasn't there. so we'd walk along for a while together, and then he would have to go to the bathroom or we would stop but then all of a sudden...tommy would find me! it was nice to have a new friend. after we had been walking for a VERY long time and it was VERY hot, moms let me go down to the river! i love swimming! i didn't even have a ball...i just jumped and played in the river until i was all wet and cooled down and then we walked the rest of the way.

this week i was at camp every day. i love my camp friends. they love me. i go right in the door in the morning now. i used to be a little afraid to go through the door because of all the barking and i felt kind of nervous. but now i go right in and my moms are so proud of me!

yesterday we went on a big adventure. we got in the car and drove to merrimack and visited grammy! i love that grammy. i played and played with cleo, bo, tess, uno, and huxley. huxley is a bad bad boy. he is naughtier than me and i know that sometimes i do naughty things. we played chase in the yard for a long time and then moms took huxley and me to the river! we went swimming for a long time and had so much fun! when we got back to grammy's, mom gave me a bath. i think i was a pretty good boy. today i heard them say we might go to newport. YAHOO!

swimming

on sunday morning, we went to ashland and found a beach! i love to swim...it is my favorite and my best. when i first saw the water, mom let me off my leash and i went jumping in like a wild gazelle. i'm not sure what a gazelle is, but that's what my moms kept saying...
it felt soooooo good to play in the water...they threw my tennis ball for me and i even met a new friend named phoenix. she is pretty. i kind of wanted to be intimate with her, but she didn't want any part of that. oh well. it was worth a try. after our swim and hike, we went for a long car ride and i took a big nap. sunday was a good day.

today was a very exciting day. moms let me come with them this morning when they left, and they brought me to a big place with lots of crates and lots of other dogs. i came out to play with the other dogs and people were watching me play. after a long playtime and a lot of time awake (i don't think i napped one bit!) all of a sudden, someone came to get me, and all of a sudden there were my moms! i heard them talking and they said i was a very good boy and that i can come to camp anytime i want. moms said that i would be back tomorrow! you can watch me if you click on the day camp web cam link here: best friends
i think my moms said something about me going every day! wahoo!!!

mmmmmmm plastic

yesterday i managed to shred (and maybe even swallow a little bit) at least five plastic bags while home in my crate. Moms hung the bag collection on the back door so they're easy to grab for poop patrol. i thought it was awesome that the bags were close to my crate and played a fun game to see how many i could get INSIDE my crate. good times. cleo thinks i'm ridiculous. she thinks she knows everything.
Then, we went into the big noisy city with moms. They left us in the car for just a bit in a cool shady parking garage while they had an important appointment. I was bouncing around the car when i found a jar of peanutbutter. Mandy had put it there the day i stayed in my crate in the car (i call it the barkiest day). I realized that i do not have thumbs... shoot... so i used my teeth to get the jar opened. i realized that the plastic tasted good so i chewed on it while eating up the peanut butter. When Mandy got back to the car, of course she noticed right away... gosh she notices everything!
Needless to say i was parched. peanutbutter makes me thirsty. I closed my eyes real tight and wished for a water bowl to polish off, but nothing happened... ahhh man.
We finished our adventure off at the park in Boston. it was nice but kinda scary. we walked around in a big circle and saw other dogs, squirrels, birds, ducks, even a man feeding squirrels who mom called the squirrel whisperer.... it was nerve-racking. i was a little jumpy. Geez... cleo's always so perfect, of course she wasn't scared at all. sometimes i wish i were more like her, but don't tell her i said so.
Then we when we got home, i got a little dinner, moms totally jipped me on the grub. they said i had enough peanut butter to fill my belly. I'm not sure my belly ever gets filled, but i ate the tiny dinner and then whined... A LOT. Finally mom let me out of my crate and i kinda overreacted and got a little too excited. my made me lay down and it felt a little better, but i was still jumpin', my motor roaring. So mom put my leash and prong collar on and MADE me behave. so i was like "good night."
Then, when it was still dark, my belly starting really hurting and mom woke up when i was gagging. she sighed, i think she might have known it was going to happen. How did she know? i didn't even know.

water

i really like to drink water. i usually have a bowl in my crate, and i drink it right away. but in the kitchen, there is a bowl that we all drink from. when i think about it, i like to drink from that bowl. a lot. usually when i'm drinking, i put down my baby next to the bowl. and then i drink. i drink and i drink and i drink. sometimes my moms call out my name. i usually take my drippy mouth right over to them. but when they just say that i've had enough to drink, i go back over to the water bowl. i like to drink until it's all gone. i make a big wet mess on the floor. i just love to get a drink.

snip snip

the note from the vet, mom read it out loud, said "Jack was a good boy." I mean, I was pretty out of it, but i know i was a good boy. it was no big deal. alot of the people at the vet made a sad face at me. to be honest, i'm not sure that i needed those balls. they kinda got in the way, and i was always sitting on them, which is not terribly comfortable. Oh, and now my teeth are gleaming white, everyone keeps noticing. my moms seem pretty pleased with the vet, i think he's pretty cool. He gives me treats and tells me i'm handsome... what's not to like.

play group at the schoolcraft's in NY

this weekend i met buddy, and sarah's mom and dad. buddy is fun but he keeps wanting to jump on my bum. it is annoying. cleo and i are getting along really well. she's so barky though.

when everyone was in the living room on saturday morning, i figured out that i could reach things off the kitchen counter. i ate a whole box of cheese danish. i love danish. mmmmm.

when you're riding in your chevy and you're feeling something heavy...

diarrhea...diarrhea...

that's what i had...in an incredibly bad way after i ate all of that dog food. we got up at five, because that's when i started barking. then we went for a very long walk. we walked to dunkin donuts because mom said she really needed some coffee, and then we walked to brandeis and ended up at the park! we played with the tennis ball until i got tired (cleo doesn't even like to play), and then we went home.

mandy went to the store, and sarah stayed home with us. i was glad she stayed home. i don't want anyone to leave me alone. she was wandering around the house and spraying lots of things that smelled funny and then she got this big loud machine that really scared me. she kept pushing it near me and there was a light on it, and it made me feel kind of nervous. when mandy came back she started making very good smelling things while i sat in my crate. she gave me and cleo some pieces of a delicious treat she called cheese.

before we knew it, there were lots of people over. something about "brunch." well, i really liked everyone, but my belly got really sick. my belly was very very sick and everyone was in the other room. even though i was crying very loudly, no one came back out. i cried and whined and cried but no one came. i was trying to tell them. i was trying to tell them that my bum was so upset and i pooped all over the walls in the kitchen and my crate. i was very sick for many days.

sugar pie honey bunch

i had a very hard time sleeping last night. it was my first night in my new home, and it might take some getting used to. i have my same old crate, but just looking out the sides of it and being in a strange new kitchen made me cry. i guess it worried my moms because in a few minutes sarah came out and laid down with me on the dog bed in the kitchen. and i started to relax and think about sleeping, but then she got up and went into another room. then i started to think about missing my mom and wondering where i was and i felt a little sad again and i started crying again. i think they got even more worried because they carried a big mattress into the kitchen and slept on the floor with me all night. i really like them.

so i woke up at five like i usually do and sarah and mandy got right up with me and put something around my neck like they did yesterday. i am getting more used to it, but it is strange what they do here. cleo got up too and we all went for a very long walk. cleo seemed very tired but i think it's because her legs are very short. i am faster than her. we walked very far and then we went to a big green spot of hard ground with gates all around. mom found some tennis balls...i love tennis balls...and we played fetch. they don't let me play unless i drop the ball at their feet each time i go back to them. i guess it's a good rule. i got very tired running back and forth after that ball, and we all walked back together. i thought cleo would like to play with the ball because she usually likes to be in charge and involved in everything, but she didn't. she just sat down and cried. maybe balls make her feel sad.

when we got back to the house, i had a very good breakfast, and then i rested on the floor and my moms fell asleep! i was a good boy. later we went for a very long car ride. i met a dog named teddy, a dog named kieran, and some other dogs at two pet stores we went to. my moms got me a new crate because they said something about my old crate being way too big. well, i tried it out tonight and i really like it. i think my old crate was too big.

i also got to meet jesse and diana. jesse is a good friend. my moms went to get dinner and while they were eating, i found a treasure. in the back of the car was the bag of food they bought for me at the store earlier! i knew they would have wanted me to have some so i helped myself. but once i had my first bite, i couldn't stop. i ate, and i ate, and i ate. when my moms got back to the car, they found out right away...because i guess they found parts of the bag and then they noticed the big hole in the bag...

i was very very sick when i got home. my moms had to pick up someone named holly from the train station, and then they all left to go to the movies. i was very afraid and i cried and cried. i cried so hard that sometimes it turned into a bark. then mandy came in and put cleo in the kitchen with me. that was ok for a few minutes but then i got very sad again. a little while later, sarah came in and got me. she put my seatbelt on and said we would go bubbye. i was so happy. then we heard cleo crying and crying. mandy went up to talk to her and then all of a sudden cleo was coming bubbye too!

we stayed in the car while the girls went to the movies. i was so tired but then i got nauseous and threw up all over the driver's seat. then i felt much better. tonight mandy is going to sleep with me in the living room. i hope i am not sad again.