Bosco Dog Blog

Today much to my horror, Joan cut my toenails. They have gotten very long and I guess she felt the need to cut them. She always tries and manages to cut one toenail and then I freak out and start fidgeting and licking and just getting in the way preventing her from cutting any more nails. But today she surprised me with a new tactic....
First she brushed me - I love that! It is like a massage for people, I bet. Then, she brought several things over to the rug - the nail cutter, some treats, the leash (I got really excited when I saw that!), and another device I did not remember. So since she had been brushing me, she first put my collar back on - I was so excited because sometimes that means we are going to the dog park. But then, she put on the special device - called a muzzle! Geez - the last time I had this on was last summer when another dog I did not like very much came over to my house. She put that on and I was very sad. I just kind of stood there very disappointed in Joan. Then she put on the leash and then, egads, she bent over and started cutting my nails while stepping on the leash which prevented me from moving very much. Generally, it went okay - she managed to cut my front 8 nails and then she gave me 3 treats after taking off that horrible muzzle.

True to my generous spirit, I was not any worse for the wear. I ate my treats and was happy with Joan. Then she took me on a walk. She's been working with me to stop pulling and today I did a longer walk and was pretty good with not pulling. Of course, I still need the lure of food to keep me in check.

That's it from the city of Minneapolis for today. The only other thing is that I really wish all those homeowners would clear the ice off their sidewalks! Both Joan, and I keep slipping and it is no fun.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Hello all. Well, Wednesday was my adoption birthday. What a great day because as of yesterday and today, I have now lived with Joan for longer than with my former companions who gave me up. I have 2 years and 2 days with Joan! I don't know how long it takes to get over my first two years of life, but I know it has been grand with Joan so far. To give you a little remininscing, I wanted to include the description that Animal Ark wrote about me two years ago when I was put up for adoption at their no-kill shelter. They wrote (and remember my name used to be Coco):

"Coco is a beautiful girl. She looks much like a red doberman, but with a coat and build that is a little more like a chocolate lab. She has a very friendly personality. She gets along well with all kinds of people and would do well in most any home. Coco was surrendered by her human companions because they were not able to care for her."

I think Animal Ark was a bit liberal on the "gets along well with all kinds of people" because I am very slow to warm up to new people. However, I am doing much better with that lately - even with men! I used to be very suspicious of men!

Now, on to the party on Wednesday. Joan and her sister, Eileen, celebrated my birthday. Here's a picture of what we each celebrated with.

Joan and Eileen had a dark and white chocolate mousse cake that Joan had made. I was willing to eat that, too, but Joan gave me a bone instead. Here's the ceremonial picture of Joan, me, and the bone that I really wanted to eat.

Then, they finally let me lay down and start eating my bone. Yummy, yummy. Joan doesn't let me eat the WHOLE bone at one time - which I would do if left alone. She takes half of it away for later because the bone makes me very thirsty, and she thinks the rawhide isn't the best for my stomach - at least not a whole bone's worth.

I can't wait for another birthday! These past two years have gone by very fast! I love my home and my luxurious life.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was my adoption birthday! I will tell more about that in the next entry with pictures and everything, but I don't have access to them right now. But I wanted to say how sad I was to see my "aunt" Eileen leave today. She has been at Joan's house for a week doing various home repair for Joan, and I absolutely loved it because there was someone at home at all times for me to look at and smell! I know I got a little ancy as it neared the 4:00-5:00 hour when I really like to go on a walk, but Eileen was okay and patient with my desire to go out.
This morning, Eileen started taking things out to her car, and I just started whining because I hate to see people leave. :-( Even Joan could not provide solace. She called to me, but I stayed by the door to assess the situation with Eileen. And then I followed Eileen around. I didn't even go upstairs with Joan when she was getting dressed like I usually do. I love to get a lick of her leg until she tells me to lie down on my bed. This morning, I didn't want to take my eye off of Eileen! In the end, Eileen left and Joan left. I hope they return soon!

Posted by Joan Hughes at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, Barry was right (see last entry's comment) - the sticks do make me throw up! Yesterday, I had the good fortune to go to the dog park again. I was suppose to go on Saturday but Joan was not feeling well enough then. [too bad for me.] In any case, I went down there and ran my legs off. It was all snowy and beautiful - but even though Joan tried to get me to not chew on sticks, I did it anyway a little bit.
Then, this morning Joan woke up to me vomiting again. And all that was there was sticks! So really, I should not chew those things up but I can't help it.
By the way, I was so exhausted after the dog park. It sure wears me out more to run through 8" or so of snow than when it is just dirt. When I got home at 5pm, I just napped all the way to bedtime.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Sunday, I threw up all my breakfast at around 1 PM. Joan says she's lucky she had not left to do errands because it was kind of a big mess that she would not want sitting on the hardwood floor for too long. But the question is: why did I get sick in the middle of the day? I'm not altogether sure myself but I have some suspicions that reveal a bit more about me.

Hypothesis 1:
Sometimes my stomach gets upset when Joan leaves town or other things scare me. So my first hypothesis relates to a scare I had on Saturday night. I need to preface this with the fact that 2 weeks ago, Joan decided that I needed a bath. Though I love the river and lakes and swimming, I'm not a fan of baths, especially when they are in the bathtub versus outside. Somehow I knew what was coming. Joan brushed me and took off my collar. Then I saw her collecting various towels and my shampoo and then started putting a bit of water in the bathtub. THEN, she called me. I knew what was up - I'm no dummy! Since I did not have a collar, I was pretty good at slipping away from her. I ran upstairs and hid out on the landing. But then she went into the kitchen and she could have been going outside or getting me a snack so I ran down to see what was up. Ultimately, my desire for food landed me in the bathtub. She lured me into the bathroom, tail between my legs and my whole body shaking, and then picked me up and put me in the tub. So I got a bath. I was successful in escaping once and I shook my body so I got dog hair and water all over the bathroom. Here's a picture of me after the bath:

So back to this weekend --- on Saturday night, Joan turned on the bathtub and started filling it with water. I immediately started freaking out. I ran upstairs again and hid on the landing. Then I came down and I was shaking all over - I was really scared that she going to put me in that bathtub again! In the end, SHE (crazy woman) got into the bathtub!!! But it caused quite a scare for me and perhaps is why I got sick the next day.

Hypothesis 2:
On Sunday morning, Joan did not follow our usual routine. Instead of immediately satisfying my desire for a morning walk, she let me out to go to the bathroom and fed me but then she left and went swimming! So it could be that I was a bit discomforted by her break in our routine.

Hypothesis 3: After Joan returned home from swimming, she must have felt bad and took me to the dog park despite the subzero temperatures. While there, I was chewing up lots of sticks and getting into my usual mischief. So I could have eaten too many pieces of stick, as Joan noted that there were sticks in my vomit (I know this is gross).

So those are my hypotheses - what do you think? Why did I get sick? By the way, I'm totally fine now and haven't had any issues since then.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Joan did her thing of packing up a suitcase and leaving me for another week. I hate it when she does that! And she had already left a week before that. Everytime I see that suitcase filled with stuff, I sniff it and realize she is going to leave me for a while. Then I start following her around endlessly because really, I would like to go with her. But alas, last week, I saw the suitcase. She was leaving so Joan took me with her but all we did was go to the post office. But then we came back home and she left with that suitcase out the front door. I was up on the couch instantly watching her walk away from the house. Oh, please don't go!!

But then a few hours later, I was saved when Roberta came over to stay with me. The problem is I miss Joan so much that I bug Roberta quite a bit. I always want her to pet me and nudge her. (Over Christmas I spilled a glass of wine on Roberta when I jumped up on her lap. She was NOT happy with me and neither was Joan!) Joan said if I keep acting like that, no one will want to stay with me and I'll have to go to a kennel - and I remember that bad place from when my former owners abandoned me to it. Actually, it was okay, but I was just scared and lonely so I would just curl into a ball in my kennel.

Yesterday I got to go to the local dog park to play fetch with Joan with my favorite purple plastic dog bone/bar bell toy. Twice I had to get kind of angry with other dogs. They were both small dogs that yipp a lot. I do not like them, so I had to growl and make scary sounds. Those other dog owners did not like me doing that, so Joan said we had to go. But I was fetching my ball just great when those little dogs did not bug me. And, I even was returning the ball to Joan because there was another dog who kept stealing my ball from me. So if I got a hold of it, I brought it directly back to Joan instead of just dropping it - b/c the other dog would steal it then.

Posted by Joan Hughes at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

One of my fine friends, Barry (he has posted comments on my blog), sent me an email suggesting that my owner, Joan, purchase this fine set of elevated dog bowls - see picture below.

Unfortunately for me, Joan recognized that such a fine bowl really is not the right thing for me since I am not very lady-like in my eating. She puts my bowl of food down and I literally inhale my food in about 10 seconds' time. Sometimes I eat so fast that I kind of snort while Joan yells at me to stop eating so fast. (I don't listen to her.) Then I think it is funny, after I'm done, to saunter over to Joan and then look at her, licking my chops, and then burp -- I just can't help it after eating so fast!

Posted by Joan Hughes at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)