SPEAK

Hey I'm back. I have been grumbling at mom to get online to dictate another blog, but she has been swamped with too much other stuff. I'll bet you don't think I really talk to her, but that would be untrue, I talk all the time. Most people laugh at me when I do talk. Mom has tried to get a video with sound just to put it on here for everyone to hear me talk. I go to work with mom several days a week and I grumble whenever someone insists on me laying down...I moan and whimper when I want someone to let me go outside...I quite often will exchange a very light high pitched growl back and forth with my mom whenever I want something....she of couse can't always understand me but I am telling you I carry on a conversation with humans all the time.

I am now 11 months old...can you believe it? Neither can mom...she often says how can you be nearly a year old?? Look at me......





I am still learning and mom is still trying to teach me to be "the best little dog in the world". Sometimes mom beams at me and is so proud of me....and other times...NOT SO MUCH. I try to be good...I REALLY do, but OMG it is not easy. There is soooo many things to distract me. Other dogs walk by outside...I ask you how can I just let that happen without growling, barking? Humans walk into our office...how can I not protect MY humans? They all tell me to stop and 'no bark', but they just don't understand the danger. I hear my best friend, Misty outside the office...how can I just sit here and not make a big fuss to go outside...it's just silly what these people expect from me. I'm a dog for goodness sake...nooo I am a PUPPY still. I need activity with a capital A...I need walks...I need play with other dogs. I have interests, everyday at least 10 times a day I need to go outside, and hey MOM, you could use a little exercise too....ok, ok, I know I shouldn't be the one to say that...but you know you said when you adopted me, you were happy you would have a reason to take walks with me....soooooo, when are we starting a routine???

Speaking of Mom trying to make me "the best little dog"...when we are at work and I am having issues doing what I am told, Mom puts me in 'the playpen' blocks off all the area behind her desk, and I'm not allowed to run (that's part of my issue...lol) freely thru the office. When she has me back there, I am usually looking out under the desk, but all that can fit out is my head. So, everyone calls me "Dog Head".

I Am A Truckee Dog

I am a 'Truckee' dog. It's hard to really give you a feel for what that means if you don't live here. Truckee, California has more dogs than children...and we have a lot of children...lol. With only about 13,000 humans here, we dogs take up a good portion of their liesure time. Being only 7 months old, I am still learning just how much there is for me here in Truckee, but I have heard from my older furry buddies that we pretty much have it made in this small mountain town. We have hundreds of mountain trails that our humans take us for walks, and then there is the Truckee river to jump into to cool off, or if ya prefer not to be rushed down the river, there is always Donner Lake to swim in.

I take a walk with my dad a couple times a week right here in our neighborhood, and we walk around this pond near our house. Ya have to understand...Truckee IS the mountains... I live in the forest. We walk down the road to our pond thats surrounded by pine trees...imagine...this is my neighborhood...it is the best for running, jumping...chasing birds that fly low...I can only imagine what I'd do if I saw a squirell. Haven't met up with a bear nor a coyote, and don't want to...I've heard stories...my boy toy had a run in with a bear once...haha.....but then, this is their neighborhood too.

I have jumped in the pond only once so far, trying to retrieve a stick Dad had thrown...since it was my first time, I was having a hard time with the thick tall weeds coming back out of the pond...well for goodness sakes I was only 6 months old....for a minute there Mom thought she was going to have to come in to rescue me the way I was flailing against the weeds...BUT I made it back to the shore.

I think we'll try Donner Lake next time....no tulle weeds at the edge...:-)

Goodbye to Motherhood

I don't know what happened, but mom takes me to the nice vet a few weeks ago and all of a sudden I wake up from what feels like a long nap feeling really awful....I'm soooo sore on my tummy, and at first I can harldy open my eyes and can't walk very well. The nice people at the vet told me everything was ok when I woke up there, but it sure doesn't feel like it.

Dad came to get me at the vet...helped me into the car, and it was all I could do just to lay down. When we picked up mom a few minutes later, she came out to me and hugged and kissed me saying"it's ok, everything will be better tomorrow". But what in the world did I do to deserve this. What could I have done that I would be punished like this? I thought I had been pretty good lately...I got the "go outside to poddy thing", I come when I'm called, I sit and lay down when I am told to, I even can stay in one place for at least 60 seconds when told to....I still chase kitties, but I never hurt them, maul them a bit, but never hurt...that couldn't be it....what did I do?

I hear Mom talking to someone on the phone..." we had Francie spayed today, and she looks so sad".......Spayed??? what the heck is that?........" yeah we didn't think we wanted her to have puppies".

PUPPIES...IS THAT WHY I HAD TO GO THRU THIS??!!....Who said I wanted to have puppies...... HMPH....I don't even have a boyfriend! UNFAIR!

My Best Friends

I have the best time going to work with my mom all the time. I have two really good friends there, actually 5 or 6, but two of them are furry. Pagan, whos mom and dad are our bosses, and Misty, who comes to visit often at our office.

Mom has taken me with her 2 or 3 days a week ever since I came to live with my family. We work for Lake Tahoe On Line, which is an Internet Service Provider for anywhere in California. Our bosses, Veronica and Darren are just the best, and of course they bring Pagan every day to play with me.....well I think that's why they bring her! She is the biggest dog I have ever met. She says she is a Keeshond and Leonberger, at least that's what her mom and dad tell her. I can't tell you how happy I am to see her each day at work. I am afraid I get a little carried away jumping and licking her in the mornings, but it's all good...she lets me know when she has had enough....she kinda lays down on top of me with a little "wookie" sound (ya have to hear it to know what I mean...think back to 'Star Wars" ..haha). Anyway, that gets me to snap out of my 'Labby explosion'.

And then there is Misty...who as a 1 yr old Black lab has as much puppy energy as myself...she is sooooo much fun. When she peeks her face into the LTOL window, I just go a lttle crazy wanting to go out and play. Mom takes us around the back of the building to a huge open field, lets me off my leash, and wow, the running, jumping and rolling we do is just mind blowing. I am puting on a video of us playing together. If all 3 of us are together, it seem there is always two taking advantage of the other one. You'll see me and Pagan really going after Misty, but other times Misty is the one on top. Well shoot...I really tried to add the video, but it wouldn't work. I'll put some pictures of us instead. I'll get Mom to take another video shorter than that one.

See ya next time,

Francie

Me and My Boy toy

Hey there, can I tell you a secret...I have a Boy Toy. Ever since I came to my forever home there's been this one human I have more fun with than anyone. Mom calls him 'Shawn'. He's kinda my big brother, only he has no fur. He's younger than the other humans in the house, so maybe that's why he's kinda like a puppy to me. Whatever the reason, he is the best playmate I have here. He doesn't seem to wear out so fast like everybody else here, and he can take a little more biting and hard tug-a-war play too. He even wrestles like a dog. I've decided he's really a dog in a human suit.

And you should see him run...I keep telling him I want to go with him when he runs, but I can't seem to stay up with him when he's trying to get some excercise. I like a little running but then I gotta sniff a few things, stop and look around, run up to anyone walking by, and oh boy if I get lucky enough to find another dog I really want to stop and play. So, no more running with my Boy Toy, but, he does take me for a walk every now and then and he's patient with my stops...after all a girls got to socialize!

Chasing kitties - it's my job

Hey, it's me, Francie, again.....I am having a REALLY hard time not chasing these little furballs my humans call "kitties". I mean for goodness sakes I need someone to play with once in a while and Max & Athena really want to play to...at least it certainly seems that way to me. After all, Maximus & Athena are only 9 months old and they want to play as much as me. How do I know that...you ask? Well......Max comes up to me, bats me on the head and runs away. I am walking by and Max leaps on to my tail as I pass by. Of course when I see them I get into my ready, set, go position and as soon as I catch one of them, mom and dad are yelling "NO KITTIES". I say "Not Fair"

And it's not like I really bite them...just chew on them a little, they don't even squeal....they pretty quickly get away from me...... and it's not like they don't get in their licks too...I have yelped quite a few times when they land a claw in me, but do they ever get yelled at?.....never..."Not Fair".

So what if I have several pounds on them and can lay on top of them pinning them in place, or if I look like I am going to bite their face off with my mouth open like Jaws himself, or if I go after them at every single opportunity....After all a puppy has to have some kind advantage!

They may look like angels (above), but don't let them fool you. Max wouldn't even let me in the door...this cat could do it if he wanted to! As you can see, chasing kitties wear me out.

What ARE they talking about?

So, here I am trying to learn what in the world these humans are talking about every day, and let me tell you all they do is talk.
"Francie stop...Francie come....Francie not there, outside...Francie, NO Kitty...Francie sit...Francie Treat.".....now that last one I DO understand, and actually Mom and Dad do give me a whole lot of those treat things and tell me "good girl" ....I am beginning to think there is a pattern here.....they say one of those Sit...Come...Outside words and every once in a while I must do the right thing 'cause I get a treat....hmmmm I think I'm on to something. They are especially happy when I run to the door to go outside, so I run to the door about 20 times a day now! But the Kitty thing is really the hardest!

The beginning of me

My name is Francie...at least that is what my mom and dad call me...sometimes yell at me. The yelling only comes when I have forgotten where to go the bathroom, or if I am tearing through the house with someones shoe, computer cord, or other personal items in my furry little mouth. Oh yeah, I should mention I am an 10 week old yellow lab puppy.

I am in the process of becoming the best little dog in the world. Mom quite often tells people " It's a good thing puppies are so cute, or they would never make it to 'Dog'.


Mom had another furry child that she dearly loved and lost after a short 8 years. Her name was Lola. It was only after 2 years that she unexpectedly found herself coming out to see the litter of puppies that a friend had brought by work and found herself iressitibly attracted to ME!


I came to my forever home at 6 and a half weeks of age. The rest is history and I will tell you all about it......................................