Eating Grass and Making History

Hi Everybody!
Did you know I eat grass? Yes. I do. Sue says it is the most annoying thing I do. She says "You are destroying our yard!" But I cannot help it. Now Sue is glad I eat grass and I will tell you why:

Last night I had to pee at 2:30 a.m. so Sue took me outside. On our way out she said, "Oh Elvis. I am glad you woke me up because maybe we can see the eclipse!!"
That is what I was thinking too!! I was thinking, "If Sue takes me out at 2:30 maybe we can see the eclipse!!"

Well, it was cloudy. While I was peeing Sue said, "It is too cloudy to see the eclipse. I am sad." Well, I was sad too, because I wanted to see the eclipse, so I decided to EAT GRASS so Sue would get mad and we would have to stay outside longer. Sure enough, she got mad and when she yelled at me I managed to run around both the bluebird feeder and the bluebird house and got my long leash tangled around two poles!!

Sue was purrrrrrrty mad as she was in her nightgown and her muck boots trying to get me untangled. She said, "Can't you see I"m freezing??? Why did you do this??"
Then when she got me untangled she looked up and ALL THE CLOUDS HAD PARTED and we saw the beautiful coppery moon in FULL ECLIPSE!!

Sue said, "Elvis! Look! It's the full eclipse!!" I was so happy! We saw the eclipse!! Sue said people had not seen the eclipse like this since 1638!! I do not know what "1638" is but she had been talking about "1638" all week.

So now you know how I helped us make history by having to pee and eating grass.
Happy Winter Solstice!!

Love,
Elvis

Christmas and Stuff

Hi everyone.
It's me. Elvis.
Today Sue put a red bow on my head and said, "There. Now you are ready for Christmas." I do not know what Christmas is and I do not know why I need to wear a red bow. But I wanted you to know I am ready for Christmas.








Did you know Sue takes me for FIVE MILE WALKS??? Yes. She does. When we get home I am tired. In this picture Corrie and I look like we are dead but we are not. I am tired but Corrie is just old. She has to wear two sweaters because she is old and she gets purrrty cold.

Sue says, "Cold is good for you!" and I think so too. When we wake up in the morning our house is 56 degrees. Sue always says, "56. That is perfect." And I think exactly the same thing!! I always think, "56. That is perfect!!"

When Sue opens her eyes I put my chin on her bed. Then I put my paw on her bed. She says, "Good morning, little darling!" THEN she finally gets up. Then I yawn and then she takes me outside where it is even colder than 56 degrees!

This is a gate in our house. Do you remember the pictures of it the night before I came to live with Sue? I was only a baby puppy then. Now I think I am not a baby puppy any more because I can open the gate all by myself!! I just push the handle up with my nose and then I go and find Sue. She really does not care because I do not get into very much trouble. She just says, "Oh Elvis. You are very smart."





Do you know what snow is? I did not know until one day when Sue let me out and said "It is snowing!!" I just stood and watched as white flakes fell from the sky. Then I watched some more and then I played frisbee. Now I know what snow is.

love,
Elvis

Bathroom Rug

Hi Everybody.
Today Teresa gave me a new hair do. I think I look like a bathroom rug. A bathroom rug with a bandanna.










Do you think I look like a bathroom rug?
I think it is important for you to vote on this.
Please vote yes if you think I look like a bathroom rug.
Please vote no if you think I do not look like a bathroom rug.















Sue loves me whether I look like a bathroom rug or not. She says "You are a VERY cute bathroom rug."


Love,
Elvis.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Hi everybody.
It's me. Elvis.
Did you know Sue made a mistake and got the wrong day for my appointment at the beauty shop? She did. It was to get me ready for Thanksgiving. We were going to Pittsburgh to John and Christi's and I was going to meet all of Christi's family from Texas.
I was a mess. So was Sue. So she called Brian and Scott to help.
Brian told us to come down and he would give me a haircut.
Soooooooo that is what we did! Meg and I went to their house and Brian cut my hair.

At first I was not sure that Brian knew how to cut hair, but then Sue told me that he cuts their dogs' hair and they are my friends so I let him cut MY hair. See?
















This is Brian cutting my ear. Well, he is not cutting my EAR. He is trimming by my ear. I had to have a lot of trust in him.










Meg helped me to stay calm. I was glad she was there because I was nervous at first.













After my haircut Sue said I needed a bath, so the next day we picked up Scott and the three of us drove to a DOG WASH. Do you know what a DOG WASH is? It is next to a car wash and you just put your dog in it and wash him. See?
Scott is washing me. I was thinking that I was mad at Sue for putting me in a DOG WASH. I did not like it.
Scott kept saying, "Hey, Big Bird!!" because he calls me "Big Bird" and he knew I was unhappy.
I do not think I look like a bird, but Scott must think so.


Then the NEXT day we went to Pittsburgh!! Here is me with Madea. She and I wrestled ALL THE TIME and we made people annoyed.
Here we are playing with Rabbit. Yes! He came to Pittsburgh with us!
Sometimes I had to get in my crate because we tore through the house and there were about 20 people there and no one seemed to like me very much because I kept running into people and they would yell ELLLLLVIS!! and well, it hurt my feelings. Plus Corrie was there so THREE dogs were in the house.


This is Christi and Meg trying to hold all of us down. You can see Corrie in the background. She was pretty much scared the whole time.










This is me with John and Christi's girls; Aieasha and Correa. They liked me a lot. and they also liked to get me wound up so we were friends right away. But as soon as I got in trouble they were no where to be found. I did not know where they would go.

I think that is all I know, but I would like to thank Scott and Brian for getting me ready for Thanksgiving.

Love,
Elvis.

Fixing Up the House, Shopping and my Buddies

Hi everybody. It's me. Elvis.
Did you know I am handy? Yes. I am. Sue has had painters and other guys at her house for a couple weeks, and on Friday I decided I wanted to help too! So I picked up Edmo's hammer and carried it into the kitchen. I did not know what to do with it, but everyone made such a fuss and said I was soooooooo cute that I knew I had done the right thing.

I also want to tell you that I go shopping with Sue.

The only problem is that she leaves me in the car when we get to the store.

So, when she has locked the doors I hop up into the back window and press my face against the glass. When I do this I always think she will change her mind and say, "OK, Elvis, I guess you can come in the grocery store." But she never does.

So I just watch until she is out of sight. I keep barking but she does not turn around. A few times I have seen her peek out the store windows to see if I have "settled down" and I always do. Then I just look and look out the windows at all the people that go by. Sooner or later Sue comes out of the store and sometimes I am in the driver's seat waiting for her.

Sue and I are friends with Brian and Scott who live in our neighborhood. They have four show dogs; three English Pointers and a Terrier. We go to their house once a week and I "run with the dogs." Scott and Brian and Sue stand around and talk while we play games.

In this game I think I am a pointer. See? We are actually watching Ava who is going to start a fight with Martin and Stewart. I did not know they were going to fight. I just thought we were pointing. But no one gets hurts in the fight.

This is me and Stewart playing with the braid.

Brian and Scott LOOOOVE me!! Some of their dogs are national champions! Do you know what a "national champion" is? Sue said it is something very important, but Scott and Brian think I am very important, so I think I must be a national champion, too.

They always like it when we come over.

This is Stewart, Ava, Martin and Timber. I took the picture. (Just kidding. Brian took the picture. My paws are too big for the button.)

Guess who else visited this week??? If you are having trouble guessing you can look at the next picture.

Yes. It is Patrick. He let me kiss him after he told me what a good dog I was.

Now I am tired from telling you all of my news.

Love,

Elvis

Me and Corrie Get Our Hair Done

Hi Everybody.
Guess what? Today Corrie and I both went to get our hair done!! Corrie usually stays with Peter and Meg but they are in New Jersey this week so she is staying with us.
Sue had to lift Corrie into the back seat because she is thirteen and a half. I do not know what thirteen and a half is but I think it is something heavy because I heard Sue say to Teresa "I had to lift Corrie into the back seat because she is thirteen and a half."




This is me when we first got back. Do you know why my fur is messed up? Because I stuck my head out the window the whole way home. Corrie does not stick her head out the window. I think she is afraid it might blow off so she just sits and looks out.







Did you know I have a pacifier? Yes. Sue got it for me when I was just two months old and even though I am seven months old I still like it. I play with it a lot and today I put it in the window like I put Rabbit in the window.

After I go to Teresa's I am purrrrrty clean. Today Sue said, "Oh, Elvis, you are SUCH a fuzz ball!"

Do you remember when she called me "Pinktongue?" Well she still does, but today was the first day she called me a fuzz ball. I am not sure if I like that name or not. I do not even know what a fuzz ball is. Do you?

Love,
Elvis.

Rabbit at the Window

Hi Everybody.
Rabbit is one of my best friends. Sometimes I put him in the window so he can see stuff.












Other times he just takes a nap beside me after we have been playing a lot.












Then when I think he wants to look out the window again I carefully put him back. See?

Today I ate a stink bug.

Love,
Elvis

Working With Patrick

Hi Everybody.
Tonight Patrick came for my third lesson. Sue took some pictures so you could see how hard I am working at being trained.
This is Patrick with me. My ears are flat against my head because I know this is the beginning of "the lesson" and that I will be doing a lot of hard work.







This is me with Sue. Patrick said she is doing a very good job working with me. You can tell that we are still in "the lesson" because I do not look very happy, even though I really like Patrick.










Tonight we learned about "going to the place." Unfortunately for me "the place" was a thing in the middle of the yard and all the neighbors could see what I had to do: Go to the place. See?










This is Patrick screaming his head off at me. Well, actually he does not scream. He does not even raise his voice. He just tells me what to do and I pretty much do it.










In this picture I think I look like a circus animal. I felt really stupid standing on "the place."
Patrick kept saying "Go to your place!" and I kept wanting to say, "If YOU had to stand on this place in Sue's back yard don't you think YOU would feel like a circus animal??" But I did not.








Just when I thought we were done Patrick took me inside and told me to go to my "place" which is a dog bed in the family room. I thought we were done with "the lesson" and I was purrrrrty sad when we had to have more of "the lesson" inside.

I heard Patrick tell Sue that I was a "bright, bright dog" when the lesson started. I kept doing everything perfectly and he said, "This is amazing." Then I decided to not be perfect and I started to eat grass. It took Patrick a few minutes to "get past the distracted phase" of our lesson.

So, now you know what I go through on Wednesday nights. I am very tired when Patrick goes home. Sue is very happy. She says, "Elvis, you are a perfect dog."

Love,
Elvis

Sleeping at the cabin

Hi everybody!
Guess what? I went on a trip this weekend! Sue and I drove to the cabin to visit Ben and Peter and Meg. I had a blast! First I was able to stick my head out the car window on the entire trip up and I got to sniff the woods and everything.
Then while we were there I went on two TEN MILE walks with everyone.

AND (here is the best part) I LEARNED TO SWIM!! Meg and Sue hiked to a lake at a camp near the cabin and they threw sticks in the water. When I ran in to get them I realized I was SWIMMING!! Yes!! Did you know I could swim? I did not know I could swim, but I could!! I even jumped off the dock once, but I scared myself and did not jump again.

We went back to the lake again and then I swam in the creek many times. At the end of each day I was purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrty tired. Here is a picture Meg took of Sue and me asleep on the floor in the creek room. It is very tiring to swim and chase sticks.

I cannot wait to go back to the cabin again. I LOVE to swim! Meg wanted to go into the lake with me, but it was too cold.

I also got to sit by the campfire. I did not know what a campfire was, but I sniffed and sniffed and then I knew I should not get my tail too close so I just sat by Sue.

OK. That is all I know.

Love,
Elvis

What I like best...

Hi everybody. This is me. Elvis.
I thought you would like to see what I like best now that I am six months old.
Well, I like RIDING IN THE CAR best!! Sometimes I think about jumping out...









but most of the time I just like looking out the window. See?












In this picture you can see how BIG I am getting. Purrrrty big, wouldn't you say???












This is me on the porch by Sue's mums. Do you like them? I do not really care either way, but Sue likes them.











And here I am by the yellow ones. Sometimes Sue can be annoying because she always wants me to be in the picture. I wondered why she did not just take a picture of the flowers, but then she said, "Oh, Elvis. You are soooooo cute!! I think she puts me in the pictures so you can think that I am cute, too!

Guess what else? Did you see my radio collar in the pictures of me in the car? Well, yes! Patrick has been here for two sessions now and I am wearing my collar much of the time. I am going to be very well behaved.

Patrick is not a sissy. This week we had our lesson in the rain!! I was dripping wet, and Sue was standing under a tree while Patrick was teaching us. I thought to myself, "Sue is verrrry wet. My fur is soaked. Doesn't Patrick know we are wet and crabby?" I do not even think he realized it was raining! My ears did pick up when he said to Sue, "Elvis is a very bright dog." At first I thought I did not understand what he said because I had water in my ears, but he DID say that! He said I was verrrrrrrrrry bright! And I knew Sue was verrrrrrrrrrrrrry happy. Me too!

Love,
Elvis

Me Growing Up

Hi Everybody.
On Friday Sue gave all of my friends a bath. From left to right they are: Coyote, Squirrel, Raccoon, Skunk, Rabbit and Fox. Don't they look happy? They are happy because they had a bath and they smell verrrrrrry good.








Do you remember when I was little?













...and I could barely see out of the ivy????














Well now I am big!! I weigh 60 pounds!!!













Peter is the only one who can pick me up. Can you believe how big I am?












Sue said I should show you some of my other friends: This is Cardinal. He and his wife come to the feeder a lot. Hummingbird would not sit still long enough for a picture. There are other birds I know also but they did not visit when Sue took the picture.









This is not a friend, but it is a flower. It is near our back porch and I like it very much.
I love sitting on the porch with Sue.

Love,
Elvis