Nappin' and a Scratchin'

Hello my Long-Lost Peeps!  

You have probably wondering why I have not been doing a very good job on keeping you up to date on Josie Life.  The truth is, Josie Life has been on vacation because it is summer time now!   

When I first came to my Forever Home in Blue House Land, mama had me working hard.  I had to learn so many new things about my house and my new people, and then I had to learn how to be a Good Citizen and how to listen to mama at agility class, and I had to work hard to grow all my shiny fur, too.  

I still have a lot of work to do -- in fact, mama says I am starting my Teedy-Eye class next week (I'd better rest up while I can!).  But she also says that I have the whole Rest of My Life to become a Teedy-Eye and that for now, I just get to be a regular dog and enjoy my first summer of freedom. 

So I have been doing a whole lot of patio sittin':

And yard watchin':

Fancy-new-clothes wearin':

Don't forget some afternoon wrasslin':

And of course, treat eatin':

And my personal favorite, a whole lot of new-people meetin'*:

I hope that you are having a relaxing summer, too!

XOXO,

Josie Valentine

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*Bonus Instructional Pictorial: How to Meet a New Person by Josie V. Nick:

Step 1.  Sniff person and see if they have any treats in their hand.
Step 2.  If treat, sit for treat.
Step 3.  If no treat, wag tail excessively until treat is produced (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Step 4. Receive scratches behind the ear.   Begin to entice others in the surrounding area to come forward and produce a more full-body scratch.  Also, they might have treats.  (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2.

Step 5. Attempt to crawl inside new person.

Step 6. Barring success in Step #5, get as close to new person as possible.

Step 7. Continue to mush yourself into new person for as long as possible, i.e. until they make you stop.  Tip:  Closing your eyes will generally prolong the mushing process.

Step 8. Enjoy new friend.  (See Figure 3). 

Figure 3.

Left to my Own Devices

Mama is on vacation.  One day she packed up her suitcase, kissed us puppies goodbye and left, and hasn't come back yet.  But dad says she'll be back in a few days and that I shouldn't worry about her.

I really miss her (but probably not as much as she misses me, let's face it people).  I have been pretty bored without her around to entertain me all day, although Rick comes to visit us every day to take us for a walk so that has been pretty fun.  Other than that I've been doing a lot of napping.   But here is some humor in lieu of a good Josie story.


What Dogs Think:
8:00 am -  Dog food! My favorite thing!
 9:30 am -  A car ride! My favorite thing!
 9:40 am -  A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
 10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
 12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm -  Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm -  Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm -  Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm -  Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm -  Wow! Watched TV with the people!  My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

What Cats Think
Day 983 of my captivity... My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.   They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.  Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, Nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.  In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet..  I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of.   However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am.  The bastards.  I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.  The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return.  He is obviously slow in the head.

Ha!  Cats are so foolish.

XOXO,
Josie

Summer Lovin'

Hanging out with dad and Brody:

Checking out the goods from the outside kitchen:

Mama's boy alert!

Good Citizen, Good Neighbor

Hola mis amigos!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Since today is my last agility class, mom decided it was time for me to start Spanish lessons.  Just kidding.  

So are you ready for some good news?  I finally became a Canine Good Citizen just like my mom always wanted me to be!  Wahoo!  

After I became a Good Citizen we came home and had a party with a bunch of my two-legged friends to celebrate.

  

Dad fed me a bunch of meatballs as a reward...om nom nom nom.  (Later I got a tummy ache, but it was worth it.)

Some of my fans (Rick, dad, and Auntie Katie):

I got all of the attention.

Kiss me, I'm a good citizen!

It was a good party.

Today mom took me in to meet some new friends at State Farm, and I was really excited to run around with all of the cows and horses but then we got there and it wasn't really a farm, but an office.  At any rate, the people there were very nice.  Mom wanted them to meet me so they knew what kind of dogs they were insuring.  Mom said thank you to them for not discriminating against dogs like me. 

XOXO,

Josie

Unleash-a-bull!

Hi everyone, Josie-V here (that's V as in Valentine, and not like the Roman numeral 5, because there's only one Josie and that's ME!). Anywho, I really have not had a lot of time to post, because I have a very exciting announcement: I got a job! My new job is called "Assistant Manager of Keeping all the Chipmunks out of the Yard and all the Other Critters Too, Even Flies Because Brody is Afraid of Them."

Mom and dad put up a fence and now I don't have to wear my leash when I am in the yard. That means I can spend all of my time doing my job. Sometimes I let Brody help if he's not being too bossy. (You can see by his expression that he thinks he is pretty smart.)

We took our new job very seriously this weekend. After lots of looking around,

And sniffing around,

We found out that the critters live underneath the deck in a secret underground apartment like teenage ninja turtles!

I climbed up there and found their apartment! Do you see me there next to Brody, with my head in their little house? Ha!

Here is a video mom took of Brody and me while we were taking a break from our job. I told her she needs a better video camera, because this one really does not do us justice in terms of how cute we are. She said, "maybe if I didn't have to spend all my money on dog treats and new fences, I would be able to buy a better camera!" (Sheesh, guilt trip much, mom?)

Mom and dad spend a lot of time with us outside because it has been so nice out lately.

Blue House Land is a lot prettier in the Spring!

Til next time,

Josie

p.s. I have another good story to tell later, so watch for another post soon!

Deviants

Hello, people!

Spring is really here now (wahoo!) and mom and dad started growing food outside. At first I was pretty excited about having food growing in my kingdom, but then they put up a fence so that I could not eat the food that they grow in there. Plus, Brody watches over the outside kitchen and there's that look again, telling me that I better not go in and eat mom and dad's lettuce:

He is such a goody-goody.

On Saturday, dad gave me a bath -- yuck -- and washed my collar and put a shiny new tag on it that says "Josie." (As if there are people in this world who do not know my name! Ha!) Then we went in the car to a big warehouse with lots of art and people. The warehouse was called Deviant Art and it had lots of paintings and photos of pit bulls and other dogs; it was to show people how cute we are, I think. I got to meet so many people and a few dogs, too. There was even a rug made completely out of squeeky toys! Oh my gosh you guys, I was in heaven.

Mom showed me a painting of myself that she and dad are going to hang up in their house. I am not sure why they would want to look at a painting when they could just look at me any time. But sometimes people are weird, you know how it is.

Here is a picture of me and mom at the art place. This picture and the one below it were taken by the super-cool Paige, a.ka. Pearla's mom. Pearla is my friend from CGC class and my mom is always going on and on about how precious she is. I guess! But anyway, back to me.

On Sunday I had to take a test to see if I was really a Good Citizen like mom has been teaching me how to be. I tried, really I did.

That picture is me, trying to watch mom instead of watching 1) other people, 2) other dogs, 3) my imaginary friends. But a dog like me can't be expected to ignore these things all the time, so I am not a Good Citizen yet. Mom says that I am now in Boot Camp until I get to take the test again. All Boot Camp means is going for lots of walks near people and dogs and smells, all the while getting yummy treats in my belly, so I really don't mind.

One more quick story about Deviants. I heard mom and dad talking about how my former owner finally got sentenced for being a dog fighter. Mom and dad said how they wished he would be in jail, but that didn't happen; then they said how they wished he would never get the privilege of owning a dog again, but that didn't happen either. All that happened is he has to do community service. They said they could think of some pretty creative ways for him to spend his community service time. Can you?

XOXO,

Josie-osie-o

Easter Bunny

Yesterday was a day called Easter.

Mom and dad took us on a long walk around the Lake of the Isles.

Lots of people said that I was cute and a few of them knew I was a pit bull right away and wanted to pet me just because they knew I was a pit bull! So I made sure to be on my best Josie behavior so as not to tarnish my outstanding reputation.

Then we went home and I sunbathed on the deck all day and watched mom and dad do a lot of yard work. It's not exactly a rough life for me right now, I suppose. :-)

XOXO,

Josie Valentine

p.s. The Easter bunny ain't got nothin' on these ears, people!

Some People and their Dogs