New Puppy Place

It's been a while since I've written, but there's been big changes!

We now live in Asheville in an area called Grove Park. We like it here a lot and we have lots of other puppy friends.

Some things haven't changed. Coco is still a pesky little sister but I love her anyway.

Big Changes, Little Sister

I haven't written for a while, because I've been a busy pup.

The biggest change is that I now have a little 'sister,' Coco! ' She's also a Shih-Tzu, and she's always getting into trouble. Sometimes I think she's a pesty little sister, because she loves biting on my ears and tail. I'm very patient with her, though. That's Coco in the picture. She may look calm, but trust me, she's not.

As she's gotten older, she's learned not to bite so much. We wrestle a lot. Now that she knows that she's the junior member of the pack and that I'm the senior puppy, we get along much better.

She's a hungry, hungry puppy and she likes to try to eat Everything. Except for bumblebees. She learned her lesson about them last summer when she gulped down a live bumblebee. We knew it was a live one, because it was still buzzing when it came back up.

Well, that's all for now. Coco says she wants to post on "our" blog too. So... maybe you'll hear from her.

Best Day Ever!

I had a great walk yesterday! It was very chilly, but I was snug in my coat.

I love my morning walks. I get to see all my friends. Our usual pack is me, Shorty, and Star, along with our people--Steven for me, Mark for Shorty and Jeanne for Star. Dale and Mary Alice also walk with us but they don't have puppies. I think Dale should get a Shih-Tzu too! She likes me a lot, and I like her too.

On the way down to Red Oak, you'll never guess who we saw! Two of my other puppy buddies--J.R. and Buster! Shorty and I stopped and we had a big puppy rumpus. We jumped, we wrestled, we wagged tails. It was great!

The others kept walking but Shorty and I decided that this was far enough for us, so we just kept playing for a good long time. I wish J.R. and Buster could come out and walk with us. Still, it was great to see them because they don't get out of the house very often.

It was the Best Day Ever!

A Sad Day

Almost all my days are happy ones. As I like to say, "Today is the best day ever!" Do you know why? Because it's true!

But there was one day a few weeks ago that wasn't that happy. My cat buddy Tobias had been getting sicker and sicker. Steven had to take him to the vet, and I couldn't go this time. When he came back with Tobias, Tobias wasn't really there anymore, and Steven was very sad.

We buried him in the front-yard at one of his favorite outdoor snoozing spots. I miss him and sometimes I look around for him, but he's not here anymore. Steven says that in heaven we will have all those things that we need to be happy, so I think that means that we'll all be together again some day. That sounds good to me.

For now, I spend even more time with Steven than I did before before, and I will always be a cat-dog thanks to Tobias' lessons on how to be a cat.

We're Famous!

This has for sure been the best summer ever! I've done a lot of romping and playing with my friends, I've gone for lots of long walks, and I've even gotten to go to the airport a few times. One of the most exciting things, 'though, is that Steven and I got our picture in the newspaper! Steven and BookGirl always talk a lot about me, of course -- I am a Shih Tzu, after all -- but mostly to their friends. Now, though, I bet that EVERYBODY knows about me, don't you think?

For a while there was a note in the newspaper that asked people who thought that they looked like their pets to send in their photos. BG always says that Steven and I look alike, and she showed us a picture of us that she wanted to send to the paper. I said OK! right away, but Steven had to think about it a little before he said 'yes.' But finally he did (thank goodness) and BG sent in the picture. I asked Steven to look for our picture every day, because I was sure that the people at the newspaper would love it as much as we did.

Finally -- we had to wait a long time, but I didn't forget -- there was a big story called "Look-alike Pals" in the newspaper. And guess whose picture was in the story? Yes, you guessed it! It was our picture! There were pictures of other people and their pets, but I thought that we looked the most alike, and we were the best looking pair for sure. Everybody in the neighborhood told us they'd seen the story, and BG's art friends mentioned it, and I told my dog friends -- Shorty, and Bella, and Star, and Zoe, and Trixie, and Buster, and J.R. -- all about it. BG says we're famous now.

The picture at the top is the one that was in the newspaper, and here's another one of me and Steven that I like. And the last one is one of me and BG. She looks only a tiny bit like me, 'though. I think I'll ask Steven and BG to take me downtown soon and see if anybody recognizes me.

My Busy Summer

BookGirl says she's been very busy, so I haven't been able to get her to write for me. But I haven't had much time either. The summer is very busy for a mountain pup. For one thing, all of my friends are out during the day, so we spent a lot of time rumpusing ("rumpusing" is Steven's word. It's a good one, don't you think?).

And there are a lot of nice, big, juicy, twigs around for chewing. I don't like to rush, so I chew my twigs slowly. This takes a good, long time, since I usually make a little pile of them before I start.

Then there's my ice. I found a piece of ice once that fell from the ice dispenser in the refrigerator, and I liked it a lot. So now I like to have ice every night during the summer. BG puts some ice cubes in a little dish for me, and I get them one a time. They're nice and cool when it's been a hot day and I've been rumpusing.

I've been on lots of car trips this summer too. Last week we had a long car ride to pick up BG's mother. Her name is abuela (that's what Alicia called her when she and Alicia were here together last summer). BG says it means "grandmother" in Spanish (whatever that is). She likes to tickle me behind the ears, which I really like. When Alicia was here a few weeks ago (she's back at her other home now), she wanted me to play with her, and I bet abuela will want me to play with her too, so I have to find the time for that somehow.

Sometimes I get to talk on the telephone. That's the little black brick in the picture that Steven is holding next to my ear. Well, I don't really talk. I listen mostly. Steven is letting me listen to Alicia. When Steven goes away, I get to listen to him when he calls too. I can tell when BG is talking to him, so I run up onto her lap. And when BG goes away, I do the same thing with Steven when he talks to her. I'm not always sure what they're saying, but I like to hear the sounds of their voices.

I hope the fall is a little quieter, but I don't know...

Twiggy as Art

I don't know where this picture is (BookGirl says it's too complicated to explain and that she found it here), but I hope I can go there to see it -- and take my friends. Maybe it's all filled with pictures of dogs! (I look pretty cute, don't you think?)

Summer Naps

I've been taking a lot of naps lately. It's been very warm, and Shih Tzus don't do well AT ALL in hot weather. By the time I get back from my walk with Steven in the morning, I'm hot and tired, so I have have a big drink of water, eat my breakfast, then take a nap on the window seat. When it gets too hot there, I go into the laundry room and nap. The tile floor in there is nice and cool.

I haven't been bringing in many twigs in the past week. It's way too hot to go outside, except when I go out on the deck to bark -- that's how I say hello -- at the neighbors and their dogs walking by, and the UPS man in his truck. In the mornings, if we eat on the deck with the big overhead fan, I lay under the table.

Steven and BookGirl's bedroom is cool at night -- cool enough for a blanket. It's my bedroom too, since that's where I sleep. Sometimes when one of them gets out of bed, I jump up and snuggle under the covers. I have my own bed, of course, but theirs is so much bigger! That's me having a good snooze in the big bed.

I'd Rather Have a Chew Toy

BookGirl says she found this toy on the Internet (whatever that is). It doesn't look like a toy to me. It doesn't squeak, or squeeze, or bounce or roll. But BG thinks it's fun anyway. Sometimes I don't understand her at all. She found it here.

Left Behind

BookGirl used to go away a lot (she called it 'business travel,' whatever that is). I knew she was going to leave because she brought out a big black box (she calls it a suitcase) and put her clothes and other things in it. Then she put it in the car and Steven drove us to a place called the airport. Steven used to take me with him to pick up BG when she came home too. I made a lot of friends there.

This time, Steven went away. I wanted to go with him, so when he wasn't looking, I jumped up on the bed and then into his suitcase. BG thought it was funny, so she took some pictures, but I was serious. I put my chew toy in there too so I'd have something to play with during the trip. Steven wouldn't let me stay, though. But he let me go with him and BG to the airport and held me on his lap instead of making me sit in my car seat in the back. I couldn't go in this time to say goodbye to Steven because BG was in a rush. I really miss Steven when he goes away. I have a lot of friends, but Steven is my very favorite person.