Friday, February 29, 2008

Welcome to My World

Seems like you humans have stressful lives and all kinds of mood swings. I don't. So I thought in honor of leap day it might be fun for you to take a minute and leap into my brain. This way you can see what it is like in my world - the world of an exuberant, high-energy, happy-all-the-time, adorable, 8-month old whippet pup.

Are you ready??? Strap yourself in!

Here!
We!
Go!!!!!

Stretchhhhhhh, ahh OK what to do this very minute? wait, need to stretch again, first the front legs, then the back, OK that felt good, where is Pixie? oh there she is right next to me, let me see if she is awake too, nope she is sleeping, should I wake her up? yes, no, yes, no, yes, of course I will wake her up, I must bite her nose while making a yowling noise, OK, Pixie is awake now, Pixie do you want to play? Ouch, she snapped at me, guess that was a no, must move on to next activity, lets see, let me run as fast as possible into the bedroom and jump on the bed, yikes I slid across the blankets, I think there is something under this blanket, I must dig dig dig until I uncover it, oh well blanket on floor now but nothing was underneath, let me dig dig dig under this sheet, nothing there either, quick I must run as fast as I can into the living room, jump on the couch, jump off the couch, jump on the chair, stand up on chair, dig dig dig at back of chair, jump off chair, weeeeee, I am having fun, running running, wait stop I see blue squeaky ball, must squeak ball, squeak squeak, squeak, drop ball, run to front door, run back to bedroom, stop to get drink of water, lap lap lap lap splash splash, thirst quenched, run to cave bed, leap off cave bed, there is rope toy, flip upside down while chewing on rope toy, uh oh here comes Pixie to see what I am doing, quick drop rope toy and run away, oh wait, Pixie didn't care about rope toy she was just switching beds, cool, go back and get rope toy, bring rope toy into crate, chew chew chew chew, see plastic bottle across room, must have bottle now, spring out of crate, run run run, grab water bottle, bring bottle to couch, chew chew chew, bottle flies off couch, I fly off couch in hot pursuit, water bottle you will not get away from me, ahh, gotcha, kill water bottle, what's next? nap time? nope I see squeaky pink pig, must have pig, get pig, shake pig vigorously while running through apartment, pass water dish, hmm, yup I am thirsty, drop pig, lap lap lap lap splash splash, now what was I doing? oh right I was running, OK, continue running making sure to avoid Pixie, see bone, grab bone, lay down and chew on bone, chew chew chew chew, suddenly I am very sleepy, must sleep now, go to snuggle ball bed, dig dig dig dig to make bed perfect, dig dig dig and then plop down for a nap, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Day before Leap Day

Pixie and I have no idea what Leap Day is but just in case the world ends tomorrow, we wanted to make the most of today. Click here to see the fun we had.

Hope you made the most of today too.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

My Twin Brother

Yes, it is true - I have a twin brother. Well we aren't real twins like with one egg splitting into two or anything like that but we are from the same litter and we are both red and we both have black masks. Here is a photo of him. His name is Stretch. Don't we look alike? I think he is very handsome. Well of course he is cause he looks like me and I am beautiful. But since he is a boy you gotta say he is handsome.


I don't get to see him too much cause he lives in Canada. It looks real cold where he lives.

In a couple of weeks I am going to see him and I can't wait. I hear he likes to wrestle just like I do. I am looking forward to biting his neck. After our visit, I will post some photos of us together, I bet you won't be able to tell who is who.

OK, gotta go and get ready to watch American Idol.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

VOTE FOR ME

My Mom entered a photo of me in this contest. The winner gets a new vacuum. You can vote for me for one week at this link - VOTE FOR BUG.

My Mom told me that in order to vote people need to put in their e-mail addresses and I know that lots of folks are concerned about their privacy. So I understand if you don't want to vote. But I sure would appreciate your support. I have made a whole lot of messes in my 7 and a half months on this planet, and I think it would be cool for my Mom to get a new vacuum.

Thanks a whole lot.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Guilty Pleasures

I am going to tell you all a little secret about my Mom. She likes to watch American Idol. And guess what? I like to watch too. I especially like how Randy calls everyone his dogs. What better compliment is there than to be called a dog? And did you see on the try out show when Simon wanted to invite that one girl's puppy to Hollywood instead of her? And if any of you caught the short-lived reality show about Paula Abdul - you would have seen that she has like 15 little dogs that she takes with her everywhere. This is one of the most dog-friendly shows on TV. Even more dog-friendly than the Dog Whisperer cause nobody gets jerked around by their collars, put down on the floor, and/or forced to sit still while 25 evil skate boarders roll by.

So here are my picks for this season. My favorite boy right now is David Archuleta. I mean is he cute or what? And he can sing too. I would love to have him on the other end of my rope toy for a good old-fashioned game of tug. As far as the girls go, I really like Ramiele Malubay. She has an awesome voice and a bubbly personality. I think she looks like she would be up for a good game of fetch.

I sure hope these two go far in the competition. To do my part, I pledge to stop chewing on my Mom's cellphone so she can text in her votes.

Don't forget to watch on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Yay - 3 whole nights of American Idol.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Week One of My Blog

Thanks to all of you who read my blog this week. It has been really fun writing about my adventures and misadventures. I pledge to continue to post daily and hopefully add a little laughter and a few smiles to your lives. Sometimes I might even be serious, but only if a topic really moves me in that direction.

One great thing about starting my blog is that I met a whole lot of other cool dogs with blogs and found out there is even a site called Dogs with Blogs. Check it out!!

UPDATE - rescheduling the dinner hour

Well the short version is that our plan has not worked.

The longer version is that our plan seems to have had some unintended consequences - sort of like when you breed chickens to get huge breasts and they end up being real mean and pecking each other to death. It seems that this week the feeding time for our dinner has become totally random - one day we got fed at 5pm, the next day at 3:30pm, the next day at 6pm, and the day after that we ate at 4:47pm. I am not a mathematician or anything but that looks like a random sequence to me. So I have deduced that the "feed me" dance has no effect on when the food actually hits the bowls. Pixie, on the otherhand, is still not convinced. She says she has been doing the "feed me" dance since before I was even on this planet and she is not going to give it up now. That girl is nothing if she is not persistent and focused when it comes to eating. I promised her that I would continue to dance with her in hopes of getting our original plan back on track. And speaking of the track - the "feed me" dance is a great way to get my butt and thighs in shape for the upcoming racing season. And I gotta have a nice butt since that is the part of me that all these other whippets are going to be seeing the most.

Have a great day everyone!!!

Saturday, February 23, 2008

The Squirrel Relocation Program

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that there was a squirrel hanging out on our balcony. I watched it out there for a few days, trying to formulate a plan to a) get out the sliding glass door, b) catch the squirrel and c) EAT the squirrel. I didn't have any success figuring out a way to get out the door and onto the balcony myself, so I sat and stared out the window until my Mom noticed me and came to see what was up. At first, I think she thought that this squirrel was just visiting from his home in the nearby tree. But then the squirrel ran into the outdoor closet and we both realized at the same time that this squirrel was living out there. My Mom seemed pretty upset about this. I was overjoyed - she was sure to let me out there to get the squirrel now. But nope, she refused. She went out there herself to assess the situation. She cleared some stuff out of the closet and then I think she forgot about the squirrel. I did not forget.

Well today, I happened to be walking past the balcony door and there it was again - my nemesis - the evil freeloading squirrel. How dare this squirrel take up residence in the closet out there and really, how dare my Mom make me stay inside instead of letting me remedy the situation as nature intended. My Mom seemed upset by seeing the squirrel out there again and I kept trying to explain to her that I was perfectly willing and able to dispatch the squirrel quickly and efficiently. I know that several of my whippet relatives are master squirrel killers and I really wanted my chance to get one too. Here I am pleading my case - let me at him, come on, let me at him.

No such luck.

Upon further investigation in the closet, my Mom found the nest that the squirrel had made:
And then began the squirrel relocation program. It would make me so happy to tell you that the squirrel was relocated to the inside of my tummy, but I never even had a chance to try and get at it. Instead, my Mom relocated the squirrel's house to the inside of the dumpster. I wonder if the squirrel will find his new home? I will be sure and tell him if I see him. Yeah, thats it, I will tell him where his new home is right before I sink my teeth into his neck.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Word of the Day - Snuggling

While I am tempted to write about John McCain's possible hypocrisy (what? a politician in bed with a lobbyist - say it isn't so), beef recalls, the idiocy of the 30-day marriage/sex challenge, or the fact that gray wolves just became UNprotected in 3 Western states; I am not feeling very political today.

I think instead I will focus on one of the most endearing traits of whippets - the fact that we have no personal space issues. Whippets love to snuggle - it is just that simple - especially with other whippets. They say a picture is worth a thousand words - so why keep writing when you can learn all you need to know by looking at this:


I wish all of you a day full of snuggling.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

My Artistic Talents

I fear that some of you good people may have only heard about my mischievous side - my crazy antics - my chewing fetishes - my destructive tendencies - my ears that stand straight up - my penchant for annoying Pixie, etc. So today I would like to tell you all about another side of myself. Oh, don't get me wrong - I am not an angel, nor do I want to be and all that you have heard is most likely true. But besides all that, I am a very talented pup - and when I say talented, I mean artistically. And isn't it true that most artists are temperamental and crazy? I mean lots of artists go insane and stuff like that (hmm, perhaps I shouldn't dwell too long on this point).

OK, where was I - I am an artist - that is where I was. Yes, indeed, I am an artist and I would like to share some of my recent works with you. Currently, I am focusing on small installation pieces that are created during the course of my playing with found objects. I may move on to painting in the future but that would probably be a whole lot easier if I had thumbs.

Here is one of my early works - I call it Still Life with Sock


This one is called Feeling Green? and I created it in honor of the lunar eclipse that I couldn't see last night. I made sure to leave it right in the middle of Pixie's favorite bed so that when she lays down it will go squeeeeeeeeek - it is an interactive piece.

And this is my most recent piece called Toys on Carpet, notice the repeated use of the large and small bones - I find that this gives a raw, grittiness to my work.


Pawtographed copies of these photos of my creations are available upon request, for a small fee of course, I mean I don't want to be no starving artist.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Why I Love Pine Cones

I was planning to write about the lunar eclipse tonight but it is snowing and cloudy here in VA so I doubt I will get to see it. Which is a shame cause I was looking forward to it and have been perfecting my howling.

Therefore, today's entry is about the pine cone, probably one of the least blogged about things. I mean who really cares about pine cones, well pine trees do cause they would cease to exist without them. But most creatures (humans especially) could care less about pine cones. I, on the otherhand, am a true
connoisseur of the pine cone.

In fact, pine cones are amazing and I love them. Did you know that pine cones come in male and female varieties? I bet you didn't. Did you know that the arrangement of the scales on pine cones demonstrates the Fibonacci number sequence (look it up - I just did on Wikipedia)? And how about this - some pine cones weigh over 10 pounds and can kill you if they fall on your head.

But really besides all that, here is why I think pine cones are great - they are a freely available, plentiful, portable dog toy and they are full of protein. OK, they really aren't full of protein, probably just a whole lot of fiber and you really shouldn't eat them anyway, but I still love them.

I have been collecting and chewing on pine cones since I was a wee little pup. Here I am back in October 2007 at the tender age of 3.5 months with a North Carolina pine cone. If you are going to chew on pine cones you should start with the best and North Carolina has some awesome cones.

Where I live in Virginia, we have some good pine cones too. Every day when I go out for walks, I make it a priority to find a good pine cone to bring inside and destroy. You can make a really big mess in a very short amount of time with a pine cone (another super cool thing about them).

Pine cones are also nice for those quiet moments when you are relaxing in your crate with the sun shining on you just thinking about how wonderful nature is and how good it is to be alive.

So say it with me - Hooray for pine cones!!!!!


Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My Sister and I Discuss Politics

This is my sister, Nettie. She came to visit me this weekend.

Since it was President's day and we consider ourselves to be two very savvy gals, we got into a heavy discussion about our favorite candidates. We are both supporting the Democratic Party this year even though we aren't going to be old enough to vote (in dog years or human years). Nettie is from New York so she likes Hilary Clinton, I on the other hand consider myself an ObamaPup.

Here I am telling Nettie what a chump I think Clinton is. I mean she has a labrador retriever, how much more common can you get? We need a president who is creative and an innovative thinker.

Well then Nettie informed me that Obama doesn't even have a dog. That made my ears go crazy.

I had to think for a second, but then I remembered that I read in the paper (right before I shredded it) that Obama actually is a dog-person and he has promised his daughters that if he gets into the White House he will get them a dog. Take that Nettie!!

Then we agreed to disagree and got down to the important business of relaxing.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Rescheduling the dinner hour

Everyday, Pixie and I eat breakfast at 6am and dinner at 5pm. We definitely like having 2 meals a day (we have heard that some poor, abused dogs only get one meal a day). But we have decided that 11 hours is too long to wait for our dinner. So Pixie came up with a plan. We are going to reschedule our dinner hour by manipulating our person. And we are going to be super secretive about it so she won't even know why she is feeding us sooner. Pixie is real good at thinking up stuff like this - she really likes to eat.

So the first thing we had to do was perfect our "feed me" dance. Pixie is a pro at this so she taught me the steps. I am going to write them out for you here so you all can learn it cause it may come in handy for you.
  1. make sure your ears are standing straight up
  2. stare intensely at your person
  3. do a playbow
  4. remain in playbow stance and hop backwards a few times
  5. stand up and bang your butt into the nearest piece of furniture at least 3 times, if there is no furniture around, you can also bang your butt into your person's legs
  6. while banging your butt begin to make a low whining noise
  7. stand straight up and do the whole body shake
  8. REPEAT and make sure the whining gets louder with each round of the dance
This dance is very annoying for people and they always want to do whatever they have to do to make it stop. OK, so now that we have the dance steps down. Here is the plan - Pixie and I are going to start doing the "feed me" dance one hour earlier each day to coincide with the lengthening of the daylight hours. Currently, we do it at 5pm (our regular mealtime). Tonight we will start up the dancing and singing at 4pm. I can't tell time yet, so I will have to depend on Pixie to get us started - but Pixie's tummy is pretty reliable.

Soon we should be eating dinner right after we eat breakfast. Then the plan is to start up the breakfast version of the dance an hour earlier and then we should be eating breakfast right after we eat dinner. I mean how cool will this be eventually we will spend all day eating breakfast and then dinner and then breakfast and then dinner and our person will never be the wiser.

Wish us luck - I will let you know how it goes.

Yours in struggle,
Bug

Sunday, February 17, 2008

My First Post

Hello World,

I'm Bug and this is my blog -- my first real time using technology, well that is if you don't count chewing on computer wires or standing on the DVD player. Anyway, I heard that a blog is a good way to share my thoughts and opinions about everything and anything. And I really do have a lot of thoughts, cause I am always thinking -- thinking up funny things to do that will make people smile.

Some of the funny things I do have been caught on video and you can check them out on YouTube. Here is a link to some of my latest kooky antics Bug Loves Pajamas

I lead a very busy life of sleeping, eating, chewing on inappropriate items, sleeping, running at the park, bothering Pixie, sleeping, eating, dragging pajamas around the house, sleeping, taunting Pixie, and sleeping some more but I will try to post something each day, so come on back and look.

Bug