Calendar Girl

I got some terrible news today: my most favorite treats - the kind I get as a reward for finishing all of my dinner every night - have been discontinued!

I can't imagine why anyone would want to stop making muttos. The outside and the inside are two different delicious flavors, and the size is perfect for my dessert every day. Now I'm going to have to settle for off-brand dog treats that aren't even sweet-potato-flavored. It's a tough life.

So, to keep my mind off of this bad news, I need your help:

I want to submit my photo to the 2014 Corgi Butts calendar contest, and I need to know which picture you think will give me the best chance of winning. I don't mean to brag or anything, but, as one of the prettiest dogs around, I think it would be fun to launch my modeling career by getting into this calendar.

Will you help me decide which of these photos to submit for the contest?

The first ones are from when I was just little, so that you remember how terribly cute I am. My more serious potential submissions are below. Keep in mind that this is for a calendar, so a seasonal photo may do best.

And now Spring...

Summer...

Fall...

And Winter!

Please let me know your top pick!! Remember you can find me, GoGo the Corgi, on Facebook. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Heat Wave

This has been a very hot summer. Lately it's been so hot that if I try to go for too long of a walk I start to slow down in the middle of it... I get so hot and tired that sometimes I even lay down in the grass before the walk is over!

What? I just needed a short break for belly rubs!

I think maybe it should only be this hot on one day of the year, and that day is the 4th of July!

Everyone in my family loves to celebrate the 4th of July together. It's the perfect day for it to be hot outside, because we can go swimming and eat all the best hot weather foods, like fruit and hamburgers and ice cream. I love to eat all of those things! Did you know they make ice cream for doggies? And, well, you already know how much I love swimming...

There's just one thing I'd like to change about the 4th of July -

Can we get rid of fireworks?

I don't know about you, but I don't like all of the noise that fireworks make. It's too sudden and it doesn't make any sense to me, so I bark and howl like my own personal alarm system. Then I have to put on my Thundershirt - it's designed specially to help me feel calm. I don't mind snuggling up with my momma and wearing my Thundershirt.

But, um...

How do I say this politely?...

I kind of think this shirt makes my butt look big!

So let's just get rid of fireworks, okay? Maybe we can come up with a different night-time hot weather holiday tradition, like chasing lightning bugs, or eating peanut butter sundaes. In the meantime, let's focus on my good side -

About Ohio

Can you guess what I did two weekends ago?

Here, I'll give you a hint:

That's right! I went on a BIG car trip!!

Mom and Dad loaded all of our things into the car and we spent 12 hours on the road in order to get to Ohio. I didn't mind the long drive, mostly because car rides make me sleepy, and because it was worth the long trip to get where we were going!

My dad's grandparents live in Ohio and let us stay with them, which is great because they have the coolest possible house. It's set up like a big circle with each room leading to the next and the next and the next and then back to the first, so when I run around it I never have to stop or change directions. One hallway is the perfect ramp for playing ball, and in the middle of the house there's a place where I can go outside without my leash. It's like they designed the whole thing with playful puppies in mind. In this photo you can see my pal Sophie out in the enclosed part of the yard.

And if the house itself wasn't fun enough already, the family we saw on our trip to Ohio made it even better still. I saw my dad's parents - my friends in Room 25 know his mom as your teacher!

I spent a lot of my time on this trip to Ohio playing with Sophie and Penny. Penny loves to run, just like me, and we chased each other around and around the house. Penny must not know other dogs who can bark as loudly as I can - you should have seen the surprise on her face the first time she heard me! She's only little, and she's younger than me, so I tried to teach Penny a little bit about being tough. Here she is hanging out with me.

I had tons of fun on vacation with my family, and I already can't wait to see them all again. I think one of the best things about vacation is spending time with people we love.

Another cool thing about my Ohio vacation was that I got a special delivery from my friends in Room 25 would be doing during their vacation! My friends, you must have been so busy in these past two weeks!!

You wrote about friends, games, faraway places, zoo animals, and going on airplanes. You also wrote about one of my favorite things: swimming.

Did you celebrate the Fourth of July while you were on vacation, too?

I really enjoyed your thoughts and drawings about vacation, friends. I hope that you had a fun time, and that you are ready to work hard back in Room 25! I always love vacation, but I love coming home to my routine, too.

See? Here I am, back at home in Connecticut, cozy in my own bed, dreaming sweetly of family and the fun that I've had...