Happy Memorial Day!!!!

Even pups can wear red, white and blue,
thanks to Martha Stewart, whose toy unravelled just because of my little teeny tiny teeth!

Little Big Dog

Hi! Tomorrow I'll be 14 weeks old already! I had the honor this week of being added to the wall of doggie fame in Mommy's office. I asked to be put right next to my pal Lillie in Barnegat - she belongs to Mom's coworker and friend Kim, and I can't wait to meet her so that we can be best friends. I chose this picture for the wall of fame:

See, I'm starting to look more and more like a big dog all the time.

My back is long; my nose is long; my walks are long; my legs are short.
My head is big; my ears are big; my teeth are (getting) big; my tail is small.
I'm a corgi, for sure!

My Favorite Things

I have a new #1 most favorite activity in the whole universe!

I am here to announce that the best thing EVER is this:

Sorting laundry.

I'm so helpful, I spent my whole evening with Mommy yesterday, making sure that all of the darks and lights and colors were separated and ready to wash.

Oh, how I love the smell of those disgusting socks and sweaty t-shirts! Oh, how I love to pull underwear through the small openings in the sides of the laundry basket! Oh, how I love to jump from basket to clothes pile and back again, again, again! Oh, how I love to crawl all the way to the bottom of the upturned laundry bin!

Laundry is the very best activity; I get so tired while sorting that I don't know what to do with myself, so I roll in a pile of clothes and bite at this or that with my eyes closed - heaven.

But I have other new favorites, too!

This new favorite toy fell from the sky while Mom was doing some cleaning this weekend, and I tore off the label so fast that she decided to let me keep it.

Mom said this was a shower gift from Grandma - it said "Honey Do Whistle" :)

I have a new favorite dog in the neighborhood whose name is Charlie. He's some kind of pitbull, and he lets me chase him every time we're out together.

And my new favorite activity at puppy class is to go over the A-frame. I don't know why the other dogs have to go so slow.. They talk about it being really hard.. All you have to do is run up and run down, right? And you get a treat at the end? Piece of cake.

Forgive the blur, we took this picture on our phone.

On the other hand, things that are not my favorites include the following:

1) Having my ears cleaned.

2) Stray cats in my backyard.

3) Spray that Mom and Dad use on the carpet - for some reason, they want it to taste bitter in all of the places that I'm trying to dig for treasure?

And, 4) Baths.

I don't focus on the non-favorites, though. I'm learning to get through it, and then wait for a favorite to come around again. With broccoli, apples, walks and family, I'm a happy dog!

Puppy Class

First thing's first: Look at how unbelievably cute I am!

Ok, now I can tell you about the puppy classes I started taking this week!! I have a lot to learn in school, but I'm already mastering give, sit, come, heel, leave it, and, my favorite thing, the agility tunnel.

Puppy class starts with Kong time, while I lick peanut butter and Mom and Dad try to convince me that it's actually a good thing for them to pet me and hold me without getting nipped. Then, there's training time, and we finish with play time in a pen where I get sectioned off with the more rambunctious dogs and sprayed in the face every time I try to bite. That part's okay, I guess, but the very best thing about puppy class is Yapple-nanas.

If you've never had Yapple-nanas, then please, close your laptop and head straight to your favorite restaurant to order some. They're delicious. Like apples. Except with chicken. So delicious. I skip a meal on puppy class days to save room for my Yapple-nanas.

Today, at my second puppy class, I was the only teeny puppy. My favorite of the big breeds is Ajax the Portugese Water Dog, but that's only because of his curly hair. Like my mom, I love those curly-haired guys! The other big pups include a Bernese Mountain Dog and a black Schnauzer. I'm pretty sure that I'm a big dog, too, but when I get stepped on by paws as big as my face I sort of second guess myself..

I'm still an adventurer, you know. Last weekend I went to Philadelphia, made our friend Lauren's cat really mad while I hung out at her apartment, and walked all the way from loud music at the May Fair to a shady nap under the table at a pizza restaurant. Even when I'm exhausted, I love people! The next day, I met my cousins Samantha and Luke, and we played my favorite game: Chase the Kids. I can't wait until I'm bigger so that I have more energy to keep playing as long as Samantha does. I also can't wait to spend a lot more time with kids. They are so much better than adults, better than dogs, better than anyone.

GoGo vs. the Giant Mushroom

Don't you think I should write adventure novels? They'd be full of huge obstacles and interesting new things, like this gigantic black mushroom near my house, or some empty food and trash bag boxes that Mom and Dad throw on the kitchen floor for me to bark at, drag around and tackle!

All of my novels, of course, would have incredible titles, like GoGo vs. the Giant Mushroom, or GoGo vs. the Giant Front Porch Steps - I really have to collect my nerves before I'll make attempts to jump down one or two of those!

I could also write a book about a big adventure I had last weekend, to a town called Darien. Darien has a few blocks of a bustling downtown area, but my little legs could only cover one of those blocks on my own. Of course, it was still a huge adventure - I licked the faces of every child I saw, coaxed shopkeeps out of their stores to greet me, and tried to follow all of my new friends home. Everyone just thinks I'm a beautiful puppy!

And by "beautiful puppy," I mean, "beautiful, big huge dog!" I went to the vet yesterday morning and weighed in at 5.8 pounds. Do you remember that I was just 4.8 pounds on my last visit? That means I've gained one pound in just over two weeks. It also means that I've grown by over 20% of my body weight in just over two weeks! It must be all of that frozen broccoli..

One of the things I'm not quite big enough for yet is my brand new water bowl. It's a custom bowl that my daddy ordered special for me - only the best for Daddy's little girl! He got me a bowl to last a lifetime, so it's bigger than my food bowl now, but I can reach to drink my water. I love the colors, especially lime green, like the peels of my favorite apples!

I took my shots like a champion yesterday, and napped away that rainy day. Today I had my second dose of worm meds - I already got rid of my worms, though, so I hope that this pill doesn't make my tummy feel as sick as the last one did.

Can't wait for my trip to Gramma and Grandpa's this weekend!

Queen of Toys

I had a lot of big firsts in the past week, and yesterday I turned nine weeks old! Here's my nine-week-old portrait. Mom and Dad measured me, and I'm a proud 11" long now - they think that's longer than I was before, but I think I've been a big dog all along, and always will be. I'm certainly the big dog in my neighborhood, since both of the neighbor dogs that I've met so far are twice my size but really scared of me!

For the first time this week, I can jump all the way up both the back and the front porch stairs all by myself. I'm eating like the big dog that I am, and today I finished all four of my meals in one day for the first time, plus my new favorite treat - bite-sized peeled chunks of Crispin apple. Also for the first time, I've realized that the black bags Mom and Dad use to clean my business make almost the same crinkle noise as dry leaves, so now I chase both.

Another first: I got my first care package today!! My Grandparents in Missouri sent really cool toys - a bone with ties at one end, just like my very own shoelaces that I'm allowed to chew to my heart's content; a ball that has crazy lights and sounds; and Mr. Oinks, a pig who I have to chew into silence every time he snorts at me. I'm looking forward to playing with my ball even more when I'm big enough to drop it and start its noises all by myself. Right now, my legs are WAY too short for that!

You see, I'm the Queen of Toys right now. New toys are the BEST for playing. Well, maybe second to Daddy's hands and face..

It Was the Best of Times..

It was the worst of times..

Wednesday started out so great.

I had to take a pill to get a worm out of my system, but that was great because mom tucked pill pieces in my favorite treat, frozen broccoli.

I went out on the sidewalks to start learning walk etiquette, and I met a neighbor dog, Nayla. She baaaaarked and barked, so I hid on mommy's legs. I guess we were both afraid. Then, when she got quiet, I got my boldness back and asked her for a sniff. She was still nervous, so I chased her all around her mom's feet. Our playdate was so awesome! Well, maybe Nayla didn't think so, but I'll win her heart next time. Why be afraid of someone only half your size?

Then, after daddy came home for his lunch, I was having trouble relaxing so I went out again and met three new neighbors! I just love new people, and I barely even bite them, because they have so many new smells and fabrics for me to investigate. One of my neighbors came from a kitchen downtown, and she got lots of licks on her cook's hands!

Well, then my day went sour. Mommy didn't know why I was all upset, but we figured it out when I threw up a huge worm (and everything else in my mini stomach!) We think the vet should put a warning on the medication I was given in my broccoli, because I haven't been feeling so great ever since. I couldn't relax on Wednesday night, couldn't sleep, and had to go out really often even though I was having accidents inside, too.

I don't know if you know this yet, but I'm a really smart girl. I know I'm not supposed to do my business inside. But how can I avoid it when I don't know when business is coming? I can sleep now, but I had one more bad accident in the kitchen yesterday morning, right in the middle of mommy's floor. Then I fell asleep, hard as a rock, and fast. I didn't even have time to participate in one of my favorite activities, which is the wiping of the floor with a super fun chewable paper towel. I hope this is the end of my tummy troubles. Mommy does, too.