It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

So far, I just love Christmas. I got two early gifts: vitamins, and a mat for my food and water bowls. Mom and Dad said that I could have my mat before Christmas, because it's kind of a lame gift as far as I'm concerned. They also gave me my vitamins early because they might help my gunky allergy eyes. They're called "nuggets," and I heard that my aunts Sophie and Chloe in Missouri love nuggets, so I really like them.

flower girls

Now I can't wait for actual Christmas, because my family said that we're going to my favorite place in New Jersey to get even more presents.

Since I last posted, I've learned to jump up on all of our furniture and the benches in the park.

For my first Thanksgiving, I was most grateful for my big family and my kind neighbors. I got to have a ton of fun playing in my big fenced-in backyard in New Jersey, and I took a vacation of my own while Mom and Dad flew to Missouri for my aunt's special wedding day. I checked in on Wednesday to this cool puppy hotel in New Jersey, made a ton of new friends, and even had my own turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day! Mom and Dad got me a luxury package at the hotel, for lots of walks and a bedtime story on every day of my vacation, so I could relax just right while they flew to Missouri. I can't wait to drive to Ohio in a month or two to meet all of my Dad's family, especially the little ones who look so pretty as flower girls in my aunt's wedding photos.

Happy Halloween!!

I sure hope you've had as much fun today as I have!!

First, I saw my neighbor friends Doug and Father Peter, who always let me jump all over them. Father Peter says, "Shake my hand because you're my friend," and I jump up to give him kisses.

Then, I got to go to Daddy's office and meet all of his friends! Some of them recognized me from the pictures on his work computer, but I was in costume so probably not all of them even knew who I was. Here I am with my family in my Boo costume.

And here's Daddy in his Waldo outfit - he's been playing a Halloween computer game while we wait for trick-or-treat-ers:

While he's busy with that, I'm busy with the prize that I won as a champion of the PetSmart costume contest last week:

We've had eight kids come to our door tonight. Even though Mom seems kind of disappointed that we didn't have more, I'm just trying to figure out why we can't invite them all in to play with me.

A few of our visitors tonight recognize me from my silhouette on the front porch:

Pretty cool, huh?

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

My First Snow!!!

...Well, that I can remember, anyway...

I can't exactly remember if I saw snow as a newborn puppy, but that wouldn't count anyway.  This is my first REAL snow!

It tastes really good, and it's so fun to run in.  How come Mom and Dad don't want to stay out in it for very long?

Daddy has a hard time keeping up with me!

GoGo-Prints!

Champion, Model, Boo

Saturday was the biggest day!!!!

I graduated.. again! from a second puppy class!  At our last class on Saturday we had "field day" and graduation ceremony. I don't mean to brag, but my mom and dad are pretty proud of my superior skills, especially in loose-leash walking, now that I'm a graduate and field day champion.

Then, I got to come along for some family photos, taken by our very talented friend Emery.  It was a beautiful day for a walk by the river and for sunny photos that we'll use for Christmas cards and framing.

Sneak peek at our family portraits!

I'm really impressed with Emery, because I do not make it easy for anyone to take my picture, and she still managed to get my good side in a lot of shots.

My coolest trick - "Dance! Dance!" - in action

She didn't even need to use treats to make me look this pretty!

Since being beautiful is my full-time job, I guess I should start getting used to having my photo taken.

My day was not over after our photo adventure!  After a short nap while Mom finished my Halloween costume, we got all dressed up and went to PetSmart for - can you even believe it?! - MORE PICTURES!! We had another family photo taken, and this time I was in my own version of Boo's outfit from Monsters Inc.

Mom was extra proud of my win at the costume contest, because she worked hard making the costume by hand. Next year, I'll look even cooler, because she's getting better on her grandma's sewing machine.

Little monster

See the resemblance?

What are you going to be for Halloween?  Will you come to hand out candy with me? You just have to promise to let me lick the faces of all the trick-or-treaters.

Never Enough Belly Rubs

I'm so sorry that I've written so little this month! September is just flying by - we've been to New Jersey and several new parks..

Here I am at an Arboretum; it's right here and I love all the trails and rocky paths!

I've made all kinds of dog park friends, like Sally the beagle, who's the very best one..

You can see that this is not Sally, but my friend Lillie - we like to swim together, but she doesn't run very fast

And I'm back in school again! It's been tough to keep up with my blog, since I have to spend all my free time getting belly rubs. There can never be enough belly rubs, you know.

In school this year, I'm learning some really advanced skills. Partly because I love belly rubs so much, I'm getting pretty good at "roll over." Plus, I can already "heel" and it's only the third week of class! Mom is really excited that my new harness helps me walk without tugging on my leash. Here I am getting a little ride home with Dad from a walk in my new harness.

I like my harness just fine, but sometimes when it's hot I get too tired to walk all the way home

Don't you think my new collar looks great? Dad got it for me at the craft fair while we were visiting our New Jersey family. I'm very stylish in green, and I have a cool new flat tag now, too, so that I don't have to jangle while I walk around.

Now I'm getting ready for my first overnight at puppy camp this weekend while Mom and Dad celebrate their anniversary. It'll be tons of fun with all the friends that I've made there during camp days this month. I just hope that I can sleep at night without getting tucked in by my family.

My First Hurricane, and Blue

We weathered the storm!! How are you?! I've been thinking about all of my friends in New Jersey and other places, since I have so many friends, and hoping that everyone is okay. So far, Mom and Dad tell me that our loved ones are fine, and so are we. In fact, I only had to do two things to get through my first hurricane without any damage:

1) Sleep in on Mom and Dad's bed on Sunday; and
2) Inspect all of the branches and leaves and other things that don't belong, on our street and our driveway and our yard and everywhere!

Now that the storm is passed, I have to be really good this week, because of the following reasons:

1) Mom has to compete with everyone whose homes don't have power if she goes out to her usual cafes, so she's working at our house; and
2) I chewed through her laptop charger cable yesterday, so she can't work anywhere other than Daddy's desktop anyway. Oops.

Now, I don't have a very hard job, do I?

In fact, my job is great, because so far this week I get to take off a little time every day to hit the park. If you "like" me on facebook, then you already know that I made a new friend named Blue the other day at the park, and he looks like this:

Blue is great because he's a herding breed, too, and he's about my age, so he can run and turn and jump as fast as me. The only problem for me at first was that his legs are so long that he sort of bowls me over, and then I get tired and bite at him too much. Today, though, since it was our second time playing together, I think he got the idea about the leg thing, and he gave me some space so that we could both run together and roll around in the grass with each other. Then I learned to tell Mom when I'm ready for a rest, so that when other dogs run to us she can scoop me up. Here's how I tell her:

I'm not ready to make any commitments yet, but don't be surprised if someday Blue is my boyfriend. He definitely flirts with me more than with any other puppies at the park!

All of this crazy weather and park time has got me ready for extra belly rubs these days :) Who's in?!

The Dog Park, Continued

It's safe to say that the dog park is my new favorite place, especially now that Dad taught me to go in the pool!!

This is a video of the first time that Dad put me into the puppy pool at the park, and you can see how much I love to bite that water, just like I snap at the hose in our yard.  I already told my parents that I need one of these pools at home.. Can you imagine the fun we'll have with that AND the hose?!?

Anyway, sometimes there are a lot of dogs at the park, and sometimes not so many, but I don't mind either way.  I've been there lots of times now, and usually at least one person comes around to tell me how beautiful I am.  They bring dogs, too, but you know how I love new people more than anything.

Here's another video of the places where we puppies can chase each other at the park.  As you can plainly see, I have become an expert of jumping into and out of the pool whenever I want!

I'm also an expert lately at staying awake when I'm really tired, but Mom and Dad say that isn't a good thing, because I can't force myself to stay awake and concentrate on being good at the same time.  Mom's friends from college came to stay with her this week, and I loved them, but Mom said that people can't tell how much I love them when I nip their fingers too much.  Sorry, friends!  I'm growing up to be a big dog just as fast as I can!