CARL and the PUPPIES and a call from my breeder

Kathy was reading CARL and the PUPPIES to me when her phone rang. It was my breeder James McKee from King Rottweilers in Spokane. Kathy had her phone on speaker and I recognized his voice. Boy that brings me back. He wants me to take a DNA test. Is that like the AKC Canine Good Citizen I am studying for?

Then we got back to reading. Mama dog is very tired and needs a nap. Stephen heard that and cracked up, "Kathy and Stephen need a nap", he said. I cocked my head, why don't they just take naps when they are tired? I do it all the time.

Kathy reads, "Pete sees a butterfly. Polly likes flowers." See, I am not the only Ferdinand the puppy out there and Pete and Polly are famous.

Lilly as done by Pink Martini

Stephen was listening to music today. He had found the third generation of Von Trapp Family Singers and was pretty impressed. Actually, I was too. Stephen has introduced me to a number of styles of music, Kathy too, she played REO Speedwagon for me last night. Have you ever had a song keep playing in your head? Keep on loving you just went around and around again.

They did a few songs as guest members of the mini-orchestra Pink Martini. The Von Trapps have very tight harmonies, very tight timing and are not afraid to have fun with it. What, you didn't know dogs had musicality? Pretty much the entire animal kingdom does. Here are some gifted animals playing Fever with Rita Moreno.

Whoops, Stephen just told me those aren't really animals. Well these dogs certainly are. Where was I? While Stephen was out of the room, I played Lilly by Pink Martini.

Lilly comes when you stop to call her

Lilly runs when you look away

Lilly leaves kisses on your collar ....

Oh dear that is all I can remember, I think my brain still needs to grow. This afternoon after Stephen was done working he took Kathy and myself to the lake. WOW, that is the biggest water bowl I have ever seen. I can't drink lakewater until I have yet another set of shots. So they hooked a cable to a cherry tree far enough away from the lake. They were pulling the branches off the ground that mess up Stephen's weedwacker and piled them up for burning some day when there is a light rain. I helped by running around, chewing up weeds, and digging. Maybe when I am older I can do more, but for now it is time to lay me down to rest.

Palm Sunday + Look and Sit + Kong Genius

Stephen and Kathy went to church and left me alone in my dog crate; again. This is the third Sunday my pack has abandoned me. That is bad news, they say it takes 21 days to develop a habit, so Stephen and Kathy are turning into habitual craters. I wish they would let me come, I could do the cute puppy bit. In the Jewish faith, the holiest day of the year is Yom Kippur, people fast and draw close to G-d. If you say "the day" to a practicing Jew, they know exactly what you mean. In the Christian faith, they have a whole week starting with Palm Sunday. What does that mean to a puppy? Thank you for asking, it means there will events at church throughout the week, meaning more time in solitary confinement. If you use the Doggle Calendar to translate from people time to dog time, a week in people time is forty nine days in dog time, and approaches infinity in puppy time. Is there really such a thing as dog time?

They don't know that I know, but they are planning to sneak out again tonight for small group. Stephen was making his notes for the study while watching me in the bathroom.

The pack is spending some quality time with me this afternoon, maybe it helps assuage their feelings of guilt for putting me in the dissociation box twice in one day. I got to meet the across-the-street neighbor, Shane. He was outside tearing up the bushes, I like to do that too. Stephen took me for a walk for a short distance and when I would start to pull on the lead, he would stop and we would practice look and sit. Hey, don't laugh, anything for a treat.

Speaking of treats, Stephen gave me a new yes, yes, chewtoy. Kathy was wearing the dress she wore to church and its hem came to about 8" from the floor. I just couldn't resist. To the tune of Cell Block Tango:

She had it coming, she had it coming
She only had herself to blame
If you'd have been there, if you'd have seen it
I betcha any puppy would have done the same

Where was I? It has been over three seconds. Oh yeah I think Stephen gave the toy to distract me while Kathy changed clothes. This chewtoy smells like it has bacon in it. They call it a Kong Genius, cause you have to be genius to get the treat. It is not as difficult as the chewtoy exhibit at New Jersey's Liberty Science Center. That chewtoy's design was purchased from Erno Rubik by the Ideal Toy Company, (the folks that invented the Teddy Bear chewtoy), in 1974. Here I am hard at work to get my just dessert.

Puppygarten yeah!!!!

Stephen and Kathy got me up early today. There was a work day at Lake Tapps Community Church. The night before Stephen loaded his string trimmer chewtoys, with his blower and hedge trimmer into the truck with all of his spare batteries.

I supervised Kathy weeding a flower bed and Stephen was helping the alpha person, I think his name was elder, though he did not look that old. Then a young girl came over to play with me, so I had to do the adorable routine.

We left before my second feeding, because today is my first day at Puppygarten, I knew I was going to some sort of school, but didn't know what to expect. It was much smaller than my Littergarten classes, (12 puppies), there were three puppies, two of which were three months old and we heard Nikki teach Stephen and Kathy the three second rule. Attention span of a gnat indeed, Nikki says I can recall what transpired for up to three seconds.

We worked on the look command and sit. If you get it right, you get a peanut butter flavored treat. When Halley saw the teacher pull the bag of treats out, she went nuts.

My class mates are Halle, a golden retriever and Lucy, a Papillon. After command practice, before they released us it was puppy play time. This is the first time I have encountered another puppy since I left my litter and breeder and went to my forever home. Halle was nice but very in my snout, (and other parts of my anatomy).

Maybe, I will play with her when I am a bit bigger, but I just wanted to stay in Kathy's lap. I was thankful when she scooped me up.

What a wonderful world

Timber Ridge called and said I do not have parasites any more. I hope this does not mean I don't get my spoonful of pumpkin, because as you know, puppies like pumpkin. This means I get to start Puppygarten on Saturday. Now that I have had my next set of shots, Stephen and Kathy are letting me come with them to more places. I got to go to Lowes and everyone was really nice to me.

Stephen got a really large blue cart. That was a fine choice since it is one of the colors I can see. He headed for the lawn tools. He just had another Ryobi battery die and it pretty unhappy about it. He is going to post his 24v string trimmer on Craigslist and sell it for one dollar? What's a dollar? He is going to standardize on Kobalt. The boxes are pretty, we will see what happens.

I got to practice walking on lead down towards the lake. I raced Stephen back up the hill, he needs to practice running some more. Then Stephen and Kathy took my out to the road. I had heard the sounds, but couldn't figure out what was going on. We only went a short distance, I still have vaccinations to go. I almost scored a cigarette butt, but Kathy stopped me, "She said, nasty habit". Not sure what she meant by that, it looked like a cute little chewtoy to me.

I got shot by the doc

Stephen and Kathy took me to the vet again today. My ear mites are doing much better and they will analyze my stool sample and let me know if I am cleared to start puppygarten on Saturday. The last thing they did was a vaccination. I am not sure what that means, but I am very sleepy.

Bathroom remodel II

Stephen here, Yogi will be spending the night in his crate and we can clean up in the morning. The puppy seems to be reticent to go out to his designated area when it is raining.

I am hoping that if I can make it nicer by putting down some more gravel. That dries pretty quickly. Also we "flush" the potty by removing any droppings. And since a wet dog is no fun I am trying to construct a way to go potty without getting rained on. So we went to McLendon's hardware store. I bought the largest hot water heater pan they had. Then I bought a bag of sand and three bags of marble chips. I put the sand in the bottom and the marble chips on top.

Yogi started digging through it the first time he saw it, but he did use it twice today. Only time will tell.

As I was putting it all together, it brought back memories of the past. I went to college on the GI bill and didn't like dorm life. I was four years older than my classmates. I tried several living situations, the most colorful was a four bedroom apartment over a warehouse. Rent was $125.00 a month cash and the landlord had exactly one rule, never bother him. The good news is that is was just across the street from the restaurant my brother and I helped develop the menu for and very near the Rappahannock river, we hung our kayaks on the porch, it was really nice in the summer and fall. But it had no heat, I had a good sleeping bag. However, when the toilet froze, I started looking for an option.

Turns out I met a fellow paddler who was a senior when I was a freshman. He was working at a Navy lab and decided he wanted to buy a house in Fredericksburg and was looking for a roommate and asked me to take a look. It was small, it was definitely a fixer upper. The linoleum in the bathroom was torn in places and sticking up; a tripping hazard. But the toilet wasn't frozen, the little house had heat. I agreed to move in.

The location was fantastic, two blocks from Mary Washington University, two blocks from the restaurant I worked in, (and interestingly, two blocks from from the restaurant I would work in until my government job opened up).

Two single guys two blocks from my college. We were going to have a number of visitors, it is a bit like living in Hawaii, we never knew we had so many friends. We fixed the bathroom floor. I had some slate roof tiles from a tear off in the summer. We ripped up the linoleum and I was getting ready set a concrete base and install the slate when Jeff had an idea. We framed a rectangle eight inches larger than the toilet, I laid the slate outside of the rectangle. Jeff drove to 84 lumber, bought two bags of marble chips and when the concrete was dry and stable, we put the marble chips in the rectangle. You see, guys are not always that fastidious when they go potty. Once a month we would shovel out the rocks, put them on a pebble screen and wash them down. Who knew, 33 years later I would be doing this again.

Exchanging PeeMail with Monty

I haven't met Monty yet, we have to wait until we both have completed our vaccinations. I get my third round this Wednesday at Timber Ridge Animal Hospital and then after 24 hours I can meet puppies that are up to date in their vaccinations. In the meantime I am confined to canine social media.

I spend most of my time on LeadIn, it is less chatty than Snoutbook or Tinkle. Since I am destined to become a service dog, it makes sense to build my network of professional connections.

Monty is a puppy, a little older than me and he lives near by. Since Stephen and Kathy know Tim, Sue and Josh, it is likely the two of us will get to meet in real life. Monty is a labrador retriever. I realize some canines feel it is important to stick to your breed; I don't. For one thing, for about half the year I will be living in Hawaii and AKC registered breeds are a serious minority there, we are all hapa 'llios. Stephen can relate, he attended public school there. When the teacher asked a question, everyone would stay silent. The unwritten code was, we are all going to be uneducated surfers, right bro? Also, for the nine weeks I have been on this earth, I have observed that dogs will be dogs regardless of breed, which brings us back to Monty.

I had two crate mishaps last night. One wasn't my fault, Stephen and Kathy were cuddling like litter mates and when I tried to tell them to let me go outside to my bathroom, Stephen just told Kathy, "I'll clean the crate".  I was so sad, it is raining, AGAIN, and I did not want another baptism, er, uh, shower. When Stephen and Kathy finally went to sleep, I borrowed Stephen's iPhone and told my tail[sic] of woe. Monty commented on my post. "Yogi, I know just how you feel. I had a mishap yesterday. I got to the door, but could not open it. But then Josh came to the door without his paw protectors on and stepped in it; no fun for anyone. Good thing I am so cute!" Monty sounds like a fine upstanding canine, so I am sending him a pack invite on LeadIn. I know LeadIn says not to invite anyone you haven't sniffed in real life, but I want to get going and don't intend to wait till I am 12 weeks which is 84 weeks in dog time and something close to a million in puppy time. Did I mention I have the attention span of a gnat?

Monty accepted my pack invite and I just checked out his profile. Good looking guy.

Like grandfather, like puppy

When Stephen, Kathy and Becca came to pick me up, my grandfather Rambo was in his crate. While he was alone and uncrated he started to chew on his crate. My breeder James came in and said, "What happened here"? Rambo went into his crate immediatly, since he knows his crate cannot be a chew toy.

Tonight Stephen spread lots of chew toys on the floor and we tried to watch one of his movies. But, I was fixated on the crate chew toy. Stephen gently told me, "that's one", I did it again and he said, "that's two, once more and it is crate time". What does crate time mean? I am sure you know it is not my favorite thing.

Normally Stephen will not talk to me when I am whimpering in my crate, but tonight he said, "Yogi, I would like to read you a story, are you willing to listen?" Stephen had heard the story in a preacher's sermon a long time ago, probably before my great grandfather Imperator was born. It goes something like this:

= = =
A long time ago a farmer wanted to buy a mule from his neighbor.  He asked the neighbor if the mule had any problems.

"Not a problem," the neighbor said.  "This mule will do anything you ask.  All you have to do is ask him nicely."  The neighbor added, "Just make sure you never mistreat my mule."

The price for the mule was fair, so the farmer bought the mule.  The very next day the farmer wanted to plow his field.  He hitched the mule to the plow.  The mule had no intention of pulling that plow!

The farmer said, "Git up!"  But the mule paid no attention.  The farmer tried talking nicely until his face almost turned blue.  It did no good.  So, he called his neighbor over.

The neighbor came right away.  When he heard the problem, he walked over and picked up a two-by-four.  He hit the mule right in the head.  Then he whispered in the mule's ear.  That mulee started plowing back and forth the field, turning the soil over without anyone standing behind the plow.

"I thought you said never to mistreat your mulee," stated the farmer.  "You said all that I had to do was to talk nicely to him."

"Well," answered the neighbor.  "You just have to get his attention first before talking to him."
http://www.mikelockett.com/stories.php?action=view&id=174
 = = =

I nodded to Stephen wondering what does this have to do with me? Kathy and Stephen have started pre-training me. My official first puppy kindergarten lesson is next Saturday with Nikki. Some of the dog directives are two part, they start with "ready". That is what is behind the particularly odious single kibble feeding drill. They are trying to tell me my name and introduce me to the "ready" command. Dudes and dudettes, I understood what they meant in the first five minutes. The question of the week is whether I am going to listen. Even though I am especially bred to have a hard head, (Rottweilers were bred to herd cattle and the cows occasionally kicked the dogs in the head), I think I would prefer to avoid a two-by-four smack. I have a lot of chew toys and maybe it would be best to give the crate a bye.

Stephen is remodeling my bathroom

The puppy books often suggest that you teach your young canine to use a certain section of the yard to go potty as opposed surprises all over the yard. When I first got to my forever home, they took me straight to my appointed spot.

Oh that was fun, there were pinecones, roots and sticks to play with a veritable cornucopia of chew toys. After I did my business, Stephen flushed the toilet by taking a WinCo bag and removing what I deposited. Then Kathy and I went inside. Stephen, the fun killer, took a leaf blower and blew away most of my bathroom chewtoys.

To make up for his atrocious behavior, he spread out a bunch of cedar chips. Boy did that remind me of home. We got fresh chips every couple of days in the whelping box. In my short life I have experienced a few luxuries, but so far, nothing comes close to fresh cedar chips on the heated tile floor at King Rottweilers. So you can understand why I thought he wanted me to lay down on the chips and chew a few of them for good measure; I just wish Stephen and Kathy would supply dip for the chips. And then the rain came.

Not to diss the Seattle area, but Spokane had a much more pleasant climate and no puppy in his right mind wants to lay down on a pile of wet cold chips. Also, you learn in littergarten to dig a hole before doing your business. Then I would leave these cute mud pawprints on Stephen and Kathy's lanai. They would have to wash my paws before I came into the house.

Stephen bought a bag of pea gravel, the nice rounded kind from streams and also just rock chips. He wanted to see if that would help with the mud. After he took this picture he changed one more thing that I am not sure I approve of. He removed the extend-a-chewtoy and replaced it with a plastic coated steel able. I can still chew on it don't worry, but it is harder to really get some air when leaping.

Am I agnostic?

Kathy and Stephen fed me breakfast a little earlier than usual, then Kathy sat on the back lanai while waiting for me to go potty. After that they put me in the hoosegow and went to church. They came back were very excited because I had a clean dry crate. Stephen took me out back and told me that Lake Tapps Community Church, had their first baptism in the church building; they bought a portable baptismal. What's a baptism?

It is when you put water on someone. Because I have had some mishaps, I must have had several baptisms. But, I thought the water thing was called a shower. Stephen agreed, I have had showers, not baptisms.

Kathy and Stephen sat down to lunch, (Mexican lasagne using corn totillas instead of noodles), and put me in my crate, so I did some thinking. I guess I haven't been baptized. Also, Stephen and Kathy have left me alone in a crate four times since I have been at my forever home. Twice it was for church, once for small group, once for a meeting with the newcomers to the church. Hmmm, being the smart Rottweiler that I am, I am starting to see a pattern, I am not baptized, I don't go to church. Next time Stephen leaves his iPhone unattended maybe I can do a Google search.

It turns out that churches use something called a Bible, which is a book that lives in a nylon zipper case so they don't get easily turned into a chewtoy. Since I have the attention span of a gnat at this age I didn't do a comprehensive search.  I did find one verse using Google's Canine to English language tool. Revelation 22:15, "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." When they say outside, do they mean where I go potty, or do they mean separated from my pack? When I was six weeks old, Rambo, my grandfather was telling some jokes. One was, "Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there was a Dog." I asked Granpa, "What does agnostic mean?" He said it is someone that is not sure about God. I wanted to ask Rambo, why he said Dog not God, but he walked away. Maybe when I get a bit older I can figure this out.

Chewtoy Deterrent

Stephen is sitting on my new chew toy

Since I have not been eating much, when Stephen and Kathy went to the vet to get my replacement medicine, (they had to mix some water with my kibbles to absorb the medicine and I only eat dry kibbles), they got another high quality large breed puppy food brand.

We do not know if it is the new food or a side effect of the medicine, but this was a rough morning, I threw up in my prison, er, uh,  crate twice. Stephen is pretty chilled about crate accidents, he has both hot and cold water on the back lanai, so he just turns on the hot water and washes everything down. Since I have parasites and the water washes down into the strawberries, there will not be any fresh homegrown strawberries this year, but it is a small price to pay for stress free cleaning. I love the hose, that water tastes better than the water in my bowl and the brass nozzle is a great chew toy.

Kathy is out right now getting roof racks put on the Chevy Cruze. That gives us a way to transport my prison, er, uh, crate for longer roadtrips. No, they are not going to put me in a crate strapped to the roof, they have ordered seat covers for the rear seat. Why they think I am going to stay in the back of the car is beyond me.

Since Kathy is out, I am up in the office with Stephen, that gives me a good chance to catch up on my blog. When I am not on the computer, I like to lay under Stephen's office chair. And who knew, it is the best chew toy! The metal supports are fun to chew on though they are a bit big for me. But my favorite is the plastic knob on the arm that raises and lowers the seat. I heard Stephen tell Kathy not to worry about it to much, they got the chair from Costco and they probably have plenty more. What's a Costco?

Ferdinand the Bull

Stephen and Kathy left tonight for a couple hours to have snacks with some of their friends from church and left me in the downstairs prison they call a crate. I voiced my displeasure, but I didn't go full power. Unfortunately, I got a bit worked up and suddenly there was pee in my crate just as they were leaving.

Stephen shook his head and quietly said to Kathy, "Ferdinand the bull". I wondered what he meant by that? What is a Ferdinand? What is a bull?

Later when they got back and finished giving me a shower I snuck a quick look at Wikipedia on Stephen's iPhone, (Kathy's iPhone is locked with a paw print reader). The story of Ferdinand is some book written before I was born, in fact it was written before my great grandfather Imperator Vom Haus Zschammer was born. Ferdinand was a bull that liked to smell flowers instead of bull fighting.

While Stephen was cleaning my crate he told me, "Yogster, I had you outside with me for an hour while I was weed whacking and you spent most of that time leaping and eating apple blossom flowers instead of doing your business. It will be easier on all of us if you get the idea."  What idea is he talking about and I am only nine weeks old, I can't run a business.

Puppies Love Pumpkin

Hello, this blog post is being written by Stephen, I am filling in for Yogi since he does not feel well. He did not eat his food yesterday, possibly because he knows there is medicine in it. We called Timber Ridge Animal Hospital and they said to put the medicine in pumpkin, so we opened a can. Amazingly, Yogi's breeder called from King Rottweilers and he said the same thing.

So two votes for pumpkin and it worked, at least the first time. He was cuddly though, wanted to be on one of our laps all through the day.

Kathy had women's Bible study tonight and so it was me and the Yogster. I should have just put in a movie and cuddled him, instead I tried to work. It was essentially impossible. If I got close enough to the keyboard to type he would wake up and try to press a key or pull something off of my desk.

When Kathy came home, she took him to I could finish grading one last student paper for the evening.

The lab report

When I went to the doctor, they asked for a stool sample which they sent to the lab to be analyzed, Yesterday, the Timber Ridge Animal Hospital called and asked Kathy to bring me in that day. They found two types of parasites. They sold Kathy two drugs and Stephen and Kathy put them in my kibbles. They do not think I know but I do.

Until yesterday my favorite toy was my rope. Then it was my chicken. I like to chew on his neck or his feet.

I haven't eaten as much today as the other days, but that is because I feel a bit funny. I am also a bit tired and slept for much of the day. I didn't even play with my chicken today.

Insomnia at 8 weeks

I heard my breeder tell Kathy and Stephen that we, (us Rottweilers), are schedule oriented. Stephen and Kathy thought about calling Trey, (Kathy's littermate), and Ali, (his main squeeze), for advice. Trey and Ali did an incredible job of raising their pups on a schedule. Stephen and Kathy felt they could help our pack with their experiences.

Here we are at 8 weeks and one day after I was born and I could not fall asleep tonight. Finally at 10:30 PM Kathy just picked me up and put me in that hated box. I howled, I scratched, but no one came to my rescue. After 20 minutes of my best histrionics, Stephen started singing. That boy has no rhythm, he does not have a sense of pitch, he does not remember all the words in a song, but somehow it relaxes me. I was asleep five minutes later.

Toyland

Today was not the best day of my short little life. I had a few mishaps in my crate, which made for a long night and two showers, (though the toweling to get me dry by Kathy is to die for). Then Stephen and Kathy left for church. When they got back and my crate was clean they praised me and offered me a treat. Of course since I am an 8 week old puppy, I had no idea why they gave me the treat, but hey, any treat is a good treat.

This afternoon Stephen wasn't around much. He was cooking for Stephen and Kathy's church small group. What's a small group? I got to smell the Turkey meatball Creole style Fricasee, but they wouldn't let me have any. Something about Creole and puppies don't mix. What's a Creole?

Then they left me alone in my crate again for small group. They told me that they did not stay the entire time, but I had another mishap. They are getting quite skilled at cleaning up. One, Stephen usually, cleans my crate and the other, Kathy usually showers with me.

Tonight, I had the best play session since I have been at my forever home. Stephen has an eye for chew toys and they rotate them for me. Of course you and I know that soon, they are going to put me in my crate for a long winters nap. Don't worry though, in the immortal words of Wendy the Bully Whippet,  "I'll be back".

My trip to the vet

After Stephen and Kathy had been told I had ear mites, they called around to find a vet. They got me an appointment at 11:30 at Timber Ridge Animal Hospital. The people were very friendly, but the things they did to me are beyond belief.

The nurse checked my temperature. Do you know how they do that? There must be another way!

Then the doctor came in, Ronald R LaVigne, DVM. He was clearly pretty sharp, but he didn't cut me any slack. He looked in my ears, yup there are ear mites he said. The he sent me down the hall to have them irrigated. He asked, "Did you get a lot washed out?" "No", said the nurse. "Do it again", Dr. LaVigne said. Great. The doctor told Stephen and Kathy that was the worst infection he had seen in his 24 years of practice, I just smiled with that classic Rottweiler smile, go big or go home and trust me when I tell you I am going big. As I was leaving the doctor told me, "come back in about ten days and we will see how you are doing, and we can give you your next set of shots". Needles? I hate needles, they must think I am a junkie.

On the examination table; it gets worse.

When we were finally done, Stephen and Kathy were talking about getting a second crate to put upstairs so I can be with them. If men are a dog's best friend, why are they so obsessed in putting me in a locked confined container? On the way home, my bladder started to go out of control, I gave the red alert and Kathy managed to pull over at a Therapy Center. All I know to say is the experience was very therapeutic.

We made it home in time for lunch. Stephen was feeding me. First he measured the food, then at first he did that silly one kibble at a time thing, but as soon as Kathy was upstairs, he tossed a big handful in my bowl. Gosh, I love Hoovering kibbles. I met an Irish Setter once that claimed to have been from a big litter, if you didn't get your food fast enough, you went without. I nodded politely, but trust me, it is the same with us Germans. Dogs are the same everywhere.

Turns out, Stephen and Kathy were serious about that second crate. I do not like the idea, not at all, but I am trying to be philosophical. As the famous Chow Hound Dick Loveescape said to his best bitch, Althea, from the Dog Pound:
“Stone walls do not a pound make,
Nor iron bars a crate;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom from the fleas
And in my soul am dominant,
Show dogs alone, that soar above,
Enjoy such liberty.”

Good news is that we had a great road trip. Stephen and Kathy are not perfect, but they love road trips. They haven't let me stick my head out of the window yet, but I know that great day is coming. We purchased a brand new prison, er, uh, crate at the Auburn Humane Society thrift store. Stephen also purchased a chew toy which he thinks is a large hand carved spoon.

Why all these restrictions?

I am starting to understand how a human must have felt in the 60s. Old enough to be drafted, too young to drink or vote. Speaking of drinking, what's your favorite mixed drink? Mine is a toilet bowl, lapped at, not stirred.

They just keep hitting me with restrictions. Can't meet other dogs till I am 12 weeks of age, can't climb stairs till I am 6 months. They won't even let me drive?

Adjustment issues

Stephen and Kathy looked a bit tired last night. Believe it or not they cannot just fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Breakfast was that one kibble at a time deal, again. I am about done with that.

They are very rude, they both went upstairs to have a cup of coffee leaving me alone.

Oh did I howl. They were very impressed with the sounds I am able to make. Stephen in particular appreciates my wolf howl imitation.

James, my breeder from King Rottweilers, called Kathy last night. He said that a vet found ear mites on of my littermates and also cocchina what ever that is, but they say it is serious if I have it. So, I have to go to the doctor this morning. The only thing I hate worse than doctors is dentists.

But the ultimate shock was all this rain in Seattle. I had heard about it before, but you have to experience going to the bathroom when it is raining on you, to understand the expression, "mad as a young wet puppy".

Coming to my forever home

March 13, 2015 Stephen and Kathy came to pick me up and take me to my forever home. I will miss my mom CH. Alica Se Ungo-Rot and my siblings, but this seems like a great adventure. Becca drove and I sat in the back of the truck to cuddle Stephen and Kathy; they seem to need a lot of cuddling.

It was a long drive, so I asked Becca to make lots of potty stops, it is important for me to look out for Stephen and Kathy.

When we got home, Becca left to attend a birthday party and we got some dinner. They fed me one kibble at a time, (we need to shape that behavior). With every kibble they would say, "Yogi, ready", then they would put the kibble in their right hand and I would eat it while they said, "this is Yogi's food".  Kinda dumb, but I played along. We all went to bed early since it was such a big day. They put my crate in their bedroom so I could keep an eye on them.

We got up several times that night so they could go potty, I even went outside to my bathroom a couple of times.