Tag: schnauzer

October 17, 2012
Hello again my faithful followers. Here it is the second weekend of Rocktober Fest, and Mom and Dad go off Friday night and don’t come back. While it is true that my people brother Andrew came to stay with me – and I love my Andrew – the fact still remains that I got left behind. Does this mean I won’t get to go to Rocktober Fest, I ask myself?

Saturday comes and goes and I am stuck here at the house with my dog brother Riley. Andrew and Jentry, Andrew’s girlfriend, go off somewhere – work, I think – and leave me here wondering if and when someone is going to come take me to Rock City. Oh, woe is me.

Sunday comes and things are looking up. The boy has come – I think his name is Conner – and he is playing with Riley. That is good because I get to bark at Riley a lot when they play. It makes me look like I am protecting the boy, when in reality I am using it as an excuse to take my anger and frustration out on Riley. BOL.

Things keep getting better. Andrew talked to my Mom (his mom too) on the phone and I heard him say, yes, Lexi’s beard is clean. Then he packed us all in the car and we went to – you guessed it! Rocktober Fest! Woo hoo. I missed my Mom and Dad so much and was so glad to see them that I couldn’t even try to act all mad that they left me. So I got lots of good food off the floor and people adoring me and good music and all is now well in my life. Later, I found out that they went and stayed on a boat overnight for their wedding anniversary. I guess that is ok, since it all worked out good for me in the end.

Lexi, once again the Rocktober Fest Dog

October 9, 2012
Hi Brothers and Sisters. I go with my mom to the church where she works and do therapy (unofficially) and ask for food until it is time to go to the hospital to therapize the poor sick kids, who often have food too. All that to say, the staff at the church all know and love me – what’s not to love! Knowing this, it came as no surprise that I was asked to come to Sunday school to visit with the kids on the Sunday they celebrated St. Francis of Assisi (patron Saint of animals, for all you unchurched canines out there).

Out in the hallway before the class started, one girl screeched when she saw me. I would like to think it was with delight, but it sounded more like fear. She smelled like fear, too. Then we all went into the classroom and there were six or seven kids – math isn’t my strong point so it might have been more – who all sat in a circle on the floor with a few grown-ups, including my mom. The girl who screeched was given a chair to sit in and one of my church friends, Mary Gardner, said it was so she would be more comfortable with her dress. I knew Mary Gardner was just being nice, because I knew the fear girl was up in that chair so that she didn’t have to be too close to the source of her fear – me! Well, I also knew just what to do – I am a therapy dog, after all, duh. First, I walked around the inside of the circle, checking out everybody. No one had any food, by the way. When I got to the fear girl I just kept going and didn’t stop to say hi. I could tell she was watching me, though, and starting to get curious. Then I made a second round, stopping again to let everyone pet me, and this time I stopped next to the fear girl but didn’t look at her. That can be intimidating, you know, when you are scared of someone and they look at you. When she reached out and touched me I knew I was making progress. I thought, well, one more time ought to do it. So there I went again, stopping to see everyone in the circle, and this time I stopped and looked at the fear girl and most of the smell of fear was gone. I tried to tell her it was ok, I wouldn’t hurt her, and she must have understood because she reached out and pet me real nice. My work here is done.

Lexi the Church Dog

October 20, 2011

Mom has been so busy she hasn’t been keeping up with my diary. Shame on her! I have been a busy schnauzer and so much has happened since summer. My schnauzer buds Piper and Milo came to live with us while their mom went away to school. I thought they were just visiting, but then they didn’t leave. In my opinion, this is just too much of a good thing. I feel like they can go any time now. Then my Auntie Jen came and got Milo. I’m so glad cause all that barking was giving me a headache and making me grumpy. Piper seemed to really like Milo gone too and the house seemed much emptier with just him gone, even though there were two other dogs here; sometimes there are four when my sisters come every other week. Only thing is, a month later, here Auntie Jen comes back with Milo. I guess she got a headache too with all his barking. Now he’s living here again. He really gives Piper his brother a hard time, but what do I care?

Riley is still here. I have come to accept he is staying for good (or bad). He’s almost 1 1/2 years old now and isn’t as annoying as when he first came, but he still tears up everything. Mom has my toys safely put away. She said she will give them back when Riley stops chewing. Today mom gave me my squirrel and Riley took it and I barked so ferociously that he went to mom and gave it to her. Ha! I showed him!

The good thing about the boys (Piper and Milo) being here is that Riley picks on them and leaves me alone. (Big schnauzer smile)

Mom found a new (to us) dog park and we’ve been going there a lot. I don’t play with other dogs – that would be way beneath me. But there are lots of smells that keep me busy while Riley greets everyone and generally acts like a fool. I pretend I don’t know him, let alone live with him. I hear people say how beautiful I am and that’s enough for me. I have admirers everywhere I go.

I should go now and make sure everyone is behaving themselves before I go to my kennel and wait for my night-night treat.

Love to all my many admirers,

Lexi the beautiful

October 20, 2011

Now Riley is working on Freestyle. Talk about invading my turf! Mom’s taking him to the OCC with us and everything. So one day mom took Riley somewhere – I know it must have been a fun place where he got all the attention that is mine – and then mom had the nerve to come home with him and say, “Lexi, let me tell you what Riley did.” I got so mad that I head butted her right on the bridge of her nose. That gave her a headache for two days. She hasn’t tried to tell me what Riley did since that. I guess she’s trainable.

Lexi the head butter

 June 26, 2011

My day started off really weird. I don’t mind riding in the pick-up truck. And I don’t mind being in a kennel. But I never knew I could ride in a kennel in a pick-up truck. Mom put me in with my buddy Milo who is visiting from Maryland. She tied the kennel in good and made sure the tailgate was secure. What a rush! She and my dad took us to my old house where they mowed the grass. Then they took us to a new dog park. What fun! There were so many smells and lots of room to run around. I pooped and ran and drank water out of a big metal bucket.

After they brought us back home mom got cleaned up and went to the garage and opened the car door. Milo and I jumped in and she backed out of the garage and started down the driveway when she suddenly looked over at me and stopped the car. What? Get out? No way! Then, to add insult to injury, dad came out carrying Piper, the other schnauzer who is staying with us. He put Piper in the car and mom made me go with dad back into the house. Sheesh. I am told it was just a case of mistaken identity. (Yes, Piper and I do look a lot alike since we came from the same breeder.) Then I heard something about shots and fecals and stuff, so maybe it is better I stayed home after all.

Lexi the truckin’ schnauzer

February 2, 2011

Small victories are better than no victories. The old dog Sweetie went back to her foster home. Mom and Dad talked all morning and I kept hearing the words Sweetie and Riley. Looks like Riley won. Too bad; he is the most annoying. Plus, Sweetie got good smelling canned food that I was sure I would be able to swoop in and eat one of these days when she wasn’t paying attention. Did I mention she is really old? Anyhow, Mom explained that since they decided to keep Riley unless they found him a really, really good home (hey folks don’t you want him?) that it wasn’t fair to Sweetie to make her put up with him. She said Riley made Sweetie’s life miserable. So back she went. Wow, maybe I shouldn’t let on that he makes my life miserable sometimes too. You don’t think they would send me back somewhere, do you?

I’ve been hiding out in my kennel a lot and Mom said it made her feel bad that I haven’t been spending time with her. So the next night I cuddled on the couch with her all evening.

I heard one of the schnauzer imposters barking tonight, and I looked all over the house for him. It was Milo – I would know that bark anywhere. Mom said she Skyped our friend Jennefer and that’s why I heard him barking. I don’t understand what Skyping is or how that would put Milo back in the house barking or why I couldn’t find him. I barked back and heard him barking back at me, but I still couldn’t find him. I think I will go to bed and think about that for a while.

Lexi, the victorious but confused schnauzer

 

PART II

I think this next part needs an explanation. Let me start out by introducing a dog now named Riley who came to live with us. Riley can’t claim a pedigree like I can. He is a mutt, a mongrel, a totally undignified mix of un-papered dogs who had a quick tryst, if you know what I mean. I shudder to think there are more like him running around out there. I couldn’t believe it when Mom brought him home in the first place. She called him Dufus the first couple of days he was here, and boy, did she have that right. She says she found him side winding like a rattler with legs down the middle of a busy road and it was a miracle he hadn’t been hit by a car. When she stopped to save his life he splayed all four legs to stop her from putting him in her car. That shows what little intelligence he had even then. Who wouldn’t want to ride in a comfortable Toyota Avalon with heated leather seats? At the time Riley was only six months old and 28 pounds, plenty small enough for her to win that battle.

 Riley eventually gets a diary of his own and some of it is included in my book. I will try to make sure you know when it is Riley’s voice, not mine. Of course, I don’t think anyone can  mistake us. We are very different.

November 30, 2010

Mom said my plan was doomed to fail from the start. But I get ahead of myself. Let me give some background to my story. It all goes back to my buddies, the squirrels. Squirrels are cool, you know. Back at my other house before we moved, my squirrel buddies and I would hang out in the back yard. I would be like, whatcha doin? And they would be like, just huntin’ nuts, so did you get any treats today? And I would be like, yeah, but not enough, let me try some of your nuts.

Mom must have known I’ve been missing my squirrel buddies because she got me a toy squirrel that looks sooooo real. It does  remind me of my buds and I don’t want to hurt it. That’s the set up for what happened this week.

Do you remember in my last entry that I told ya’ll about the two imposters living with me? These boys really get under my skin sometimes. So I hear this squeak, squeak, squeak (you get the point) and I run and look, and there is Piper chewing on my squirrel. I had to think quick, so I grabbed the nearest teddy bear and started running back and forth with it to make it look real enticing. Mom says what I didn’t count on is I was dealing with another schnauzer. He didn’t fall for it. So I get up on the couch next to where he was laying on the floor, still squeak, squeak, squeaking. I flew off the couch onto his head. I was so sure that would work, but he just backed out of it and kept squeak, squeak, squeaking and looking at me like ha, ha. That really ticked me off, so I tried a frontal attack. He just ran off, all the while squeak, squeak.

I am going to have to think this one over.

Lexi, the kawabunga schnauzer without the squirrel

July 6, 2010

I love my new house. There are great smells and the yard has a lot of wonderful smells too. The front yard is really big but I am not allowed out there without Mom or Dad because there isn’t a fence. There is a door that leads out to a patio and a fenced yard in the back so that is wonderful. I have seen some squirrels but I know they aren’t my friends from our last house. Maybe they will like me too after they have time to get to know me. There are a lot of windows to look out and I bark at all the people and dogs walking by. There are birds and bunnies too, just like before we moved. My kennel is here so that is the same. It is in Mom’s great big closet in her bedroom so I have a lot of privacy and peace and quiet to sleep. I like to just go into the closet and lay down sometimes. There is still a lot of unpacking and I get to stick my head in boxes and look for treats and toys. When Mom takes me for walks, it takes a very long time because there are so many dogs in the neighborhood and I have to be very careful to cover up all the places they went pee pee with my own scent. Maybe I will make a new friend here, too. I hope there is a park nearby so Mom will take me lots and lots. I heard we are closer to the lake so we can take my boat there more often. That is a good thing.

Lexi, the happy schnauzer

July 4, 2010

Can you believe we are moving again? I just don’t understand this. I like my house, I like my yard, I like the gate Mom often forgets to shut when she is done mowing the yard and I liked my screen house before the neighbor’s tree fell on it. It is a perfectly good house and I don’t know why we have to go somewhere else. What about my Dobie buddy Stitch and my neighbor buddy John who always gives me treats when he sees me outside? And what about my squirrel friends? Who are they going to play with if I leave? Oh no, what am I going to do?

Lexi, the distressed