It's My First Blog!


Hi my name is Riley. I joined this household last Sunday, September 10th. Because the members of this family are techno geeks; I am required to maintain a blog. I guess the whole blog thing started with Stacy’s cousin – Brittany. The worst part of it is that she never writes in hers and I’m sure I will be expected to keep up with mine. I get that idea after listening to my new parents keep riding Stacy to keep up with her homework. I don’t know how she handles it!

I am quite proud of myself. I conned these people so bad. Somehow they thought I was four years old. Ha – I am eight. Of course they found out once they fell in love with me. Oh well. The funny part is that my new dad had specifically wanted a female lab mix, under 50 pounds and one-to-three years old. At least he got the lab mix.

I should start to introduce all the characters. And I should say thank you to HAWS, I was there for a short period of time, and everyone there treated me very nicely. My new sister, mom and dad even had a dog trainer, Beth, come and look at me. I was on my very best behavior with Beth.

The first night in my new home was a little scary, too many new things to figure out.

My new dad was disappointed in me because I could not accurately predict that Flight for Life was coming overhead. OK, for the record, my name is Riley. Not Radar O’Reilly. I do not predict inbound choppers. It’s not in my contract.

And, what’s with the weather here. It rained from Sunday until Wednesday. It almost reminded me of being in one of the hurricanes last fall on the shores of Alabama. That is another story, but my former owner had to move back to Waukesha County after he lost his job from the hurricane devastating the area. Then he got a job up here, and he couldn’t spend too much time with me, because he was just gone. Unfortunately, his family wasn’t able to watch me, so I ran away. I ended up at HAWS, and then my former owner gave me up, so that I could have a family again. I know he really misses me. I heard them talking about it at HAWS.

I’m still conning people, by the way. They “think” I need obedience school, so we’re already starting that with Beth. Ha, Ha – I just go for the treats. I know everything about dog obedience.

And speaking of conning people. I’m sitting in doggie heaven right now. I was never supposed to be in the office at my new house, according to my new dad. Yep, you guessed it. That only lasted until 3:00 on Monday, my second day here. I can come and go as I feel necessary into the office. My new dad is a softy. By Monday night, I figured out the right amount of a sad-eye look to get my sleeping accommodations changed from my crate to bedside. The icing on the cake, I make my dad take me out about 5 a.m. (including weekends).

There are a few toys here. Not too many. I am quite fond of a large tennis ball. Its my favorite toy here. I love to play catch with it. OK, so I don’t exactly catch it, but I can chase it down pretty well, and I bring it back nice. What can I say, I am a retriever after all.

I went to my first public appearance today. It was the Wag Walk for the Elmbrook Humane Society. I got to see Miss Beth today, along with her dogs Ollie and Lavender. We had fun today. I met about 2 million dogs. I helped myself to many tennis balls. Oh, and I got lots and lots of treats. Did you know I really like treats? I also got petted by about everyone there. Most people seemed surprised when my new mom told them I had only been with my new family for 6 days. Maybe that’s because my new family and I just fit together nice!