I forgot to mention...

Sometime ago, dad and I were outside playing around. We were really having a good time. It was a little dark outside. No worries. We were really having fun. UNTIL...dad stepped on my paw.

WOOF

yep, it was "woof number 3"

Mom got freaked out today...

Of course, anyone who knows her will probably realize it doesn't take much most days to make this happen.

We were just taking our walk, just Mom and Me. Enjoying ourselves I must add, because it was beautiful outside today. When out of nowhere, some stupid black dog comes over to say "hi." This black dog kind of reminded me of my friend Lavvy but was bigger. At least Lavvy is nice to me. And, this dog was not on a leash, AND THIS DOG DIDN'T HAVE A PERSON WITH HIM. And, this dog wasn't a girl like Lavvy is.

Mom tried to get me to run with her in the other direction. 'Cept the other dog just kind of followed us. I was really surprised at what mom did. She dropped the leash, and then the black dog and I sort of growled at each other for a minute. Then we started sniffing each other. And then I decided the other dog was just plain boring, so we stopped sniffing and then I went back to mom.

We then finished our walk. I couldn't exactly understand mom on the way home. It was a lot of words I've never heard before.

Ugh! HELP ME!!! What do these people think I am? A Barbie? Well I am not. First, they dress me up as a pirate on halloween. Then today, as I was comfortably sitting on the couch today after I broke into the living room (my bad), the door bell rings. Guess who it is! Exactly, the mail man. Apparently he was dropping off some stuff for me. Inside there was a dumb Santa bandana. I knew someone was going to have to wear but I was hoping it wasn't going to be me. So, I went up to mommy and said this is for Stacy right. She tells me it is for you to wear for family pictures. Apperently, mommy, daddy, and sis are dressing up which means I have too!!!!! WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!?!?!?! On the bright side of things, she ordered me a stocking. Hopefully that means there will be treats from Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

I got to go cope with the fact I am a barbie!

PS: Mr. Jolly, if your reading this, there better be lots of treats. AND I MEAN IT!!!!!

Oh yeah, I'm learning lots with my family!

My mom took me back to the dog park today. Remember, we went there with Miss Beth last week??? Miss Beth told my mom never to say something like: "Riley COME!" I don't know why, it probably is some little quirky thing about dog training. I really like this little quirk, because then I can go where I want, sniff who I want, go as far ahead of mommy as I want. Mommy caught on real good though. When she wants me to come, she just yells Riley, and then shakes my treat bag. I come running real fast. Did I ever mention I like treats???

And I learned something else really cool at the dog park. Some chemical equations so to speak:

• Snow and dirt = just snow and dirt

• Snow and dirt and a little sun = a nice mud puddle

• Snow and dirt and a little sun and a lot of dogs = a lot of muddy dogs.

• A lot of muddy dogs = a lot of unhappy doggy moms and dads.

I just wagged my tail at my mom. I'm just too cute when my tail is wagging. Doesn't matter how muddy I am then.

Ahhhh, the snow beautiful white and untouched. Well, until I went out there. You see, there is a good and a bad thing about going out into the cold snow. The good thing is that I'm a lab and love water in any form. The bad thing is that it is cold and the wuss aka Mom would not go out with me. Therefore, it had to be me and the teasers aka dad and sis. I wasn't too happy with the white, watery tennis balls they were throwing at me. As soon as I would catch them, they would break in my mouth. The teasers didn't seem to care that I was eating them!?! A good thing was that they gave me these humungous treats, which were also white and watery. I even did tricks for them. Are dogs supposed to have that many treats in a day? Well, why question the good things in life?

And, I should probably mention, today was a 3-walk kind of a day. Those are the best!! Dad took me for my early walk. Then since we had company, Grandma and Grandpa took me for one too before they left. And then Dad took me for one in the snow. Grandma brought me something special in a white bag. Yum! Thanks Grandma!

Let them eat steak!!!

And all I got was a couple of green beans. What's up with that? Dogs are meat eating creatures. Dogs never never meet a meat they don't like, and my mom and dad had steak tonight. It sure smelled like a meat. It sure smelled like a meat I wanted to meet. Yeah right. And all I got was a couple of green beans.

Ok, that was the suckiest part of the weekend. Did I ever mention that the weekends are "S" days? You probably know them best as Saturday and Sunday, I know them best as "Special" days.

Yesterday was VERY special. I had dog training class at a new place. It was at a dog park. Miss Beth was there, 'cept she didn't bring Ollie or Lavvy. I got over it, because there were all sorts of dogs to play with. There was even a lab/shepard mix, but he didn't look like me at all. There were goldens, vizsla dogs. german shepards, some smaller than me, some bigger than me. There looked like a "doodle" dog, but I don't know if it was a golden doodle or a labradoodle. That dog actually went in the water, so pretty soon he was a muddy-doodle. There were even some huskies their. I really want to go back there. Really bad. It was so much fun. Oh, can we go back there PLEASE??? Pretty Please???? Pretty Please with a filled Kong on it????

Oh, and today wasn't a bad day either. Mom took me for a walk after they picked up Sis from a sleepover. Maybe I should say sleepless-over. She was pretty much toast when she got home. Luckily, Sis just crawled into bed and slept when she got home. It was a beautiful day today, so mom and dad were doing work outside. Yep, I spent most of the day outside. I had fun today. And then, some of the neighbors came over. They were Josh and Tim. Josh was the boy. I don't know how old he was. The dad was Tim. Tim had treats. Did I ever mention I LOVE TREATS????? They stayed over for a long time. Josh kept throwing me my sausage/tennis ball. He throws really well. He throws a lot better than my mom. Nothing personal mom, but you do throw like a girl.

Josh - just so you know, special people have an open invite to come over and see me. Your name's been added to the list.

And then, mom and sis had to go somewhere. Dad took me on a really long walk. I met a Sheryl. She was sort of sad, so I cheered her up. She used to have 2 st. bernards, a newfie and a lab/mutt. OK, so not all at once. They only had the St. Bernard, the Newfie and the lab/mutt at one time. They had a first St. Bernard before the 2nd St. Bernard. Sheryl really liked me. I really liked her. But now, all their dogs are at the Rainbow Bridge. I gave her some labby leans, and some labby kisses. I tried to convince her she should get another dog. Just like me. Ok, so the new dog doesn't have to be just like me, it just has to be someone fun for me to play with. I like big doggies!

Well, after that, the day just went down hill, and pretty fast too. THEY had steak for dinner. You could share next time. Really - I won't eat all of it.

But - I gotta go. Sis is working on a report. Dad wants a computer too. I really have to go.

Till later...
Riley

Let me describe myself in a few carefully chosen words. I am spoiled rotten!! . . . And I love it!I usually start my day at 4:45am by waking up my Dad and demanding that he get his butt out of the nice warm bed and get me outside to do my stuff. It’s amazing how they jump when there is any chance of an inside mess. Anyways he takes me outside and I make sure I take in all the sniffing time I need. Dad can wait! Then we go for a quick walk around the block. They make me wear this obnoxious red/white/blue pet blinker. You would think I am on the set of Cops. My owners are such geeks. Next it’s going to be a Pet I-Pod. Is there such a thing? Anyways after my walk I get to eat. Something weird happened on that front this week. I usually get dry food with a couple of spoons of canned dog food. Are you sitting down? They cut out the canned dog food. I gave them the doggie evil eye – it didn’t help. They say I am getting too fat. However, we were at dog class with Beth and they asked her if that was OK that they cut back my food. I sucked in my gut; Beth looked at me and said I could have canned a couple of times a week. I think have Beth wrapped around my paws – she was giving me lots of treats that night and all I had to do was look cute to get them. I have that effect on lots of humans! Anyways back to my normal day. After I eat my breakfast I go upstairs and Mom lets me sleep on the bed. Yes on the bed! That nice soft thing that Dad said I would never be allowed on. You saw the pictures from when he was out of town; now I just do it. He gives me a hard time about being on the bed; I just give a Labbie yawn and ignore him. Mom will back me up!The rest of my day is pretty unexciting. The best thing is that I get a Kong with all kinds of treats inside. It keeps me busy all day.In the evening I get to go outside, eat and go for a walk. Then I go to bed and I get to sleep on my Sister’s bed. That was another thing my Dad would never happen. Let me say it again; I am spoiled rotten!