Freedom?

I love our big front porch. It's a great place to just watch the world go by. Whenever my family is out on the porch, they invite me to sit with them. But for some reason they feel compelled to keep me on a leash. I'm not sure why that is. When I'm off the leash I'm free to protect them from marauding rabbits, feral cats and canines of unsavory character. In fact, it was while I was protecting them from one of those characters that they took it upon themselves to keep me tied up. (Sigh!) It's a thankless job being a hero these days.

  
Garrett appreciates me, though. He's Kris and Bob's youngest puppy. Today while he was visiting he talked to me about coming to live with him. He made promises to me about a limitless life with no boundaries; where I can run free at will. But then I heard him say something about it being a problem taking me back to Brooklyn on a bus. I don't know what that means. I do know; however, that if he doesn't live anywhere near the beach, I'm not going.

New Toys?

I was lounging on the floor in Kris's studio today while she was working on her art when Bob walked into the room. He'd been outside working in the garage, but now he was standing in the doorway holding a fluffy stuffed animal in each hand. New stuffed animals; I'd never seen them before.

I was happy but Kris seemed a little alarmed. She asked Bob where he got them and he said in the garage. Then Kris took one of them. I'd never seen her get so excited over a stuffed animal before and she kept examining its collar.

Kris and Bob put the toys on the floor; and they walked!!! I've never had a toy that walked before. I followed them around the room to figure out how they worked. Meanwhile, Kris was on the phone talking and the next thing I knew, someone was at the door taking my new toys away. Aw... come on!!!  I didn't even get the chance to find out if their squeakers worked. And I know there was plenty of room for them to fit in my toy basket.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Another Glorious Morning On The Beach

I LOVE the beach!!!

A pre-dawn thunderstorm (with really loud thunder that made me jump into Kris & Bob's bed to  make sure they weren't scared) frightened away would be sunrise beach strollers and we had the place to ourselves! Suh-weet!

I've gotten so much better at chasing the ball. Catching it is a different story, but I'm really focused on chasing it. 

 
Today, Cacee actually let me bring it back a time or two.

 
We also had a new friend with us today. Cacee has a new sister; the lovely Bella, who is also an Australian Shepherd. (She doesn't have her summer haircut, though.) She just came yesterday to live with Cacee and Cacee's other sister, Maddie. I'll have to tell you more about Bella another time.

Cows, Ice Cream & Ears Blowing In The Wind

Today has been such a perfect day. Bob and Kris took me to a dairy farm (there were huge, smelly cows there) where I had my first taste of ice cream. Vanilla! I got a whole bowl to myself. I was so happy that I rode the entire way home with my head out the window. Can life get any sweeter?

Me & Cacee At The Beach

Suhweet!!! I got to go to the beach this morning, OFF LEASH!!! I was at the beach once before. I had just gotten thoroughly wet and the next thing I knew I was being yanked by my leash over the dunes and back to the car. Kris was kind of stomping and muttering things about "jeans wet up to her knees," "soaked feet," "middle of January" and stuff like that. I guess sometimes I forget that she's on the other end of the leash when I get excited about something. But today was so cool and so different. She let me off the leash as soon as we came to the top of the dunes and I was off!

My beautiful next door neighbor, Cacee Cooper, and her girl, Betsy, were there with us. Cacee is an Australian Shepherd and just got a new summer haircut. Of course, I don't let her know I think she's beautiful. I mean, come on! She can out run, out jump and out maneuver me and she's pretty darn smug about it, too. I'm not about to let her think she's pretty on top of all that. Whenever we're in our backyards at the same time I pretend to ignore her by chasing the rabbits who live under our deck. But I see her out of the corner of my eye. She stands at the fence and stares at me. She thinks I'm such a hunk.

Anyway, I have to admit that Cacee is a pro at Frisbee catching. Here's a video of her and Betsy playing Frisbee. I tried to keep up, but there's not a chance.

Finally, I did catch the Frisbee once. And then once we picked it up at the same time and we both vowed to never let it go. Finally we walked it up to our girls and handed it to them at the same time. Whatever!

But I have my talents, too. I RULE the waves. Cacee mostly plays on the beach, but I get into the water and I chase the biggest waves I can find.

But now I think I'll (yawn) catch a few Zzzzz's. Here I come, Sofa!!!

Me, Emmett, The Blog Dog

Hi! This is a photo of me when I first came to live with Kris and Bob on December 15, 2009. I was kind of skinny then. I've been living in this place a few months now and I've been watching Kris as she does this blog thing, and I think I can handle it. Blog... I kinda like that word. It rhymes with dog, you know. I guess that makes me a blog dog! :-D

Things are pretty good here. They were kind of crazy at that shelter place. I lived there twice and the second time I was starting to think I'd be there for good. Thank goodness Bob and Kris came along looking for a Lab; a good, lovable, handsome fellow, like myself.

It has taken awhile to get the new people trained, but now I think I have them where I want them. When I first arrived here they had this really crazy notion that dogs shouldn't be allowed on sofas. I mean, really. There's just the two of them and during the day they hardly sit on the sofas. That's just a lot of perfectly good furniture going to waste. And I always tried to make sure to stay out of their way by jumping on a sofa in a room that they weren't in. I still got shooed off a lot. They wouldn't even let me sleep on the sofa at night when they were sleeping in their bed (another piece of furniture they wouldn't allow me on).

Fortunately, my persistence paid off and now I'm a real couch potato.

So, that's how my new adventures got started and I look forward to sharing them with you.