I am the Star of the Show!

Today my foster mommy and I went to speak at Concord Christian School about disabilities. This is the first time I have been the featured attraction at a school and I was very excited. Mommy bought me a new doggie bone bandana to wear. (I am still trying to decide if I like wearing a bandana...or if I like chewing on it instead).

When we got there, I got tons of attention as I walked down the hallway towards the auditorium. I think I was the cause of several kids getting in trouble because they were paying more attention to me than their teacher. I am pretty cute, though, and was showing off a bit as we walked by.

We finally got to the auditorium and all of the kids started coming in. They were all trying to get the closest seat to where I was...which caused the teacher to get on to them once again. I decided this would be a great time to be the perfect, obedient dog. Mommy kept waiting for me to be my normal "alpha" self, but I just sat there and watched all of the kids play all of these games that help them understand what it is like to have a disability. One of them even had a bandana on just like me, but it was over her eyes to help her understand what it is like to be blind. I am sure hoping mommy keeps mine around my neck and doesn't put it over my eyes! I have enough trouble seeing with all of this hair on my face! Mommy also tied a child's feet together so that they could try to walk. It kinda reminded me of when I get all tangled up in my leash.

The only time I got up was when this girl tried to make a peanut butter sandwich while blindfolded. I REALLY like peanut butter and as soon as it reached my nose I started looking for it. As luck would have it, she couldn't see me sneaking up on her to snatch away that piece of bread. Unfortunately, mommy COULD see me, and she got me just as my mouth was about to snatch that sandwich away. (This is why it is probably better that I am a service dog and not a seeing eye dog. I would be the fattest dog in town.)

I did all of my obedience tricks for the kids and they could tell that I am a very smart dog! After mommy finished her presentation she asked if anyone had any questions. All of the kids raised their hand to ask, "Can we pet the dog????" Mommy said "yes" and the picture shows what happened next. I have so many new friends!

Meet my brother ZACH!

This is my brother Zach! As you can see, we are not twins! He has a marbled coat just like mine, but his coat has dark brown, light brown, medium brown, and...well, "brown" brown! We are about the same size, even though I reached this size before he did.

When I went to my trainer today with my foster mommy, Zach and his foster sister were there working with Heather. I thought it might be my brother, but I waited until he finished his training before me and mommy wandered over closer. Mommy asked if he was Zach, and I was really excited to find out that it was.

The sad part was that he wasn't particularly excited about seeing me. I don't think he remembers that we were once in the same puppy bed together just a few months ago. He barked and barked and barked at me while I just sat there and gave him some space. My mommy asked if we could get closer to him and Heather gave us the okay. I moved right in, and Zach moved right out! He barked even louder and tried to get away from me. It took a long time and a lot of coaxing before he decided I was okay to be around.

As you can see, Zach is a beautiful dog! He just went to the groomers last week and he is quite a ball of fluff. My coat, on the other hand, is cut short, especially where I got bubble gum attached to it and my mommy had to cut it out! That's another story....

Zach and I may be brothers, but we are very different. Besides our color, Zach is a barker and I never bark. My mommy has only heard me bark 3 times since getting me in December! The other thing that is very noticable is that my tail (stubby as it is!) stands up and wags when I am happy. In fact, it wags a bunch because I am happy a bunch. Zach's foster sister said that his tail lays flat all the time, even when he is happy. But those are the things that make each of us unique and special.

After Zach left, Heather gave me and mommy a chance to show her what I have perfected. I did a very good job at "waiting" while mommy walked away from me. I also sat and laid down on command. Mommy walked me with a loose leash and I stayed right by her and never pulled. Then when mommy walked far, far away and called me I ran straight to her! Of course, it helps when she has my favorite treat in her hand! (She thinks I am obedient, but actually I am just wanting the treats!) Now I get to learn to "touch" and "snuggle" on command. Mommy and I are already practicing the snuggling part tonight!

It's been a very big day for me! Besides meeting my brother and going to train with Heather, I went to TWO Wal-marts, drove through Sonic, went to work with Mommy, and played with my "people friends" Karen and Juanita. That is why I am now plopped down on the floor! Mommy says tomorrow will be a fun day, too, so I am going to get some sleep and dream about my brother Zach. I hope we graduate with each other so that I can meet his new family and introduce him to mine! That would be really special.

Bishop the Nurse

Today my foster mommy was very, very sick! Someone gave her a "bug" and it made her "loose her cookies". ..and her supper...and everything else that ever dreamed of being inside her! (This explains why there is no picture. It was NOT pretty!) I usually like bugs, but I sure don't like the one that made my mommy feel so yucky.

Mommy got sick around 10 p.m. and continued to be sick for about 12 hours. I felt so sorry for her! She was so sick that she couldn't even go upstairs to her bedroom, so she slept on the couch and I slept on the floor beside her. Well, actually we didn't sleep because she kept getting up and running through the house to the bathroom. Poor mommy kept throwing up and I kept running right beside her everytime she jumped up. Mommy said I was a very good nurse because while she was hanging her head over the potty I was laying my head on her shoulder. I tried to make sweet little comforting sounds in her ears, but it didn't seem to help. She finally just laid down in the bathroom floor. I was very worried about her being cold so I laid down right beside her and stayed with her the rest of the night. Mommy said she would have froze if I had not been there for her. (Foster Daddy is such a sound sleeper he didn't even hear a thing!)

Mommy said I am a very compassionate puppy and that I am going to be a really good service dog when I grow up a little more. Even though I hated to see my mommy so sick, it was great to have her home with me all of the next day. We just laid around and snuggled together until she felt much better.

If you ever get sick and need a good, compassionate nurse, just give me a call. I have practice and I am GOOD! And remember: don't play with that bug! It isn't a nice one!

My new Basketball Buddy

This is Courtney, my new basketball buddy! I had so much fun going to an Upward Basketball game today! The really neat thing is that Courtney plays basketball while riding around in her super cool wheelchair! The thing I love about Courtney is that she has the cutest smile. (Check out the picture...I was trying to smile just like her!) I met so many new friends, too. And there was this really cute cheerleader named Kaitlyn who gave me a bunch of attention. I was pretty fascinated with her pompoms!

Basketballs are really big balls...much bigger than the one my foster mommy and I play with at home. Every once in a while I thought about going out there and playing with Courtney, but my mommy had that silly leash attached to me again! Courtney would put that basketball in her lap and away she would go down the court to make a basket! She was really good! I think I could be good, too, if they would let me play.

Coming home from the game we got lost in the woods and wandered around and around in the countryside. Mommy kept calling Courtney's mom, dad and grandmother to try to find out where we were so that we could get home, but no one seemed to know anything about the area we were in! Mommy tried to find us on her navigation system on her phone, but it said the street name that mommy put in didn't exist. We tried to retrace our tracks, but got lost even more. It is a good thing that I am such a good traveler...and that I am potty trained! (I really needed to go bad but Mommy wouldn't let me get out of the car since we were in the middle of nowhere!). We had started home near Rockwood and ended up somewhere out by Blount Memorial Hospital. We are not sure how we got there. Mommy said that next time she may ask to foster a bloodhound because I wasn't very much help in getting us home!

I was so happy to get to my home...and my yard! I am going to ask my foster dad to get my Mommy a map for Valentines Day!

Snow? I don't see any snow!

Yesterday Mommy came home early because she said it was going to snow. I was so happy to be with her, and I was really excited to have someone at home to play with! She immediately let me out of the back door. It felt so good! It was so chilly, and I decided I wanted to stay out and run around in my yard for awhile. Mommy kept trying to get me back in the door because she said it was starting to snow really hard. I didn't see any snow! I didn't feel any snow! I just wanted to play outside.

Mommy kept trying to get me to come in, but I was having so much fun. I wanted her to throw my ball so that we could play catch. I wanted her to play chase with me. I wanted her to come out and play tug-of-war with my rope. But, NO! She kept saying it was snowing too hard. She said it was too cold. She even said I was beginning to turn white! Do I look white to you?????

Well, this morning when we woke up there WAS snow! I had so much fun playing in it! I think it is so much fun to eat (I really did eat alot of it!) and I love to roll in it and bounce in it. No matter how much I played, the grass never showed up. Just snow, snow and more snow.

I did figure out a couple of things, though. First, you have to be really careful on a wood deck when it is covered in snow. Everytime I bounced up the stairs and ran across the deck I ended up sliding into the glass door. And the other thing I learned is that you only eat white snow.

I hope Mommy will grow some fur like me so that she will have more fun on snow days! She didn't even take me on a walk the last two days! (Do I need to report her to someone????)

Have fun in the snow! If you want to play outside, come on over!

Bishop, the Poster Pup

I have been very busy with Ms. Elaine lately starring as the "Poster Pup" for Wilderwood when she has gone to different civic clubs to speak. Today, however, was a little tough for me. First of all, my Mommy had to go to Nashville last night, so I had to meet Ms. Elaine at Starbucks. My foster daddy took me there, where he was having an early morning meeting. I was glad to see Ms. Elaine and go with her for the second time. I guess I was so precious the first time that she chose me to go again.

Well, as I said before, this one was a little tough for me. First of all, I had a little gas. (Okay, I had a LOT of gas. ) While Ms. Elaine's friend was speaking to the people in the audience I sort of let a little whiff escape. (Okay. It was a little bigger than a "little") Ms. Elaine thought that maybe I needed to excuse myself to the outdoors and took me for a nice walk. I'm not the best at making significant deposits on the grass while attached to a leash, so I decided to "hold it" and we went back inside. That's when another little whiff escaped. (Okay! Okay! This one wasn't little, either!) Ms. Elaine decided I needed another walk (hey....this is getting to be fun!) so we walked and walked but I just have a little problem doing the poopy thing when someone is standing right there, attached to the other end of the leash! I decided I could hold it a little longer and we went back in. Maybe going back in was not in my best interest, however, because that's when I got tea spilt all over me - twice! Now I am stinky AND sticky.

That's when one of the ladies asked if I could be "seen"...and sweet Ms. Elaine let me off my leash for the "meet and greet" portion of my visit. However....as I was running around making friends and being really cute my body suddenly realized I was no longer on a leash and...

Let's just say I left something on the floor, but it WASN'T a good impression.

Poor Ms. Elaine had a few apologies to make, as well as a little mess to clean up. (Okay! It wasn't little! Why do I have to keep admitting these things!).

It was a fun trip though, and I had so much fun at Ms. Elaine's house as I waited for my mommy to come home. Mommy said I couldn't add a picture to this post. I wanted to show you what I "did", but she poo-poohed that idea. Sorry!

Soccer time!

Tonight I went to my very first indoor soccer game! Wow! That is one wild game! The ball was flying all over the floor and everyone was kicking and yelling and pushing and jumping. It was my kind of game! Except that nobody invited me to play.
But Gavin was there and he was willing to share his ball with me. It's a little big for my mouth, so the best I could do was push it around with my nose. A couple of times, when I couldn't stop fast enough, I just rolled right over the top of it. We played so hard that we had to take a Gatoraide break!
One of the best parts of this outing was the floor around the concession stand. There was all kinds of food crumbs, and I got my very first taste of gum. Mommy made me spit it out, though. She doesn't like for me to eat off the floor. She doesn't want me chewing gum either.
I got a lot of attention from everyone...but still didn't get any invitations to play ball with them. Maybe next time? By the way...do they make doggie shin guards?