Smile

Smile.

It is beautiful outside. I took a nap on my chair on top of my toy in a sunshine ray today.

Life is good.

The only way it would be better was if I had my own forever home. With a chair. And a toy. And sunshine.

What is the big deal?

My dude is watching the news and my mom went out and bought candles and flashlights.

What is the big deal? Something exciting about to happen?

I'll be here if you need me.

NBD

NBD. No Big Deal.

A nice lady who volunteers for Mutts Matter interviewed my foster momma about me. She said she is going to write an article about me.

While she is working on this article, she made this awesome FLYER that people can post and put around town.

Sous-Chef Dog

The other week I told you about my normal regular day. I promised to tell you about my evenings. One of the things I like to do is to be a sous-chef peezy. A sous-chef is the second in command or assistant to the main chef in a kitchen. When my mom cooks, I like to help her out.

Mostly I do this by staring at her while she gets started.



Once she gets moving and focused on cooking, I usually settle in under her feet. I like to smell all the smells.



Sometimes something even drops to the ground. (Please note: this is NOT the only reason I am a sous-chef dog. I promise).



One Peezy and One Homemade Italian Wedding Soup Pot.



While my mom cooks she sometimes use simmer time as a chance to work on our hand-signals. I think she took some video. She just needs to figure it out how to upload it. I'll try to teach her.

Dogs

So, if you read my blog you can see pretty clearly I love my doggie siblings. I love touching them with my toes while I sleep, wrestling with them on the couch, sitting in the dirt with them in the backyard, and drinking from the same water bowl so we all get wet and slobbery.



So, you'd think I'd be a dog park expert and love all the other dogs, right? Well, not exactly. It is a little complicated. Other dogs make me get all tingly and make my body feel funny and bark bark bark. It would be pretty easy after a few FAILED attempts to take me in public around other dogs that my mom would just have me look for a home where I'd be an ONLY animal. But, my mom saw how much I loved my siblings and she said we were going to work on it. I am not sure either of us knew what "it" was but she kissed me and said we'd try.

So, my mom and her friend did some desensitization excersizes. De-sense-a-what? All I know is this meant that when dogs walked by I got peanut butter from a tube. Works for me. My mom and her trainer friend said that if I was scared of dogs this would help me associate dogs with good yummy things. The good news is THIS WORKED. Very quickly, almost too quickly, I could care less if a dog was nearby as long as I get peanut butter. Even when the PB was gone, the expectation was enough to make me not care a dog was nearby. So, my mom and her friend let me play with the other dogs. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't.

Why? Because my mom and her friend said I SUCK at playing. I don't care how the other dog wants to play, I don't know how to ask to play, I just play in their face like a dipshit. This is probably because I didn't play with dogs or have a mom my first months of life and because my foster siblings are so easy-going after years of hosting other foster dipshits like me.

So, instead of my mom thinking I am afraid of other dogs they now think that maybe I have what they call an AROUSAL problem. That tingly feeling might not be fear but arousal or excitement I don't know how to control. So, my mom continues to work on desensitization.

This weekend is a good example. My mom met a rescue transport and then helped bring new saved doggies to their foster home. There was one dog who didn't have a foster home so my mom said he could stay with us. She said he might be a good training buddy since my mom called him a DOOFUS. I think that is because he is happy, and silly, and doesn't get aroused with other dogs. (I wish I was like him).







So, my mom helped me hang out near to him without me getting all bothered by it. We still haven't played yet but I like to hang near his crate and sniff each other and I don't even get all tingly. See these pictures? The doofus is in his crate and I am nearby and don't even care.

My mom says if I "cool-my-jets" then maybe I can try playing with him later. He does seem like such a doofus that maybe it'll be fun? My mom also says that while I'd make a great only animal that maybe my forever home could have another dog who is super chill like my siblings Minnie and Ellery? Maybe.

PS: The Doofus' name is Odie is he is available for adoption, too. Check him out at www.dogsxlrescue.org. He is a really pretty and nice doofus.

When the cat is away, the boys will play

Mom is away this weekend so my dude Justin is holding down the fort.




We are eating pizza, watching football, and not doing dishes. Well, he is eating pizza and I am laying down on the ground like a good boy hoping it might come my way, too. He is going to share, right?????????

An Average Peezy Day

What is an average Peezy Day?

Well, like I said, I am not a morning dog so I lay low during the morning. Probably a little napping.




Mid-morning, I like to get a little rowdy and play with my doggy sibs. Minnie loves me SO much, can't you see it on her face?




After lunch, my dude Justin hangs with me in the yard. Sitting in a yard chair, just like him.



Maybe play with some bones.......(dirt adds flavor)



Wait for my mom to get home.




(Don't worry, I rolled in the dirt before she got home so I'd be ready to cuds with her when she got home in her work clothes)



Now is when it really gets good. The evening is my favorite part of the day. That is when I get to be a sous-chef dog and play outside in the cool air. I'll save that for later.

Stats, Facts, and Figures

My dude Justin really likes sports so I thought instead of telling you about my doggy stats, I'd share my info a much cooler way.

Official Name: Baby J (don't ask, long story, at least they didn't name me Jamillionaire like I thought they might)

Unofficial Name: Piglet, Peezy, Peezy-po-po, The Peez, The PeezPo, Bad Boy

Age: Approximately 9 months

Weight: About 30 lbs - small enough to hold me up like a baby but too big for a one-handed scoop

Fur Color: All white except a few very very tiny brown spots, one under each eye, a few inside my ear and some on my rump. Oh, and my little brown nose. I didn't rub my nose in poo....its just my color.

Eye Color: Amber

See my lower eye ball spots??? See?

Breed: Huh? What? I am built skinny like a boxer and am only 25-30 lbs. I don't really know but my foster mom says the lingo is pit bull type dog. This is a good thing, right? right?

Hobby: Sleeping. We already covered this in my last post.




Jumping Height: Very high. Very very high. I will jump 6 feet in the air when playing (but I don't jump fences, that is for dorks)

Crate Time: Excellent crate stats. I can sleep overnight (11 PM - 7 AM) no trouble

How quickly I will lay flat on the ground if you have food in your hand: NANOSECOND. Quicker than anyone can count. My foster mom (and her friend Trainer Kelly) told me that if I lay down on the ground super flat this is called appeasing behavior and it might get me things I like.

My best trick: I can do sit, down, and touch. Sometimes my mom makes me look like a dork and makes me do a bunch of touches in a row so I look like I'm dancing.

Favorite Position: Sunning my belly outside on the bricks



Favorite Sports Team: Trick Question!!! I'll root for whoever you root for. Duh! That is what families do.

The morning

Just so we are all clear. I am not a morning dog.

When my mom comes down the stairs in the morning, Minnie and Ellery run to the stairs and greet her with wags and circle jumps and love. I am in my crate, fast asleep. Minnie and Ellery go outside and then my mom comes to peek in at me. I can't hear any of this morning craziness....did you forget I am deaf, people???

I am fast asleep in my crate. My mom opens the door, looks into at me, and I am still asleep. She'll tap the crate to cause vibrations and I am still asleep. Usually, she has to reach in and give me some morning pets to wake up. I wake up, one eyeball at a time and look at her like, "morning, already, ma???""

She makes me go outside in the yard to do my biz'....and then I go right back to my comfy crate. I lay on my fleece blanket (aka: my binky) and deaf-dog-nap while my mom makes coffee, straightens the dishes, and starts getting ready. The only way I will my get up in the morning is if my mom sits down with her laptop to read her rescue email. If I catch a peek, I'll come running so I can beat Ellery and sit closest to her while she reads email. But, I am not reading emails. I am fast asleep!

My mom thinks I sleep so much because I am doing so much growing and I need all the energy I can get. I think mom forgets I am a teenager and just cause I can't put Nirvana posters up in my room doesn't mean I don't want to sleep until noon.

Cudsing

Cudsing is my favorite thing. Let me show you how I like to cuds.

On-top-cuds (with Ellery)

Side-to-side (with Minnie)

Next-to-you-while-you-study-so-I-don't-bother-you-too-much

Catching Up

Hey, Friends -- Thanks for taking the time to read about me. I wanted to catch you up on my background. I was saved in the winter of 2011 from Baltimore Animal Rescue Care and Shelter (BARCS) an inner city shelter in Baltimore. My foster momma Michelle and Melanie, the founder/director of Mutts Matter, has stopped by the shelter to meet some dogs. They found me, sad and alone in a small airplane crate, in a hallway shoved to the size. The volunteers said I was deaf and snappy but my foster momma is a sucker so she decided to take me to her home.

I've been living with her, and her crew of dudes like my main-man Justin, since then. I am lucky enough to live with two doggie siblings, Minnie and Ellery, and I cuddle with them all day long. Sometimes we have some other foster dogs, too, but mostly its just us three. My foster family LOVES me but after months here I want to find my own mom and dad.

Not going to beat around the bush.... I am deaf and sometimes I get a little confused about how to be a "good boy" but man-o-man am I am the sweetest cuddliest little guy around.

My mom says that if I show everyone how AWESOME I am more often than maybe I'll get my own home. So, let me tell you about myself and my life and tell your friends about me. Maybe then someone will love me, too??

Thanks,

Baby J