I'm Not Dumb Bell

Everybody thinks I'm not as smart as Nicki. I hear them call me Dumb-Bell. But not any more!

Mom was getting really frustrated with me because I'm always watching Nicki in class and not paying attention to what I'm supposed to do. Every time Mom looks at me, I'm looking at her! I thought it was cool...I love my Mommy! But Mom didn't think it was so cool I guess so we did some "practice" in the kitchen. Well I showed her!

Mom was so surprised that I knew how to do every single thing she asked me to do. I did it right and I did it without looking around for Nicki. (Nicki was in her pen complaining the whole time). Mom was so happy with me she gave me lots of hugs and kisses and 2 puppy treats! I love treats! See Mom, I'm not a dummy! I know how to do all of it..but it's more fun to pee on the floor and watch Nicki being "perfect puppy".

I'm what they call a laid back dog. I don't care about bouncing off the walls all day. I like wrestling with Nicki and chewing on stuff but when I'm tired I really like laying down next to my Mom and watching tv or just snoozing. Mom says I'm the perfect house dog once I calm down. I don't rearrange the furniture by running into it like Nicki does. Mom likes that I'm a calmer dog. She said I'm easy to have around when she's had a long day. I don't want anything from her but love. Gramma loves me too because I'm calm. She calls Nicki's "trouble" when she's visiting because Nick keeps getting into stuff the whole time we are over her house visiting. Last time we were there Nicki kept eating dirt from her planter. Gramma didn't like that but Nicki just kept doing it every time she left the room. Mom caught her and put a stop to it by covering the plant and telling Nicki she was a bad girl. I told Nicki to stop but she wouldn't...we both love dirt.

Mom says we're getting to be good watch dogs too. All we have to do is growl or bark when someone comes in the door and Mom thinks we're wonderful. Ahhhhhh what an easy life!

Making a Puppy Feel Better

Not too long ago I got sick. The vet didn't know what was wrong with me but I felt real bad. He gave me an antibiotic to take for 10 days and although it made me feel better it also made my stomach feel sick. I kept vomiting bile every other day or so...usually after going a long time without eating.
Luckily for me my Mom knows something about herbs and she helped me out a lot. She always gave me my medicine after I ate my breakfast or dinner which was good. But sometimes I still felt sick later. So to stop me from feeling sick she gave me Peppermint capsules and an herb called Marsh Mallow. (she calls them puppy pills and they go down easy with butter) Each is made from the actual plant, no chemicals. Mom is really into going the natural way. She believes in using herbs instead of synthetic medicines whenever possible and I'm glad she feels that way.
The peppermint capsules take away the nauseous feeling that I was getting and the Marsh Mallow coats and soothes my stomach so the medicine is less likely to irritate the lining of my stomach. And the best part is the herbs don't stop the medicine from working..they just make me feel normal while it's working.
So when Mom gave me the herbs I felt like normal again. I didn't vomit anymore and I didn't try eating Mom's mint plant outside anymore. Mom also uses another herb called Slippery Elm to sooth the stomach but she doesn't have any in the house right now. Marsh Mallow works just like the Slippery Elm.

Bell and I don't eat commercial dog food either. Mom says it's nothing more than garbage in a bag. She says it's full of horrible stuff that will give us cancer so she makes all our food. We eat the same foods humans eat....like dogs used to be fed before they started making dog food in the 50's. Back then families fed their dogs the leftovers from their own dinner and dogs were much healthier. So that's what Mom does. She makes dinner with a little bit more for us. We eat meats, a small amount of vegetables, and a small amount of grains. Most of our meals are meat. We need the protein because we are still growing and because dogs are carnivores. That means that we are really meat eaters and are not well equipped to eat a lot of vegetables or grains. Our stomachs can't really process it easily...so we don't get much veggies or grains.
Mom says in the wild we'd be eating mostly raw meat and bones, which is a natural diet for a wolf. I'm sure glad I don't live in the wild because I don't like raw meat and wolves scare me!

Mom gives us plain, unflavored Greek yogurt every day too. She says it has something called probiotics in it that helps our digestion. Mom won't give us the flavored yogurts because it has a lot of sugar in it and that's not something we need. I don't care...I love the unflavored yogurt. Bell always eats hers really fast so she can try to get some of mine but Mom makes her sit down and wait. She says it's not polite to steal food from someone's bowl. Once I'm finished Bell and I switch bowls to get the last little bit. We love yogurt! And we always have a yogurt beard afterwards.

Nicki on Training

My Mom has started taking us to training! I don't know why she wants to take me there. I already know everything I want to know and Bell will never know anything so it's just a waste of valuable play time. (And I didn't see any trains there either).

I already know how to sit; stand; lay down; sniff other dog butts; bark at people and dogs I don't know; choke myself with the collar; pull like hell on the leash; howl to make Mom laugh; wiggle my whole body when I did something bad and pee on the floor. What in the world could possibly be left to learn!! It's a waste of time, I'm telling you.

Bell keeps looking at me and won't do anything she's told to do. I just ignore her. I'm more interested in meeting the other dogs around me. Mom keeps yanking my neck. How boring! There isn't even any food.

Justin is working with Bell. He doesn't know all the stuff Mom knows so Bell has it easy. He gives her a command and she doesn't do it and he doesn't even yank her neck! Then Bell plays stupid (although I don't think she's too smart anyway) and lays down! Mom won't let me get away with that but Bell gets to do it unless Mom sees her. Mom sends the instructor lady over if she sees Bell being an idiot with Justin. Ha Ha Bell!

Mom says I know a lot of commands but I don't pay attention. We're not sure what Bell knows...she moves in slow motion all the time. I heard Mom tell someone that Bell is better on the leash than I am. That's because I like to see everything and Bell is trying to make me look bad. I don't need any help Bell...I can do it myself. I can sit better than Bell. She sits in slow motion and makes people laugh. Mom says she looks like she's got a hydraulic lift under her butt.

I really do know how to be a good girl on the leash but I don't want Mom to expect too much from me. If I keep doing everything right I'll NEVER get to eat weird stuff while we're walking. Sometimes Mom takes me and Bell for a walk at the same time. That's when we really have fun! Bell and I have it all worked out....when I pull on the leash that's when Bell gets to eat a rock...when Bell pulls on the leash, then it's my turn to eat something. It works out pretty good because Mom is only paying attention to the one that's pulling on the leash. But tonight Mom caught us at it and made us both stop and spit it out. Bell is such a sissy she spit hers out right away. Not me, I made Mom go in and get it!

When we got home Mom told us sit; stand and stay. Didn't we do enough of that on the walk? When she told me to lay down I flopped right over. She seemed to like that because she started laughing and said I took a nose dive. Bell did the same thing but she did hers in slow motion of course. Bell does everything in slow motion. She likes to be different.
We have to go to bed now. Mom has people over and she said we had enough time in the spot light for one night. I don't know what she means...I didn't see any lights.