Daddy's girl

My husband has a very special bond with Cassie. When we're both in the room, I don't exist to Cassie. He's the best thing in the world to her. And he eats it up. "I love that little dog," he says.

They have a routine every morning and night. In the morning I wake the dogs up and let them out of their crate, then we head outside to eat. Greta has one thing on her mind: FOOD. Cassie has another thing on her mind: DADDY. Greta goes to the back door and waits. Cassie goes into the bedroom and wakes up her daddy. They say good morning to each other and then Cassie can start her day. If for some reason he's not there, out of town perhaps, she will search every room in the house looking for him. It's like she's worried about him. It's very sweet.

The bedtime routine is similar if I'm the one putting them to bed. We usually take turns doing this, but if my husband is in bed already and I'm bringing them in for the night, Greta heads straight for the crate. (One thing on her mind: SLEEP). Cassie heads straight for the bedroom to say goodnight to her favorite person.

I did appreciate this morning though that Cassie stayed behind to check on me when I hurt myself after letting them out of their crate. I tripped over something and hurt my leg pretty good, so I stopped and bent over for a minute. Greta continued on to the back door, waiting for her food. Cassie stayed with me to see if I was ok. She was sort of nodding at me, telling me to get up. I thought it was sweet.

But perhaps I was just holding up her morning visit with her daddy.

Help me understand

I'm having trouble understanding how anyone can not know where their dogs are at all times. They're right there, following your every move. Right on your heels.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because the people across the street have a puppy. An adorable little puppy. And I just noticed her wandering around her yard ... by herself. She's never been unsupervised before to my knowledge. This got me a little worried. So I watched from my window for a minute to see if someone would come along to let her back in ... perhaps it was just a quick potty break. But minute after minute passed by, and the door never opened.

I realized that she had been forgotten when she kept running to the front door and looking in. Then it sealed it for me when she ran to the back door to check. I found myself yelling at her to bark so that she would be noticed and I wouldn't have to go over there and stick my nose into my neighbor's business. But that never happened.

I finally made my move when she made a run for it down a hill. I was afraid she would take off and never be seen again. She saw me and followed me back to her front door.

The owner thanked me, was grateful, and said: "That dog. We forgot about her."

Really? Really? Someone help me with this. I'll forget to give my dogs their flea medicine. But I won't forget THEM.

Cheese, please!

Yesterday, we were on our normal morning run when I saw up ahead a neighbor's dog, loose. She's this totally cute, little white fuzzy thing. I have no idea what breed she is. Let's just call her adorable.

She was just wandering around, luckily only about three houses away from her home, but I knew I should try to get to her house so I could ring the doorbell to let the owners know she was loose (and hopefully someone would be home.)

But let me tell you, it was an adventure getting to her driveway. Once she spotted us, and Greta and Cassie spotted her, it was on. Anyone who owns a dog knows what a challenge it is to see another dog out and about when you're walking your dog. Let's just say my arm is really sore today from holding my girls back. It was a friendly encounter, but still challenging.

She pretty much followed us up to her driveway and then her owner came outside looking for her. He had a tough task of catching her because she was pretty excited, wanting to play with my two.

I found out her name is Chloe. Then came the cheese, which was eventually used to lure her inside. My girls were given cheese for their troubles, and were very grateful.

You've got a friend...

Greta and Cassie have made a few friends they have played with in the last couple years. Charley is probably their best bud. He's come over to the house a couple times, and we met him at the dog park once. He and Greta ran circles around each other (Charley running more than Greta; he's a fast dude) before we got Cassie.


Tobey is another friend Greta made before Cassie came along. He now lives in another state, so he doesn't visit anymore, but they played pretty well together.


And Roscoe is a boxer who lives two doors down. He frequently visited Greta for an evening romp before Cassie came along. They played really well together.


Cassie made fast friends with Baxter, an australian shepherd, which made Greta very jealous. We think Cassie may be part australian shepherd, so it makes sense they would get along so well.

Cassie's 2nd birthday

Sunday was Cassie's birthday. She's 2. So I'm hoping that since she's now a teenager in people years, she's start showing *some* signs of maturity.

But she had a pretty good day. We don't do anything too special on birthdays. We took a longer walk than normal. Both girls got a bone. And while we were cooking dinner, they both got some of our leftover broccoli. Cassie likes it more than Greta, which is why it was more of a special treat for her.