Another Dog Blog

Hello everybody, this is JackJack.  I heard last week that everyone really enjoyed the blog I wrote, so Susanna asked me to guest blog again this week.  I thought this would be a good attempt to get to know Susanna's friends better, or rather have them get to know me.  That way you can decide if her love for me is justified or if she just might be going insane.  We are now joined at the hip, Susanna and I.  I follow her around like a ....well....and I know she loves that.  The only place I don't follow her to is into the bathroom.  I would, but she doesn't allow it.  She says she needs at least some privacy from me. 

I believe I mentioned in my blog that Susanna cooks my food.  She has been accused of spoiling me by doing so.  Susanna says that way she knows exactly what is going into my body, and I agree.  She cooks together rice and some kind of protein and sometimes adds raw vegetables like peas or green beans.  She says it really isn't very expensive or time-consuming.  She makes it sound simple, but to me that right there's a gourmet meal.  Dry dog food tastes like the paper packaging it comes in.  Canned dog food has no flavor and looks like a discolored, disgusting mush.  I am so lucky to get home-cooked food at every meal.  I am told I have a lovely coat, very soft, shiny and silky.  Why do you think this is?  Because of the food I get to eat, of course.  Besides, I don't recall the last time I was sick.  I'm as healthy as a horse.  Well, maybe not, but I'm very, very healthy.  I have also been told I am a very tidy eater, but I don't want any of my food to go to waste.  I take small bites of food so I don't make a mess.  When I'm done, I drink some water and then lick my food bowl clean.  Then I will walk away and burp out loud.  Every time.  That way Susanna will know that I really enjoyed my meal.  Also, it makes her laugh when I burp, and I really like to hear her laugh.  I also love it when Susanna talks to me in that gentle voice as she hugs and cuddles me.  When we are home, that is.  When we are outdoors though, any public display of affection embarrasses me.  I have indicated this to Susanna so many times, but she insists on bending down to hug or kiss me in public.  I move away and look around so see if anyone else saw us.  I think to myself, "Geesh Susanna....Not in front of people!"  I feel like I want the ground to open up and swallow me.  But for some unknown reason, that makes her laugh every time.   She says it makes her think there's a little human boy living inside of me.  I can guarantee you, that's no little boy, that's all me.  It's humiliating, for goodness sakes!  I really wish she would stop doing that, but only because it makes me feel like I'm a baby. I guess to Susanna I'll always be a baby, even when I'm fifteen years old.

There is an up side to being thought of as a baby, though.  I constantly get new toys.  I love toys!  My favorite toy is my chimpanzee.  If I chew on it just right, the chimp will laugh this howling, hysterical, almost frightening laugh.  That riles me up even more and I throw the chimp up in the air.  I still remember the first day Susanna got me the chimp, I took it to bed with me.  As she slept, I was playing with the chimp and he began to laugh.  Susanna almost jumped out of her skin upon being woken up from a deep sleep with loud, hysterical chimp laughter. She got out of bed, took the chimp from me and put it away.  Although she didn't say anything, she looked really mad as she walked away.  I'm so lucky to have someone who loves me so much she has bought me so many toys.  My favorite toy when we are at the park is my ball.  It is a yellow latex soccer ball, the one in the picture on my previous blog.  Unfortunately, this type of ball has been discontinued since there were many large breed dogs that used to chew and swallow it.  This is the last ball we have and so we have to be really careful with it.  I sometimes share this ball, but only with dogs I like, who I know will not destroy it.  There are some dogs that like to steal my ball away from me.  I just hate that.  When this happens, I follow the thief dog around.  I  wait patiently for the dog to get distracted by something and put the ball down, and then I snag it away.  Once I have my ball back, we have to either go home or find another place to play because I will not let go of my ball again while the thief dog is around.  I love to play fetch with my ball.  I love to play two kinds of fetch, running fetch and swimming fetch.  I think you get the idea how each one is played.  I love swimming fetch, especially during summer.  It's so nice to swim to cool me off, besides being a low intensity, high impact aerobic exercise.  You should see the muscles I've developed from swimming so much.  By the way, did you know that Susanna had no idea that I could swim when she first adopted me?  She used to let me wade into the water but never let me go any further.  Then one day my friend Ginger (may her soul rest in peace) was at the park with us and wouldn't go into the water to fetch her ball.  So I said to myself, "I'll go" and I began to swim.   I could hear Susanna call me back, and she sounded almost scared because she may have thought I was going to drown or something.  But I was fine.  I swam deep into the water, got the ball, and swam back.  Everyone was cheering me on, and I loved all the attention.  I walked out of the water and shook myself dry as everyone applauded.  You'd have thought I had won an award or something.  Susanna came up to me and gave me a hug and told me how proud she was of me.  I really don't know what the big deal was.  I could always swim, she just never let me do so before. 


I think that swimming incident may have made Susanna realize never to underestimate me, but she still does sometimes.  When she sees me get into fights with dogs larger than myself, it freaks her out.  I know, I know, I shouldn't be getting into fights, but sometimes I just can't help myself.  It may have come from being the runt of the litter.  I am a short dog with a long body.  Not like a dachshund, but I think I look disproportionate.  As a puppy I used to get picked on very often, which made me learn very quickly that in order to defend myself I had to fight.  That fighting spirit has extended beyond just defending myself.  Very often I see a helpless puppy being picked on by a group of bigger dogs.  I step in and take them down to protect the puppy.  There is a lot of growling, baring of teeth and barking involved, sometimes escalating to a physical free-for-all.  This looks more scary to humans than it really is.  I've got my ear clipped a couple of times in the scuffle, but most often I walk away the winner.  It is a matter of honor for me, but Susanna just doesn't seem to understand this.  She does understand that I love puppies though.  She sees me being nice to them and says it makes her a little "Verklempt", whatever that is.  I was a puppy once, a shy one at that.  When I see a shy or scared puppy, I tell them not to be afraid of me.  I go to them wagging my tail, and I give them a little nudge with my nose.  I keep doing this over and over again.  Most of the time, the puppy realizes that I mean no harm and they get all excited and yappy.  I run and let them chase me and we have a great time playing.  Oh, I have to tell you about my friend Kyo.  Her name is pronounced Ka-yo.  They say she is a very shy dog, but you'd never know it from seeing us play together.  When she sees me in the park, she comes running to me like a bullet just fired from a gun.  She wrestles me to the ground and grabs the scruff of my neck.  I think this boosts Kyo's self-confidence, so I lie down all submissive, and let Kyo win our little game every time.  Everyone knows I can take her down if I want to.


That has pretty much been the last four years of my life in a nutshell.  Sometimes I still can't believe all this is real.  I have to pinch myself to realize this is not a dream.  Words cannot express how happy I am with life in general.  Before I sign off, I just want to share some videos with you.  I told you earlier how I love to hear Susanna laugh, and these videos do just that.  These are videos of another Golden Retriever named Ginger, and they remind me of my deceased friend.  The videos are based loosely on the William Wegman Wiemeraner series form the 80s and 90s. One of Susanna's friends Paula posted one of these on Facebook, and Susanna found the rest of them on youtube.  


Breakfast with Ginger
Wine Tasting with Ginger
Ginger's Late Night Snack
and my favorite:
Wasabi and Ginger

Enjoy!


PS:  I need some feedback from Susanna's friends who read her blog.  This is my second post.  Do you think I should have a blog of my own?  I don't intend to replace Susanna's posts, I am wondering if people will read my blog if I started one.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.  Woof!