Those Darn Basketballs

In our basement David has a mini recreation room with a foosball table, a pop-a-shot basketball game and a quarterback attack football game. One of my favorite things to play with are the mini basketballs from the pop-a-shot. Amy and David took them away from me though cause I was deflating them, so they put them up high away from my puppy paws...at least that's what they thought. See, all of these rec room toys are in the same room as the washing machine and dryer. Everytime Amy or David would do their laundry, I'd go in there and try and figure out how to get those basketballs. It required quite a bit of effort. At times, I had to balance precariously on top of a keyboard which was on top of a computer and I had chew through some mesh netting. Then there was the matter of getting past all of the other stuff in front of the basketballs but worry not because I finally figured out how to do it! Witness the genius that is me, Mango!

Tree Loot Monkey Reappears...then Disappears

Many of you might recall the unfortunate demise of my Tree Loot Monkey in January. Basically what happened is I chewed off his ear, then I tore his leg off his body. I'm sure that any dog in my situation would've probably done the same thing...probably. Anyway, so David made, what some might deem, a huge mistake, and gave me a second Tree Loot Monkey. This monkey has been safely stowed away somewhere in the house, but tonight he took it out so that we could play a fetch game. Well, he and Amy must have had a very long week cause they were pooped and ended up falling asleep on the couch around 8. I saw this as my perfect opportunity so I grabbed this second monkey. When Amy and David woke up from their nap boy did I have a surprise for them!

Yes, I once again went for the ear and tried chewing it off. But I took it even further this time and....

Notice something missing? Yup, it's his entire arm! I figured since I had already taken a leg off of the first one, I should go a different route this time around and see what I could do with an arm. So this is what is left of the second monkey, just some fluff and the remains of a former boxing glove.

He too has now been put to rest. I don't think we have any more monkeys in the house though, so my destruction of Tree Loot Monkeys might be over.

Winter Wonderland!

It snowed yesterday, it snowed yesterday, it snowed yesterday!!! I love snow, I love it, I love it, I LOVE it! What's not great about it? You can run around in it and when you get thirsty, you just eat it! Everytime I go outside I try to eat at least a clump of snow every 1-2 minutes. It tends to get on my chin so I look like I have a little white beard, but I don't mind. And sometimes the snow gets in between my paws which can make walking a little uncomfortable but it's worth it cause when I go inside, I can eat them, it's like having little teeny tiny snow cones. And last night when David took me out for my nighly potty break, Rusty, Lucy and Jenna were outside! Jenna could barely clear the snow, but it was great running around with Rusty. I think that if we had not been born herders, we would've been snow dogs, like huskies or malamutes or something like that. Although...have you ever seen the movie Snow Dogs? There's a border collie in that movie that ends up being on a dog sled team. No one thought she could do it and they laughed at her, but she did it! Oh and oh (as you can tell, I'm a little excited and hyper due to the snow right outside that I'm dying to go play in again) I forgot to tell everyone that Merlin won the herding group at the Westminster dog show last week! It was quite exciting, hooray for border collies!

I see them!

This morning David was making pancakes for breakfast. It got a bit stuffy in the kitchen so Amy opened up the windows on the side of the bay window. They haven't been opened since summer and I never used to be able to get them cause my exercise pen was in the way. Now though I walk right up to them and look outside. The great thing is that the left window has a perfect view of the park so I can monitor any kind of dog activity. Here's me keeping a look out.

I didn't have to sit there long cause sure enough there were Rusty and Kibbles, they were meeting a new neighborhood dog. I started whining and pawing at the window so Amy took me out. Kibbles went home but I got to play with Rusty and then Lucy and Jenna came. Rusty and I chased Lucy all around the park, she's so fast, neither one of us could catch her. Two more dogs came around, a German Shepherd named Riley, I've seen him before walking in the park. Boy, he's a big dog! And then we saw two Boxer sisters, Moose and Cody walking by. Cody had to go home but Moose came up to play and I'm sorry to say that I did not behave :o( I guess maybe she gave me flashbacks of the dog park when 3-4 Boxers ganged up on me and really scared me. We had to be separated. Hopefully the next time I see her, I will behave.

The Box

For Valentine's Day, David got Amy a chandelier for our dining room. Due to the fact that this chandelier hangs from our ceiling and is not within my reach, I really don't pay too much attention to it. Now, the box that the chandelier came in, that's a different story. See, I was playing with David as I often do and sometimes I get really excited and a little too rowdy. So today when I got out of control, he put me on top of the box to punish me, like a time-out. Well, his plan backfired because I loved standing on top of that box. It's like I could see the whole world...well, at least the living room anyway. So once I figured out that I could jump off of the box, I realized I could jump on top of it too. So I did, over and over again and each time I discovered a new thing I could reach and chew that couldn't before, like this picture of leaves on the wall, or the actual leaves of Amy's plant, and the top corner of the buffet. Needless to say, Amy was not amused, David however was rolling on the floor with laughter.

The Down Comforter

Today I did something that I guess was pretty bad. This particular morning I decided that I should set my sights on the down comforter. The thing that initially caught my eye was this white tag sticking out, it said something like "Dry Clean Only" or "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law", I don't quite remember. I decided that the tag just had to go and spent some time ripping it out. Well, you can only imagine my shock when ripping the tag off produced a small rip in the comforter. Of course I had to investigate and see what was inside the comforter. Once I got a big enough hole I grabbed the it with my teeth and shook as hard as I could and guess what came out? Feathers! A whole bunch of them! I tried eating them but they didn't taste very good, which made me mad so I shook the comforter even harder. And that's when David emerged from the bathroom and got really mad. He warned me that Amy would be furious and well...she was when she got home. David was so upset we didn't even get a picture of the bed or me covered in feathers. They didn't even thank me for taking off that bothersome tag...hmph!

The Thing I Love to do

Today is Valentine's Day! You know what I love? Chewing on furniture! And I try to do every chance I get. One of the best times is in the morning. See, every morning during the weekdays after Amy departs for work, she leaves me in the bedroom with David. After I poke my wet nose in his face a few times, and force my head underneath his hand so he'll pet me, he wakes up and takes a shower leaving me with the bed all to myself. Most mornings I just sleep until he's done but other mornings I'm a little hyper and need to occupy my time. And how I fill those many minutes until David emerges? Chew on furniture!!! Here is one of the bed posts.

As you can see, I've already started working on it. But no fear, there's always more that can be done!

At first, I try to be sneaky and act uninterested.

But the taste of wood is too hard to resist.

Another thing that I find extremely difficult to ignore are socks. David doesn't make it any easier either when he leaves his socks all over the floor! Sometimes they're spotted and Amy will put them up higher so I can't get to them. Like this one, she thought putting it on her desk would deter me, but I spotted it.

And I grabbed it.

And I chewed and chewed...I love it!!!

February Updates

First, let me apologize for the delay in posting February entries; we've been having some internet connection problems with Amy's computer. But no fear, I have been working diligently today to get everything up to date and posted so don't miss any of the new things that have happened thus far this month.

This has been another great weekend filled with walks, frisbee, fetch with tennis balls and of course, playing with Kibbles and Rusty. Oh and that tennis ball I mentioned earlier this month? Gone, I told you it would be next. Kibbles and I were running around with it yesterday and we forgot where we dropped it. Oh and I met a new dog yesterday on our walk, he's a golden retriever and his name is Andy. He only has three legs but that didn't seem to stop him from wanting to play. He was super high energy like me! He doesn't live in our neighborhood so I'm not sure I'll ever get a chance to run around with him but hopefully we'll see each other on my morning and evening walks.

Koko's Accident

This week, I got to go to see Koko twice! Tonight, something really funny happened. See, Koko is one of those dogs that pees when he gets excited and he usually gets excited when he sees Amy. That's why she tries to stay away from him when we first get over there. Well, tonight Koko and I were running around the living room when Amy decided to go sit on the floor. Well, Koko ran over to her and sat in her lap. By this time we had been there for a while so she thought it'd be okay to pet him. She picked him up and held him with his belly up so she could scratch it. Well, guess what?! He got all excited and yup! He peed all over her! David and Vicki, Amy's sister, could not stop laughing. Vicki was rolling on the floor. And the worst part is, this is the 2nd time that Koko's peed on Amy, will she ever learn?

1st Dog Park Outing

Before I tell you about my first visit to the dog park, let me update you on a couple of other happenings. Firstly, I turned 8 months old! Which Amy celebrated by taking me to PetSmart to get my nails cut. It turned out to be a lot of fun...not at all. Secondly, I have a dog walker! She walks Lucy and Jenna too. Now I don't have to wait till it gets dark for Amy or David come home, my bladder thanks her.

Okay, so yesterday I went to my first dog park! I have to admit that it was a bit scary at first. We got in there and all of these dogs came crowding all around me, I didn't know what to do so I got scared and started growling at them :o( As you can see, I look less than thrilled.

I guess they could tell that I was a puppy and inexperienced with dog park protocall. After a while, a bunch of dogs had to leave and go home and then I started to have more fun. Here is me running around with my new friends.

This is Ceasar, he's a Husky...a big one. He was nice, but didn't quite know how much bigger and stronger he was than me. He ran me over once so hard, I cried and whimpered.

This is Sage, she was more my size so we had a good time running around and wrestling.

As you might have seen from the pictures, the ground was a wet sloppy mess, full of mud and slush from the left over snow. Unfortunate for me because afterwards I had to get a bath, which I hate!

The time at the dog park did really make me tired though. So, while Amy and David watched a movie in the basement, I slept.

And slept.

And slept.

And slept some more.

I couldn't keep my eyes open, I didn't even wake up and get back to my mischievous puppy ways until 9 on Sunday morning!

New Toys

Yesterday, Amy came home from work with a bunch of new toys for me. She got this little doggie set for only $7! I guess that must be good because she seemed really excited about it when she told David. This doggie kit came with the following items:

1 portable water bowl
1 collar
1 leash
1 soft frisbee
1 donut toy
1 tennis ball
1 squeaky ball
1 nylon bag

Presently, less than 24 hours after getting these new toys I have:

Punctured the squeaky ball (Amy threw it away).

Chewed the some of the fabric off of the donut toy (David took it away).

And chewed off some of the edge of the frisbee (David took this one away too).

I have a sneaking suspicion that next on the list for destruction is that tennis ball.

Best Weekend Ever!

This weekend was quite possibly, the best weekend ever! Why you ask? Because I got to play with my neighborhood friends, Rusty and Kibbles, on Friday, Saturday and today! And not only that, I even got to meet 5 new dogs and play with them too! Although I had tons of fun playing on Friday and Saturday, I have to say that today's playtime was the best because we got to run around in the snow!

It took a little convincing before Amy and David would take me outside this morning. I had to ring my bell at least a hundred times (There's a bell on the front door that I ring when I want to go outside). Here's video of me doing it.

If you don't believe me when I say that I rang it a hundred times, here's another video of me ringing the bell as Amy and David were watching the original video of me ringing the bell.

I think I finally got on their nerves enough cause we went outside and guess who we found in the park! Kibbles and Rusty!!! Darby, a Golden Retriever, came to play too. It was so much fun! Here's some videos of us playing.

If you're not sure who's who, you can go to the new Friends page and see pictures of Kibbles, Rusty and Darby. We'll have to get pictures of Lucy, Jenna and Dino too, they live right next door to me.

Koko Time

Last night, for the first time in forever, Amy took me with her to her parents' house and I got to play with Koko again. When we got in the car, she kept on telling me that I had to be good and guess what? I was! I didn't jump on her nieces, you know border collies are rumored to not be good around kids, especially little ones, but not me! Koko and I ran around the dining room table and I even let him play with my squeaky toy, although I tried to rip the head off of his toy. I guess I'm not supposed to be jumping on the couch, but Koko did it, so I did too. He got a little tired of playing with me towards the end of the evening and wouldn't let me share his toys. All in all, it was a good time, I hope she brings me again next week, I'll be good, I promise!

Our Long Cold Snowy Saturday

These are Amy's keys. Sure they look innocent but yesterday they caused a whole world of trouble.

As predicted by all of the weather forecasters, it snowed! Around 2 in the afternoon Amy, David and I went out to play in the snow. They let me loose on top of a hill in the park and I was running around like crazy. David wanted to take some video of me so he got Amy's keys and went back to the house to get his video camera. After about half an hour they were ready to go back home. Well, as it turns out, while we were running around, Amy's keys fell out of David's coat pocket. And thus started our long, cold, snowy day. See, here's a screen shot of the exact moment the keys fell out of his pocket, it's taken from the video Amy was shooting.

Seems easy enough right? You'd think two college educated humans would be able to find them. WRONG! Amy and David ended up on their hands and knees digging through the snow trying to find these stupid keys...not for a few minutes, or even half an hour, but for 3 hours! They were not at all amused. I was actually amused because I ended up just eating snow, ice, leaves and sticks, basically anything within reach of my mouth. I love the snow and since my fur is pretty long, I didn't mind the cold at all. I have a feeling Amy and David didn't feel the same way.

David finally had to stop searching cause it got too dark. Amy's sister, Vicki, had to come over with spare keys to the house to let us back in. David even went and got a metal detector to try and find them but with no luck. Finally, this morning Amy went back out to the hill and started combing through the snow with a rake and was able to find them. Whew!

Here's a video of me playing in the snow:

My Tree Loot Monkey Continued

Before I delve into the exciting conclusion of my Tree Loot Monkey saga, I have to let you all know that it snowed! On Wednesday I went out on my morning walk with Amy and everything was fine (a bit cold, but pretty normal) and then when she came home (an hour late I might add) there was snow everywhere! I tried to eat as much of it as I could. I also digged around in it trying to figure out where all of the grass went.

And I got it all over my nose.

They say it's supposed to snow again this weekend. I hope so cause when we went out for our walk this morning, a lot of it had melted, I had a hard time trying to find snow to eat.

Now we may turn our attention to my Tree Loot Monkey. Something else that happened on Wednesday was that Amy made the colossal mistake of leaving my monkey in my crate with me during the day. I discovered he was hiding under my blankets around mid-day and I started working again on tearing that ear off of his head. See a funny thing kept on happening as I bit and bit on his ear, his stupid leg was getting in the way. So of course I had to tear that off as well. Now this proved harder than the ear because this stupid monkey was wearing shorts! With a little effort I managed to take his shorts off, and within a matter of time I had ripped his leg off of his body. These little clear beads came rushing out of his body and leg and all of this fluffy white stuff too. I started eating the beads, but they didn't taste too good so I just let them fill up the bottom of my crate. As you can imagine, when Amy came home she was none too pleased and she took my Tree Loot Monkey and threw him away :o( I don't think he looks that bad, do you?

This is me and my Tree Loot Monkey.

This morning when Amy came out of the bathroom I was sitting on the futon in the backroom with him. Amy thought it was really cute cause I was licking him, like I was cleaning him. But little did she know...

See this is a close up of my monkey, looks fine right?

And this is a picture of him from the left side, still looking pretty good.

But aha! Here is his right side! That's right! I was sitting there nicely licking him when I noticed this ear in my way. I thought it seemed mighty odd for a monkey to have an ear right there. So, as any other dog would do in a similar situation, I decided it just had to go.

When Amy came over as I was licking him I tried to be calm and collected, but I guess I looked a bit suspicious with my shifty eyes.

She saw what I did, and took him away. I swear, she's always ruining my fun!

Merlin Robbed!

Well the herding group was finally presented at the dog show and the Border Collie, Merlin, came in second! To an Old English Sheepdog! I could hardly believe it, I was in such shock! I mean, look at this picture of Merlin.

And look at this sketch of the perfect Border Collie on the AKC web site.

Is it just me or do they look like the exact same dog?! I mean, how can you not pick Merlin as the best herding dog? How?! Inquiring border collies want to know!

Well at least I can take solace in the fact that the stupid Old English Sheepdog lost to some Bloodhound named Knotty for Best in Show. Stupid Bloodhound. You put that Knotty and Merlin in an agility competiion and we'll see who's best in show. Merlin will kick his wrinkly butt all up and down the course.

Dog Show

Tonight is the exciting conclusion to the Eukanuba National Championship Dog Show! Amy and I watched most of it last night, the first night of competition. There are some funky looking dogs out there. Did you see those poodles and those poofs on their butts? If I was one of them I'd jump right off of a moving car, I'm sure glad I'm not one of those toys or non-sporting dogs. We saw all of the first three groups but then we both fell asleep watching the sporting group. Don't worry though, the "normal" looking dogs are going to be on tonight, the dogs in the working and herding groups. They're saving the best for last, so the herders are the last to go before Best in Show. I can't wait to see who will be representing us border collies. Amy's friend, Jeanette, was really excited about the show too. She and a bunch of other people came over on Friday night. I was so happy, I couldn't sit still, I just wanted everyone to pet me. Unfortunately I tend to jump on people, that's something Amy and David say that I have to work on :o( All of the people came over to play that karaoke game again. Thankfully Amy got me a Busy Bone and I was able to drown out the singing. I think I'll have to try and eat that microphone one day.

Sports Fanimal of the Month!

Check me out!

I received an e-mail today suggesting that I should get a Colts jersey in lieu of their impending appearance in February's Superbowl. Perhaps if they ever actually give me the $25 gift certificate I'm promised, I'll consider it.

Sporting Toys

Amy started her new job this past week so I had to go back to being home alone during the day :o( I am still adjusting, but luckily I have three new toys that have made the time in the evenings more fun. Last week Amy's sister, Vicki, bought me some new toys as a late Christmas present. As soon as Amy put them on the floor, I couldn't stop chasing them around the living room! They're made so that I can grab them easily and they're great!

Here's me and my basketball.

Me and my soccer ball.

And David's favorite, me and my football.

I used to have tennis balls too...but I kept on popping them. Of course if Amy would've stopped buying cheapie ones from the dollar store, maybe I wouldn't have popped them all. I don't think I'll be able to pop these new sports toys though...but don't worry, I'll try.