Making Strides

I got my life back this weekend. A friendship didn't bloom between Dakota and me like everyone hoped it would. We are too much alike in the fact that we don't really like to share hehe. I was even more insulted when I tried to make peace and she decided that she didn't want to share my humans with me. I was unhappy. I hope I can stay an only baby forever.

On the bright side, her family brought me some gifts from their trip to Hawaii.

I'm NOT digging this look. Too girly.

Now, this is more like it. Ukulele time. P.S. I was distracting my people from wanting to clip my nails. Not going to happen.

My mood has been extra chipper. I stayed home for 3 days straight! I was going crazy. I was so happy when my people harnessed me up. The harness means that I'm going somewhere. I didn't know where, and I didn't even care,  I was just happy to go somewhere. "Somewhere" ended up being the dog park, but I didn't mind. You know, I secretly want to make friends. I'd rather make friends with dogs who aren't in my house if you know what I mean. What better place than the dog park?

Hello doggies!

My girl took off my harness the moment I stepped foot in the dog park. I admit, I get a bit nervous when this happens. I feel so...naked, but people have advised her to do that thinking that it would make me feel more at ease. Well, it worked a little. I stayed with the man and the lady for a bit, but I decided to explore the park with the girl. I was taking advantage of my adventurousness. I even went up to a few dogs! It was a moment in Alfie history. 

I met a friendly beagle. I don't think he's ever been to this park. His family was setting up for a party at the park and let him hang out with us for a bit. He was cool. I liked him.I didn't even think of biting his nose off, either. 

I'm still a bit scared, but...anyone wanna play ball? It's bigger than my head, but still.

More friendly dogs. This is "Johnny Cash" and his mom. I don't know his mom's name but she's pretty. The three of us played a game of butt sniff.

Just Johnny Cash's mom and me

Here are three dog park regulars: The Chiweenie trio. Well, little Riley is a Dachshund, his 2 brothers Winston and Chiween are ChiWeenies. I wanted to join them in their fun, but I was still too shy.

Time for some dog park solitude

The fun is over, can I go home now?

Overall, I did great. My people were so proud of me. 

Dakota's Visit

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

This is Dakota, my dog cousin. We've met a few times before but we haven't been the best of friends. When I first saw her, I saw how much attention she was getting from my people, and I began to feel left out. I was determined to keep my place in the family. She stopped by my house a few times but it was always for a few hours only. When I found out that her pawrents were going to Hawaii for almost a week and that she'd have to stay with me, I went nuts. 

While our humans think that we have been getting along better than we have in the past, they still aren't quite ready to put us in the same room. Good idea. We are separated by a baby gate. She gets the lower part of the house, I get the upper part. Not fair. I wanted every part of the house. Oh well...it's just 5 or 6 days right? I hope. She is quite the trickster. She knows how to jump that gate with grace, so I put a barrier between us. That doesn't stop her from trying to take over the whole house. 

HERE'S JOHNNY!

She arrived Sunday morning and was a bit anxious throughout the day. I couldn't bear to see my people going out of their way to comfort her, so I hid in the room and lay there in agony. Can I have my life back?!

Everyone thought it was cute that I was jealous. I call it doggy depression. I'm an only child and I like it that way. I was pretty much stand offish for the rest of the night. I lay on the couch watching Disney movies and eventually fell asleep drowning out the noise

Dakota eventually calmed down and began to enjoy the same movies I was watching, but from the other room...my room, actually. 

She got to sleep on the floor in one of the rooms on the bottom part of the house, while I got to sleep in my room with the door closed. We were only one room away from one another. The closest we've been all day. This is just the first night, and all I could hear was her constant snoring throughout the night. 

Monday (Day 2) we went out for a little adventure. We always go to my favorite park to take walks around the block. I love looking at the scenery. I'm not much of a dog park doggy, but the way my body is going, I'd benefit from walks much more. It was strange taking Dakota along with us. I don't know if she's ever been to a park before. All I know is that she was excited. In fact, she couldn't contain herself. I let her use my camera to take a selfie. Looks like she doesn't quite have the selfie thing down yet.

She somehow got out of her harness while we were in the car, so she had to be double-leashed. Look at her face. It was as if she had never seen a park before. It's a beautiful park, isn't it, Dakota?

Dakota is quite the sniffer. She felt the need to sniff EVERYTHING she passed by. I cut her some slack since this was her first time at the park. I never was too interested in sniffing. Is that normal? While she made several stops to smell the trees, I had to stop and wait for her every so often.

She got tired real quick

At our rest stop, we took a pic together. This is the closest we've gotten so far. 

And back to our walk!

Dakota had to sniff one more thing before we left. A hydrant! What's with dogs and their fascination for hydrants?

When we got home, we were both exhausted. I think Dakota was down right pooped out. We slept for 3 hours straight. I was given the chance to venture out in my backyard unleashed. To everyone's surprise, Dakota and I were civil. We were making progress! We were in the same backyard but we still kept our distance

So poopered out

Today is day 3, and we went to the park again. The adventure was pretty much the same. Dakota went on her bouts of sniffing the same trees again

I even watched her stop to take a poo. Don't worry, we pick up.

She drank out of my water bowl

Another pic together...kind of 

She has two and a half more days here.

Lazy Summer

Happy Friday! Although it's Friday, it's not too late for a Weight Wednesday, is it? Well, this picture was taken on Wednesday, but wasn't uploaded until Friday due to my laziness. It's a lot of work for this lazy dog to be walking around the block. When I first heard the phrase "walk around the block", I had something different in mind. I pictured a block of cheese being placed in the middle of the ground, and me walking around it a few times, taking bites along the way. A bit disappointing, I must say. Anyway, this week, I lost no weight, but the good thing is, I didn't gain either. 

High Five for trying

Ha, don't let those pix fool you. I do look a little plumper, and I was afraid of what my results would be, but numbers don't lie. It was exactly the same as last week. It's a win/lose. This summer weather just makes me lazy. Speaking of Summer...

I returned to the dog park last weekend. I'm supposedly going to go back tomorrow. It was nice to see everyone again. I even saw a few newbies. Has it really been about a year since I started going? I'm no longer a regular, but I'm always grateful to be treated well whenever I visit. So much has changed in a year. 

Here are some of the dogs. It's supposed to be the small dog park, but for some reason big dogs want to join us. I welcome anyone with open paws, just don't run me over! 

Here's me with my pal Susie. I remember being so afraid of her when I first met her. Her energy just overwhelmed me, but she is still a youngin'. Check out her long legs. She is such a fast runner! I wonder what breed she is? Her people said something about her having Chihuahua in her. Chihuahua and what? Deer? 

When I'm not visiting my paw pals at the dog park, I'm working my jello off at another park. In between working a sweat, I always take time to enjoy the view

Okay, back to my nap

My dog cousin is coming this weekend. She's staying here for almost a week. Let the fun begin...