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My mom says a new year is on its way; I can hardly wait. I really don’t know what is going to change, though.

Mom and I went to Pet Smart again today, and I got a new red ball; one that barks when it hits the ground. I wanted to get another one, but mom said that particular ball should not even be on the shelf because it is dangerous to dogs. It is manufactured by Four Paws and has a bell inside of it. The problem is that there is only one opening in it, and a dog’s tongue can get stuck in it and create a vacuum. In fact, I received an email on my website http://www.dogsviewpoint.com that told such a story. This dog got its tongue stuck in that ball, and it swelled up to the point that he had to be taken to the vet and have it cut off. This poor baby eventually had to have its tongue removed and had to learn how to eat and drink all over again. I feel so sorry for him. I feel sorry for his owners as well, because they had to see their loved one suffer and endure a lot of pain. I know it’s as painful for them to see such a magnificient animal have to go through something like this; something that should not have happened in the first place. And it wouldn’t have if the manufacturers of this toy had not been so intent on making money instead of thinking about what could have happened to the recipients of this ball.

And, don’t think for one minute my mom didn’t say something to the manager of Pet Smart about this dangerous ball on the shelf, because she did. The manager said he would take them off the shelf immediately, and I believe he did. I mean, you can’t work at Pet Smart and not care about animals and their well-being, can you? I surely hope not. I guarantee when we go back to stock up on food for me, my brother, and my sisters, you can be sure my mom will check to see if that ball is there. I’ll let you know later what we find out.

Hey, hey, hey, it’s 76 degrees outside today; can you believe it? It’s supposed to be very cold because it’s December 30, and mom said it should be cold.

Dad had to go to the see the doctor today. It was just a regular appointment, and the doctor said he was okay. He has to have his heart checked periodically since his quadruple bypass surgery. The doctor also had the lab take about four vials of his blood—I guess to check his cholesterol and such. Dad’s all happy, mom’s all better, and since she is, I am very happy. It’s not cold outside, but I don’t want to stay very long anyway; I’m not hairy like Wooly and Kasha. Hilde doesn’t have much hair either, and we get cold quicker than they do, and the sun is going down.

After supper, I think I’ll try to get mom to go to bed; all I have to do is start beating on the door with my feet, and she gets the idea. I like to be on the bed because I can look out all the windows and let mom know if someone is coming. She appreciates me looking out for her. I really do look out for her, you know.

I can do more than just bark. I can jump off the bed, run around in circles, run backwards if I have to, and rear up on the window sill and then look at mom. I repeat this process if she doesn’t get up to see what’s going on. Being a burglar alarm isn’t my only talent, either.

I received this email from my friend Jasmine. I hope you enjoy it.

Hello again Bandit,

Jasmine here. How was your Christmas? Mine was very good. I slept most of the day. As I always do. Santa brought me a bowl to plant grass in. I hope Mommie gets those seed into the soil and lets it start growing so I can eat it. I love to eat grass. Every time I get to go outside, which is not often, I eat a little grass. Most of the time, I end up throwing it back up on Mommie’s carpet or worse yet, on her bed. But I still like to eat it.

I am so happy now, my Mommie is staying home with me every day. She does not get up and go to work for hours and hours any more. I used to have to stay by myself all the time. But then Grandpa and Dori and Buttons stayed with me for a long long time. Now, Mommie is home every day, I can talk to her and rub against her leg any time I feel like it. Mommie and Grandpa were gone for a long stay at the hospital and the rehab place. Mommie did not even come home to sleep. Just to give me and Dori and Buttons some food. Now Grandpa is home again and stays in his bed most of the time. I heard him say that he is getting better. I sure hope so. I hate for Mommie to stay at the hospital all the time with him. I miss her when she does not come home. We have strange people coming in our house now to help Grandpa walk and to check his vitals??? but I stay hid in our bedroom when they come in. I am so quiet that they do not even know I am in the house. Not so with Buttons and Dori, they bark and bark and bark. All that barking makes me very nervous.

Any way, I am glad that you had a very nice Christmas and say hello to your family for me. I will try and get Mommie to let me send you more of these email things another time.
By for now
Jasmine

Exactly what are gifts? What are they for? Why are they wrapped up? Why give them? What are they designed to do?

I don’t know any of these answers for sure, but I have some guesses.

Gifts are for people, dogs, cats, horses, whoever, who need to be shown that they are special. I think I just answered the first two questions.

They are wrapped up because you don’t want that special someone to see what it is until you are ready for them to see it. Kinda selfish, if you ask me. If a human wants to give someone else a gift, present, surprise, whatever, why don’t they just give it to them? That’s what mom does when she gives me something like a new red ball or a Greenies bone. I inherently know she thinks I am special or else she would have given it to someone else.

The next question of “Why give them?” is not so hard to answer, at least not in mom’s case. Mom gives them because she wants to. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Mom is not very complicated; what you see is what you get.

As to what they are designed to do is a philosophical question. I guess it depends on how you see the giver. Givers are supposed to give because they want to; not because they expect something in return. I know that is not always the case, but that is the way I see it. And being a dog, I don’t have a lot of experience at giving unless you count loyalty and unconditional love. I once heard my dad say that you should treat others the way you want them to treat you–I don’t think he meant Wooly though.

At any rate, these are just my thoughts; you don’t have to agree with them.

I caught mom crying last night. I wanted to ask her why but didn’t know how. I think it must have had something to do with Katy, my Golden Retriever sister; she’s not here anymore. She died right after her 16th birthday in July of this year. I heard mom mention Katy’s name to dad, and then mom got all sad.

I remember Katy; she was so nice. She never growled, bit, or bullied anybody. She was practically perfect in all that she did. When I first got here, she was the only one that loved me at first sight besides mom, that is. She would play with me, go outside with me even when she didn’t need to, and snuggle up to me; making me feel safe. At first, she shared her balls with me and even showed me how to play with them. Later on, though, she didn’t want to play anymore. All she did was lay around–always where she could see mom. I guess she just didn’t feel like doing anything.

Then one day mom put Katy in the car and took her to an emergency hospital. It was the weekend, and our vet wasn’t on call. They were gone a long time, but when they came back, Katy just sorta sat on her bed in the TV room; I guess she didn’t want to lay down. But, maybe she couldn’t lay down because she was breathing so hard. She wouldn’t eat, drink, get up (I guess she couldn’t), or maybe she just didn’t want to to anything. I don’t really know what she wanted; I took her my favorite ball, but I guess she didn’t want to play anymore either. I went to find Katy’s favorite ball; maybe she would play after all.

Then, I heard mom making sounds I had never heard her make before. I went into the TV room. and Katy was in mom’s lap. Mom was holding her, petting her, rocking her back and forth, and crying. I tried to kiss mom and Katy, but dad put Hilde, Kasha, and me outside.

After that, the only thing I am sure of is that Katy is not here, and mom is very sad.

Everyone is still full from yesterday, but mom is cooking some rice, so I guess I’ll try and eat some leftovers no matter what my stomach is telling me.

Gosh, it’s 75 degrees today, and being outside is great. I have been outside running around all day because mom left the front door open; this way she doesn’t have to get up everytime I scratch on the door–hey, if the door is open I don’t have to scratch. Mom was outside with me for a while, and I showed off like I always do. I ran the perimeter of the fence twice just so she’d know I was feeling good, although my stomach has felt better. I also ran the perimeter of our small brick fence that just goes around out little front yard, but it’s really not so little. I guess she must have put all of us out there when we were puppies so we couldn’t run off and get into trouble; it didn’t work–we got into trouble anyway because those squirrels live (or at least visit) our trees.

I found a strange scent up in the corner of our big yard and stopped to check it out. No sooner had I stopped than Hilde and Kasha came up to see what I had found; they always do that. They have noses, why don’t they find their own strange scents? I guess they are just not as smart or observant as I am. Or, maybe, they’re just lazy; that would explain a lot of things.

The only complaint I have about these big dinners is that I am not allowed in the dining room with the humans while they eat; which is not fair. Mom stayed up all night and prepared for Christmas dinner. I stayed with mom all the time she was cooking; lying on the kitchen floor and lending my moral support. It’s true, I got to sample a lot of good food, but it’s hardly the same as being with everyone while they are eating, and I am on the outside looking in. I don’t know why mom put up all these doggie gates; well, I really do, but I wouldn’t hurt anything lying at her feet while she eats.

After all the humans were through with dessert (I didn’t get any, of course, and I could smell the chocolate), then I got some scraps; I could hardly contain my excitement. Yeah, right! But beggers can’t be choosers. Maybe the next time we have a big dinner, I’ll hide somewhere inside the gates and then sneak in; they won’t even know I’m there. I think it just might work.

You should have been at my house last night. Apparently, we had an unwanted visitor. I was in the TV room with mom and Hilde when my human brother, Paul, came rushing in. He said something just hit his bedroom window very hard–like it was trying to get in. You have to understand that we live in the country, and we have a six-foot chain link fence surrounding our front yard and our back yard, and that’s a lot of yard. Anyway, he wanted Hilde and me to go outside with him and Kasha. Yeah, right! After I heard what he said, I wasn’t going outside–I’m a lover not a fighter.

Well, Paul took a flashlight and went outside by himself to see what it could have been. He looked around for a while and didn’t find anything, so he came back inside. It could have been a bird or a very big bug.

Mom, Hilde, Wooly, and I went outside this morning to see if we could find anything pertaining to what it could have been that hit Paul’s window last night. I found a scent, but it was a familiar one so I didn’t alert mom. Mom looked at Paul’s window screen and, sure enough, it was damaged by something with claws because it was ripped with a slit about two inches long. I knew it was useless looking around anymore, because whatever it was isn’t around anymore. After today, I bet it won’t come back either; I probably scared it off if it saw me outside looking around.

What a Tuesday! I was just minding my own business and trying to go to sleep on the couch when all of a sudden someone landed right on my pillow, just barely missing my head. I jumped up, growled my displeasure, bared my teeth, and was fully prepared to attack whoever had invaded my space. Well, it turned out to be Candy, my Border Collie sister, who had rudely interrupted my serene mood. She usually stays with one of my human brothers–Jason. I calmed down pretty quickly when I found it was Candy instead of Wooly. Candy wanted to play; so, I complied. Mom let us outside in the big front yard, and Candy began running around like she had never been out there before; what a dork. Nevertheless, I began chasing her, and she began running really fast; she’s a lot faster and skinnier than I am. I never did catch her, although she almost let me sometimes. After about five minutes of exerting myself to no avail (I was really panting and awful thirsty), I was ready to go back inside and get on my couch. She still wanted to play, but mom stepped in and told both of us to get back in the house; boy, was I glad. Mom took me one way when we got back in, and Candy went the other way to find someone else to bother. I think she must have because she didn’t bother me anymore; besides I wanted to take a nap and did as soon I quit panting.

     Today is dad’s birthday. Mom got him a cake from McKay’s Bakery–it was triple chocolate with white daisies on it. I didn’t get a piece but mom let me lick her plate when she was through; it had lots of crumbs on it, and it was very, very, very good. Mom got dad a new walking cane. It is made of ebony, has a custom handle, and an emblem of some kind on it. He was surprised and happy; probably just because mom got it for him. Jason and Richel (human brother and sister) got him a gift card from Best Buy so he could get his new computer game that’s coming out in January. He plays Conan online now all day long, so I don’t know when he will have time to play another one. Dad is still so excited that OU is going to play Florida for the BCS Championship on January 8, 2009. He said that he would get a belated birthday gift if OU were to beat Florida. I will never understand humans.