Guess Who’s One Now?

Why, it’s ME of course!! Yay!!

I was so happy that in the midst of all of the construction mess around here, we still got to celebrate my 1^st birthday. Wow, I never had a birthday before; and boy was it fun!!! The only bad thing was that I got lots of new toys and there is no where to even run around in the house with them now. Not only that, but we have these yucky ol’ hard concrete floors because our carpet got mold in it. I like soft fluffy things, you know. Mom bought me some nice soft things to lay down on, but I keep getting bored and tearing them up. I just can’t resist! I don’t understand why she can’t just buy me some more when I tear these up. Mom and Dad said I have officially become a puppy teen now, and they said the breeder said I might behave like this. I wonder how she knew?

Ok, so on with the good stuff. 🙂

First of all, Mom and I took a long walkie to some of my favorite places, followed by a car ride and a trip thru Starbucks. I like the Starbucks drive thru because they give Mom pretty drinks and they always give me my own cup of ice. I love ice!

When we got home, my friend, a Pom named Wuki, came over and gave me some presents.Here’s what I got from my friend Wuki.. Isn’t he the cutest?  Because he’s smaller than me, we can’t really play together, but we sniff each other a lot and kind of dance around together.

Thank you WUKI !

Later Mom and Dad gave me even MORE presents to open.

This is fun because I get to tear up all the paper, and then as a bonus prize of some sort, I get a toy after I’m done with the paper. I hope they play this game with me more often. Oh, maybe it would be better if I didn’t have to wear my Puppy Princess crown and sash tho. They kind of get in my way and fall off. I don’t see what they have to do with the game anyhow.

I got a new Orka jack since my other one was getting kinda old.

I also got a Jolly Ball, which is the coolest toy ever!

Then they gave me my first ever dog puzzle.

I love playing with it, and get so excited when I see it that I start drooling. The puzzle is called a “Dog Brick”, and it’s made by some lady named Nina Ottosson.

http://www.nina-ottosson.com/english/home.htm

All I know is that whoever she is, she makes some fun games for puppies like me!!  I LOVE to solve problems, almost as much as I love causing them 🙂 Mom said the puzzle will be especially nice on cold and rainy days like today. I totally agree.

Hey, if there are any other puppies out there that have a “Dog Brick”, maybe we can have a contest to see who’s the fastest. What do you think? Anybody want to play?

Oh, um, so I accidentally tore up my “nearly indestructible” jack.Actually, I like it better this way. The little nobby things make great balls to chase, and they bounce real crazy.

Maybe the package should say, “some DISassembly required”  🙂

So, that’ s basically how my day went, along with lots of extra attention and snacks. I hope they do this birthday thing more often!

Hopefully Mom will have time to help me put together the camping trip photos soon. We just now got our desk area back. It was all torn apart and too hard to work with all of the construction stuff around. (You can see their grey trailer thing and a bunch of tools in one of my photos)

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Princess Behr Behr, happy birthday to me.

♥ Behr Behr, the birthday princess puppy. The one who gets all the toys and paper to tear up.

Surprise!! Yoda Doesn’t Live Here Anymore!

I’m so excited about this that it was hard for me to wait to show you!

My friends who have been reading this blog for quite some time are aware that one of my nicknames is the “Princess Puppy.” I really would prefer being called “her royal highness the Princess Puppy,” but so far my parents haven’t bought into that. (If you type the word “Princess” into the search box at the bottom of my blog, you can read some of the posts about my title.)

Anyhow, moving right along. Sometimes, like in the fairy tales, the person who is a princess didn’t start off as a princess, like the story of Cinderella, or even maybe Princess Diana. Maybe they wished deep inside their hearts that one day they would grow up and become one. [OK, for guys, that would be like the little boy who was ignored by his family or thought of as “stupid” by his friends growing up to the the CEO of a large corporation where everyone looked up to him.] That’s kinda how my story goes….

Once upon a time, like in 2008, there was a little puppy named “Behr Behr.” Behr Behr had a wonderful fur mom who adored her and fawned over her tenderly. Then her fur mom, who’s name, coincidentally is “Magic”, entrusted her into the hands of her new parents that don’t have fur. They saw the beauty in her right away, and even began calling her “princess” as a small pup. They bought her lots of toys, took her on trips, and had a fun time with her. She loved (loves) her home with them.

There was one little glitch, tho. Everywhere she went, others would say, “what kind of dog is that?? She looks so funny”, which hurt her little puppy feelings.

She would think, “Well I’m a princess Dane puppy, silly people. Can’t you tell?” One little girl even called her a deer because of the white tape on her ears. Deer?!? This was getting embarrassing! Then there was the time the vet taped her ears so that she looked like the flying nun and she had to wear a disguise everytime she went anywhere.

Well, the little princess puppy’s parents started taking her to different vets to see if anyone could help her with her funny ears. Each time they went to a vet place, they would walk out saying, “No, not this one. This is not the one we could trust with our little Behr Behr.” It’s kind of like the prince trying the shoe on one girl after another until he found the right fit and knew he had “the one.” Finally, they went to a place called the “Arrow Animal Hospital” and met the vet named Dr. Vinod Jayani (Patel). He was wonderful indeed, and they knew they had found the one for Behr Behr.

Dr. Jayani fixed her funny ears that only stood half way, and everything went absolutely smoothly. The whole staff treated her like the princess that she was, and she liked them a whole bunch. In fact, she likes to go there.. They are all SO NICE to her, and she got the “royal treatment” she deserved every time she went there. This doctor is amazing, and everything he does is top notch! He turned the Yoda ears into beautiful Dane puppy princess ears!!!! Yippeee!!

THANK YOU Dr. Jayani !!!!!! You restored my dignity and made me beautiful again!!!!

Now everywhere that the Princess Behr Behr goes, people say, “Oh, what a beautiful dane puppy!” And now Behr Behr can hold her head high and be proud. Don’t you love the graceful new look of her ears now?

As a side note: Dr. Jayani did not even know I was going to thank him publicly like this in advance, so I was getting the same wonderful treatment he gives all of his dogs. He has done some amazing re-crops as well as original crops. His office and staff are totally outstanding, and I highly recommend him to anyone.

Also, I was well taken care of so that I had minimal discomfort thoughout the whole ordeal. Mainly I had a lot of itching as the newly altered edges healed, but I had medicine to help with the itching even.

Now I’m mainly waiting for the hair to grow back on my ears, and I still have some tape so the tips won’t curl while they are getting used to their new shape. It was a little early to post the photos, but I couldn’t wait 🙂

♥ Princess Behr Behr, the one with beautiful princess ears now 🙂

Kong Popsicles

It was 105° outside today. Whoever named the hot weather we are getting the “Dog Days of Summer” had a weird dog. Not only that, but their crazy dog is here too early. Ever since I was born in October, the weather has been great outside, but not now. It’s waaaaaaay too hot for this puppy!! I go outside to go potty and then hurry back inside to hang out in the air conditioning again, like any sane puppy would do. Not only that, but if I hurry back inside, I know my mom has a cool snack waiting for me, but more on that in a minute.

I was wondering about this dog that the “Dog Days of Summer” was named after, and why he liked hot weather, so I looked it up in Wikipedia. Yikes!!!! They’ve made a huge mistake!! They said that it was named this because of the Greeks and Romans thought that the Dog Star, named Sirius, (the brightest star in the Heavens), was angry and caused the hot weather. That’s simply NOT true. I know this because Sirius is my fur dad, and he’s extremely nice and wouldn’t cause it to be hot outside at all. So, they are all wrong, and they should apologize for saying mean things about my dad and then take the hot weather back. By the way, speaking of my dad, he really is a star, and has a bunch of championships and titles.

So, about the cool snacks my mom makes for me. She takes a Kong toy and fills it with yummy stuff and freezes it for me. YUM!!!! She takes fruit, low sodium chicken broth, and veggies and blends them in the blender to make a thick smoothie, which she pours into my Kong toy. {she fills the tiny hole in the Kong with peanut butter} She decided to use the extra heavy duty Kong because I… um… “accidentally” tore my “Fill N Freeze” bones up. My favorite popsicle so far is blended broth, banana, and zucchini.

I’m drooling now, just thinking about how good it tastes! Maybe the hot weather has it’s good side after all.

Behr Behr, daughter of Sirius. The good Sirius, who likes cool weather.

Or Maybe Not…

I was actually getting excited about becoming the world’s first sign spinning Dane, so I got up early to practice. Hmmm. Where would I get a sign to practice with? Oh, I know!

My parents have this silly rule that when they don’t want me to cross an imaginary line (like out of my crate or into a room), they say “no dogs!” and draw a line with their hand. You know, the rule is ok when they ask me to stay in my crate with the door open, or maybe out of the bathroom room or something (although I do like to get in there and snag the toilet paper). I guess I can handle that. BUT, when they tell me I can’t be in the kitchen where all of the food is, I say, “no way!!”

I talk back to them, sneak in, and pretend I didn’t hear them so I can be in the kitchen where the food is.

Anyhow, since I don’t like their silly “no dogs allowed” thing, I chose that sign to practice with. Here I am running around the yard with the sign.

I jumped up with it, spun around, and did a couple of cool tricks. Things were going well.

Then I got to thinking about how much I dislike them keeping me out of the food filled kitchen, and it made me mad. Grrrrrrr. So, I kinda “accidentally on purpose” like tore up the silly sign.

Then I remembered how much I LOVE to chew on sticks, and, well, you can guess what happened to the stick.

Maybe I won’t become the world’s first sign spinning Dane after all. It’s just too tempting to eat the signs and the sticks. Oh well. I tried.

♥ Behr Behr, the sign eating Dane.

Silly Six Month Old Puppy

Most of the time, I tell you about my activities, mishaps, and fun things that happen in my life. I guess I haven’t told you much about my personality or favorite things. Sorry about that.

A few of my favorite things are:

My moose toy (absolute favorite!!!!)

Mom can hide Mr. Moose anywhere in the house and tell me to go find him, and with lightning speed I race thru the house and hunt him down. I tear out after him so fast I knock things down that are in my way accidentally sometimes. I’m a really good moose hunter. Actually, I can find several of my toys, by name now. It’s a game we call “find it” around my house.

My Zebra Pillow. It’s soft, like Mr. Moose, but I’ve decided that I like the zebra so much that I take it to bed with me and use it as a pillow. I don’t chew on the zebra much at all, since I like it better as a pillow. (I do tend to tear everything else I own up tho…)

The zoomies!!!! I love to run as fast as I can whenever I get the chance. For whatever reason, my parents aren’t always impressed with my turbo-charged zoomie runs. I think they’re pretty cool, tho.

Air conditioning (or fans). Mom and Dad turn on the A/C in the car, aim it at the front seat arm rest, put a pillow there for my head, and I’m a happy camper. I don’t care how long of a drive we are on, as long as I’ve got my A/C and pillow. It also means my head is next to their arms on the arm rest, so that makes it extra snuggly.

Digging for buried treasure. I used to dig plain ol’ holes all the time, but that got boring. Now I’m fascinated with tree roots. I love to dig them up and pull them out of the ground to chew on. It’s like hunting for buried treasure!

Watching myself drooling water. Yep, you read that right. Almost every time I drink water from my bowl, I walk over to a mirror we have that’s my height and just watch the water drip from my mouth. I think it’s pretty funny. It’s the only time I drool (other than while waiting for meals when I’m super hungry). Sometimes when I’m in the house and bored, this is how I entertain myself. Back and forth from the water dish to the mirror. Mom keeps trying to catch this on video, but I won’t let her. When I see her sneak up with the camera, I stop and look at her with that look that says, “what?” like I don’t have any idea why she’s there.

Playing cops and robbers with Mom and Dad. In case you are wondering, I play the robber, they are the mean ol’ cops. I am REALLY sneaky about this one. I silently, with much stealth, work to steal things right near them without them ever catching me. They say I’m like a pick pocket or something, whatever that is. I have actually stolen handkerchiefs out of Dad’s pocket. Maybe that’s what they mean. My favorite thing is to steal socks, so they have to hide them from me. I discovered that sometimes they hide them in the dirty clothes hamper, so they can’t outsmart me on that one! Ha! I like to steal anything that is soft and small enough to fit in my mouth, ‘cause that way it doesn’t make any noise when I take it. I think it’s quite an accomplishment if an 88lb. black great dane can sneak by them and steal something without them catching me, especially since they’re on to my game.

My greatest accomplishment so far? Stealing the felt pads off of the feet of chairs they are sitting in…WHILE they are still in the chair! This one takes lots of patience. I do it a little bit at a time, waiting for them to move a little bit and shift their weight in the chair while I give it a little tug. Eventually I get it. Always amazes them.

Pretending I’m a gazelle. I just jump up off the ground with all 4 feet at the same time, still moving forward, like a gazelle does. Dad said this is called “stotting” or “pronking”. You can watch a video of an antelope pronking on this website:

http://encarta.msn.com/media_461542639/pronking_springbok.html

(Note: I think you have to either watch it with Internet Explorer, or have Firefox configured to operate in an IE like environment) Maybe someday my mom can catch me doing this and video tape it for you. I’m kinda unpredictable, tho, and only do it suddenly when the urge strikes and I’m feeling particularly energetic. One time, when Dusty’s mom came over, I got the zoomies and every time I ran by her, I pronked. (if you can use the word that way)

So there you go. Don’t you feel like you know me a little better now?

♥ Behr Behr, the moose loving, totally cool, sneaky, pronking pirate 🙂

Is Spam Real?

 

Is spam real meat?  (um,that’s the subject of many debates)

Is spam mail ever real mail? (rarely!!)

My mom was going thru her e-mail today, and just randomly checked her spam folder to see if there happened to be any real mail in there. She very, very rarely ever even checks it before deleting everything in there. Gosh, she almost deleted a letter for me that was real!

CONGRATULATIONS! Your wonderful site was selected as the COOL DOG SITE OF THE DAY!

Congratulations! “dogmark.net” selected your wonderful site ( Behr Rake’s blog ) for “Cool DOG Site of the Day” on 2nd of March, 2008. The site will be introduced on that day. “dogmark.net Cool Dog Site of the Day” started in April 1996. Visitors are from more than 68 countries around the world. “dogmark.net Cool Dog Site of the Day” has received many awards and also has been featured in several magazines like “FIDO” in Sweden, ” DOG FANCY” in USA, and a book published in Taiwan introducing web pages of the world

 

That was pretty cool news, if I do say so myself. Even if I found out after it happened 🙂

I’m always happy to have new friends to visit with, and if any of you found me this way, WELCOME !! Glad you stopped by for a visit!

Speaking of spam, mom found out that there is actually a Spam Festival! Turns out it’s in Hawaii, where Dusty’s mom is from. http://spamjamhawaii.com/

Hey Dusty, do you guys eat that stuff? (mom’s in the background making weird noises right now, and saying, “Ewwwww! Gross!)

Now, can I just try some of that spam stuff and I’ll let you know if it’s real meat or not?

♥ Behr Behr, the REAL THING, for real :)

No, I Don’t Want My Picture Taken!

It was just one of those days when Behr Behr was simply NOT in the mood to have her picture taken!!! Dusty’s mom and I decided to take a little hike with our fur kids recently, and she tried the whole hike long to get a picture of Behr Behr and Dusty together. So after about 50 failed photo attempts, we changed tactics and tried photos of little Behr and me together…again, with much resistance from Behr Behr. You can see from the few sample photos here that I am having to hold Behr’s face and turn it toward the camera in each photo. I didn’t want to totally bore you with ALL the photos, but you get the point from these.

 

Usually Behr Behr is a bit of a ham and I can get lots of cute photos of her, but not this day. Finally, when we got back to our cars, Dusty’s mom got this photo of them in the same basic area at least. We were happy with that at this point, even if it wasn’t the greatest.

I was a little frustrated, since it was such a beautiful day and it would have been fun to have some cute photos of our fur friends together out playing on their hike. Wasn’t going to happen. Oh well.

Then on the drive home, poor little Behr Behr threw up in the car, (fortunately on the waterproof seat cover she was on!) and I understood what she had been trying to tell me all day. “Mom, I’m just not in the mood for photos ‘cause I don’t feel good.” Great. Then I felt really bad for trying to make her endure an endless photo shoot that she didn’t want to participate in that day. Actually, I felt terrible.

Reminds me of a story I heard about a guy who got on the subway, desiring a peaceful ride to his destination. Instead, there were two small boys who were totally out of control and crying and yelling, etc. He wondered, “Where are their parents?! He was going to let them know just how it irritated him that the kids were doing this. Finally, he saw a man that appeared to be their dad sitting with his head down, staring at the floor, oblivious to his kids and their behavior. He went over and said, `Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you could control them a little more?’ The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly: `Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.’ “

The kids had no grid for dealing with their pain, and dad was overwhelmed with his own. Suddenly, their behavior didn’t seem so annoying anymore. What changed? Only the understanding that there was a genuine reason for their “out of control” behavior.

With people, I can go back and say, “I’m so sorry. You were trying to let me know something was wrong, and I missed your cues.. Forgive me for putting you thru that.” But how could I ever communicate this to my puppy? Sometimes I tend to miss the small cues or maybe the minor hesitation that people, and my puppy, try to send me to say, “I’m just not comfortable with…” I have had to backtrack too many times to apologize and help to repair any breach that I was forming by missing the cues. That’s especially easy with people who are too shy to speak up about the things they are uncomfortable with/unhappy with, etc. My sweet little puppy had no way to even tell me, other than her hesitation to be a ham for the camera.

I think her little feelings have been healed now, after I gave her lots of attention, cuddling and love. I took her home, tucked her in her bed, covered up and toasty warm. She was stuck with a bland diet for a day or two, and then was back to her usual self. Turns out a new medication she was on was causing her to be sick. She’s no longer on the meds, so she’s her usual happy self…

…And hopefully, I’m a better person for the reminder to pay attention to small clues, in both her and people around me.

Behr Behr’s mom

Hey, how did you find me anyhow?

A few days ago, I was reading Kathryn’s blog, 4urpets, where she mentioned the funny ways people had found her blog. Got my curiosity up, so I checked Behr’s blog to see the full list of search terms people had used when they found us. Behr Behr and I had to laugh at some of the ways people ended up on her blog!!! I wonder what they thought when they saw that it was a puppy blog? 🙂

Take a look at actual search terms used to find Behr Behr:

Dogs – OK, so that’s pretty general! I typed “dogs” into Google search, and it brings up 210,000,000 results, and they somehow choose my little Behr Behr’s blog! I feel honored. What’s even more amazing is that that term landed someone on her blog 3 times! What are the odds?????!

You Bet Your Fur – I can just picture someone walking into a gambling casino and plopping down a handful of fur, waiting for their turn at blackjack. I have no idea how Google connected that one to us.

Outside Water Games – Much less messy than the inside ones. Behr’s never gotten to play any, either way.

Dog’s Thumb – Something handy for dogs to have when they need to hitchhike somewhere. I do actually understand how that one connected us, tho, since Behr went thru a phase of sucking on her tail, and I did mention the word thumb in the post.

Princess Rides – She’s not big enough to give those yet, ‘cause she’s still a little puppy princess.

Behr Mine – No, actually she’s not yours. She’s all ours, and we like it that way.

Sissy Spa – Must have gotten us confused with Sissy over at 4urpets. I guess the person was trying to clarify that they didn’t want a manly spa or something.

Fix Flying Ears Dog – Yep, that’s a good idea so they don’t fly away. That’s why we cropped Behr Behr’s ears. Kinda like clipping the wings of a bird, you know? Nothing like a great dane that keeps flying out of the yard.

Golden Days Doggie Day Spa – Sounds like a great place for senior dogs!

My Parents Make Me Fat – First of all, I checked with Behr Behr and she doesn’t feel that way, and she never said that. Sounds like a personal problem. Regardless, reading a puppy’s blog is a great substitute for eating, so I’m glad we could help.

Mom Oops – It’s okay honey, I understand you made a boo boo. Thanks for apologizing.

Behr Grass – Becomes BARE grass after she gets a hold of it. It’s that digging thing of hers.

Bunch Rake Pictures – After we all finish raking the leaves, we take a pictures of the whole bunch of us together, holding our rakes. Behr included. It’s a Saturday ritual. NOT.

Who is a Nun? – I wonder what they thought when they found out that Behr is …”flying none”. Especially since we clipped those ears and grounded her.

Help with Great Danes Ears Falling – Each one cries, “Help I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” (for those readers not in the US, those are the words of a commercial on TV over here)

Funny Picture with Boxer Dog Pulling Someone – Hmmm. No boxers around here. Now I want to see the picture they were looking for.

Ear Taping Chihuahua –It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s….a… Chihuahua??? Gosh, I can’t imagine trying to tape ears that small. I guess they fly away too.

And one of my favorites…

Hitting My Head with a Rake Picture – Hopefully they don’t have a big heavy frame on that thing. Go knock yourself out, buddy. Maybe even try a bunch rake picture for fun.

So, what terms have people found you with???

 

Behr Behr’s mom and typist 🙂

Totally Cool

Oh no!! Something scary started happening to me this week. I’m 4 ½ months old now, and everything’s been working just fine in my mouth. I’ve got great teeth to woof down my food with, bite sticks with, and shred my toys. Until now, that is.

I was happily chewing on my cow toy, when suddenly I got a sharp pain in my mouth. When I looked down, there was blood all over my nice white cow. I guess I bit him so hard my tooth came out. Yikes! Then before I knew it, 2 more came out. OH NO!!! How will I ever eat all my food now? This is terrible! I can’t even tear up my toys in this newly disabled state. No biting sticks, either. I feel helpless.

Mom came over and saw the mess and pet me and told me I would be ok. She’s always so nice and helps me thru the scary things that happen. What a nice mom. (Of course, she’s smiling right now because I just asked her to type that for me. I know how to keep those snacks coming.)

Then she said she had a surprise for me. Surprise?! Who can think of surprises at a time like this!!!? I mean, my teeth are falling out, for goodness sakes!

She brought me this interesting bone that was ice cold.

Hmmm. I’m not so sure about this one. I barked at it to let her know I thought she had lost it this time. After a while, tho, I decided that maybe I’d try to bite it, and discovered it felt great!!!

Guess what? It tasted like chicken broth, too! NOW we’re talkin’ mom! You’re the best!!!

The more I bit this bone, the better it tasted.

I’m thinking this will be great on hot days. Mom’s thinking it keeps me occupied for quite a while. 🙂 Good stuff.

 

Maybe you should tell your moms to get you one too! 🙂 Hurry, before hot weather gets here. Tell her Behr Behr said so. That should help 🙂 (or maybe some other toy like it that would be great for summer)

♥Behr Behr, feeling toothless at the moment. 🙂

P.S.- mom took these photos right before the one with my new harness, which is when the camera decided to die. Hopefully she gets it fixed soon to finish the harness photos.

(addendum from Behr’s mom….if you do get one of these, give it to them outside! It releases the liquid you froze so that it tastes good to the dog!!!)

My First Day in a Dog Park

Yay!! The city we live in just opened it’s first dog park, and just after I finished my puppy shots. Good timing! Mom and Dad took me over there to check it out. Since they have separate park sections for big dogs, that’s where I went. I was scared of all the big dogs running around and barking, so I stayed glued to Mom and Dad and my cousins (both human and fur).

Finally, someone my size came over to meet me, and we quickly became good friends! This is Butch and me. He’s a full grown boxer. Gives you an idea what my size is at 17 weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

At least Butch didn’t laugh at my flying nun ears. In fact, his looked pretty silly sometimes, too. 🙂

 

We raced around a whole bunch. Wow! The rules are different here, and I’m actually allowed to bite!

Help, Dad! Butch is biting my face!!!

 

 

 

 

 

I think I’m going to have to keep coming to this park so I can play rough and run without being tied to my parents with that silly leash of theirs. My kind of place

♥ Behr Behr