Squirrels Just Wanna Have Fun

I was outside playing on my deck the other day, just doing things puppies like to do, like eating the dirt in mom’s plants, sniffing bugs, and looking over the railing and pretending I’m a in my fort watching for spies and intruders. Suddenly, a little funny animal came right up to my deck, um, I mean fortress. She had a long fluffy tail, and she was looking at me funny. I think she wants to play with me!

Mom told me she was a squirrel, like the ones Rusty is always on the patrol for, and that she wouldn’t take my food because she only eats nuts and stuff. Yuck. That’s weird food. Oh well, at least she won’t take any of my food. Hey, wait a minute there. If she only eats nuts, and she’s staring at me like that, does that mean she thinks I’m nuts?? Just kidding. 🙂

♥ Behr Behr, reporting live from guard duty in the fort

A View From the Bat Cave

Behr’s mom here. I’m borrowing “little” Behr Behr’s computer while she’s asleep. Shhhh. Whatever you do, don’t wake her up, please! It’s finally calm around here while she’s napping, and I need the peace and quiet!! Those of you who know Behr Behr personally will totally understand. Those who don’t know her personally will have to just imagine what it’s like living with a wild bear cub in your house. No kidding.

Anyhow, Kathryn, of 4urpets fame, and Pedro, of Vote for Pedro, have issued a challenge for the scariest teeth photo from the world of dog blogdom. No problem; I have just the perfect photo!!! This one is going to be the most bizarre, for sure!

(bat photo source:http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/common-vampire-bat/)

Amazing bat imitation, isn’t it?

This is what Behr Behr does sometimes when we put her in her crate while we are at the dinner table, so that she’s not getting into anything and we can eat in peace. (the crate is within view of the table) She lays down in her crate, teeth resting on the bars, just making weird faces at us. Heaven only knows what goes thru her mind while she’s doing this!! I wish I knew sometimes. It does make us laugh, tho, and laughter is good for the heart. It’s one of the many reasons we love our little Behr Behr.

Behr Behr’s mom.  🙂

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.

Whoa there, Mr. Rattlesnake!

Yesterday Mom told me it was time to go for a ride. Yippee! I love rides in the car! After a few minutes, we met up with Dusty and his Mom. Oh, this is going to be good! Dusty and I are going to have a play date! Woohoo!!

Off we went for a long ride. When we got out, I was super excited because we were at a pretty little park. I could just picture the fun Dusty and I were going to have with our moms exploring new trails together. Within a few minutes, tho, I began to realize something funny was going on here. Dusty went in this fenced area with his mom…but we didn’t go with him. Hey, what’s going on here? Aren’t we going for a hike, Mom?

Then I noticed Dusty was doing some kind of weird dance or something. Hmmm. I’ve never seen him so animated while going for a walkie. Oh well. I thought maybe he was just feeling frisky or something. I get that way all the time.

After a while, a nice man came and took me on my leash while Mom stayed a little distance away and watched. I thought this was a little odd, but the man was nice and I love walks, so I went.

All of a sudden I saw this weird thing that I’ve never seen before. It was long like a rope, but curled up and it had eyes that were staring at me. Wow, this rope’s alive, Mom!! I thought she should come check it out with me, but she didn’t. Oh well, I thought I’d just go check Mr. Live Rope out myself. I noticed he smelled really interesting, too. As I got closer to check him out, I felt a funny little * zing* in my collar. It didn’t hurt, but it sure surprised me!! I backed up and thought about it. Hmm. Must have been a weird coincidence. Ok, back to Mr. Live Rope… *zing* again. Now I started to think that Live Rope had something to do with all of this. He was still staring at me, his head following me around with a mean look on his face. I decided that maybe I shouldn’t sniff him after all.

So, this nice man kept walking along with me. Whew! Got away from Mr. Live…..uh oh. What was this? There are TWO more of them up ahead, and they are moving on the ground and making a funny sound.

I inched closer, when *zing*, there we go again. I don’t think I like these rope guys. Every time I thought about checking them out and started to move to investigate, I got the weird *zing* thing again. I didn’t dance like Dusty did. I’m not sure why he was dancing, but I learned he can jump really high!

Back to our walk. This kind of stuff went on for several times, but don’t worry, I learn pretty fast. No more Mr. Live Rope for me! Then the guy with my leash just let go of the leash and let me run. Yippeee!! My mom called me, so I was going to run over to her and tell her all about Mr. Rope when I noticed that there were more of these stupid Rope guys around here. I decided to run to her, but go waaaaaaaay around the Rope guys, just in case. Mom was super excited to see me and we jumped and played and celebrated. I’m not sure what we were celebrating, but whatever it was, Mom seemed happy that I had made a good choice of some kind. Then we left the fenced in area and went to be with Dusty and his mom. Boy, that was a weird way to play, and not even with Dusty. Dusty just wanted to get in his truck and go home I think.

Then we got to go to another park and Dusty and I went for a REAL walk, together, with no mean-eyed rattlely old Rope guys around. That was more like it!!! Whew, I’m glad it ended on a more fun note like that. I don’t think Dusty was in the mood to play with me after he met Mr. Live Rope. We’ll just have to get together again soon and run around for fun. Somewhere where we’re alone, maybe. Without any mean-eyed ropes, that is.

While we were driving home, Mom explained what all of that was about. She (and Dusty’s mom) were having us trained by a Mr. Patrick Callaghan to learn all about rattlesnakes. (oh, that’s why they made that funny noise..) We learned to recognize them by smell, sight, and sound, and to avoid them, AND alert our owners to the danger nearby!! She said that she has had another dog trained this way before me, and also told me about a cat that she had who was bitten by a rattlesnake. (he survived with veterinary care) Since I like to go for hikes with Dusty, she was protecting me from learning the hard way about the rattlesnakes. Now I understand.! Thank you, mom! Thank you, Dusty, for being a good sport and going to rattlesnake class with me.

Here Dusty is telling me he didn’t think my comment about his dancing was very funny.

Now, can we go for a hike please?

♥ Behr Behr, professional snake alarm dane

Comment from the mommers: Thank you, Patrick Callaghan for such an incredible organization to help our dogs stay safe. You are spoken of very highly by every professional dog trainer I know.

Just so you know, no snakes or dogs were harmed in the training. Surprised, yes, hurt, no 🙂 Yes, these were live, uncaged rattlesnakes. They had their venom “milked” that morning (not that that was so reassuring) and their mouths taped shut, long enough for 70 dogs to be trained. Yes, I said taped. I was wondering whose job it was to tape all of the snakes’ mouths shut that day. Can you imagine?

Hi, my name’s Frank.

Hi Frank, I’m Bob. So, what do you do for a living, Frank?

Oh, I put tape on rattlesnakes’ mouths when people come for snake training. Then I take the tape off later, taking care to not hurt those cute little snake lips any.

Then I put them back in their little snake houses and feed them din din, ‘cause they’ve been lookin’ at food all day, working up quite an appetite and all, ya know?

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

My New Friend, Dusty

Mom and Dad said I was finally done with my shots and feeling better from the giardia, so I could finally meet some new friends. Yip Yip Yippeeeee!  🙂

Late today (and in the silly rain) I got to meet my new friend, Dusty.

(Dusty’s mom is trying to help us meet in this photo, but you can’t really see her. Oooops) Dusty’s a handsome boy, isn’t he?

 

We kind of got off to a rough start, tho. At first, our parents kept us on leashes as we met (we were not in an enclosed yard then). Then Dusty and I decided to play and jump around with each other, and my leash got wrapped around my tummy real quick. Next time I jumped, I yelped ‘cause I thought Dusty had attacked me, which scared poor innocent Dusty!

Then I was afraid of him, and he was wondering if I was gonna keep yelping like that. It took our parents a while to help me feel comfortable again, but I finally did.

I’m glad our parents made me work my way thru that silly fear, ‘cause now Dusty and I can take hikes together and stuff. That’s gonna be fun!

Attacked by my leash!!! Ha Ha. Who’s ever heard of being attacked by a silly leash? Ok, so I feel pretty silly now. Don’t let me hear you laughing, either. I’ve got a pretty sensitive little puppy heart, you know?

(mom’s camera is doing some kind of weird purple tint thing here. We aren’t really purple!) 🙂

♥ Behr Behr, with a new leash on life now. 🙂

We Camped in our House Last Night

The silly electric company turned off all the electricity to our neighborhood last night, so I couldn’t even get on the computer to write anything. It was totally dark for blocks around here. No phones, no internet, no lights, no nothing. BORING.

We had candles in the house, tho, and we just pretended that we were camping, whatever that is. I don’t even know what “camping” means yet, but that’s what mom said we were doing. At least I still had my food, so that was good. And I had a blankie to stay warm with, since it was in the 30’s outside. 🙂

Guess what? Since I’m totally black, when it’s that dark in the house no one can see me! I was in total stealth mode, he he he. Too bad they could hear me, or I would have gotten up in the middle of the night and gotten some more food. Darn.

♥ The stealth Behr hides again …

The puppy princess rides again

I’m discovering more and more perks in my new home as the weeks go by. One of the really fun ones is that my mom and dad drive me around places in my own car. When they say the words, “Let’s go!”, I’m out the door in a big hurry, practically dragging them to our car. I didn’t know that it’s their job to drive me to fun places, and frankly having my own chauffeur and car is great!!!

The car is funny. I get my own seat where I sit all by myself. I love looking out of the window and watching things fly by. If dogs could laugh, I think I would! For some reason, our car rolls smoothly down the road, while other cars fly by real fast. Sometimes people even fly by. Probably the funniest one is when trees fly by in the air! Ha! That’s great! When it’s dark outside, there are lights flying by in the dark sky. I’m not sure what they are, but they are cool. It keeps me pretty amused, so that I just sit there and stare out of the window in amazement. That’s why I like going in the car. Well, also because we go fun places.

Except today.

Today they tricked me. We got in the fun car like we always do, but instead of going somewhere fun, we went back to the dog hospital. I was worried that they might leave me there again. It turns out that it was just so they could poke those sharp things in me that sting (which I hate!). I can not for the life of me figure out why vets like to do that, but they do. Anyhow, I didn’t have to stay. I just hope they don’t try to trick me like that again. I mean, if it’s my car and they are going to drive me around in it, they should drive me places that are fun, right?

I’m hoping they will see my blog and get the hint.

Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, notice how much I was looking forward to our drive today. Can you see the look on happy anticipation on my face? Now, is that the look I had when we got home? Nooooo, I don’t think so, and you know it. Let’s not go to that vet place again, ok? No more tricks! I was not laughing today. Your job is to drive me to places puppies like, remember?

I do still love you, tho, especially because you give me yummy food and lots of toys. Especially the food.  Definitely like the food around here.Yeah, so maybe you aren’t so bad after all.  Ok, can I have some  more of that food now?

♥ Behr Behr

To Friends and Family of our Baby Behr

Our sweet little Behr Behr has been unable to write today because she has been in the hospital. I (mom) worked all night in the E.R. and came home to find her lying in her little bed looking quite sad. She normally jumps up to greet me and play, but not this time. She vomited and refused water to drink (she normally drinks volumes of water!).

We rushed to to the animal hospital who ran tests on her all day. Turns out that somehow she has found a little piece of fabric (source unknown) to eat, which has caused a partial blockage. Because it is not a complete blockage, we are giving it a little bit more time to see if it passes or if she will need surgery 😦

Friday will be the deciding day. We certainly do not want her to have to have abdominal surgery at such a tender little age. She will turn 12 weeks on Friday (Jan. 18^th).

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully she will be back up and writing about her exploits soon!!

Thank you,

Behr’s mom and dad