Friday, August 22, 2008

Hoover's Update

Hello Everyone,

It's me, Hoover. I've been with my new family for almost a week now, and I wanted to give you all an update on how things are going. Things have changed since I stayed with the Jordans, and I miss them, but it's pretty nice here.

On Saturday, my new Mom & Dad bought me new bed and it's SO fluffy and comfortable. That's where I sleep at night, right next to good old Bruno. On Saturday night Mom went to a wine tasting and she came back with a monkey she called Jethro. Jethro was a present to me from my foster Grandma Graves. Thank you, Grandma! I love Jethro so much that I carry him around, I sleep with him, and I toss him up in the air and catch him in my mouth. I also like tennis balls, rope bones, and pig ears, but I like my baby Jethro best. Here's a picture for you to enjoy. I'm the handsome one!



I haven't done any of the "training" that Bruno mentioned in his letter, but I guess that's something I'll get to do later.

Overall, I like this place. The people are pretty nice and so is Bruno. Well, I'm going to go find Jethro now, and I'll write more later.

Love,

Hoover

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Bruno's Tips

Hey Hoover,

It’s me, Bruno. Hurry up and get here, will ya? I’m losing my mind over here. When I first came here, I had the coolest buddy, and we used to lay around together, get crazy when people came home, we went outside together – we did everything together. Well, now I’m alone here, and frankly, it’s not working for me. That’s where you come in. We’re going to have a lot of fun together once we get used to each other.

Before you get here, though, I have a few pointers for you.


The lady in the picture here is our Mom. See how she’s hugging me in the picture? You can’t get out of it, so get used to it. But what you can’t tell in the picture is that I’m on the couch, so there are tradeoffs for everything. A couple of other things about Mom: she keeps pig ears under the sink, AND she’ll give you a liver treat when you come inside if you do your “business”.

The other people here are pretty nice, too. When Dad comes home he says, “Hello, Bruno…you’re a really good boy, Bruno. Did you have a good day, Bruno?” He talks really loud when he’s excited like this. I guess he really likes coming home. The other guys let me chase them outside sometimes, and they like to hear me roo, so you should roo sometimes.

Sometimes there might be mix up and we might get breakfast twice. That’s happened to me a couple of times since I’ve been here. If it happens too many times, though, your ribs won’t show and then the lady will put you on a “diet”. Avoid getting on a diet if you can, because it’s a real drag.

Sometimes you’ll play a game called, “Training”. This game involves a clicker, a bag of treats, and a leash. The people want you to do certain things, and when you finally figure out what they want and you do it, they click the clicker and give you a treat and tell you you’re a good boy. Oh, and if they say, “Hoover, Front!”, you should come back to them. They will give you a lot of treats for that.

I don’t know what countersurfing is, but don’t do it. The dog school teacher lady taught all the humans how to stop countersurfing. If this is something you like to do, get it out of your system before you get here because the trick sounds scary.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now. Just get here as soon as you can. I think I heard Mom say something about buying some stuffies and a Kong for you. I don’t like stuffies but you haven’t lived until you’ve had a Kong full of frozen vegetable beef soup outside on a hot day. It is SO refreshing!

See ya soon, buddy!

Bruno

You've Already Got a Nickname!

Hi Hoover,

Remember me? I'm the lady who came to see you last week, the one you charmed with your wagging tail and sneaky kisses. Well, I know you've really been enjoying yourself with the Jordan humans and hounds, and I hope you'll like it at our house, too. We can't wait to welcome you home on Saturday, and you've already got a nickname at our house: Groovy Hoovy.

I can't wait to see you, big boy!

Love,

Your Forever Mom

Monday, August 11, 2008

Catfish and Cows and Frogs - Oh, My!

Yesterday I took Hyatt and Shelly the beagle on a fun walk to the catfish pond. (Wish I could have taken Cosmo and Mr. Spock as well, but two hounds was enough - sorry, Caesar!) Impressively, Hyatt never tried to chase any cows on the way to and from the pond. He walks very well on the leash.

We stopped at the edge of the pond. I wanted to see Hyatt's reaction to the water. He took a few steps toward it but wasn't too interested. Maybe he would have been if I had gone right up to the water myself. It was kind of mucky from the cows. We saw tons of tiny frogs. I'm not sure what kind they were, but I'm sure they contribute to the frog chorus we often hear. Hyatt liked watching them hop around.