New toys!

Mom has been pretty awesome lately, FYI. 

1)  We have an extra puppy in our home right now.  His name is Donner.  He's not staying with us for permanent, but just until he gets adopted. 

2)  We've been going on walks again.  I was on an exercise diet for 1.5 months, but Mom figured some light walking wasn't going to kill me.  Yes, I'm still limping sometimes, but it comes and goes.  Mom is still curious as to why I'm limping and we were supposed to get a referral from our vet to go see a specialist, but because of #3, we haven't been able to yet.

3)  We moved to a place with CARPET andddd SO MUCH SPACE!!!!  I don't have to back up everywhere anymore.  I can actually turn around!  I'm still afraid of the slippery floors in the dining room, but its so much better than before cause she got me some special rugs!!

4)  Mom made a new toy investment!  I had killed most of my squeakers in my squeaky toys, because they are my favorite.  I saw how many she bought last night, but she only gave us ONE last night!  (In her defense, she did also buy 2 new toys a few nights prior, and I snuck in the bags and pulled the toys out before she was even done unloading the bags!  She had to take them from me to cut the tags off..)

5)  She gives me lubbins whenever I ask her to and she is patient with me over the slippery floors and she turns Donner out of the way when I can't get past him to get to my food bowl and she gives me treats and she takes me to meet and greets and she endures my bad breaths and she says she loves me more than any other doggy that comes to my house, forever.


How about some videos?

Characters:
So there's me, Phil, the big, white, Greyhound.
There's Donner, the big, brindle, Greyhound (who is looking for his forever home).
There's Noodles, the "husky", long, Dachshund. (Aunt Courkie's dog)
And there's Judge, the teeny, tiny, smallest dog in the house, mini-Dachshund.  (Aunt Courkie's dog)

Here's a video of mostly just me with my new chicken.  We had to hide it after this video because Noodles is a little vicious with toys and Mom didn't want this one to have such a quick life.

Weekend Adventures

This weekend wasn't super special but there were lots of fun times to be had!

First off, we went over to Mike and Crystal's for game night on Friday where I got to hang out with April and Gami and all the big humans.

Then, we came home after Mike gave me ice creams, he thinks this makes me love him more than Mom... he could be right.  Mom went to bed late and woke me up a little after 3am!  She's crazy.  Mom got ready for something and took me outside for business and fed me 1/2 my breakfast.  Crazy and weird.  Then Mom left!  She said she was going to pick up new retired greyhounds.  I think there were some kinks in her plans though, cause Hotel de Phil (the back of Mom's car where I ride) smelled more like Mom than strange dogs.  Word on the street was that the doggies were late and Mom had to leave before the doggies arrived.  :(  The doggies still got to come to GHC and try to find their forever families though!

When Mom came home, it was still morning, so she took me out for a short walk and to go business and fed me the other half of my breakfast.  We hung out for a little while and then Mom surprised me with my delicious noms bone...  Then, after I got tired of chewing, I took a nap while Mom talked to Dad and took her nap.  Then, she left again!  This time she was in her work clothes though.  She came home to feed me lunch around normal dinner time and we went to the dog park for business time and I impressed her by fetching a tennis ball three times!  She's easily impressed, what can I say, I trained her well...  Mom went back to work and she got home late.





Then on Sunday morning Mom left in the morning and came back.  We hung out for a little bit and I did more chewing on my delicious bone and then we took naps.  Then we went on a ride (my new favorite thing, btw) with Crystal and Mike and Gami!  We went to St. Mary's River State Park for a hike/walk.  This was where the most interesting part of my weekend took place... and Mom's loudest moment of the weekend.....

We came up a hill and there were 2 women and 1 man with a more small than medium sized furry black dog (FBD).  Gami went up to FBD and they sniffed and Gami started barking at FBD.  FBD growled at Gami then I walked over to FBD and sniffed.  FBD then stood up on its back legs and growled at me.  Before Mom could even try to pull me away, I decided that FBD was going to be a tasty treat.  I grabbed FBD by the neck and wouldn't let go.  Mom is yelling and Gami backed away like she didn't know who I was and the strange man is trying to pry FBD from my mouth while the other 2 women are holding FBD.  While the man is trying to get the FBD from my mouth, Mom smelled something and realized that the FBD pooped, some of which landed on the strange man's foot.  Finally, the strange man got the FBD from my mouth and handed it to one of the women.

While Mom is trying to hold me back, I wiggled lose and out of my collar and went back over to the strangers trying to find the FBD.  The strange man grabbed me and Mom put my collar back on me.  Mom and I backed away and one of the women said, "She blinked finally.  I think she's still in shock."  The other woman had been feeling around the FBD's neck for any punctures/blood but she didn't find any.  The man explained, "This happened before with a lab when she was a puppy."  Mom is continually asking if the FBD is ok while holding my collar and trying to cover my eyes.  Mom gave the people her phone number so they could call if they found any kind of wounds later.

Thundar thighs!!!!!!

Mom pretending to sit on me like I'm her personal bench...

Pictures together!

Dis is fun!

Is dere more tasty fuzzies for me?  I kid, I kid... kinda.

Hai Mom!!!

After the scuffle, we continued on our walk.  I went on like nothing had happened.  Mom and Mike and Crystal kept talking about it for the rest of the walk.  They were all very surprised that I had decided that FBD was for eating.  Dad told Mom, "Next time, you'll remember his muzzle."  Mom told him, "I didn't even think of it because usually he's got no issues.  We've walked by pure Maltese dogs before and he doesn't even care.  We can even walk by squirrels without him turning his head even.  Today was completely out of the blue, but apparently Phil is a huge fan of fuzzies."  Showed you, Mom!

The lady called this evening during dinner and informed Mom that FBD was fine.  She also asked if I was caught up on all my shots and Mom was quickly able to tell her yes.

Mom says that our ride to NC in a week and a half is going to be a little bit cramped for me, but on the way back to MD with Dad in the car, it's going to be even more cramped.  Today in the car, Mom had one of the back seats up for Mike to sit in, which kinda threw me off my game since there was less space for me, but on the way home, when I finally got tired of standing, I laid down in the very back and was fine, which made Mom feel better about crowding Hotel de Phil.

Whew, being retired is hard!

Blog responsiblities

Man, it was nice havin' that young whipper snapper around to write blogs.  I could relax and not have to worry about it.  But now Joey has went to his forever home, and I should probably step back up to the plate and let you guys know that I'm still alive.

What have I done for September.. lets see!

I went and stayed with Miz Penney and Mr Bruce and my cousin Norman and his sister, Zoe while Mom and Grammy and Grampy went to DC for Mom's Color Run.  She came back ALL messy.  I didn't want to leave cause I really liked it with Norman's family!

Zoe took my bed, so I took her bed!

Beauty sleeps.

Miz Penney took me and Norman to a meet and greet in Leonardtown.  

AJ and I made the paper!!!  We're GEGR stars!!!

The weather has started getting cooler so Mom was sitting on the porch and she wouldn't let me outside with her.
This is my extreme sad face.

Our downstairs neighbor gave Mom a baby gate and then she let me outside with her!
I'm always interested in what the neighbors are doing.
I've sneaked into their house 2 times now.  Luckily, they are nice and don't mind too much.
I'm sure its because I'm such a good boy!

One day, Mom took me to Crystal and Michael's apartment.  I really liked their house too.
I sniffed every place in the apt.  Then, they laid down a blanket for me.
Mom was being silly when she laid it over me, but I didn't mind.
They called it my bear skin.

We've been able to sit outside so much now that it's not really hot outside!  I love it!
I also love staring into the neighbor's windows like a creeper.

Miz Gami came over for a while.  She was trying to nibble on one of my bones.
The bone was as big as she is!  Silly Gami!

This is how you know your Mom loves you.  She gets all wet, in a storm, to make sure that you get to go outside for a walk and go business.  I really do have the best Mom.

I may or may not have eaten my 2nd loaf of bread.
I only eat FRESH bread, by the way.  None of that old stale crap that has been sitting on the counter for a week.
No.  Fresh, straight from the store the night before bread.
Mom obviously loves me because she also fed me dinner despite this.

But the biggest thing that's happened is that my secret santa finally came through!  Mom signed us up for Reddit Gift's Pet Exchange.  She was worried for a bit that our secret santa had forgotten about us, but they sent Mom a message saying they had been in Ireland on vacation, but they were shipping ASAP.

They made up for being late in 2 ways:
1.  They were awesome and I GOT TO GO TO IRELAND WITH THEM!!!!
2.  Sending me and Mom really awesome presents!!

The little Reddit man!  Presents had arrived!

Mom's present: my new driving cap!!!

Mom's other present: my new bowtie!!!

All the presents from Secret Santa!!

Also, my new collars from Miz Cindy arrived today too!
I think Mom probably should have waited until next month on my birthday for all these presents!!!Nevermind, I'll be accepting presents next October 11th for my birthday!! :)

Modeling my new collars!
Sooo handsome

Seriously.  Retired life is the best!

PS.  I also got a new tag collar at the Scottish Festival in VA to match my plaid martingale collar, but apparently Mom didn't take picture of it.  Gosh, Mom.

How you should be doing it...

I'm going to show you how retirement should look:

If you don't look like this, then you're not doing it right.  Unless you're doing this on a cushy couch then you're doing it extremely right, but Mommy and Daddy don't let me up there.  Something about Dad doesn't like being covered by dog hair??  Pffth.  Silly Dad doesn't realize that dog hair is an asset to his clothes.  You don't need accessories if you have enough dog hair!  Duhh!

Mommy and I went on a jog this morning.  I loooove being outside.  I especially love when the squirrels are out.  I like to try to chase them up my pee targets.  I know all their hiding spots.  I look out for them, which usually means I run into Mom while we're walking/jogging because I'm not paying attention to going straight. I mean, she knows that when I lean into her it means that I love her.. she should realize that's exactly what I'm doing!

This morning I almost had one.  Mom thought I was going to pee in some grass, but instead, there was a squirrel that needed chasing up a target.  I started to run at him... but I forgot I was on the leash!!  By this point, we were only walking because Mom had sprayed me down with the water hose and we were headed back home.  I ended up skidding a half circle around Mom and landed on my right thunder thigh.  I wasn't deterred, I stood right up and tried to get that squirrel again.  By this point, Mom realized I wasn't peeing, so she snapped her fingers at me and yelled, "PHIL!" and made me walk on.

I got it together, but I was on the best lookout the last 5 minutes of our walk.  Meaning... I walked all over Mom's feet and walked leaned into her and made her shorts all wet since I was wet.  I WIN!  I WIN!

In other news, Mom probably just figured out how I got that scar on my right thigh....  There was one race that I got tripped and I spun out.  I immediately got back up and finished the race (not in last!), but she thinks that where my fur-less scar is from.  I didn't get any scratches this morning.  Mom was glad.  She hates it when I look like she doesn't take care of me, because we know that's just not true.. but some people don't like to believe that.

Although.. she doesn't let me on the furniture... so... you know..  .... :)
I <3 my mommy!

I had an accident...

Mom searched high and low for a good place for me to stay while she is away in Australia.  She thought she found someone at work, and that turned out not so good, so at the last minute, she was scrambling again to find someone to watch me while she was away on her trip.  Miz Lesley offered and I was excited.  I've met her before and Jozef is really nice.

Mom dropped me off with Miz Lesley on Monday morning.  I got acquainted with her hounds and I thoroughly explored her backyard, making sure to take meticulous care to mark every single fence post.  Finally, I was called back inside and Mom had to show me the steps because Jozef and Hush are much smarter than me and have figured out how to jump up onto things.  Mom and Lesley set everything up and Mom kept hugging me and promising she'd be back soon.  She'd been saying these things all week, but I thought she was being silly.

Mom giving me "one last" hug with Jozef in the background wondering about the all the commotion Mom was causing.

Then, MOM LEFT ME!  She told me that I wasn't going with her this time and to stay and she walked through the door and she didn't come back.

Miz Lesley sent Mom photos of me hanging out at her house, she said that Mom was going to Australia, but she was coming back for me.  Miz Lesley has been known to keep puppies that come to her house, but Mom promised me she'd be back for me.

Mom isn't sure of all the details, but while she was trying to get to Australia, I had an accident.  You see, Mom picked me, Phil, because I was a "big, cat friendly" Greyhound.  She also picked me because I leaned on Dad.  Dad was the easiest to win over, Mom was the one that kept wanting to look at other hounds.  Silly, Mom.  She wasn't aware that I had picked them yet.

But back to my accident.  Miz Lesley, Jozef, Hush, and I were out for our evening stroll and Miz Lesley's Kitty Kitty wandered up to us.  Well, Kitty Kitty looked delicious to me, and I love treats, so I decided that Kitty Kitty was going to be my snack.  Miz Lesley was NOT HAPPY.  She fought very hard to get Kitty Kitty from me, I might have even hurt her a little.  Miz Lesley said I definitely hurt Kitty Kitty, who I never saw again.

Turns out, I'm not so cat-friendly.  Small dog friendly, yes, but not so much on the cats.  I had Mom fooled all this time.  We have a Kitty Kitty that is a stray that lives at our apartment complex (because the neighbors feed it).  I've seen her several times and I've never, ever tried to go after her.  She was bigger than a squirrel, so I wasn't interested.  I really love squirrels.  I also really love bunnies.

Mom says I have to apologize to Miz Lesley, who continued to care for me, even though I tried to eat her Kitty Kitty.  Miz Lesley and Mom did find another place for me to stay while Mom is gone, with Miz Monica, who I've stayed with before.

So, Miz Lesley, I'm really, really sorry about Kitty Kitty.  Thank you for continuing to love me despite my bad behavior.  I know Mom really appreciates it, since she isn't here.  I'm sure she's not very pleased with me, she doesn't like it when I act bad.  Sometimes she even yells.  She probably would have yelled this time.  Luckily, she's still away, so maybe she won't be so angry when she gets back from her trip.  Maybe.  We'll see.