Summer is Here!

Here I am in my lush Front Yard with a Tennis Ball. I am just taking a quick break from retrieving, my all-time favorite game.

Daddy has me trained so well that I won't leave the yard or run into the street no matter what. Even if there was a cat limping with a broken leg within sight, I wouldn't chase it if it meant leaving the yard. (Daddy snickers at people who spend thousands on invisible fences).

This rule has one exception. When Daddy throws a tennis ball out of the yard and tells me to "Go get it!", I am allowed to traverse our boundaries in order to retrieve. What fun!

The Trash Can

Meet my weakness. The trash can. I'm actually a very, very good girl...however there are about three or four temptations in my life that I struggle with on a daily basis. One of which happens to be the trash can.

I have thought long and hard about this affliction. I'm smart enough that I've made a connection that correlates between my getting into the trash and getting spanked. In fact, when Daddy is at work and I have spread the trash out over the kitchen floor, I realize that later I will be greeted with a swift hand to my backside. I still can't help it.

The trash can bring all sorts of joys and wonders to a Lab. The obvious attraction is food. (notice my top things in life). Daddy can throw away all sorts of goodies like bread, sausage, and even bar-b-cue chips! (Why do humans throw food away?). Then of course there are make-shift toys to be found in the trash. Bottle tops...toilet paper rolls....anything fuzzy that resembles a rodent.

The truth is, Daddy can't spank me hard enough for it to hurt. More than anything it just hurts my feelings....you see, just about my primary concern in life is pleasing my Dad. It's just when he's gone to work and I get bored that the trash can starts calling my name.

At the end of the day though, there's no harm and no foul. I don't drag coffee grounds across the carpet or anything - it's usually harmless and Daddy can clean up the mess in a jiff. Before I know it we're playing outside or cuddling.

So here I am...licking my chops over this tasty bone I'm about to destroy. I finish my bones in one sitting. The one you see here will take me about 30 minutes.

Saturday Morning

My name is Arie. I'm a Black Lab. I live in Kentucky, although my ancestry points to Newfoundland....way up North.
My owner, Daddy, often leaves the TV on for me when he can't take me with him on an errand. It's from the TV that I heard about blogging so I thought I'd give it a shot. I haven't seen many k9 blogs so maybe I'll end up on CNN or MSNBC.

So a little about me. I weigh about 65 pounds and I'm gorgeous. Daddy tells me I have the healthiest coat in 5 States and that my face has an "angular beauty" he's never seen in a Lab. I'm also one of those special Labs with a small patch of white hair on my chest. Sometimes people question if I'm pure bred because of this. The fact is, pure bred Labs can have this white patch and still be recognized as, well, pure. Daddy says it makes me special.

My favorite things in life:

• Eating.
• Sleeping.
• Getting a rub down.
• Pooping.
• Hunting birds, rabbits, and groundhogs.
• Laying next to the fireplace with Daddy.

You'll notice I don't like hunting cats. I think cats are o.k. in my book. I chased one down when I was a year old; when I caught up to it I just tackled it. I didn't want to kill it or hurt it...just scare the shit out of it I guess. Poor little thing never got over that. To this day she won't leave her yard.