Mom and Dad threw me a party!

Just a small one mind you...just us. But it was still nice.

Some pics from the big day:


Here I am rifling through the gift bag to get my presents.



Where could it be?



Here dad--help me open this....



YAY! A Kong toy and some Kong Peanut Butter spread....how'd you know?



I played with it right away. I also got a rubber ball but I didn't like that much.



And lastly some cheesecake which dad ate for me while I ate some snausage treats! I made a wish and then licked dad across the lips--so I guess that wish came true!



Dad tells me that this is the best gift of all...some smooches from Mommy. I think he may be right--or it at least makes me feel all warm inside.

I know it makes mom and dad feel good to have me around but I'd like to let them know that I'm a lucky dog! They rescued me from the North Shore Animal League--which was nice enough but they couldn't keep me forever and not a lot of people wanted to adopt me because I have luxation in my back knees and I don't like other dogs. But Mom and Dad knew that I was specially made for them!

This is the best birthday EVER!

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my 2nd birthday! I'm so happy to be celebrating with mom and dad. They bought me a new "Kong Toy" and some doggie peanut butter spread for it (YUM!). Here's Dad giving me a birthday kiss.

Aunt Vera sent me a cool card that you can see here

Thanks Aunt Vera! That's my first birthday card ever!

My cousin Ronnie also has a birthday today---so Yappy Birthday to her too! Ruff!

I thought it said "Googling Dog"

Dad gave me this new shirt with the cover of his book on it. I thought it said "Googling Dog" at first and got all excited to wear it. But in actuality it says Googling God. Now all the other dogs think I'm a religious fanatic.

I'm proud of dad nonetheless and hope you'll order the book here. I read it and it's awesome!

Dad's a Cubs fan...what's he thinkin?

Dad loves the Chicago Cubs--it makes me feel sad--but I admit this made me laugh!

A choo-choo?

A crazy drunk woman literally sat with me on the city sidewalks because I was cute, dragged me into a bar to meet her boyfriend and then proceeded to call me a "choo-choo".

For the record---I am not a train.

Nice line by Fr Dave and Dad about me on their recent podcast with Fr Roderick from the Daily breakfast podcast.

You Called My Dog What?

We ran the gamut on our late night walk last night. We heard the follwing comments:

"Give that dog a boot." - knucklehead Irishman outside of a local establishment.

"My man that is an awesome dog!" Young guy heading into a local establishment.

"He's adorable!" Young woman sitting on park bench.

But the kicker was....

"Look honey, a rat on a rope!"

Now my dad is pretty even keeled most of the time (yeah right!) but tonight he wasn't in the best of moods. So he looked the guy dead in the face and said "Dude, that's not nice. How'd you like it if I called you a penis in sneakers."

The chick with him and three other women cracked up.

The guy came near dad and he said, "I'd watch my step if I were you. Haze is a high jumper and if I give him the signal he will grab your neck with his teeth and wrestle you to the ground--and then this "rat on the rope will embarass the hell out of you."

"You're bluffing."

Dad said, "Yeah but it's a powerful bluff!" a line from one of his favorite movies The Prince of Tides.

Mr. Smart aleck went inside and left us alone after that.

I'm such a menacing dog--all 8 pounds of me.

Haze

Crate = Awesome

I slept without barking until 5:45AM. Huge. Dad got a good night's sleep and was much happier today. The crate is cozy and I go in there several times a day just to chill. Aaaaaaahhhhh, a place of my own in the house. My own personal retreat.

Congratulations goes to Tatiara Santana and Joe Werner who celebrated their engagement with mom and dad and a bunch of friends today. The fun couple went to Nicaragua with mom and dad on a mission trip and have been very helpful in mom and dad's possible adoption--despite the fact that Nicaragua didn't work out. Joe is a great Mr. Fix It type of guy who taught dad not to electricute themselves.

Calmly sleeping in the new crate

Dad got me a pet carrier today because he thought I might actually sleep better in there and so far he is right. I don't always go into the crate right away but when dad throws a treat in there--I can't help myself. It's nice and snuggly in here and dad put my doggie bed in here too along with his sweaty t-shirt and it all keeps me very calm--although it's nearly 2AM eastern right now and I have a long way to go to sleep through the night.

Dad got a new water squirter so I'm back on track now with the barking beginning to cease more and more on our walks.

I was just reminded that next week is dad's friend Fr. Brett Hoover's 40th birthday. I like Uncle Brett a lot and licked his head when he was here. He really doesn't like small dogs but somehow I charmed him into thinking that I'm an OK pup!

Thanks also for the snausages, Dad!

Pics of the Blessing of the Animals

About 70 dogs joined me along with two igunanas and a parakeet at the Blessing of the Animals at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle. Dad even got to talk about it on Sirius Satellite Radio's Catholic Show.

Our first picture is Fr. Jamie Baca, CSP giving me my first blessing. We like Fr. Jaime who was just assigned here. He's always so warm and inviting.

Here are some of my new friends who also got blessed.

I didn't catch the parakeet's name but he was cool!



Some random doggies who tried to drink out of Fr Jaime's holy water bucket.



And here is me and dad by the baptismal font.








The ceremony was cool with some singing and then a generic blessing on all of us animals and our owners. I went a little crazy upon entering and dad dropped the water sprayer in the cab (YAY!) so he couldn't squirt me. But mom saved the day by making a makeshift one out of a milk bottle and a fantastick squirter (cleaned out of course). I calmed down and sat near other dogs for awhile without barking. Mom was very impressed. Dad was happy because he was really mad that the water squirter fell out of his back pocket in the cab.

Read more from dad's article yesterday and then read a review of dad's book from Erin Ryan at the National Catholic Reporter.

I slept until 4:30AM without any trouble last night and gave mom and dad some relief. Dad took his old t-shirt and stuck it in my bed and that helped me to relax breathing in his scent. (Ode to gym sweat). I did poop and pee in the bedroom though after that--so dad wasn't that happy with me this morning. But what do you want? I ate some treats before bed and I had to go. I went on the wee-wee pad and newspaper--isn't that where I'm supposed to go?
Humans! They just send so many mixed signals. Mom and Dad are considering getting me a crate--I hope that means that I get to sleep in their bedroom.

Blessing of the Animals

Today is the feast day of that cool dude St. Francis...and low and behold, I'm a star. The website that my dad founded, BustedHalo.com features me today in an article written by my dear old dad. Read it here

If you'd like to have your dog, cat or rattlesnake blessed today, head to St. Paul the Apostle Church tonight at 7PM where Fr. Gil Martinez will bless any animals (even stuffed animals--he blessed dad's monkey last year) you bring by. I'll be there--hopefully not barking at other dogs.

Late Night Walk - 10/3

About a month ago, a young attractive woman stopped dad and I in front of a local Woodside establishment. She wanted to know what kind of dog I was (actually she thought I was a cat on a leash--let's just say she had been imbibing). She then began to talk about moving here from California and dad's Cubs jacket. She asked to hold me and dad was skittish (with the imbibing and all)but he let her hold me but had to hand me to her. She left a lipstick stain (and an impression of stale cigarette breath) on me before we left. (Dad had a hard time explaining that one to mom who immediately made him wash my face). After dad mentioned that "his wife and I live down the street," she suddenly had to leave.

So who do we run into last night? The same barfly! Natch, she didn't remember the previous month's conversation and she was imbibing a bit less this time. But she was even more nuts than last time.

"Well, I used to live in California and then I moved to this neighborhood but now I live in the Spanish neighborhood...with all those damn Mexicans!"

My ears perked up immediately--dad noticed.

"I mean this is a nice neighborhood and the 61st street subway is fine. But on 69th street...it's all dirty Mexicans, who smell and I have to be cramped next to them on the subway."

Dad frowned disapprovingly at the statement.

"I don't mean to be an a***ole. Sorry," she added.

Dad looked at her squarely in her glassy-eyed face and said,

"Did you not notice he's a chihuahua?! Ergo, that makes him Mexican."

Oops. Look at my dad! Standing up for the oppressed--even us canine members. Never let it be said that dad is a racist.

Anyway, we're just back from our morning walk where two lovely children were taken by my cuteness and I licked their hands. I also was able to sit in front of two houses that had dogs barking at me by their porch door without much incident.

However, my barking at night persists. I woke mom up at 1:30, dad at 2:30 and then barked for a solid hour at 5AM. Heads are gonna roll soon, I fear.

My New Labrador Friend

Dad made me stop near a neighbor's house who have a giant but friendly and peaceful black lab. I usually bark my brains out at him when I see him on our walks but as my ears went up and alerted dad that I was about to do so---SPLOOSH!---I got splashed with a huge stream of water.

That cooled me down. Dad asked me to sit in front of the house and while I was nervous I did so. He then moved me closer and I got scared and barked but after another dousing I learned that this wasn't really a good idea.

Eventually, I got to sit in front of the fence very close to my new pal. I felt secure with dad there letting me know nothing will go wrong.

I guess this training is going well. Dad seems happy.

Now if I could just stop barking in my room at night!

The Brits are Coming

So on my walk with dad we met an older British woman who was 90 if she was a day. She called me an "incredible specimen" and asked if dad shows me.

I had no idea what she meant--show me where? But then I realized she meant that pretentious Dog Show that they even televise now. Ugh. Dad would never do that--besides they cut my thingies off so I'm not eligible to be shown now anyway. (who would've thought some good ever could've come from that!?)

Back to our new British friend who started to tell us about a Yorkshire Terrier she owned (and also a monkey and a few cats. When she told us the monkey ate the cockroaches in her house I drew the line and walked away to pee on a mailbox). She said she wanted to show him and the dealer told her she would be able to.

She took him to another person who judges such shows and he said:

"You can't show that mongrel!"

"Mongrel! I paid $2500 for this dog!"

"Well you can't show him! He only has one ball!"

I tell you this woman has *ahem* "testicular fortitude." Dad nearly laughed in her face and she blushed and realized that she didn't know dad all that well to be talking openly about testicles.

Dad was wearing his baseball hat and she started to tell him that people who have high hairlines are very smart. Dad took his hat off and she screamed at his bald head and said: "You, sir, must be a genius."

I laughed so hard I peed in the street.

Anyway back to the one-balled Yorkie. It turned out that he had an undesceneded testicle. Ladies, let me share something with you. Talking about this with men is not a great idea. It's the equivalent of hitting us guys with a baseball bat in the scrotum. So stay away from any conversations about the nether world that deals with malformations.

The lady was nice enough and was extremely friendly and told us that she travelled the world with her pets--which I thought was nice. Dad only takes me to Yonkers to see Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kathy (Dad's family). I wish he could take me on the road with him when he tours his brilliant book (Googling God) or you can just email us here and dad can send you one for $20 with shipping.

Until tomorrow--still in training.

Water squirter and Other Dogs

Dad brought a water squirter out with him on our afternoon walk to see if that would discourage me from barking and lunging at other dogs.

Let me tell you...it most certainly did. I saw a miniature doberman and started barking and it took me a bit to calm down but the water squirter helped me. A block later I saw a female chihuahua like me (and let me tell you she was a hottie--if you know what I mean) and as my ears went up--Ba-Blam--there was dad squirting away. I started to bark anyway and dad blasted me like 9 times really fast and yelled "COOL DOWN HAZE!" He also growled a big angry growl like our trainer friend told him too...so I knew he meant business.

But you know what...my fear of the other dogs subsided. I was able to sit for three minutes in front of the other dog. Her owner, a nice older spanish woman, picked her up to be safe but then wanted to put her down. Dad thought that that would be a little too much for one day but later on I saw her again and was able to walk past her without any problem. Dad's become good at doing some pre-emptive tugs on my leash to get me ready to anticipate other dogs.

The day was almost a total success until I ran toward the door at the delivery man today and wouldn't listen to dad. I guess I got a little overworked. Oh well!

Hope we meet someone crazy on our walk tonight.

Haze the Dog

Training

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I've been a bit under the weather with a mild case of pneumonia.

I've also been busy with Mom and Dad getting trained. Mom and Dad are working hard with a friend to teach me not to jump on furnature unless I'm invited up. I've learned to sit and stay until mom or dad say "Let's Go!" and I walk at heel on my leash--all in just two days of work.

Two things have been very hard for me. First is sleeping. Mom and dad have made me sleep in my bedroom instead of on the couch in the living room. They shut my door and I get scared and start to bark and whimper. But dad and mom are good at being firm--they are helping me get over my separation anxiety. They are speaking my language when I do something wrong. Dad's growl is deep and sounds like a car horn. Mom's is not a ferocious and sometimes it makes me ignore her. When I don't listen dad snaps his hands at me or smacks the door and then I know he means business and I quiet down right away.

The second thing is that I still bark at other dogs but I'm getting calmer much faster. Dad seems to have become a respected pack leader and mom is teaching me a lot too as the second in command of the pack. I love Mom very much but need to learn to listen to her more. It's hard for me because her voice is very high and I don't often know the difference between her praising me and disciplining me.

We're going to be doing a new feature here on the blog where I tell you about all the weird people I've been meeting on my evening walks--maybe we'll even start to take some pictures!