If you're a little dog, watch out for high winds...

From the Detroit News

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Tinker Bell has been reunited with her owners after a 70-mph gust of wind picked up the six-pound Chihuahua and tossed her out of sight.

Dorothy and Lavern Utley credit a pet psychic for guiding them on Monday to a wooded area nearly a mile from where 8-month-old Tinker Bell had been last seen. The brown long-haired dog was dirty and hungry but otherwise OK.

I don't know what disturbs me more--that a large gust of wind could pick me up off the ground (although I'm a whopping 9 pounds) or that it would take a pet psychic for mom and dad to find me again!

Bo the Dog at the White House

He seems like a cool dog.



And he's nervous like me! Ya gotta like that. Good job out of the Obamas getting a dog who isn't perfectly well behaved. And while the President has enough problems it looks like Bo has had a good influence on him already:

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

It's Mom and Dad's 7 year anniversary. They got past the dreaded 7 year itch which means that they are going to be stuck with each other forever. But if you ask them they don't think that it's much of a problem. In fact they said something so nice to me tonight. They said (sniff)...I can't...Dad you write it for me...

We said that Haze has brought us so much closer together. He's made us take long family walks, care for someone other than each other and he's a model of love for us that shows us how we should love one another unconditionally. Haven't ya, Haze?

So for all you married folks out there...go rescue a dog. It's not only good for the dog, but it's good for your marriage too!

Bo Knows Obama

The new "first dog" has been picked --a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo who was a gift from friends of Senator Kennedy.

He's kinda cute but not half as cool as a chihuahua. And what's up with the boa? Are you a stripper at GoldPaws or something?

Still we chihuahuas are not great with children. We just don't have the patience for them and don't like to play as much as kids would like us to I'm afraid.

Regardless, some advice for the first dog.

1) Don't pee in the Rose Garden. Save your best work for the Oval--that way you'll make the press.

2) No biting. Unless they are a Republican.

3) Be a picky eater. This is the White House. They have all kinds of good stuff somewhere. Steaks and Hamburger meat might not ever come your way but at the same time, hold out for the high end stuff. And don't settle for the cheap stuff after that. Besides, once you have the gourmet meat by-products you really can't ever go back, can you?

4) Love the kids. People love dogs who are submissive to children.

5) Bark your head off the first week at night. This will gain you entrance to the Mecca of all sleeping spaces --a human bed. Don't let them stick you in a crate or a dog bed--I learned the hard way. Curl up right under someone's legs and fall soundly asleep.

6) Use Clarence Thomas' gavel as a chew toy. He'll go crazy looking for it and never think to look for it in your mouth.

7) Don't play fetch with anyone except the girls. Why should you have to perform with anyone else? The girls are your meal ticket. You play nice with them and you're home free.

8) Every time you see Sarah Palin howl like a coyote. While you're at it hump her leg.

9) Invite other dogs to come to the White House dog park--which you'll undoubtedly establish on your first day. Bloodhounds can get FBI Clearance already I hear.

10) Outlaw cats. Hey, you've got the ear of the President of the free world.

Welcome to the White House. Do us all proud!

Happy Easter

May Easter bring you much joy and peace.

Love Haze the Dog and his mom and dad--Marion and Mike

Pheromones

I've been such a good boy lately according to dad that I was allowed to take a nap with him on the couch today. Then we watched the Mets game for a little while. Dad decided to do some work and so I crawled into a pillowcase and took a second nap.

It's been nice having Dad home the past two days as he is off for Holy Week. I've become a very submissive dog over the last few weeks. I only come up to the couch when Dad invites me--although sometimes I cheat and go up there when they're not around. Dad is going to start a pheromone treatment called DAP tomorrow to try and make me even calmer. Turns out there's a treatment that gives people the opportunity to spray doggie pheromones on areas or on my harness, etc. What does this do? Well glad you asked...

When I was a puppy my doggie-mommy would secrete these same pheromones and that would make me feel safe. But we think that someone took me away from my mommy too early. While I love my human mommy a lot, she can't make this pheromone. But now she has the opportunity to give me what I need.

This s supposed to make me less nervous when mom and dad leave the house so I won't bark all over the place when they come home or freak out around other dogs.

We'll see. In a clinical trial it worked in 88% of dogs.

Downward Humans

I want to try this! I think it could be fun. What do you get when you cross yoga with dogs?

Doga combines massage and meditation with gentle stretching for dogs and their human partners. In chaturanga, dogs sit with their front paws in the air while their human partners provide support. In an “upward-paw pose,” or sun salutation, owners lift dogs onto their hind legs. In a resting pose, the person reclines, with legs slightly bent over the dog’s torso, bolster-style, to relieve pressure on the spine.

Doga instructors are not required to complete certification, though teacher training seminars do exist, like ones taught by Brenda Bryan, 43, a yoga and doga instructor in Seattle who has just written a book on the subject. In general, instructors learn informally by sharing techniques. Guiding these techniques is an agreed-upon, though not officially stated, philosophy: Because dogs are pack animals, they are a natural match for yoga’s emphasis on union and connection with other beings.

I don't get to pray enough and my old buddy Fr Tom Ryan used to be nice to me when I'd come visit Dad at work. So dad, go find a Catholic version of doga and I'm all about it!

But honestly this would probably be more of my experience:

“A stuffed animal — but not even a dog-shaped stuffed animal — was used by the instructor,” she said. Owners struggled to get their very real dogs to replicate the stuffed-animal poses, she said, and bags of treats were used to get the dogs to change positions. “It was lunacy,” Ms. Apro recalled. “Peanuts, my retired racer greyhound, didn’t participate at all. Instead, I did downward-facing dog while he ate the most treats he’s ever had in a 60-minute period.”

Mmmmmm yoga and dog treats! My idea of a good time!

And I thought I was small

Read all about him in the NY Post here

Bailey Plays Dead on Letterman

I tip my doggy dish to you. What a great trick.