Ouch! What's that in my face? It's Jake stepping on me while he's waking Mom up, the little twerp. Paybacks are hell.

I stand up and streeeeeeetch and yaaaaaaawn and look at Mom lovingly. I put my head on her neck for a big long hug. I can read her mind - she's thinking about taking me outside. I tilt my head and stick one ear up and bark, then run to the back door. Ooops - was that Jake I just ran into? Paybacks, you little runt.

Mom takes us out to the run and hooks me to my cable (I can jump tall fences in a single bound). I race Jake as far as I can, bumping him "accidentally" 5 or 6 times. Then when he's at his end fo the kennel I lift my leg. Aaaahhhhhhh. Relief! Now I set about enlarging my hole in the sandy soil. I love the feel of soil between my paws.

Once inside, I get my first bowl of food of the day. I eat it inside my crate, and finish it in 10 seconds flat. I can hear Jake in the other room, eating his breakfast one piece at a time. As soon as he's done, Mom will open the door to the crate and I'll run in to the toilet for a nice fresh long drink.

I spend the rest of the day shadowing Mom. I sleep at her feet wherever she goes - getting up only to whine when I see a potential playmate walking by the house. Gee I wish I could go play. I plot my next escape. So far I have knocked all of the screens out of all the windows, and the family no longer falls for my "bolt out the door as soon as it opens" routine. I'm running out of options. I wish I had somebody to play with. Mom's nice, but she doesn't wrestle.

When Mom goes upstairs for her bath I follow her and watch curiously as she takes her fur off. That freaks me out. Humans are so wierd. Once she gets in the bath I sleep just outside the door, guarding her from any potential intruders. I take my job as Mom's protector very seriously.

I go with Mom on at least one car ride every day. I can tell when she's thinking about going somewhere, and I hurry her up by going to the back door and barking and whining until she gets her shoes and coat on and hooks me to my leash. I love to ride with my head out the window.

Sometimes the car rides are to a nice long nature path where Mom takes me for a run. Too bad Jake always has to tag along. He walks slowly behind Mom, while I bound through the forest and up and down the trial. My favorite thing to do is to run. I jump over large logs and fly through the air at breakneck speed while Mom and Jake amble along the path. Finally, when my lungs feel like they're going to burst, we're back at the truck and I jump in. Ooops - was that Jake I just barrelled into?

When we get home I plop down for a good long nap. I'm too tired to follow Mom around for at least an hour.

When I'm all rested I bury my head in Mom's lap. I sure love her. My tail just won't stop wagging. I follow her around the house with my head on her hip until she puts me in my crate for dinner.

After dinner I stay in my crate while Jake gets brushed, then I follow Mom to bed. I sleep in a ball curled up right beside her bed, and she reaches her hand down during the night and sleeps with her fingers resting behind my ear. Sometimes she gets up to potty and I follow her to the bathroom and she gives me a great big hug.

I stay beside the bed until Jake steps on my face in the morning.