Alpha in trainin'

Well the time has come in this family for another alpha to step up. Of course that alpha is me. Secretly I've always been alpha, just waitin' for Dasher to say the word.

Dasher's goin' deaf. So as a result, I'm now alpha in trainin' it seems. Of course I'd be next in line over Winston. Don't matter that he bigger than me, size don't play in to this at all.

I mean really, could y'all see Winston as alpha? O help us all! Shoot he afraid of his own shadow. Y'all, He barks and growls at people down the street. Shoot they ain't even in our driveway and he havin' a fit. No. No he can't be alpha sorry. Just tonight for example, He all in the entry way, and he jumps up cuz he so called saw somethin'. Got me up, got Dasher up, O I was upset. Get out of here Winston you so can't do this. Shoot least I don't growl at the garbage man. I may bark at the neighbors, but they in our driveway! Dasher can't hear to know who out there, I gotta let him know.

Besides, who more scary anyways? Me? Or sweet faced Winston. Exactly. If Dasher needin' someone to take over and protect this house, I'll gladly step up.

Well I'm off to beg more treats off Dasher mom and dad. A higher up position in this household demands more treats I mean it. No ice cubes either! Shoot give me some real food! Y'all behave.

Reba the dog.

 

Another trip

Hey everyone,

It's taken me a while to recap the last trip we were on. Partly cuz I been tired from it. Shoot these humans wear me out!

Well first of all it was a new experience, Dasher dad dropped us off early in the morning and my mom and my April got on this thing they call a train. I thought it was cool! Shoot I had all kinds of room, Well that is until Winston decided to take up most of the space. Thanks Winston. Don't mind Reba, I'll just curl up my arthritic back and stay in my tight ball for 4 hours that's ok. Shoot!

O I forgot to tell you all about my vet visit. In a nut shell, I've got a little arthritis in my back, I'm sadly skinny and mom loves it, and everything else is workin' fine. Accept I found it funny when the vet looked at the Xray of my stomach and saw that it was empty! Yeh! Yeh it's empty! I don't get fed nearly enough! And they wanted a sample of my 2's. No ma! I ain't goin' for you. All the food you give me goes to sustain my pathetically skinny body. I don't do 2's anymore I mean it. I'm 51 pounds! Shoot just waistin' away! Don't believe my mom when she says I'm at a perfect wait. And once again the vet just calls out this fact to all present. O yes Reba's at 51 pounds! Shoot what in the world! You don't announce a girls wait right out loud like that! They could have just whispered it for real!

Ok so that was my vet visit. Back to the train. We finally arived at an unknown destination and we got out and waited there between two trains for the longest time. Shoot where are we I mean it! Can I please have breakfast now shoot! This little cart pulls up and we climb on. It was like those carts we get to ride in airports. So off we go, when out of no where, someone plops on the cart pretty much on my head! Hello! There's a dog here don't sit on my head please shoot! There go Reba again! So suddenly we get off the cart, not even near the terminal and mom and my April follow this girl who had almost squished my head. Shoot where she going? We finally get inside, and I all the sudden recognize the girl. It's my Kayren! Cool! So now I'm all excited but the place is far too crouded for me to give her a propper greeting. We went in this hot crouded room to wait for our luggage. Excuse me, one of them bags is verry important. It's carrying our food you forget that or lose that you die. Winston precious dude! He finally figures out it's my Kayren as we wait for the bags, but Kayren's goin' back and forth lookin' for the bags so Winston's just standin' there sayin' over and over, Reba! It's Karen! It's Karen Reba. Yes Winston, I'm tryin' to make sure my food gets over here. Finally mom feeds me and then I felt a little better, then My Kayren came over with the bags, including the bag my food was in! Shoot finally! So off we went, and I followed perfectly. Course I did. My Kayren had the food I'd follow that to the end of the earth. We walked for a while, finally were able to relieve, then the humans got some food and gave us some water. By this time, shoot I was ready for another nap! But o no, we go board yet another train. Finally we get to my Kayren's house and I thought, at last I can rest and be a dog. But no, a few hours later, off we go again to one of those places where people ride rides way up in the air. Humans are weird. No ma I ain't workin' here. Ma I've been workin' for you since 5 this mornin' I was done at 3 I told you this. Well, the rest of the day was a blur for me. I was wantin' a Reba down day, several of them after that.

That day though was the busiest we had on the trip. The rest of the time we had fun at my Kayren's place, she had apples and gave them out very generously! Cool!

The humans went to that place where they role balls down to nock over big pins, whatever. Boring. But Winston had a fit there. I never did figure out if he was upset he couldn't go after the balls, or upset his mom left him under the table or what. I went to sleep. He was just upset the whole time.

We went to the lake and of course, the humans drug me out in the water to swim. Shoot I don't like to swim all that much I mean it! I literally just stand there and wait patiently for the humans to get done so we can leave. Come on! Let's go! Especially now, I was covered in mosquettos! Finally the humans saw reason and we left.

Only other insident, I can't really say much about because even now, I still am not entirely sure what happened. I just know, we were driving, we hit something, and the humans went from happy and fun to scared and stressed. They were that way the rest of the time. Winston said he saw someone hurt, I don't know if we hurt them, it was all so confusing. All I knew was, I need to stay calm for mom. So I laid perfectly still at mom's feet till she told me what to do. That was right too cuz she was proud of me. We left my Kayren's car there, and then the next day, My Kayren had a different car. Well cool thing about that was, I had way more room in it. Sweet! I was likin' that!

We came back on the train again, and this time I spralled out and took up all the room. How's it feel Winston. Shoot! The return trip was much more crazy as far as people goes. Probably because it was in the afternoon and not before the sun even thought of gettin' up. I never seen so many cars! They were just stoppin' in the middle of the walk ways, so we couldn't even cross the streets well. And Winston was freekin' out cuz of all the horn blowing. I don't know why so many were honkin' their horns, but shoot it was annoyin'!

We been home for a few days now, and Now Dasher mom and dad went somewhere. I'm kind of glad we didn't go. Shoot I been goin' all over the place it seems. Time for a Reba down week. Sure I've had fun, but come on now!

Well, I'm signin' out for now, Look for me on facebook as always, and I'll post here again soon. Y'all behave.

Reba the dog.

 

Vacation

Hi everyone,

Well we went back up north for a visit. Shoot this the greatest place on earth I mean it! Cats to tease, food to beg for, crumbs to find, shoot y'all, I got in my Kitty grandma's car one day, there was pop corn all over the floor. Man I got 5 or six pieces before mom discovered what I was doin'. Sweet! And cat food, y'all this is funny. My mom got smart this time and kept pickin' up the bowl of cat food. What she didn't know for several days, there was two bowls of cat food. Score for Reba. Well, for a few days anyway. As you can imagine, my ears aren't likin' this trip as always, but I don't care! I had the time of my life.

One day we went to the lake and went swimmin'. Now I ain't a big fan of water, but mom took me out in the water with her. A long way out too. Shoot it wore me out! I did have fun though. More fun than I would have had tied up on the beech waitin' for mom to come back. She left me with grandma and went out to swim for a while, I was cool till I saw her go under! Hello! Let me go what my ma doin' out there she can't see a thing I know she can't. She came back though and I attacked her with kisses.

One day we went on this long car ride and when we stopped, we was at one of them festival things. I'm used to those, used to go to those with my Emily all the time. So I'm lookin' out the window right, and all the sudden, I ain't lyin' y'all this dude walks by, must have been 8 feet tall. I mean it! Humans are so weird! When we were walkin' around, I saw him again and I pulled mom off in the direction he went. I mean how he so tall anyways! I had to check him out. O whoops, guess I better follow my Kitty instead. Man y'all the dogs I saw that day. Last time I was up here, I went on and on about how this must be the cat state. Shoot nothin' but cats cats cats up here. But I saw tons of dogs this day. Mom made me behave though. I did good for the most part. Mom and I havin' troubles workin' together some lately. We just ain't jellin' like we used to. The day ended with the humans watchin' those fire balls in the sky. I don't mind them either, I was too busy beggin' pop corn off the people sittin' next to grandma. It worked too till Grandma discovered what we were doin'. Shoot!

Speakin' of cats, one mornin' mom, my Kitty, grandma and I were out visitin' people. Well grandma went to the door, the rest of us stood back closer to the road. Then, I saw it. This cat came slinkin' around the side of the house. I wanted it bad! But I stayed still. I was in harness after all. Well, the cat starts taunting me, like all cats do when they realize a dog is on a leash and can't get them. So I'm tryin' to ignore this cat, but all the sudden, it went too far. Gotta teach the whiskered devil a lesson. Without thinkin' I lunged, just to scare it. I knew I wouldn't get far with mom at the end of my leash. I might get popped, but least I'd of scared the cat a bit and shut it up. Instead though, I lunged and kept going. I ran and ran straight for that cat. Shoot I ain't never seen a cat look so scared. I laughed myself silly. Till mom got me back. Awe man! Shoot! She wasn't happy with me for the longest time. Breakin' away from mom was not a good idea.

One day mom and I spent almost the entire day visitin' people in a place like what we go to on some Sundays. When I get to see my Pat! They're the elderly humans. I got to be petted and admired all day. Not normally one to like that kind of thing, but comin' from them, I kind of like it.

One night mom and the others went to this house and there were tons of little yipper dogs. I mean y'all they just kept comin'! I saw at least two when we arrived in the driveway and I almost jumped out of the car from the back seat through mom's front car door to see them. Then when I got out, in harness. Shoot! I saw another one. When we went to sit down, a fourth made it's appearance from the house. Dude! How many dogs be in this house! Some nice kids came to pet and play with me, and they gave me carrots. Shoot I'm their friend for life I mean it! No I don't wanna play with that ball, give me another carrot!

So some other things we did were go on a boat ride, go out to eat, mom and I got lost in a little woods tryin' to find some trail, and of course, lots of hang out time in the basement and car rides with the crazy humans. Why should mom have all the fun up here. This place awesome!

And the most shockin' thing of all up here, on the last night, I got to sleep on Grandma's bed, So I wake up in the middle of the night, guess who I see layin' right next to me. Dose. That crabby, old, mean cat who hates both me and my ma, but mostly my ma for bringin' me with her every time she come. Shoot dose shut up! I am my mom's eyes so get used to it I mean it. I don't care if it is your house either. Well I just laughed and laughed when I saw her sleepin' next to me. Shoot she don't hate me like she say she do I mean it. Cats I tell ya.

Since bein' back home I've assumed my rightful place as top dog around here. Bullied Winston in to giving me his frosty paw and if my April wasn't there to make me give it back I'd of succeeded. Shoot my April! Give me two of those things then. I'm starvin' here! Then I had to go check on my stash of apples I horded from the treat tree disaster. I'm still upset about that too I mean it! But other than that, no place like home and I'm glad to be back with the boys. For now, signin' out, and look for me on facebook again since I can now freely post again. Be good.

Reba the dog.

 

 

Long time no post

Hey everyone,

Well I know it's been a while since I updated y'all. But quite honestly it's been too hot and I did just get over bein' sick, and there's also facebook. Though I haven't posted much on that either.

It's been a good summer so far. Mom's been walkin' a lot in the mornin's still. Since it started gettin' way hot though, she stopped that for a bit. Good thing too. I was dyin' out there. My days consist of gettin' groomed, sleepin' as much as I can with Winston around, and beggin' from the humans for things. Accept Dasher mom gettin' real annoyed with that. She started movin' the gate further and further back away from the kitchen door. Excuse me! That's my spot Dasher ma! O and Dasher dad? Shoot I'm still miffed at him. Wait till you hear the injustice he did.

So in our yard, ever since I came to live in this family, is a tree I call the treat tree. It drops apples all over the place. It's my favorite tree in the whole yard. So one day, I look outside, Dasher dad is cuttin' the thing down! I mean I stood and watched my treat tree crash on the deck. As soon as I was able I ran outside and started grabbin' as many apples as I could and runnin' off to hide them. It's completely gone now, no more treat trea! Rue! Hardly any apples left either. They keep findin' them and gettin' rid of them. I mean what am I sposed to do in the yard without the treat tree to supplament my daily food consumption. I mean it!

Other things that have happened, We drove to a place where we parked and watched those things called fireworks. I laid in mom's lap the whole time. They don't bother me. Whatever.

Last night my mom and my April went swimmin'. Winston and I had to guide them over to the pool of course. Well they tied us up by their stuff and went to swim. Well shoot I was fine, just laid down hopin' for a nice nap. O no. Winston cried his fool head off the whole time. Shoot! I'm like shut up Winston the humans be right there in front of you. You can see them, they ok, and we ain't aloud to swim in that thing anyways. He wouldn't listen though. So much for a nap. O well, As it got dark I had to be on the alert anyways. My ma can't see so I gotta protect her and worn her of anything comin'. I don't care if it was our neighbor I barked bloody murder at that came in dude! It's dark I can't tell that I mean it!

Think that's about all I have. For not postin' on this thing in a while you'd think I'd have a lot to say, but really it's been a quiet summer. The biggest thing for me that's happened was my treat tree. Shoot I'm still upset about that.

I'll try and start updatin' this thing more. Maybe things will pick up soon and I'll have more to talk about. For now, I'll be doin' much the same things, eatin', sleepin', beggin', and workin' some too. Hope all my readers are behavin' themselves. Look for me on facebook and stay cool y'all. Shoot I thought we left this heat behind at mom's old home.

Reba the dog.

 

The dreaded R word

Hey everyone,

Well yes, I know my posts are gettin' fewer and fewer on this thing. I been really slackin'. Things are very routine around here lately. We've settled right in, and all the sudden mom's payin' more attention to me. I mean, groomin' me more, goin' for more walks, it's cool and all, but at first I was really miffed cuz she was cuttin' in to my routine of nap times. Shoot! Winston finally calmed himself down. He said he was just happy to have a friend and play mate again. Poor guy. Guess he really was feelin' lonely.

Oh and finally finally finally! Winston's got some of the same issues I do with food. Now at last he won't get treats while I'm denied them cuz of dumb food allergies.

Speakin' of allergies I got an ear infection again. Man these are annoyin'! I don't even know where this one came from cuz I been bein' good!

Well now to the reason I'm postin' this. I'm a little upset cuz I keep hearin' mom talkin' about the dreaded R word lately. For those of you who don't know, the word is retirement. Somethin' about how mom's really noticin' I'm slowin' down when we work. So today, I played extra long and extra hard. There. Hope that got rid of the R word from the humans vocabulary. Guess retirin' wouldn't be half so bad, I'd love to just spend the rest of my days sleepin' and beggin' and eatin'.

And speakin' of that too, my Dasher mom has been tellin' me to go on so much lately! Excuse me! Rue! I always sit by the kitchen door and beg and she usually always tosses me a carrot or apple or two. Hello! No I actually got put in mom's room a few times cuz I was beggin' too much I guess. Excuse me! Mom's got me workin' almost every day and I'm wastin' away even more!

Here's another thing goin' on. If any of you have me on facebook, you saw some of this, but today, mom goes in and starts cleanin' out my crate. Well she piles up several of my old toys on the floor, and lets Winston at them. Shoot he destroyed one, almost 2 in probably 10 minutes! Those are my toys I mean it! I don't care if I never play with them, and they old, shoot they mine! I left the room! I could not stand to see him destroy one more. He came home and totally claimed my toy box full of rubber toys and nylabones. No I don't play with most of them anymore either but still! That beside the point! Don't he got his own toys?

Hears somethin' else mom's started doin'. For a while now her and I go for walks in the mornin'. Just me and her. Well Dasher has a fit. Boy do I hear it when I come back too. Mostly I tune him out because I just want water. I'm like Dasher you really wanna go out with us, we get all hot and stuff! It's crazy! Well, mom has started takin' Dasher along with us. It took her a while to figure out how to walk him, and work me. But finally, she rigged something up. It's weird too. She has this short leash, and she hooks it to the side of my harness. Dasher's at the other end of it and so he's basically walkin' on my left side. Boy it drives him nuts too cuz he likes to stop all along the walk. No we don't do that. We out here to work and actually walk. So many times he stops and gets himself choked. I'm always tellin' him come on! Then I laugh at him and say, Hey, you wanted to come so bad, well here's what we do keep up! He'll get it eventually. It's kind of cool havin' him right there beside me. We can talk the whole time. He asks a lot of questions still about my guide work.

Well all, think that's about it for now. My nice clean bed is ready for me. I'll try and update this thing more. Y'all behave out there!

Reba the dog.

 

Crazy week

Hey everybody.

Well mom and I just got back from a little trip. Here's the weird part, my Dasher mom and dad, they left on their own trip a few days before me and mom did. And they drove. Did we get to drive? O no! We had to fly on one of them plane things. Shoot and the thing was delayed! I had to wait and wait for my dinner. And I hadn't even had breakfast. Don't mind Reba, I'll just starve right here on the airport floor. Well, we finally landed and to my surprise, we were in Greenville again where we used to live! Well I was all excited then. For the next several days we visited with old friends, went out to eat a lot, man humans can eat. I saw Winston again. Man that boy is sick. Shoot he got himself all worked up and sick over everythin'. Dude calm down! He was all upset cuz I left, then Matilda left, had it in his head that he was next, I said shoot Winston, out of all three of us, you the last one to go. For real! But you will if you keep explodin' in harness and stuff I mean it! So, had to calm him down, give him the old pep talk about walkin' across the stage. My April was graduatin'. Shoot I remember that all so well.

He wouldn't even play with me cuz he said I was sick too. Ok had a slight infection. Big deal! I was on antibiotics for it, I mean it!

So mid way through the week Dasher mom and dad showed up. I'm like where y'all come from? And if y'all here, why couldn't I ride with y'all instead of flyin' on one of them dumb planes! Sure enough they were campin' in greenville. But it smelled like they had been other places too.

We visited the camp site and they imediatly hooked me to a tree and went inside. Well I heard that air runnin' in there. Shoot it was hot. Yeh I know they gave me cold water and I was in the shade and stuff, but still! I'm spoiled! I need to be in the air too. So, I wrapped my leash around where they were plugged in to. And unplugged them. No air for the humans. I got a good laugh out of that. They let me inside too. Ha! I win!

April's graduation was the worst day ever. I was just not in a good mood. Man I didn't wanna work, I was tired, it had been a long week, I was just upset. And mom was no help. She didn't seem to care that her lab was off and not wantin' to work. She made me anyways. We fought through all the crouds, I got more corrections than I've gotten in a long time, And sayin' goodbye to everyone was hard. Shoot!

Finally, the day was over and Winston Dasher and I were alone in the camper to destress for the evenin'. That's all I needed too. I was back to normal after that.

Then for the long trip home. We all loaded up in the truck, it reminded me of when we moved home last summer. After many many hours, we arived home to my crate, my toys, my yard, and life has been wonderful ever since. We went for a walk last night and even though I had to stop several times to go, it still was lots of fun. Now if Winston will just calm down and get back to normal, we'll be all good.

Reba the dog.

 

 

The life of a service dog

Ok y'all, if you saw my post on facebook last night you know I'm lucky to be alive to tell this story. And I even have another to add to it. The life of a service dog may look glammerous, but like I keep tellin' Dasher, it ain't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, sometimes it can get downright dangerous! Shoot! Though, livin' with my mom is dangerous too for Dasher cuz he don't stay out of her way but that's beside the point.

So mom and my Dasher mom went to this ladies thing they call the Sharithon. Otherwise known as, Hours of naptime for Reba, with occasional leadin' mom around a few places. Apparently this year though, it also means, testin' Reba's reflexes, and poise as a leaderdog. Now I been at this job for almost 7 years with my mom and you'd think I've been through everything. I pride myself on bein' mostly unphased by most things, but apparently that ain't enough for the humans, they feel the need to test me more it seems.

So last night, I'm layin' there sound asleep, all is goin' well when this loud music comes over the speakers. No problem. I'm used to this. Well all the sudden out of nowhere I hear this super loud boom! I woke up from a wonderful dream of bein' barried in dog food to see a large box on the floor, just feet from my head. Someone had dropped a boom box within feet of my head! Hello! Looked like it was an accident and not part of the act. Least humans ain't totally lost their fool heads. Throwin' around boom boxes. All I can say is, thank goodness we were sittin' where we was I mean it! One roe back and I may have been a different dog today.

The next story happened today when we again went to more of this Sharithon. We sat in a different section this time. Few I thought. I'll be safe over here. So again, I curl up obediently where mom put me, and was soon asleep. This time the dream was of a giant milk bone that never got smaller no matter how much I ate it. Milk bones! Man I ain't had one in so long! Stupid allergies I mean it! So anyways, there I was, bein' a well behaved leaderdog when I heard this aweful wining noise. I pop up my head and look, and there's a monster flyin' at me! Shoot that ain't no milk bone! I shook my head wakin' up more and realized it was a woman on a scooter thing. She was goin' fast too! Zoomed right by me! I thought for sure she was gunna get my paw. Now that I think about it she was not that close but it sure seemed that way. When my heart calmed down after that one, I couldn't go back to sleep. I laid there and watched that scooter. I knew it was comin' back and sure enough it did a little while later, with the same obnoctious winin' noise like some cars make when they drive down the road. . I crawled around mom's leg after that to seek shelter under where they were sittin'. Looks like it's every dog for herself around here and I needed to find cover.

I don't know what the humans were expectin' out of me, but I'm pretty sure I disappointed them. Even caught off guard like that I kept my cool. I popped my head up, but I didn't sit up, stand up, wine, or bark. Mom said she was real proud of me and she and her friends felt bad I had been scared not once but twice. Yeh you better feel bad ma! Where's my treat! I know I heard a lady talkin' later in the day and in her speech I heard the words apples and carrots. Or was that in my dream too.

I was pretty good the rest of the day. Mom said I was too fidgity during lunch. Well excuse me ma! I'm kind of wonderin' what these humans are gunna do next. They get together and crazy things happen! Hello! There is a dog in your midst. A little consideration and some carrots might be nice. Mom let me walk around out of harness with her and her friends some to destress a little. That helped. I got home and all I wanted was my dinner. I didn't care that it was early. I wanted it now! I've had a hard day I deserve that much!

So even at my age, almost 8 and a half, you still never know what to expect when out with humans.

Reba the dog.