Birthdays and Presents (Oh My!)

My BFF Shelley wrote a blog about her birthday but made sure to include me, the cutest dachshund ever. I haven’t been blogging for a while but plan to get back at it. I got busy with my toys and rawhide!

Here’s Shelley’s blog:

Today is my birthday, and it is the last day of National Poetry Month.

Someone told me I’m lucky to have my birthday during this special month. I agree, though I can’t remember how old I am.

To celebrate, I thought I’d take a break from writing and editing and spend the day with my cute puppy, Zoey. She’s nine, so she’s actually not a puppy. I just think of her that way because when she walks, she bounces.

Here are some pictures of Zoey the cutest dachshund ever, including one of her as a birthday girl!

Zoey opens some of her presents for her second birthday.  She gets to open presents for birthdays and Christmas holidays and typically gets treats, rawhide and a couple of toys.

Zoey hangs out with some of her toys, including her favorite stuffed bunny!

Zoey loves teddy bears that are her size, but has a toy box full of them from mini to extra large.

A dog’s take on running

Here’s a photo of me running inside the house.

My BFF Shelley hurt herself from doing too much running.

She pulled a muscle in her hip, and she realized she better stop for a little while—she says she’ll give it three days and then try to run a mile (a mile! that’s really far for short legs!).

I know when to stop running. And walking, too.

This is how I do walks. I walk and I walk, and then I don’t walk whenever I’m tired or want to slow down to smell the flowers. Or, I take a seat to wait for the people on the sidewalk to stop and pet me.

That’s because I want attention.

I walk for exercise—actually I’m forced to, but really, I’m on the hunt for people to tell me I’m cute and pretty and beautiful—all of it—and to pet me. I don’t care who the president is or any of that kind of stuff, because I just want to be acknowledged as the cutest dachshund in the whole wide world, my own version of www.

It doesn’t matter, because I know I’ll always have food (I love the soft kind I get now because I hurt my back and had some digestion issues). It’s mixed with my hard food that’s a little more boring but somehow has the flavor of the soft stuff mixed in, so I eat it. I guess I get tricked every time I come to the floor for breakfast and dinner.

And then after I eat, we go on a walk, so very routine and boring. No, not boring, because I get attention. That’s right, I get attention. I love the world!

Dog blogger’s year in review

I like the end of the year, because my birthday is on Dec. 20—I turned seven—and I get lots of presents then and on Christmas.

Using my paws and teeth, I rip off the wrapping paper to find treats, toys and doggie teddy bears. My BFF Shelley always takes a video of me having fun, which lasts about two minutes as I get to the prize.

I also like the end of the year because I can be reflective and think ahead at the same time. I blogged nearly every week in 2015—and in fact have been blogging since 2011—about my life as a cute dachshund, sharing stories and photos to demonstrate the fact.

I blogged about being both a dog blogger and a canine poet able to write poems from a dog’s perspective.

I wrote about dog behavior and what dogs need and want from their owners. I wrote about how pet owners—I call mine my BFF—need to let us know how much we mean to them, pay attention to us (like all of the time) and give us lots of treats (even healthy ones).

I explained the elements of responsible pet ownership, while telling really interesting stories from my own life.

And I wrote about cats, even though most of them don’t like me too much. I like cats, birds, geese and anything else in the animal kingdom, but not dogs, at least those larger than me. I bark at them, and they look at me as if I’m silly, so I bark again, while also wiggling my tail. I can’t tell if I want to be friends or not. That’s why cats are safer; they’re not keen on dogs, and I can just pretend they are.

In 2016, I’ll continue blogging about the dog life, my life and how best to love on and care for your pet dog (or cat, or other animal). I may be taking off the month of January from blogging, because my BFF will be recovering from surgery, and I need to give her some love and attention after all that she’s done for me.

Sad dog tale (about NaNoWriMo)

I am quite sad that my BFF Shelley is spending lots of her freetime doing NaNoWriMo instead of paying attention to me.

NaNoWriMo is for National Novel Writing Month, meaning Shelley is trying to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I really think she should have 50,000 play sessions with me during the month and every month.

Here are some photos to show Shelley (and others, too) that I’m cute and need attention.

I am cute hanging out on my bed with my teddy bear.

I’m cute when I’m sleeping.

Cute dog blogger at work

I am the product. I am the process.

I am cute.

Product and process.

My BFF and co-blogger Shelley blogged this week about writer’s block and how just doing writing helps you write and get the words to flow. It’s like the process of writing helps you write. As you write, you get a product.

Yep, I’m philosophical. I’m smart. And I’m cute.

My name is Zoey, and I’m the cutest dachshund ever.

While Shelley works on her writing at the coffee shop, I sit with her staring out at the sidewalk, wiggling my tail at all the passersby. Most of them stop and ask to pet me. And I eat it up, wiggling my tail so fast you just see a blur.

I get told that I’m cute, I have a cute face, I’m pretty, I’m friendly, and I’m oh so nice.

In fact, I consider myself the ambassador of cuteness.

Check it out, me being cute and all.

I’m cute when I’m sleeping.

I’m cute when I’m awake.

And I’m cute when I want something, like treats!

On Being a Cute Dog

As the main character in my own story, I am on vacation this week.

Check out my BFF Shelley’s blog on character identities.

But before you do, I want to demonstrate that my identity is that of a cute, darling dachshund, so here a few photos of cute me.

Don’t I look cute as I concentrate on eating a treat?

I’m cute when I’m atop toys. I love, love to play!

And I’m cute when I chew on coffee cup straws.

Loving your pet releases endorphins

I’m getting love from my BFF Shelley’s dad. Don’t I look happy and cute?

Just so you know, more than half of American households have a pet, and in 2014, pet owners spent $58 billion on us.

I would like my BFF Shelley to spend more than a few hundred on me. And I would like more attention from her and everyone else I encounter, because I’m an attention hound. In fact, I’m a very cute miniature dachshund that seeks attention, love and pets from anyone she encounters. I like the contact, my way of communicating through letting human hands touch my fur.

I’ve learned that pet owners report they’re happier and having a pet gives their life more meaning through the interactions they have with us. In fact, researchers found that people who frequently kiss their dogs have higher levels of the bonding hormone oxytocin.

Dogs make good friends and companions. We’re sensitive to human behavior, and like humans, we vocalize our emotions and react to the emotional nuances of human speech. I make a large yawning, whining noise when I feel left out and want attention. I squeal when I know I’m about to feel human hands on my back. And I yip if I want people to come to me now.

In other words, I use my voice and my wiggly body scooting closer in to let people know that I need that social interaction bred into me.

Canine Poet Shares Poetry

I’m sitting next to a laptop (I’m a lapdog, by the way), waiting for poetic inspiration.

I am a canine poet and would like to share with you some of the poems I’ve written in honor of National Poetry Month.

Running

By Zoey the Cute Dachshund

I turn the fence into a silvered blur

Until a bird sings, sound floating

Off the flap of wings.

I slow each step, an easing of paws

On stiff brown grass,

Wishing

In my silent approach

I could chase air things

Get them grounded—

But off I go again,

As if a ship sailing circles

Enclosing possibilities

Until the next bird comes along,

Hope before its leaving.

---

An Everyday Dog’s View

By Zoey the Cute Dachshund

What I see every day you don’t

with your busyness and wanting to be

something important.

I get to lie down on paws,

look out the window

bark at passersby

as I blog about life,

not caring if what I say

means extravagance,

just a simple thought

that I’m okay just lying here

dreaming.

---

Found

By Zoey the Cute Dachshund

I am not lost

With you in my heart

Squeezed against your side,

Licking the salt off your hand,

Kissing you,

Loving you,

Not wanting anything but

Being here.

Dog Story Teller

Here I am as a very cute puppy with my BFF Shelley.

I write lots of stories as a canine writer, plus blogs, poetry and even the occasional news article about the dog life.

I was born Dec. 20, 2008, and at eight weeks was sent to a pet store in Fort Collins, Colorado, where I was adopted a week later. My BFF Shelley saw me there, obviously thinking I was incredibly cute, and asked if she could hold me.

I leaned my head on her chest, gave her kisses and looked adoringly into her eyes. Despite my efforts, she left without me. But the next day, she came back with her mom and they both held me.

Her mom said I should be taken home, and I was thinking, duh! When I was taken to there, I found out my name and her name—Zoey and Shelley. I learned that I weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces, small enough to fit into my brand new, multi-colored, six-inch-square bed.

I grew and accumulated toys and got treats and played hard. I had to get a bigger bed. I learned how to climb stairs and stand on my hind legs, wave, sit, lie down and roll over. I barked at big dogs, ran around the back yard and played catch, fetch and tug-of-war.

I went from a pup to a bigger pup to a dog. I went from kind of naughty to mostly good, but not all good, because that would be boring.

Basically, I grew from little to big, learning along the way that there’s so much to smell wherever I go. I’m not one to skip stopping and smelling the roses or whatever other pretty thing is on my path.

A Dog’s Photo Album

Here is a picture book of my life that shows, and doesn’t tell, how cute I am.

I am cute among statues.

I am cute posing next to flowers.

I am cute atop a toy.

And I am cute with my toys packed in a bag. Sometimes I go places, especially when I have stories to tell.