The Mom is very sad

I probably did it this time.
The Mom is sitting around with the water coming out of her eyes. She took Xia in the car today, and didn't come back with her.
The Mom said she had to take her back to the cool foster family that Xia was staying with.
Because of me.
I guess Xia was ok, but I wasn't a very good big sister. In fact, I was pretty bad. See, Xia had some food, and I wanted it even though it wasn't mine. So we had a fight.
And she had a toy, and I wanted it even though it wasn't my toy. So I started another fight.
Worst of all, she was getting love and belly rubs from MY The Mom. So I had to fight again. Only this time one of us sort of bit The Mom. The Mom separated us, but I kept laying in front of Xia's crate.
I don't know why. The Mom says she just brought out the worst in me, making me all nasty and bad.
So, I'm going to go and see if I can lick The Mom's face and cheer her up. This may take some time, so I probably won't be back to blog for a while.
That is if The Mom ever lets me blog again.

Mystery solved! or............

Xia's gotcha day!!!!

So, this was the big surprise. Xia finally came to live with us. (Yup, that Xia)I now have a baby sister! She's sort of OK. Sort of wiggly and puppy like..............

The Mom didn't do a good job getting a picture of all three of us together. Apparently handling a pup and a camera are beyond her ability level.
But, that's ok.

Xia will be staying with us now, and I am planning on teaching her all sorts of things. She already learned how to get ham from The Mom, and she did go potty outside - The Mom and Bandit's Momma were happy about that.

For now, she has to stay in her crate a lot. She's doing something called rehab, which is just like being in your crate for a long, long time as near as I can tell. I guess her leg still hurts or something. Bandit didn't quite know either. She's napping now, so I thought I'd get in here and update everyone on my birthday gift - and our new little sister.

Hmm, we'll talk later...................

Post birthday fun.

I thought I'd have some post birthday fun!
I was reading Sitka and Tia's blog, and I saw this fun game! You answer the following questions using the first letter of your name (and you can't use your own name on the name questions). So..........

What is your name? Dakota
4 letter word: Door (oh, and this one d%$# that The Mom uses a lot)
Vehicle: Dodge Dakota
TV Show: Dick Van Dyke Show
City: Duluth
Boy Name: Dave
Girl Name: Della
Alcoholic Drink: Dry Martini (shaken, not stirred)
Occupation: Donut maker
Something you wear: Double breasted suit
Celebrity: Don Ho
Food: Desserts
Something found in a bathroom: Deodorant
Reason for being late: Deluge of rain
Cartoon Character: Deputy Dawg!

That was lots of fun!

Mystery on Dakota's Mountain

Just a few naps ago, I turned 8 years old. Yep, my birthday.
Now, I don't know about everypup, but around here, that's usually cause for lots and lots of gifts, belly rubs, and a little something known as cake and ice cream.
Usually.
But this year was different.
Oh, I got a few kisses. And belly rubs. And a few measely bites of something with pudding and cake.
But nothing else.
Nothing.
Nada, zippo, zilcho, bupkiss,absolutely NOTHING.
No gifts. No stuffies. No squeakies. No chew bones.
Now, that's bad enough. But I happen to know that The Mom and Bandit's Momma went to PetSmart before my birthday. And they brought stuff home. New bowls. A new place mat. A new Kong. Puppy biscuits. All I keep hearing is, "next week at this time.......". I don't care about next week, I just care that I didn't get anything for my birthday!
So here's the mystery. New stuff, not for me, and something is happening next week. What ever it is, The Mom even got my old crate out, and is making sure it's clean and ready (her words, not mine).
Ready for what?

Hike n Howl 2007 - Part two

I am sorry for the delay in posting. Every now and then The Mom gets on her high horse about 'needing the laptop for work' and leaves me internetless!!! I believe that I will ask Santa Clause for my own laptop this year.

So, after our last visit with Xia, we got back in the car. The Mom was very, very difficult to lead to the car, because she had some big old box she was carrying. We finally got there, I put on my seat belt and we began to move. I sort of suspected that this would be another LONG, LONG, LONG ride - and I was right. I was, however, treated to part of a very tasty Double R Bar Burger. I've blogged about my attachment to Roy Rogers before, and I must say - even though The Mom called it 'crappy turnpike food' (her words, not mine and I do apologize to my readers in the great state of Pennsylvania) - that I have not changed my opinion of that dining establishment. Four woos from me!

Bandit was very happy to see us when we got home. We went outside, he sniffed, I used the potty. When we came back in, The Mom had brought that big old box in the house and put it on the floor:

Some very kind and wonderful person put together a big box of goodies for me!!! (Oh, and I suppose there's enough for Bandit too..........sigh.) And I mean BIG. A very nicely crafted toy box. The biggest bag I've ever seen of YUMMY CHUMMIES!!! Duck jerky. Toys. Gourmet doggie water. Some delectable salmon oil for our food. A very warm wool blanket. And a brand new collar and leash.

Hike n Howl was a lot of fun!!!!! Here's how I spent the rest of the evening, once the excitement of all those YUMMY CHUMMIES wore off..........................

Hike n Howl 2007

I came, I saw, I hiked.

I always wanted to say that.

The Mom and I got up early, so early it was dark outside, to go bye-bye in the car. Now, this usually means that we're either going to that place that is totally obsessed with putting something up my butt, or to the store place where all the stuff is sold. This time though, we didn't go to either of these places. We were in the car for a LONG, LONG, LONG time. So long the sun came up and it got light out. We stopped at a place that was very noisy, and didn't have much grass to potty on. The Mom shared a small piece of her egg biscuit, then we got back in to the car. And were in the car for another LONG, LONG, LONG time. When we finally stopped, guess who I saw? Indy and his mom were there. And a husky I'd never met before, Max. Then I looked up, and there were HUSKIES EVERYWHERE!! We'd made it to Hike n Howl.

Our first stop was a small side trip to see Xia. Here we are at our first sniff n meet!

I must say that we were both on our best behavior, and that this meeting went quite well. Xia could not join us for the hike, her leg is still healing according to The Mom, so we went on without her to do the hike part:

This was our view on much of the hike. We were a little slower than most, but we did complete the hike! I'm happy to say that we raised $160 for the rescue groups. After the hike, there were lots of fun things to do - The Mom got a husky painted on her:

I met a very strange husky:
Then we spent more time with Xia.

Right before we got in the car again, something very, very nice happened. I'll blog about that tomorrow!