My Very Favorite Blanket

I have a favorite blanket. It's soft and fuzzy and fun to play with. I like to chew on it. Sometimes I just sleep with it. It's my favorite blanket in the whole world, except maybe the big blue blanket Mom sometimes sleeps with on the couch. I like to chew that blanket but Mom says I can't and puts it away when she's done with it. She always puts away my very special toys like her shoes, cause once I chewed up her shoe when I was bored and she wasn't very happy with me.

My blanket AND my rope!

Today I went for a long walk with Mom and met lots of other dogs. I made friends with lots of them and played, but some of the dogs were mean to me. When dogs are mean to me I tell them to stop, which makes me look like a naughty dog. I guess I have to go to school to learn to ignore dogs when they're mean to me. Mom has a lot to learn, too. I'm her first real dog and though she learned a lot from the dogs at the shelter I still have a lot to teach her. I like teaching Mom. When I do a good job she clicks her clicker and gives me treats. She says I get to go to the dog park more, too, to learn to be nicer to all dogs and to burn off some energy. I like the dog park. There's the close dog park which sometimes we walk to but there aren't many dogs there and it isn't very big. My very favorite dog park is the one we drive to sometimes, where there are lots of dogs and there's lots of room for me to run around and lots of trees for me to sniff. Mom takes me there to run off my zoomies. I get zoomies a lot. Then I lay down on the floor when I'm tired.

I like the floor.

Mom's making faces at the computer again, which means I need to bring her a toy and play with her so she stops being sad. I'm still working on teaching her to have good days all the time, like me.

Play with me?

Warm Days

Being a hot dog.

Dad says it's supposed to be fall but it was really warm today. I don't like it when it's hot. Sometimes I go out on the balcony and enjoy the breeze but today it was just hot. I didn't want to do anything but lay around until it got cooler.

 

Moth check!

Once it got dark and cooler I went back inside to be with Mom and Dad. I like it when bugs are inside cause then I get to chase them. I check the lamp all the time to see if bugs will come out of it. Mom says moths come from outside and not the lamp but I check anyways. Sometimes when I'm bored I tell Mom that I want something to chase but she tells me that she can't make moths appear. I think she's lying. But Mom or Dad usually throws a ball or my rope for me so then I'm happy. I like chasing my toys, but I don't always want to give them back when I get them cause they're mine. If I don't give them back I have to practice "drop it." I don't like dropping it unless there's treats involved. Mom says we'll practice more without treats. That's boring, treats are the best. Hot dogs are my favorite treat in the whole world.

Anime Koby

You might be wondering why Mom and Dad wanted a dog to name Koby. It turns out they like a character from a Japanese manga series called One Piece. It's about pirates. Sometimes I'm a pirate cause I take things I'm not supposed to. The character Koby isn't a pirate, though. He's a Marine, which means he does what he's told all the time. I don't. Sometimes I pretend I don't hear Mom or Dad so I don't have to do what they say. Usually though I'm good because I like it when Mom and Dad are happy with me. Mom says she wants two other animals to name Chii and Kain, but I guess they aren't allowed to have too many animals in their place. Something about a "lease." I don't know, it's very confusing.

Mom says I have to go back to the V-E-T tomorrow. She says the pills she got didn't work but I don't remember taking any pills. I did get some tasty cheese though. Maybe cheese is medicine? If cheese makes me better I'd eat cheese every day. I'd eat cheese all the time if Mom would let me. I don't know why she doesn't give me tasty cheese all the time. She goes to the cold box with food in it but she doesn't give me cheese out of it. I watch her though, because she might. I also try to remind her to give me cheese so I don't wither up and die but she doesn't listen to me very well. She just says I'm a stomach on legs and doesn't give me any of her food. Moms are mean.

I wonder if it's dinner time yet? Maybe I'll get cheese. I like cheese.

Practice!

Hi!

Hi, it's me, Koby, again! Mom keeps holding up a weird box at me but I don't know what it does. I sniffed it but it didn't smell like anything interesting. Mom's so weird.

Maybe if I stare really hard at her she'll let me have my treat.

Every day I practice being a good boy. Sometimes it's really hard. When we go on walks (my favorite!) I have to wait at the door until Mom or Dad goes through and then tells me I can go. I wait very patiently for my food, but it's hard because food is delicious. Mom and Dad give me their yogurt or other tasty things if I do what they say, though, so I like that. I can do lots of things! I can sit, I can stay, I can down, I can roll over, I can touch their hand with my nose, I can jump up, and I can wait. Waiting is hard. Mom sometimes puts a treat on the floor so we can practice waiting. I try to tell her that I can do this already and we don't have to practice and can I please just eat that treat already! She doesn't listen, though.

Yay, I get to eat my treat!

I don't get too many snacks right now because Mom says I have an upset tummy. I keep trying to tell her I'm okay but she isn't very good at listening to me. She says I have to go back to the V-E-T. I don't like it there. The people are nice but it's scary and I get poked a lot. Last time we went to the V-E-T I got to go to the big dog park, though. That was fun. Maybe this time we can go again! I like running and playing with the dogs there. Having an "upset tummy" means I get special food. I like special food. Mom makes me chicken which is delicious and rice which is boring. I eat the chicken and maybe the rice if I'm really hungry. Mom puts chicken broth on the rice which is tasty but sometimes when I try to drink the broth I end up eating the rice too. Rice is BORING. I keep telling her but Mom's so bad at listening to me, maybe she needs to practice.

Mom says she's going to make me something called a "flirt pole" so I can practice being good more but she told me it's going to be fun. She tried to teach me "leave it" and "take" cause I guess that's important, but I already knew how! I got her good. I just got treats for doing what I know! I like that. When she has her treats I'm very good cause I know I'll get treats for being good. I have to keep watching her and the treats though because she might forget to give them to me. I like treats.

I'm tired now so I need to go lay on Mom and Dad's big bed until Mom and Dad tell me to get off and go to my bed. Sometimes I pretend not to hear them so I can keep being comfortable. I need my rest too, it's so much work being a good boy. Parents just don't understand.

Hi, I'm Koby! Let's play!

Hi, I'm Koby! Let's play! I like to play. I like to play all the time.

A long long time ago I found myself in a scary place full of lots of dogs. I couldn't play with them because they were all in separate kennels from me. I was sad and scared. Then I got to leave that scary place and go to a home! The man there took me on hikes and did something called "clicker training" where I get treats for doing things. I liked that. He said he wanted to keep me but his mom was scared of me. So I went to live with a lady with other dogs. That was fun, but she said she was trying to find me a forever home of my own. I didn't know what that meant. There were other dogs there so I had to guard my food and things so they wouldn't take it from me. She said black dogs like me sometimes have a hard time finding homes. She looked sad sometimes.

What I found out later was that there was a lady and a man (my mom and dad!) looking on a place called the "in-ter-net" for a dog. Mom gets sad sometimes and Dad told her she should live with a dog to make her happy. I think that's the best idea in the world! She also likes to go running outside with dogs and she would go to a place called a shelter to run with the dogs there, but I guess she wanted her own dog aaaaaallll to herself. So back to that "in-ter-net," somehow my mom found a picture of me! It even had my name with it! My mom wanted a big black dog named Koby, and I happened to be a black dog named Kobe! (She spells it wrong now. It's okay, I don't mind. I also don't think I'm that big, but Mom says I'm too big for her lap so I guess that makes me a big dog. I still sit on her lap, though.)

Well, one day I got to go in the car all by myself with no other dogs in there. And I got to meet Mom! She said I was very cute and very nice and even gave me treats! She handed the lady who was taking care of me some paper and got a bag with other papers and then she took me to her car. I was so excited about going somewhere that I wanted to sit up front, but Dad was in that seat and Mom didn't want me in her lap while she was driving. So I put my head on her shoulder and made sure we were going to the right place.

Mom and Dad took me to their home, which is something called an a-part-ment. To get to theirs, you go in this weird room and then the doors open again and you're someplace else! It must be magic. I think it's magic. Anyway, when I got inside I found a whole basket full of toys! There weren't any dogs to steal them from me, either, but I was still worried that someone would take my things away so I would growl if anyone got close. I'm very scary when I growl. I pulled all my toys out to play with them. Mom and Dad said I do something called "resource guarding" but really I'm just scared that someone's gonna take away my food and toys. But I had my own bed and even a couch to lay on, and tasty food and everything a boy like me could want. Mom and Dad said I was home now and that they would take care of me for a long time. I told them I would like that, and they must've listened cause I'm still here!