Dog parks are the coolest, neatest, bestest, happiest places ever! How come there's only one dog park and a kazillion human parks in Appleton, parks where only humans are allowed? We pass those parks and they look so nice and green and empty - no dogs walking, and no humans either mostly. Except sometimes at night when big humans hang out there and do naughty things and scare people. Humans don't walk in their parks, they don't run and smell things and if they're not dog-humans sometimes they're not very nice either.

Our dog park is always busy, even if it's cold or hot or rainy, all day, every day. I LOVE it. I love running as fast as I can, letting all those wonderful smells rush past me, feel the wind and the sun and the fresh air skim past me as I go, feeling my legs go so fast I feel like I could fly. I'm like the wind, like a bird, like....a dog! Running's the best. Mommy can't run, and she can't even go fast like little humans or those running-humans I see going past the house, so I'm very careful to always stop and come back to her and make sure she's keeping up. Little Toby tries to keep up with me - silly little Toby - he's got short stubby legs and can't FLLLLYYY like Beagle-Girl can. Xan trots down the trails, stopping to enjoy interesting new smells, but he doesn't runnnnnnn like I do either. Sometimes big dogs with long legs run like I do and then I get scared until I know they won't hurt me, but nope, nosirreee, no one loves running like Miss Willow Beagle does. It's the most wonderfulest feeling in the world and when I can run like the wind I feel like I can fly.

After we walk on the trails at the dog park - well, I run - then we go to "the little kids area" and there are little dogs there that don't scare me, and that's fun too. We play puppy-chase, and little Toby keeps up with me and sometimes he finds other little dogs like him there, and we all play together.

I love the sun on my fur too, and I stretch out looooong so the grass tickles my tummy and the sun makes my fur all warm, and I love the way the world smells from a car window. Humans don't understand that, even Mommy, how DAZZLING the world is when a kazillion smells rush into my nose all at once, all mixed up and telling about all kinds of new, strange, wonderful things in the world I haven't found yet.

And at night, when it's dark, I love feeling Mommy's hand petting my ears, my fur, and I love the way it feels to have little Toby snuggle up against me and we both snuggle up against Mommy and are all cozy and warm. Toby says that's the way it was when he was a baby with his first dog-mommy and brothers and sisters. I didn't have a dog mommy, just Mommy, and I didn't have dog-brothers and sisters, just Xander and the cats (until Toby came) but that's okay, this is my family and I'm soooo glad because there are soooo many wonderful things in the world to smell and feel and taste and do.

I'll tell you more about my favorite things another day - there's so MANY!!!

Bye, now - Willow Beagle

Hi, it's Toby. I'm just a puppy but maybe some grown up dogs can help me figure things out. People sure are weird. Our mommy got sick. Xander was soooo worried, he guarded her and tried licking her and even let me crawl up and lick her. We didn't know how she was hurt but she moaned and couldn't get up or lift her head and kept throwing up and calling for Chrissy to help her. Chrissy is her puppy, her human puppy, although he's a pretty big dog now, a grown up. I know he's her puppy because she cleans his clothes and feeds him and fusses over him pretty much like my first mommy did, and like she takes care of us. We knew how sick Mommy was and tried our best to help her. We wouldn't leave her alone either - even when she was throwing up and pushed us away. All night we laid by her and sniffed her and when she started shivering later I crawled right up on her and so did Xan and we snuggled to keep her warm even when it was waaaaay before our bedtime and we didn't even get to go outside and play or walk or have dinner or water. Xan would do ANYTHING for Mommy and I would too, and we would NEVER leave her alone when she's so sick. I know our first dog-mommies wouldn't leave US when we were sick and our human mommy wouldn't either. Well anyway, so our human brother Chrissy just left. Said he had "people to see" and couldn't hang around "all night", even when mommy begged him to at least call her an ammm-boo-lance. (Xan says that's the big scary noisy carthing that takes humans to their vet. One came to get our Gramma in winter.) Xan and I couldn't do people things like find her cell phone and make it work to talk to people and get them to help Mommy, so we did all we could by laying near her and keeping her warm and washing her with our tongues.

Is that the job God gave us? To love our human and take care of them when there's no one else who cares? Because I'm little and just a puppy but I just knew that your human is YOURS for life, to love and take care of and never leave, and Xan sure knows it and hyper silly Willow even knows it because when Mommy brought her home and couldn't open her eyes and dropped Will's leash, Will didn't even run around, she just walked inside all by herself.

I'm sorry for Mommy that she got sick, and I'm sure glad she's better (Mommy said it was a "vestibular migraine" and came from being all worried about "job" things) but I'm also glad I know what an important job God gave me. I'm PROUD to be a dog-son.

Toby

Hi, guys. I'm kinda down today. Mommy was sooo sick last night. I tried to help her but at first she just chased me away so I laid down and guarded her instead. When she finally fell asleep I was able to get closer and take care of her. Even little Toby helped, first by not geting into trouble and then by laying next to her when the sick was over and she started shivering. Little Willow was at daycare and Mommy couldn't walk or see so she couldn't go get her. We were all so worried, but the supernice people at Ruff House took care of Willow for Mommy until she could see again. Chrissy came over but he wouldn't stay and we all felt so bad when Mommy cried and begged him not to leave while she was sick. Mommy's been very worried about things lately - we thought it would be so nice if she wouldn't have to get dressed up and leave in the morning and could stay with us all day, but I'm the oldest and I know that if she doesn't go away like that, then we won't have puppy chow or even a place to live and she might "lose" us. She tells me things because I'm the oldest and she knows I'll listen. Our house is still all messed up from Mommy's sick and not seeing, and I've been keeping little Toby from chewing up stuff the best I can. Sometimes it's hard being the big brother and Mommy's little man. I told Toby and Willow that when Mommy comes home tonight we're going to try to be super-good dogs. Even the cats didn't complain when they didn't get fed last night or this morning. But if something happened to Mommy, who'd take care of us? Me? I'm not that big a boy yet.

Xander Spaniel

Hi everyone! I had daycare with Will yesterday, and puppy class last night. Daycare is fun, sorta...Will LOVES it, and Xan LOVES it. I'm not too sure yet, prolly because everyone is so much bigger than me. And Will runs around and plays with all the other dogs and not just me and that makes me mad sometimes. But then finally Mommy came. I get soooo excited when Mommy comes back.

Our school is really neat. There are only a few other dogs in class so our teacher spends a lot of time making sure we "get it". I like that, because then I don't feel all frustrated and neither does Mommy. I love class because it's just Mommy and me, not the other dogs in our family. (I love my Willow but it's so neat to be Mommy's only dog for a while.) She feeds me lots of treats and our teacher Ms Ally shows her how to help me figure out what those sounds mean ("down", "left side", "sit", "up"). When I get it I feel so SMART and grown up, and I love the way Mommy sounds when she is happy. Her voice gets all soft and gentle when she says "yessss" and tells me I'm a good smart boy. Our Willow learned a lot in school too, and Mommy says school is soooo good for her.

Our teacher is the best! She calls me "handsome" and I LIKE that, and I like her too, almost as much as Mommy. There's another girl in the class with me named Maggie and she's a puppy just like me, only I think she's even littler...er...younger than me. I'm 8 months old and she's about 4-5 months. She's fun and wants to play and I like that. But she's got this GINORMOUS bark, and is so HUGE and that scares me. I like it when Maggie's laying down, then I can sniff her and crawl on her. Mommy thinks she's adorable. Maggie is called a "St. Bernard", which I think means "GINORMOUS HUGEST EVER puppy".

Our teacher's dog is named Trei and I like her. She's not too big and doesn't bark a lot and sniffs me nicely and doesn't scare me. She's a MOVIE STAR! She's been on tv. Here's a link if you want to see her. I'd love to be that smart someday, because I love it when people think I'm special. Maybe if I was an only dog...but then I wouldn't have my Willow, or Xan to make me feel safe when Mommy leaves us alone during the day. But I'm going to keep going to school and try to learn as much as I can.

Bye now,

Toby

Willow's First Post

Hi, I'm Willow Beagle and this is my first time - what's that? paper? oooh --- I have to get some water - run along the back of the couch - chase a cat just a little bit - oh, sorry, yes, I'm Willow Beagle and I'm a little girl beagle. I'll be one year old this summer and Mommy says I'm - Toby! I'm gonna chase you! - hey, I see CARS and I'm gonna bark at them! where's my chewie? ahhh - Mommy says I'm ADHD like Chrissy and if they made Ritalin for puppies I'd need some for sure. I'm GOOD in school, and when Mommy and I do my homework alone together I "down" and "sit" real good! I come whenever Mommy says "Willow, come" and I learned "leave it" too, because it's better than Mommy sounding angry and yelling when I take something new to play with. I love daycare because I can run and play and run some more allllllll day with my friends at the Ruff House. My teacher is really nice to me too. Toby's my little baby brother and I sure do love him. Mommy says Toby brought out the sweetness in me. I love Mommy and sometimes I love Xander and I love Chrissy and I sure would love to have some short people to play with. They run around as fast as I do and are always moving and making noise just like me. I see them out the window. I have a friend and uh...where was I? Well, hi, I'm Willow Beagle and I'm a very happy little girl.

xxxooxxxx Miss Willow Beagle

Toby's First Post

Hi hi hi hi. I'm Toby and tonight I got to sniff goose poop and see a giant white floating car-thing on the biggest most giganticist water I've ever seen! Mommy called it "Riverside Park" here in Neenah and wow! It had all kinds of strange sights and smells. I wasn't afraid, no sir, I wasn't, I stood my ground and barked in my deep big-boy voice at every new thing. Even hordes of those screaming running jumping small people my sister Willow likes so much. All the people we know at home and at day care and at doggy school are big people who talk softly and move like Mommy does, but those short ones SCARE me. Sure don't know why Willow thinks they look like so much fun - she's always hopping over our fence to try to play with some and I tell her you watch out Will, be careful. Ohhhh tonight was soooo exciting though - I'm 8 months old and love having new adventures. There's so MUCH out there to sniff and see and taste and do. Look out world, here I come!

Xander's First Post

Hi, all! It's Xander Spaniel here. Well, Mommy finally sat down and created our blog for us. We've wanted one of our own for the longest time.

Just so you all know what I have to deal with, not only do I have this adorable baby brother Toby who everyone thinks is soo handsome, and who makes Mommy carry him everywhere - grrrr- and the most annoyingly hyper little sister in the world (she makes HUGE messes and tears up everything in sight and then Mommy has to spend the evening cleaning and yells at all of us) but we have four, yes, read this, four felines around the house at various times.

Well, guys and gals, Mommy wants to run some errands now so I guess I'll let her go, so we have plenty of time to walk later.

Xander Spaniel