Introduction

I've decided to write a blog through the mind of my beloved black Labrador Retriever, Buster. I thought it would be a neat idea to write about how a dog sees the world. My dog is eight years old now and I don't know how many years he has left so I wanted to document his memories for the remaining years of his life with his pictures and "words". Here goes. 


Sunday, August 3, 2014 

I wake this morning before my human as usual. She has been stressed lately so I am very careful not to wake her. The annoying beeping sounds should be alarming any minute now. That is what wakes her every morning, not me. My house mate, Bailey is what she is called, wakes after I do. She is a golden retriever and her long, blonde fur gets everywhere. Now, we both sit and wait for our human. I go and sit beside her bed and rest my chin on her blanket. 

The beeping sounds arrive, yay. She usually keeps a bowl of water for us in the bedroom but she forgot to fill the bowl last night, so I am anxious for her to get out of bed and open the bedroom door so I can run out to the kitchen bowl and drink some water from there. I sort of have this obsession with water. My human gets upset if I drink too much water from the bowl, she puts limits on how much I can drink at one time. Sometimes I feel bad because she will call out my name indicating that I've had enough but I always ignore her for a minute while I quickly down a few more gulps. Something about how I'm a big-chested dog and if I fill up my stomach too fast and get too much air I can, what does she call it again? Oh, yeah, "bloat". I have no idea what that means but I've never noticed any problems with the amounts of water I drink. I don't know why she gets so mad, I love water! Next to food, I think it's the best stuff on earth! 

Finally, I see her eyes open and they meet mine. She smiles at me and my heart is overjoyed! I love that I make her so happy. And when she wakes up happy to see me, it is the best feeling in the world. My moment with her is gone quickly, though, because I forget about our part-time, house guest, Pebbles. She is a pitbull with a brindle coat color and patches of white. I thought I was once a crazy dog, but this one has so much energy sometimes its hard to watch her. I think we are around the same age and sometimes it saddens me that I cannot bounce around the way she does as I once used to. Good for her, though. I guess it must be the fact that she is much smaller than I am and quite a bit more muscular. She shoves me out of the way to get closer to my human and whacks her tail against the wall in excitement. She loves my human, a lot. At first, I did not want to share her. It is always hard for me in the beginning to adjust having a new dog around. Less attention goes to me and it breaks my heart. I truly miss the days when it was just my human and I. But I can't be selfish, and she has such a big heart, so I will find a way to accept the new changes. She always makes time to spend with me one-on-one so that makes me happy. 

We all get up and follow the same routine as every other morning. All three of us dogs burst out the bedroom as soon as the door opens. I go immediately for the water, Bailey immediately finds a ball, and Pebbles bounces from wall to wall, hardly able to contain her excitement. My human always takes Pebbles on the leash to relieve herself outside first before Bailey and I. I don't really mind. I think Pebbles calms down a lot if she gets to go first, and that's okay with me. Bailey and I always get to go together at the same time. Bailey is my best friend. The two of us have been together for about five years now. I remember when she first came home as a small puppy, and I didn't much care for her. It took me awhile to accept her into my pack. Now, I can't imagine my life without my sidekick. 

I don't know what is on the agenda for today. I wait patiently to be fed and gobble my kibble down in about two minutes. I used to be able to eat a lot faster, but I don't mind slowing down lately. It hurts my stomach if I eat too fast. And I'd like to think if I eat slower, I can savor the flavor longer and feel more full. But I hardly ever feel full. I could eat all day long and never be satisfied. I'm glad my human rations my food for me because I think if she didn't, I'd be as big as a house. I wouldn't be able to control myself since I have zero willpower. I can't tell you how many times she has left me alone in the house with giant treats just for me on the counter tops! Just the other day she was sweet enough to leave me the rest of their breakfast pastries. They were so delicious, with cinnamon and white frosting and everything. She always gets upset when she comes home, though, and sees the packages left on the floor. That's the only part I am bad at. She leaves me delicious treats, the least I can do is get rid of the trash. I cower and feel extreme guilt every time, but the food is so good at the moment that I can't seem to remember to clean up.  Sometime I just eat the wrappers, too, to make it easier.

When us dogs are all finished with our food, we wait to see what's next. Maybe we will all go on a walk together. Perhaps she will take me out to play with my "Wubba" toy. Ever since I discovered that toy, it is the only thing I will play with. I am pretty obsessed with the thing. I get all excited and bounce around when she gets it out for me. It is so awesome, too, because she doesn't let any of the other dogs play with it, it is exclusively for me. And I only play with it when she throws it for me so it just makes it even that much more special. It doesn't look like we will get play time this morning, though, because she is sitting in front of the long, short table and flipping through pages of books and notes. She has been doing that a lot, lately. I presume something very important is going on in her life. I come to her side immediately and comfortably lie down. I always like to be close to her. If she gets up to go to another part of the house, I get up and follow her. My main joy in life is her, and I like to be with her as much as I can. 

I am going to take a nap, now, even though it is still morning. My human will be busy for hours and all I can do is be supportive by staying at her side and resting comfortably. I drift off to doggie dreamland...