Voices in Her Head

Look what me's found in Moomie's diary today. Me's shouldn't be read it, Levi knows that but me is sharing this for a reason. Here is what she wrote:

"Sometimes I swear Levi, our dog, can telepathically talk inside my brain. This morning I woke up to someone calling my name and when my eyes opened all I saw was my husband sound asleep. I listened for the voice to call my name again but the house was silent. A dream, I thought, but it was so real---and so annoying because it’s a common way for me to wake up. I rolled over and there he was, smack-dab in my face, his little eyes peering over the top of the mattress. 'Finally!' Levi seemed to be saying, 'I need to pee.' The creepy part is the dog also seems to be able to tell time. It was nine o’clock. It’s always nine o’clock---on the dot---when I wake up this way."

Okay, Levi needs to know are all humans this dumb about talking without words, or is my human....ah, well, you know, a little slow? Duh, of course me was using telepathy to talk to Moomie. Me's didn't want to wake Daady up by barking. He needs his sleep. Me is worried. Is there a book she should read on training humans how to talk inside their heads?

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Today was my first birthday. Me's not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. On the good side me's got a new avatar to replace the one on right that was taken on my adoption day when me's was three months old. Me's also got a cake and play date with my cousin. On the bad side my Moomie made me make a list of everything Levi learned last year and everything me's still needs to learn. It took forever to write!

What I learned This Year ---

To pee and poop outside. To ask to go outside and bound on the window to come inside. Me's learned what Moomie means when she says: No, sit, off, stay, heel, stand, down, up, kiss, back (walk backwards), and come---me's does that real good outside but Levi doesn't see why me's has to do it inside. Moomie can't get lost in the house. Me's can also: Shake left and right, circle left and right, bow, go through Moomie's legs left and right, play the 'which hand' game, and the 'find it' game. But my favorite lesson learned is how to eat snow.

What Me's Still Needs to Work on---

- Not to play with toads
- Not to get so excited when company comes
- Not to take off Daady's socks when it's not bedtime
- Not to bark at Mom's morning doves and squirrels
- Not to squat like a little girl to pee
- Not to take the leaves off the house plant
- Not to keep forgetting to use my "I" word when me's type. Daady never says it, why do me---oops, why do I have to do say it?
- Not to sit and bark at Moomie when she's at her computer for reasons she can't figure out. She calls it a schnauzer thing.
- How to fetch a ball. Moomie tries SO hard to teach me that but me's just doesn't see the point of that game.
- How to put myself in time out when Moomie tells me.

My Best Skills---

Me's automatically does a great sit/stay out the fall zone when my Daady transfers in and out of his wheelchair.

Me's give Daady the best goodnight kisses. First me gets a good drink of water so my beard is all wet, then me jumps on the bed when the light goes out and kisses him in the ear.


This is my cousin Ted and me taking a break from playing keep away with my favorite toy, a sock with a knot in it.


This is me investigating the cakie thing.


This is me playing the 'find it' game. Moomie puts a treat under one of the three paper cups and me's has to watch the cups go around and around before me can have the treat underneath one of the cups.


Next birthday can you all come over to play with me and Ted? Love, Levi

From my friend, Tibby!

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Training Humans

My Moomie gets SO mixed up! She's old you know, but is that really an excuse? She should be better at following instructions by her age. Do other doggies have trouble training their humans? It's been horrible weather here in Michigan today and my feet got cold. When that happened me's needed to warm them up on Moomie's belly, but when Levi---ever so politely---barked my request to Moomie, she put me outside where my feet get even colder! That happened five or six time. FINALLY, me's got her to understand that Levi needed to sleep on her lap while she did her computer work.

After awhile me's warmed up and decided to play with Mr. Froggie, my new buddy. Did you hear what happened to him? His arm accidentally got caught in my mouth and Levi had to chewed it in half. Moomie sewed him back together but his arm got shorter and put on backward. Why did she do that? Now me's have to chew it off again so she can get it on right
side up.

Levi did make some progress training Moomie, though. Every since my pawrents adopted me we've been having this back and forth argument about where my daytime bed belongs. Moomie wanted in the kitchen next to her computer desk but me would drag it into the living room a million times a day and park it in front of the deck door where there is a great view of the bird feeder. FINALLY, after five months of this Moomie got trained to leave my daybed in the living room. Me's nearly cheered out loud when she told Daady last week that she's going to buy me another daybed for the kitchen. Oh, and those branding irons and old cowboy boots of my daady's---they got moved. Something was said about chewing or knocking things over and hurting myself so Levi now has that sunny corner by the desk all to my self.

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Levi and the Snow Machine

Me's got up this morning
and found the most beautiful white stuff
all over the deck.
Moomie called it snow and she moved a lot of it out of the way
so I could go down to my yard to pee.

My yard was so full of snow my four foot fence was only was only 18 inches high.



Me's decided to dig my way to the fence so I could stick my head out between the slats to see what was going on in the street. Moomie said cars were stuck all over the place.


This is me still trying.....trying, trying to dig.



Me had to give up so Moomie could take this silly picture. But Levi did get the eve trove pipe uncovered. That's important.


This is me back on the deck taking a break and watching Moomie shovel my dog yard.



This is what it looked like when she got through. Me's don't know why she did that. Me's was planning to eat it all up when me got finished playing in it. Snow tastes DDDDDDDDDelicious!



This is Moomie trying to take a picture of herself. She's laughing. Me's don't know why.



Me had snow in my beard for a long time after we came back in the house.

Levi LOVES snow!

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Gold Stars for Good Puppies

Anyone there? Levi has some news. Me's got a new gold star on my 'Good Boy' chart. Well, me don't really HAVE a chart but Moomie pretends that Levi does and she just added a shiny pretend star for OUTSTANDING big boy behavior!

Every since Levi came to live with Moomie and Daady me's been practicing, practicing, practicing like a fire drill in case Daady would fall on the floor. He can't walk, you know. Me didn't really know what that meant to "fall on the floor" but me figured it must hurt like when me rolls off the couch by accident. Anyway, we kept drilling for me to sit-stay out of the 'fall zone' every time Daady transfers in or out of his wheelchair.

Yesterday it happened. Daady fell while trying to sit on his shower bench. It happened so fast! He hit his head and was moaning and acting kind of scary. Moomie was acting all scary, too, checking for blood and trying to pull Daady by the feet so his head could get away from the shower wall. Then she put a pillow under his head and made a telephone call. All this time me was the perfect little schnauzer, still sit-staying out of the fall zone which is right along side of the wheelchair, real close-like to the brake lever should you ever have to learn to do it.

Finally, Moomie scooped me up and put me in the kitchen behind the baby gate. Me's didn't even let out a peep then or when a noisy truck roared up to the house and two guys came inside. Five minutes later two MORE guys came in. Me could hear them all asking Moomie and Daady questions. Daady can't talk much---just one word at a time---but when he said, "Gas" Moomie said, "He fine now. When he starts giving tours of the artwork, he's fine." (The bathroom is decorated with photos of old gas pumps that Daady used to collection.)

Then at night another bad thing happened. The lights went out and they stayed out for four hours. It was getting really cold in the house, too, and me didn't even fight Moomie when she put a winter coat on me. Daady didn't fight when she made him go to bed early either. Poor Moomie. She had quite a time getting Daady out of his electric La-Z-Boy in the dark. She was holding a flashlight in her mouth trying to put the back-up batteries in a thingie. Earlier she had hooked my flashing light on my collar and a clip-on light on Daady's shirt until she got us both where she wanted us to stay until the lights came back on. Moomie said to pretend we're all camping. Me doesn't know what camping is but me's don't think Levi would like it. Anyway, me's got another gold star but it was kind of dumb to get that second one just for not getting lost in the dark. Moomie doesn't seem to know that we doggies can see in the dark. ©

Smell ya later,

Love Levi

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Levi is Back!

Anyone there? Levi here. Boy, I had a busy week since the last Schnauzer Saturday. Wanna read my diary?

Sunday: Moomie let me sleep in the master bedroom for the first time. Me forgot to kiss her goodnight at first but I remembered around 4:00 AM so gave it to her then. She wasn't very happy about that. Levi doesn't know why. I give good kisses.

Monday: Moonie and Daady took me to a park to look for sticks. Me found bunches of them but she wouldn't let me take them to the river to wash them off.

Tuesday: Me found a GAINT toad in my dog yard and Moomie almost wet her pants when I told him "hello" and tried to kiss him. She got so yellie it hurt my ears. He was almost as big as me. No, really, he was. I hope he comes back but Moomie scared him pretty bad. He hopped away before she could kidnap him and put him in her Relocation Program.

Wednesday: Moomie and Daady went to some place called a car museum and they were gone a LONG time. I had to stay home, they said, and keep the place safe from aliens from outer space. Daady came home with a big smile on his face and all night he kept saying, "old" over and over. "Old" must be very good but me was disappointed that Moomie and Daady didn't tell me what a good job I did watching for aliens to land outside the windows.

Thursday: Levi found a moving stick by our cattails but Moomie got all yellie again and she wouldn't let me play with it. Me don't understand. At the park she didn't care how many sticks I carried around. That one must have been really special. She even gave it a name---Baby Blue Racer.

Friday: Me got to go to Starbucks for a little cup of cream. Moomie and Daady LOVE Starbucks and me loves the girl at the window who gives me cream.

Saturday---today: Moomie FINALLY let me get on the computer. She is still typing, typing, typing ALL THE TIME at the political sites and won't let me at the keyboard. She promises only one more week and she will get back to normal. Where is normal? Where is she going?

Smell ya later.

Love Levi

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Best of Levi Sleeping Award

Mom and Dad went to a family day picnic today. They had all kinds of entertainment for kids and grandkids, which Mom and Dad don't have but they always go anyway. Among the activities was a clown show, a balloon artist, dunking booth, fish pond and Mom's favorite, a cake walk.

Mom has fond memories of cake walks going back over sixty years to her pre-school days when she won a cake at her very first cake walk. It was a strawberry angel food cake made from scratch and it was decorated with whipped cream and juicy red berries. The cake walk was a popular custom at the weddings of her youth. Mom walked the cake walk a dollar's worth today---four times with 2008 rates---and she told Dad, "Some traditions die hard when you have such vivid memories of the first time you ever won a prize." That got me to thinking about poor Levi not placing in the medal at the Paw-limpics today. Every puppy can't win every contest they entry but they should have a good memory of their very first contest. So I want to create one for my baby brother.

Levi sent in several photos for the sleeping category at the Pal-limpics and the judges picked the first one below to go up against all the other dogs who entered. Did they get the best photo of Levi sleeping? I'm asking all our friends in cyberspace to vote between the four below so I can present Levi with his very own prize. Silly, I know, but he'll be so happy when one of his photos wins this Best of Levi Sleeping Award that he'll forget all about not winning metal at the Paw-limpics. Vote in the comment section!


1) The Wall Hugger



2) The Floor Kisser



3) The Full Monty #1



4) The Full Monty #2



Congratulations to all the dogs who placed in the medal and honorable mentions at the Paw-limpics. There were some awesome entries. Here's a link to the sleeping event. Mom especially like Bolo, Archie, Willow, George, Happy and Jackson.

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Three Dog Beds and Mom's Chair

Angel dogs in training are not supposed to be jealous of their charges. And I'm not. Truly I'm not. Really, really, really I'm not. I just want to know why my earth-bound brother, Levi, is allowed to sleep in Mom's chair but I never was. She even had one of those X-Mat pet training things designed to keep me from getting up there. Be warned, dogaroons, those thing hurts when you jump on them!

You're probably thinking there's more to the story. I guess I did leave out that fact that I liked to dig in the chair, too, trying to make a nest for myself while pretending I was out in the wilds of Montana. But Levi will learn to do that as well. Doesn't Mom know that? No, she just lets him sleep where he can keep an eye on her in the kitchen and Dad in his Lazy Z Boy. I'm not jealous---I think I've established that---I'm just concerned for Mom's judgment with raising Levi. She's getting old, you know.

And since I'm making comparisons, he's got three---count them---one, two, three dog beds. I only had one. He's got the soft, cushy one in the laundry room that he uses at night. Another one that fits in the bottom of his crate that Mom keeps in the car, and the third is a 'crate liner' bed that Levi is allowed to drag all through the house so he can plop down and sleep where ever he pleases.

Here is a photo of Levi in his crate liner bed, sleeping next to the waste basket. Can you believe it, he's never looked inside that basket! What self-respecting dog wouldn't have dove in after the junk mail and shredded paper by his age? He's going to be six months old on the 23rd, he should know about waste baskets by now. I hope he's not retarded.

My angel brother Jason says I have a selective memory. He says I didn't need a dog bed in the car because I always got to ride on Mom's lap back in the days when Dad could drive and after that I got to ride on Dad's lap. Levi needs a crate and bed in the car because, 1) he doesn't know enough not to jump out of an open door while Mom is transferring Dad to his wheelchair and 2) times have changed since I was a pup and Mom knows, now, that dogs are safer riding in the back where air bags can't get them.

I'll concede that Jason is right about all of that but he didn't have a logical explanation for why Levi has that third bed. The best he could come up with is that when I am able to let go of my earthly attachment to things, Levi could have a hundred beds and it won't matter to me. This is where Jason loses me with all that Zen stuff. Up here at the Rainbow Bridge, what ever we can imagine having to make us happy---tennis balls, steaks, Sarah with her pink tutu, fields to run in, water to play in---they magically appear. Yet when I look down on earth, all I'm suppose to see and help nurture is love, compassion and laughter.

"You already have that ability inside you," Jason told me. "You just need to master using it."

"Couldn't you just wave a magic wand and make me full angel wings worthy?" I begged him. All I've got now are those stubby trainer wings, you know.

"And have you miss great opportunities to grow and learn?" he answered with a smile. "That's not the angel way."

Love, compassion, laughter, growth, and learning---I'm tired of trying to figure out what all this has to do with Levi having three dog beds and Mom's chair to sleep in. I've got a poker game to go to. I'm out of here. Catch you later, alligators. ©

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Puppy Socialization

Man, I've got to quit watching Mom with Levi in the mornings or I'm going to get diabetes from the sweetest of it. At nap time he was laying on his back in her lap and she was holding his Kong puppy pacifier like a baby bottle for him to chew on. If that wasn't "cutesy" enough she was rocking him as well. If my uncle Jerry had seen that, he would have teased her with, "He's JUST a dog. He needs to go live under the porch like a REAL dog." Uncle Jerry likes to sound tough but he secretly has a soft spot for canines.

Little Levi went to his first puppy socialization class last night. He wasn't too sure he was going to like puppy kindergarten the first six-seven minutes. He hid under Dad's wheelchair when they let all the puppies off the leash but the instructor told Mom to let him stay there until he was ready to come out on his own. One other puppy---a tiny white Pekingese that came to class in a prissy pink carrying case and wearing a matching dress---hide from the action. The white puppy never did come out from her behind her mom's legs but once Levi ventured out of hiding, he had a great time playing. And as play time wound into full gear, under Dad's wheelchair became the 'time out' place for all the puppies. Some of the bigger breed dogs managed to get themselves soaking wet in the water bucket so Dad got slobbered good between happy kisses and wet paws in his lap.

Mom's not sure she likes the training method the instructor endorses of using food as incentives and only giving Levi three feeding times a day, picking up the dish a half hour later if he doesn't eat right away. Levi is doing well learning to fetch, sit, come, down and heel without using food incentives. Plus all of us furry kids' of Mom's up here at the Rainbow Bridge have been free feeders and she's not sure she wants to change that with Levi. He pretty much eats most of his food just before the roosters metaphorically crow and is ready to poop and pee when Mom gets up at eight. The rest of the day he lightly grazes a kibble bit here and there.

Mom forgot to bring her camera to puppy class. Like I've said before, she is an airhead sometimes. I wish she'd also remember to take some pictures of Levi pooping. He does it with his back to Mom and his little head hanging out between the white pickets of the fence. ©

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