Please R.S.V.P.
Hi. Chappy, here.
I don’t know if you all know, or not, but next week is my birthday and I want to invite you all to a party!
No, really. I love having guests, and the more, the merrier, I always say.
Mom, though, told me that our house isn’t big enough for ALL of you, and suggested a virtual party, instead. Well, it’s not the same thing (is there cake at a virtual party?), but if it’s the best I can do, I don’t want to complain. Because, I want to celebrate! (wag)
So, here’s what I thought we could do. I’m going to invite you–right here, right now–to help me celebrate my birthday. Since you can’t bring biscuits or toys to a virtual party, and since Mom said that it would be conceited of me to ask you all to say nice things about me, what I want is for each of you to tell a cute, happy, funny, sweet, or just generally good story about one of the fabulous dogs you know. (Because, you know as well as I do that my species is just wonderful, right?)
What if you’re a cat person and don’t know any good dog stories? Well, first, I personally don’t understand how you can BE a cat person, but Mom keeps telling me that cats are perfectly nice and that if a person can’t have a dog, it’s still better for them to have some kind of furry, four-legged creature to love which, I suppose, is true. But still, you have to understand that I AM a dog, so if you’re a cat person, I want a funny, possibly even embarrassing, story about a cat you know. Because, they just are all so smug and think they’re so perfect…. (Oops. My prejudices are showing.) But, you know, nothing bad, but something a little embarrassing, like the time they ran nose-first into a mirror. (Be quiet, Mom!)
What if you’re not a cat OR a dog person? You poor, poor human….just do the best you can, and we’ll try to make allowances. (wag)
So, tell me your stories here in the comments on this post and Mom promised that there would be a party favor for at least one lucky person. I’ll personally take time out of my celebrating on Monday (the seventh, my actual birthday) to select a winner, but your story has to be HERE to be eligible. (I’m bred to be a hunting dog, but Mom never trained me to hunt anything more complicated than crumbs on the kitchen floor.)
Isn’t this exciting? I love parties–especially when they’re all about ME. Though, still, I wish there were some way you could send biscuits over the internet…
Hope you can come! My tail is wagging already!
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
Dear Chappy, Happy Birthday!
You really need to stay away from crayons!
When I was little, Ding Dong School was a program I looked forward to watching all the time. Miss Frances (the teacher/hostess) would have crafts and you could order Ding Dong School crayons. My Mom ordered them for me since I wasn’t old enough to write a letter asking for them. I loooved my Ding Dong School crayons. One day I couldn’t find them. I looked everywhere, even between the couch cushions and under the furniture. They were nowhere to be found. Until the next day. That was when my boxer, Skipper, left rainbow colored presents in many places in the back yard. He had eaten all my crayons! Luckily, they didn’t hurt him, but I wasn’t very happy. My mother, father and grandfather thought it was hilarious!
Nancy’s last blog post..One down…
Happy early birthday, Chappy. Yes, I am one of those rumored cat people… sorry ’bout that. Embarrassing cat story… Hmm. Ok, once upon a time, when my kitty Chaos was an adolescent cat, he was chasing his tail on top of the refrigerator and he got so dizzy that he fell off the top of the fridge! Fortunately, he was ok, but I jumped about a foot at the crash he made. He was too dizzy to even attempt the “I meant to do that” face that kitties are so good at.
Chris’s last blog post..Earworm alert!
Hi Chappy, what a wonderful birthday party to have! Unfortunately my husband and I are now fish people as severe allergies and lifestyle keep us from owning either a dog or a cat and we tried to have both.
But I always grew up in a house full of dogs so I know a few stories. One of the best ones (for me anyway) is when my mom had gone to the door to tell the dogs it was time to come in and our cocker spaniel Emily was running as fast as she could across the yard. She didn’t pause but only looked at my mom by turning her head as she was called and ran straight into the side of the house. She stopped and looked at it as if to say “who moved that over here” and continued on her happy way without any injury.
I do miss her she was a sweet dog.
Once again, happy birthday!
Melissa/Fraggle’s last blog post..Another week…
Dear Chappy,
Alas, my adoptive parents have only cats, and I’m a cat myself, a fact of which I am of course very proud. However, I grew up a feral child, living under a schoolhouse in the company of several members of your fine species. As a result, I developed a number of doggish characteristics which seem to please my new parents a great deal. For instance, I’m very grateful to my Dad for adopting me and giving me a new home in a real house with regular meals, comfortable furniture, and doting attention. Dad is the Alpha Dog in my book, and I follow him around constantly, wagging my tail and making little catlike woofing sounds. If he goes into another room and shuts the door, I cry until he opens the door and we can be reunited. The other cats here think I’m hopelessly uncool, but Mom and Dad feel they’ve gotten the best of both worlds with me – half dog, half cat.
I’m so glad to make your acquaintance. You seem like a really fine fellow and I hope you have a very Happy Birthday.
Yours truly,
Cloudy
OMG! Chappy talks like you!
Ok, here’s my fave doggy tale. All of the above takes place in San Fancisco. My best friend divorced her hubby when he got a bit too into the cyrstal meth. He had an Italian greyhound that he gave to someone to take care of while he got his act together or something. My friend found out and volunteered to “adopt” him (since SF is a small town afterall) . Adopt him in the sense that my friend wanted her ex’s doggy to live with her and her doggy. A mutual friend brought the doggy to my flat. He stood in the loooong hallway with me in the back and him in the front and was just shaking like a leaf. He had no idea where he was afterall. Then he saw me (after a year of passing from friend to friend) and bounded down the hallway into my arms. He was so happy to see me as I was to see him. His mommy came in soon after that and he’s still with her ten years later. He’s old and smelly, but we both have a special place in our heart for eachother.
Happy Birthday Chappy!
sil’s last blog post..Greenish
Hi Chappy,
I have been a long time lurker, but I tell my three doggy kids about you all the time. They would love to play with you and celebrate all of your B-days! They send many biscuits and toys. I have many stories, but the most recent is about the newest kid. Daisy came to join us in December. I have always had free or pound dogs. Daisy was free from my cousin. She is a black lab/border collie mix. Daisy has a box in the house. She is the only one that is not quite trained not to chew on everything. Well, Daisy’s daddy thought he put Daisy in her box for the day and we left for work. I had an errand or two to do after work and we did not get home until about 9 hours later. Let me tell you. I can laugh about it now. I walked in the house, put the dogs in the front yard to run and play and went back out to Daisy’s daddy and just shook my head. Daisy’s daddy did not shut the box good enough. My house looked like a whole gang of bikers, teenagers, maybe even a neanderthal or two was in my house. I have never seen such destruction. I could not do anything but sit on my porch and laugh with Daisy’s daddy. Well, it was all cleaned up and Daisy was had a serious talking to, but all is well. Daisy will not be allowed out for some time without mommy or daddy supervision. Lesson learned. Have a GREAT B-DAY Chappy and many more to come. -Sara
Happy Birthday Chappy! I haven’t seen you in a while. When are you gonna conme and visit?
Anyway, I can tell you a funny story about my dumb brother, Koni. Mom says it’s a good thing he’s cute, but I just don’t see it. Anyway, I have been playing a game with Koni lately. We wrestle and run around in circles, and when Koni gets a little too hyper I sit down. Koni tilts his head to the side lookin’ goofy and when he calms down just a little bit I pounce on him! He always makes the funniest face when I do it and Mom and Dad laugh really hard. He looks so confused and usually he gets me back by chewing on my leg like a chicken bone, which Mom and Dad think is also pretty funny. But it is fun to make Koni run around in circles chasing my tail since he doesn’t have one of his own. It’s not quite so funny when he catches it and chomps down on it though. Again, Mom and Dad think that it is hilarious. Humans are weird. Anyway, wags and licks Chappy. Come visit me soon! Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Chappy! Stella sends birthday greetings. Oh what can I say about Stella. She is a charmer and people tend to fall in love with her. My neighbors who watche dher while we were in St. Thomas now have a dog of their own. Stella sold them on the idea of a dog. This weekend, Stella met some of Mr. Kim’s relatives for the first time. By the end of the visit they were threatening to kidnap her and volunteering to watch her anytime we go away for a few days. Stella has kavorka. I love her.
Kim’s last blog post..Sock Yarn Hootenanny
Happy Birthday Chappy! My name is Ocean Myst or just Ocea for short. I just had my 13th birthday last month on the 6th. My folks moved me from our wonderful home on the beach in hawaii to the cold…that white stuff freaked me out a little at first! But ilove chasing squirrels, they are so funny. SO that has replaced my beach squirming (kind of like snow angels in the sand). This stray cat showed up last spring, it’s owners moved and just left the poor gal behind. Boy did she suck up to me to be allowed to hang around. She followed my mom and i around and rubbed against me, she would let me run straight at her without moving or running. So i told her she could stay. SOmehow i have become her personal doorbell letting the humans know when she wants inside. She is allowed on the table and counters which is so unfair but other than that she is all right. (except when she tries to cuddle with me on my dog bed, what would the other golden retrievers think??) Enjoy your day!
Hi Chappy! Happy almost birthday! Your birthday is the same day as our Mom’s birthday is! It must be a good day!
Our Mom could tell you lots of good stories about us, because obviously we’re perfect. But she asked us to tell about the time Gracie was just a puppy. It was Easter. Somehow Gracie managed to get into the Easter candy and gulped down a few malted milk balls. Mom panicked and called the emergency vet. They talked her through the quantity and said, well, that’s not too bad, malted milk balls don’t really have that much chocolate and she didn’t eat very many. So just keep an eye on her, she should be fine. She might be a little hyper. She might also get diarrhea.
She did both. Take an energetic puppy, add a sugar high, and send her bouncing down the (carpeted) hallways of our home, yapping, leaving little brown trails everywhere she went. Mom was not happy that day. At. All. But now she thinks it’s funny.
Holli would like you to know that she would personally never do anything that stupid. As a Border Collie, she has more dignity than that.
Happy birthday! We’ll eat something in your honor!
Love,
Holli and Gracie
Amy’s last blog post..Book meme
Sil’s story made me cry.
Happy Birthday Chappy! My story is about my Lab/Rottweiler mix puppy (that sadly my ex got in the divorce), Max. Now Max grew up with two cats and was a wee bit confused as to cat behavior vs dog behavior, so his favorite sleeping spot was in the windowsill of the living room. As a puppy, it was adorable. As a fullgrown 125 lb dog? It confounded the neighbors.
Why? It was warm. And the couch was there to pick up the pup that the windowsill couldn’t quite handle.
Carrie K’s last blog post..Beautiful Beautiful Blue Skies
Carrie K’s comment made me think of my next door neighbor. They have three dogs - all husky/german sheperd mix (I think) that hang out in their bow window - all at the same time!
Happy birthday, Chappy!
I don’t have a dog of my own and our cats are barn cats, not pets, right now. But the friends I travelled with this past weekend have a really neat little dog. We went to a party, and she decided that it was her job to keep track of everyone so she walked back and forth across the deck hundreds of times as people moved between the deck and the yard. Somehow she managed to do this unobtrusively. The hosts had a very sick cat, and the dog was well-behaved about that too.
Happy birthday Chappy! I usually just lurk here and read about your mom’s adventures with you and her knitting (as I love both dogs and knitting), but I have a great dog story that just happened recently, so I thought I’d better share it for your birthday. I apologize because it’s a bit long!
My husband and I got a Cocker Spaniel puppy about 2 years ago for my birthday. Shortly after that we began talking about getting a second dog. A few weeks ago we decided that now was the time. Since I picked out our first dog, I told my husband he could pick out the second and he decided he wanted a Labrador Retriever. At first we were going to purchase a puppy, but then we decided to look around at the local shelters to see if we could rescue a Lab.
We looked on Petfinder.com for about a week, then picked out a beautiful 1 year old female chocolate lab at a shelter about 1 hour away. After calling the shelter to get some additional information about her, we decided that I would go the next day to pick her up. I ran some errands in the morning, then called the shelter as I was leaving to make sure she was still there. They assured me that she was still available and I left immediately. When I got there they told me they had some bad news about the dog I had called about. Apparently when I called, they had checked a book at the front desk to make sure that her paperwork was still there. When I called to say I was on my way, they had gone back to get her ready and no one could find her. They told me they were guessing that one of the caretakers had not locked up properly and she had escaped. I was hearbroken. Not only did my husband and I not have a wonderful new dog, but this poor girl was out lost somewhere. On my way home I called about another dog at a local shelter. Unfortunately, I did not have her kennel number, so I gave the man on the phone the description from Petfinder and he looked through the books. He told me he could not find a dog matching her description and he guessed that she was “already gone.”
When I was almost home my husband called me to tell me to hurry home, because his grandmother (whose cancer had recently returned) had taken a turn for the worse and they were calling all the family to get over to her house. We ended up heading right over there and spending the rest of the evening with her. She passed away early the next morning.
Because we had spent the previous afternoon and evening with my husband’s grandmother, we had not been able to follow up on some other dogs we had found on Petfinder.com. At first, I thought about waiting to pursue getting another dog until we had gotten through the visitations, funeral, and initial grieving, but I decided to call and check on a few of the other dogs anyway. My husband was sad about the loss of his grandmother and I know I have always found the warm snuggles of a dog to be comforting. I found a few more dogs from the shelter in our town that looked promising and got the kennel number from the dog I had called about the previous day (just in case). Strangely, I woke up early that day (my day off) and I decided to call the shelter shortly after they opened.
I was so happy when the person I spoke with told me that the dog I had called about the previous day was still there. Then, she told me that the shelter was completely full and they had just gotten four additional dogs in. If I was interested in a dog, I needed to get there soon, because they were making the decisions about which dogs to euthanize. My heart began to race - I was supposed to call the further away shelter later that day to see if the original dog we were interested in had returned to the shelter, but how could I let another dog be euthanized while waiting for a dog that might show up? I asked the woman if I had until later that day, and she responded that by then the status of the dog I was interested in “may have changed.” I asked her how long I had and she replied “How soon can you be here?” I immediately made the decision to get this dog.
Within an hour I arrived at the local shelter ready to meet my new dog. She was out in the exercise yard and she immediately came when the shelter volunteer called her. She ran up to me, but stood calmly next to me instead of running into me and almost knocking me over as a few other dogs did. She was quite skinny and her fur was a bit scruffy, but she looked alert and friendly. As I filled out the adoption paperwork, one of the shelter employees walked up to me, placed her hand on my back, and said, “You realize you just saved her life.” She had been at the top of the list to be euthanized that day as she had been there the longest.
We have now had Bella almost one week. She is a wonderful, loving dog and gets along great with our other dog, Dusty, and all the human and canine visitors we have had so far. She is working hard on gaining some weight back and remembering to potty outside and not in the house. Otherwise, she spends her time playing fetch, snuggling often with my husband and I, and giving lots of doggy kisses. We are amazed at the joy she has brought into our lives and so happy that we acted when we did and saved this wonderful dog from being euthanized.
I have pictures of Bella and Dusty on her first day with us on my blog ( http://maegan100@blogspot.com ). Have a happy birthday Chappy!
Maegan’s last blog post..Maegan’s May Footies
We rescued a kitty from a family that was going to put her down because she was scratching thekid.(actually, the kid was beating on the cat andthe cat was trying to get away, but I digress)
Occasionally, kitty would get a raw spot that wewould have to take her to the vet to get a shot so that she wouldn’t worry at it and make it worse. Well, one evening we sawshe had one of these spots. not wanting her to make it worse before morning when we could take her to the vet, we thought we would cover it up. Hubby and I got a tensor bandage and wrapped up her shoulder to protect the spot. I finished wrapping, hubby put her down on the couch and kitty just slowly…tipped over. She landed on her nose! poor thing. After we got over our giggle fit, we realized we had wrapped it a leetle too snuggly and the tensor was pulling in on her front leg. Which is why she tipped over with such a puzzled look on her little face!
Carol’s last blog post..O Noes!
Happy birthday, Chappy!
I like cats and dogs equally but have lived with only cats for the last nine or so years. I think you would have liked my cat Britomart, who died in early March. She was very doglike in her disposition!
She was also relentless in her pursuit of food, to the point where she actually opened sealed Tupperwares. When my husband and I got married and went on our honeymoon, a couple we knew took our two cats into their (otherwise pet-free) home while we were gone. We warned them about Britty’s food habits, but seeing her in action amazed them. One told us, “She was so fast, she could seize a piece of dropped food before it hit the ground on the other side of our apartment. She’s a food-seeking missile!”
Marsha’s last blog post..Not quite what I hoped for
OMG! Chappy will be 7? He was just 5. Where does the time go? My story is about my Grover. Our 125# English Mastiff mix. He’s a big snugglepup, but looks very fierce. When we got him last year I took him to obedience class. He’s smart, but strongwilled, so I tried to sway him with different treats. The teacher suggest chicken, but he was only convinced one time and then would not cooperate. So. I stopped at Steak’nShake, a Midwest hamburger place(really good) and bought a double cheeseburger. He will do anything I ask for that cheeseburger treat. It became a joke in class that all the dogs would do anything for that cheeseburger treat. And, to this day, he will not do a new trick without his cheeseburger.
CindyCindy’s last blog post..Friday update
Wow, Chappy, you’re going to be seven? I’m only five. My birthday was last month, but I didn’t get a party.
My name is Pippin. I’m a good dog. My mom always says so.
I have a BALL! It’s the bestest thing in the whole wide world! (Except maybe the beach. One time I had my BALL on the beach. That was great!)
One day, that noisy bell rang, and Mom picked up the little box and talked into it. She got very upset. She put the box down and fell down on the couch and cried and cried and cried.
I jumped up and licked her face, but she just kept crying. What could I do? I know! I’ll give her my BALL! That will fix everything.
I bounced it at her, like when I want to play, and she just shoved it back at me. I don’t think she understood. So then I put it carefully in her lap. She looked at the BALL, then looked at me, and gave me a big, big hug! She didn’t stop crying right away, but it was better. My BALL made her feel better, I know it.
Judy H.’s last blog post..Not Dead Yet… Take Two
Well, I’m most definitely a cat person, but I do have a cute dog story. My sister was dating this guy and he bought her a beagle puppy. When she looked closer, there was a ring attached to her collar and that’s how my sister got engaged. That guy and my sister are now married and have a baby and Princess is the sweetest dog I ever met.
Julie’s last blog post..At the River
Happy Birthday Chappy! I’m Olive, Gracie’s perfect dog. My life was actually pretty perfect before they brought that little crying human home. Mama insists that one day I will like her, but the only thing she is good for right now is when she drops her food on the floor and I get to clean it up. I’m trying to train her to throw a ball, but you know humans, it takes them a little longer to get things than it does us dogs. One of my favorite dog stories is about my mama’s childhood dog, Bubba. He is my personal food stealing hero. He found a way to jump up on the Thanksgiving table and sat on the table and ate the entire turkey. What a dog. Unfortunately for me, my mama remembers this and never leaves the turkey unattended.
I remember when I went to the airport to get my Chesapeake puppy. The breeder had sent me pictures of a pretty ,solid dark brown boy. When they brought the puppy carrier to the counter, I knew it was my puppy. I had to show my ID, pay and then he was mine. Imagine my surprise when I opened the carrier and found a lighter brown boy with a white question mark on his chest instead! He wasn’t the puppy I was expecting but Zach sure was a perfect dog.
I have lots of dog stories, but every one of my dogs is/was special to me. Have a great day, Chappy!!
Hope you have a GREAT day.
Okay, thanks every one! Time is up for contest entries, but Chappy wants you to know that he’d be thrilled if you wanted to keep leaving him more of these great stories…