Opey's Journal

We got to go camping again.  We went back to a campground that smelled familiar to me.  It was on a river.  While we were there, we did lots of things.  My favorite was visiting Cherokee, NC where the Cherokee Indian Reservation is located.  We saw Native American’s dancing and we watched them play drums and flutes.  My moma bought us an Indian headdress.  This is not one of my favorite things, but it seems that whenever we go anywhere she has to make us look stupid—and then take a picture of us for everyone to see how stupid we look .  Although, I thought Gates looked more stupid than me because before my moma made the picture, Gates chewed some of the feathers out of her Indian headdress.  Just look at that picture.  How silly she is.  She tried to eat my headdress, but I growled at her. 

Later Alligator

Opey

SHE is 8 months old now.  Whew!  I am tired.  This has been a journey.  She still chews on everything—including me!.  She chews my ears and bits my hind legs.  I never chew on her!  What is wrong with this picture?  She has chewed up piles of shoes, several toys, numerous sticks of wood, a water hose and  TWO shop vacs.  But two weeks ago was the worst.  We were getting ready to go camping.  My human daddy brought home two twenty pound bags of charcoal because we like to cook out when we go camping.  He put the charcoal on the floor in my garage.  When everyone but the two of us had left for —where ever they go each day—Gates got curious about the charcoal.  First she pulled the top bag to the other side of the garage.  I just lay on our bed and watched.  I did nothing.   This is not my fault.  After she pulled the bag across the garage she ripped a hole in it.  Black charcoal began to slide out of the bag.  She ripped it more.  Soon charcoal was everywhere.  She thought this was so much fun that she got the second bag and ripped it apart.  Now, there was black charcoal and charcoal dust all over the garage.  Gates was so excited that she ran and jumped on ME!  Now I have black charcoal all over my white chest.  I do not like being dirty.  She made me dirty.  I look like I’ve been bad, too and I haven’t done a thing.  When my daddy got home, he knew who the villan was—GATES Almighty!  She got a spanking with a loud newspaper.  She sulked a while but soon forgot she had done anything.  So much for those two bags of charcoal.  What a mess.

Later Alligator

Opey

I have been living with HER for about 4 months.  She will soon be 6 months old.  Should we celebrate? Naaaaaa. That would be one more thing to get her excited—and believe me, we do not want to do that.  I know I get excited sometimes like when my humans come home each day or when I get to play “chase the ball”.  But Gates!!! Mercy me! Excited is not the word to describe her.  She is totally out of control!  She runs and runs and runs like a black banshee.  She jumps on me, on my humans—and sometimes she just jumps up in the air for no reason.  I think they make medication for this condition…and she needs a double dose. 

Gates is pretty smart, though.  She has even taught me a thing or two.  For example, during Christmas my human put some sleigh bells on the door that leads outside.  Gates learned really quick that she can nuzzle the bells and a human will open the door for her to go outside.  Now, even though Christmas is over, the bells stay on the door knob.  When we want to go out, we just nuzzle the bells and the door opens.  It’s a miracle!! Before this, I just sat at the door and hoped someone would read my mind and let me out.  The door bells are a much better idea.  We even carry the bells when we go camping.  They work there too!! 

Gates is no dummy, but she still needs medication.

Later Alligator,

Opey

Well, my worst nightmare has come true.  There is a puppy at my house.  HER ! name is Gates.  She is in to everything.  She bites my feet.  She bites my belly.  AND she bites my ears! She is forever jumping in my face and when she has a toy in her mouth, I just want to TAKE IT AWAY!  I do that most of the time.  We have a tug of war.  Sometimes I win.  Gates has a bed but she lays in my special spots.  When she does

me and Gates

 that, I growl at her.  She just needs to mind her own business. 

Gates likes to play with Buster who lives across the road.  Now I worry that she will follow him home.  She likes to wander in the woods and worry that she will wander too far and get lost.  Sometimes she plays outside and I cannot find her.  I worry that something has happened to her.  If she wakes up at night, I have to check to see what is wrong and tell her to go back to sleep.  She eats out of my bowl instead of her bowl.  She drinks out of my water bowl and not her bowl.  She turns her food bowl over and makes a mess.  It is something with her constantly.  This is so stressful!!! I am becoming a wreck.  My feet were even dirty last night and I never let my feet get dirty.  I am falling apart and all because of Gates.  She just gets on my nerves.  Well, mostly…. I do like to play with her sometimes and I like it when she falls asleep beside me.  I think it is fun to steal her toys away.  It is funny to hear her growl and bark at me.  She does not have a big loud bark like me.  Her bark is more like a little peep. 

Well this is Gates and I guess I’ll just have to live with her and all her antics.  Later Alligator!

My humans are doing  a lot of serious talking and they do not include me in the conversation.  Sometimes they talk behind my back.  No that’s not right cause then they would be on the ceiling.  Let’s put it this way.  Sometimes they talk behind my tail…so I can’t hear them.  But I am not stupid. I understand some of what they say.  I heard they say “How do you think he would deal with this?” and ” Do you think he will be jealous?” and “Maybe he won’t be lonely anymore.” and I heard the word “puppy” A LOT.  All I know about a puppy is that once I was a puppy.  Are they talking about me?  Are they telling stories about when I was a puppy?  I will keep listening to see what this is all about.  I am curious.  My humans are acting a little strange—-not that that is unusual for them.  I will be Snoop Doggy Dog and let you know what I find out.  Later Alligator.

My summer shell collection

I had a great summer.  My human Daddy had to work in a place called Beaufort, SC and we stayed at a campground on an island called St. Helena Island.  We visited my Daddy every weekend.  When we were not in Beaufort, my human Momma and I stayed home by ourselves.  I knew that I had to take care of her while Daddy was not home.  So, every night at about 2:00 a.m. I begged to go outside so I could bark really loud and scare all the night critters away.  I barked loud so the hunting dogs down the road could hear me.  They barked back.  They bark kind of funny and they are louder than me.  I barked so that Buster could hear me and he barked back, too.  I barked so that the dogs who live on the other side of the woods could hear me and they barked back.  Once all the other dogs began to bark, I knew that the night critters would run away.  So, I left everyone barking and I came back inside to go to sleep.  Only, I couldn’t sleep now for all the barking going on.  Don’t they know that I need my rest.  I got up and begged to go back outside so I could stop all that barking.  I went to the porch and barked a “Get Quiet!” bark.  No one listened to me.  They just kept barking.  I barked again and they barked back.  How am I going to get any sleep!? Why are they all barking anyway?  I barked a couple of more times and went back inside.   Finally the barking stopped.  The sun came up and it was morning.   Yeah!  Too bad my Momma has  to work.  She probably would like to get some sleep too.  I stayed home and got some sleep. Later alligator.

We went camping during Spring Break.  I got to spend 24/7 with my humans.   That means I got to be with them all day and all night.  I met some new friends at the campground.  One friend’s name is Gabe.  He is a big, chocolate Lab.  Gabe has a whole tail and not a nub like mine.  Sometimes I am jealous of whole-tail dogs.  Even Dennis, the cat next door, has a whole tail.  Not me.  I am not a whole tail dog.  I am just a nub tail dog.  I sometimes wonder what happened to the rest of my tail.  It was cut off when I was a puppy.  I guess it’s still out there ….somewhere …probably wondering where I am.  Just imagine…a tail with no dog.  I”m sure it’s lonely just hanging around with nobody to wag it.  What can a tail do with no dog to take care of it?  I miss my tail. 

There are alligators at the campground.  I told you that story.  Alligators have a tail.  I only saw one alligator on this camping trip because alligators don’t like cold weather and it was cold and RAINY.  The alligators just bury up in the mud and stay warm until the temperatures are warmer.  They cover their tails, too.  Tails have to stay warm.  I wonder if my tail is cold without me.   

We rode bicycles at the beach on our camping trip.  I have a bicycle.  Sometimes I trot along side the bicycle and when I get tired, I ride in the basket.  It is pretty fun.   I bet my tail would like to ride a bicycle.  Too bad it got cut off and can’t do fun stuff with me. 

I met two other friends at the campground.  One was an Irish Setter and one was an English Setter.  Their names were Sophie and Annie.  They both are whole tail dogs.  They have to stay in an electric fence at home and when they go camping, their humans bring the fence flags and put them up around the camper.  Annie and Sophie won’t go near the flags and they stay near their camper all day.   They haven’t figured out that the flags won’t hurt you.  Funny, isn’t it.  Goes to show you that sometimes whole-tail dogs are not too smart.  Hey, that means my brain was not in my tail.  So, they didn’t cut my brain off when they cut my tail off. 

I had fun camping and going to the beach and riding the bicycle, but I still miss my tail. 

Later Alligator,

Opey

Remember my friend, Buster, who lives across the road?  Buster is a little, wiry Jack Russel Terrier and he is a rambler.  He roams all over the neighborhood.  He even goes to the main, paved road BY HIMSELF.  I would never do that.  I am not allowed to go to the road.  I don’t want to, anyway.  The only time I can go to the road is when I have my human on a leash.  Then we walk to the road.  Anyway, Buster goes to the road and sometimes he even crosses the road BY HIMSELF.  He visits all the dogs all around where we live.  I don’t know for sure, but I think he begs for treats from everyone, too.  I know he begs for treats at my house.  Sometimes at night when my family and I are watching TV in the den, I look out the window and there is Buster looking back in the window from a chair on the porch.  Almost every night, Buster comes to our back door and waits for a treat.  He always seems hungry, although I know he is not.  I just don’t know where Buster puts all that food.  He never gains a pound or even an ounce.  But he sure is a food bum. 

Well, Saturday, Buster had a little friend that visited his house.  Her name is Gertie and she is just a pup.  She is a tiny thing and she just does not know the ropes.  Gertie trots off with Buster on one of his trips around the area and through the woods.  Gertie left with Buster but she did not come back with Buster.  As a matter of fact, she did not come back at all.  The humans in the house across the road whistled and called and called and whistled for Gertie to come home.  She was lost– in my space.  I worried all night long because I knew that little Gertie was all alone in the woods.   The woods can be a scary place when it is dark.  There are bears and owls and deer and skunks and foxes and chickens — The chickens live down the road but they get out and come through the woods sometimes.  I don’t like chickens.  Anyway, Gertie, Gertie, Gertie.  Where are you, Gertie??? She was gone all night.  She was gone all Sunday morning.  Did Buster look for her?? NOPE.  He knew, with Gertie gone, he was the master of the house.  He got all the attention.  No Gertie was a good thing for Buster.  But I worried all Sunday until Mr. Rob, the human from across the road, came over to my house to “chat” with my humans.  He said that Gertie had finally found her way home and, although she was a bit frazzled, she was fine.  If Gertie was frazzled, she must have been a sight because her hair sticks up everywhere.  Gertie was lost no more and I was glad.  Now maybe I can get some sleep.  This worrying stuff is for the humans. 

Later Alligator,

Love, Opey

I have a friend named Scruffy.  Scruffy lives at my human Nana’s house.  He got his name because he looks like a scruff-ball—hair sticking up everywhere.  Scruffy loves my Nana and she loves him.  Scruffy showed up at Nana’s one day when Papa was very, very sick.  My human, Mrs. High, told Nana that she needed a dog to keep her company and, like a miracle–Scruffy shows up at her door the very next day.  He just appeared out of no where.  Papa passed away that same day and Scruffy seemed to understand and he stayed close to my Nana.  He even knew where to sit…in Papa’s chair.  It was as if Papa was there telling Scuffy to take care of Nana.  Scruffy has been with my human Nana for almost five years now. 

I did not know Scruffy then because I did not know anybody then because I was not born.  I came along a year or so after Scruffy found a home with Nana.  Now we are best friends and I love to go to Nana’s and visit with Scruffy.  Lately though, it has not been easy for me to visit, because now Nana has a CAT!  Scruffy likes the cat.  What is wrong with this picture?! I don’t like the cat.  I don’t like ANY cat.  They scratch, hiss and smell funny AND they leave footprints on my truck.  So, now when I go to Nana’s, I tell Scruffy to play with me and leave the cat out of it. 

Nana has a swimming pool which I fell into once.  I am supposed to be a good swimmer, but I do not like to swim.  I will tell you that story another time.

Later Alligator..

What is it with this white stuff?  It is everywhere.  It is also cold.  I think I don’t like snow.  It covers up my tennis balls and it is hard to run in the snow.  I have to sort of hop like a rabbit.  I think I look goofy in the snow.  When I chase a ball, it doesn’t bounce like it is supposed to.  It just goes plop into the snow and I have to dig it out.  Sometimes I don’t find my ball at all.  Now that really drives me crazy.  Don’t mess with my tennis balls. 

I stay inside a lot when it snows—-BORING!!!! My humans are getting a little edgy because they have missed work(what ever that is).  But missing work means they stay home with me and I like that. 

I heard that OPE students have been out of school all week!  Little humans like the snow.  I saw that on TV.  But if they have been out of school all week that means that I don’t get any letters.  I like getting the letters they write to me.  I can’t read so well.  I just can’t get past that Domonie level 8.  However, my human reads their letters to me everyday.  Some children want to know what I like to eat or what my favorite color is.  Some want to know what I like to do most.   Lalani wanted to know if I hibernate in the winter.  Nope, Lalani, I am not a bear.  I am a dog and I stay awake all winter except for naptime.  I got lots of Christmas cards from the little humans at OPE.  It was fun to hear what they wanted for Christmas.  I told Jefferson, the elf that sits on the shelf…(and anywhere else he wants to sit) that all the little humans at OPE were good this year and that Santa should fulfill their Christmas wishes.  Jefferson said he would take care of that. 

Well…back to the snow.  It is still out there covering my tennis balls. I guess it will be spring before I get my tennis balls back from Old Man Winter. 

Later Alligator

Opey