Another visit with mom

Allright, it really seems Chris is not going to leave me here in the
kennels this time. One afternoon the sister arrived to pick me up, and
we went home. I mean home to mom's place. There the niece was drawing a
picture for her dad, and I just walked around not knowing what to do.
The humans had a quick lunch, and then the sister brought in a huge
tree. She decorated it and put loads of candles on it, before it was
time to go to church. Chris, the niece and I were the first ones to
leave, we were to block seats for mom and the sister. The niece did a
fantastic job guiding Chris around, because I wasn't in harness. The
usual boredom started, folks talking and then the sisters singing. I
just lay there waiting for it all to finish. On her way out Chris
greeted people, and when we had finally made it outside, she let me run
a bit. Before church Chris took me for a long walk along the romantic
route. She says she enjoyed it tremendously, and so did I.

After we had arrived, the sister disappeared in the livingroom, and when
she called, we all went inside. The candles were burning on the tree,
and even Chris found presents for herself which she was really happy
about. But you know what the best part was? The niece had bought us, me
and the tiny dog, pig ears, and she had even wrapped them. I took them
out of their box, and then sister unwrapped them and gave us each a pig
ear. Even Chris thought that was nice. She should wrap me a present more
often, I think.

The night was over when all candles had finished burning. Chris and I
went downstairs to our former livingroom. No Hapoo house or anything, I
spred out on the floor, and Chris had a matress and a sleeping bag. We
both loved being home. Shadow had called before, but only very shortly.
Then his mom called, but he and Chris ended up talking the most.
However, Chris keeps shattering my hopes of Shadow resuming his duties
as Shadow - he still hasn't shown up, and she says he won't for quite
some time to come. Well, sleeping in the livingroom was quite a reward,
if you ask me.

The next day was wonderful and lazy. The humans had a long breakfast,
and the niece was picked up by her dad. The humans chatted in the
livingroom until it was time to eat. After that they all decided to go
to sleep. Chris says she even slept. The sister took me for a walk
before that, and even in the evening. Chris decided to stay home until
the next day, which I thought was a wise decision.

The next day she gathered quite a few things she wanted to take to our
apartment. However, they left us for a while, I mean the sisters left me
and the tiny dog in the house, and then they arrived with a huge couch.
They tried to pass it through the door, but it didn't fit. So they put
it in the corridor. The sister set up a bed in our former bedroom, and
Chris collected a few more things and put them in the car. The sister
took us home, but Chris didn't unload too much. The sister left, only to
return a few hours later with a man I have never seen before. They sat
and talked only, Chris only decided to put away the things she had taken
from mom's at one point. And when the sister and the man were gone, she
took myself for a Hapoo walk. I think walking at mom's is much nicer,
for it is much more spaceous and fun to walk there.

I think we will be going back to work pretty soon, I just don't know
when. I will keep you updated I promise, cheers, Hapoo.

Thoughtful about Shadow

Hi all:
I am still quite puzzled about the whole Shadow business. I know for
sure that at this time of the year Chris should at one point take me to
the Hapoo kennels and then leave for Shadow's warm place. However, she
has not even brought out one of the frightening suitcases that mean
travel. And the gamble is alway whether she travels with or without me.
Usually at this time of the year it is the without side of the game, but
when Chris comes back she is full of Shadow's scent, and in her big huge
bag tuere usually rest Hapoo treats and maybe a new toy, like last
year's frisbee. Even the bag smells like Shadow, and all the clothes she
wears - some of them I have never seen.

Allright, let's see here. The strange things began before summer, when
Chris talked on the phone for ages with Shadow, but something had
changed. She was not happy after the talk had ended, but thoughtful and
sad. That didn't seem to mean much, because in early summer Shadow
stayed with us, and all seemed to be normal. We even went on a nice trip
with a car where I could go along. They talked in the bedroom, and we
went to the city all together.

However, Shadow left before it was Chris' birthday, he went to his Iran
place. Then the sister came and mom left for Norwegian vacations, and
the strange phone calls continued. There must have been one crucial one,
after which Chris just lay down and cried. Sister came in and hugged her
and waited until the tears were gone, and I think she took great care of
Chris. I didn't know what had happened, except that Chris was in a
strange mood, not necessarily sad, but her happiness wasn't real. And
when mom came back, I even heard her talk a few rough words about
Shadow.

Well, then we started going to work, and I loved it, as you know. Chris'
mind must have been diverted, for she was not all that sad anymore. The
phone talks with Shadow got far less frequent, especially after we
changed places from mom's to the apartment. Chris brought everything
that was Shadow's, but she didn't put it up, but instead everything was
put in a huge bag. She says she wanted to put the bag in the basement,
but the air isn't too good down there, especially in winter, so she
keeps the big bab upstairs in the bedroom. Every now and then she finds
something that is Shadow's, and then she very slowly walks over to the
bag and puts it in with the other belongings of his. She says she has a
hard time putting in the fish cup, but that, too, is his.

Chris says she is not going to see Shadow this year, and from now on he
will not follow her like the Shadow that he is. She says that job is
quite time and thought-consuming, and he has decided to change people
for a change. I don't know if that is legal at all, you cannot simply
change the person whose Shadow you want to be!

Okay, if you aren't listening to Chris, then let me tell you that it
took quite a while not to bark at you, dear Shadow, and I miss licking
your hand when you expect it the least. I have shared you with Chris for
as long as I can remember, I have tried to be generous and not jealous
when you hugged her and she had no hand free to scratch my hand. I
played runrun with you and accepted you in the pack, I even obeyed you,
and that is a tough one for me.

So, Shadow, if you are ever going to be a good and faithful Shadow,
always remember the one who taught you to be a good Shadow for so long,
and me, who has named you that! Maybe you fancy a good explanation of
the current state you're in? Are you going to see us again? And if so,
what will be different?
Well I know one thing: I sleep in the bedroom now - not to annoy you,
Chris insists, but because I kept biting myself badly. If it were for
you she'd have tried to put me in my house, without success, I fear. So
if you ever come to resume your duty, I will be quiet and try not to
bark at night, okay? And if you come and will not remember your job,
then I'll bark in the middle of the night, right beside you. And I will
wake you up by licking your hand, there you go!
But all of that aside, you will always be my Shadow, you deal with it,
Hapoo.

A weekend with mom

Hi all woofers and humans:
Last Saturday, I know it was a Saturday, because Chris didn't have to
work, mom arrived at some time during the day, and we all left by car.
Chris only took me out on flexible leash, so I thought we were going to
the forest again. But instead we went into a store I had never seen
before. The store was not at all boring, because almost as soon as we
entered we saw folks from work. And guess what, Chris proved to be
smart. Since I was not in harness, everybody could reach down and pet
me, while Chris talked with the folks. We walked around, and Chris had
fun naming the things she touched, like during that week in Berlin some
time ago. We went to the restaurant, where the humans had food and I
just lay down to relax, as always, and then the real shopping tour
began.
We got a shopping cart, and then they collected a few things. Chris even
found her most favourite flowers, the madonna lilies, but chose to buy a
circle of candles instead, if you wish. It's a few candles in a circle,
I think eight of them, and they are now in the living room on the table.
They are standing on metal arms that almost meet up in the center.
Magical if you ask me, but she likes it a lot.
Then the ladies put three long heavy packages on the cart, and then all
of a sudden we had to leave the house without our groceries and
purchases. No fun, but there was a boy who wanted to pet me. I think he
was cool, but we didn't see him after we were allowed back inside. Chris
says it was a test run in case there's a fire in the house. I always
thought she loved fires, especially those outside.
We packed up another package and then went for money sucking - I mean
Chris says they suck away the money from her plastic card - whatever.
When we arrived at the car, two men asked if they could help, and in
five minutes all packages and the grocery were inside, and the three of
us as well. We went home, mom and I relaxed in the livingroom, and Chris
carried three packages upstairs, before she, too, relaxed.

After some time of relaxing, mom taking a bath and Chris setting up a
shelf, Chris put me on leash and we left. We went for a long Hapoo walk,
took the streetcar, and I was in harness and on the way to the theater,
where a classical concert was about to take place.
The stuff was noisy, but it's much better than staying at home all on my
own. I was rewarded with a long Hapoo walk towards home, then the ladies
had supper, and mom stayed with us for the night.

The next morning we went for a really long walk again, which ended up at
the bakery, where Chris bought breakfast rolls, the ladies had
breakfast, and then Chris set up the shelves, and mom set up the fourth
package from yesterday's shopping tour.
Then the ladies had lunch, and only then mom left. I love it when mom is
here. And when she slept in the bedroom with us, I didn't bark at all
during the night.
There's more to come, I will tell you all about that later. Enjoy your
cold winter time and give me some snow, cheers, Hapoo.

when displaying routines fails

Hi all:

I thought I was a good girl trying to anticipate what Chris was doing next, so we could move on quickly. But this morning she really got me surprised.

Allright, at first I showed a light pole instead of a traffic signal pole, but Chris was ot angry about that. We crossed the big big crossing perfectly, moved around the corner, and then I turned left and stopped to cross the street. Chris thought differently and made me walk on. I walked two steps, stopped dead and turned left, even though cars were dashing by. Chris commanded forward, I did the same. She showed forward with the leash, I did the same. Oho, I shouldn't have done that, she sat me down and told me to stop it. We walked some more along the wrong side of the street until Chris finally gave the okay for me to cross the street. I was to walk slowly, not to run - allright.

 

Having arrived on the other side of the street, Chris walked towards the right with me first, then had me stop, do a turnaround and walk right back. We walked back until I walked straight without hesitation. And then we turned back again to continue towards work.

When we arrived at the street where I usually do the diagonal crossing coming from work, Chris made me turn and cross the street in an apropriate manner, meaning straight to the other side. Then I was allowed to walk on to work, and I cleared Chris of all the obstacles that were there. She even praised me on the way and we played a little, and then we walked on. Chris says that once things were sorted out about who had the final say, I was a good girl.

 

But there was something else I did: I spotted Petra and ran through half of the room to greet her. I was quickly called back to my bed by Chris, who wouldn't tolerate tis puppy-like behaviour. Petra had a good laugh, ignored me for a while and only petted me then. But hey, there were many more people petting me, how I love it! Even Anne did when we sat in the cafeteria after the big run was gone.

 

And in the afternoon Chris was really happy about my work. With her help I crossed the street allright, without the diagonal, found all traffic lights, avoided a small construction side, cleared Chris of a bicycle rider and took her home allright. But when she was cleaning the stairs, the boy from upstairs came with his dog, and she petted the dog, a GSD named Dana. Chris says she is not nice towards woofers like me, and despite my loud protesting I stayed behind the door until Chris had finished cleaning and came back inside. She herself says she had a rater busy day at work but she is happy with the results. Cheers, Hapoo.

The forrest run

Hi all:
I seem to be getting a lot of offleash time lately - and it's such fun!
Yesterday one of the nice ladies from work picked me and Chris up, and
we drove for a while. We arrived at a place where quite many people had
gathered, they all seem to be from work. I even saw Petra, who, of
course, gave me pets and treats out of her pocket. I was not in harness,
Chris hadn
't even brought that, but I was only on flexible leash. Chris told
everybody that they could pet me as much as they wanted today, and I did
get a lot of pets all day. First we sat and the humans had breakfast,
and then the nice lady who has a really tough time resisting to pet me
talked quite a bit. We finally left the place, guided by Petra and
accompanied by both of the nice ladies from work and many more,
including Marian the furniture man. As soon as we were on the forrest
route, Chris let me run off leash, and I ran like a young one and
bounced like a puppy. I crossed the road, circled around the flock of
folks and maneuvered my way right through and started all over again. I
then spotted a few people waiting ahead of the humans, and went to see
what they had for us. They talked and then gave the humans some
chocolate treats. I tried if I could get one or two, but of course, no
chance. Chris has them all trained perfectly as far as the no food
policy is concerned. The no pets rule is a different story <heehee> We
went back into the breakfast place, but this time it was boring. I just
had to wait till they were finished doing whatever it was they did.
Marian came out with a big basket full of stuff, but no treats, only
human drinks. And human drinks, believe me, are nothing at all to even
lift your head if you're lying in a cozy place. They all took photos
with small cameras that seemed to apear out of the blue, and even
Kerstin, the lady who is so so afraid of me, had her picture taken with
me and petted me. But Chris stayed on my other side and made sure I
behaved nicely. Of course I did, I know when it is important to behave.
More stops in the middle of the forest, more people telling something
and then the humans to play some kind of games I have no idea about.
Chris says they all had to do with what she does at work. Then it was
lunch time, and I got to see the cousin at one point, though very
briefly. After lunch we went out again, this time guided by another lady
I don't know, but Chris says she is at work, too. We saw Max, my most
favourite pets sneaker. He first talked, and then he asked if he could
pet me. Chris was quite amaed he even asked, but then I got my pets, of
course. I was really exhausted by the time we returned to the central
gathering place. When our guide had found us a place to rest, I
immediately dove in under the table and slept there, while the boss lady
talked some more, people walked to her and back to their seats, and
finally the humans had cakes and coffee. And right afterwards we left
with the nice lady from work and her car.
Chris was not feeling too good, so she spent the rest of the evening on
the sofa and in the bathtub and then in bed. She really slept late, and
this morning it rained like hell when we went for the Hapoo walk. Chris
used the mobile roof again, and I got dried with a big towel once we
were back.
If my spying ears haven't left me, mom is coming over, yippee!
Cheers and good Sunday, Hapoo.

The beach and the old home

I was on the Beach on Monday, that was such fun! We went there with mom
and Chris' aunt, and Chris let me run free. There were just a few people
with things they held on long long leashes and that flew up in the air
in the wind like tiny tiny planes. I think grandpa Ajax (now on rainbow
bridge) wouldn't have liked that, but I didn't care. I jumped about the
place for at least fifteen minutes, rolled in the sand and jumped and
run some more in huge circles around the humans. And I love it so much
that mom plays with me. And then we went home to mom's. I wasn't sure
what to do at first, but when Chris put me down in the usual spot in the
livingroom and petted me a bit, I felt everything was okay. There was
just one exception:
Yesterday we went downstairs to where we used to live, but nothing was
the same. No Hapoo house, no couch, no TV or anything, just the shelf
and the karpet. Well, the furniture has moved to the apartment, but I
think I should be staying downstairs. Chris packed a huge backpack of
small things and found her most favourite records and also brought the
samovar.
Mom and the aunt took us to the apartment, we carried everything
upstairs and then they took us to work. There we met the cousin Anne,
who ran and played with me.
And at work Chris discovered a Hapoo bone. Somebody had put it on her PC
to give to me, and she did, fortunately. At first I didn't want it, but
then we played with it a little, and then I really finished it up. We
wwere at work really late last night,
When Chris finally shut down the PC, she was quite tired, I could tell.
She let me run off leash in the usual area and then I guided her back
home. There were uneven spots on the sidewalk, and I guided her around
them like it was a part of daily routine. Wel it is, it is my job. I
found all traffic lights, did a marvelous diagonal crossing in te quiet
street, which makes Chris laugh, and then walked straight home in the
dark. She says I was wonderful.
Of course I am, and I think we will be having another late shift
tonight, because we are still at home. Cheers, Hapoo.

My Berlin trip

Update on Sunday, November 11, 2007
I know now what happened, so I can tell.
We all got up way too early, Chris took me for the Hapoo route and I
very briefly had the chance to play with Cherry, and then she cleaned up
some more, Eric got ready and we left for work. I found all traffic
lights, and Chris praised me big time for that. At work we did not go
upstairs, but we waited with others I didn't really know for something.
We got into a car and stayed there forever. Every now and then Chris
talked with a guy, or better said they joked, until finally Petra and
the other fun lady got in and we left. We got out somewhere, Petra took
me for a small Hapoo route, and then the humans had breakfast. We went
by car some more, and then we arrived at a hotel. Chris and I had a huge
room, but there were no carpets in it. But when she opened the door
there was a small courtyard where I could go and do at least my small
business. We just had time to put down the bags and Chris gave me water,
and then it was back into the car and into a huge store where I bet
Chris wanted to shop. But before that it was food time, and then we went
into the store.
However, they did not shop for anything for a long time, but instead
they looked at all kinds of furniture, sat on couches and in armchairs,
looked at shelves and tables and all that. Just after coffee Chris
bought a huge cushion and had Eric carry it for her. At the hotel I
found out that it was my assigned bed, because she did not want me to
sleep on the wooden floor. It is so high and thick, I at first thought I
would get in trouble for stepping on it, but Chris encouraged me, so I
tried it. And from then on whenever we were in the room or the door was
open, I ran for my royal bed and lay down on it. O you haven't seen such
a comfortable bed ever - it is some 10 centimeters thick, and some nice
and firm edging. And when I lay down on it, it is like a little nest for
me, and I can still look out at things around me.

The following day it was the same, just looking at furniture, not buying
a single piece. But at night we went and the humans had something to
drink and Chris had ice-cream. The third day she and the ladies did go
shopping for clothes, while I stayed with Eric and the two other guys. I
had an aching ear and tried to cool it on anything I could find. I
generally felt stressed and tired that day, it wasn't nice, though Chris
gave me many pets and tried to let me rest. Thankfully Petra was there,
and she cleaned my ears at night. After that treatment I felt much
better, and on Thursday I was back to my usual self.

On Thursday Chris and Eric went separate ways from the two others, and
they had a lot of fun exploring kitchen furniture. Chris always opened
drawers and closed them again. She says it was so nice to see how
swiftly and quietly they closed. In the afternoon we did return with a
few shoppings, including a water bowl for me and a wooden cutting board
for mom. And at night we all went into the nearby restaurant, I didn't
even have to wear my harness. The humans had a lot of fun and laughed
about stories they told, and some of them drank a lot of stuff Chris
wouldn't even like to smell.

On Friday I saw something strange. First after breakfast even Eric and
Chris separated. Chris and I went with one coach and stood behind a
counter where the man didn't sell things, but he only handed over
plastic cards and received ites from the ones that had stopped by. He
calls that return, though I don't know why the people exactly were asked
to return. Of course, I was admired nicely. We went exploring, and the
coach showed Chris a lot of things at our side of the counter. We went
into an area where you can buy reduced things, as Chris calls it, and
quite soon I saw something spectacular. The coach pushed a cart with a
whole chest on it, like it was the grocery or so. I don't know what
exactly happened to it, but they drove the cabinet somewhere and I never
saw it again. How can one person move one huge piece of furniture so
easily? Two men were needed to lift it on the cart, so why could she
just navigate it around like it was nothing?

Well anyway, we met up with Eric and his coach, and then Chris and I
changed to the other coach, who took us to an office and explained Chris
a few more things she found interesting. We then walked around a bit
more and saw how carts with packages moved from the back to people who
then took them away for good. Probably mass shoppers or so. At lunch we
met up with the others, and then the car took us back home, or to work,
to be exact. And there Eric took the bowl and my royal bed away, while
I spotted mom and we left by car. Mom received a few things she really
likes from Chris, and she showed us a slightly longer Hapoo route at
night before she left. I really love it when mom comes to do something
with us, for I love mom and her pets, and I love it when Chris is
relaxed. I think tomorrow we will be back at work, but for now I am
enjoying my break. Today Chris has cooked for mom, and later they had
baked a cake before mom had left.
Cheers for the moment, Yours, busy Hapoo.