Tashi's Web Photo and Storybook

November 5 -- The picture above is me hanging out on the soft bed that Stan got for me. I've been doing a lot of that this past week. Stan has been having some problems with one of his computers at work, so he has been working nights from home. It's kind of a strange change in the routine since Stan is up so late at night and Becky feeds me breakfast in the morning while Stan is still in bed. I just like hanging out with him, though whether it's on the bed in his office at home or on the mat by his feet at work. Stan still finds time to go throw the ball for me during the day, and most of the time remembers to play the timer, phone or if we are at his office the door knock game.

November 10 -- This morning we had frozen water that was all white falling outside and accumulating all over the ground. It got to be about a half inch deep. Stan calls this snow. I remember I saw this once when I was a puppy with Cindy and Jenny. I really like the snow!! It makes me so happy that I just want to run and run. So that's what I did. Lots of zoom-butt around the yard this morning. Good thing I've adjusted to the altitude, I couldn't have done that a month ago when Stan brought me home.
People occasionally knock on Stan's door at work, like today a couple of guys I hadn't seen before came by. Stan gets so happy when I let him know that someone is at the door, plus I get to say hi to new people. Most of the time the knocks are from people I see a lot, but they are just helping me practice so that I'm confident in the job I do for Stan. Before Stan took me to work he would almost never know when someone knocked.

November 13 -- Today Stan gave me a bath. This is the first bath he has given me since I came home with him. I don't mind getting baths really. The warm water kind of feels good. I've got to talk to Stan about getting one of those puppy dryers like CCI has. My coat dries really fast, but I like being able to curl up in a crate with the nice warm puppy dryer blowing on me when I'm wet. The dog shampoo that Stan used really makes my coat shine and it's so soft now, too. The other new thing today was at dinner time Stan replaced some of the kibble in my bowl with different kibble. This kibble was smaller and darker colored, but I liked the taste of it just the same. We've been playing the hide the timer game and the phone has been ringing quite a bit. I'm still not sure if I should alert Stan right away when I hear the phone or not. If Stan tells me to alert him I know what to do with the phone sound, but I'm just not quite sure enough to do it all on my own.

November 21 -- Between the snow earlier this month and the cold temperatures in the mornings sometimes -- it was 10 degrees this morning, I have started a "shedding cycle". When Stan grooms me, there is lots and lots of hair. The bathroom trash can is over half full with black dog hair. Stan thinks I might be getting close to done since the last couple of days the amount of hair has started to decrease. For the past week Stan has been slowly replacing more and more of the kibble I was used to eating at CCI with this new stuff. I like the stuff he's giving me. When he feeds me, I try to eat the new stuff first. Stan says it has lots of protein and better protein than the other kibble. I'm not sure what that means, I just know it tastes good.
Stan and I still practice every day with the timer and the phone. I'm getting the phone figured out more, the other day it rang while Stan was in his office and I alerted him right away and took him to the phone. When it rings while we're in the living room, I'm still not quite sure if I should alert him or not. It kind of seems like he wants me to, but I'm still getting that part figured out. Stan sometimes moves the timer around, or he will move to a different room to see if I'll still tell him the timer is beeping. I always do, but sometimes it's hard for me to find where they put it. I have to walk around and listen for where it's at. I've always been able to find it, though.

November 25 -- Well a few things to update you on. First of all, people are always playing the door knock game in Stan's office. A lot of times it's the same people I've seen before, but sometimes it's new people. Stan always gives me a kibble when I alert him to someone knocking on the door and I get petted from the person on the other side almost all the time. The other things that happen a lot is the phone rings and the timer goes off at home. I always let Stan know about these things, too. Sometimes the sounds happen when Stan is in different places in the house and doing different things. A couple of times this week, Stan has even been in bed when the timer went off. Stan has told me to alert him when he's been in the bed before, so I knew what to do.

Stan and Becky have started playing a new game with me. It's the "go get Stan" game. Becky calls me over to her and tells me to "go get Stan". Tonight when they played the game I really started to understand it for the first time. I went right over to Stan without him calling me and alerted him. When he asked me what, I wasn't real sure where to take him. Becky called me over and Stan told me yes and gave me a kibble when he followed me to her. That's kind of how the game goes. Stan has also started to tell me to alert him in different places, like at church this week.

Another thing happened sometime a week or two ago that I haven't told you about. Stan had finished up a bag of Doritos and put the emtpy bag in the trash can in his office. Now, when Stan finishes a bag of Doritos there isn't even any small crumbs left. The next morning after breakfast, I was wondering around the house. I decided to investigate the empty Dorito bag. I thought I could get by with it and just see if Stan left any crumbs in there, but next thing I knew the bag was stuck on my head. Becky heard the bag rustling, and came to investigate why there was noise coming from Stan's office when Stan wasn't in there. So she walks in and finds me with this empty Dorito bag stuck on my head. It covered my head all the way back to where my collar is. Luckily for me, she didn't think to pick up the camera that was sitting right there and take a picture or else Stan would insist on putting up here for all of you to see. It was quite a sight, I'm sure. Black Labrador body, Dorito bag for a head.