Sneaky Snack Attack

Got any more snacks???

Tonight while Bridget and Jake were off having dinner with some lovely friends, I got a little hungry. Oh yeah, they fed me my supper before they left, but, well, it's Friday night, and I felt like a little something extra. I remembered how great those animal crackers were, and thought maybe I'd look around in Bridget's school suitcase. Boy, did I score! After opening her suitcase AND digging into her purse, which was inside her suitcase, I found (and ate) the following:
-half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
-a ziploc bag filled with animal crackers
-a ziploc bag filled with peppermint-flavored Rolaids

You can see the evidence against me in the photo -- yes, I ate it all in my bed!
I'm glad she left the antacid, because, well, let's face it, I needed them after my snack attack! I did leave a few rolaids in the remains of the bag, and of course, a lot of shredded plastic. And I'm not a bit ashamed. I deserved those snacks!!!

I am an animal, therefore Animal Crackers are for me

At least that's my logic. Bridget brings little ziploc baggies of animal crackers to school every day. So in her suitcase, which she keeps on the futon in the office most of the time, there is always a baggie of animal crackers. Sometime between last Thursday (when she was last at school) and right now, I decided that I might like to try some animal crackers. It was quite easy for my ferocious teeth to rip through the ziploc and enjoy those yummy yummy animal crackers! I'm a dog, and I'm an animal, and if she thinks I'm going to stop eating animal crackers anytime soon, she has another thing coming.

Evil Things: Vets, Groomers, and You Tube

Here you can see my very fuzzy butt. Isn't it cute? I thought it was just fine the way it was, but no, the peoples, they enjoy tormenting me. They have found so many new ways to torment me this week, I am thinking of going out on strike.

First, I had to go to the vet this week. I have ear infections in both ears. I actually like going to the vet, because they're really nice to me, and they tell me how pretty I am and how friendly I am, and I usually get some treats as rewards just for being me! But now the peoples, they are washing out my ears and then sticking this gooey stuff into them. I don't like it one bit.

AND FURTHERMORE, after informing us of the ear infections, the vet also informed us that I, Carter Stephen Bridge, am "slightly overweight." Apparently I have gained a little over two pounds since June, which I guess is a lot if you're only 30 pounds to begin with. But Bridget has been gaining all kinds of weight this past summer and no one tells her to stop eating treats. I think I look great just the way I am. I'm going to call the folks at Dove and ask them to start a campaign for true dog beauty. I'm sick of the body image police!

Adding further to the woes of my week, I also went to the groomer's this week. They cut my nails and gave me a serious bath and CUT OFF ALL MY BEAUTIFUL CURLY FUR!! I can't believe it. I look like I'm half my real furry size!


Here I am, in my full furry glory, sitting in the car just minutes before I was deprived of all my glorious fur!

And here I am now, with no more fuzz!


My once fabulously furry paws, seen here:




Are now tiny little ones:


In other horrifing news, as if I have not suffered enough indignities, Jake and Bridget recently got a lot of laughs by playing this trick on me where they play a video on Jake's laptop. The video features a cat. This gets me a bit upset, because I begin to believe that there is a cat inside the house. I can hear it meowing! Even when the video was over, I was sure there was a cat somewhere inside or underneath that laptop. They found it so funny, they made their own video of it. I think You Tube is evil. But apparently, Jake is planning to post a video of my performance sometime soon. Stay tuned. Or tell them to stop tormenting me! Please!

Well, even with my haircut, I sure do like riding in the car. And my new fashion accessory is pretty cool too. Check me out:

On Food and Fights (but not Food Fights)

So I continue to get myself into some situations that Bridget and Jake are not entirely thrilled about. Yesterday I got into a bit of a scuffle with Crystal, the very large (probably 100- pound) black lab that lives two doors down. She came running out her front door without her leash (Bridget had me leashed & was talking to a neighbor) and got a little too close to me. I barked, and she barked back, and then, before I knew it, she was on top of me! It was crazy! Thankfully the peoples separated us and there was no harm done.

I've also continued to exercise my sweet tooth. It goes along with my (usually) sweet disposition. About a week ago, Jake brought home some sweets for Bridget, including some baklava and a piece of seminola cake from the Greek bakery. In the evening, she sat down and had herself a piece of baklava. She left the cake in the take-out container, with a lid on it, and then left the container (containing the sweet, sweet cake) RIGHT ON THE COFFEE TABLE!! Now, the coffee table is at nose-heighth for me, so I don't know what she expected. She never even noticed until the next afternoon! It was so yummy.

Then, on Monday night, Jake and Bridget went out to something they called "birth class" at a place called "the hospital." I was a bit concerned, because they left a while before my dinner time, but didn't feed me! When they finally arrived home, it was about a half hour after my usual supper time. Bridget went straight to the kitchen to get my supper, when she let out a big yelp! What could she be yelping about? Apparently, she saw this:



That would be a bag of extra food from the vet that they like to use as treats for me. I had been feeling peckish, and worried the peoples wouldn't come home, so I took matters into my own paws, went into the pantry, and opened the bag. Turns out the opening was totally perfect for me to fit my head right in there and crunch away.

I am one awesome dog.

Rumbledog!

Today at the reservoir, I got into a fight. Normally, I'm a lover, not a fighter, but, well....

Bridget and Jake aren't quite sure what's up, but it seems that sometimes I get irritated by other dogs messing around, doing their barking and wrestling. Sometimes I bark at the other bigger (and younger) dogs when they get themselves all riled up. I don't mind the little dogs so much, and I rarely bark at them, but I do seem to get worked up about dogs who are bigger than me.

Today, it was Joey that got me upset. Joey is a young-ish male boxer. He often wrestles and runs around with Sammy, a pretty big and rather young male yellow lab. Today the two of them were barking and doing their usual thing. I started barking at them, as I usually do. But in addition to barking, I sorta ran at them. Jake kept a firm hold on my leash, but I kept pushing, and eventually, Joey got very close to me and, well, we got all tangled up. Joey actually got on top of me. That was bad. We were both barking and growling. It was kinda scary. They said I was yelping, but that doesn't sound like me at all. I'm a tough dog, not a yelper. Once Jake finally got us apart, there was blood on my head, which got Bridget pretty upset. But it turns out, it wasn't my blood! Joey apparently bit his own tongue while trying to put his mouth on my head. I made him bleed his own blood!

Bridget and Jake made a B-line for home right after the incident. I guess they don't think it's cool that I'm so tough. They even washed the blood off my head, which I didn't really like because it was kinda like getting part of a bath. And the blood made me look tough.

The Great Cake Caper

I'm so disappointed that no one managed to take any pictures of my awesome triumph today. We all went to Auntie Paula's for something called a "Baby Shower." I got to see Aunt Paula and Bus and Marlin, which I always love. There was also a whole lot of tempting food around, which always spells trouble. I was in the livingroom, along with about 8 people who were sitting around talking and watching me. I noticed that there was some delicious-looking cake with buttercream frosting sitting there on a platter on the coffee table, or, as I like to call it, the perfect dog-heighth table. I saw my chance and I took it, selecting a piece very carefully from the corner of the platter and wolfing it down, much to the glee of the onlookers, who thought I had been very polite by not touching any other pieces of cake. After eating all the crumbs I could find on the floor (I kind of made a mess there), I was about to try for a second one when Bridget and Jake got wind of what was going on, and stopped any further snacking. That was lame, but, wow, that cake was good! Thanks, Paula, for inviting me to an awesome party with awesome food and lots of nice people who wanted to pet me and shower me with praise for my very good behavior!

BBQ Dog!

I had an awesome weekend -- I got invited to Somerville to Elizabeth and Ian's house for a BBQ! I got to eat bratwurst and almost a whole hot dog! It was awesome. I played with a nice little girl, and was admired by everyone. Later in the evening, we went inside the house. I was minding my own business when out of nowhere this CAT comes at me. She was crazy! I don't know why she was so angry at me. Bridget separated us. I spent quite some time running around the downstairs smelling the cat everywhere, but I didn't see her again. I suspect she went upstairs, but I didn't investigate further.

Anyway, I had an awesome time -- thanks so much for inviting me to your home, Ian and Elizabeth! I hope I can one day meet your cats and that we can be friends.

Other than that, I've been trying to stay out of trouble. That can be hard when there are so many rules. Like the rule about not going upstairs. I don't go upstairs, but boy, I would like to find out what is so precious up there. Is it a cat? When I know Bridget and Jake are upstairs, I sometimes wait for them, and I try to make them feel guilty by looking like this:


I'm really good at waiting patiently. Sometimes, after I see a small critter (like a chipmunk) that runs away, I like to dig for him and make myself into a doggie tunnel-statue. I hope that the critter will come back. Bridget and Jake often catch me doing this, and they laugh a lot about it. Here's what it looks like: