My Before and After (and during!) Photos

The folks at Soggy Paws and Colleen Duncan Photography have posted photos of me (even one in the bathtub!!) on their web site. If you'd like to see just what I had to go through to get fixed up...click here!

there's only so much you can do to help

No matter how much you groom me, clean me up, fuss and coo over me, and tell me that I'm the special winner, there are times that I am going to fall asleep on a muddy towel with my head buried inside Daddy's shoe and then snore like your grandmother. Just accept it. It is who I am deep down under all the bling.

I love my new food!

Okay, okay, I am getting up from a nap with my brother London to tell you what's going on with me. My humans say they'll give me a treat if I do. Well, people seem to love my new hair cut! They won't stop petting my head and telling me I look less like a Maltese and more like a Pekingese! I don't know what those words mean, but I know I look different. I can see better with the fur out of my eyes. My face is nice and clean, even after I eat my chow!

And really, I am writing to say that I love my new food. I had my mom type the label in- it's "Evanger's Pheasant and Brown Rice" and then they stir in a little of the wet food "Duck and Sweet Potato". To tell you the truth, I like the dry food even by itself, with just a little hot water stirred in, and I never liked dry food before!

Mom says this is gross and I shouldn't tell people about this, but we dogs don't mind such topics: my insides have been much happier on the new food. I think my old food was too rich for me.

Mom is going to embarrass me by adding a photo of me bundled up in one of my sweaters. It's very cold in Chicago right now so I need it!

What a Day!

I hardly know where to start. Today might just have been the craziest one of my entire life. And my life hasn't exactly been all naps in sunbeams and walks in the country.

So, we woke up really early, and rushed through our morning walk and breakfast. My whole body was itchy because my fur was way too long and it was all matted up. I could barely see while we walked from the fur over my eyes and all the goop making it clump up in big chunks. I was so embarrassed whenever other dogs saw me like that I'd just bark and bark hoping they'd run away. It didn't work very well. I'm very small and not so very intimidating I guess. And breakfast! Don't get me started. They try, I know they do, we've been through so many different foods. But none of them is very tasty. I can't help it if I'm picky. I'm a special girl and I deserve special food.

But clearly today we were going to go somewhere in that big, fast, noisy thing. The only time we ever get up early and rush through walks and breakfast is if we're going somewhere. I wish London didn't get so upset about going out places. Nothing bad ever happens. He's such a worry wort.

Well, we went and went, and then eventually we got out of the big, fast, noisy thing again. OK, Daddy is telling me it is called a "car" and that's lots easier to type, so I'll do that from now on. We got out of the car and went indoors to a place that wasn't our home. We met people who all knew my name and were very excited to see me! They kept calling me a "winner". I knew I was a special girl but it was nice to finally meet some people who agreed with me! Usually I don't like it so much when Mommy and Daddy leave me with strangers, but these people were so happy about me being there I thought maybe this one time it would be OK.

The first thing they did was have me stand and sit just so and a person had one of those face things that click. Mommy has one, too. They don't seem to do anything but click. I don't know why they always point them at me.

Apparently, this is one of the places that we go once in a while, where I have to get a bath and then they cut all my fur off. This takes a long time and involves getting all wet and things. Sometimes it seems nice and sometimes I just want it to stop. I can be a bit confusing and overwhelming. But when it was all over, I wasn't itchy anymore, and I could see all around, and my face wasn't clumpy or goopy! Everything was just soft and clean. This was very exciting for me.

Then there was even more of the clicking machine. This time with lots of strangers -- human strangers and another dog stranger. Her name is Nina and the humans said she is a winner, too. They also said she needs a forever home. That made me a little sad. I used to not have a forever home and it was terrible. At least I had my London with me to keep me safe and not so lonely, but Nina doesn't have a London. I hope she gets a home soon. She was nice, and they made her all soft and fluffy and clean too so she looks wonderful! We ran around and around and around shouting to each other about how pretty we both look. That was fun. London was anxious about it because he's always worried other dogs will hurt me or will take his place as my partner. He's silly. No one will replace him, and Daddy won't let anyone hurt me. He's even bigger than the big, big dogs, so I know he can keep me safe.

After the clicking was done, Mommy and Daddy came back. They made lots of excited sounds and held me and pet me. I like that. It makes me purr. I don't know what a "cat" is, but everyone says that I secretly am one. They're wrong. I'm Mei. That doesn't sound anything like "cat".

Being a winner means that along with my fancy bath and haircut, I also got new food! It is the best food we've ever been given. I even have second helpings sometimes, and I -never- wanted seconds before. Daddy says that maybe soon I won't be so skinny anymore, which is good because I get cold a lot.

All the excitement made me very tired. When we got home I curled up on my pillow and took a very long nap. All this typing is making me tired, too. I have to run all around to get to the right buttons. Daddy says it is time to push the button that says "publish post", so I am going to do that, now.