I've Got a Cat

I have a cat. She came with my new family. Her name is Callie and she is a calico. She was first my friend Reggie's cat, but he really didn't like her, so when Reggie moved to his really cool new house, Reggie's mom asked my mom if she wanted Callie. My mom loves cats and really liked Callie so when Reggie moved, Callie moved to Frances Street where she became Henry the Golden Retriever's cat. Henry and Callie adored each other. Then Henry got sick and died. Callie still had another Golden Retriever, Orion. However unless Callie curled up and pretended to be a tennis ball and rolled herself down the hallway, Orion couldn't be bothered with her.

Callie has been watching me since I got here. She comes down on the steps and taunts me. She thinks I don't know this but I am after all, a Golden Retriever. We met once briefly when I first moved in. I jumped on top of her and then she ran to the third floor and hid under a chair. She's been there since May. Because I am a big boy now and housebroken, I am allowed to go upstairs. Callie has been waiting for me. I love to jump on her and attack her. She's a pretty good sport. She takes it. She's only hissed at me a couple of times. I take this as sign of her affection towards me.

Hawkeye Takes the Plunge

I always knew I had it in me to be a great water dog. I fell in the pool the first day so the parents knew I noticed it was there. I swam when they took me to the beach. I let them drag me in the pool so I could swim around and show them that my large feet were not just for growing into. I wanted to ease into the swimming thing. I didn't want to get them too excited too early. I'm going to be around for quite a while and wanted to leave a few tricks up my sleeve...until I discovered I didn't have sleeves. Anyway, I couldn't hold out any longer. That cool blue water was just to tempting, so as they say, I took the plunge!

At Long Last....A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

There are a lot of special occasions in a dog owner's life. Bringing home that new bundle of fur, saying "Sit!" and actually getting what you asked for, seeing the puppy go to the door and ask to be let out and learning his name. However, I must confess, for me, the day I have been looking forward to the most since Hawkeye came home, was when his puppy teeth would start to fall out.

Golden Retrievers, like most bird dogs, are well known to have soft mouths. It's what makes them great sporting dogs and wonderful family pets. Regrettably this does not hold true for Golden Retriever puppies. It's bad enough that Fang (as he is affectionately known to my arms) has a mouth full of sharp razor-edged teeth. Add to that as a retriever, they are more mouthy than most breeds because they are after all, retrievers.

We have a wonderful vet, Dr. Ronit Berdugo, who comes to the house. She was here two weeks ago to give Hawkeye his final set of shots and mentioned that, "His teeth should start falling out anytime." Hallelujah! Music to my ears.

So began my tooth watch. Every chance I got, I checked those teeth, which wasn't easy since so much of the time they were attached to my forearm, my shirt, the hem of my shorts, my toes or my hand. For fourteen days I have been hoping and praying that today would be the day those razors would start to disappear and the large rounded version would be popping up in his "soft mouth." To quote Key West treasure hunter Mel Fisher, "Today's the day!" We lost our first tooth!