IZZY

Snow Dog

2008-02-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

On Mt. Bachelor

Family Photo What_The?

2007-05-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Around

2006-07-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bed's too big without you, er, me.

By the Sea

2006-05-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

I love the dog beach.

Dog Over Land

2006-04-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

I went on a cross country adventure. Most of it involved me curled up on the front seat of the Element:

There was also a ton of running along with bikes on trails. I even came up a little lame after tearing through trails in Kansas, but by Flagstaff I was healed. They propped me up on this box, I wasn't too happy but I stayed there.

Sit Stay on a Log

2006-03-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

Here's me looking very inert, obedient in my sit-stay, I am, after all, a certified canine good citizen. Yes, lots has gone on, including another visit from Talley and one more from Princess. After all this hostessing, I'm just happy to go riding daily with my family, we have been doing a lot of trail running. I love swooping through the singletrack. We are getting ready to go on a big adventure, I can tell something's up, because my crate is packed and there's been a lot of rearranging going on around me. I take it all in stride.

Do you like this very 70s style shot of me and Princess?

Get on the Good Woof

2006-01-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

That Bo, man, he kept me busy. But I am glad he's gone now, I get all the love to myself. It was a busy day today, I had a challenge getting some leftover meat out of someone's pocket. I only tore a very tiny, hardly noticeable hole in the pocket in order to get the meat. Yeah, no zipper needed, really, just my canines and I made short work of the little baggie too, I hope none of that got in my tummy. Tomorrow, I visit the vet, because I am suffering from a little embarassing problem -- mange!

Cycle of Friends

2005-12-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

Add to my list of friends Tally, she's a 2 year old yellow lab. I swear she has some shepherd in her, around the haunches. She stayed with us on Xmas, she started out pretty anti-social but we cured her of that in no time.

Now we're hosting Molly, she's a 5 year old Golden. She tries to keep up with the younger gang, but she's not quite up to it. She's still having fun.

Bo is my favorite, he's coming in a week or two to stay, and that should be a wild time, as he and I are in constant motion, bounding, careening and tangling in a puppy playtime frenzy. Yes, I do love me some Bo.

Me and the Girls

2005-12-15T05:53:00.000-08:00

These last weeks have been very full for me, as a hostess I'm a real B*tch, as Princess found out. We were tight, real tight, for the 10 days she was here. This is a photo of me and Cassie, my companion from last weekend. She's available for adoption, quite a gal. Please let me know if you want her, she's a foster dog at www.dogonfitness.com.

I've been working for Doggon fitness, keeping Bo, Bogey and Garrett on their toes. We workout 3 days per week, and we don't hold back, regardless of the weather.

Then after we run, we rest. If you are trying to keep fit, sleeping for a good 20 hours is advisable. Don't skimp on rest. I never do.

New Tricks

2005-11-11T05:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know what the point of it is, but I have learned to 'speak' on command, catch a biscuit off my nose, and 'take a nap.' It used to be all I had to do was sit. More work for the same pay, but I'm not complaining. They underestimate me. Pretty soon, I'll have the bus repaired, and I'll be driving it on a doggy road trip. I'm a super genius.

Izz in Action

2005-11-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

Not up to much lately, just learning French, working on my novel and thinking about going back for an advanced degree. Just kidding!

I'm actually just helping repair the bus, helping install new parts on the bikes, chasing the rooster, helping walk the dogs, and eating up the leftovers. A dog's work is never done.

House of I

2005-10-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

A little bit about my pad. I live in a shack by the river, and I run the place. I have my crate , my couch, my I'm the guard dog here. Don't even think about it. The chickens stay in line because of me. Damn the rooster. If you plan to visit, deliver mail or heating oil, move the neighbors, or be a neighbor, prepare to meet me. Up close and personal.

And if you are princess, the baby GSD like me, welcome! I'm so excited for your visit. You are lovely, take a look: http://imageevent.com/dogonfitness/beard

No more Lampshade

2005-10-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

I'm back to my old self again. Let's toast my recovery, and my not having any more accidents in the shack. Hey, I've been under a lot of stress. Imagine not being able to socialize or do your usual thing--running, jumping, playing in the creek-for two weeks. You'd be a little bit of a mess too.

My new trainer, Eileen at the Capital Dog Training Club thinks I'm great. But she has a thing for GSDs. Man, there is one yellow lab in my class -- I swear, she must be a little slow. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm not really paying that much attention to the other dogs in this class -- I'm not allowed. I'm there to work. Some job, getting treats for the amazing feat of sitting and paying attention. But isn't that really the the secret to success with most stuff in life?

Have I mentioned that I love swimming? I played a lot today, now I have great friends, and now I need a bath.

Oh, and we get to have a dog visitor. Princess is coming here during Thanksgiving weekend. She's another 6 months old shepherd. Let us know if you are homeless/familyless for Thanksgiving, we're having a shack feast and you can come too.

Lets Play

2005-10-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

See what I mean?

Conditioning

2005-10-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

I don't want to dwell on the surgery. Suffice it to say, I have staples and a lampshade, and I'm hiding from the camera. I'd like to see you try to feel pretty in an, "Elizabethan Collar," which earns me the nickname conehead. At first I was having trouble walking a straight line, but today I'm back to running in the creek. This is problematic with the lampshade, which works like a big scoop and gets water all up in my face.

Today I also got a new trainer. She's pretty great, she has a huge 11 year old GSD named Getty, and she spits cheese out of her mouth to him. I hope I can live up to her standards. Or at least get her to spit some cheese my way.

Annie Minnesota will be pleased to hear that the rain felled a dead tree behind our house, and perhaps she'll be unsurprised to hear that the tree is still performing evil deeds--today as a final vengeful act it reached out to grab my lampshade and caught me.

If you need me, I'll be in the henhouse, playing with my chicken friends.

Dark Days

2005-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

Feeling of foreboding started with coming home on Monday and missing Jake terribly, having that limping, moping, sleeping feeling.

Then there was a blood test.

Someone's unwell (I tried to nurse her back to health by licking her wounds. I'm sweet like that).

And I fear someone is about to be.

I'm Bad

2005-09-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

I know you think I'm a good dog, most people do get that impression just looking at me. But over the weekend, while watching some losers circle the yard endlessly on bicycles, something in me snapped. It's great to chase bikes, and after a few spins around the yard, I just kept going. He went down the road, and I saw my opportunity and went for it. Springing lithely away from my owner, I jetted -- up and out, down the street. It was amazing. I dodged everything, the cars, the people grabbing for me. There was nothing that could stop me. Of course, I was eventually reeled in, and carried home in disgrace. But man was it good, that brief freedom.

Now, I've taken up being a shoe chewer. Furniture is good too. I stole a toy elephant from the neighbor girl (my how compellingly she shrieks) and ate the eyes off one by one, swallowing those little plastic gems before anyone could stop me. I'm unstoppably bad and naughty. I ate the cracked corners of some flooring, but then someone put hot sauce on it, yukky.

I need to get out more.

You're Invited

2005-09-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday at 8am we're going to have a whole flock of 'crossers over here to "practice," which from my point of view means a great opportunity to herd you. In reality, I'll probably end up penned in the dog run, but if I do, you'll hear about it.

If you want to join our invitational 'cross practice, leave your comment here with your email contact and you're in. The course is my yard, so you will be on the tight and twisy, with one set of regulation barriers, a run-up and perhaps a few of my personally planted doodie obstacles.

The Big Izzy

2005-09-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm getting huge. I grow almost every day, you can see the difference in me overnight. I'm getting so big that it's hard to run, I outgrow my ability to control my body every day, so I'm a little spastic.

More about my history: I was found by Kristy and Jason on or about July 4th, outside of the SPCA in Baltimore, MD. It was 10PM, I was chained to a pole, and I was yo-yoing out into the road. So Jason couldn't leave me there in mortal danger and all alone. He took me home, and next to me was a blue plastic bin full of puppy supplies and he took that home too. I was only 3 months old~! Can you believe someone abandoned me like that?

Jaon and Kristy loved me at once, but they already had Brooklyn, so they called Liz and she already had Henry, so she couldn't keep me either~and my parents were hanging out with Liz, but they are poor, and they couldn't really afford to keep me either, but they wanted to, so they did anyway, which was great. They met me north of Baltimore at the park and ride, and they fell in love with me at first sight. My little ears stuck up straight, I was tiny and sleepy and cute, and that's all it took.

I was motored away down into Maryland, curled up in the lap of my new mom. When I got to my new home, I peed on the floor for a few days until I got the hang of things, and I played and adjusted to my new surroundings, went to bike races and slept because they are boring to watch. I grew and grew, and now I've doubled in size since those days, and it has only been a little more than two months.

I guess the moral of the story is, (and these are my only deep thoughts on the hurricane that has displaced so many thousands of my canine and other friends) you can adapt to anything, and the place you find yourself may be even better than the place you left, if you look on the bright side. Good luck to everyone in their migrations.

And if you want to send donations, please send me a fancy collar from Fox and Hounds.

I swear i was framed

2005-09-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, it wasn't me. I'm not even sure what it was I did, but somehow I ended up in prison. This fluffy blue dog bed somehow ended up shredded, and all over the living room in VA with the white carpet. I don't see what the big deal was, one minute I was romping happily with Jake, the friendliest black Lab with the hugest head ever. His dad is Christopher, who agreed to watch us both over the weekend while my parents toured for 184 miles to raise money for Alzheimers. It was going to be a great weekend, Jake and I bonded immediately, he pooped in the living room, we were left alone on Friday morning, and that's when the destruction began, but I swear...

We were busted on Friday afternoon, whereafter it was discovered I had a little cyst thing on my tummy -- also not my fault -- and they whisked me away to jail. To add to the humility, I had to wear a lampshade the whole time I was in the slammer. It blew.

I've never been so excited as the minutes after they sprung me. I was walking kinda funny after the prison experience, and I developed a habit of barking a lot and eating poo. I've pretty much gotten used to life on the outside again, running free in the park and chasing my bong. I'm on the straight and narrow now. I'm a changed dog.

In other developments:

I get to go to my first 'cross race on Saturday, team BBQ on Sunday, and hopefully sometime this week I'll get to play with Jake again. Even though he set me up, I think he's dreamy.

Is you is a dog

2005-09-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

I'm a star pupil at puppy school. The Petsmart training system involves a lot of positive reinforcement, i.e. Treat-o-rama for a good dog like me. The blue shirt lady has the best treats, she rules. I do everything she says: down, stay, wait, leave-it and come. I'm teacher's pet. In the photo on the left I attempted to trade her the ball for the chihuahua. She wasn't going for it.

The teacher said I should start real obedience training. I'll be the smartest dog in the world! Annie Minnesota already thinks I'm pretty smart. So does Gwadzilla. Imagine how impressed they'll be when I rescue lost people from rubble, sniff out bombs and land mines, and alert you when Jimmy falls down in a well. I also want to become the National Obedience Champion. We're going to the Capital Dog Training Club. I'm looking forward to it. I hope they have good treats. Not that I'm picky.

You can see my school friends Axel, Mercy and Crumb are rather small. Lucy and Ethel are antisocial chihuahuas. I feel like an enormous oaf around them. I prefer larger breeds. On Labor Day we were hanging out at the park, kinda lonely, when suddenly a huge Doberman went streaking by! Then a Golden Retriever, another GSD, a Lab and several beautiful mixed breeds named Aurora and Rosie. There were 9 all together, I was in heaven. I had just encountered the temporary charges of one Frank Montoya of Waggy Walkys, a dog walking service. I hope we can find Frank again, I can't believe how lucky he is that people pay him to hang out with all those great friends.

Favorite things

2005-09-04T04:53:00.000-07:00

I thought it was great I got to ride in the car on Friday, one of my favorite things to do. Now I have a new favorite -- Mountain biking! We hit up Schaeffer farm park, and after 45 mins, we took a rest and then went out for another loop. It was great. I ran and ran. And ran. I met cows (scary) and chased deer and layed in a mud puddle. Overall I logged 1.5 hours of running, sometimes off the front, and sometimes behind. That's a lot of activity for a 5-month old. I was wiped.

So if you see me at Schaeffer say hi -- I won't chase you, but I might sit in the middle of the trail in your way. I'm never really sure what to do, but I'm cute so hopefully you wont mind.

Speed Trap

2005-08-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at the door today, looking longingly out at the frisbee on the porch, and I notice there are some cops hanging out at the top of our drive. What are they up to, I wonder. Behold! Miracle of miracles! They are pulling people over for speeding. Those people that blaze by on my street, in huge SUVs and fancy sports cars at 50 MPH. The ones who didn't even slow down when I escaped the dog run that one time and went up onto MacArthur to hitch a ride. Man are they gonna slow down today. Thank you Montgomery county police! I even went up to thank them personally, but they were too busy busting people for me to lick them. So awesome!

Yesterday was another great day, by the way. I was preparing to entertain guests in the evening -- my buddy Atlas the 6 mo. old beagle, who I'd never met but loved on first site, and wrestled with and chomped on all night while everyone else ate and gabbed.

I'm always the first to figure out what's going on, so while we were waiting for Atlas, there was someone else--a stranger--at the door, I sat there and checked her out intently from behind the screen. She was a lovely golden retreiver --- we recognized her from the house across the creek. When we opened the door, she came bolting in, made a beeline for my bowl and downed all the rest of my food. Go Molly! We called her parents, and indeed, she had just wandered across the creek into our yard and walzed right up to the front door. Rad! She and I played in the creek, which is gross but I like it.

Then Atlas showed up and we went at it for several hours. Whew! I'm actually worn out, between puppy playtime and jogging a mile in the afternoon. I could have gone farther, but SOMEBODY gets all tired and sweaty.

Great to be a dog

2005-08-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

Man, it is great to be a dog. It's no wonder I can always be so happy and loving--I don't have to worry about a damn thing.

I had another trip to the dog park yesterday, where I gnawed on a fluffy white dog, and she gnawed on me. I was fascinated by the balls on this one weird pug dog, but he didn't seem to want anything to do with me, as he was busy peeing on everything. But of course, that didn't bother me at all. It's awesome having no earthly concerns beyond how to get another treat and where to find something good and smelly to chew on.

It's no skin off my nose that the phone that rang all day today, though I do jump up to answer it, just to make it look like I care. When the landlord called to say that the lease prohibits dogs in the shack we live in, and my owners will have to pay an additional $200 doggie damage deposit...well, you can pretty much guess my reaction. Tail wag! Look Cute! Lay my warm head on her foot and....

It's really not my problem. But then again, nothing is.

Big Day

2005-08-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today I was a dog on the move.

You should always swim with a buddy.
Playtime at the dogpark. This is Lilly. She's alright.
I think it's better than the way you greet people. This is Nafizza, she looks like a tiger.
These random women bathed me for charity. They were cool. The indignity was brief.

The Beaver is disgusting.
I taught someone how to play fetch this Morning. What a day! This wasn't all, but I need a nap now, bad.

Under the weather

2005-08-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Feel so blurgy today, I think I have a little lurgy. The Vet called me a crybaby. I think it was something I ate. Now I get to eat cold, bland oatmeal and mope around the house. Feel free to send getwell wishes.

Seen any good flicks lately?

2005-08-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

I prefer dogumentary. We rented a good one last night called "Overnight." It was hilarious. Get it from Netflix. No, I'm not putting "Must Love Dogs" on our cue.

Went for a hike

2005-08-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am hiking along the Potomac.