Community:

Pet of the Month.

Alice February 2009

Alice

OK, let’s get this understood right away. There’s a good reason for everything I do. The hat for example, my birthday is on Cinco de Mayo. Why do I hunt and eat grasshoppers? They are a challenge and they are crunchy goodness. Why do I pull all the bath towels down off the towel bars? I can’t lay on them if they aren’t on the floor. I’ve developed some notes to live by and have come up with some personal mantras:

1) I may be little, but I am mighty. I have my own opinions and I make them known, especially since I’m small of stature I want to make sure no one overlooks me.

2) The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or ìI want what I want when I want it.î

3) It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

As a long back breed I’ve heard over and over how hard it is to maintain good spinal health. I’ll share my secret morning yoga routine. I start in ìdownward facing dogî pose and stretches out my front legs. Then move to ìupward facing dogî pose and lift one hind leg and stretch it straight out behind me, then the other hind leg. I then stand evenly on all four legs and begins a ìspinal twistî that travels down the length of my spine — starting with the neck, I’ll shake my head so that my ears flap quite quickly (while holding the rest of my body still); then the shake travels down the spine to the shoulder area, then down the length of my body, until I give a little ìbootyî shake that lifts my back feet off the floor. The final flourish is the shake of the tail, which starts at the base of the tail and travels inch by inch down to the tip of the tail, which flips wildly back and forth to finish with a flourish.

Additional notes from mom & dad:

How did you become your petís guardian?

Alice was claudiaís motherís companion dog from the time she was a pup until she was 2-ω years old. Alice came to live with us when claudiaís mother could not adequately care for her.

Besides day careö what does you dog love?

Alice is a sun worshipper and will find a sunny spot (whether it is indoors in the winter or outdoors in the summer) and will stretch herself out on her side so that the sun hits her belly and warms up her tummy.

She enjoys riding in the car so that she can go along wherever we go; however, if it is winter, the seat warmer had better be turned up for her or she will complain.

She also loves food and her daddy — particularly daddyís lap while he is watching john madden and sunday night football. She also likes power-napping (with daddy).

Family howling time is another favorite.

What are your dogs favorite toys or games?

Alice has several favorite toys, which she was surprised to learn she had to share with her big brother when we adopted him a year ago.

Her favorite game is ìkeep-away fetchî in which the human throws the ball (or toy), alice runs to get it, and then the human is supposed to chase her to try to retrieve the toy. If you can get it back from her, you can start all over again!

If your dog had a major in college what would it be?

alice would have a triple major:

Music — advanced howling,

Design deconstruction, which is (in the case of her fiber-fill stuffed toys), that which is stuffed must be un-stuffed.

And snuggling.

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