No Independence Day for Me

Today we celebrate Independence Day but I find it ironic that on this day of freedom I am locked inside a room.

So it happens that mom and master decided to host 4th of July at our house without consulting me, and since I don't really like when a lot of people come over and walk all over my territory I tend to stand guard. Master says that I'm a lot like mom, I like things quite, in order and I like to be the boss.

Since we will have many people over, mom and master are afraid that I might nip at someone, but to tell you the truth they haven't given me a chance to see if I misbehave or not. I'm insulted that they automatically think things will go bad if I'm free around the house. I guess they think they know better.

At least I'm not in a cage. You know I don't like crates. I'm locked away in the master bedroom and I have my toys, my water bowl, the fan is on as well as the radio. All windows are open and I get to see every single guest when they approach the house.

I have been doing a lot of barking and at times I pant and seem panicky, but I know that sooner or later all these people will go watch fireworks and I will be free again.

Don't worry about the windows being open, it is still early in the day and the fireworks have not started, plus I'm not afraid of them.

Anyway, I'll do some more barking here and I expect mom will come up with a burger and a hot dog for me. We will go on our walk soon and maybe I'll be allowed to greet some guests.

Feeling a Bit Under the Weather

I'm sick! This weekend I was feeling weird. My bottom itched so much that all I wanted to do was rub it on the floor and then lick it.

My master and mommy weren't to happy about it. They kept chasing me around the house, telling me to stop, but I just couldn't.

On Saturday they took me to the vet to get me checked out and the vet said my glands needed to be expressed. They took me to the back room and did what they had to do. I came back feeling so much better.

The vet said that since I'm half Beagle I have a tendency to suffer from annal gland problems, but that if I lose some weight (I can't believe she called me fat) I should be able to avoid this problem in the future. The vet said my fat bottom is not allowing the glands to be expressed naturally. Who knew!

Once I got home, I thought my issues were all fix, but that wasn't the case. I still had this irresistible urge to scoot and lick, but since my owners were not happy when I did that before, I was pretending everything was okay in my butt area.

On Sunday I new I was going to be home alone for a few hours, so I resisted the urge to scratch until I no one was watching me. It felt good for a while, but then my bottom started burning. Once mommy came back she saw that something was wrong with me. I looked very sad and I couldn't stop licking under my tail. Also, the trail of blood on the floor, carpet and my bottom gave it away.

I was rushed to the vet and this time the vet said I had infected my bottom with all the rubbing, dragging and licking I did. Now they had to clean the infected area, prescribe me some medicine and let it drain/heal for a few days.

The vet said that I should be placed in a crate for some days because my bottom needs to drain/bleed until it starts healing. If being crated wasn't bad enough, I have to wear this uncomfortable hat for 2 weeks. The hat/cone is meant to stop me from licking.

The vet must be crazy! Doesn't she know I'm not crate trained? Plus, I'm super smart and that cone won't last on me too long.

Master and mommy bought me this wired crate that I hate! They put me in there Sunday night and I cried my eyes out. I panted to the point I was going to pass out. Mommy had to take me out of the crate and that made us both feel a lot better.

As soon as I came out of the crate, I had this tug of war with that awful cone and I got it off my head. By this point it was 3 a.m. and mommy was already too tired to fight with me. I had kept her up all night with my crying.

We went into the second bedroom so that master could sleep. In there mommy had one of my other beds with my blanket, and I went under the blanket and fell asleep right away. My bottom was still itchy so I attempted to to lick it and scratch it a few times, yet mommy always stopped me.

I've been on antibiotics ever since and my bottom is doing a lot better now. Mommy has not slept much and I'm trying really hard not to lick or rub my butt.

The good news is that after that sleepless night, the wire crate was returned to the store and the hat has not returned to my neck. The bad news is, that I'm back on a diet.

No Dog Crate for Me

Ever since I was adopted by mommy and master, I've enjoyed my freedom at home. I know my host mom at the rescue shelter used to leave me inside a dog crate when she went to work, but those days in captivity are history for me.

Somehow this weekend mommy thought it would be a good idea to try dog crating me again. I don't know who gave her that BAD idea.

She bought this portable dog crate to see if I would go in there. My bed and some toys were placed inside, but I knew better to put one paw inside that box.

I walked around it, sniffed it, stretched my neck to try to get my toys out of it. I took some out, but there were some in the back I couldn't reach.

Mommy placed a trail of treats into the crate and I carefully went inside, eating the treats quickly just to come back out. The only way mommy got me to stay inside the crate/tent was by throwing the entire bag of treats in there. Once I saw that, I knew I had to go in an protect the bag. As long as the treat bag was in there so was I, but I was not planning on being trapped into staying inside this tent.

After a few hours of just watching me come in an out of the tent, mommy knew this is not what she wanted for me. Why would I be confined to this plastic house, when I've walked free in the house for 2 years. I don't destroy anything in the house and I don't have accidents. I do understand that I'm on guard when visitors come over. I pace around them a lot, but that's why we have that dreadful gate they put me behind.

I was glad to see mommy pack up the dog crate to return it to the store. My days of freedom are not over. I'll continue to stroll around the house at my own discretion.

I promise to stand down my guard when we have company. I will try.