Sunshine Day

Since it was sunny and warm today, Keeley's grandma and I decided to take him for a nice long walk at the lake front. By "warm", I mean 35 degrees which is a lot warmer than zero which it has been quite often this month.

Spring can't get here fast enough!

We are so sick of winter! Keeley's grandma got him these cute flowers because we can't wait for spring to get here. It's making us crazy. I'm even looking forward to mowing the lawn!

spirited away from the dog park

Runway Dog Park, by the airport in South Milwaukee is one of the fully-fenced dog parks that we frequent. I like it because it's got a path for humans to walk, if you go in the morning you can watch the planes taking of, and it's close enough that I can drive to it without falling asleep. I dislike it because there are no trees, many people don't stay with their dogs, and many don't clean up after their dogs.
I now have a new reason to dislike this dog park: Dog owner pleads for pet taken from park. This woman's dog was taken from the park when he was out of her sight.
This has always been one of my fears taking Keeley to dog parks. When he was a puppy, I always kept a really close eye on him because I was worried that he'd get snatched since IT pups are so hard to come by. Now that he's older, it's still a fear of mine since he's so friendly, he'd willingly go off with anyone.
Keeley's pretty good at staying with me, but once in a while he takes off after some dog and leaves me in his dust. I always go running after him. As I'm running past other dog owners, they say things to me like, "Relax, there's a fence around the whole thing so there's no where he can go". They make me feel like I must be nuts to want to keep my dog in sight.
What if he gets hurt? What if he gets into a fight? What if he can't resist temptation and jumps into the mud pit? What if he's doing his business, how can I clean it up if I can't see where he did it? What if someone takes him?
I don't think I'm being nuts, just responsible. This whole story makes me feel more justified than ever for wanting to keep Keeley within my sight at the park.
Here's how it ended up: Luke's 6-week odyssey concludes in a tail-wagging reunion. Turns out some woman took the dog and gave him to her sister's family as a Christmas present! What kind of a person takes a dog that doesn't belong to them from a dog park? I wonder how this woman thought the dog got inside of the fully fenced park if his owner wasn't there with him? She claims that she thought she was helping the dog, but if that were true, shouldn't she have put up "FOUND DOG" fliers with her number at the park?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Keeley got another Valentine. This one is from Lenny, a handsome wire fox from Indiana. Thanks, Lenny!
Keeley's recieved several Valentines cards and wishes. We were kinda surprised by them and too busy to get any sent out from Keeley, but we plan to make up for that next month. St. Patrick's Day is Keeley's day, afterall.

puppy dog eyes

Last month Maggie & Mitch had a post about their eyes and since then, I've been wanting to write a post about Keeley's eyes. Of course I'm a bit biased, but I think Keeley has the most gorgeous eyes ever! They are beautiful brown eyes and the best part is they come with built-in black eyeliner around them. I wish I had built-in eyeliner!

Another Valentine for Keeley

Asta sent Keeley a Valentine too! How sweet! Keeley is such a lucky pup.
Thank you for the beautiful Valentine, Asta!

A dog that doesn't destroy his toys

I know many of you dog parents out there get so frustrated when your doggie children insist on destuffing toy after toy and you think of how nice it would be to have a dog that doesn't destroy his toys. Well, let me show you the downside to having such a dog. Here's a picture of one of Keeley's toy boxes. This photo was taken before Christmas, so it's overflowing even more now. He's got another toy box upstairs at his grandma's place which is filled to the brim too. Plus he keeps some toys in his pantry area, some on his corner bed, and a pile in the living room too. Maybe I should try to edit them down because I think it's beginning to verge on insanity.

A Valentine for Keeley

Keeley got a letter in the mail today. It was a Valentine from his good pal, Kirby. The valentine featured a cute little Irish Terrier. Keeley's grandma and I were much more impressed by it than Keeley was. We think the card is really cool especially since it's so hard to find Irish Terrier stuff. Thanks for the pawsome card, Kirby!

swedish fish?

Keeley's grandma and I went to Ikea in Illinois today. Dogs are not allowed, so Keeley had to wait at home. As a reward for being such a good boy while we were gone, Keeley's grandma gave him this little fish toy from Ikea. It's actually a baby rattle, but Keeley doesn't care. He loves it!

Jerky from Bogart

Bogart offered to send Keeley some of his homemade doggie jerky.The package arrived today. Keeley loves to get mail!First Keeley sampled 2 pieces of "Bogart's Hearty Chew". He gobbled it down and wanted more still. I told Keeley that he had to save some for tomorrow.Keeley kept begging for more with his eyes and eventually I gave in and let him sample 2 pieces of "Bogart's Chicken Chips" which he also loved.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE WONDERFUL JERKY, BOGART!

Not this again!

MORE SNOW!All the old snow melted last week. This is all NEW snow that we got over the last 3 days.
I've had enough of this and I'm ready for spring. Keeley is sick of the snow too!It's supposed to get really cold again this weekend. I hope all you pups stay warm!

Keeley's got it wrong

Keeley is a really smart dog and seems to understand most things. But when he gets something wrong, he gets it crazy wrong.
For example, Keeley seems to think that barking at me helps me feel better about having to shovel snow. It does not.
He also seems to think that it is the dog's job to hide the mistress' slippers, thereby creating a fun game for her in which she has to go all over the house looking for them. It is not fun.