My Day In a Nutshell by Freddy

I pretty much go with the flow around here. I'm a pretty mellow guy who enjoys sleeping and snoozing. Every morning Kaede gets up first. We sleep on beds on the floor next to our people who are in their bed. Kaede stands next to our lady and stares and licks her until she gets up. On the third try I get up so the day really only starts when I say so. However, don't tell Kaede. She thinks she runs the show and that's fine with me.

When we've eaten and had our morning nap Kaede will ask to go out so she can check out what is going on in the back yard. Sometimes she just lays on the balcony. I prefer to stay inside and maybe look out the window. The humans will open the door for me and say, "Freddy. Do you want to go outside?" but when I hear the word 'outside' I run into another room. 

I like when our man human plays his trumpet. Something happens inside of me and I put my head up toward the sky and I let loose with a howl. It's quite a nice howl, if I do say so myself. In tune and everything. I close my eyes and I feel like I am the king of the world, just me and my howl. Once I start Kaede comes running into the room and begins her singing. She has a very bad voice actually and she never sings unless I do. She never sings alone. That's another thing that I am the boss of, just don't tell her.

I like going for walks and I like going to the dog park but not as much as Kaede. She just loves to run around and jump and play and she has a lot of energy. I'm more of a lap dog kind of guy but I'm pretty big to be a lap dog. I love following my lady or my man around the house. No matter what room they go to or how long they go for I follow them.

My favourite time of day is after breakfast when we all go back to bed for a few hours. My second favourite time of day is after dinner when I am sleepy and I can go to bed. Some times I sneak upstairs and get up onto the human bed. It's so comfortable and cozy and I don't understand why they always make me get off. When I hear them coming up the stairs I try to quickly get off their bed and pretend I wasn't doing anything wrong but they always seem to know. 

At dog park I like one or two of the dogs and those guys I follow around and play with. My favourite dog to play with, though, is Kaede. We run into each other and thump our chests. I also like it when my human does tricks with me. Sometimes she makes me sit and I get a treat. Sometimes she makes me go down and I get a treat. Sometimes she makes me stay and I get a treat. It's a pretty good life when you can get a treat for doing nothing, right? 

When the humans go out at night and Kaede and I have to stay alone I get very sad. They put a gate across the stairs and put our beds in a hallway and close all the doors. Once when they left us alone but didn't shut the bathroom door we got the toilet paper and ripped it to shreds. Oh yes, we chewed the toilet brush to bits and we knocked over the soaps. We also ate some books another time when they left a door to their office open. I guess they shouldn't have left us alone!!! But when they leave us in the hallway I shake and they give me a pat and tell me it will be fine, but still I am frightened.

The only time I am bad is when I get on the human bed or when we are outside and I see a squirrel. My human tugs on my leash and makes me stop trying to catch the squirrel but I can't stop myself. I am in a doggy frenzy.

Other than that, I guess I lead quite a slow paced and sheltered life. My humans stroke me a lot and they feed me every day and take me for walks and they never make me go outside if I don't want to except to the outdoor private toilet. I think they are very good people. They tell me I am great but don't tell Kaede. She thinks she is pretty special and runs things around here so maybe we should just let her go on thinking that.
The End.