Granny's Letters

These are letters from one of my furr grandkids Nikki. She is such a creative little girl, inquisitive too !

Hi Mommy Sandi!
Mom told me I should write and tell you how very beautiful I am, but that sounds a little conceited so I'll just say I look a lot like Daddy Cowboy and let you imagine me!! My coat is full and gorgeous, my ears are sorta beginning to turn down and my tail looks like a real tail now instead of a broom! My tummy is a bit bare because Mommy left me at the vet and he attacked my tummy..........but I showed HIM!! I chewed out all those stitches!! Then he made me wear staples and they didn't taste good, so I left them alone.

On happier subjects, I finished all that boring baby class beginner stuff with honors and am now enjoying being a big girl in novice class! I show 'em all.......I do every exercise perfectly, then sit there w/ my paws together looking smug (and cute) while the big dogs mess up! I just love it when they growl at me for showing off, I strut around waving my tail at them and then do a sheltie spin as a victory dance! They really hate that!! Mommy says I'll get my CGC soon, but I'd rather have a treat.......

On the home front, I still don't much like kids, but have learned not to hide under the bed when they come around, with 4 of them I was spending WAY too much time under the bed instead of playing. I watch them and NEVER turn my back on them, but will at least let them pet me and give me cookies occasionally. I'm a Mommy's baby though, that boy that loves me, he can just go away, I don't want to be his puppy! (He cries, but I don't care!)

Mommy took me to school w/ her one day, happily, there were no kids there, just grown ups doing "staff-development", VERY BORING!! I livened it up, made everyone laugh and not pay attention, they called me Mary's little lamb, how dumb, can't they see I'm the one who tells sheep where to go?? They need all the "development" they can get! I like going w/ Mommy places, maybe I can learn to put up w/ kids if it means going to work w/ Mommy..........

My sisters are still the best fun of !!! I've practiced and practiced how to get on their nerves in NO TIME FLAT!! My favorite trick is to grab any loose part (long spaniel ears, golden tail) in my teeth and run the other way. This is especially effective when they are asleep, they wake up with murder in their eyes and chase me (GREAT fun!!) cause I can always beat them at least to a hidey hole, then taunt them from safety! Good thing for me they don't hold a grudge or I'd be toast! I've learned to retrieve better than a retriever, tug of war is super fun, and I'm working on shake and dance! Mommy says she's gonna harness that sheltie spin, attach a command and make it a trick, hope it doesn't hurt when she attaches a command.........

Mommy Sandi,
Just after I finished typing this letter for you, I got bored, REALLY REALLY bored, and well YOU know that when one is highly intelligent and bored, well that's just not a good thing. My sister Gretel refused to play and my toys were boring, so I found NEW friends! Mom & Pop Gerbil wanted to play with me, but it's hard to play thru bars, soooo I used my dainty little paw to get them out of jail , then we had a glorious romp! It IS a good thing for all involved however that Gretel cannot fit under the bed, or they would have been dog squeaky toys for her.........

Funny, they actually looked RELIEVED to return to their cage?? when Mommy came home!

Hi Mommy Sandi!
Just checkin' in to let you know I dropped you a letter full of photos of ME! In the mail. I travel all the time with my family, but over Spring Break was my first out of state trip, and lemme tell you........Missouri is a LOOOOOOOOOONG way!!!

I was a good girl and slept on my pillow most of the way, or sat on Mommy's lap and looked out the window.
I've learned a lot since I last talked to you, I 'm smokin' em in my novice class in obedience, and I've learned even better ways to devil my canine sisters! I'm a bit less timid with adults, but still hate my boy. Even better I showed him lately how much I hated him by killing all his pet gerbils, then peeing on his pillow. He says he never wants to see me again, so mission accomplished. The other boys said he shoulda gotten a golden retriever, that I'm a bitch........hmmmm he's just NOW figuring that out?

Anyway, I hope you got all those big holes fixed in the house, I wouldn't want the puppies to get wet! Enjoy the pictures, feel free to tell me just how lovely I am!

Good morning Granny Sandi!
I saw my picture on the web site and was soooooo proud! I just love being famous! I also got to chat w/ Holli, it was good to compare notes with other beautiful tri's and come up with new ways to create chaos and liven up my family!

Just thought I'd share my latest adventure...........I believe I've mentioned to you that I learned to open cupboard doors right? Well my new skill is to open the cup board doors, remove whatever looks yummy, and open THAT too. I did that Tuesday evening while Mommy folded laundry. I get VERY BORED when Mommy does dull stuff like that, I try to get her to play ball, or tug but if she won't, well what's a smart girl like me supposed to do to entertain herself? I chose the baby oil (smells good!), opened the childproof cap (without cracking it) after all I'M NOT a child, I'm MUCH smarter! The sweet gooey oil began running all over the floor, making a delightful puddle that smelled sooo good I decided I'd like to smell that good too, so I lay down and rolled in it several times, making sure I thoroughly soaked my coat and paws.

Next I decided to taste the yummy oil. I ended up drinking quite a lot of it, it was just sooo delicious! When Mommy found me, she was quite cross! She gave me a LOOOOONNGG bath and blow dry (at 11 PM) and we went to bed. Because Mommy was so grumpy about the mess on my coat and the floor, I didn't mention to her the oil I had eaten...........BUT........about 3:30 I got a bad tummy ache. I woke Mommy up (she yelled @#$%! ) and jumped up to see if I'd had an accident because ......well it smelled REALLY BAD! (I was REALLY EMBARRASSED!) There was no solid waste, just lots of puddles of poop scented oil soaked into her new comforter (yeah the new one she bought because I ate the Ralph Lauren down one) and I was once again soaked in oil. I spent a lot of time in my crate 'til all the oil came out! I've had 7 baths since, my beautiful coat looks dry and fried like a bad perm, but at least there is no more oil on the couch, bed, carpet, floor, toys, rug,............

In my classes they laugh at me because I figure out all the games before it's my turn, then perform them perfectly on the first try. You can SEE me intently watching the others before my turn.....I love to outsmart the instructor! Last week he would drag a big barbecued chicken wing on a string along the floor in front of me, offer it to me, dangle it in front of my nose but I'd NEVER break my stay. I'd just look up at Mommy for a cue, then ignore him. He said next week he's gonna put a coon skin cap with a long tail covered in fox urine over a remote controlled car and zoom it around to bust our stays.......HA! as if I'd fall for THAT! The dumb terrier in the group always breaks.....she also drools.........not me!! I also leave alone the big chunks of beef jerky that he wears dangling on strings all over his body. This is good training for the nursing home, where people have all kinds of goodies like diapers, drool etc. that I have to learn not to sniff or lick. On recalls Mommy sits me and leaves me then calls out all kinds of dumb words like apple or lemon, or raisin but I never fall for it (like Simon says) I wait til she says COME before I move! The instructor says my focus is incredible..........of course! Everything about me is incredible! My brains, my beauty, my creativity, my ego.....

Nikki you write so well and have such fun. My mother just read me your latest letter to Granny Sossamon. You must be more careful about what you get into. There usually is nasty stuff under the kitchen sink and even though it smells good, it is not good for you. Have fun, but be careful. Aren't baths and blow dries awful? In the winter time when we have lots of rain, I get a whole lot of baths. We live on black clay soil; after hard rains it makes into the most wonderful mud soup when you run on it. My big brother Border Collies get our path all worked up for me. Then when my daddy lets me out we have the most wonderful mud wrestling matches. Mommy gets really mad, because the soup dries into great "dingle berries". The boys don't get in trouble, because they roll in the hay in their house.

I read that you are moving to Ennis. Mommy and I go through there on the way to Fort Worth to see her two legged children and grandchildren. You will love chasing squirrels. Daddy says I would have made a good squirrel dog, because I refuse to give up the chase even when Mommy is calling and calling. I'm fast, but those things are really fast. Then when they get into a tree they sit and talk with you.

Mommy said to tell you that you should collect your writings and publish a diary. She says dog people would enjoy your writings about your adventures. You really should encourage her to do that. It would be a great way of sharing your fun with others.

We have lots of "dog books" here, but Mommy uses them to try to figure me out and to plan new adventures for us. She's been digging into them lately. There's an obedience trial this weekend--(these are great fun, you really get to show off. It's also a great time to see how much you can frustrate your mommy.) Anyway, this week I have figured out a new trick. The old routine was getting much too boring. I am supposed to sit by Mommy's side and wait while she throws a dumbbell (yuk!) over the high jump. Then I am supposed to jump the high jump, get the dumbbell, and bring it back over the high jump to her. I decided to change things up. So I went over the jump, got the dumbbell and brought it to the high jump. There I carefully placed it on the ground and cleared the high jump--flat footed mind you. Don't know why she was upset; I sat straight as an arrow in front of her and I was really careful with the dumbbell.

Mommy will retire in September, then she says we will start a new project. I have my Canine Good Citizen certificate so we will add the Therapy Dog title. Then we plan to go visiting people who don't get to live at home with their pets. That must be awful. I hope I can make them happy. If my big brother, Bruce, continues to improve in his social graces, he may get to come too.