You know those stories of dog-saving-owner? Check this out.

An Arizona German shepherd named Buddy has called 911 3 times! His owner has seizures, so he was trained to call for help.  His owner Joe Stalnaker adopted him at 8 weeks from a Michigan Paws with a Cause, an organization that trains for special-needs owners. The dog is now 18 months old, and can push the programmed buttons until a 911 operator picks up. He then squeaks and makes noises to the operator and they send the ambulance.

I’d like to think so, but I don’t think our Squeaky Chicken would be man enough to do something like this. He’s a good dog and keeps an eye on the kids, but I think when it comes to the phone, he’s rather clueless. Maybe training him will be my new year’s resolution in January…

Summers go by entirely too fast in our house.

Gab’s starting to settle into her classroom and new teacher. She’s excited for this new year; she got the teacher she wanted and it’s her last year of elementary! There were a couple girls she got catty with last year, but she’s happy they’re in the other class…makes both our lives easier!  She’s still planning to be in band, AEP (academic enrichment program–an advanced group), and soccer. Another busy year!

Two more years and it’ll be the Pierce’s turn!

She went outside yesterday to get on the bus and Cooper (dog) was already out. He watched her like a hawk, pacing the yard, squeaking and barking a little. We have never seen this side of him, so it was very interesting. When the bus picked her up, he freaked! He was squealing, squeaking, barking, then ran to the door. I let him in and he kept it up for awhile. It was obvious he was trying to say, “She’s gone! Come out!” So while he may not be a foaming-at-the-mouth-bite-your-head-off guard dog, he certainly keeps an eye on the kids.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this new year…we’ve got some great things planned!

We decided not to take Cooper (aka Squeaky Chicken) to the beach with us, for numerous reasons. The main reason being that we simply did not have room in the car. We had so much baby stuff. So we found a place kinda nearby that looked and sounded good and took him there for the week.

Then one day, Wednesday, I think, Paul got a call from the owner saying our Chicken had escaped twice, and on the second venture, had cut his leg so she took him to the vet. When we filled out the requested paper work, there was a page that said if something happened to the dog, we were still responsible to pay for the vet bill.  We didn’t really think he’d get hurt at the place; Paul said it was set up well.

So we were thinking, great, now what?? Are we going to have to leave early to pick him up? How much is the vet bill going to be, on top of the kennel charge? And WHY did they let him escape the second time??? My opinion was (is) that he was just trying to find his way home…he’s a very loyal dog and it’s in his breed to stay close to his owner.

The owner said the dog was going to stay over night at the vet and had to have stitches. At this point we knew it wasn’t a little scrape like she was making it out to be. But she told us she’d call the next day and let us know how he was doing.

The next day when she called back, she told us Cooper was doing well and apologized profusely. She also paid the vet bill and told us not to worry about it! Yay!!!     So while we may not need to use a kennel again, if we do need to, we’ll be taking him back there again.