Zane Train Part 2: Cage - Home Depot

Good morning puppy lovers,

As you recall from my story yesterday, I was trying to get my little feet up some stairs. The Johnpeer home has two levels, which means it has a set of stairs that lead to the upper level, where Step Dad and Mom and I sleep.

With my short little eight-week-old legs, I couldn’t even get up to the first stair. Gary tried to get me to walk upstairs on my own, but I kept falling down.

I made one stair only because that’s as far as I could climb. It made Gary happy that, after the second day, I actually made it up one stair on my own. Gary would carry me the rest of the way. After about 10 days, I found I could get all the way to the first landing, but he took sympathy on me and carried me the rest of the way up.

It was about two weeks before I made it all the way up and it seemed to make everybody in the house happy and they all took note of my achievement. Dad (Richard) said that must have been what Erik Weihenmeyer must have felt when he reached the top of Mt. Everest. I sure was proud of myself.

Dad tells me that Erik lives in Boulder and has a guide dog. Dad met both of them a couple of years ago at a Swing for Sight event when Erik spoke about his Everest climb. I can't wait to meet both of them and take a hike up a mountain. Heh, I made it to the second level, why not the top of Mt. Evans?!

Back at my first depot, when not working with me, they kept me in a cage which was both good and bad. I really wanted to get my teeth on some of the good stuff I could see through the bars. You know the feeling, right? You are in your yard and you see others playing next door and you long to be able to get over there!

That dirty, smelly sock that they didn’t know was under the couch that I could see . . . yum!

I was shocked to see that they had not one, but two cages. One for me and one for Marcel, my new buddy. Ane they had one upstairs, too.

Seems like they really want to control me. Am I in jail? Am I a criminal?

Well, yes I guess I am a little bit of a sock criminal. I LOVE SOCKS! I steal them from Mom's laundry basket all the time. I even took a pair off her bathroom sink counter the other day.

I learned from watching the pet dogs that, at meal time, scraps would sometimes drop to the floor and the other dogs would eat them.

To me, it seemed it would just be a matter of time until I, too, could sit by their table and eat table scraps. To my surprise, I have never been allowed to eat those scraps, although I have chewed my fair share of dirty socks when they weren’t looking.

Seems that the other dogs have a whole different set of rules than I have. Even my buddy, Marcel, seems to get special treatment.

Is there a doggie lawyer in the house? I need to check out my canine rights!

My cage has become my friend in a lot of ways. I can go there whenever I want and I feel very secure in there. Sometimes Harvey likes to sleep in my cage and, because he is getting old, I just let him. But I kick Marcel out when he gets near it. He has his own cage!

At night, the cage is mine alone and everybody knows it, even the other dogs, except Marcel. He seems to get special treatment and had a piece of carpet in his cage. I kept picking it up and dragging it to my cage.

Gary and Vicki got an old piece of scrap carpet to put inside my cage. It was soft and warm on my bald pink belly. I just love my cage, my little "home depot."

Lots of puppy love to all,
Zane

PS Mom posted a new photo album of pictures of (mostly!) me. Click the link, "My complete profile," then click the link marked "My Web Page." Enjoy!!