My mommy needs me

I know, because Cesar Millan says so. Mommy knows it, because Cesar says so. She just doesn't know exactly how she needs me. Yet.

Cesar is a really smart man. He knows everything about puppies, even naughty puppies. Even scared puppies. Even crazy-daisy puppies (like me). He helps people like my mommy be better puppy parents and puppies be better puppies. Sometimes, it is easier than other times.

Cesar says "You don't get the dog you want. You get the dog you need." "Hmmm," my mommy says. "I need Dewey. I need Dewey???"

Mommy knows this is true. She knows because she knows she needed my great-aunt Emma. It took her a long time to figure that out. Aunt Emma was not an easy puppy, or a nice puppy. She was kind of mean to Baby Royko when she first came to live at our house. She was big and bossy. She was loud. She gave Mommy and Baby Royko boo boos that had to have doctors' help to fix. She made the puppy doctor think -for just a minute - that maybe Daddy hurt Baby Royko. (He would not. He is the best daddy ever, and he loved his girls more than anything. But then the doctor met Aunt Emma. Then he understood.)

But guess what: Mommy (and Daddy) said, "She is worth the trouble. She is our girl. We must help her be a better girl." In the end, Aunt Emma was not just a better girl. She was the best girl ever.

Mommy says it took a long time, but she finally knew why God gave her Emma: to teach her about active love. Mommy always loved Emma, even when Emma made it hard. In the end, love won. Aunt Emma changed. So did Mommy.

Mommy needs me. I need Mommy. We both will change. We do not know how we will change, but we will. We will be better because this is true. We know. Cesar said so.

I'm still cute

Yes, I am still cute. You can see for yourself. (Easter 2010)

My mommy and my daddy spend a lot of time making me tired. (Mommy says tired boys are good boys. I guess she wants me to be a good boy.) It is warmer outside and the light stays in the sky for more minutes, so I am getting to go on lots more walks. Mommy takes me. Daddy takes me more.

In fact, Daddy was so happy to take me on walks he changed when he goes to work. Daddy also likes to take me to the dog park. Guess what! I have lots of friends there, like Sparky. Sparky is fun. Not all of the dogs there are fun. Some are mean. I do not like the mean dogs. When they are there, Daddy and I go somewhere else.

I am getting big and strong. That happens to boys that run and play and walk all day. We get big and strong. That is good when we have to guard our families and our houses. I am a guard dog. That is my job. That, and fetching frisbees.