Happy New Year from Bandit and Scout (video)

This is a happy new year message from me and Scout. You can hear Bailey in the background.

Love BANDIT!!!!

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Me and Mommy go get a Christmas tree

Scout is checking out the tree I picked out while I sing him a song about Christmas.

Every year Daddy gets cranky when Mommy wants to get a Christmas tree, even though he says he doesn't. So this year Mommy said, "It's OK, we don't need to get a tree" before he got cranky. And he was happy.

But we weren't! We have been having some blechy times and Christmas has been b-o-r-i-n-g!! so far. So tonight, Mommy said, "Get in the car, Bandit. Me and you are going on an adventure!"

Yay! Adventure!

First we went to Wegmans to cash in the lottery tickets Grandma sent for me and Bailey to go to puppy school. Thanks Grandma!! We don't need puppy school anyway. Then me and Mommy went to Mr. Swaglers to get a tree!!

Yay! Scout says I picked a good tree!

You should know that every year our whole family goes and gets a tree and we take pictures and it's a big event. But this year everyone is so cranky that me and Mommy just figured we'd do it ourselves. So we found a nice little tree we could buy with the money from the lottery tickets.

And guess what? I got to see my half sister! Her name is Bella and her and me have the same dad from Kim's farm. I'm related to everyone, which we found out last year. Remember? You can read about it here if you forgot. And this one, too.

Me and Mommy brought the tree home and dragged it in the house and put it up and gave it a drink.  Then we let Bailey in to see the tree. She has never seen a Christmas tree before. She took a drink from the tree's water bowl and then tried to eat some branches.


First Bailey got a drink.





Then she tasted the tree. Blech!

Then Mommy put up the lights. Sparkly!

This is what the tree looks like if you spin around in circles really fast.

Usually there is a big to-do about the tree and it takes about eleventeen hours to pick it out and get it home and stand it up and by the time it's all done everyone is ready to take a nap. But me and Mommy took care of it in about half an hour. And no one was swearing or getting cranky. Me and Mommy are a good team

TA DA!!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Oh, and guess what? When we got home, it started to snow!

Love
BANDIT!

PS: Scout says he's going to sleep under the tree till Santa comes.

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Merry Christmas!!

Two pups waiting for Santa

Me and Scout had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve, we wanted to see Santa when he came to bring us presents but Mommy said we had to go to bed. So we told Murphy to wake us up when Santa came.

Murphy tried to wake us up, but Mommy wouldn't let us get out of bed. Murphy made noise and made noise and ripped up the garbage can bags. But Mommy said, "Stay!" whenever me and Scout tried to run downstairs. Rats. Santa is my pal and I wanted to say hello to him and his reindeers.

Anyway, on Christmas Day, me and Scout opened some presents. We got new collars and leashes. That is like people getting socks. My new collar and leash are green and they have moo cows and Scout's are blue and red and have bones and hearts. They are supposed to be guaranteed if they get chewed. So I ate my leash.


This is my new leash. Daddy took this pictured with his new camera.

This is my new leash about eleventeen minutes later.

After we opened our presents, we had so much fun we opened some more presents under the tree.

Scout likes to open presents. When he finished with his, he opened Cassie's.

I opened my present and then tried to get Daddy to give me some of his breakfast.

Then the best part of the day happened. Everyone came to our house! Nana and Grandpa Art and Grandma and Cassie and Uncle Ryan and even Officer Steve came in his uniform! He parked his police car in the driveway. We bet everyone thought he was coming to arrest me for being a bad dog. Hahahaha!! But he loves me.


This is Uncle Ryan!



Even Daddy has some fun!



Grandma and Nana. Nana moved. She's not always blurry.

 

Grandpa Art is telling Cassie a big fish story.



Nana didn't move this time. And look, Officer Steve came over on his dinner break!



Daddy had some fun with his new camera. He took this silly picture of me and my tongue.

There was a lot of food to eat. Ham and cheese and dips and crackers and shrimps and Grandma's fresh banana bread and crunchy vegetables. And you know I wanted to get right up on the table and eat it all. Except I didn't. I just put my paws on the table a few times and tried to get some licks off of people's plates. Grandpa Art and Nana said I am a bad, bad dog. Except they don't know how bad I have been so they don't know how good I was actually behaving!

I think they should bring Lily next time and we can get into some good trouble.

Anyway, everyone drank lots of wine and ate lots of food and had lots of laughs and it was some good times.

Then yesterday, we napped all day. It's super c-c-c-cold outside again today and Mommy said, "Let's stay in our jammies and snuggle." Except me and Scout want to go romp and play.

And guess what? The chickens are laying A LOT of eggs! Lucy and Ethel started laying eggs again so everyone else decided to lay some eggs, too. Mommy had about fortyleven million eggs in the fridge.

So we had some great times at Christmas even though me and Scout didn't get to see Santa. We got some presents and we got lots of eggs and we drank lots of wine and had lots of laughs.

Now we get to play party time again on New Year's eve!

Love
BANDIT

Visit Mommy's NEW dog blog, Bark Around Town, the blog about the Rochester dog community. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter!

We got a Christmas tree

Hurry up, Daddy! We're ready to go get a tree!

Mommy and Daddy and Scout and me went to Mr. Swagler's today to get a Christmas tree. Yay! That means Santa is coming soon!

Daddy and us dogs at Mr. Swagler's.

I sat nice for a picture.

Scout likes to bury his whole head under the snow!

Me and Scout were really good. We only peed on one or two trees. And the tree man didn't even care! He said, "It's not the first time" and told us that his dogs pee on everything, too. Hahahaha!!

Daddy stuffed the tree in the truck and then stuffed us dogs in there with it.

Hmm. Smells like Christmas!

Then we went home and put it in a tree holder with water and Mommy puts lots of twinkly lights on it. If you turn off all of the lights, it's nice to sit and look at the pretty Christmas tree.

OK, Santa! We're ready!!

Love,
BANDIT!!!

Visit Mommy's NEW dog blog, Bark Around Town, the blog about the Rochester dog community. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter!

Nana invites us to be bad at her house!

Yesterday Mommy got a phone call from Daddy's mommy. Her name is Nana, and guess what? She said me and Scout can come over and play at her house!

Mommy said that we are sometimes bad dogs (mostly me) but Nana said that was OK. She said her dog Lily would have some fun with us.

Scout was at Nana's once before. He was there for his first Christmas. Uncle Artie's giant dog named Otis was there, too.

Scout and Otis at Nana and Grandpa Art's house, Christmas 2006

Scout and Otis romped around the house, and Scout ran away for a while in Nana's yard, and then Otis did a giant pee in Nana's kitchen and Scout barfed up a piece of tree bark and a big tree leaf. And then they both went to sleep.

Nana's house sounds like a lot of fun!

Love
Bandit!

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Merry Christmas! Happy Snow Day!

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I know you've been wondering what me and Scout have been up to the last week.

On Christmas eve, Mommy and Daddy left us alone again - I was not happy at all because Mommy left me alone in the afternoon! When they came home I was so excited I couldn't calm down. I was jumping on Mommy for about twenty hundred minutes and I had to take a break and drink a whole bowl of water before I started jumping on her again.

In fact, after a few hours when we were all tucked into bed, I was still panting and my heart was beating really fast - even while I was sleeping - that Daddy and Mommy were worried. So I went back to see my friends at the animal hospital.

Really, I was happy because I was hoping to see Santa again because I forgot to tell him that me and Scout needed new beds.

I got to see my new friend, Dr .... rats, I forgot her name. But guess what? She can't hear with her ears! She told Mommy she had to read her lips, but since I can talk with my mind - Ta da! Super Electro Dog! - she and I had a great conversation. She made me do some tricks and walk around the room; she told me she wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting somewhere and that's why I was panting.

She said I was fine, that I was just way too overexcited. Unless I had something called a seizure when I was in the crate but there was no way to know. So she said go home and call her if we had a problem. So we went home and snuggled and fell asleep.


The bad thing was that Santa wasn't at the hospital. The good thing was that he knew we needed beds because when we got up in the morning? NEW BEDS!! AND TOYS!!!

So we stayed home all day on Christmas Day and Mommy and Daddy watched movies and ate food and relaxed the whole day. Cassie came over and then her boyfriend came over later.

So that was our Christmas.

Since then, Mommy has worked almost not at all, which is great! The chickens are out of their coop when it's nice, and that's fun. They're goofy to watch. Mommy took video of them.

Yesterday, I ate the sleeve on Mommy's new sweater so now she has to watch me to make sure it all comes out, if you know what I mean. We have to got to the vet tomorrow anyway to get shots so I can go play at Camp Bow Wow and we have to get flu shots. So I figured since we were going anyway, I might as well give them another surprise.

Oh, and guess what? I wrote Mommy's column for the Christian Voice Magazine! It'll be in the February magazine. Mommy was taking a nap and I figured I'd help her out and give her a rest. I'm nice like that.

So anyway, that's about it. Now we get ready for the new year!

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A Christmas letter to Grandma

Dear Grandma!!!! Thank you for the toys!!!!

Santa is coming tonight and me and Scout have been good. Well, mostly good. I have been eating a lot of poop this week so Mommy isn't very happy with me.

Well, you know what? I'm not very happy with her either. She keeps leaving me alone and I Do. Not. Like. That. So I have been getting in her car and not getting out. We'll see who gets left alone now!!! Hahaha!!

By the way, Mommy took me to the post office today, which was fun. I got to get up and see inside where the mailpeople play with our letters before they bring them to our house. Did you know that there is a dog that works at the post office?

Also, just in case you didn't know, you are NOT supposed to open all of the presents under the Christmas tree and throw the paper around the living room until Christmas morning. I learned that the hard way. You are not even supposed to sniff the presents because you might be tempted to open them and Mommy does not have enough tape to wrap everything up again.

Anyway, I have to go help Murphy rearrange the presents under the tree so Santa has more room to leave more stuff!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you A WHOLE LOT!!!!!
Love Bandit (and Scout and Murphy!)

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Snow! Snow!! Snow!!!!

Bandit here! IT SNOWED!!

It snowed yesterday morning and it snowed yesterday during naptime and it snowed during dinner and it snowed while we slept.

SNOW!!

There is snow up to my ankles. Mommy played Incredible Snow Momster with us last night. It's a fun game. Mommy throws snow balls and we try to get the snowball in our mouth and then bite really hard and snow flies everywhere.

SNOW!!

Mommy said she is too darned cold to keep playing Snow Momster and is staying inside. But me and Scout are outside playing. Mommy will come out later to see what we're up to and then we'll make her play Snow Momster again by herding her into the back yard.

Or sometimes we sit at the door and stare at her, sending her thinking thoughts that say, Mommy. Come here right now Mommy. Play with your puppies right now Mommy. This is your brain telling you to go outside right now Mommy.

Sometimes it pays to be a border collie.

SNOW!!

Anyway, I hope it SNOWED where you are and you have a Mommy who will play Incredible Snow Momster with you!!

SNOW!!

Love, Bandit

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Christmas trees and six degrees of Bandit

Bandit here! You are not going to believe what happened this weekend. Two really spooky things.

First, Mommy and Daddy went to a party on Saturday and did not take us. I am still mad about that. But when they got home they took me and Scout for an adventure. We went to Mr. Tim Swaglers' house, where he had a bazillion gazillion trees all for sale. We sniffed around for a while and then Daddy and Mommy found one they said they liked a lot. (Look at this picture of Mommy and me and Scout at Mr. Swaglers. Look at how big the trees are!)

Then they bought it! I didn't know why. We have some trees in our yard already and we don't have a lot of room for more.

Well, while Mr. Swagler was tying up the tree, he and Mommy started talking about his Border collie that is having puppies in January. And you are NOT going to believe this. Do you know who the daddy doggie of those puppies is?

My doggie daddy!

I know you think I'm kidding but I am not.

My doggie daddy is Sam, from Gentle Shepherd Farms, where I lived with my good friend Kim before my Mommy fell in love with me and brought me home.

And we already know that me and Scout are related.

So I have some more half brothers and sisters being born right up the road. Family everywhere! Mommy says we should play a game called Six Degrees of Bandit and see who else I'm related to.

OK, then the second thing that happened was that when we got home, Daddy brought the tree right into the house. Right into the living room! And Mommy didn't even get mad.

Scout said the tree is so that Santa can leave us presents under it on Christmas Eve. He also said I am not to potty on that tree. Even though we peed on a few trees at Mr. Swaglers.

I helped Daddy set up the tree on Saturday. Look, what a big help I am:

Yesterday, while Daddy went hunting, Mommy put a whole bunch of twinkly lights on the tree and then some sparkly balls that I am not supposed to play with. Murphy plays with them, though. He better watch out because Santa is still making his naughty list.

Doesn't the tree look pretty?


So anyway, Daddy brought a tree right into the house this weekend and I found out that I am related to almost everyone in the world.

Love, Bandit

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Dear Santa - for Mommy

Dear Santa,

Please bring Mommy the Chipmunk's Christmas CD. She's been singing Christmas carols all day and we think the Chipmunks would be an improvement.

Love, Scout and Bandit

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Chat with Santa: Is Santa in financial trouble?

Bandit here.

Mommy read a press release today about a website where you can chat with Santa, right from the North Pole. You call a phone number and watch Santa answer the phone and talk to your kids (or dogs) on your computer.

But it costs money to do it.

So I have a question: is Santa having financial troubles?

It must cost a lot to make toys for all the girls and boys and dogs. Does he get paid for those appearances he makes at the department stores and animal hospitals? Does Santa have an off season job?

Maybe we need to have a fundraiser for Santa. Maybe he needs money and that's why all of his helpers wear stockings. Maybe they don't like having cold legs. Maybe they just don't have enough money to buy pants.

Wait, Mommy just told me that part of the money kids pay to talk to Santa goes to help the SPCA, which is a thing that helps animals. Oh, that's nice! Our cat brother Murphy came from Lollypop Farm, which is part of the Humane Society. So it's nice that Santa is helping animals!

And Mommy says it costs money to set up the special space age telephone system from the North Pole to your computer, so some of the money pays for that.

OK, it all makes sense now!

I don't need to call Santa, because I already saw him when he was in town. He's a personal friend. But if you want to talk to Santa, here's the info (Mommy, can you write this part for me?):

Visit this website to Chat with Santa: http://www.chatwithsanta.com/index.php You can get a daily pass for $2.95 24 hours, or a season pass for $9.95 that lets you can talk to Santa all you want until December 23.

Thanks, Mommy!

But I still have a question: Where exactly does Santa get the money to run the North Pole anyway?

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Other posts you might want to read:

• Scout and Bandit answer readers' questions: Who is Santa Claws?
• Bandit: I'm home from the hospital and I met SANTA!

Scout and Bandit answer readers' questions: Who is Santa Claws?

Dear Scout and Bandit,

The girl who lives with me told me that in a few weeks, someone named Santa Claws is going to come into our house when we are asleep and eat our cookies.

I am scared! What do you know about this Santa Claws?

Love, Rover


Dear Rover,

Don't be scared! It's not Santa Claws, it's Santa Claus!

Santa lives at the North Pole, which is a very cold place. He must live near Governer Sarah Palin (Border Collies for Sarah Palin!). I've heard that he knows if you've been naughty or nice, so he must also be friends with God.

Santa is a really nice guy. Me and Scout have met him, actually. Here are the pictures to prove it. So we would know. Santa has biscuits.

He also has helpers who wear green stockings and no pants. Even the men. I don't know if he makes them wear dresses or if they just like having cold legs.

Mommy says Santa comes and brings presents to the good boys and girls, but dogs always get something even if they have been bad. So I don't know if he's going to eat your cookies, but he'll probably leave you biscuits and a toy instead.

So don't worry about Santa! He's a good guy!

Merry Christmas!
Love, Bandit

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Bandit: I'm home from the hospital and I met SANTA!

Hi, it's Bandit! I"m home from the hospital!

You do not want to go to the hospital. They stick you with needles and they give you funny medicine and they make you wear a lampshade on your head and sleep in a cage. It is not fun.

There were a lot of people there but none of them were Mommy. I had a nice doctor and helpers and they took very good care of me. But I wanted Mommy.

Here's what happened: yesterday I opened Mommy's purse to see if I could find her cell phone to call Dali and say hello. But instead I found Mommy's medicine. And I ate it.

It made me feel really shaky and made my heart go BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM really really fast. So Mommy took me to the doctor and by then my ears and whiskers were shaking and I was talking really fast.

So they made me go to the hospital. They gave me medicine to make my heart beat not so fast and other medicine to make me sleepy and they took out all of my blood and did experiments on it. Then I had to stay overnight.

Mommy came to get me today. Dr. Simon Kirk said I am back to normal - Hahaha, Mommy said. Normal for him, Dr. Kirk said. They both laughed. I think they were joking about me.

But I don't even care because here's the best part. When they brought me to Mommy, guess who else was in the room?

SANTA!

I am not kidding. He was there with his helpers. So Mommy got my picture taken and then she went home and got Scout and he got his picture taken, too! See, I am telling the truth:



The best part was that Santa had biscuits. I found the jar and jumped on the counter and got tangled in the lights and knocked them down. And Santa didn't even yell at me!

So I had to go to the hospital and get stuck with needles and have experiments done on my blood but I also got to meet Santa. So it was all good in the end.

Love, Bandit

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Scout and Bandit: IT'S SNOWING!!

Bandit: Bandit here! So we woke up this morning and there was all of this cold white stuff on the ground. So I ate it. Is that like the stuff Mommy read about in the Bible? Manna? It tastes like something God would send.

Scout: No, silly. It's snow!!

Bandit: Oh, snow! What's snow? A new treat?

Scout: No, stupid. Snow is something fun to play with!

Bandit: And it tastes good, too!

Scout: Well, don't eat too much. It's really to play in. Just wait till there is so much snow in the backyard that when you go out to potty, the snow is over your head. That's really fun!

Bandit: Over my head? Will I disappear?

Scout: For a minute. Then you pop out and snow flies everywhere! It's the greatest. Mommy doesn't even like being out in the cold, but when there is that much snow, she'll come outside a lot and play with us.

Bandit: I can't wait!

Scout: And do you know what else happens when it snows? SANTA COMES!!

Bandit: YEAH!! Wait, what happens when Santa comes?

Scout: He brings presents to all of the good puppies!

Bandit: Sigh. I haven't been a very good puppy.

Scout: It's OK. Since you are still a puppy, he still brings presents. Once, I drank a bottle of wine and he still brought me presents.

Bandit: YOU drank a bottle of wine? I thought you were always good!

Scout: HAHAHAHA!! That's funny! I used to be a bad dog, too! I ate shoes and books and oven mitts and movies and lots of other stuff. Even a Christmas ornament. Then I barfed all over the house. One time, I was at Nana's and I threw up a big giant leaf and a piece of wood. I don't even remember eating them!

Bandit: Hey, I eat that stuff too! We really are brothers!

Scout: But listen. Someday you have to stop doing that and become a big dog. But until then, Santa still brings presents!

Bandit: YEAH! Santa's coming! Snow! Snow! Snow!

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Scout's letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

As you know, I got a new puppy brother this year. I have tried to be a good big brother but we fight a lot. Mommy has to yell a lot more than she used to.

But we've had a lot of fun, too, and I am very glad that I have a puppy brother. So I hope you can just forget the times when we've knocked stuff over in the living room or chased Murphy or knocked Mommy over in the backyard or crawled into bed with our muddy paws. We're just having fun.

I did a really good thing this year: I finally passed my therapy dog test! Mommy was so happy she cried. Now I go to school once a week to read books with Timmy. Maybe you could bring him a new book? Something about dogs?

I hope Bandit's not on your naughty list. He didn't mean to eat all of Mommy's books. Or drink Mommy's tea. Or chew her quilt or shoes or cell phone or ... well, you probably already have a list. He was just a puppy. Remember when I drank that bottle of wine? Sometimes we do bad things while we learn how to be good.

Bandit doesn't hardly poop in the house at all anymore! See, he's learning!

So if you and your helpers aren't too busy, maybe you could bring us some new glow balls? We have a lot of fun with them and Mommy loses them a lot. And we could always use some biscuits!

Thanks, Santa!! Say hi to the elves for us!! See you on Christmas eve!!

Love,
Scout

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Bandit's letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I've been a very, very good boy this year.

I've been a pretty good boy this year.

I tried.

Love,
Bandit

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