Scout and Bandit's Guide to Life: Don't be a poopy mouth

Hi everyone! Scout here!

Bandit wanted to do another update but Mommy won't let him near the computer. Here's why:

Last night we all went for a walk in the dark. Well, it wasn't dark when we left but it was dark when we were almost home

On the way, me and Bandit were playing in the leaf piles. There is a lot of stinky stuff in there to sniff. Well, on our street, Joe had a reeeally stinky, ginourmous pile of leaves. Bandit jumped right in up over his head and Mommy couldn't pull him out.

I was a good boy and came right to Mommy when she said to. Just so you know.

When she finally was able to get Bandit out of the leaf pile, we could see he was eating something. She thought it was a chicken bone or some Halloween candy or something and she didn't want him to choke. So Mommy did what she always does - she pried Bandit's mouth open and reached in to get what he was eating.

But nope, it wasn't a chicken bone or candy. It was POOP! A really big, gross, disgusting pile of poop and leaves!

Only Mommy didn't see that right away because it was so dark. By the time she figured it out, she had her fingers almost down Bandit's throat, and she and Bandit, and the flashlight and the leashes and the house keys and her coat, were all covered in poop. Exceptionally smelly, gross poop.

She got us home and did her best to clean everything off, but she wouldn't go near Bandit all night. She said he had poop breath and no matter how many "I'm so cute!" looks he gave her she was definitely not going to kiss his poop face. Bandit didn't even get to sleep in the big bed with Mommy last night. She made him sleep in his crate!

I got Mommy all to myself! Eat more poop, Bandit!

So I guess the moral of the story is that if you want to be a poopy mouth, that's fine. But no matter how cute you are, you'll be a lonely poopy mouth.

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Bandit does this week's chicken update

Mommy is very busy working today so she let me do the chicken update. You can read it on the chicken's blog, www.chickenadventure.com.

By the way, I ate all of Mommy's slippers yesterday. That's what she gets for leaving me home alone.

Love Bandit

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Bandit chimes in

I am very mad that Mommy took Scout out today without me. I don't know why Scout gets to go out and do something fun without me. Why did Mommy leave me home? Doesn't she understand that she is not allowed to go anywhere without me, including to the bathroom?

I do not like being left home alone. While they were gone I laid down in my crate and plotted my revenge. I have already eaten one of Mommy's slippers today, so I decided I would finish off the pair when she let me out of the crate.

But after Mommy brought Scout home, she went back out. And when she came home, she brough both of us Tim Bits! Yeah! Mommy is the greatest!

I have decided that I will not eat her other slipper. Today.

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Scout shares about today's reading dog session

Hi, everyone! I just came back from school and boy, did I have fun today! Timmy and I played a little bit today. We put treats under the books and I had to find them. There were not as many kids in the library today, which really helped. I was very confused last week!

I think that I know what I'm supposed to do now! I'm supposed to lie down on the blanket while Timmy reads his books! I am still learning how to lie down for a long time. Plus, whenever the kids come into the library they want to pet me so I still get a little distracted.

I showed Timmy all of my tricks. He thought I should know how to roll over, but I don't know how. So he showed me how! I'll have to work on that.

There isn't any school next week so I won't get to go back until the week after. I hope I don't forget what I learned today!

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A message from Scout

Dear friends, this is Scout.

I'm getting ready to go to school today to meet with my little boy. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do at school. There are so many kids and I want to play with them all. It's very exciting. And after school, Mommy takes me to Tim's to get coffee and a Tim Bit. They love me at Tim's. I love school days.

The one thing that I hate is that they expect me to be clean all the time. Today, I had a lot of fun running around in the leaves and mud while I was playing with my friends Kona and Killian through the fence.

When I came in the house, Mommy wasn't very happy with me. First, she tried to use some wet paper towels to clean my paws. Then she made me get in the bathtub so she could wash off my paws. I hate the bathtub. I tried to hide but she caught me. Bandit is lucky. He didn't have to have a bath last week and he didn't have to get his paws washed today. That's not fair.

I like having mud up to my knees. I think it's fun. But I guess when you go to school you're supposed to be clean. I don't know why. Do you learn better if your feet are clean? I have a lot to learn about elementary school, I guess.

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Bandit tussles with a stray cat and to the vet we go!

I took the dogs for a walk today, and as we rounded a corner I saw a cat curled up under a shrub, right at the edge of the sidewalk. As we walked by, the cat didn't even flinch, which made me wonder if there was something wrong with it.

I stopped, the dogs ahead of me, leashes taut, and said, "Hi, kitty, are you OK?" Just as the words left my mouth, Bandit came over to sniff the cat, who leapt from under the shrub with claws bared and scratched Bandit right in the face. Then the cat went right back to where it was curled up.

We got the heck out of there. But back at home, I realized that Bandit's eye was all red, and there was some blood on his nose. I could see actual bloody scratches on the white part of his eye.

Off the vet we went.

After a good look, Dr. B said that Bandit didn't seem to have any scratches on his cornea but he did have scratches on the rest of his eye. He gave Bandit some antibiotic eye ointment to help ward off infection.

I asked if I could come and sweep floors in exchange for vet services.

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Scout's first reading session

Scout had his first reading session at the elementary school today with a little boy we'll call Timmy. (Timmy is a good name for a boy with a dog and it preserves his privacy.)

It had been pouring rain so I wanted to get there early to make sure Scout had time to potty and then get dried off. I also had to sign in and have my form signed. I overestimated how long all of that would take and we ended up 20 minutes early.

The waiting time in the office made Scout antsy, so by the time we met the school social worker and went to pick Timmy up he was over anxious. Scout got to go into the 2nd grade classroom to get Timmy - yeah! more kids! fun! - but Timmy was at speech, so we had to go back to the office and get him there. Then we went to the library, where there were about a gazillion kids in line waiting to go back to their classroom.

The therapy dog reading corner is right as you come into the library, and Scout was not only anxious but distracted. Timmy wanted to sit and Scout wanted to wander.

I explained to Timmy about how sometimes you can be very excited about something but also a little scared and how sometimes it takes a while to get used to a new situation. Timmy in turn told me how the other therapy dogs sit quietly and listen to stories.

I was pretty sure he was disappointed with us.

He did get to read through some books, and we had Scout pick which book to read next by putting a dog biscuit under them and reading the first book he sniffed. As we were leaving, I gave Timmy a bookmark that I'd made with Scout's head shot and the words, "Thank you for reading with me today! Love Scout".

Timmy asked if next time he could have a picture with Scout's whole body, so I think that means he's looking forward to seeing us again. Scout's trainer Kathleen said that it'll take a couple of times before Scout understands that Timmy is HIS boy and settles down to read.

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