Introducing my new feature. Enjoy!

As you can see, I really got into Christmas this year, and it showed.

Thanks to everyone who sent and brought me gifts. I very much enjoyed my stocking and my candy cane bone, which I have become quite possessive of. (I'm a dog, I am allowed to end a sentence with a preposition) I get to chew on it for a few minutes at a time before one of the people comes and takes it away. The first few times they tried that, I was not happy about it. Finally, I carried the bone into my crate to keep them from getting to it, but Shane still reached in and tried to grab it. That's when I growled and made my mean face at him. I didn't think it was a big deal, but I got yelled at for it! Geeze, they need to calm down. Anyway, we spent some time talking about it, and they told me I could have it later, so whatever. I have since learned, though, that when they say "Ajax, enough" that I am supposed to get up and leave the bone so they can take it away. I do like carrying it with me all over the house when I have it though.

Thanks to everyone: Russ, Angela, Shane's family, Cassandra's family, and Brutus for licking my face for hours on Christmas Day. I can't wait to do it again. As a reminder, it doesn't have to be a holiday to give me a treat.

Today Shane and Cassandra took me on a walk to the woods with a bunch of other fun dogs. I decided to share my experiences with some drawings since they didn't take any cute pictures of me.

At first I was mostly interested in the new smells, but then I found out that walking in the woods with a bunch of dogs is pretty much like a moving dog park. So then I decided I should be the referee to all the other dogs when they are playing. I made sure everyone got along and was safe while playing.  I really liked running along the trail showing everyone how fast and fun I am.

Here's a drawing of me and my friend Rose walking on the trail in the woods.

We turned a corner and there was a big lake on the right. All the other dogs headed to the lake to play, so I followed. But this lake was weird. I started walking right on top of the water without getting wet. Something didn't feel right and then suddenly the ground beneath me broke and I was in ice cold water. It was so cold and I was so scared - I had no idea what was going on! I just froze (literally) and waited for something to happen. My front paws managed to stay on top of the ice, but my back end was stuck in the water up to my tail.

Here's a drawing of me caught in the icy lake.

Even though I didn't know what to do, Cassandra was already on her way to rescue me. She started breaking all the ice to get to me and when she got there, she grabbed my collar to try to help me out. I was still unsure about everything so she had to pull kind of hard. She kept breaking the ice so I had a path to get out of the water. I sure was glad when I got out of there. So cold!

Here's a drawing of Cassandra saving me.

Everyone was very concerned with me when I got out of the water and I got a lot of extra attention. Cassandra borrowed a rag from Nancy (Rose's human) to dry me off and make sure I was ok. I kept shaking a lot to dry off and try to get warm. It was easy to move on, though. By the time 5 minutes were passed, I was up to my usual refereeing and happy self and I had forgotten about the icy lake.

I really wore myself out today, so when we got home Shane and Cassandra turned on football and I only woke up to write in my blog.

Here's me "enjoying" football.

Thanks to everyone who helped me get warm again so quickly and being concerned if I was OK. I think i made it look worse than it was, though. Maybe next time I'll rescue somebody instead of being the victim. Although the attention was nice...

Well, maybe not.

Today was the first snow of the winter in Salem, and my first in my new home. It didn't really excite me very much, but I really like my new coat. It fits me so well, and it even has a little hood so my ears don't get cold.

On Saturdays I get to go on field trips most weekends. Today was no different. Today was different, though.

Usually we go to the dog park or sometimes we'll go to the woods or downtown Salem. This weekend, though, we went to what the humans and cats call a "Beach." I hadn't been to one before in my life, but at this point I'm happy to try anything, so I hopped in the car.

Next, we drove into Salem to meet Shane's friend Heather from work, her husband Stephen, and their dog Pripet. From there, we all went to the beach. Shane and Cassandra weren't sure whether I should be on my long leash or off leash all together, but once we got there I really wanted to play, and there wasn't really an easy way for me to get away from the beach because there was a huge wall and an ocean, so I talked them into letting me run around without my leash. Actually, I didn't talk so much as tangle myself up and freak out so they decided that I wasn't smart enough to handle the long leash. Suckers.

I started out by chasing other dogs around, and barking at them.

I followed them into the "Ocean." The people said the water would be cold, but I really didn't mind it that much. And since my hair is short and thin, I dried off quickly.

I also learned how fun it is to chase balls. Tennis balls, of course. Here, you see me sprinting towards the ocean after a ball. Cassandra was too slow with the camera trigger and could only get my butt. Once I got there, I romped and sprinted through the water, and it set me off on a crazy tirade of full speed sprinting all over the beach. Everyone there was so impressed at how fast I was. I did about three laps before I slowed down even a little bit. I barely noticed whether I was in the water or not.

Do you ever forget who you belong to? Me too. I walked about 500 yards with these people before realizing I had no idea who they were.

Fortunately, someone threw a ball for another dog in the other direction. No WAY is he beating me to this ball. I started about 2 miles behind him and was to here before he even took three steps. Look how happy I am!

"Did you shower this morning? I bet you will when you get home!"

Here I am, not only resting in the sand by the water, but showing off how translucent my skin is. Don't worry, kids. I'm not radioactive.

My new friend Pripet, who really likes to chase tennis balls. She was very good at running into the rocks to find them.

And at getting all of the dirt off of them once she got to them. Mmmmmmmm.

Now, I'm tired. If you need me, I'll be here the rest of the weekend...

I know, I know, I haven't written anything in a little while, but I've had a lot going on!

A couple weekends ago, Shane and Cassandra took me on a walk to Lynn Woods where we went on a 3 mile (ish) walk. I got to hang out with a few new dogs, and I got to explore a bunch of new smells and you wouldn't believe the number of different and new things I peed on. I peed so much that I ran out of it by the end and I had to just pretend for the last 30 minutes. I had a lot of fun, except that I had to stay on my leash while all the other dogs got to run off-leash and play anywhere they wanted in the woods. I'm a victim of fastism (It's like racism, but for fast things). I slept a lot the rest of the day after that, but it ended up being good because that was football day anyway, so Shane and Cassandra weren't going anywhere or doing anything except for watching football. I hate football.

On November 29, I had my fourth birthday, and my first as a pet. I got treated extra special. Even more than I usually do. That night, I asked to sleep on the bed with the people, and to my surprise, they actually let me. My cute worked! And I've gotten to sleep there ever since, too. That day, we went and played at the dog park and I found a lady greyhound friend. She wasn't as playful as I was, but I liked meeting her. She was prettier than me, and had a custom made winter coat that was very cool. She even had a fleece hood. Quite stylish. I asked Cassandra for one of those for Christmas. Maybe I'll get to wear it in the snow.

Monday when my people had to go to a Celtics game, I got to hang out with Angela all day again, and this week she has a rottweiler staying with her all week. He's really nice and we get along well. When he gets bored he licks my ears. It's a little weird but I kinda like it. I've also started spending all of my time there on their couch. They don't even care! And since it was my birthday, Angela was nice enough to give me a light little windbreaker jacket that has some fleece on the inside. It's nice and soft and pretty warm. Thanks Angela!!!

Today I'm back with Angela, and then again on Friday. The people sure have to work a lot it seems. Sometimes they turn on the game and I can see Shane on the TV at night though. Oh, and one last thing... I can turn on the fireplace. I do it every once in a while now. Maybe about half the time I try!