Sir Winston and Me

WINSTON’S NEW ACCOMPLISHMENT

March 16, 2014

I tapped on her arm this morning and she looked straight at me. She’s been gone to Ladies Conference . . . left me alone here with Master, and although Master and I did fine, I missed her. My mistress gets up early, and so I do too, and first thing every morning, even before I go outside for my jobs, we tussle around a little. I wiggle a lot, and she takes my head between her hands and asks me about my night and says what a good boy I am and that she loves me, and she rubs under my neck and so I roll over and let her rub my belly and such as that. It was right after all that this morning that I tapped her with my white paw on the skin of her arm.

“What is it Winston?”

“You haven’t told them.”

“Told them what?”

“About the way I pee now.”  The thing is boy puppies until they grow up a bit squat just like girl puppies do, and I was a little put out a few weeks ago when one of my human “brothers” –I think it was Andrew–made fun of me because I was still squatting. Kind of implied I might be a sissy, and if you’ve been around any of the Buxton households you will understand that they don’t take too well to boys being sissies in any way.

She laughed and said you’re pretty proud of that, huh, Winston, and she already knows I am because I’ve heard her and Master talk about it, and actually they kind of made fun of me a little because on our walks down to the woods, I like to do it so much. Master counted one day: I lifted my leg and watered trees, bushes, posts and various other things 20 times during a 20 minute walk. Impressive, don’t you think.

WINSTON’S FIRST GROOMING

Our fella is now 5 1/2 months old, and while I was away at a conference, Jerry took him in for his first grooming. We chose to have minimal trimming done, with no bows or other hairpieces. After all, he is a gentleman.

Winston has almost reached his physical maturity now. We continue to be enamored with this beautiful, sweet, intelligent animal.

A TEXT FROM WINSTON

February 22, 2014

It has been an unusual couple of weeks in the Buxton household. For one thing, Jerry and Andrew drove our motor home over to Lake Havasu where some work on the paint job is being done, and where then Michael will help us sell it. (Sadly, our motor home days are over . . .but what fun we had over the years in those extended road trips.) Anyway, during those four days, our Crestline home was inhabited only by Winston and me. Then my brother Mark became very ill and I flew to Missouri to be with my family for six days. A couple of days after I arrived home, I flew from the Ontario airport up here to Sacramento for the 31 annual Western District Ladies Conference.

So then, Winston and Jerry have been rattling around the house alone for many days . . .This morning, I received a text from Winston.

Dear Mistress:

Master and I are missing you quite badly and I’ve been feeling sad, and when I looked at Master this morning to inquire with my shiny round eyes about you, he picked me up, rubbed me under the chin and said, “Don’t worry. She’ll be home today!” The airport, he said. We’ll pick her up again at the airport . . . and I remembered last Tuesday night when you came back from Missouri we parked at the curb, Master got out, loaded in a suitcase, and then the passenger door opened, and there you were! I wiggled every part of my body, twirled my beautiful tail, patted your face with my white paws, licked you all over, and I tried to people talk to let you know how much I love you and how I missed you, but only doggy whimpers came out . . . but I think you understood.

I’ll be with Master this evening at 5:00 to pick you up, but I need to tell you one thing: I look different now, so I hope you’ll recognize me and not think I’m someone else. On Thursday afternoon, Master made an appointment at a doggie place here in Crestline and took me in for my first grooming. I’ll let you know all the details when you get home, but I want to let you know this: The long hair over my eyes is gone . . .so I know I must look really different. I’ve tried to tell Master I’d like to look in the mirror, but he doesn’t understand me. So, don’t be startled when you see me. One nice thing about the grooming bit–although frankly, I didn’t like a lot of it–is that I can see so much better now.

See you in a few hours.

With much love from your pup Winston. XOXO

(Hope you’ll hold me up in the bathroom so I can see myself in the mirror!)

January 6, 2014

Great balls of fire, jumping Jehoshaphat, and all that sort of thing; it has been nearly six weeks since either Sir Winston or I posted here, and such a situation should not be, for my life, and Hubby Jerry’s life, have forever been changed by the addition of this black and white ball of fur and heart. We are in love with him. Why? Let me tell the reasons.

He loves us back, barks or whimpers when we leave, plays, snuggles, loves his kennel where he sleeps all night, is precocious, few potty-training accidents, and he has learned tricks . . . He is a beautiful dog with a stunning thick coat, captivating eyes and adoring expressions. His accomplishments include obeying commands of:

Sit

Lie Down

Jump (over my outstretched legs as I sit on the floor)

Speak

Ring a bell

Fetch and drop

Prays before his puppy meals . . . well, sort of.

On his own, he learned to bark at his water bowl and rattle it with a paw when it is empty, go to the landing that leads to our bedroom where his kennel is and glare at us or bark when it is past his bedtime and he’s sleepy, but he wants us in the bedroom too. Manipulates Master into sneaking him people food–tidbits of cooky and meat.

Although it pains me, I must speak of his shortcomings.

He bites when he plays; I have marks on my hands and forearms to prove this.

He is a chewing machine, and thus far is not able to discern the difference between gobbling on the chew-toys in his basket and the leg of an antique chair or the upholstery on a very nice couch. He eats newspapers and once snatched a plastic grocery bag from my hand, and was halfway across the room before I knew what tornado had thundered by. He loves books, and often can be seen with remnants of their pages either in his mustache or in his little black beard.

He loved Christmas. As you can imagine he was of great help to me. Right in the middle of everything, he must be. When he tires, though, he just plops down and checks out.

Although the lamp by this chair just went dark and I know that again he has tugged on an electrical cord and it scares me silly for it might kill him and I’ve told him repeatedly not to play with electrical things, I’m totally in love with Sir Winston of Crestline. I just cannot imagine life without him. Neither can Master. We’re pitiful.

November 19, 2013

I’m so happy it’s today and not yesterday, for it was a bit of a rough day for me. I had my first visit to the vet. Well, don’t misunderstand me, I had no problem with the Rim Forest Animal Hospital that Mistress selected, for the doctor was very nice, and the nurses were to die for–beautiful and friendly–and I could tell they loved me a lot. It was toward the end of the visit that Dr. Frieboes (John is his first name, but I don’t believe it would be polite for me to call him that) said, “Now this is the bad part.” I’m not totally sure just how he did it, but it seems he lifted the skin on my furry back, and there he stuck me with a needle. I yelped–but only once, and not very loud–for Master tells me I’m a man, and men have to be strong and brave, and I definitely want to please Master.

In the late afternoon, I started to feel bad, and Mistress thinks I had a fever, and I know my back hurt where I’d had the shot, for every time Mistress or Master picked me up, I yelped a little bit. None of us worried, though, for the nice doctor had told us this would probably happen. Toward evening, I felt really bad, and was limp and Mistress held me and talked comfort words to me and that felt good. I laid my head on her chest.

I slept all night in my kennel without needing to go potty, and as usual Mistress was very happy with me. At 5:30 she took me out to the back deck. “Good boy,” she said when I had finished.

Oh, by the way, Mistress wants you to know that I’m a 10! Perfect health, weight, and formation.

Wisdom from Winston

Sometimes pups (and people) have to hurt a little. Makes a better dog or human out of them. (At least that’s what Mistress tried to help me understand yesterday.)

Very sincerely,

Sir Winston of Crestline

November 15, 2013

Wisdom Words from Winston

At 5:30 this morning, Mistress came to my kennel and woke me up. “Are you okay, Winston?” she asked as she reached down to open the stiff clasp that holds the door closed. Well, I didn’t want to be rude or anything, but I was thinking . . .why wouldn’t I be okay? She put her hands around me and took me from the kennel and held me up close to her face.

“You’ve slept all night, Winston. What a good boy you are. It’s been eight and a half hours since you went potty.”

What the deal is, I have learned, is that all the puppy books say an eight-week old pup such as I is not able to hold his pee for more than two or three hours . . . and I, please take notice, had held mine for more than eight.

Was my mistress ever happy! She carried me over to the bed where Master was still lying and bragged on me a little, even put me down on his chest. I snuggled under the warm cover a bit, licked his face, then was carried out to the back deck where is arranged my place to “go.”

Mistress told me last night that I needed to write a column today . . . and I’ve been thinking about it and have decided to say this:

Sometimes people say one thing or another is not possible, and people (and sometimes pups) get discouraged and won’t even try. I say, Go for it! You might be like me and be able to do something that most people think is impossible.

Very sincerely,

Sir Winston of Crestline

November 14, 2013

Words from Winston

Mistress forgot that I have my own page, and she posted some new pictures and people words on her own site. Guess you’ll have to go over there to read it. She’s sorry, she says.

https://writenow.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/a-caring-lesson-from-winston/

Yours sincerely . . . Sir Winston of Crestline

November 8, 2013

Wisdom from Winston

Mistress was disappointed in me last night–I could tell. Well, what’s a fella to do? I had been sleeping in my kennel since about 8:00, when at 10:30, I awoke with the need to pee, and I thought right away I should tell my humans about this need, for recall my earlier remarks that they talk a lot about pee and poop around here, and although I don’t quite understand, it seems I am always the center of these discussions. So, when I woke up with this little feeling that I think is connected with both phrases “Bad Boy” and “Good Boy” I began whining. Mistress opened my kennel, cooed to me, and carried me out to the back deck where is arranged the place to pee and poop. I did so . . . well, only the first part, but that seemed to make Mistress happy. She picked me up, carried me in her warm arms . . . and I think she was heading for the kennel, but my thinking was since we were already up, maybe we should play a bit, so I began my friendly nipping on her hand and my puppy dog wriggling around in her arms. She held me up and looked with her tan eyes into what they tell me are my beautiful round black ones, and said, “What’s the deal, Winston? It’s your bedtime.” In response I licked her neck, and tried a taste of her blue fuzzy robe, and wiggled a bit more. She’s really nice–my Mistress–played with me a little, then (I’m not sure she wants me to tell this part) she cuddled me in her arms and rocked me in the burgundy chair near the back deck. . .soon I was sleepy. She carried me into the bedroom, opened the kennel door, pushed me in, and said, “Nite, nite, Winston.” I turned around a few times, found a comfy position . . . and the next thing I knew it was 2:30, and I needed a trip to the back deck. . .

Told you Mistress wasn’t too happy with me last night. But I was sleepy after my 2:30 jaunt, so we didn’t play, and in my kennel, I slept until 5:30.

Oh, yeah, the wisdom part:

No one is perfect, neither puppies or humans . . . but, then again, some of us are pretty close, wouldn’t you say?

November 7, 2013

Wisdom from Winston

My face is black, that of Mistress not so much. It does not matter to us at all.

November 6, 2013

We have owned Sir Winston of Crestline for eleven days, and as of this moment he is the ruler of our home. Both Jerry and I are smitten, over the top in love with this little feisty black and white critter. It is obvious that his sharp mind and his tiny body are developing every day; he scampers at our heels now, lifts his head and looks into our face with those round liquid eyes that melt our hearts as surely as does butter melt in the hot Arizona sun. He barks, is ferocious in his attacks on his purple squeaky toy that he shakes with a vengeance, plays tug with an old wash cloth that I pull at, growls at his brown chew toy, and nips at shoes and cords and fingers.

Although he is bred to be a house dog, he loves to be outside, and a few days ago when Jerry raked up leaves on the side yard, Winston ran about, cavorted in the leaves, jumped down a short step, and dug with his white furry paws in the loose dirt, until completely worn out, he curled up between the steps on a folded-up ladder and fell asleep.

SIR WINSTON

I’m pretty excited about having my own page and have in mind lots of things to tell you, but for starters I’ll tell you only three:

1. I miss my doggie mom in Tucson, but I would never let Mistress know that for it would break her heart. Instead, I look lovingly into her eyes with my own round black ones (which some say are exceedingly beautiful.) I miss Milo and my sister a little bit, but not so much as my mom.

2. Master laughs at Mistress because she talks baby talk to me. I’m not telling Mistress, but Master does the same thing when she’s not around. Tickles me.

3. On the way home from Tucson Mistress talked to me about my name, and I agreed that my name was Sir Winston. Tell the truth, I didn’t even know what my name was, but I’m happy being called Sir Winston. Kinda like the ring of it.

4.One more thing: They talk a lot about pee and poop around here. Not totally sure of the significance, but I gather it is something I need to know about.

More words will be coming later from yours truly, Sir Winston…..