I haven't been as good about updating Lucky's webpage lately; he's been at our house for almost 2 months now and Lucky's days have pretty much become a fun, comfortable routine - no big discoveries for me to report anymore! Having a daily routine has made Lucky's confidence bloom and 95% of his first-week anxiousness has disappeared. What does his day consist of? Well let's see: helping foster Mom put her shoes on in the morning (Lucky's motto: if ya can't see 'em, ya can't tie 'em, and ya have to scratch my belly), waking up the kids, hanging out with foster Mom and the kids, watching bunnies, squeaking his big squeaky tennis ball, going on a walk and digging for voles in the snow (someday, says Lucky, I'm going to catch one - mmmmmmm), going on car rides to drop off and pick up kids (he even passed the 20-minutes-alone-in-the-car-with-Chipotle-burritos-under-the-front-seat test), sleeping at home and staying out of trouble if foster Mom & the kids go somewhere without him, telling everyone how much he missed them when they get home, watching bunnies, lounging on the dog couch, following foster Mom wherever she needs to go in the house, avoiding the cats, and - one more time before bed .......watching bunnies. Then it's off to his bed (see the spoiled dog in the picture below) to snuggle up and rest so he can do it all again tomorrow!

Lucky has learned another new game this week, it's called "let's wake up the kids." He seriously gets all excited for this each morning now. After he's been let outside and eats his breakfast, I'll head upstairs and say "come on Lucky, let's go wake up the kids!" He now BOUNDS up the stairs and waits at the first door. When I open the door I say "wake-em-up!" and he leaps onto the closest bed, crawls ONTO the child in the bed, and then pants very stinky dog breath in the sleepy child's face while sitting on top of him. When the offending child continues to sleep (usually trying hard not to smile and show me he's awake) Lucky nudges his head and shifts his weight around. Then, when I point to the other bed and say "wake HIM up now!" he leaps onto that bed and proceeds to sit some part of his 72 pound body on that child. Then he looks at me expectantly waiting for me to tell him it's time to move on to the next room. In this room, the occupant of the first bed is usually grinning wildly and giggles when he comes up to visit her and gives him a bear hug, while the second child in this room either giggles or pulls the covers over her head depending on the day while waiting for him to come and sit on her. Today, Lucky took his skill to a new level: the sleepiest child tried to block Lucky out by lying on his back and putting his knees up in the air. Lucky, showing superior talent, proceeded to climb up over the knees, and literally sat on the child's knees, with his front paws on either side of the child's stomach and his body resting up in the air on the child's knees. That's my boy!

More exciting news of the week: Lucky barked! After almost 3 weeks of silence, he has finally found his voice. Twice that day the kids and I had heard a soft "woof" from his direction and had looked at each other saying "was that Lucky???" But we couldn't tell for sure. Then later in the afternoon one of my other dogs was out in the yard and starting barking like crazy when somebody walked by with a dog, and Lucky went to town "woofwoofwoof-ing!" He has a nice mellow bark, not one of the sharp type that make you squint (that would be one of my dogs) or the beagle type arooooooooo (that would be my other dog), just a nice mellow woof! He hasn't done it much since then, but a little one here or there.

Two more new details about Lucky: today when I fed Lucky I held the food up for a minute and he stood up and balanced perfectly on his back legs (think like a poodle does). With a little work you could teach this dog to do some pretty funny tricks. The other thing I have found is that Lucky likes to carry socks around. Hasn't chewed them at all, just carries them around and licks them a little if they're especially stinky. It actually comes in kind of handy when you have kids shedding their socks every time they step in a wet spot left by dog paws.

Lucky is really wishing that the person out there who has been reading about him and knows in their heart that he's meant for them would hurry and contact placement, he's trying to be patient but this house is a zoo and he really wants to know what his forever home will be like. If that's you, contact placement as soon as you can!

Lucky charming people at the Richfield PetSmart

Hi everybody, Lucky here. I just got on the computer and read what my mom wrote yesterday, and SHEESE - I mean, would she want ME to get on the computer and list all HER bad points? So I decided I need to do today's update and defend myself. First off - in the interest of full disclosure, I have not even looked sideways at a corner in THREE days. You've got to cut me a little slack, when you've lived outside your entire life are you really supposed to KNOW there's a difference between the corner of the house in the yard and the corner of the family room by the hallway? Apparently they are different and I've learned that if I just go to the outside one then Mom doesn't have a hissy fit. And speaking of Mom, did you know she actually STEPS on me when we're taking walks? I mean hel-lo, the path is 6 feet wide, does she need to walk into my rear end? I finally had to walk way on the other side of the path from her because I was afraid the kids were going to learn some bad words.

On top of all that, did she even mention how much HELP I am around the house? Noooooooooo, of course not. Well, I had my kids help me take a few pictures today to prove to you just what a catch I really am. Take a look:

I tell ya, by the end of the day I'm just exhausted from all this work. And do they pay me? Not one cent, not even for babysitting! Unless you count all those treats I get (burp). OK so they pay me a little. Anyway, so how many dogs are you going to find in this world that perform all those tasks? Yep, we're a rare find, I know it. So pooey on all that stuff Mom said yesterday. In my own humble opinion I'm brilliant, lovable, and modest to boot. And don't let my foster Mom tell you anything different or I'll have to get back on the computer to defend myself again.

Your humble friend, Lucky