In June and July, I continued to get mail and receive comments to my blog posts, and I continued to make friends with dog lovers and dog owners.

In June, I made friends with people all the way in Russia.

I really have no idea where that is, or how far away it is, but my mom was saying, “Wow. Russia” when the comment came in. My Russian friend, Alexander, commented on how good medical care for dogs is here in the United States, and that medical care for dogs here in the United States is often better than medical care for people in Russia. I think the idea is that we in the U.S. are supposed to appreciate the blessings of a good life. And be sensitive about people who cannot get good medical care.  I know that I do, and I also appreciate good friends like Alexander. I also think there must be many dogs in Russia because many dogs come from there, such as Siberian Huskies, and more.

Around this time, I got my new bootie, and life was really better for me, so people who commented on my blog learned about that and were happy about that.

People also wrote about their own experiences with dogs, and with losing their dogs, as their dogs passed away.

One of my new friends, Jeanne, wrote about how sad she was when her dog died. She wrote that even years later, she still felt very sad about no longer having her dog. My new friend also wrote about how sad her daughter was feeling because her hamster died recently and how difficult it was for her daughter to say “good bye”. That reminded me of my post…about Wanda and Miri and their hamster.

I also got a comment from Ellen, about health insurance and, although this is not my department, my comment did mention pet insurance, which I don’t have.

But one thing is sure: People and dogs both have bones, and bones can break (Ellen’s wrist had broken), and nobody thinks that is much fun. (But while people don’t think that is much fun, I never saw a person with that big collar around his neck, such as I had to wear!)

In some comments, people expressed the idea that just because I had my full splint taken off, that I could go swimming, and take showers, and do all sorts of things. I could not.

So in my responses, I commented that I was still bandaged, that I still had to have a lot of patience. I was very limited in movement, I could not take a shower, and certainly could not go swimming, and still hadn’t gotten my ankle and toes x-rayed to see how well it was healing, or had healed.

Another topic that came out of the comments was my readers’ confusion between a splint and a cast.

In my responses, I explained this difference between a splint and a cast. But to repeat, the splint is more flexible than a cast. It allows my leg to flex more than a cast would. I had a splint.

Finally, I just received nice comments from people saying hello, wishing me a speedy recovery, and telling me how much they liked my story and how glad they were that I was healing.  And these comments are just fine with me!

Hello, friends.

Many readers of my blog do not have the time to go through the comments to each post and page.  You are occupied with walking your dogs, purchasing dog food for them, taking them to the veterinarian, feeding them, and, hopefully, taking them to dog parks and off-lead dog areas! At least once a day, you get in your cars and drive away (or walk away) and leave us dogs at home, and go – where? And then you come back home to us in the evening, and spend your evenings at home with us.

So my mom and I have decided to help you by summarizing the comments that the readers of my blog have sent to me.

I started my blog in April, after I was hit by the car.  Blogging was good because I could not meet new dog friends due to my injuries (unless I was making friends in the animal hospital).  In May, from my blog, I made a lot of new friends.

One of my new friends from the month of May was Rachel.  Rachel, in my post “read my ears”, wrote about her beagle Mason and about how good his sense of smell is.  She wrote how Mason uses his ears to help him smell!  It is important for dog owners to understand just how good our noses are, because, as Rachel noted, dogs will just follow a scent when they are outdoors and not pay any attention to where the scent is leading them.  The scent could lead us off of the property, and it could lead us right into the street. And with our noses down, we won’t see anything like cars and other moving things in the roads.  This can be bad for dogs if we are off-lead. Read this post and comments for more details.

In May, I also made friends with Ellen. In my post “dogs don’t look both ways”, Ellen wrote about a cockapoo named Julie.   She says that Julie, an intelligent dog, knew how to look both ways for traffic, and to stop and wait until the traffic had passed. I am not so sure about this: Even if Julie sits down on the sidewalk and moves her head, I’m not sure if she understands what she is looking for, and understands the danger, and to wait.  My mom says that given the number of dogs who are hit by cars each year, it’s safer to assume that the dog does not know and understand.  On this point, Rachel said that Mason has to be on the lead at all times when outside, or she will pick up a scent and disappear in an instant.

Other friends who I made in May are Jerry, and Jamie, and Mike. All of these friends wished me well, and liked my blog and the photos, especially the photos of me and my bandages.  They asked a lot of questions, such as “How long do you have to keep the cast on?“. That was an interesting question, because she asked it right around the time that I started chewing on my splint and had to start going for bandage changes more often. For more details, read my post, “i’m definitely getting better“.

In one of my posts, “designer bandages“, I wrote about a dog’s perception of colors. Raviva also expressed the idea that “I never knew that people and dogs saw things differently“.  She is a good reason why I am writing this blog:  Most people, including my mom (at least, before I was hit by the car) do not understand that dogs and humans perceive colors differently, and I am hoping to educate them a little.  Actually, I never understood that people don’t see as well at night as we dogs do, and don’t smell as well as we dogs do. What a shame!

So this is a little summary of my new friends who wrote to me back in May, right after I was injured.

Thanks, pals, for writing to me and becoming my friend!

This was a fun day.  It started out with my Dad and me running!  But then it became very different from other days.  First, the doorbell rang and a man came to our home. He brought lots of things with him.  I know he was nice and I could smell his dog all over him!  Then the man said “He smells my dog”.  I could have told him that!

So then my mom asked, “What’s your dog’s name?” and he said “Honey”.  Honey is a Welsh Corgi.

Getting back to this day, this day was different from any day I had before.  The man  and my mom and I all went into the office. My mom and I went over to the desk and computer, and my mom said “Joey, sit” and that’s what I did – for a while.  I looked at him a lot.  I was also pretty interested in this man because I could smell his dog all over him! So after a while I got up and moved around. But again and again my mom said “Joey, sit” and so I did, and then the nice man said, “Joey!” and I looked at him and his big camera and this man said “Good boy” and so on. And so on.

The man was pretty relaxed and I was pretty relaxed. But I was also interested in the treats that were in the little cup in his hand. You can see my ears: They are paying attention to those treats.

And so it went!  When this man was leaving our home, he said, “Joey, sit” and he took more photographs of me standing by our front door. He’s a nice man and I was very relaxed for him.  And that is unusual for me to sit still for so long and to look straight ahead into a little box that doesn’t smell like a treat. Usually I look up, or down, or to one side, or to the other.

Then the man left our home and another man came!  This man and my mom sat in the kitchen and talked for a long time. He was nice also.  I was relaxing for a while in my bed in the dining room, right by the kitchen, while they talked. But I liked this man. And so – I brought my ball into the kitchen and started showing him that I wanted him to play ball with me. I wanted to be his friend and I wanted him to be my friend.

I think he is my friend, even though we didn’t play ball. But still, he was very nice.

And then my mom said, “Joey, you’re going to be in the newspaper!” although I didn’t know what she was talking about.

And then she gave me the treats that had been in the little cup.

The rest of the day wasn’t so interesting. But I’m not complaining!

***

You can read the article in the Newton Tab about Joey here!

And Joey would be happy to meet Mark the photographer and Dan the writer again, and also to meet Honey!

Joey also appeared as a “cover dog” the following week, in the Daily News Tribune, the following week, with Joey as the cover photo and article!

Many children are afraid of us dogs.  Many children love us dogs! And many children are afraid of us dogs but want to love us. They want to get close to us and not get close to us.

Waiting alone, for my mom, outside a school

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Sometimes my mom and I take a walk to the school.  She leaves me alone outside the building while she goes inside.   For a while, I’m alone but I know she’ll come get me soon.

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Then the children come by!

here come some children!

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These are good times when the children come by.  They love to pet me.  They know my name. My mom says that when they see her and they don’t see me, they ask, “Where’s Joey?”  They ask “Why isn’t Joey with you?”

Then they tell her to say “Hello” to me, and she comes home and says “Ariel says hello!” or names one of the other children who have become my friends.

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One time I escaped from our back yard and walked over to another school where children were playing outside. That was a great day for me. When my mom showed up, all the children lined up to pet me. One by one they pet me on the top of my head, and sometimes on my back. I don’t know if my mom was so happy about it, but I was.

Maybe you would like to tell a little about why children love us dogs!  Please comment below!

A 2007 Gallup pole indicated that 44% of American families own a dog. Wanting to have an at-home companion or a friend was the main reason why these families chose to own a dog.  A  much smaller number of people had a dog for protection, security, or practical reasons such as for hunting and exercise. But dogs are also useful. It’s helpful to know about your dog’s breed in order to understand what special qualities and characteristics your dog possesses innately. Then you can appreciate your dog all the more, and provide the resources that make your dog thrive and be happy.

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On a special day,  I got to have my photo taken with a group of firefighters from our town, Newton. Also in the photo were Senator John Kerry and our mayor-elect, Setti Warren.  This was a special photo because special and very nice people were in it and because I was in the photo, too! I was being useful by helping my candidate win. You can see me to the right, trying to make friends with one of the firefighters, who is petting me.

When many people think of firefighters, they think of Dalmatians.  So we are back to the topic of dogs.  Dalmatians and I are dogs.  Also, Dalmatians and Retrievers (like I am) are strong and can run for long distances.

Dalmatians were very useful to firefighters a long time ago, before firefighters drove those large trucks with engines that they drive now. In fact, our town of Newton was the first town to use motorized firetrucks in our country!  Before firefighters drove trucks with engines, they drove trucks that were pulled by horses.  Teams of horses.

So to get back to the topic of dogs:  Who protected the horses? Why, Dalmatians, of course!

What did Dalmatians protect the horses from?  From robbers and thieves who wanted to steal the horses and people’s belongings during the nighttime when the firemen were sleeping. They also protected the horses from wild dogs who would roam the streets and nip at the horses’ feet.

Why Dalmatians?  Dalmatians and horses make very good friends.  Dalmatians are strong (like me) and can run for long distances, maybe more than 30 miles, at a speed up to 30 mph! Dalmatians wanted to protect the horses.  The Dalmatians calmed the horses down when the horses got agitated, such as when there was a fire.  People also liked the way Dalmatians looked, with their spots!

So firefighters have loved dogs for a long time because dogs have been their friends and have been very useful in people’s lives.  I am happy to know that in our town we have wonderful firefighters and that now they are my friends!

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I have a lot of nice photographs of Dalmatians and horse-drawn firetrucks!  Look below!

You can see the company Dalmatian to the right, just under the wagon wheel.

Here you will see a video of horse-drawn firetrucks from a long time ago, long before you or I were born.

Finally, here is video and a photo of Blaze, the Dalmatian! He’s owned by Dave Humpert from the California State Firefighters’ Association! I think that Blaze and I would make really good friends!

Mr. Mitch Mendler, who took this photo of Blaze, gave my mom permission to use it.

My mom has been taking me all over our town of Newton since I got better. I like riding in the car but many times we walk, which I really love.  Right before we reach the center of town, we pass the place where Samuel Francis Smith used to live*, and there is a stone there that marks the spot, something I know a lot about. Who is Samuel Francis Smith? He is the man who wrote the lyrics to the song America, also known as My Country Tis of Thee. And he lived in the home right on the spot where I am sitting!

My mom included the words to this song here:

1. My country,’ tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrims’ pride,
from every mountainside let freedom ring!

2. My native country, thee,
land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

3. Let music swell the breeze,
and ring from all the trees sweet freedom’s song;
let mortal tongues awake;
let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

4. Our fathers’ God, to thee,
author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright
with freedom’s holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

I like when he writes about the hills, and the rocks, and the breeze, and the trees, though I don’t know what a rill is. But this is an important place in our town!

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* 1181 Centre Street, Newton Centre

I don’t know exactly what a dog park or how they get to be there, but my mom has been taking me to this Cold Spring Dog Park place lately, and I love it. I’m not so sure my mom is happy there, she’s always yelling “Joey, come” or “Joey, sit” or “Joey, stay” but she must be since she keeps going back.

There are some rules at the dog park.

• One rule at the dog park is that I have to listen to my parents.

• The next rule at the dog park is that I have to play nicely.

• The next rule is that when before we arrive at the dog park or before we leave the dog park, I have to be on-lead.

Lots of times when I’m with another dog, my mom says, “Joey, be nice” or “Joey, place nicely.” She breaks that word into pieces – NICE – LEE.  I look at her and leave the dog I was playing with.  I can go back to that dog later.

Sometimes the people don’t obey the rules.  I know what happens to me when I disobey the rules, but I’m not sure what happens to the people when they disobey.

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If you have any comments, please add them now!

Hello, friends.

By now I’ve written many posts and have met many new friends…I’ve met Cheyenne, Luca, and Bruno, dogs who have been injured and all survived – and are getting better and better and feeling better and better. Even their moms are feeling better!

If you have not read my story, please do so! You can begin at my first post of Chapter 1 and move on through.  Use the “Categories” to guide you.  You can also use the “Index” to guide you.

I’ve learned a lot since I was hit by the car and I think I’m a new dog!

Just yesterday my mom took me in a very long car ride – to Connecticut. This was the second time I was ever in Connecticut.  The first, though I don’t remember it – was more than ten years ago – when I was born – and my dad brought me from Connecticut to my new home in Boston!  So this was my second long trip of my whole life.  It was fun and in Connecticut my mom took me to a park and we walked around, ankle deep in all the fallen leaves. Autumn is a great month for dogs because the colors are just right for us. When the leaves fall, we dogs can smell the squirrels who have hopped in the trees from branch to branch, and who have left their memories behind!

In my future posts, I’m going to write about all the wonderful things that we dogs can do to really make the most out of life!

I hope you’ll join me in my future posts about living a dog’s life to the fullest!

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