All About Me

My name is Bronte and I am an English Golden Retriever that started blogging before I was bred. I blogged in utero and FINALLY was born on November 28, 2010.  My doggy mummy was supposed to be Teddy. She and Macallan had seven puppies on November 9, 2010.  But Teddy only had one little girl and six boys! And that little girl went to  another family.  So my mummy waited for  Teddy’s sister, Katie, to give birth. Katie was also bred to Macallan. She finally gave birth to NINE puppies – three girls and six boys on November 28 and one of them was me! I’ll be coming home sometime towards the end of  January all the way from my current home in  Colorado to live in sunny Los Angeles.  I’m going to help mummy get over her loss of her darling  other Golden Retriever, Bridget.  She died of cancer after living with mummy for 13 and a half years.

My mummy is naming me after her favourite writer of all time. Charlotte, NOT Emily Bronte. Mummy believes Emily was a one-hit wonder. Mummy says Charlotte was the ultimate forward-thinking female writer.

You can read mummy’s other blog about her life as a writer  here

Guestbook

Please sign my guestbook
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In which I catch a gopher and learn to swim (but not on the same day)

I refuse to make apologies for being AWOL. Puppies are BUSY – that’s all I can tell you. My mummy went to Israel for a bit and Randall took care of me and the dog walker – Jeannie. She’s lovely. We see her at the dog park in Playa Vista every day with my good friend Max the Lab and Finn the Newfoundland/Golden Retriever Cross.

You know how I love to dig for gophers? Well I caught one a few weeks ago. Mummy was horrified. But it’s my instinct, no? She refused to look as I ran down the trail with a grin that said ‘Look what I’ve got!” Mummy told Randall to make me drop it. She doesn’t even want to know whether I killed it or not! What a wimp!

This past weekend Mummy got invited to bring me to TWO new doggie swimming pool places. Doggie Central was the first. Two Hands Four Paws was the second. Mummy says please click on the link below to see her write up about my swimming experiences and to see VIDEOS of me swimming (plus pics). Go ahead, you KNOW you want to click this link!

In the meantime, here’s pics of me just being… well… me! These are pics of me on the trail with my dear friends Maddie (the three-legged Golden) and Patch.

 

 

 

 

On the gopher trail

Yes! This is my new hobby. Digging for gophers. I now go every weekend on the off-leash trail below Loyola Marymount University. Mummy calls it going “trailer trashing.” I LOVE it. I get to run and run and run. And then when I’ve run I get to run some more. It’s SOO much fun.

Often we meet Joan and Ed and their three Golden Retrievers: Sherman, Lulu and Maddy. Maddy is a little older than me and she only has three legs but boy can she run and keep up with me. We think it was Sherman that taught me how to dig for gophers and now I’m obsessed! Here’s some video of me. The fist video of me is on the trail with a stick and my neighbour Randall. The second is me gopher-ing!!!! Mummy says excuse the whole Blair Witch Project shaky camera. That’s her iPhone.

I’m almost finished up my six week Therapy Dog training course. But Mummy says she’s not going to make me take the test just yet. I’m too puppy-fied in her opinion. She’s going to wait until I’m at least 18 months old before trying to test me. Me? I’m just having fun!

Hope you enjoy my videos!

Happy New Year!

Hello everybody,

I’ve had a very very busy couple of weeks. It’s been go, go, go. Firstly, Mummy took me to be spayed three weeks ago. That was not fun, but the vet let mummy be there when I woke up. She went out and bought me a special neck brace so I didn’t have to wear the “cone of shame” – it’s a bit like an airline pillow for dogs! But she only put it on me when she left me at home alone so that was good. Oh the humiliation!

Anyway, the operation was apparently a success! The vet gave mummy pain killers and tranquilizers to take home – mummy said the tranquilizers would be good for her – she was so scared about me going “under the knife” – but I was back home after only a couple of hours!

The first day mummy said she wanted to take  a photo that said “This is Your Dog on Drugs!” because I was very very woozy. I took myself off to my bed in my room at 4 p.m. and didn’t wake up till 3:30 a.m. Here’s a pic of me knocked out!

Going under the knife is exhausting!

The vet said I might need painkillers the next day, but I didn’t – I’m TOUGH!!! The worst part was I wanted to play right away but I had to wait 10 whole days before I could go back to the dog park and play with my friends. That was NOT fun. But then I got my stitches out and was good to go. Phew.

But now, I’m all better and happy to be out and about again. Although I was back at the vet last week because apparently I got conjunctivitis. I’m still getting drops in my eyes. Two more days to go. Yay!!!!But when I went back to the vet, I was NOT happy. I hid under the chair and barked at Dr. Metten and I usually LOVE him. I wouldn’t even take a treat from him. I was kind of crazy. He took out my ovaries and removed my uterus! What? He thought I’d just say ‘Hey, nice to see you again?’ Sheesh!

Still, the BEST news is Mummy took me hiking on a great trail where you can let your dogs off leash. It was New Year’s Day and I started the new year really well. I met Willow (you can see her in the picture) and she showed me how to run in the swamp – that was FUN. What was not so fun was immediately after two hours of running along the trail with my new BFF – Mummy drove me straight to the place where you can bath your dog. Apparently I STANK. I didn’t think so. Humans. They’re so picky! Then I came home at 2 p.m. and aside from having my dinner and going outside once to do my business I slept, and slept and slept until 7 a.m. the following morning. That was the BEST day ever. I hope we do more of the trail in 2012. Mummy says we will – but no more swamp swimming for me. Really? Just look at this photo of me and Willow – doesn’t she see we’re having FUN? Phooey.

Me and Willow after we went swamp swimming. It was SO MUCH FUN!

Happy 1st Birthday to ME!!!!!!!

Today I am a whole year old. Mummy was very excited and bought me a new collar and leash. Happy Birthday to me!!!!

We’re going to have bigger celebrations this weekend because Mummy had a REALLY busy day. She celebrated my birthday by having to go to court really early in the morning. And why was she in court? Because when I was 4.5 months old I was in a park and not on a leash and a bad man gave mummy a ticket. She had to go to court TODAY – on my BIRTHDAY!!!

Mummy says she’s very pleased the judge did not “throw the book” at her. I think that would have been fun. I’m REALLY good at catching things! (especially balls and frisbees – but I’m pretty sure I could catch a book too).

So Mummy says I’m not getting a lot of presents because she spent a LOT of money on my fine. Yikes.

Anyway, I had a fun day. The men came to chop down the branches off the trees today and I jumped ALL over the leaves.

Big hugs and happy birthday to my puppy in crime (I guess we’re no longer puppies now) – my sister Maggie. Happy Birthday Maggie. I love you!!!!

Here’s a recent pic of me (not from today though). But Mummy says she’s going to take pics of my new fancy collar and leash which is tartan (in honour of my daddy dog who is Scottish), and pink because I was the “pink” puppy – remember?

Hello! Remember me?

Hmm… I’m back. I have been a bad, bad, bad, puppy blogger. And my mummy is totally embarrassed. The good news is I will have two posts – one today and one tomorrow to make up for my lack of updates. Tomorrow is a VERY SPECIAL POST. Can you guess why? (shh.. don’t tell anyone). But for now, here’s what’s been happening:

I have TWO sets of photos to share with you. Hooray! One is from The Zoom Room’s Hallo-woof party, where I dressed up as a cheerleader and was a member of Team K-9. Pretty cute – no? My best friend Calypso the Great Dane was there as a pirate with her mummy and daddy. We played together a LOT. See us?

The second thing is Mummy and my neighbour Randall (I call him my daddy), took me to Big Bear Lake where I learned (or tried) to learn to swim. It was FUN! I met Max the dog who was chasing balls in the lake so I learned to go in and chase balls too.

Much more fun was the cabin we stayed in. I got my very own futon! Actually Mummy said it wasn’t mine, but what does she know? You can tell by the photos it’s mine, right? And I also got to lay in front of a lovely log fire (and I helped start the fire too – I was an excellent helper).

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See my videos, too, below (the first is me mastering the steep, steep, stairs at Big Bear and the second is me mastering Big Bear Lake).

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a special announcement!

 

An anniversary…

Mummy waited till today to ask me to blog about yesterday. She was sad, because yesterday marked the one year anniversary of her first Golden – Bridget’s – passing. I never met my Auntie Bridget – I wasn’t even thought of let alone born when she went to the Rainbow Bridge on August 30, 2010. But from what I hear, Bridget was VERY special. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here with Mummy today.

Mummy says she doesn’t have a lot to say except that she misses Bridget very much. Bridget had a lot of names. Just like I’m known as Bronte, or Bronte Amelia (my middle name – it gets called too when I’m naughty), The Poppet, Pop Pop, Bront-Monster, Bronte-Saurus etc. Bridget had a lot of nicknames too. Mummy called here: Buck Buck, Puppy Monster, Ban-Ki-Moon, Mah Bakuti (from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency), and Mifletzet (Hebrew for monster).

Mummy says she’d just like everyone to know how much she misses Bridget and is thinking of her and can’t believe it’s a year since she went to the Rainbow Bridge. I will give Mummy a big hug today.

Well this is embarassing…

… on a number of levels.

1) I haven’t blogged in AGES! To be honest, this is a really tough time for Mummy, who, as you know has been dealing with the aftermath of her foot surgery and has taken to blogging about it here. Her recovery has been tough, but she’s getting better. She has had such a tough time that she actually hired a dog walker for me for a couple of weeks because she couldn’t take me out. Let me tell you how  much I LOVE my dog walker – Sarah. (Mummy’s not so keen on the money she costs her though…). But Sarah is great! She comes and takes me to the dog park for a WHOLE HOUR. She came every day at 11 a.m. and we went to the park and played and ran and then I came home exhausted and crashed on the living room floor for three hours. Mummy liked that! I get SOOO excited when Sarah comes to get me. I jump around and tell her “let’s go already!” I run to the front door but for some reason Sarah and Mummy feel they have to “chat” first – whatever that is, so they both make me wait at least a whole minute before I go out. Don’t they know I”m DYING to get to the park? I hope Sarah comes back soon.

In the meantime, Mummy has been taking me with our neighbour Randall to agility class, but mummy can only watch, because of her foot so Randall does the class with me. Here’s video of me in my Agility 2 class doing the weave poles. Yay me!!

I haven’t yet mastered the teeter totter and seem to have forgotten the dog walk so now I”m afraid of both of those, but my trainer Kris at the Zoom Room says it will all come back to me. It had better, because even though agility session ended on Sunday, I can’t sign up for the next session because Mummy wants to wait till she can take the class with me and she’s not allowed to run yet. So Phooey to that. I was going to take a tricks class instead but now I can’t because of …. embarrassing reason number 2)

2) Well, I’m going to be 10 months old on Sunday and I just came into season!!! Oh no!!!! So now I’m being cooped up at home and Randall has to take me out on a tight leash to keep those boy dogs away from me. Right now I don’t want them anywhere near me. I’ve been VERY out of sorts over the last week. I’ve been very clingy and a bit exhausted and two dogs tried to chase me at the park and I got so scared I barked at them and chased them away! Mummy was shocked because I’m usually so quiet and sweet. That’s when she figured out I was going to come into season soon. I was also off my food for a bit. I didn’t eat a lot, and one night I even threw up. I’m feeling better now but now I’m in the bleeding phase which doesn’t make Mummy (or me) too happy.

Mummy also says that after I turn a year old I’m going to get spayed so no more crazy mood swings for me. I don’t know what this spayed thing is, but it sure doesn’t sound good.

I hope I get more treats this week because I’m not really myself!

My latest philosophy…

If you don’t feel like sleeping on your bed…

Sleep time, chow time, it's all the same to me.

You might as well eat it!

Yappy Hour at The Zoom Room

Last month, as part of Take Your Dog to Work Day, I got to participate in a free for all, well a dog-for-all, I guess. Mummy hasn’t been blogging with me for a bit because she had BIG foot surgery and had a very rough week.

Of course, mummy being mummy, she decided to blog about her FOOT instead of me. Sheesh! You can read all about her foot shenanigans here.

I have been very good while Mummy has been laid up, lying by the foot of her bed (and trying to scarf her pudding cups). Mummy says I’ve been sooo sweet. This being good is tough work, though. I did steal some tissues to remind her that I’m not perfect, that would be too difficult to live up to!

Enjoy the slideshow with all my Zoom Room doggy friends.

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Also, I’m starting Agility 2 on Sunday. Whee!!!!!

I passed my Canine Good Citizen Test!

Wow. Shows you how long it has been since I last blogged. Mummy apologises. HER mummy (my grandma) was visiting from Israel and she got very busy. But we’re back now and have LOTS to tell.

Along with passing my CGC on June 29, I’ve been up to lots of different things. Rather than write it all out I’ll show you with some pics. First, here I am with my buddies at one of my best friend’s birthday parties – Jack the (three-legged) dog at the park. We meet at the park every day. We had a GREAT time at Jack’s bday.

Jack's Bday party. I'm kind of squirmish!

Because I’ve been SOOO lazy and not blogging lately (I think my nails need trimming, which is making it hard to type), I have pics of my AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Test certificate and medal. Will post my CGC swag when they arrive. In the meantime, enjoy my new bling!

Me with my S.T.A.R. Puppy Certificate and Medal.

Next up – pics and a video of my very first visit to water – (aside from the beach). This pretty stream at Solstice Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. This was FUN! We do this hike a lot now.

Here we are at Solstice Canyon exploring the water. Whee!!!!

Here’s a video of me checking out the water!

And as we’re on a water theme, when my grandma visited from Israel, she bought me a pink plastic wading pool for $6.99 at Toys R Us. Here’s pics and a video of my introduction to the great pool. It’s been VERY hot here so I LOVE the pool.

Next up are some pics from when I went with Mummy and Grandma to Venice Beach and the Venice Canals. Aren’t I cute???

At the Venice Canals with my mummy!

Here’s some photos of me that Grandma took while I was in agility class at The Zoom Room!

And finally… just some pictures of me being cute. BTW I’m almost 8 months old and weigh 60 lbs!!!!!  I hereby promise to post more regularly. Hope this has caught you up on my activities!

Me with Ted the teddy bear - my favourite toy. He used to be bigger than me!