Monday, January 28, 2008

Notes from the BASTIS Foundation Bed of Directors

Hi, Everybody!

In case you didn't know it, we're a furry gang of six canine kids. Our mom and dad help run a non-profit foundation and we're on the bed of directors for BASTIS Foundation, a non-profit educational health foundation that provides lots of helpful information for us animals and our people out there.

We demand a lot of our folks, and sometimes we feel like they don't have enough time for us individually. Of course we let them know that we're displeased by peeing in the house; yeah, that's right, we show 'em!

But recently we became aware of the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day, and there's only so much our silly human companions can do for us. After all, when we first wake up in the morning, every one of us expects a major belly rub. And we don't mean just a little one -- we're talking some true cuddling and loving time here, folks! Plus, since we live in a rural area where there are lots of ticks, mom checks us out head to toe each morning. Yeah, it's pretty annoying, but she thinks it's necessary. So we put up with it. Sigh.............

Then, of course, we want to go outside and play for a bit before we eat. Mom has to take diapers off Shania and Chachi, since they're both incontinent (shhhhhh, don't tell anyone!). After all, no one wants to go outside in diapers! So we go and play with our chew toys and our squeaker toys. And we bark at the neighbors. We chase each other and use up a bit of our wild energy. Of course this makes us very hungry! And Mom has the audacity to make us wait for our breakfast while she takes a shower. Geez, she could take one next year instead of when we want to eat!

When we come in from playing, Mom has to make new diapers for Shania and Chachi, enough for the day, so we can go in and out and play (and take care of our bodily necessities). Once we're back inside, we start the process of moaning and groaning and begging for our food, just in case Mom's forgotten that we really ARE hungry. She, meanwhile, is cutting up some raw meat and fresh organic vegetables for us, and getting our marrow bones out and ready for later in the day for us to chew on and keep our teeth clean. After she fills our bowls with our wonderful raw food, she adds supplements for each of us, according to our needs. Chachi is blind and diabetic, so he needs extra supplements to help him keep his insulin levels stable, and eye supplements as well. Zeus also gets the eye supps. The others of us just need good food and supplements like colostrum, vital greens, noni, some fish oil, and several other things that seem to keep us feeling great. Breakfast is one of our favorite times of the day. Treats are another. And, of course, there's dinner - mmmmmmmmmm! Oh, yeah, we also get fresh filtered water every day with some vitamin C & MSM in it to help keep our teeth strong.

Once we're done with breakfast, we're pretty content. Another trip outside and we're good! Then Mom let's us go to the office with her. She's there every day working on a new chapter for her upcoming book, a sequel to I Have a Choice?! This is a book all about health and doggies and all sorts of good stuff, like her last one. We wish she'd finish it up so we could have more time with her, but hey, we'll take what we can get! She also gives health consultations to other doggies and their people, and lately we've seen some cats coming in to our abode. One of them hissed at us bigtime this week, but we showed them who was boss with our barks. We're louder, hah!

We take off from the office and we get to go back into the house. Of course Mom's there to annoy us again by brushing our teeth right when we should be resting. Lately she's been using Petzlife tooth gel & spray - we kinda like the salmon-flavored tooth gel, but we still put up a fuss so she won't know it. By this time it's our siesta time. Each one of us has to submit to her silliness. Then she pulls out that big ol' brush and brushes each of our coats. 'Enough is enough, Mom,' we tell her, but she just tells us to chill and deal with it. Yadayadayada, we know there are dogs in the pound that don't have it as good as we do, but we've got to put up a fuss so it doesn't seem too easy for her. Actually, we know that we've got it good, because we all were rescued from the pound. It was the song Voices Calling You from Mom's CD Voice for a Choice! that got the last 3 of us rescued, thanks to our departed friend Scooch, who haunted Mom until she wrote the song.

So, even though I haven't mentioned much that Mom gets done for us throughout her day, she still never manages to eat breakfast before noon. Oh, well, who cares, as long as she doesn't wait until then to feed us!

In the afternoon we get to go out for more exercise, but most of us can't go out on leashes, the way Cesar Millan suggests. Three of us have had badly broken legs or were born without kneecaps or hip joints, 3 of us are blind, and one of us (she's almost 14, but she doesn't like anybody to know her age, so don't tell!) is so spooked by a leash that Mom just runs her around the yard. She lived almost 10 years in a cage in a puppy mill, so she's the only one who sports a tattoo on her ear. She's really coming out of her shell, now, and finally enjoying her life!


Lately it's been pretty cold, and we haven't wanted to stay out long. Except when we're eating our marrow bones. They kinda make you forget the cold. Kinda. But we really like hanging out on our folks' bed in the afternoon, so we can enjoy our siesta time. But we don't let the clock reach 6:00 before we're barking up a storm for our dinner. Yum, more raw meat and veggies. Just what the doctor ordered.


Once we've had our dinner, we just like to mellow out in front of a roaring fire (well, obviously we're talking about the wintertime!) and hang with our folks. Mom is strange -- she sings, so she likes t.v. shows that have singing competitions and stuff like that. We don't let the folks listen to The Dog Whisperer too much because we like to bark at the dogs on the show. But they turn the volume up, anyway. They think they're gonna get us trained. Yeah, right! But hey, all in all, our lives are pretty darn good here. Better than that old pound!

We'll be talking with you again, soon, folks. Hey, this blogging is fun, eh?

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