Holly's Holiday... day 14

Well folks, my two weeks with the Peter family pack have come to a close and so today will also be the last time I share my dog blog with you. You know I really did learn a lot of important things about pack life in the last couple of weeks. I learned that if you are going to be in a pack, there will always be others who are a little different and even hard to understand. I also learned that we all have a few issues even if we can't see them ourselves... but most importantly I learned that if we make a decision to love each other on purpose, those issues won't seem so important, and we can learn to work together as a tight knit and fabulous pack, whether canine or human.
I hope you enjoyed my blog... I had fun writing it.. so much fun in fact that I decided to put it all into a little book that I have entitled "Loving your Dog's on Purpose"... by Holly Silk Siemans.
It contains all my amazing dog thoughts that I have shared with you over the last two weeks,
and you can visit it any time you want at http://hollysholiday.blogspot.ca
Thats all for now... love Holly... oooh I can't wait to see my people... they are almost home... ARF, ARF!!!

Holly's Holiday...Day 13

Today I've been thinking about the top five things dogs are good at...

1. Guarding the house... Every day that pesky man with the bag full of mail comes into our yard and every day we bark at him, and he leaves... we feel very proud of this accomplishment.

2. Cleaning up spills... We feel that this is what we do to earn our room and board. We promise to keep your floors really clean and we are willing to do dishes too... not sure why you still put them in the dishwasher when we are finished, I think we do a very thorough job.

3. Empathy... If you are sad, we will sit with you as long as you want, if you are happy, we will run in circles, if your angry.... well if your angry.. we leave the room.. we have found this to be the best policy.

4. Joy... No one does JOY as good as us dogs. God even gave us our special joy wands that are attached to our bodies... you humans think they are called tails.. but we know the truth and we use our special joy wands to spread the joy around. I know you are sad that you don't have a joy wand like us, so we make sure that we try to tap you with ours as much as possible when we are excited.


5.  Unconditional love...  Every time you walk in the door, we act like we haven't seen you for five years, even if its only been five minutes! How does this make you feel? We hope it makes you feel special because making you feel special is our top priority.


Arn't you glad that there are dogs in the world..

Have a great day... Holly

Holly's Holliday ... Day 12

I just found out that yesterday my people Duane and Tamara got to take part in a activity at Bethel called Sozo! I looked up Sozo online and I found it that it is some kind of special cleansing process designed to remove any hinderence or debris that has built up in your life.
Well, here at Pethelp we also have a similar process, only we call it 
"Soapsuds" instead of "Sozo"... It is also designed to get rid of debris and hinderences that you pick up along the way.

You know it's amazing how easy it is to get mucked up...I don't even know where it all comes from. Of course there is the normal messes you get into just going through life... But then there is also all kinds of debris that can you pick up along the way that you don't even know is there until it really starts to weigh you down. 

If it wasn't for Soapsuds I don't know what I would do...Yes I'm very thankful for Soapsuds ... Which brings me to something I kinds wonder about.... Why do so many dogs and people go through life and never get rid of all that stuff?  I am thinking maybe it's because they are scared of the bathing process... after all it's a little humbling to admit you have a buildup... but boy oh boy... once you have felt what it's like to be really clean... Your hooked!

Yup... Sozo and Soapsuds... I think they are kinda the same....

Have a great day.... Holly

Holly's Holiday ... Day 11

When I first met Felix I was pretty sure that we could never be friends. Has that ever happened to you? You meet someone and you think... This is definitely not my kind of dog.
After all he wasn't very friendly and he seemed to have  a lot of issues... One day he even stole my treat. Wendy had us all lined up practicing the "wait for the cookie trick" and when she said go, Felix grabbed both his cookie and mine and took off out of the room. Plus whenever I was sitting on someone's lap, he would try to squeeze past me to claim the lap.  I am thinking this must happen in people packs too...  People wanting the pack leader to like them the best and give them the most treats... 

Well ...a funny thing happened....  the more I have gotten to know Felix the more I like him! You see I realized that underneath his issues, he is a lot like me. He just wants to be loved. Once I started to understand this, I began to move closer towards him, instead of away from him and strangely many of his issues disappeared.  I think I should tell Duane and Tamara about this... I bet this would work in their people pack too. I  am calling my strategy "do unto other dogs, as you would have them do unto you" ... I think I might have heard something like that somewhere... another one I though of is "puppy love drives out issues"... Boy I bet Duane and Tammara are going to be proud of me learning all this cool stuff.... Have a great day... And try and love someone with issues! Holly

Holly's Holiday...Day 9

Today I thought I would talk about the "RULES". I think that every pack has rules, some probably more than others. I've noticed that most of the rules in this pack have to do with furniture.

Rule #1 Don't go on the blue sofa! Now what's weird about this rule is that I am allowed on all the other sofas, but not the blue one... the blue one is special for some reson the eludes us dogs.

You know, I've noticed something funny about rules... as soon as you know the rule ... You kinda want to break it... Part of me is thinking "But Why? Why? Why? Why the blue sofa, but not the others?  I even tried sneaking up on the blue sofa one day... After all us dogs are color blind, and I figured if I got caught... I could say.. "hey, what blue sofa.. They all look the same to me" but  when I barked that answer at the humans, for some reason they just looked confused.

Now for rule #2 Don't go on the masters bed.... Funny thing about rule #2 is that we can totally get away with breaking this rule first thing in the morning when the humans are sleepy and think we are cute if we all break the rule at once, bouncing joyfully around the bed. Getting away with this means we have to be good at managing our personal freedom, and knowing when to stop. It's harder than just avoiding the blue sofa... But it's way more fun!

Yep... Rules vrs Freedom... I think I like freedom best

Have a great day... Holly

Holly's Holiday... Day 7

There is one member of the Peter family pack that I haven't  mentioned, mainly because I haven't really figured out yet what it is.... 

I don't think it's a human, because it's small and it doesn't use words, but it's definitely not a dog because it has no fur. 

They call it "baby" and it's really into bungee jumping! Hour after hour up and down it goes.. and happy... this creature gives happy a new meaning... 

As I've been studying it, I have noticed that it uses a lot of the same tactics as us dogs to get what it wants. Cute faces, whining and some sort of screeching which I think is it's attempt to bark. Everyone loves "baby" even though it doesn't seem to have any useful skills....Which just goes to show that you don't need to be a super achiever to be a part of a pack... 

I don't know if I'll ever understand "baby" because it's really different than the rest of us dogs, but I am fascinated. I wonder if a lot of pack members feel this same confusion, not knowing how to respond to the pack members who are really different? Part of me wants "baby" to be just like the rest of us dogs, and part of me enjoys having such an interesting  pack member... I wonder if it's the same in Duane and Tamara's people pack? I'll have to ask them when they get back ....

 Well good by for now, I'm off to take my turn on the bungee jumper... I think "baby" is starting to rub off on me...weehee!

Holly's Holiday... Day 6

So I was sitting in front of the mirror today with Misty and Felix and I noticed something kinda weird, I have a fluffy coat just like Misty... and ears and markings just like Felix. That's when it hit me... 

EGAD! 

They must be my parents!
That would explain everything!

You see my owners Duane and Tamara are really into counseling and stuff and they must have sent me here to deal with my family of origin issues! But then I started thinking... Am I a good dog because of Misty being my mom, or a bad dog because of Felix being my dad? Or am I some sort of Misty-Felix mutant blend of good-badness?

I think a lot of dogs and people have these same questions.. And so I decided to figure it out... I went right back to the beginning... Genesis 1:25 "God made all the animals, and he said that it was good". Pretty cool huh? I thought this was really good news when I found it.. I think this means that it doesn't matter too much about my parents... The creator says I'm a good dog, and so I am going with it. Oh and by the way, in that same book I was reading where it said that God made the animals good, he also said that humans were really good too, so I don't think you need to worry too much about your parents either.. Just go with the creator... Just saying...Have a great day... Holly

Holly's Holiday... Day 5

I have been learning a lot about tricks and treats while staying with the pack.
I'm not sure where the humans got the idea, but it seems that they want us to perform for them anytime they give us a cookie.
As dogs, we actually find this to be rather embarrassing, but we don't like to make our humans feel bad, so we play along just to keep them happy.
I mean seriously folks, can you imagine being asked to sing a song or do a dance before you were given your take out food? Well I think you get the picture.
Anyway, three tricks are very popular in my pack. Shake a paw, roll over and sit pretty.
The first couple of days I played dumb and pretended that I couldn't comprehend what was being asked of me.... and they gave me a cookie anyway... Pretty smart hey?
But as usual I started feeling sorry for the silly humans who kept saying "sit pretty Holly, sit pretty Holly..". And so I have started doing the trick... And I am getting pretty good... But don't tell Duane and Tamara, cause I am not planning to keep up this foolishness once I get back home.... Have a great day... Holly

Holly's Holiday... Day 3

A big highlight of my stay with the Peter Family pack is our daily walks.

You just say the word "walk" around here and everyone goes crazy!

The packs energy goes a bit over the top as soon as the leashes come out.

Well seriously folks.... We spend most of the day laying around the house...

So it's no wonder we get sooo excited about a WALK!! 

Oh...I just had to write that in big letters because I get excited even thinking about it.... 

"O.K. Holly calm your self... Just got to talk myself down a bit"

Well I must say that I was in for a big surprise when I went for my first pack walk.

You see... It turns out that Felix is not the only one with issues! I know! I am totally shocked too... but it turns out that I have a few "walking issues"...

That's the funny thing about issues, you can only see the ones that other dogs and people have. So it turns out that I needed to be put on a short leash so that I can learn to "manage my personal freedom" because I was a little to out of control on the walks.

Walking on a short leash in a pack is a real adjustment, because when you have been used to getting your own way, you tend to pull the whole pack into the ditch with you while you are doing your own thing.... I wonder if Duane and Tamara have ever had to put anyone on a short leash in their people pack? I'll have to ask them when they get back.

I have included today a little video of me walking perfectly with my pack. I like to think of it as "synchronized walking" although it has not yet been recognized as an Olympic Sport... Have a great day.. Holly

Holly's Holiday... Day 2

Today I am continuing to settle into my stay with the "pack".

My own people (Duane, Tamara, Braden, Caleb, and Joel) are heading to a very important place in California called "Bethel". It is a special meeting place for people packs to gather. 
Since their special vacation place is called "Bethel", I figured out that this place where I am staying must be called "Pethel" since it's for pets.
 " Pethel"... hmmm wait a minute that almost spelled like "pet hell"... EGAD!
 I am sure my owners would never send me to "pet hell"... Besides that, the dog beds in this place are extra big and soft, and they give unlimited belly rubs. 
Hmm...Let's see.... how about I add a letter "p" . "Pethelp".... Yup.. That looks better ...

So my owners are at "Bethel" and I am at "Pet help" .... Glad I figured that out!

I wonder if they offer unlimited belly rubs at "Bethel?" I"ll have to ask Duane when they get back... See you tomorrow... Holly

Holly's Holiday... Day 1

Hi my name is Holly and I am staying with the Peter family and their two dogs while my people are on vacation. My owners Duane and Tammara thought I would benefit from being part of a "pack" for a little while.
 I looked up the word "pack" and it means "a group with a purpose".... So now I know why my owners want me to experience being in a pack.... they love pack life so much that they started a "people pack" that meets on Sundays... They call it a "church".. but really I think it's a lot like the pack I'm in now.

My new pack members are named Misty and Felix. Being in a pack is very interesting...

you have a great sense of belonging, but you have to learn to get along with a variety of pack members...even the ones who have "issues." I wonder if it is the same in Duane and Tammara's "people pack" .... I mean church...I'll have to ask Duane about that when he gets back.. Have a great day.... Holly