Oops, I bit it again

Apparently, Barney wasn't a first time offender. He bit this nice basketball lady (go Celtics!). Lucky for him she's both a dog person and a PR person.

Celtics PR guru Heather Walker and her yellow Lab, Pripen. Walker was bitten by temperamental White House pooch Barney. From the Boston Herald.

To be fair, Scotties aren't known for their friendly disposition toward strangers. Maybe not the best choice for a White House dog, but then W wasn't necessarily known for making good decisions when it comes to being nice to others.

Now Nixon knew how to pick a dog. Big shout out to King Timahoe!

My new hero, Barney

Barney does NOT like all the talk about the new puppy headed for the White House.

Go get 'em, Barney... don't let anyone call YOU a lame duck first dog!

Still image from a video shows Barney biting reporter Jon Decker. Photo: AFP

Kids

I love kids. Like LOVE them. I get excited when I see them, and then as soon as they decide they want to touch me, I go completely still and flat while they say cute things like "Il est doux!" ("He is soft!") and "Il est gentil!" ("He is nice!) and "Il est beau!" (my personal favorite "He is beautiful!"). I think kids are the best.

And that's really a good thing for the Tobacconist's son. I was waiting for my master to come back out from the Superette (smelling all the lovely lovely tasty yummy fruits and vegetables - why can't I have grapes again?), and this jerk 4-year-old started throwing things at us. Now, I'm not one to growl, so I simple ignored the child. The Superette owner came out and yelled at the Tobacconist, but that didn't seem to do the trick either. Throwing, throwing, throwing. Boxes pelting me in the back. Perhaps that's why they call it a pelt.... hmmm.......

Although Stacie said "no, no, no!" to the child, nothing stopped; although she did get a nice glare from the child's father. As we walked away, the Superette owner came out and yelled at the Tobacconist in Arabic even more seriously. I was fine with it, but my people seemed quite upset. Good thing Stacie doesn't smoke... I'm pretty sure she'd never give that tobacconist her business again, although she may give him a piece of her mind once her French is better.

Commandez votre enfant ! just doesn't seem strong enough for these people.

And since I don't have any pictures for you today, I'll leave you with this image of why I got neutered (other than the fact that the Astros won the pennant, but we won't talk about that). Kelly, I feel your pain, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with the child support and birthday gifts.

Family Visits

So, to continue catching up ~

Topher and Veronica came to visit at the end of October, in honor of Veronica's birthday. On my birthday, I got a trip to the Madison Square Dog Park, which sounds fancy but is actually just a stolen tennis ball away from a rumble at any moment. But who am I to complain? I've been reminded repeatedly that I don't even contribute around here.

Anyway, it was pretty fun! My only problem was that I couldn't figure out where to sleep: with the here-all-the-time-so-this-is-where-I'm-comfortable-people or the I-only-get-to-see-you-once-in-awhile-people. Finally, Veronica solved the problem for me:

I was still up and down all night switching snugglers, but at least I knew I was welcome in either room.

On the first full day they were here, all the people went to the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Chateau. Imagine my surprise to find that Jeff Koons had created a larger than life sculpture of moi, fashioned to look like a balloon animal!

This is my kind of house... I wonder if they'd let the real thing move in...

I had never been able to figure out why all the tourists take my photo in the gardens.* Little did I know that I'm a celebrity in Versailles!

I'm off to have a big drink of water and a nap. Stay tuned!

* editor's note: It's true. The tourists take pictures of Dempsey. Not sure why, but he's definitely in a significant number of vacation photo collages

update

W might not be the smartest guy that's ever been in the White House, but that Barney's quite the philosopher. This one directly relates to the previous entry about thumbs. His site is a nice bit of diversion from the real issues the US is facing, and he's a pretty funny dog.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Obama puppy has to say.......

Finally!

Where to begin? I intended to start this 2 months ago, but I've been so busy that I haven't gotten around to it. Hey..... somebody's got to bark at the cat in the hallway, and the freshly tilled dirt in the garden isn't going to sniff itself!

So, on September 1, we moved from New York to Versailles. Here's my last weekend in New York:

Me with my friend Soufi.

I make a fantastic pillow when I'm still. The ladies love it.

Kickin' it in the park.

fyi, the signs say "Spare some cheddar for some poor white crackers" and "Parents eaten by pigeons. Need money for BB guns." This dog made me feel lucky.

Saying goodbye to the NYC.

And here's me boarding the plane, in case there are any naysayers (or neigh-sayers, if I have any horses as readers) out there who don't believe an Irish Setter adopted from rural Missouri can move on up in this world.


Exhausting. Totally exhausting. I don't know how people do this travel thing. Nobody even offered me peanuts, and I was in my crate for 15 hours! Thank goodness the new place had a fluffy bed for me. Where will everyone else sleep?

Now THIS is the life.

so. sleepy.

I wasn't really consulted about this move, but here we are, and I must say, it was a pretty good decision. This place is amazing.... La pièce d'eau des Suisses is definitely the best dog park ever.

Tres, tres rapide. You see nothing but a blur!

A dog could get used to this.

Okay, that's all for now. It's exhausting typing all of this without thumbs, and I want to make sure I don't tell too much so that you'll keep reading.

Many questions remain: Will I be allowed in the Chateau, or just the gardens? Who is the strange dog in this photo with me? Do Carla Bruni's toes smell as good as they look like they do? Okay, the answer to the last question is yes, but I promised her I wouldn't go into any details. Anyway, there's lots to tell about life in Versailles, so stay tuned....

Woof and love.