Furniture I Have Owned

As a dog, I do not have easy access to money. While my humans do graciously buy me things such as food, toys, chewy things, and the like - as they should - what I am most grateful for is furniture. See, as a seeing-eye dog, or guide dog for the blind as we are sometimes called, we are trained from a very young age. We are trained in the basics - sit, stay, come, etc. - but we are also introduced to all of these strange sights, sounds and smells that your average dog (like a collie, for instance, with their pointy little noses and pinched brains) never gets to experience. In addition to all of this, we are trained specifically not to get up on furniture. Couches, beds, tables, chairs, love seats or Barcaloungers, it's all off limits. (I particularly like that last one: Barcalounger. It just has a certain ring to it, but I can't quite place it....) So, everything is off limits, except - Except! - for my last day of home schooling. On that one day, and that one day only, I was allowed up on the bed. And boooyyyy, was it worth the wait! So soft, so squishy, the right amount of support in the right places, no unnecessary hems or fringe or tassels or flug, just a nice, wide, super dog-size expanse of comforter. And, and, I didn't have to share. It was mine, all mine, just for me. Then I loaded up the car and went to Official Guide Dog School, and didn't see a comfy bed again for months. Elation, quickly followed by crushing disappointment. Story of my life.

Years passed. Things happened - I'll fill you in on the details sometime. Fastforward to 2004, when I'm invited to a new home in Washington. Tacoma, to be precise. It was nice - not L.A. nice, mind you, but it was still a great experience. There, in that cozy (occasionally loud) home near the Puget Sound, I got my very own couch. I was so happy!

(This is my first couch, in L.A., not Tacoma. I had to share this one with my original Alpha humans, so it wasn't quite as special as the Tacoma couch. That one was leather. And mine all mine!)

So that was good for a year. Then I decided that I liked a slightly drier climate, so I moved back to L.A. That was fun, but now I'm in Minneapolis. And you know what? Dare I say it, at many times it is soooo much better! There is this wonderful thing called snow (which I blogged about earlier... if you haven't read it yet, I suggest you go do that now. Don't worry, I'll wait.) and there are lakes and creeks to swim in, and places to go running (off leash, too!). Plus, as an additional bonus, I have three different pieces of furniture at my disposal. First, there's my bed. Yes, my bed. Observe:

Well, right bed, wrong zip code, but you get the point. It's mine, all mine! From there, I have moved on to bigger beds (pictures unavailable at this time - I'm so sneaky the puppyrazzi can't catch me with their fancy cameras). I have also invaded a large half of the couch, of which I am slowly usurping two-thirds of. Soon it will all be mine, bwahahahaha!

So that's my current inventory of places comfier than the floor. If you have any good suggestions of possible additions to my collection, do please let me know. I am always on the lookout for new items.

Well, that's all for now. I will leave you with a short quote, as I am feeling particularly Renaissance Dog-ish today:

"A dog is one of the remaining reasons why some people can be persuaded to go for a walk. ~O.A. Battista"