Merry Christmas from Rusty

This year, Rusty volunteered to do his first annual Christmas letter on the internet:

Merry Christmas to family, friends, and strangers:
This is my first Christmas newsletter that I am publishing on the internet.
This was a blessed and wonderful year that began on January 1 with Chilly Dog being released from his ten day in-house quarantine for biting the mailman. The people came to our house on New Year's Day to see if he was alive, because if he had rabies, he would be dead.
Chilly's arthritis got worse over the year, and he continued on his thyroid medication, but his skin cancer from 2005 and eye cancer from 2007 both stayed in remission. He did start taking glucosamine pills for his joint pain, and also takes pain pills. He gets mad at me sometimes when I do bad things like watch him eat, try to eat his food before he is done, or being around him when he doesn't want me to. Most of the time I don't bother him too much.
I gave everyone a scare when, in early June, I hid under Mark's bed for two days without coming out. Everyone thought that my days were numbered, but it turned out that the hair on my butt was too long so when I got diarrhea my runny poop stuck to the hair and then it dried and pulled down on it making me miserable. The vet cut my hair, and that took care of the problem. I later got a full haircut so I could see.

I also had a very loose tooth so I had to get a teeth cleaning, but my tooth had already falled out by the time I went.

In August, Mark left us for a week and we had to stay home alone. We had lots of fun.

Andy was healthy all year, and he was especially happy to see his choice of Mr. Obama win the primaries and then the election.


The rest of us all wish Mr. Obama well, but we were all rooting for someone eles at first. We are very proud of Andy for his role in the election. He does get in trouble every once in a while for chewing on pens, electric cords, and razor blades. He spends most of his time on the couch.

He probably needs to back to the vet in the next few weeks to get shots.

We ended the year by getting in Mark's Jeep and visiting Santa Claws.

That was fun, but he was in the cat section of the store so we had to be around cats the whole time we waited in line.
Tomorrow (Christmas Day) is Andy's second anniversary living with Mark and Chilly.
I hope everyone's year was as wonderful as ours, and Happy New Year!
Rusty

Happy Birthday, Chilly Dog

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHILLY,
When you were born in Memphis on December 14, 1995, and given away to your first owners from the trunk of a car in a Wal-Mart parking lot a few weeks later, you were probably a very cute Jack Russell/Chow mix puppy, but I never got to see that. Your owners gave you the name Chili, after a character in Get Shorty, and moved to St. Louis shortly afterwards. When they wanted to move to Florida in 2002, you objected and demanded to come back. On August 16, 2002, you officially moved in with me, and your soon to be best friend, Snikk, and changed your name to Chilly Dog. I was afraid that you would not get along with us because you had a reputation for being aggressive, and even sometimes mean (by people that didn't know you, of course), but you fit in right away. Before long, you and Snikk were inseparable, playing, wrestling, going for walks together, and just lying next to each other.

When we lost poor Snikk two years ago, I know that you were as sad as anyone. Seeing you stare at Snikk's empty cage,

and pace the floors in the middle of the night made me realize how close you were to him. Now that you are entering your teenage years, your arthritis keeps you from jumping off of my deck chasing rabbits, and you don't like to go for long walks, or jump up on furniture, but you still follow me around whereever I go (sitting under me as I write this), sleep next to my head, and never let me leave the house without licking my face. And of course you successfully protect our house from invasion from the mailman's attempt to break in every day.
I hope you like your new brother Andy

and Rusty.

Sorry for the late birthday card, Chilly, but on your birthday we were too busy visiting Santa Claus.

After knowing you, I can see why they call dogs like you "Man's Best Friend." Happy birthday!