WOW #14 The Art of Napping Well

Hi there everyone. Didn't you enjoy Beatrice's post. Isn't she just the best EVER? I thought so too!

I've mentioned naps several times in my posts so you've probably already realized that I consider them extremely important. It's the best way to keep your energy levels up so you'll be ready to show how adorable you are whenever you get the opportunity. Here's a few tips on how to make the most of that shut-eye time.


1. Make sure that everyone is working as they should be and that no guests are expected.

2. Settle down in your work space and get comfy.

3. Sometimes this takes more effort than other times.

Just can't get it in the right shape!

4. You may need to use one or more of your assistants for pillows.

5. Make sure you don't muss up any special holiday attire.

6. Try different sleeping positions. You never know when you may just discover the perfect and most comfortable one...

7. Sweet Dreams!

Hope this helps! I'm off to take a snooze. Later!

WOW #13: The TRUTH about chocolate! by the Lovely Beatrice

Hi there everybody. We're celebrating three weeks of blogdom here and I thought for a special treat, I'd turn the laptop over to my girlfriend, the Lovely Beatrice. You may remember her from the Independence Day parade. Her mom's the one who told Mummy about it in the first place.

Here we are together at last year's parade. That's her mom with us and another Basset friend of ours.

And now without further ado I give you...THE LOVELY BEATRICE!!!

**********************************************************************Umm...how do you work this thing? Oh wait I see now....

Hello fellow Bentley fans! Isn't he just the greatest? Mind you, I didn't think so at first. When he came to that first parade, I thought he was a little pipsqueak and I was afraid they were going to make me look after him! (Sorry Bentley!) Things didn't really get any better after I found out I didn't have to babysit because Mom and Daddy just had FITS over him!

And he couldn't even walk! Daddy had to carry him and I walked with Auntie B (Bentley's Mummy). I like Auntie B a lot, but that was MY Daddy! And anyway, there I was marching like the best recruit the US Armed Forces ever had and everybody was making a fuss over the PUPPY! (They didn't even take MY picture!)

Then MOM carried him back to his car because the "poor little darling" was sooo tired! Why should HE have been tired? Daddy did all the marching. But I'm not bitter...

So of course, after that Bentley grew into a regular dog and now we're very good friends. It's nice to have another Basset to play with. Sometimes I go to his house and Samantha (Bentley's Momma) and Tank are there too! I LOVE that!

Anyway Bentley asked me to share something special with you in hopes that we can help all Bassets everywhere.

I should start by saying that I just love my mom. We get along together almost like sisters, the really close kind NOT the fighting kind.

We're both really crazy about Daddy too. When we go riding in the car, sometimes I hang my head out the window so everybody can see that I'M with Daddy too!

Daddy travels a lot for work and one time he came home from some place called Europe with this big box of stuff. Mom seemed to think it was for her but I was sure it was for ME. So when they went out to dinner, I got it down from the tall table they left it on. (Honestly! They make it SOOOO difficult sometimes!) When I checked it out, it smelled really, really good so I opened it up and found all these little lumps wrapped in pretty paper...a WHOLE BUNCH of little presents just for ME! I guess I should have waited for them to get back so they could enjoy watching me open them all, but I just couldn't wait! (Have you ever felt like that?)

I started opening the first little gift and I found out that there was FOOD inside! (CHOCOLATE) Yum! It was SOOOOOOOOO good! It had some kind of really fabulous liquid stuff inside. After I ate it, I opened another gift and there was another one of those chocolates! I ate that one too. Then I got worried that maybe there weren't any more chocolates with that really tasty liquid inside, so I opened up all the little gifts and before I knew it, they were all gone! I felt SOOOOO good after I ate them except a little sad that there weren't any more of them.

It was strange though, the floor was sort of wobbly for a while there. It was really hard to walk on it so I just left all those papers from the presents in a little pile and sort of lurched across that wobbly floor until I found a comfy spot to rest. Then I fell asleep.

When Mom and Daddy got home they were very upset that I had opened all the presents without them. They were also worried because they said chocolate is bad for dogs and Daddy said that box weighed five pounds! I wasn;t sick at all though and you know, five pounds isn't really all that much. It didn't take me long at all to eat those chocolates! Well I was fine except for the wobbly floor that is, and really, I don't see how THAT could have been my fault, do you?

Bentley says that all humans either believe or PRETEND to believe that chocolate is bad for dogs and that we need to get the word out. We should let everyone know how I bravely tested that theory and proved it false! Auntie B (Bentley's Mummy) really believes that it's not safe to let dogs have chocolate. She STILL won't let Bentley have any! When he reminds her how I ate five pounds of it and was JUST FINE, she just says, "well Beatrice is special." (You know...that's true! Maybe she's right about the chocolate too...) what? Oh, sorry Bentley. All I can say is it's not bad for me! It even helped me to lose weight! Here I am with Mom after last year's parade

A little hefty, right? (ME, not Mom!)











Here's this year's photos:

Now lovely and svelte and FIT! And I owe it all to chocolate!




*****BLOG GUARDIAN'S NOTE AND DISCLAIMER: Feeding chocolate to dogs is most likely NOT a good idea, unless that dog is Beatrice. (Sorry Bentley!)*****

WOW #12: Workin' Dog Part 2-Employees

Greetings all! Hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was okay, but I prefer workdays...unless there's a parade of course.

Anyway I thought it was time to give you a bit more information about my job. I hadn't been working very long when Mummy hired me some more assistants. First, as you probably remember, I had only a personal assistant.

But it quickly got to be more than the raccoon and I could handle on our own.

That's when Mummy hired the first squirrel. Squirrel was a great helper and very fast. We got a lot done.

But after a while we got so busy we couldn't keep up; even with Squirrel's super fast speed and Raccoon's efficiency.





So Mummy hired Squirrel Lee (he's very proud of his Southern roots). Squirrel Lee was so fast he practically broke the sound barrier and we got SO much done, we had plenty of time for those necessary snoozes during the day.

Ahhh those were the days! We were models of efficiency! People came from all over to visit us. Sadly, both of those squirrels and Russell too (he came later) developed these terrible growths that required surgery. They kept on working as long as they could but finally they had to give it up. Raccoon got sick and needed surgery too. In fact all of my assistants have needed some type of surgery.(It's the strangest thing! I'd say it was something in the water, but I drink that water too and I'm just fine!) That's why I had to learn to operate myself. I just couldn't see them suffer and our business insurance doesn't cover them. (Maybe if we had Aflac?)

Here's some tips for managing your employees.

1. Make sure your employees are always polite. They should wait for permission before entering someone else's office. You should model this behavior for them.

2. Once they've been invited in, they should state their business politely but concisely. Remember those other people have to work too!

3. Be careful! Even the best employees may goof off and go for the laugh when your back is turned.

4. If this happens, you should invite them into the hall for a private discussion about appropriate office behavior.

5. Then see to it that they apologize for the disruption.

6. When special guests come to the office, make sure your assistants get to meet them. It's a nice gesture.

This was the day that Buster (who was Governor of VA Bears at the time) came for a visit. I encouraged the squirrels to have their picture made with him. Buster lives at Auntie A's house. He doesn't come to visit very often and for some reason, he stays on top of the furniture when he does come. I can't imagine why!

7. Finally, make sure your helpers get plenty of rest. They work hard for you! Those power naps should be scheduled in EVERY day.

And THAT'S how to be a beloved (and adorable) boss.

WOW #11 More About Brothers

Just couldn't leave the subject of brothers without mentioning my other brothers and my Momma. I've got 4 brothers: Tank, Fred, Angus and Winston and a sister Bella (she likes birthday cake).

I only get to see Bella and Winston on very special occasions. Angus too, he WAS at the Fourth of July parade, you may remember but we don't get together as often as we'd like.

But Fred and Tank and me...WOW we party together a lot! And Momma too of course. Momma and Tank live with my Grandma. I LOVE my Grandma and going to her house is SOOOO fun! I mean...except for the WELL!
Sometimes everybody comes to my house and that's fun too.

The MOST fun was when we took a trip to New Jersey though to be in a special Basset parade called the Basset Waddle. Mummy said it was part of the DooDah parade, but surely it was really all about the Bassets! There were LOTS of Bassets there so it must have been!

We got to play and meet new friends and do special games and march. It was really fun! First we all signed in and had a meet and greet.

Fred is QUITE the ladies man! Who knew?

He really goes for the girly-girls all dressed up in the frilly outfits! He says they're the best! (Except for Momma of course)

After Fred finished handing out cards to all the best-dressed ladies, we played some games.







Here's Tank and Fred doing the obstacle course.

Tank thought the whole thing was a waste of time (so did I) but Fred took it pretty seriously. (Needed to impress all those girls, I suppose)

Then we marched in the parade. Mummy calls this photo "marching butts" That's Momma on the far right side.

Afterwards we went to the beach. That was SOOOO fun! Mummy says she wishes she had a video of me running around on the beach. I'm not sure why.





Mummy and I got a shot of Fred and Tank on the boardwalk.

Then that night was boys' night. First Tank and Fred needed a rest...

Then Fred checked his mom's purse to see if any of his new girlfriends had left him a text message while he was snoozing.

Turns out he was also looking for the cigars...

I helped Fred watch from the window for any good-looking lady dogs

Fred was practicing a killer smile for them.














After a while, Fred had to go out and greet some of his groupies. Tank and I spied on him from the window. (heh heh)

After that we partied and played! That's my only rule for a Brothers' (and Momma) Weekend: Have as much fun as you can, as enthusiastically as you can, as long as you can, as OFTEN as you can!