Badger: My Life as a Runt

7/28/06

Hello, my name is Badger.  I am a long coat chihuahua and was born on 5/13/05.  Normal chihuahua litters have 2 or 3 pups, but for some reason, my mom had 4 of us.  I was the smallest, about half the size of my siblings, and had to fight for survival. 

When I was hungry, which was always, I would be pushed aside by my big brothers and sister, as they were as hungry as I was, but they were the size of Godzilla so they could easily win their positions to the food source.

Because of the bullying and the lack of nutrition, I felt weak and faint many times.  I knew I wanted to live because I was a fighter and had no fears.  My caretaker realized my weakness and bottle fed me as much as she could.   Still, a couple of times, I was rushed to the doctor for being weak and dehydrated.

Today, I weigh about 2 pounds.  I know you think I'm still a runt, but I feel as big as Goliath.  I'm everybody's friend, and would love to be your friend too.

On my first birthday, my mom threw a surprise birthday party for me at Aunt Marvie's house.  There were about 20 people there, and most of them didn't realize they were coming to a dog's birthday party.  There were balloons 5 times my size, a birthday cake with my name on it, and birthday presents.  And there was lots of food, some of which was snuck to me by my other Aunts.  My favorite presents were the squeeky toys that my Aunt Marvie gave me.

I was so happy and excited all day, that I snuck into my friend Pepper's bed and slept among his toys.  When it was realized that I was nowhere to be found, they called my name and searched the house for me, but I ignored them.  They finally saw me among the toys in the dog bed and disturbed my peace.  But, it was the greatest party I ever had and made some new friends. 

Anyway, I'm tired now and need my breakfast, so I will end this here.  Thank you for reading my story.  I will update you soon.  Love, Badger.

8/1/06

Hello.  I moved into this house I'm in now sometime in October.  I don't know what day it was because I still can't read a calendar.  My father came with me.  This was his house before he went to Hawaii, and after being there for a year, was sent back here.  He was mean to me, trying to control my every movement.  He wouldn't let me eat, or be anywhere near him.  I cried a lot.  My new mom and dad felt sorry for me so they sent him back to Hawaii.  He lives with many other little doggies, a big doggie, and 2 things that meow. 

I like this house now because nobody tells me what I cannot do and where I cannot go.  My Aunty Moonflower is okay most of the time.  She tries to play with me when she's in the mood.  Other times she is grumpy. 

She likes to steal my food when I'm eating so I try to make the loudest, meanest noise possible.  Some call it my Tasmanian devil routine.  It doesn't work on her, though.  She'll just walk up to my bowl and start eating.  No wonder she is so fat.

I'm gonna go take a nap now, for the 10th time today.  Adios.

8/1/06

Hello again.  When I came to this house, my mommy let me sleep in her big bed.  Aunty Moonflower sleeps there too.  She makes herself comfortable on mommy's blanket.  I make myself comfortable on mommy's pillow, next to her head.  She didn't like it at first because I spend the first 20 - 30 minutes grooming myself before falling asleep.  She used to kick me off the pillow.   One night she kicked me off the pillow so many times, that the next night I refused to go on the bed.  She felt bad.

She tried giving me my own pillow, but I didn't like it.  She also tried putting a crate pad with my favorite blanket and a toy next to her pillow.  I didn't like that either.  She kept trying to get me off of her pillow, but after several tries, she has given up.  I used to wait until she fell asleep before sneeking on to her pillow.  Now, she just lets me do what I want and has to put up with it.

Now, she wakes up tired every morning.  I think it's my fault.  Maybe I should cut my grooming time so she can fall asleep sooner.  I feel bad sometimes.  Oh well, at least I get to sleep on her pillow.

 8/11/06

Hi all.  This is one of my baby pictures.  I look tired, don't I?  I don't remember how I ended up in the bowl.  It must have been a hard day. 

My new name this week is Daddy's secret weapon.  Mommy and Daddy were playing in the game room, shooting pool.  Mommy was about to make an easy shot and she was on a roll, making several shots in a row, and close to winning the game.  Well, she was about to make a real easy shot when I decided I wanted her attention.

I ran up to her, smiling and wagging my tail, staring at her.  She smiled back at me and said hi to me.  I just kept staring and wagging as she was trying to make her easy shot.  Well, she must have buckled at the knees when she saw my cute face that she missed the easiest shot of the game.  So she said to Daddy, "Did you call Badger in here on purpose so I would miss?".  They both laughed.  I didn't quite understand what was happening.  I just wanted some attention. 

Since then, she calls me Daddy's secret weapon.

I can't help being so darn cute.

 8/28/06

 

Hello again.  I'm sorry its been so long since the last blog.  It's been too hot here to do anything.

See how big my tongue is?  Everybody thinks its cute.  I wish I could fit it in my mouth.  It tends to dry out a lot, so I have to drink lots of water.

I figured out a way to use it to my advantage.  Since I hate kissing anybody on their face, even my mom, what I do is just put my nose close to their face and move my head up and down.  My tongue is sticking out anyway, so they think I'm actually kissing them.   It makes them happy, so I do it once in a while.

When I'm sitting in my mommy's arms, or in her lap, and lick my paws, my tongue is bigger than the width of my paw so my tongue usually ends up licking whoever or whatever I'm on.  Everybody thinks I'm kissing them.  Actually, I just want to lick my paws.  

Anyway, time to close my eyes again.  Night night.