Hi, my name is Isabel, but I’m rarely called that. My person calls me lots of names and I respond to all of them because she’s my person. She calls me Monkey, Piglet, Ferocious Killer, Squizzlewiz, Squizbo, Shazbot, Iz, Boo, Izaboo and NO! When she calls me NO!, it’s because I’m doing something bad. I know I’m not supposed to be in the trash or go into the backyard and yell at the neighbor’s dog, but he always starts it. What am I supposed to do, just stand there while he yells at me? He’s mean and he says awful things about us. My job is to defend the yard and he’s right there. He could come right into our yard if I wasn’t there to stop him! Somehow, he never does though. There’s this metal thing in the way, so I can’t go into his yard.

I love my person. I’ve been with her as long as I can remember. I love all the persons my person knows, too. I get so excited whenever they are around. My person doesn’t like me jumping on people, but they’re taller than me and I can’t reach them otherwise. I just want to say hello. I love people. My person takes me lots of places with people and I get to meet a lot of them. People are great. They pet me and give me treats.

I love the magic box. Oh, the magic box!! Things go wooshing past us faster than I can even see in the magic box! I get to stick my head out the hole on the side of the magic box! There are dogs and people and everything out there! So many smells! Sometimes, when I stick my head out the hole in the magic box, there’s too much wind blowing in my face and I don’t like that much, but I do it anyway. My person yells at me whenever I try to climb into her lap in the magic box. I don’t understand why she gets so upset about me being in her lap when we’re in the magic box. She doesn’t mind me around her any other time.

I know a lot of the places that the magic box takes us. Most of the time, when we get into the magic box, we end up someplace I love to go like the pet store or my aunt’s house or the place where all the other dogs are. Oh, the place where all the other dogs are! I get to run and play with lots of dogs! When we go to the place where all the other dogs are, I know it a mile before we even get there. I start whining and pacing back and forth. My person doesn’t like when I do that, but I can’t help it. We’re going to the place where all the other dogs are! How could I not get excited about that? Sometimes, the magic box will try to trick me by taking us there from another direction, but I always know.

The worst part about going to the place where all the other dogs are is, when we get home, my person gives me what she calls a bath. She puts me in a hole and covers me in water and soap. I only like water on my terms. I hate the bath, but I put up with it. I’m so happy when it’s over that I run around the back yard like crazy for a while. Then I curl up on my outside bed and take a nap.

Other than the magic box and the place where all the other dogs are, my favorite time is when we all get on the inside bed to sleep. I like the inside bed better than the outside bed because my person sleeps on the inside bed, too. I start off on the side by the wall. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I like climbing up where my person’s head is because there are lots of extra cushions up there and that’s where her head is. She gets annoyed whenever she wakes up and I’m there, but I love to sleep there anyway.

I have my own cat. He lives inside. We play a lot. Sometimes, he puts up a fuss, but I know he loves it. Sometimes, we sleep together. He’s warm and fuzzy. I have lots of toys, but the cat is my favorite. My aunt has a cat, too, but her cat is not like my cat. Her cat is mean and I don’t know how to play with him.

I don’t like big trucks. They make so much noise. I’m also afraid of things called fireworks. Whenever there’s a big truck or a firework, I try to crawl into my person’s lap. She tries to calm me down and it makes me feel better, but I really don’t like big trucks or fireworks. They should be banned.

What else do you want to know? I’m sleepy. It’s time for my third mid-afternoon nap. Wait, is that a squirrel?