They call me Houdini, but my given name is Phoebe. Dash is the shadowy figure you will see in the photos. She’s my friend and my lookout. I can get into any drawer or cabinet, but sometimes I don’t want to get out, so Dash will sit and look straight ahead at wherever I am hiding — and then our feeder is able to come find me.
Dash seems a little like a boy’s name, but she was named this because she could move with lightning speed. She still does.
Our feeder’s name is Lori Mitchell. She’s usually pretty relaxed and will sit for hours drawing and painting if we happen to fall asleep on her lap. She gets a little more excited when we start to chew up her watercolor paper. If she doesn’t want us to eat it, then why put it on the table in her studio?
And I’m also not sure why she doesn’t want me to sit in the tray with all the colors. Just when I get comfortable, she lifts me out and cleans me off and we are banished to any other room but her studio.
We have ways of getting back in. I can now jump and pull down the door handle to open the door. Dash tunnels under the folding blinds and I follow. Or we just put our paws under the door until she feels sorry for us and comes out for pets.
Lori also teaches art classes on the computer. That’s our chance to make as much noise as possible. One of my favorites is to knock something like a pen or paintbrush on the wood floor and bat it around. I should have been a hockey player.
She tries to challenge me with different water containers used for painting. So far, she hasn’t found one that I can’t tip over, and I get extra points if it’s near her computer or her artwork. She likes to play with me and makes her fingers look like mice running across her keyboard. I have the perfect surprise attack from under the back of the computer. When we are not playing games, I like to sit in a nice cool mixing bowl by the window.
Lori has been creating artwork since I came here. Before this home, I lived on the streets of Tijuana, Mexico. Dash came from the streets, too, so we are both pretty happy about our current living conditions.
Dash used to pull loaves of bread off the counter at night because she thought that was all the food she was going to be able to get. We have figured out that each day we get good food, so she has stopped eating bread.
We also have Dan, our entertainer. He re-arranges the furniture. He will stack dining room chairs, one on top of the other, just to give us something to play on. Sometimes he will move the couch halfway into another room just so we can pretend that we are in a whole new exciting playroom. And don’t tell the feeder, but he gives us bits of cheese if we are very patient and just stare into his eyes as he is eating.
Lori brings home sketchbooks full of dog sketches. I know she would much rather draw cats, but we aren’t at the coffee shops around town where she draws every week. I help her organize all of her sketchbooks and the knickknacks on her shelves. She has too much on her shelves, so I help knock a few things off so it looks less cluttered. I am very helpful like that.
I must go now. I just spotted a small box that needs exploring.
They call me Houdini, but my given name is Phoebe. Dash is the shadowy figure you will see in the photos. She’s my friend and my lookout. I can get into any drawer or cabinet, but sometimes I don’t want to get out, so Dash will sit and look straight ahead at wherever I am hiding — and then our feeder is able to come find me.
Dash seems a little like a boy’s name, but she was named this because she could move with lightning speed. She still does.
Our feeder’s name is Lori Mitchell. She’s usually pretty relaxed and will sit for hours drawing and painting if we happen to fall asleep on her lap. She gets a little more excited when we start to chew up her watercolor paper. If she doesn’t want us to eat it, then why put it on the table in her studio?
And I’m also not sure why she doesn’t want me to sit in the tray with all the colors. Just when I get comfortable, she lifts me out and cleans me off and we are banished to any other room but her studio.
We have ways of getting back in. I can now jump and pull down the door handle to open the door. Dash tunnels under the folding blinds and I follow. Or we just put our paws under the door until she feels sorry for us and comes out for pets.
Lori also teaches art classes on the computer. That’s our chance to make as much noise as possible. One of my favorites is to knock something like a pen or paintbrush on the wood floor and bat it around. I should have been a hockey player.
She tries to challenge me with different water containers used for painting. So far, she hasn’t found one that I can’t tip over, and I get extra points if it’s near her computer or her artwork. She likes to play with me and makes her fingers look like mice running across her keyboard. I have the perfect surprise attack from under the back of the computer. When we are not playing games, I like to sit in a nice cool mixing bowl by the window.
Lori has been creating artwork since I came here. Before this home, I lived on the streets of Tijuana, Mexico. Dash came from the streets, too, so we are both pretty happy about our current living conditions.
Dash used to pull loaves of bread off the counter at night because she thought that was all the food she was going to be able to get. We have figured out that each day we get good food, so she has stopped eating bread.
We also have Dan, our entertainer. He re-arranges the furniture. He will stack dining room chairs, one on top of the other, just to give us something to play on. Sometimes he will move the couch halfway into another room just so we can pretend that we are in a whole new exciting playroom. And don’t tell the feeder, but he gives us bits of cheese if we are very patient and just stare into his eyes as he is eating.
Lori brings home sketchbooks full of dog sketches. I know she would much rather draw cats, but we aren’t at the coffee shops around town where she draws every week. I help her organize all of her sketchbooks and the knickknacks on her shelves. She has too much on her shelves, so I help knock a few things off so it looks less cluttered. I am very helpful like that.
I must go now. I just spotted a small box that needs exploring.
