Kwasi's first post.

Hi everyone!  Kwasi here, pronounced with a long a, like Casey with a W.  I'm told it's from Western Africa, where my human was just visiting.. but we'll get to that later.  I'm a puppy that was born somewhere a lot warmer than where I am right now, I think it was called South Carolina. I had 8 other siblings and a mom at one point.  I'm told I'm part yellow lab and no one knows what else. But I've got these adorable freckles that make everyone squeal when they meet me. I love all humans, sleeping on my back, and tearing the fuzzy stuff off tennis balls. When we were all very young my brothers, sisters and I were brought to a place that has a lot of cages and some nice people- but none of them stuck around for too long, and my mommy wasn't with us. I liked playing around with my brothers and sisters but I'm kind of a mellow guy and they have a lot of energy. There were other dogs at this place, a lot of them, sometimes humans would come a take them away and I would never see them again.  It was a little cold here and the only love I got was from my siblings so it was a little lonely. I wondered if any humans would ever come and take me away. 

All of a sudden one day I was put into this big metal box that moves on wheels and I was told a human wanted me but she was in a place called 'Vermont'. I had heard of this place but only that they had a lot of maple syrup and cows- I don't really know what either of those were so I was a little bit nervous of going to 'Vermont'. I spent a lot of time in that metal box and it moved for almost 2 days straight. At the end of the 2 days I woke up and was sooooo cold. The human controlling the metal box walked me into a room with a lot of people. I looked around for a second and there she was! There was one human in particular that I was drawn to, she had brown hair, a big smile, and kind of smelled like other dogs. I wanted her to be mine and turns out she was the one that wanted me to be hers too. :) I waddled over to her with a wagging tail and she gave me lots of hugs and kisses. Before I knew it, I was leaving the room with her. 'Wait a second,' I thought, 'what about my brother and sister that came in the metal box with me too??'. She reassured me that where I was going to next would have 2 new brothers for me- must be the other dogs I smell- and she had a towel that smelled like my siblings so I cautiously went with her. My first night in the new place was a little scary.  There were 2 grown up dogs there, the humans call them Taylor and Hooker Lee, I know them as the dominant one that is gentle and sweet, and the middle-of-the-pack one that is a little rambunctious. They were a little unsure of me and I was a little unsure of them. I've been here now for a little over 2 weeks, things have settled down and I've learned so much. Here are some of the things I've learned so far:

1) Peeing and pooping happens on that cold white stuff outside, definitely not inside on the carpet.

2) My human is the girl with the brown hair, the other dogs belong to the other humans in the house.  My girl's job is to correct my behavior, the other humans are only here for love and treats. I'm still a little unsure of this pack structure but I'm rolling with it. 

3) That middle of the pack dog they call Hooker Lee was kind of mean at first. He didn't like to let me do anything, but now we're friends. He lets me play tug and catch with him even though he never lets me win. When we play catch sometimes my feet stop working or a wall comes out of nowhere and I end up on the ground. Hooker Lee just laughs at me and we keep playing. 

4) Sometimes my human brings me to a room with a lot of people in it. I think that is her job. Most of the people there are young humans that want to pet me. I think my job is to let them. (side note on this room: I know I'm not supposed to pee in here, but I'm so excited and a little nervous about the young humans so sometimes it just squirts out a little bit. I know my human isn't happy about it but I'm working on it.)

5) If I want a treat or to get fed I'm supposed to sit down for some reason. It also helps if I pin my ears back and look at cute as possible. 

6) All the toys on the ground are for me. Unless they are for Hooker Lee. I'm really good and ripping them apart though. 

7) When we go for a walk I'm supposed to follow my human and not my new brothers. I'm also not supposed to eat their frozen poop. 

8) When we get back from walks the other boys play a game with my humans called frisbee. They are obsessed with it- I'm not there yet.

9) I'm supposed to sleep in my house. If I fall asleep somewhere else sometimes my human wakes me up. This makes me a little grumpy and lazy. If I look cute enough, she'll let me stay sleeping, if I look really cute she'll let me sleep for a few hours on the bed!

10) When I'm hungry, I walk toward my food bowl and my humans let me have food. When I ring a bell on the door, my humans let me outside. When I'm out there I get to pee and poop- and I also get to play.  Sometimes I just get to stand there and contemplate life. This is my new favorite game :)

I think this is my forever home, or at least my forever family.  They give me walks everyday, I get to have a full belly, and I get to meet lots of nice people and dogs. I think I'm ok with that.

My human and I when we first met. 

In the car on the way to work. 

My brothers letting me sleep near them. A rare treat!

My favorite way to dream of chasing the ball.