Dear Gavin,

Gramma told me that you and your mom were dog sitting yesterday! You sat on dogs? I hope they were very big dogs. Then Gramma told me that the dogs you were sitting on were Minnie and Molly!! Are you kidding me? They cannot be sat on by people, they would get hurt! I was shocked at your mom's behaviour and I told Emmy about it. Just look at her............ She said no way would sitting on dogs be a good thing! She told me that this is a great fear she has when she sees someone about to sit down when she is on the sofa. Her eyes got big and her ears went up. See? Well Oscar walked in while we were talking and he said we were dumb; that Gramma had not said that you and your mom were sitting on Molly and Minnie! He said that sitting means that you were taking care of them.

I am so relieved to hear this! I cannot tell you how afraid I was for Molly and Minnie. Gramma said that Grampa and Grandma had to go on a little trip and that they asked you to take care of them. Wow, I bet that made you feel pretty special that they trusted you with Molly and Minnie.

Hey, how come you didn't come and get me? I wanted to go help. It would have been great fun to see them again. I bet they wouldn't even recognize me since I am such a big dog now. Gramma says I am quite a homely little fellow! Homely is good, right?

I have made a new friend. He is what Gramma calls a camper. His name is Don and when he comes into the store I get to go out and see him....just me! He plays with me and picks me up. Gramma says that she is too old to rough house with me. I am not sure what that means, but she doesn't like it when I leap into the air and bite at her hands. Do you think that is this thing called rough house? I don't think Gramma is too old, do you?

I want to tell you about this really mean trick that Gramma played on me. Remember that she had a birthday? Well somebody gave her these things called balloons. They have these strings on them that hang down and they stay up at the top of the room. Well that fan they call a ceiling fan hit them and it made a lot of noise and scared me. I tell you I was scared out of my wits (I don't really know what wits are, but I heard it on a TV program and I like the sound of it). Well that was bad enough, but she tied a string around Oscar's neck and that balloon was going every where he went! See him? He didn't even care. I laughed and laughed. He looked so funny. He just looked at me and told me that I was easily amused. I do not know what any of that means, but he was sure funny. Gramma finally took it off and told Oscar that he was a good sport. He was playing ball and I think that is a sport....is that what she was talking about? She is still kind of hard to figure out, that Gramma of yours.

She laughed at Oscar, too. But....and I don't know why she did this...she tied that string around me!!!!!! That balloon FOLLOWED me everywhere I went. I ran and it ran! I jumped and it jumped! I could not get away and I did not like it; no, I did not. When I ran it made an awful noise and no matter how fast I went it would not leave me! Gramma laughed some more and I did not like it. Finally I ran into my kennel!

Guess what? That balloon could not get in! "Ha Ha Ha" I said to that silly balloon, "You cannot come into my kennel, so there!" But.........every time I tried to come out it would jump right back over my head. Gramma begged me to come out so that she could take my picture, but I refused and she had to take that hateful balloon away. I am not mad at her any more, but I did not let her pet me for many long minutes!

This has been a long letter, my boy, and I have grown sleepy. I hope that you will remember that you are my boy and that I love you.

Your dog, Wall-E

I Like My Belly Scratched

Dear Gavin,

I have been missing you a lot lately. Gramma and Papa are always so busy. When they get through with their work they are too tired to play with me. I like to run and jump high into the air! I really like to bite things, too. I have been getting into lots of trouble for chewing up things. Remember I told you that I chewed up Gramma's shoe? I destroyed the other shoe, too. She was not happy.....at all. I figured it wouldn't matter so much since the other shoe was all chewed up. She didn't see things my way, though. I got another spanking with what was left of the shoe. Boy, was she ever mad!

Papa felt sorry for me and he stopped working for a few minutes and gave me a really nice belly scratch while he talked to me.

Gramma took our picture......twice. She says she sees a tiny difference in the two pictures, but I don't.......do you? Papa wears these cool shirts now in my favorite color.....orange! I really like that color. I told you that didn't I? I like the way it sounds when Gramma says that word.

I would rather have Papa mad at me than Gramma. He will talk about it first and then by the time he is through talking he forgets that he was supposed to punish you. Not Gramma. She says she is taking care of business first and talking later. At first I though she was going to go use the bathroom first, cause when she takes us dogs out she tells us to do our business. I am so confused. Gramma is a very confusing lady. Do you think so, too?

That is Emmy on the couch when Papa was talking to me. She would not look at me. I think she is that thing Gramma calls jealous. She wanted Papa to play with her, not me. That is what that word jealous means, I think.

Remember that old cat, Gremlin? He is gone. Gramma said he was an old Indian and he went off because it was his time to die. I thought he was a cat! What is an Indian? Is that a kind of cat? That other cat, Spooky, is acting strange. Is that cat an Indian, too? Spooky refuses to eat out of Gremlin's old dish. Hey, give it to me, I will eat it!

That is strange enough, but today, while I am writing this, that cat Spooky, came up on the porch making this strange meowing sound. Papa went to see what was going on and that cat had caught a mouse and brought it to the door! Gramma called it a rat, but Papa said it was just a very big mouse. Gramma said that it looked like a full grown pregnant one at that. Emmy told me that means the big mouse had babies in her belly. Emmy knows these things, cause she had babies one time.

I am getting tired now. It is raining and I think a nice nap here in Gramma's lap would feel good today. I love you, my boy, don't forget that!

Your Dog,

Wall-E