To Russia, With Love

I still can't get over how many international readers Alvin has, particularly from Russia and Singapore.  I am so curious as to who you all are out there, i.e. do you have pets, are you married, have kids, what do you do for a living, how did you find this blog, etc.  If I could, I would peak through the computer screen to see who Alvin's fans are.  Please consider leaving a comment here to tell us where you live and a little about yourself.  I wonder if people from other countries read this and think that I am an example of a crazy American who spends far too much time with her dogs?  If so, you are correct, at least about the crazy part and I have found that dogs will hang out with me no matter how annoying I am.  It seems to be a win-win situation.  But for any of you, even those in the US, please leave a comment and let us all know where you live because it's interesting to see where you all come from.  And again, thank you all for reading this blog.  I am able to see every day how many people are reading this and I am so grateful for your interest.  I realize that the interest is all for Alvin and I like that people find him as valuable and interesting as I do.  It probably is a blessing that he can't read because if he knew how popular he is he might refuse to hang out with a lowly person like me or want me to be his humbly servant.  Please feel free to pass the word about Alvin because he deserves all the attention he can get.

On another note, Alvin has improved so much in allowing me to administer his eye drops.  His teeth still immediately start chattering when he knows I am going to do it but I no longer have to stretch and warm up to prevent a muscle pull during the process.  He also knows that a treat comes right after the eye drops and so instead of running away, he now stands in line for the treat that he so clearly earned.  We have been doing the eye drops for a week now and his improvement is significant and to me, it's another example of how far he is able to come in all different areas of his life.  I don't know that Alvin's ever going to be the, jump up on the couch and hang out type of dog but I predict that a year from now he is going to let his person pet him anywhere at anytime and he very well may be a dog that not only sleeps in a bed with his person but sleeps close to his person.  He just enjoys having his chin, neck and back scratched too much to be a standoffish (now that's a word for our readers that that aren't native English speakers) dog for the rest of his life and the way he prefers to sleep nearly on my mom's feet tells me that he wants human comfort when sleeping.  He isn't sleeping in my bed yet but he does love his dog bed, which is located right next to my bed and when it's time to go to bed I pat his bed and tell him to get it in and he gets in, circles around a bunch of times and then goes right to sleep.  He no longer gets up early in the morning (thank goodness) and when I wake up, there he is just snoozing away in a little ball and it is the cutest, most heartwarming way to start a day!

So, to our readers in different time zones, good morning, good afternoon, or in my case, good night to you all! May today or tomorrow be a wonderful day for each and every one of you!