All I know is Paunnie was on the floor, just laying there. Mommis came out of her bedroom to see if it really was the mailman, she got the mail, and then she realized there was something strange about the way Paunnie was laying on the floor. She called his name, and he groaned to say good-bye. And then his eyes opened and he was gone.

She freaked. She started trying to call people, and then she ran across the street and got Carolyn. We kept quiet, so she could act.

Then everybody started coming to the house: Carolyn, Linda, Uncle Ed, and Max.

Mommis laid on the floor with Paunnie crying. Then she went and got one of the duvet covers he really liked to sleep on, and Ed and Carolyn lifted him with it and put him in the car.

And then they took him away and I never will see him again.

He was only 81/2.

But he did have aortic stenosis. Mommis said so.

But he seemed so fine. He ran, he fetched, he ate. He taught me when to bark and how to stay off Mommis’ bed so he could sleep there. He was Mommis’ main man.

Today I am mopa. I am hanging out at the house, and Mommis is having a procession of dog and humam visitors. Bluey came over. Uncle Dan threw balls, but Paunnie wasn’t there to fetch with him. Uncle Dan seemed sad, too. And we’ve seen a lot of Auntie Carolyn and Max, who usually keeps Tuckler home on Sundays.

When everyone left last night, I was lonely. Mommis wanted me to sleep on her bed, so I got up there for a while. But I need my space, so I left in the middle of the night for my spot on the floor, and then I gravitated to my own bed, where she found me in the morning. She spent the night streaming “The Gillmor Gang” on her iPad. We used to be on one of Steve Gillmor’s shows; Newsgang Live. Our job was to bark.

Paunnie wasn’t there to wake us up and remind her to feed us. She did it anyway. And then she took us to the park. Luckily, Pam was there with Wrigley, and the man with the great remote truck. I ran my ass off. I thought if I worked out enough, I could forget my grief.

But then I went home, and it was so quiet in the house. I’m just not Chauncey. I’m more Zen, and less frantic. I hope she loves me for who I am. Auntie Belle says Camp Fluppy Puppy will miss Paunnie. But won’t it miss me? I’m back in Phoenix.

I hope she finds me a little brother. It will suck if I’m alone.

First Wrigley, who almost never runs, started running after it and barking. You could see that he was about to challenge it to a fight. I thought I had better help him, so I took after it too, and we tried to run it down.

Paunnie isn’t that fast anymore, but he still tried to chase it with us. It kept on getting away from us across the field, but it was fun to run after it. We got a good workout.

We’re always amazed by the speed at which Wrigley can move when he’s motivated.  He spends most of our walks half a park behind Pam, making her call him and clap for him.  And then you find out that he’s very able to run when he wants to.

I love it when I make Mommis laugh. I hate it when I make her mad.  When I run away I make her mad.  I know it, but I just can’t stop.

This time she tried to fake me by not packing the yellow suitcase. She’s only taking the red thing. The thing the laptop goes in. But when she put the pills and the toothbrush in the red thing too, I knew where this was trending. She doesn’t take those when she goes to a meeting.

So last night, when she went out to dinner with Doris and Jerry, I took the red thing. I was gonna try to take it out in the back yard and examine what was in it to see if I was right and she was abandoning me. If it had any unders or a bra, I’d know for sure.

But man, was it heavy.  By the time I got it to the dog door, my teeth were sore from carrying it. I couldn’t quite get it, and me, through the door. And then somebody came by the house, and I had to do my job. I went to the window to look and bark to keep us safe.

And then ( I live in the present) I forgot I left it there, and she found it when she came home and figured it out.

That’s why I constantly am in the dog house.

So I  lost it tonight, and I upended her purse and spilled everything on the floor.  I didn’t realize how much “everything” she had in there, but lots of stuff, from headphones to business cards.

And then I grabbed one of her new Uggs and took it out back.  I started to eat it, but thought that might be going too far, so I kissed it and left it out there.

When she came home, she was so mad that I exiled myself outside. You could tell she was mad because she just walked around saying “no” all the time.

But in fifteen minutes she recovered and called me to come in. Then she gave me some chicken jerky so I know we’ve made up.

Now we know what is meant by “I’ll eat my hat.”

Chauncey and Buppy take their vitamins

Originally uploaded by hardaway

Last night, Paunnie got the vitamins down from the counter, and we took them outside and worked on the box for a while. Paunnie’s like a Houdini taking things apart, and although he never got the top off because it was too big for his mouth, he did manage to gnaw a hole in the side. And then the powder just fell out on the grass and we could share it.

And then we brought the box back inside and put it on Mommis’ bed so she would find it in the morning and order more of those. She saw that we were out immediately, but she hasn’t done anything about it yet.

They really tasted good, and I’ve never felt better in my life!

Last summer we had a cousin puppy whose name was Tailkey last summer. Now it’s something like Toll House Cookie. And we hear he’s big. I can’t wait to see him.

This is what Uncle Ed took last summer of me trying to get Tailkey back to Mommis and Auntie Belle.

Jerry is going to drive us up. We will take some Ambien so we can sleep on the trip, which is long.