Hello, my name is Cy.

cy and kai napping

2009-12-25T09:54:00.001-05:00

cy and kai napping, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

this is cy and kai taking a nap the other night.

got me some plans

2009-12-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

i'm going out tonight. a night on the town, an exciting event. i am going to visit a blocky little pit bull and a terrier/border collie mix girly dog. i am very excited! i have eaten a lot of chicken necks and rice so i have a full belly, and i have my favorite belly band on so i look very dapper and i am very excited about my plans to hang out with new peoples and new doggies. fun fun fun. i hope someone takes pictures i can put up here. we'll see. they might be too busy making sure all us doggies get along and cause no troubles.

troubles? please. when i cause troubles?

flat out

2009-12-15T02:36:00.001-05:00

flat out, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

so slweeeeepeeeeee

play

2009-12-15T00:42:00.002-05:00

play, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

KAI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am coming. i will save you from the evil rowan and the dastardly snowies and - and - i will ba boomsie and bite your tail and it will be fun, fun, fun!

the world is my springboard

2009-12-14T23:25:00.000-05:00

border collie in front of me? springboard to get me outside first and faster.

sofa? springboard to get me to food time faster.

coffee table? ba boomsie - off i go to get me to the stuffed Kong faster.

the world is my springboard. 'lise likes me to be all boring and do sits and stares but me? i like to bounce and boom through life. last night i ba boomed onto elise for some cuddling and i fell off the couch cuz i wasn't thinking about how i was laying on the couch and her. she laughed and laughed.

i said, you know, the world is my springboard. a few clumsy moves can't keep me down!

did you know i haven't marked in eons and zillions of days? i am sooooo good. i am still working on my letter to santa. i have some things to say about my forever home, wherever it is.

i wish it would find me. but more on that later.

i have some ba boomsies to do.

zooming progress (but still jubilant)!

2009-12-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

I am the goodest boy ever.

you know, i was here in my foster home for turkey day and it was, indeedy, a very good day with lots to be thankful for. it was my first full day here and i had so much fun! i got to play with other border collies and a cavaleier, i got to eat tons of yumminess (including my favorite, the bizkit do!), and i got smushy pets and love from all the peoples here.

since then, i have been neutered and boostered with shots and examined by vets that think i am super cute, and had lots more yummies and lots more playtime.

and i am the goodest boy ever. i try very hard to make the peoples here happy. i will sit or lay down, i always come to them when they gesture for me to come to them, and i try to figger out what they want from me. i mark less and less and less. yesterday i even peed outside by squatting instead of lifting my leg!

so i am thinking, maybe for christmas i could have a forever family? some peoples to call my very own? i am happy here and it's very fun, but i think it would be even better, the bestest thing, for me to have my own home.

i am thinking maybe i should write a letter to santa.

dinner one of two

2009-12-10T17:45:00.002-05:00

dinner one of two, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

mashed po tay toh
hammmmmm
creamed espinaca!

explosion!

2009-12-10T16:55:00.002-05:00

belly band gonna POP off cuz ma belly is so

BIG!

snow play

2009-12-10T00:47:00.003-05:00

snow play, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

i luv running around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around...

oh my, where am I? i feel dizzies.

i was saying? oh yeah, i luv running around KAI! circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and circles and....

oh, did it happen again? sorries.

yes, i love me some kai. i like to grab his neck or sometimes even his tail when we're running. i like to block him and stop him and watch him. he never says no. so it's ok, right?

anyways, today was a super splendiduous snow day and it was even more specialer because kai was really happy and i got to be chasing him all over super fast as he ran out his middle-aged zoomies. awesomist thing EVER!

and i stole a loaf of bread hee hee hee. HEY, I WAS HUNGRY! i tried nudging the peoples and staring at them and pacing around but they said something that something that sounded like, "bleezaburg a pumba du ge fabbu"

(um, elise says that the words spoken actually said something like, "cy, we are thawing out a billion duck necks for you as well as a homemade polenta, carb-loading mush. just wait a minute or two...")

anyway, after a ridiculous amount of time i FINALLY got a bowl full of yummy polenta and pasta and stuff as well as an enormous pile of duckie necks! about time. why didn't they just tell me?!

so now i full and happy and love to lie on the floor with a big belly and happy Cy face.

sweet love and monkey madness

2009-12-09T00:04:00.000-05:00

i would like my name to be Big Wild Dog Monkey.

good name, yeah?

i am getting bigger every day and i think i think bigger is important. elise has to squeeze to feel my hip bones now and she can give me big ruff scruffle pets because i actually have filled out enough that she's doesn't feel like it hurts to pet me. so that's the Big part.

wild? well, let's just say i have a bit of the jungle in me. i take very little notice of things like furniture and glasses of water sitting on a coffee table or other such silliness. i jump, bound, leap, fling, and fly. c'mon, folks, this is the good life. i looooooove it. i love the times to go outside and then the times to come back in and eat yummies. so many times to love, no reason not to rush to each one.

elise is making me sit and give eye contact for everything though. which really puts a damper on my Wild routine. geez oh weez.

monkey. well, i am just a gangly creature and maybe i remind myself of a Monkey. in a GOOD way!

so, my first family named me Mac. not sure where that came from. my foster family named me Halcyon. really, a pretty name, a noble attempt at deep thoughts and definition but a name for me? nah.....

Big Wild Dog Monkey? that's my vote.

what's your vote? maybe i have a forever family out there that can come up with a better name??

elise says: Puhhh-LEASE!!!!!!

cy

2009-12-06T14:15:00.002-05:00

cy, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

breakfast

2009-12-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

2 cups of fat stew (a concoction of pasta, rice, peanut butter, and tuna). I LOVE it.
1 chicken frame
1 enormous pork neck

at LEAST 3 pounds of food. And that's just for breakfast!

I am still working on the pork neck. There's a good possibility my hungry belly will break Elise's bank. And the other dogs here are getting chubby, I end up eating so much that the peoples feel bad and give the other dogs a little bit too. Ha ha. Can't even feel their ribs now! Hopefully, they'll stop with the silly bad feeling and give me more food, give them less food.

I love the beginning of the day! So much yumminess ahead!

Doing fabu, thanks!

2009-12-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

I am neutered. Neuerto. Neuterdid. Neutoramicus.

It's fabulous.

I barely even have an incision site and I am feeling just fine. I also saw the vet and she loooooved me (big surprise, eh?). She said I look GREAT and gave me an "A" for behavior and looks and health. I gave her a kiss. I actually gave everyone there a kiss. Kiss(es) plural really. Good times, I ate cookies. They drew blood. I ate cookies, they expressed my anal glands

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I ate cookies. They examined me all over. I got a belly rub. Good life.

I am getting a little fatter each day and I hear I am getting more and more handsome as the hair on the tail grows in and I learn how to be a grown up dog. It's fun fun fun. I am making eye contact before I leave my crate and before I go outside and before I do ANYTHING. They want me to make eye contact all - of - the - time!!! I am learning hand signals for putting my butt on the ground and putting my whole body on the ground and stopping certain behaviors. I like this learning thing.

I eat cookies. Yum.

Two days no marking.

Cookie.

Many days no counter surfing.

COOKIE.

Maybe I can have some bizkit doh now!

blurry goofy Cy

2009-12-05T18:52:00.002-05:00

cy, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

cy standing at fence - good pic!

2009-12-05T18:51:00.006-05:00

cy, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

bc triangle

2009-12-05T18:51:00.004-05:00

bc triangle, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

noses

2009-12-05T18:50:00.002-05:00

noses, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

pondering life without balls

2009-12-02T20:45:00.002-05:00

pondering life without balls, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

some truths

2009-12-01T19:22:00.000-05:00

today i heard that, um, i'm going to be neutered on thursday. this will be a big change for me. so in light of the fact that i will be undergoing an, um, transition i thought it best to get some things off my chest.

this is what you need to know about me, right now, today, before i get any older and better behaved.

i am a puppy at heart. i wiggle. i squiggle. i thrash and crash and boom around. i am unabashedly comfortable with pitching my body in whatever direction seems fitting. this might mean you are drinking a glass of water and i come flying at you in a fervor of affection. or i am rushing to get outside and i decide that over the couch and through the door is the easiest way to go. when you touch me, i might fling my body on the ground for an enthusiastic belly rub. i am most extravagant in my gestures.

i originally thought it was important for me to pee on everything i saw. now, i was no ordinary marker. i would do things like lift my leg up while standing in the middle of a room or maybe lift my leg on another dog or, well, just anywhere. in only a week, i have stopped marking inside the house all-together when supervised. the only time i try to mark is when i am running loose in the house, border collie hair flowing in the wind and freedom is mine. in those moments, the chair legs and couch cushions are irresistible. the belly band stops any ACTUAL marking, but the thought is there.

i have never pooped in the house. i do lots and lots of circles when i feel the urge. i really couldn't say it any louder.

speaking of circling, i am a big fan of circles, circling, and chasing. my circling is not a neat, savvy type of elegant spin. my circling is just like the rest of me - embellished, animated and quite vigorous. i can knock a crate over when i do a circle because i am whipping around with such energy and excitement. ooh la la. outside, i like to circle around the other dogs. neat circles to the left. to the left. always to the left. one might say i am a little neurotic. nahhhh. i am a border collie! what you know about border collies, anyways?

there is circling and there is pacing. i like to circle when i am worried or when i am on the prowl. i like to pace when i am unsure of what to do next. back and forth. back and forth. i am consistent. i need someone to say HEY! DEAFIE! HOW ABOUT SETTLING DOWN THERE, BUDDY?! of course it does no good to SAY it, but if you take my collar and look at me close, maybe give me a soft rubdown and help to tell me with your gestures that i should relaxxxxxxxxx then maybe i will do just that. ahhhh, it is very helpful when the peoples of the world let me know what to do and what next.

i am still four years old with the teeth of an ancient being and the heart and spirit of a pup. I am robust and skinny and silly and loopy and loving all at once.

did i tell you how much i love food? wow. I. LOVE. FOOD. A LOTTTTTTTTTTT.

you know about the biskits, that much i know. well, it doesn't stop there. i am pretty much on a consistent mission to eat something. it's just so awesome! today i found a cheetos bag and licked the crumbs on the inside and then decided - why stop there? why not just eat the whole thing? i didn't really like the taste of the bag so i gave up and just scattered the pieces around in an delightful design on the rug. however, do not fault me because i did give it an earnest effort and, no doubt, will continue to search for edibles.

and you know the only way to truly tell if something is edible is to attempt to eat whatever-it-is.

I am friggin' adorable. i lack sophistication and grace, some might say, but i make up for it in my utterly obvious delight and joy with the world and all it has to offer.

so, there, now you know all about me. the good, the good, and the good. may it all remain the same after the (gulp) neutering.

Elise says, "yeah, may it all remain the same except the marking...."

WHATEVER! I am going to go jump on her head and give her a Cy-bonic hug!

life is hard

2009-11-29T17:15:00.002-05:00

life is hard, originally uploaded by halcyonic.

Ha ha! I beat all you hearin' BC's out there!

2009-11-29T01:42:00.002-05:00

OK, so it's the end of the day and everyone has settled down. The peoples have played and tossed balls and thrown frisbees and hiked and walked and done the daily border collie routine.

Everyone snuggles in and curls into their respective little black and white (other colors too!) cotton doodles of doggie breath and border collie selves.

But THEN one of the peoples thinks of a snack. The snack is in the other room. This entails getting up and moving, opening cabinets and maybe even a refrigerator. The room with the Snacks is at least 20 feet away and involves many footsteps.

Is it worth it to disrupt the final and precious peace of the evening?

Because you know that if you own a border collie, when you get up to move around or do stuff the typical response is that THEY get up and final you follow around. They stare at you with expectant eyes and hopeful hearts that whatever this is MIGHT involve a ball or toy or treat or maybe even a sheep! Even if they stay in position the tails are thwacking and the eyes are intensely focused.

So, this is why I - Halcyon border collie boy - beat all you hearing BC's out there! When the peoples go to get the snacks or do other things, I just sleep soundly like a sweet young cub. I don't even twitch. I don't bat an eyelash. I might even snore a little bit. Because I'm that unimpressed without all this hearing business. Oh, I like a sheep just like the rest of 'em and sometimes I even pretend that all the other dogs and peoples are fluffy little sheep for me playing pleasure.

How cool is it to be a border collie with all my border collie ways and yet when it's time to settle down for snuggles and snacks then YOU can have the snacks as long as I can keep getting the snuggles.

P.S. I TOTALLY got the runs from eating all da biskit dough. It was worth it though.

biskit dough iz good!

2009-11-28T00:41:00.001-05:00

Just because I can not hear too good must mean no one can hear me, right? Like when I am stealthily climbing onto the counter to gingerly remove a set of biscuits waiting to go in the oven. I was very thorough. I was so good that the peoples in the house wondered where the biscuits went. Then I think I did a Pillsbury burp and they all looked at me and asked me if I knew where the biscuits were.

IN MA BELLY!!!! That's where!

Then the peoples looked and looked for a safe place to put a plate with ham. I had some ideas but couldn't get them out in time since I was very thirsty from the dough and was slurping up a gallon of water.

It's good to know that we are all on the same page about me gaining some weight. I'm helping out the best I can. There's the dee-lish raw food and the peanut butter Kongs and bones...oh, I'm getting hungry again just talking about all of this.

I think I might peruse the kitchen for a late night snack. You know, like a rack of lamb or something small like that.

Oh, on a different note, Elise was very proud because I didn't mark anything in the house today. Duh, I just needed to figure out what a HOUSE was. Plus, wearing a belly band with a Kotex in it is cute but not necessarily a look I aspire to for life.

A Note From Elise

2009-11-27T02:14:00.001-05:00

Cy says: this is embarrassing, seriously do we need to be so sappy about such rote matters?

Elise says: I have lived with animals all my life and I have lived with border collies for many, many years. I have seen abused and disabled and damaged and I have loved them and worked with them all. I have rearranged my life to make sure that my beloved pets are taken care of.

Let's talk about Halcyon though. Cy comes from a tumultuous and painful past. He has virtually no teeth, indicating a history of chewing on rocks or perhaps something worse. He can not hear or he can hardly hear. He is emaciated. When I touch him, I feel pain at every rib, every vertebrae, every bone.

When I raise my arm or hand, he slunkers down and moves away as if he can get away without he seeing him. He is escaping the potential of pain.

This is my foster boy. My Halcyon.

The same boy that leans into me at every pet, no matter if he is sleeping or unaware of my approach or whatever. I can not describe the feeling I have when I go to gently pet him and he is sleeping... I lay my hand on his head and he opens up some sleepy lidded eyes and looks at me with incredible love and peace - there's no surprise or tremor or shock there. How can that even be?

How can a creature sustain such a persona of Absolute Love despite a mysterious and obviously painful history?

Halcyon is a lovely little border collie dream.

I am sitting here and he is lying next to me, ensuring that every inch of his skinny, schrinchy little body is poured into each crevice of my curves.

He has tolerated bared teeth. growls. hard stares. body blocks. Lots of dog-dog stuff that says "hey, you aren't so welcome here". And I LOVE it because he is so mushy and soft and kind that even my other dogs are rather taken aback. They will be resting easily and he will clamber up to them, in them, with them - and they they just go...."oh, ok then".

Halcyon is teaching my dogs lessons in seconds that I have been working on for years.

This lovely dog is love. and affection. and waiting.....

to be yours?

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T19:46:00.000-05:00

Today is a young day. It is young because I am playing. and running. and being super silly like young things do. It's hard for me to write like a good smart border collie because I am exhausted. It's crazy. I think it had something to do with running around chasing other border collies. Chasing border collies is fun. Did you see the slideshow? I am chasing border collies.

Anyway, now I am laying on the floor, belly band in place, pecking out one syllable at a time with a toenail. Maybe I am dreaming of chasing those border collies again. There's the red and white one and the tri-colored one and then that small Cavalier thing.

Today is young and today is beautiful and today is full of hope. Today is Thanksgiving and it means that there is thanks in the world and one day soon, someone will be thankful to have me as their forever pet. I will be a very, very good forever pet. I am Halcyon. But in layman's terms it means that I am a mush.

Mush. Mushy. I want to lick you and lean into you and, really, if I was a cat I would be purring non-stop. But I am a border collie and I can not purr. I can sleep and when I wake I will look immediately to see if you are there and then I will crawl into whatever nook is there. And if there are no nooks, I will stretch across the floor with my lovely limbs and twitch and dream of chasing border collies and warm people nooks.

See all these things to be thankful for? I understand this holiday, this special occasion. And next year I will hope that someone will be thankful to have me.

have you ever heard of a weasel collie?

2009-11-26T00:29:00.001-05:00

My name is Cy.

My name is short for Halcyon. Halcyon is a lovely word and I am going to show everyone that I do indeed deserve to courageously carry this name. Halcyon is happiness, peace, serenity. Halcyon is all goodness.

I am a few years old and of those years, I have spent most of it outside, on a chain, staring at the sky, not hearing anything of the world around me, and not knowing the simple pleasures of things like a pat on the head or the succulent sweetness of a bone to suck on. And although I do not attempt to evoke your sympathy, you should know I have been hit. Hard. Again and again. I can not even look at something resembling a stick without my body curling into an effort of apology. Please. I did not mean it. Whatever it was.

Now here I am at Chez Elise. I ate a bully stick today. Do you know what these things are? Long, tantalizing chewies full of pungent flavor and scent and the kind of things that make me proud to be a dog.

I had a bath. And I endured it better than most. I stood stoicically through a deluge of water and soap and scrubbing and I continued to offer my best. my love. my deference. my trust.

I met my three housemates today. Rowan, Kai and Aidan. Rowan is rather insecure, a little intense on impressing his ego to me. But we sniffed butts and I held my head high and all was good. Kai is waiting for all dogs to perish so he can absorb the affection of all he knows, so for him I am an utter annoyance. Aidan is a small thing, a thing called a Cavalier, and we don't have much to do with one another.

In this first night here, I have desired nothing more than to press my body, press my head, press my very heart into the people offering their open arms. I have gigantic wet brown eyes and I stare endlessly, asking questions about my future and my safety.

Where will I be?

Who will love me?

And will there be bully sticks?

What else can I tell you? You want to know the personals? I travel well in a car, I am a quiet sort of fellow, I desperately want to adore you and I also don't mind sharing, my world is different because I can't hear like most others and, also, I am hideously malnourished. During my bath, Elise had to look away and close her eyes as she scrubbed my spine because each and every vertebrae popped out at her like heinous doorknobs.

I have never had anything belong to me and now I want everything to belong to me and I am sure the best way to accomplish this is to pee on it all. Elise has wrapped me with a belly band and has assured me that this urge will pass with neutering (dear god, what?!?) and time and security. And I hope this is true since I know that peeing on everything is not compatible between people and dogs like myself. And I do so ever want to be compatible. On the other hand, the belly band is not so uncomfortable and it wouldn't be so bad if I had to wear it as long as I had bully sticks and human bodies to mush myself into.

Let's be honest. I am a gorgeous creature. Worthy of a name like Halcyon. And belly bands look pretty handsome on me.

It's just the first day. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Not a holiday I traditionally celebrate. But I am going to celebrate it tomorrow. I am going to celebrate it tomorrow because this is a Whole New Beginning. Someone will find my information and find me and love me and I will go to them and love them with my wet brown eyes and weasel-collie ways.

Only you can show me how wonderful the next decade can be for me.

Kindness is a truly wonderful virtue and I am a dog and I am only too glad to offer my kindness to you without any reticence or trepidation.

Thank you for hearing about my Day One. I wish you could smell me. I smell like love and companionship and that rare feeling that "I am really and only your dog"

I smell and emote and swell with sweetness.