Happy New Year!

I am not much for partying, but I have been binge watching the Lawrence Welk Show all evening. There are so many episodes it will last me all next year.

Loba and Zorro are dancing at the park, I am glad for my noise cancelling headphones. Zorro is blowing his police whistle all the time and Loba is howling. Sometimes, I can’t believe we are in the same family.

Loba ‘s New Year resolution is to keep better house (same as last year), mine is to write my memoirs. Zorro is not making a resolution; he made a list of grievances instead.

  1. Why is the doghouse so messy?
  2. Why can’t he go back to Earth and why was he not a police dog?
  3. Why did he not get bacon and all the good food Flurry got?
  4. Why was he not recognized as a pedigree dog on Earth?
  5. Why was he not an indoor dog?
  6. Why could he not mark the Christmas tree?
  7. Why could he not bite the postman?

Hmm, I wonder if 2023 will be difficult.

Merry Christmas!

Last year, we had an extravagant Christmas party at Zorros’ Zecurity. This year, we were lower key, celebrating with the other dogs at the park. Loba and I got everything on our wish lists, but Zotto did not get a car, or a motorbike or a bird feeder. He was a little disappointed I think, but Loba gave him red socks that she had knitted herself! They were a little uneven, I thought, but Zorro liked them a lot. Loba offered to claw speed stripes on his Mustang, but Zorro said it was not necessary. He did get his leather driving gloves, a new collar and the police whistle!

I hear that celebrations were a little restrained at TiT’s. The employees were each given an offer to work for free. Cash and Toff and the rest of the board awarded themselves a Christmas bonus for saving on the party.

Christmas Wish Lists for Santa

Today, Zorro and Loba told me what they wanted from Santa, and I had to do the writing.

Zorro’s list

A red motorbike or a red sportscar with black speed stripes on the side.

Leather driving gloves.

A police whistle.

A birdfeeder.

A red tartan collar with my name engraved on a plate.

Loba asked why he wanted a bird feeder. “Squirrels,” he said mysteriously. “It’s for the squirrels.”

Loba’s list

A dog agility set, professional standard.

A pink blanket.

Audio book: “The call of the wild”.

My list

New pen and paper (nice quality).

Noise cancelling headphones.

The complete DVD set of the Lawrence Welk Show.

Book: “How to stand up to bullies.”

You Are Warned!

We occasionally check on our human family and Misty on Earth, and overall, they are doing fine. Dad has put up a big fence to keep the deer out of his vegetable garden, so Misty has hardly any varmint control to do. Mom’s flowers are also safe from chlorophyll chompers. She and Misty takes lots of walks in the nicely kept neighborhood.

But Zorro is never happy. He is getting increasingly agitated about a particular property where a large brown Poodle called Curly, lives. The humans at the property put out food and water to the varmints. Foxes, deer, feral cats, racoons, squirrels, you name it, every type of varmint is hanging out in their garden and the big irritation is that Curly is doing nothing about it!

“Curly’s house is lowering the standard of the neighborhood,” said Zorro, “we have to protect our Earth family and act. Their property value can go down and varmints spread diseases and overbreed. Flurry, come here and take my dictation, I will write a letter to Curly.”

I have to do what Zorro says, because he is the Alpha male (that cannot read and write). Here is the letter:

“You are Warned!!!

Curly, It has come to our attention that your house is overrun by varmints of many types. I am reminding you that a dog’s mandate is to keep their human family safe and free from intruders and pests and you are miserably failing in those respects, lowering the standards of the street and exposing your neighbors to falling property values, disease, pollution, loss of garden plants and potential attacks by varmints. Start doing your doggy duty and chase away the pests or action will be taken!!!! You are watched by the dogs in Doggy Heaven.

I asked Zorro what action he would take against Curly, but he did not answer, just told me to mail the letter in order to protect Master’s and Mistress’ property value on Earth. Zorro is obsessed with property values.

Investing in Property

Zorro and Loba have been advised by Cash to buy a bigger doghouse. “Property goes up in price,” said Cash. “I advise you to borrow as much as you can and buy the most expensive doghouse you can get.”

I was not convinced this was a good idea, so I asked if the loans are not terribly expensive with the interest payments? Cash laughed, “interest is lower than inflation, you can’t lose. In fact, you lose your hard-earned savings if you do not invest and borrow money for a big house.”

“I like my doghouse,” said Loba, “but I guess we can do with more space. I just not sure why the property goes up in price with time, as it gets older and needs repair, should it not get cheaper?”

“No,” said Cash, “it is a question of supply and demand. Demand will never go down here in Doggy Heaven; the dogs just keep on coming.”

Hmm, this will be a problem for late arrivals. But I have heard something about the expanding universe… maybe it will be all right after all?

Or should we invest? Economy is so hard!

Falling Dog Food Tins

Cash (or tin) flow has become a problem again, so some of the dogs that bought tin bonds want to cash them out. They paid 2 tins and were promised 10 later.

“I am afraid the tin bonds are only worth half a tin now,” said Cash (the economist dog). “Tin production has not been what was expected. I don’t understand why.”

Maybe because no one actually have been producing dog food in tins, they did not multiply. The money instead went into spa sessions and other transitory luxuries. That is my thought, but I never went to economy school like Cash, so I may be wrong.

But the bond scheme did take tins from savers and put them into the dog economy. Genius, in a way, just not for the savers.

I am Blue Paw Print Approved!

This blue paw print certifies that I am the real Flurry D. Dog and not an imposter. Only read blog posts from the real me. I have many imposters and here are a few that have used my content without permission:

Greatpaws, Petwangwang, UT Dog, petdogsshopping, lovemydogshop, petprostore, dogsintro, snugdugs, fanshubguide

Please chase them off!

I also certify that all my followers are real individuals and that none of them are purchased through bots!

Flurry D. Dog, the only real me. The real experience from Doggy Heaven.

Financial Advisor

Zorro has hired Cash to be his financial advisor. Zorro wants to be as rich as Toff! Or preferably, richer.

“It is easy,” explained Cash. “You buy shares when the price is low, wait for the value to go up and then you sell. Can’t fail. That will be 5 tins please, payment due on demand.”

“But wait a minute, can the shares go down in value?” I asked. “Then you lose money.”

“Just don’t buy any that will go down and shares mostly go up,” said Cash, “don’t worry. And if you want to be really rich, you borrow money at low interest and buy shares that goes up fast. It is called leveraging. The more you invest, the richer you get.”

Zorro looked starstruck, but I did not know what to think. Surely you can’t make money by borrowing money. What about work?

“Work does not pay,” said Cash. “That is a misconception, investing pays.”

I was still not convinced, and I could see I was annoying Cash with all my questions. “All right,” said Cash, “nothing is completely safe. What do you want, to get rich quick buying risky shares or have a lower return from safer shares?

“I want safe shares that gives a high return,” I answered. Cash looked bewildered.

“Payment for my advice is due now,” said Cash.

Snowflake On the Job

Loba ran into Snowflake, the new patrol dog at Trust in Toff (TiT). They had plenty to share. A lot is the same, a lot has changed since Loba’s time.

Still, management has no clue or interest in the actual execution of real security services in the security company. “We have 5 managers for every employee, and I am the only one doing security patrol,” Snowflake explained. “Managers focus on their image, licking each other butts (literally), and their bonus system, which called Top Hat.”

What is better than before is that Snowflake is actually paid, and he works to a schedule with every other night off. He also has a lot of safety gear. Loba is impressed with Snowflake, “he knows his job,” she says.

“I had a lot of practice on Earth,” Snowflake explained. “I stayed behind with the security staff when my family travelled. I did thousands of patrols around my owner’s house on Earth.”

Interesting Rates

“Rates are very interesting,” says Cash. He should know, he has been to economy school, they learned a lot about interesting rates there. When rates are low, spending will be high, and that is good for the economy. Cash learned that low rates make the financial merry-go-round spin faster and everyone has jobs. On top of that, everyone can borrow a lot and buy stuff and services which will create more jobs, which will create more income!

High rates are bad, because dogs can’t borrow and spend money on bigger dog houses, better dog beds and services like personal chefs and backscratchers. Then dogs go without jobs and income.

If interesting rates are so important, it seems to me that we should just fix the rates low then. Why not make them negative? Imaging how rich we would be?

Yes, rates are interesting. Or was it interest rates? I don’t know, I did not go to economy school.