Carlo's Dog Blog

The last few weeks have been sooooo busy with all of my showbiz stuff! The week leading up to opening night, we had long rehearsals pretty much every evening. The best part about that rehearsal week was I got to have a sleepover at Annie's house! And I'm not just talkin' one night... I'm talkin' several nights of sleepover fun! It was awesome!

The opening night of our stage performance of Annie was last Friday. Since then, there has been a whirlwind of activity. The weekends have been filled with performances... some days there have even been two performances in a single day! I've been doing pretty well at all of the performances. The only scene that has been a little tough for me is the scene in which I first make my appearance. I'm usually a little sleepy for this part (cause I sleep backstage on my blankie until it's my turn to go on stage). Plus, they use a smoke machine for this scene, which I don't like all that much. There have been a few times where instead of walking on stage, I've turned around to go back to bed, and my pal has had to shove my butt a bit to get me to go out on stage. One time, I did go right out on stage for this scene, but since I just woke up, I did a bunch of stretches as I walked across the stage. People thought that was pretty funny. What can I say? Stage work is tiring! That photo of me above was taken on stage in front of the Christmas tree used for the set of Daddy Warbuck's house. It was taken after a performance. Yeah, I was about ready for nap when that photo was taken! 

Lots of my friends have come to see me perform! One day, a bunch of my CCI puppy friends (including Gerrit) came to watch me! SGF has been there a whole bunch of times! I think he's got the record so far! And, my pal's whole family came to watch me yesterday! 

After performances I get to give autographs. Well, my pal uses a paw print stamp to stamp autographs for me. While she does that, I just sit there, look cute, and wag my tail as people pet me and tell me how good I was in the performance. People sure are easy to please! It's amazing! I mean, even when I've goofed in a performance (like when my pal had to shove my butt), they still think I was wonderful! I can do no wrong! 

In addition to the performances, we've also been having special Tea with Annie events after some of our performances. These are my favorite! Little kids get to meet some of the cast members (including me!), eat cookies, and go on a backstage tour. The reason I like Tea with Annie so much is because all of the kids dote on me. They pet me and say nice things to me. A few times I've been so comfy and relaxed, I've even started falling asleep with my head resting in their laps!  

Yesterday, the cast got to be on tv! Unfortunately, because of lack of time, some of the numbers had to be cut. One of those numbers was mine, so I didn't actually get to be on tv. But, I had fun hanging out in the theatre. I got to hang out in the audience part of the theatre. This was a different view for me I'm backstage for all of the performances. Here are few photos of me that my pal took while we were hanging out in the audience. The first shows the rest of the cast performing NYC in the background. And, the second one is of me wishing I could go back to sleep already! 

Last night my pal showed us the movie trailer for "Marley and Me". She wanted me to see another show biz dog in action! Talk about action... that Marley looks way fun! My pal was kinda concerned that Gerrit was sitting transfixed in front of the screen as the trailer was playing. She kept saying, "Now Gerrit, do NOT get any ideas!". 

The movie is going to be in theaters on December 25! Cool! I can't wait to add this one to our dog movie collection!

I've been one busy doggie rehearsing for my upcoming performance in the stage production of Annie! It's super duper fun cause I get lots of attention... as well as nap time between numbers.

For the show, I'm going to be on stage four times... with Annie as she sings to me and protects me from the mean dog catcher, the Hooverville scene in which I hang out with Annie and some other kids until the mean cop comes and we run away, the end of the N.Y.C. scene in which I wander across the stage all by myself, and the New Deal for Christmas scene in which I get to join the whole cast for the grand finale! 

I really like all the kids in the play... but, I especially like Annie. She's really, really nice. She gives me treats and sings to me. She sings a song about how the sun will come up tomorrow... and how thinkin' about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow. It's a really nice song. 

When we got home from rehearsal I started teaching the "Tomorrow" song to Gerrit, but my pal heard and yelled "STOP!". She then reminded me of how much Gerrit LOVED to sing when he was a little puppy and how the last thing we should be doing is encouraging him to pick up howling again. Errr... oh yeah, I totally forgot about that! That little dude used to keep us up all night!

My pal told me tonight that I may get to have a sleepover sometime this week at Annie's house! Oh boy, oh boy! If I do that she will get to sing to me even more! And, her singing is MUCH better than Gerrit's! 

The 8th annual Dawgs in The Ruff Golf Tournament for CCI is almost here! It's on Monday, September 22... that's just a few naps away from now! If you think you might wanna play the game where you hit the little white ball all over the big green park (aka Granite Bay Golf Club), then you can register here: Dawgs in the Ruff.

Also, we are having a really cool raffle this year! You can win all sorts of baskets full of neat stuff! If you go to Raffle Information you can see photos and descriptions of the baskets and you can find out how to get raffle tickets! I've already told my pal that she has just gotta win item 5: Dog Toy Chest on Wheel!!! Check it out...

My pal bought me a cool new collar the other day! She said it's going to be for special occasions (like when we start doing therapy work... if we pass the evaluations in October!). The collar says "Life is Good", which is my motto! Life is good! Very good!

Case in point: Yesterday my pal took Gerrit and me out to the lake to play with our buddies Skipper and Hope! Talk about a good day! Here's me hanging out in the water.

Gerrit and Skipper swam really fast and always got the stick. If you ask me, they were total stick hogs...

Here they are with Hope. She was a bit of a stick hog too... but not nearly as bad as Gerrit and Skipper...

Since I had no stick, I resorted to other activities... like helping my pal out while she took photos. Here I am helping her... errrr... frame the photo with my tail! Notice who has the stick!

My pal and her friends finally made Skipper, Gerrit, and Hope sit while I got to swim and retrieve the stick all by myself! It was nice cause I could take my sweet time. After all, what's the rush?!