Cleaning house

Today Amber talked with her dear friend Judy May Murphy in Ireland. She is such an inspiration for Amber, and she is the most giving soul. Amber is working on a new “Guide Book” and Judy May has been incredibly insightful. Amber is blessed to know the people in her life, and my tail wags every time Amber strengthens her relationships with positive people. Her life has sometimes been the product of decisions made by others, and in the last couple of years Amber decided to take the leash on her own life. Cleaning out the old friends who are negative and hurtful is something that Amber hates to do, but it has to be done.



Yesterday we went to Mass with Annmarie to say her final goodbyes to Bill Barth. Amber has only been to mass once before in her life, with her friend Charlotte (who I am named after) and she enjoyed the priest telling everyone to go home and clean their homes. It was a nice lesson, and hey, if it’s coming straight from God, Amber better get on it, and clean house! Funny what lessons you can get when you are least expecting them. I’m going to hide under the bed while Amber and the maid finish winter cleaning. I don’t want to be used as a mop again this year.



Life is ours to live, and the choices we have to sometimes make are temporarily uncomfortable in order to do the big picture right. Collect blessings, give to others, share your bones, and don't pee on the floor. oxoxo

Guide to Dating.

I'm writing a new book about dating. I am tired of watching Ambers flops, and it's time for this bitch to get serious. Dog's eat poop, it's what we do, but to take the poop rather than chew on a big juicy bone is a choice for humans. I'm so confused by the decisions of women today, especially Amber. She should know better. No great dane will come her way unless she makes a massive change.So time to wipe away those tears, and stop checking those lame text messages, and get with it. (Note makeup smeared photos here--yikes,ola)

Stiletto's and Biscuts

Amber has been highly sensitive this month due to high stats of suicide among dancer friends, and now that the Christmas season is in gear, bah humbug is showing. She tries to ignore how this has affected her, but it's something she thinks about quietly every day. This life is a journey, and heartbreak is a part of that journey. When I experience pup heartbreak it makes me enjoy the days when I'm given a bone even more.



Amber just wishes she could help everyone of her friends who are gone. The past is the past, and she doesn't want to shut the door on it, but she does want the thoughts of sadness for the loss to pass for her, as well as for the other family and friends left behind by her sexy dancing girlfriends. Amber's co-authored book STILETTO SUICIDES is in the creative process with Chris Enss, and it will be healing, and informative all at the same time. Tragedy becoming Art is the way Amber deals best with things, and for both of us it becomes a better spiritual understanding once something bigger is created and tragedy becomes art. May the families and friends of those lost enjoy the holiday season and know that although the lost aren't physically with us, they are always in our hearts. So we trudge along, and laugh at the silly things we do. Here's one of them:

The other day ANIMAL PLANET television came to our home to check in on our doggie behavior. I bit Annmarie once, and bit Amber 3 times. I also got in a big fight over the dog bed with Jillian. It was a demonstration of my nerves unleashed. I was not happy that the camera man was recording my every move, waiting for me to mess up. I just imagined what it would be like to be a famous dog, and have paparazzi catch me peeing on the wrong corner. They interviewed Amber and Annmarie, packed up the cameras and left. After an hour, I felt calm again. I felt like I had swallowed the canary when they were here, and unlike Sylvester the cat, I don't think I want to be famous for it. I want to do my duties of being a best friend, cuddler, bird chaser, and burglar alarm. Now where did I put my best biscut treat? That is something to enjoy!

Candle's and magical moments

Some things in life become magic moments. Yesterday was one of those times. While in the middle of a business call, Clare came into Ambers office and said “Come quick, this is more important!” In this business nothing is more important than researching your characters for television, but Amber hung up the phone and rushed to see what was so important. At that moment everyone in the office broke out in song with a cake, and candles “Happy birthday to you…” Amber almost cried she was so happy, and it was such a nice surprise. Her real birthday was one week earlier, in the middle of Thanksgiving. After huffing and puffing to blow out the candles, Amber hugged her co-workers, ate the yummy cheescake and went back to work. A magical moment happened right in the middle of the day, deep in a production office in Burbank, totally unexpected.



Life is about the spirit you can create, give, share, and enjoy. The friends Amber shares in the office are authentic and loving souls. Amber hopes they know just how special it was for her. I only wish she had brought home the rest of the cake! We are souls first, and personalities second. Today I feel like a very “worthy” pup and I know I was not put on earth by accident.

I have so many reasons to be here and accepting what is in my heart and realizing it’s not an “It” that I’m really looking for gives me my authentically empowered life. There are never any guarantees but there are magic moments everywhere when we look past the grey, and focus on the bright lights. In yesterday’s case, the bright lights came in the form of candles. Today the bright lights are with you readers.

Dalmation Spots

Every good dog knows that if a Dalmation goes to the cleaners to get his spots washed off, it will never work. The spots are part of who the dog is. It makes Dalmations different, and lovely. A Dalmation stands out in a crowd, either with pride, or with a tail between their legs. There are moments when Amber doesn't want to be different. She wants to blend with everyone around her, and sometimes just disappear completely. I think that's why she stayed suspended in a cage dance for so long. She could disappear there, and hide her own "spots" otherwise known as inner flaws that came out over time. The interesting part about coming into your own birthright is that it is scary. Dalmations are born white, and the spots come out as they grow, and no doggie should apologize for his spots, and a human should celebrate their legacy. Taking chances without asking for forgiveness is a developed skill. Amber is singing off-key, dancing when there is no music, flirting without a response, and working like a dog.

Amber has considered pulling out her boxes of Christmas decorations, but she has yet to do so. Christmas music is playing everywhere, and Christmas lights are decorating the palm tree's of California. Santa's helpers wear red glittered bikini's here in Hollywood, with medicated personalities, flawless bodies, and botoxed smiles. Amber thinks this town is full of wonderful experiences and opportunities, as long as she herself remembers who she is, and let's her spots shine without apology for them, everything will be okay.I think Santa is very happy with his Hollywood helpers, and can see past what they put forward.

Today we are being interviewed by a doggie casting director for bad behavior. We may be on television with a trainer soon. Amber was called up yesterday by casting after a friend suggested her, and they asked about me, and my sibling dog's. Today they will come over and see if we are truly as "bad to the bone" as they need. I'm a dog with old tricks, and the Animal Planet trainer has a job set out for her if she wants to re-train us.

A very wise Great Dane once said "It's far better to go through life like a dog does - no regrets and no apologies. Just live your life and laugh it off when it doesn't go exactly right. Crazy to spend your life safely and get to the end of it relieved that you just didn't embarrass yourself."

Roller skating

When Amber was younger, and living in Logan, Utah, her parents would drop her and her sisters off at the roller-skating rink on Friday and Saturday nights. The old leather skates, and the spinning lights mixed in with “rock” music made Amber happy, and fearful at the same time. However many times they went, Amber would wonder if a boy would ask her to skate on the “boy-girl” skate, and then if and when it did happen if she would be able to hold herself upright while the boy whipped her around corners, speeding along while holding her hand.


The problem with this sort of early thinking was she was waiting for the guy to ask her to skate before the “real” skating begun. Now, year’s later, she feels that she is waiting for the RIGHT boy to ask her, and for her REAL life to begin. In the meantime, songs are playing, lights are flashing, sisters and friends are skating, and she is missing a lot of it with her fairytale hopes. When we look at our blessings as “not enough” and look at outside appearances, and fixes to make us whole, we will never have enough, or be enough.

Spiritual fitness is important to Amber, and takes massive action on grey gloomy day’s like today. Instead of feeling like a bunny running from a hawk, Amber is sitting still in meditation and prayer, and reminding herself what to be grateful for. She does not want to miss her life while waiting for her mock REAL life to begin. She also does not want to forget her gratitude for all the many things she has, a beautiful smart healthy daughter, family, friends, love, a job, and sometimes even extra doggie treats for us. (By the way dogs CAN count. Just try putting three treats in your pocket and only give us two.)

Mark Twain said “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” Amber was spiritually starving and her life has dramatically changed in the last few years. She does not want to bite the hand of God, and be ungrateful, when the blessings are there. Today she is taking off her blinders, getting back to gratitude, and trudging the road of life, and she is taking her daughter roller skating when she gets here for Christmas. Tis the season..

wuff wuff
Charlie the dog blog

Tied up in doggie-wood

The Rolling Stones said “You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.”

Today I am feeling like I need more than what I have. My bone isn’t good enough, my doggie bed isn’t fluffy enough, my bows aren’t the right color, my fur is too spotted, and my tail is too dull. Needing and wanting are two different things all together, but when they blend together it is hard to distinguish the difference.

Amber is missing her family very much. She misses the mountains, and the white house, and the hugs, and the kisses, and the understanding, and the love. She feels like she is alone again, and isn’t even paying much attention to us doggies, and our fish Thelma and Louise are swimming around wondering what is wrong with her?

How can someone feel so hopeful and happy in one moment and so confused and alone in the next? Perhaps it’s because she is back in the big game and the chase of succeeding in career? Perhaps it’s the break-up of her and a guy who didn’t fit each other, or perhaps that the nostalgia of being home is drifting away. Los Angeles is the kind of town that sort of ties you in knots, and the fast paced life is hard to reunite with after being home. Sometimes when you are in knots it's hard to remember your authentic pup within.



Amber loves her job, and the creative influence she gives, and is so glad to be back. Chuck and Erin are very dear co-workers and friends, and she could not ask for a better opportunity or better team to be around. Maybe it isn’t a depression she is feeling, but a wish that she could bring the entire village of people she loves into one central location.



The truth is that they are in one location: her heart.

I will rub my wet nose on her, and whine until she hears me. Life is good, even if sometimes we forget the blessings we already have. So I will wear my stupid bows, and funny Christmas sweater, and pray that bah humbug doesn’t hit.