The other night, Rita started barking at about 2 am and woke us up. Since she quickly calmed down, I figured she'd seen a critter in the yard and we ignored it.
The next morning I found the problem: the smoke alarm in my office somehow fell out of it's little frame-thingy (sorry to get all technical on you there!) and hit the hardwood floor. How that didn't wake us up, I don't know, but it sure woke up Rita!
There was no battery in it, but I didn't really think anything of it since we'd had an issue last winter with the darn smoke alarms going off in my office/the hallway every time I took a really hot bath - which was, oh, about every night. So I knew we had dismantled a couple of them.
Later that day, I saw Rita freaking out about something by her toy basket. I thought, "Oh great, another unwelcome guest!" Turned out it was the missing alarm battery.
It must have been knocked free when the alarm fell, and skittered across the room to Rita's toy basket. This made me feel better, realizing we actually had had a working alarm up all this time! It did not make Rita feel better though. She did not understand what this odd creature was in our house!
She batted, swiped and pounced at it:
She play-bowed to it, while growling for good measure:
She eyed it suspiciously:
...and eyed it suspiciously some more:
She crept up on it:
And then she decided to settle in and make sure it wasn't going anywhere:
She's such a good guard dog. And, because of this alarming mischief, I went around and made sure ALL the alarms in the house had working batteries in them. (Um, only 50% of them did...) So, in the end it was good mischief.
Are you good about checking your alarms each year? We're not... But now we're going to be! I think...
In Other Wee News...
It's time for the Dogs of Blogville calendar contest. We were clueless last year and didn't enter, but joined the fun this year. Once the contest is over, money raised selling the calendars will go to help Benny of Two French Bulldogs who has cancer. We know how 'spensive that can be! If you are not already in the contest yourself, we'd love it if you could vote for Rita. It's easy-peasy and is only one vote per IP address per day, so you don't have to be chained to your computer for days (remember the Abby voting madness?? Oh, I'll never forgive the San Diego paper!)
Anyway, just visit this link here, scroll down past the info/photos, select Rita's name from the buttons and hit "VOTE". Voting runs through Sunday. Thank you!
Thanks to Snoopy’s Dog Blog, Alfie’s Blog, and My Brown Newfies for hosting Monday Mischief! And thanks to Jodi of Heart Like a Dog and Julie of The Daily Dog Blog for organizing the calendar contest!
Aw she's so cute and funny! The way she's looking at that battery is hilarious lol... will stop by and vote for Rita - good luck!
ReplyDeletePS - just went to the voting link but don't see anywhere to vote =/
DeleteShoot! I had put the wrong link in. It's fixed now! We're not doing very well... I think we're about to fall out of the top 12. :(
DeleteThat's funny how obsessed your dog was with the battery. Our dog wouldn't find that interesting at all.
ReplyDeleteWell cute and funny. Have a marvellous Monday.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes Molly
Very observant Rita! Good job. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL! That's hilarious! I'm not sure our dogs would be that interested. Correction - I bet Rosie would be, but she'd simply pick it up and tote it off!
ReplyDeleteNot that is just too cute that she took such an interest in that battery! Leroy would of just eaten it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about the smoke alarm! We took our batteries out of one because it kept going off at the weirdest time, I need to get that back up and working!
Too funny. I think Indy would perhaps have reacted the same. I think she and Rita are similar in some respects.
ReplyDeleteOkay....that's funny...but you know, someone might be giving you a sign that it's time to get a good fire alarm, that only goes off when it's supposed to. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding us it is the time of year to check those smoke alarms. Funny that Rita found the battery so fascinating.
ReplyDeletehugs
Bailey, Hazel & Greta
That's too funny. At least she let you know something was up.
ReplyDeleteThat is surprising that Rita found the battery to be so in need of a wary watching!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know a thing about the calendar contest, so I am still clueless this year! It wasn't until everyone's Vote for Me posts started to pop-up that I learned about it!
I'm glad she didn't lick the battery! I think Delilah would given the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing like a dog barking in the middle of the night to get your heart racing, glad it was nothing more than a fallen smoke detector detached from it's bracket. (There's your technical word.) :-D
Thanks for supporting us in the dogs of blogville contest, we do appreciate it!!
Bracket! Yes! Thank you! My mind was just a barren wasteland yesterday when I was trying to come up with that word!
DeleteShould have been its. Grrrrr
ReplyDeleteRita understands that evil can take many forms and dogs can't be too careful when strange creatures invade their toy boxes.
ReplyDeleteUm...Don't batteries just recharge themselves when they get bored? Maybe I should find out...
These photos are so cute! Are you sure Rita isn't part cat? ;-) I think all of our smoke alarms are currently disabled because they were going off when they shouldn't. Thanks for the reminder--I should go buy some new ones!
ReplyDeleteWe (I) have kind of gotten caught up in calendar madness. Wrigs says he doesn't care if he ends up on the calendar, but he hopes Benny gets lots of money for his cancer treatment.
Funny that Rita is so intent on that battery - my guys are no where near that observant - particularly about non-edible items.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have quite the safety conscious dog there! Smoke alarms and a CO2 detector are must haves. Mom changes the batteries every Jan. 1 whether they need it or not. They are not cheap but if we have that money in the bank and burn up in a fire it won't do us any good so we are on it. Good for Rita! We are in the calendar contest too. Good luck to everyone!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing cuter than a dog trying to figure out what something is! Great pics ;) Good luck to you and Rita in the contest - thanks again for participating!!
ReplyDeleteHAHA great guard dog you have there. Great pictures, maybe she licked the end and got a shock as to why she was play bowing to it.
ReplyDeleteBless! I hope there were extra treats for all the hard work?!
ReplyDeleteOh Rita...she is so smart but also so silly! I am glad she protected you from the evil battery threat!
ReplyDelete*high paw*
Oz
Great way to be reminded to check all my batteries.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious! Rita really is the cutest dog ever. You know the rule about smoke alarm and clock batteries? Change them twice a year when the time rolls forward or backwards. Makes it easy to remember.
ReplyDeleteOMD Rita! You really don't know how much I love you. You win the internet all the time with your cute antics. I think your mom just needs to create a whole photobook of you! With captions, of course.
ReplyDeleteOur smoke alarms mostly behave themselves, but when the batteries get low, they start giving the warning beeps. Well, those warning beeps are just as loud as the actual alarm sound and it scares the wieners to death. Seriously. They run off, hide, and shake. And they continue shaking for about half an hour after we've shut the thing off. I don't know what they do if one just decided to launch itself off the wall. Can't blame Rita for being suspicious of its parts.
... don't know what they would do...
DeleteSorry - just had to correct that. I'm a weirdo about typos.
Hey Rita,
ReplyDeleteYou're the bestest guard dog! I'm sure you got well rewarded! Tee Hee
Big wags,
Your pal Snoopy :)