May 16, 2017

Our New Family Member. Or "Everybody Loves Carson." (Well, *I* love him anyway...)

Rita has come a long way since we first got her. We don't know if perhaps someone hit her with a stick or something in her past life on the "mean streets," but when she first came to us she would run away whenever I got the broom out.

And that was often, because: shedding! (Look at the pile of dog hair I've got going in that photo. No, wait - don't!)


She did eventually get a lot braver with the broom, as evidenced by the photo above, but I needed an easier way to keep up with all the shedding (plus I've been known to throw my back out while vacuuming), so I really wanted to get a Roomba, but I was afraid that Rita would be afraid.

So I bought a Roomba at Costco, thinking I could return it if she hated it.

I got it while Reg was staying with. (Safety in numbers!) The first time I turned it loose, they weren't super sure about it, but at least they didn't bolt.


While the dogs were getting used to him, I quickly fell in love.** I named him Carson. (After the butler on Downton Abbey.)

Eventually, they came to accept Carson. Although I'm pretty sure they don't understand his purpose here.


Ultimately, Reg had to go home, but Carson stayed. Rita may have preferred it the other way around.

As for Carson, I think he's happy here. He does seem to sort of hum happily to himself while he works.

Although... there have been several attempts at escape. If we leave the slider open, he busts out, and I've caught him on the deck a couple of times now.

Maybe he just wanted to get a little sun.

Do you have/want a Roomba? What do/would your pets think?

** Seriously, I love him. Our house is SO much cleaner all the time now. I know a few people who told me they weren't happy with theirs, but he works great in our all-one-level house with our hardwood floors. I brought him home thinking I'd still need to haul out the big vacuum for the area rugs, but he does those too. (With one caveat - the small rug in my office is VERY fluffy, so he usually can't climb up on it. When he does, he ends up stuffed with fluff (uh, like Winnie the Pooh I guess), so I usually shake that rug out and roll it up out of the way before I turn Carson loose.)

Note: Nobody from Roomba asked me to do this silly post about Carson. I just wanted to publicly declare my love for him.

Thanks to BlogPaws for hosting Wordless Wednesday! Stop by their site to check out all of the other blogs in the hop.

36 comments:

  1. Booker T and especially Cass would definitely kill a Roomba. They tolerate the vacuum but there is no way they would allow something to move around freely.

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    1. I thought Rita might hate it/run away/attack too - but, nah, she's okay with it. I was so glad!

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  2. We do not have one. Well...I take that back. My sister gave me one, I just never set it up, and eventually I donated it. I think Delilah would go nuts with it.

    And Kudos to you for helping Rita get over her fears!

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    1. Thanks. She's a lot better than she was when she first came to us. Still a few issues, but she's mostly a very good girl!

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  3. This great post!

    I don't have one, and I doubt it would last! Reference this very old post on my blog:
    http://cardiganshirecorgis.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-vacuumator.html

    Jimmy doesn't like vacuums so much.

    PS My Roomba is actually named John ;-) He is a total neat freak and runs the vacuum ALL. THE. TIME.

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    1. Oh, I wish the other household member here was a neat freak! But he also has a bad back, so when I told him I didn't want to vacuum anymore - he didn't either! Will go check out that old post. :)

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  4. I can totally see the advantage of that. Perhaps someday when I have real floors, in an actual house, I will look into one. Torrey is a shedding machine. I vacuum up enough hair to build a new dog, every time.

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    1. Same here! Every time I would sweep I would get such a huge pile of hair I'd think "It looks like I NEVER sweep!" (And Torrey is so fluffy! I bet she's even worse than Rita!)

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  5. Mom's has thought about getting one. Her daughter has one and loves it
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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    1. I think if you have the right kind of house for it, it works great! (And if the dogs won't mind!) I usually turn him on as we leave for our walk and let him do his thing while we're out. I've learned the couple of places where he gets stuck, so take steps before we leave to avoid that. (Like, he gets hung up on the threshold between our bedroom and the sun room, so I just close that door before we leave and make him go the long way around.)

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  6. I am so glad you did this post as I have repeatedly looked at these and thought about it as we have a German Shedder. Phod feels the same about a broom as Rita use to.

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    1. German Shedder! I love that! Rita's a German Shedder-Australian Shedder mix! I'd say go for it - but get it someplace where you can return it if Phod really hates it. I turn it on before we leave for a walk, but since it runs for 90 min - 2 hours it's usually still going when we get back.

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  7. We don't have a roomba, we use a broom. We taught all the dogs to dance with a broom, so whenever it comes out, they all get excited and start dancing.

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    1. haha. That's so cute! I used to try to do the sweeping every other day, but we'd still end up with tons of hair on the carpets. I've noticed even my clothes don't have as much hair now since Carson keeps up w/ Rita's shedding.

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  8. I've thought about getting one but was afraid it couldn't handle all of the hair around here!

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    1. I must confess... the first week or so, the little dirt bin would get full, so it would stop part way through the job and say it needed to be emptied (because it was going under furniture and what not and just really doing a thorough job!). Now though, it's only about 1/3 to 1/2 a bin full each day. Still - that's a lotta hair, but Carson handles it!

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  9. I just love the captions on the pictures and the part about Carson "escaping", haha :D

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    1. It kinda cracks me up every time he escapes. I always yell "Get back in here!" and run out after him.

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  10. My mom thinks it would be a nice thing to have. The cats are against it!

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    1. No, no, no! The cats could ride it (dressed in shark costumes) and become as famous on the interwebs as you and your sisters!

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  11. You know I love this post!! The captions are perfect! Thanks to your experience I'm trying to decide which model to get. I don't think Rudy and Rosie would be afraid. However, if Jeffie was still here, not only would he be terrified, but his fluff would overwhelm the machine :-)

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    1. You know my advice - go for a cheapy one. Don't really think all the bells and whistles are necessary. Yes, Jeffie was a fluffy boy! He would really stuff a roomba with fluff!

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  12. great post! I don't have one but sure could use one with all the hair in my home. Hope Carson doesn't run into any poop, I seen bad pictures!

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    1. Oh god, I've seen those pictures too! But - I never leave him running home alone w/ Rita. If he's running while I'm not home, then she's out with me. So I can't ever see that happening. (Not that she's ever pooped in the house before - but maybe when she's older that would be a worry, but since I would never leave the two of them home alone, it wouldn't be a problem.)

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  13. Heh, heh...I had a Carson once, he would only run in circles under the bed with Mrs. Hughes. Sam wasn't sure what to make of him but follows the one at my mom's house whenever he/she comes out. I returned mine since all that tom-foolery under the bed made me blush and the rest of the floors looks like a pigsty. P.S. Perhaps your Mr. Carson is looking for Mrs. Hughes too. 😆

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    1. Hahaha! That's hysterical! Maybe he IS looking for Mrs Hughes, but he looks EVERYWHERE for her, so I'm okay with that. Long as he doesn't find her...

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  14. Your posts always make me laugh out loud, for real. More than once. Per post. :) Thank you for 'dat!

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    1. Yay. You obviously have a goofy sense of humor like I do. :)

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  15. Cole used to accompany ruumba on it's trip... until it committed suicide by throwing itself down the stairs.

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    1. Oh no! Luckily we don't have any long flights of stairs that Carson can throw himself down. Now I just have to keep him away from the cords for the blinds...

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  16. I adore it that you named him Carson. If I ever break down and buy a Roomba, I simply must give it a silly name. Now that's mandatory.

    Jean from Welcome to the Menagerie

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    1. Ya know, I hadn't planned to name him, but when I registered on the web site for the warranty, there was a prompt "what do you want to name your Roomba" - I assume they meant something like 'upstairs roomba' but I thought, now he needs a good name, so Carson!

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  17. hello rita its dennis the vizsla dog hay uh oh yore howse as ben invayded by a ufo!!! that meens unidentified floor object!!! watch owt i bet it is ful of tiny littel aliens!!! if they ask yoo if yoo want to tayk a trip in there sawser tel them no!!! ok bye

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  18. We've heard only great things except for the fact that it will "eat" small electrical cords like a phone charger. If it makes Rita feel better, Bill has a thing about doorways. If someone is standing close he won't/can't go through.

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  19. Great name. And I love your captions.

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  20. Hilarious post. I'm glad that your dogs ended up okay with Carson, especially since you'd already fallen for him :) Thanks for pointing me to it. We have mostly hardwood floors too so a Roomba might help keep the dog fur under control.

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