Mirth Watch Thursday: Rita's "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" Report

You guys! It's me, Rita. Momma and Daddy went to Maui (again) and I was stuck at The Gulag* (again)!!!

This time, they even put me behind bars while I was there:

Wordless Wednesday: Caption These Pups

The hubs and I just got back from 8 days in Maui. {insert day-dreamy sigh here}

While we were gone, Rita stayed at my sis's house - aka The Gulag; the place where they have {cue the dramatic music}... dun dun DAAAAA.... rules.  

But, now they also have a puppy to play with! Reggie and Rita had a great time playing together. Here is one of their play-time shots:

How I spent my summer vacation: Tried to eat a Corgi

FitDog Friday: Rita's Favorite Way to Stay Fit

As I've said on the blog many times, our main way to keep Rita fit is just a LOT of walking. But one of her favorite ways to stay fit is to have a play date.

This is Rita's best friend, Dakota:

Wordless Wednesday: Need a Smile?

Here's one!

Wordless Wednesday: Does Your Dog Have a Spot?

I don't mean a spot of color, or a favorite spot to lounge in. I mean a spot that when you itch it, you can count on their leg to start involuntarily scracthing along in time with your hand. That kinda spot.

Monday Mischief: Alarming Mischief

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.

Following Up Friday with Questions, Funny Comments & Rita Reading

It's Friday, so time for the Follow-Up Friday hop, hosted by Jodi of Heart Like a Dog and her co-host JoAnn from Sand Spring Chesapeakes. Time to answer those burning questions and follow up on the news.

Mirth Watch Thursday: Does Your Dog Sing?

I enjoy a singing dog. Sadly, Rita doesn't sing.

Although it almost looks like she's belting out a tune here, using her Himalayan chew as a mic. She's doing her Cindi Pawper impersonation, and yes, this little girl does just wanna have fun:

Monday Mischief: More Puzzling Mischief

Remember when I posted that Rita was puzzled by her puzzle toy (except she'd pull the pieces out with ease when there were NO treats in it)? Well, I tried a technique that SlimDoggy suggested and put the pieces in upside down so she could grab them easier.

"Well, heck, this is easy."

Monday Mischief: An Unwelcome Guest

Remember when Rita stole my sister's cat's toy and looked like this?

"Whaaa?"

A Special Smile-y Dog Post

Rita and I don't usually blog on the weekends, but when we saw that the fabulous Sugar was having a special hop for her 12th birthday, well, we had to join in! Especially since it's a smiling dogs hop.

Less-Wordy Wednesday: Oh PicMonkey, You Marvelous Time-Suck, You!

Today we have an ode to PicMonkey, inspired by Taryn and her recent post on Tail of Two Cardis. I have to start out by saying a lot of the things I've done below can be done using the free version of PicMonkey, but I subscribed (because it's pretty cheap - I paid for 1 year so it works out to like $2.75/month - and because I love it so).

There are some fun things you can do with PicMonkey, like add captions, thought bubbles and/or frames to pics:

Monday Mischief: Out-of-State Mischief

If you've been around the blog a while, you might remember back in November when this little minx:

Sweet little Pixie, our wee friend in Washington

Follow-Up Friday: Better Late Than Never

I've been really busy this week with the new book and I'm falling behind on my blogging! Also fighting a migraine yesterday and today, but wanted to try to at least get a quick (if late) Follow Up Friday post up!

So, here's Follow-Up Friday - a chance to answer those questions and follow up on the news!

A Slightly-less Puzzled Puppy
On Monday, I mentioned the mischief Rita was making, solving her food puzzle when no treats were in it, but acting completely flummoxed by it when it's full of treats.

SlimDoggy said "I turned [the pieces] upside down so they were easier to grab onto and [Maggie] did it with ease. Try it and see if it works for Rita..."

Not-So-Wordless Wednesday: What's It About?

When you tell people you're writing a book, they usually ask, "What's it about?" Sometimes when you are in the midst of it, it's hard to answer. "Well, it's about this woman, and there's this dog, and... stuff happens."

As I said last week when I shared the cover for Rescue Me, Maybe (coming in September!), my short answer to "What's it about?" is to say, "It's a love story... for dog lovers." But you need a longer blurb than that (for Amazon, for the back cover, for sharing with bloggers, etc.) so you have to distill your 100,000 words down to a few sentences. I know I'm supposed to be wordless today, but I wanted to share those few sentences with you, plus a few photos of Abby (since the book has a fictionalized version of her in it). It just wouldn't be a Pooch Smooches post without pup pics!

Our gorgeous angel:

Monday Mischief: We Do Have SOME Rules Here at The Spa

Things are pretty easy for spoiled pups who live here at our spa. They can get up on the sofa, sleep on the bed (although Rita mostly chooses not to), lick the plates before they go in the dishwasher (again, Rita doesn't always want to, because she's weird...), etc.

But we do have a few rules, and one of them is hard and fast: No sticks in the house!

Our last pup, Abby, (who was FULL of mischief) often flagrantly attempted to violate this rule:

"What, Momma?? I'm just practicing my Groucho Marx imitation."

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepover Aftermath

Remember when I mentioned that Rita and Reggie were going to have a sleepover at Reggie's house? It was a success! (Hooray! Good news, since we trade dog-sitting for each other.)

It was a success... but that doesn't mean it wasn't a little nutty. It was reported to me by my sis that Rita was "good as gold," and Reggie was.... well, a little excited about the whole deal. My sis has no photos of the sleepover. Well, she does - but they're all blurry.

I have some of the next day when I went to pick up Rita.

"Please. I've had enough!"

Mirth Watch Thursday: Educating Rita

I know I mostly only post about how cute and sweet Rita is (and how she hardly ever gets into any mischief, leaving me scrambling for ideas for Monday Mischief posts) but she does have some ... issues. Because of her issues, we started working with a trainer.

95% of the time, a very happy girl & a good walker

Wordless Wednesday: Cookie Break. Or Not.

There's a house on one of our favorite walking routes that leaves out a bowl of water and a container of cookies for the pups. We usually stop with Rita to enjoy a cookie on our way home.

"This is my favorite walk route, Momma!"

The Worst (or Best??) Kinda Mischief...Puppy Mischief!

Today, we have a guest blogger! Since Reggie's always such a hit - and some even suggested we should highlight him every day (a suggestion which made Rita sulk for a while...) - well, we decided you should see more than just his unbelievably cute side. So, my sis is taking over today to reveal some Reggie-mischief! Take it away, Terry...

Happy Monday! Just stopping by Pooch Smooches as guest blogger. I am Jackie’s sister, Terry, and the lucky woman who owns and loves Reginald H. Dickenson, a.k.a. Reggie. I am just tickled that so many of you seem to appreciate the little devil. Because at times he can be a devil, and because Rita is almost always an angel, we are taking over Monday Mischief this week.

Rita has been so great teaching Reggie the joys of play dates. She’s got just the right blend of sweet and tough. He loves her! She does me the kind favor of leaving behind one of my favorite things – a totally exhausted pup. After their last session, this is how they settled in on our front porch. Cute, eh? (Please note Reggie’s ears standing up so nicely.  We will re-visit that later in this post.)