Monday Mischief: Not So Much

Poor Rita! Her Pop had meniscus surgery on both knees on Thursday, so she has not been getting her usual amount of attention. She's been a very good girl through it all, although not shy about letting us know how bored she is. (A lotta heavy sighing going on around here!)

We gave her a bone to try to keep her entertained this afternoon. You can see how put-out she is. (Those are the hubby's knees strapped up to his super-duper ice machine in the foreground.)

"Most boring weekend, evar!"

Monday Mischief: Quiet Mischief??

Have you ever had to keep a puppy quiet? It's not easy! Even though Rita is maturing a bit and now at the ripe old age of about 14 months, she's still very active. Yes, she's way more mellow than crazy Abby was - but she's still far from a couch potato. She wants to run and play like every other normal puppy does!

Even before we found out that she has panosteitis and that we need to keep her quiet for 2-3 weeks, we were already trying to do that since she'd been limping on and off. On the days when we were avoiding walks and vigorous play, we tried doing some training and some very gentle inside play, but it wasn't enough to tire her out. So I got the idea to order a Tug-A-Jug. I have a friend that uses one with her dog and he loves it, and I hoped Rita would too.

Basically, as you can see, it's big plastic jug that you fill with little treats or kibble and then the rope toy that's knotted down inside acts as a barrier to getting the treats out without some effort.

On Amazon, the marketing blurb calls it "the ultimate interactive toy!" and says it has "multi-sensory appeal," stimulating your dog's "sense of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste." What other toy hits all five senses - except maybe a live gopher! (That part's not in the marketing blurb - I added that bit myself.)

Monday Mischief: Being Nosy

Is this mischief (being NOSY), or is she just trying to be helpful? 

The other day I potted some plants and, of course, Rita had to come stick her nose into what I was doing. She's always got to be RIGHT THERE next to me, checking out whatever I'm doing.

"What are you doing, Momma?"

Monday Mischief: UnbreakOBall & Monkeybutts

It's Monday Mischief time again, so this week we've got a video of Rita being mischievous with another little something that we won. Yes, we won something again! We've been so lucky lately! Remember a while back I posted about the UnbreakOBall contest and encouraged folks to enter? And remember I included the link to my entry for Abby versus Barney, which Liz from the Indestructible Dog Gear blog turned into: "The Tale of Abby & Barney: A Love Story"? Well, Abby was named the "Indestructible Dog of the Month" for July (whoohoo!) so Rita received an UnbreakOBall in Abby's memory.

"More mail for me??"

Pancake Catching Fail

Hi all - Rita here. Today it's time for Monday Mischief. Momma thinks I am a good girl, so she doesn't really think I get up to much mischief. (She's soooo wrong!)

Momma made this video of me yesterday -- it's supposed to be a game of catch with Momma using pieces of a leftover pancake from their breakfast to get me to learn to catch. (You can't really hear the sound very good - but it's mostly just Momma saying "Are you ready?" and then laughing at me. Nice, Momma. Real nice.)

Puddle-Plopping Pleases Puppy

It's Monday Mischief time and this morning Rita's mischievous idea was to plop down in a puddle on our muggy morning walk. Swell. The girl can sniff out a puddle at 50 paces. She finds puddles that I don't even notice and suddenly plops down or pounces with her front legs into them. And the muddier the better! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but fortunately, she dried off before we got home.

Awww. Every hike needs a stream!

Monday Mischief: Counter Surfing

Winner!
We recently won a sample pack of Honest Kitchen food and treats, thanks to the folks at Fido Friendly magazine and Honest Kitchen. I won it by correctly answering a trivia question about Honest Kitchen on Fido Friendly's Facebook page. I just happened to know the answer off the top of my head, because I'd been thinking of switching Rita to Honest Kitchen and had been on their site a few days before. But then I got lazy and didn't order any food.

Well, now that we won the sample, and Rita has discovered how delicious it is, we'll definitely be making the switch. Rita really loves the treats too; here she is counter-surfing for one of the Pecks treats:


I recently discovered there's a regular Monday blog hop called "Monday Mischief" co-hosted by Snoopy's DogBlog, Alfie’s Blog, Luna Dogs Life and My Brown Newfies.

Rita is not actually all that mischievous...