It's Easy To Forget You Live With A Beast

Some of us put bunny ears on our dogs, or reindeer antlers. We let them share our sofas and our beds. We cuddle them and kiss them.

"I EAT antlers. I do not WEAR antlers!"

It makes it easy to forget that you live with a beast. Until they kill something.

Monday Mischief: Rita's First Ice Cream Cone

Since July 31 was National Mutt Day, and August 1st was the day we used to celebrate angel Abby's birthday (she would have been 5 this year; read more about her here), I took Rita to McDonald's for her first ever ice cream cone.

As you can see from the intense stare, she thoroughly enjoyed it.

"OMD. Where has this been all my life?"

Monday Mischief: Good & Bad Mischief

Good Mischief
This weekend we had a lovely family brunch at my bro's house.

Monday Mischief: Wrongfully Convicted

Rita here at the keyboard...

I want to tell you about a recent miscarriage of justice!

My cousin, Reggie, and I were wrongfully convicted. We were thrown behind bars without the benefit of a trial before a jury of our peers!

Here we are in the hoosegow. (You can kinda tell by this shot that Reg gets wrongfully convicted a lot, so he just takes it in stride. But me... what did I do?? I never go behind bars at MY house!)

But... but... but... what did we I do wrong??

Monday Mischief: A Blatant Violation

Rita is mostly a very good girl - doesn't steal socks or undies, doesn't counter surf, never chews things she shouldn't. Of course, it's easy to be good when you live in a lax house like ours. But... we do have ONE rule: No sticks in the house!

Rita loves to find a stick when we go on a walk. Usually I'll toss it for her a time or two, and then she forgets about it. But the other day, she found a fine stick that she insisted on bringing all the way home. She trotted the entire length of our street (about 3/4 of a mile or more) with it in her mouth, tail proudly wagging. 

So, of course she wanted to blatantly violate the "No sticks in the house!" rule.

I Don't Wanna Walk! (And a Winner!)

Rita can be so weird sometimes. 

Like, today, it started with making waffles for breakfast, and she wouldn't take the bite I offered her. (She's super picky. What a nut.) 

Then I attempted to take her for a walk, and she insisted on dragging me back home after only 5 minutes. This from a girl who normally LOVES her walks.

Rita in her usual walk-loving-mode

No Monday Mischief Here - Just a Birthday Giveaway!

Monday is Rita's third birthday (Whoohoo! **blows noisemaker**), which is a Super Big Deal since our sweet angel Abby never even made it to 3. (Poor Ab.) So, to celebrate - we did lots of fun things on Sunday, and we are having a giveaway today!

We celebrated on Sunday since The Daddy has to work on Rita's actual birthday. (Actually... we have no idea when her birthday is. But the rescue guessed her birthday was somewhere in June. We were going to pick the mid-point, but that's my brother-in-law's bday, so we picked the 16th - which is her angel-cousin Lou's birthday, so a pretty special day!)

We went for a lovely walk. (I confess, this pick is from Saturday, but we did almost the exact same walk on Sunday...)

A lovely day for a walk!

Monday Mischief: My Momma Experimented on Me!

Rita here. Sit back, get your popcorn, and lock the doors, cuz I have a scary story to tell!

The other day, Momma insisted on brushing me 50-strokes. I don't like being brushed very much, so that was not super fun but I tolerated it. 

Then we went for a long walk, and I looked like this after:

A Quick Catch-up and Puppy Mischief!

If you saw my last post, you know my mother-in-law passed away, so the hubs and I have been away from home for over 2 weeks. (Luckily we made it there in time to spend a couple of days with her.)

Rita stayed with Reggie (her cousin) while we were away. She was (reportedly) a good girl (except for not wanting to share her chew bones!), so I have a little Reggie mischief to share.

Reggie sent us this photo while we were in Montreal:

Monday Mischief: Rita Says #BooMonday!

Rita is not a fan of Mondays. She likes the lazy, sleep-in, late-morning-long-walk weekends!

Rita, Queen of All the Duvet

Monday Mischief: A Message in the Mischief

On our walk this weekend, we noticed these two cars parked at a neighbor's house:

On closer inspection, they had a message for pup owners (or bad boyfriends?):

Monday Mischief: Found and Lost and Found

Found
Back in late 2012, I found this perfect tag for Rita, which I posted a pic of on the blog.

As you can see, it says "Insert Treat" with an arrow pointing at her mouth - very appropriate for her!

Lost
Well, this week, I noticed it was missing. I was bummed, but figured it broke and fell off on one of our walks, and I mentally added it to the always-growing To-Do list.

Monday Mischief: Another Mischief-Maker in the House

Rita is generally a very good, calm girl and doesn't get up to a whole lotta mischief.

Sometimes, though we still end up with mischief in the house, coming from the direction of The Daddy.

Like this weekend. Saturday I went with my sisters to the annual dog show in town, where I bought Rita a bag of duck feet. (Human grade, USA-sourced duck feet. Good stuff!) They were, of course, a hit with Rita.

Sunday I asked the hubs to go get Rita a duck foot for her afternoon treat. And then I tried to go about my business.

Only to have this happen:

Of course he can't just give the duck foot to the dog. He has to torture me with it a little first.

Monday Mischief: Little Dickens or Mother's Angel?

Rita and her cousin, Reggie, had another play date recently, and it was as wild as the last time.

Here they are playing sort of a backwards game of peekaboo:

Monday Mischief: Picking Granite to Match Your Dog

Remember a while back when I mentioned my bro and sis-in-law were re-doing their master bath, and my bro selected the granite because it matched his brindle mastiff's coat?

Well, it's all installed now, so here's the final product next to the inspiration:

Leo next to the new shower bench

Monday Mischief: It Is Evil and Must Be Destroyed

Last week we brought something new into the house. A harmless BOSU ball (which the hubs wanted to help build strength and balance). 

However, the bosu ball was accompanied by a force for evil that we, obviously, did not recognize as such when it came into our midst. 

Luckily, Rita - Defender of the Realm - was at the ready and alerted us to the intruder.

Monday Mischief: When Bed Dogs Equal Bed Hogs

I totally jinxed myself.

A few months ago, Mrs. Taleteller over at Tales & Tails posted about her bed hogs (if you don't regularly read this blog, you should since it's always got amazing pics and great writing). She mentioned the battle for real estate in their bed. I commented that Rita "mostly sleeps curled up in one spot all night - next to the hubby." 

I should have known better.

Monday Mischief: Apparently Beggars CAN Be Choosers

The hubs took a day off in December, and we took Rita for a hike. Afterwards for a treat, we went to lunch at a local small chain called Bite of Boston for lobster rolls. (We had one of those Groupon type coupons, so they were not only delicious, they were a deal! I love a bargain!)

We decided to share a bite with Rita...

The beggar in question

Monday Mischief: Something's a Little Fishy Around Our Christmas Tree

Last week, I decorated our tree. Usually it's just a hodgepodge of ornaments collected over the years, but this year I decided I wanted to have a "dogs at the beach" themed tree, so I ordered some sand dollar ornaments and starfish, and I made some ornaments using shells. Then I decorated the tree with blue/turquoise ornaments, dog ornaments and all the shells. 

I thought it came out very cute and couldn't stop looking at it. Rita, on the other paw, was interested in it for other reasons... cuz it smelled like the beach.

Monday Mischief: Pooch Smooches Invaded by Cats!

Okay folks... We've got some SERIOUS mischief on the blog here today... We've been taken over by CATS!! I've had to restrain Rita (and it's not unlike when the gardener's here...). But because Rita has a love of cat toys...

Rita almost succeeds in eating my sis's cat's toy.

 ... and tuna treats, she agreed to allow the cats to take over for the day. So, please welcome Jane & Bingley, who own my fabulous writer pal, Laura Chapman. Laura just launched her first novel (**throws confetti**) and Jane & Bingley are here to take a lot of credit for that tell how they helped!