Monday Mischief: There's Always One!

Every year when I put my Christmas stuff away after New Year's, there's always ONE thing that evades me, which is a pain since the Xmas decor gets crammed, er, packed with great precision into storage boxes. The heavy boxes are then hefted up onto the top shelf of our storage closet/pantry, with all manner of odd-sized/shaped things piled on top.

So, any missing item gets to spend the year sitting on the shelf in the closet surveying our comings and goings. (Since this is also the closet where Rita's treats reside, we come and go a lot!)

Because of the "there's always one!" problem, I usually do a military-precision-style sweep of the house, going through each room several times to make sure no one gets left behind. I pile everything on/around the dining room table, and when I'm sure I've got it all, I start cramming, er, packing.

Well, I really thought I'd rounded up and exiled everyone this year, until Rita pointed out that we had a stow-away hiding between two dining room chairs.

Monday Mischief: Everything Is Irresistible

It's Christmas, and Rita is finding everything irresistible. 

First of all, there's the "dogs at the beach" themed tree I put up. She LOVES the smell of the starfish and shells on the tree! It's a bit of Momma-mischief to put something so smelly on the tree, but so far this year she's been good and hasn't stolen anything off the tree!

Waiting: The Reverse Angle AND a Winner!

Last week, I showed you how it looks when Rita is waiting on Reggie. This week, we've got a view from the other side of things.

Here's Reg waiting on Rita's arrival. He's not quite as patient as Rita. He waits by the door...

Monday Mischief: Puppy Mischief - What To Expect!

I wish I'd known about the Monday Mischief blog hop back when we had Abby. That girl was a master mischief maker!

Cutest puppy ever. 100% filled with mischief.

Monday Mischief: "I am NOT a Rabbit!"

Did you know that Saturday, Nov. 1 was "National Cook for Your Pets Day"?! (That "for" is really important in that title...) I didn't realize it until I flipped our PetPlan calendar over to November - which I did a day late.

But even though I didn't know it was NCfYP Day, I did recently start cooking for Rita. She's always eaten a good quality, grain-free kibble, with some organic canned food of one type or another mixed in. Pretty much no matter what I buy, and no matter how much she loves it on day one, but day 3 she's bored of it. Plus I got tired of always having to pick up cans of stuff for her, so I started cooking for her, and stirring this mix of organic meat, root veggies and green veggies in with her kibble.

And she loves it.

Is She Gonna Make Us An Offer We Can't Refuse?

Remember when we gave Rita a pony for her birthday?

Your Dog Ate What?? A Guide to Edible Hazards

In my debut novel, What the Dog Ate, there's a lotta mischief going on. In fact, in the first sentence, we find out that both Maggie's dog and hubby have been up to mischief: "The vet handed Maggie Baxter a plastic specimen bag containing a pair of size-tiny lavender thong panties extracted from her dog; but they were not hers."

"Panties. Yum!"

When you write a book about a Lab with a "the-world-is-my-smorgasbord" attitude, folks tell you stories about the odd things their pets have eaten. (Note that all these dogs ended up being fine!) Like the dog that ate the zipper on his bed. The zipper! Or a friend's cat that ate the prescription pill her husband dropped. (I thought it was impossible to get a cat to take a pill??)

Monday Mischief: Should I Always Say Goodbye?

When Rita and her cousin Reg get together, it usually looks a lot like this:

Monday Mischief: Time Is Slow When You Fast

The mischief was all on the momma again this week. Rita was due for her annual check up, and the vet we usually see was only available at 2:15. Since they wanted to do blood work, they said she needed to fast.

Here's a timeline of how the fasting news went over with Rita.

7:15am Momma breaks the news that there will be no breakfast.

"Uh, how's that, Momma?"

Monday Mischief: What a Friend We Have in Cheeses

Last year I posted "Does the Gardener Taste Like Chicken?", which included a lot of very blurry pics, like the one below, of Rita going ballistic when our gardener comes over. 

"Hey, you!! Get outta my yard!"

Monday Mischief: You Mean... She's Not Mexican?

So, the mischief this time around was all on my part... I teased with you Rita's Wisdom Panel DNA test results last week and made you wait until today to find out what she is.

"Can you guess what breeds are in me?"

I mentioned that we had guessed a combo of GSD/beagle/terrier. Well, two outta three ain't bad.

Monday Mischief: Sleepover & DNA Test Results Mischief

We're back from our vacation and blogging break! (Pics of vaca coming on Wednesday!) But before we went away, we had a sleepover guest - Reggie!

It was his first time spending the night, and there were a couple of mischief moments, like when he stole Rita's usual spot on the sofa!

"Hee hee! I stole Rita's spot!"

Monday Mischief: The Dog's the Thing

Okay, actually Shakespeare said: The play's the thing. But... we went to see a Shakespeare play - and it had a dog in it. And a play with a dog is really the thing!

That mischief-makin' pup totally stole the show!

Some folks from the hubs' work asked us to go to a play at San Diego's Old Globe theater, and they let us pick which one. I knew nothing about Two Gentlemen of Verona (if I had I might not have picked it...) but the blurb said there was a dog. So obviously I picked that one!

The adorable banners at the outdoor theater

Monday Mischief: Chicken Treats?

You might recall (although, really, I'd be surprised if you did!) that I mentioned ages ago that there's a house in our 'hood that puts Trader Joe's molasses treats out for passing pups, along with a fresh bowl of water.

Rita munches a treat (note all the crumbs around her; slob)

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