Momma's Girl? Daddy's Boy? Does Your Pet Have a Preference?

This is a daddy's girl:

Our beagle Bailey was a major daddy's girl. She would sit in his lap and hug and kiss him for ages. And he would just let her. They were quite the pair. (I literally gave up once after counting 1000 kisses.)

Wordless Wednesday: Left Out in the Cold

Recently when my sis was dog-sitting Rita, she took Reg and Rita over to a neighbor's house so they could race around in their park-like backyard. (Yes, the livin' is easy - and warm - in the winter time in San Diego, but our backyards are tiny.) 

They played:

A Resolution Your Dog Can Help You Keep

Most of us know the routine with New Year's resolutions - we make them on January 1st, but they're usually forgotten by about mid-January! 

Well, last year SlimDoggy challenged us all to move our mutts, and Rita and I took the challenge seriously!

Wordless Wednesday: Comfort and Joy

Thought I'd share with you the front of our Christmas card for this year:

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!

Monday Mischief: A Spa Technique the Dog Hates

Last week, the hubs and I went away for our first ever vacation at a spa. (Although I scheduled some posts to go up while we were away, we were mostly "unplugged" so I wasn't able to reply to comments or visit your blogs. I missed you guys!)  While we were at the spa, we took a lot of classes, including one on myofacial release - basically using tennis balls to massage your fascia (the thin connective tissue that wraps around your muscles and most other structures in your body).

Rita is not a fetch-crazed dog. She has several tennis balls, but mostly ignores them. Oh, she'll chase them a time or two if you initiate a game, but she quickly gets bored and her tennis balls just lie around the house.

Wordy Wednesday: Thankful! #ShareGratitude

Thursday is one of my most favorite days of the year here in the US: Thanksgiving!

So, in the spirit of a holiday that is all about gratitude (and FOOD - one of me and Rita's fave things!), we are joining the Share Gratitude hop!

I hope you don't mind if I get a little wordy, while I share a combined list for Rita and me.

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...

Less Wordy Wed: Whatcha Waitin' For?

Can you guess what Rita is waiting for?

Sitting and waiting, about 20 min before the expected arrival.

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.

I Love Halloween; The Dog Hates It

I love Halloween. I love seeing everyone's creative costumes; I love the spooky decorations; I love the candy. :)

Rita, however, hates everything about it.

She hates when Momma tries to put stuff on her (although she will tolerate it for a few seconds for a treat): 

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

Remember when we gave Rita a pony for her birthday?

Monday Mischief: Should I Always Say Goodbye?

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

Less Wordy Wed.: Can You Guess What This Is?

Today we have a guessing game. Can you guess what this is?

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?"

Wordless Wednesday: Me and My Shadow

Look at me... I was wordless!

Thanks to BlogPaws for hosting Wordless Wednesday!

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.

Less-Wordy Wednesday: Travels with Reactive Rita

We are back from our road trip to Oregon with our reactive girl, Rita, and it was (mostly) a super fun trip!

Rita wasn't so sure about all the driving (she's fine with the down-time, but hates all the weird noises), so we tried to make sure she knew how fun road trips are...

Starting with a stop for an ice cream cone (which we split 3 ways):

"Okay, yeah. I could get used to this."

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!"

Why To DNA-Test Your Dog

We've gone back and forth for a while now - well, years really - on DNA testing our pups. Back when we first started looking into it, there weren't that many breeds in the database, and we just decided to skip it.

We don't know what this angel was... just gorgeous!

Well, then I got the opportunity to talk to some folks about the Wisdom Panel 2.0 Breed Identification test kit. They were in San Diego attending a local event as part of a "Swab-a-thon" tour to test shelter dogs and help provide some info about their breed makeup to help match them to their furever homes. Isn't that a great idea?

I couldn't make the event, but they still sent me a home test kit to try out, and set up a phone interview with Harrison Forbes, who is a celebrity pet expert and dog trainer. (Check out his site - you might recognize him from appearances on Today or The View.)

Here are some of the questions and answers we discussed on the phone.