Merry Christmas from Pooch Smooches!

We've been missing in action the last couple of weeks, and things are crazy-busy getting ready for the holidays, but Rita and I wanted to take a moment and say Merry Christmas!

Thought I'd share our Christmas card from this year.

Whether you've been naughty or nice, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Another Round of "A Pup & A Plant" (part 5!)

Back when I first started drafting this post (a while back), I thought it might be the last “pup & a plant”... but I’ve already posted more on Instagram that I’ll share another time, and I actually keep some notes on this madness and I have a bunch more ideas so just have to get the photos. Here’s another dozen...

Our girl who's infertile beside this Crape Myrtle. #SpayandNeuterYourPets #TodaysPSA 😁

A Brave, Brave Doggy

Rita had a lot of fears when she first came to us. For instance, every time I would get out the broom, she'd run and hide. (Of course, I almost never get the broom out anymore, thanks to our Roomba, Carson. BTW, if I do say so myself, the Carson post is pretty cute so you should check it out if you missed it...) Anyway, she's come a long way! She's not even afraid of all the scary creatures that have recently appeared in our 'hood.

I thought I'd share my "A dog & some decor" posts that I've been doing on Instagram as proof.

“I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost-dogs! Much.”

A Pup & A Plant Part 4

But wait...there's more... It's time for another dozen of "a pup & a plant". If you missed the earlier posts you can visit them here: part 1, part 2, part 3.

"Butterfly milkweed" & a representative of the "mutt" breed

My Dog Is An Excellent Communicator

I walked out of our bathroom the other day and found her like this on our bedroom area rug. Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

More Silliness: A Pup & A Plant Part 3

Hope you aren't sick of this series yet cuz I still have lots more of them to share! (Honestly, I never thought I could keep it going this long... It's become an obsession!) (If you missed them, here are Part 1 and Part 2).

Also, I don't know if you saw her post, but I inspired Taryn from A Tail of Two Cardis to try some a-pup-and-a-planting as well, so check out her post here.

Let's just dive in, shall we?

A plumeria & the cutest dog in the immediate area.

A Pup & A Plant, Part Deux

Last month I posted about how I exercise my brain while Rita and I are out on our walks with my Instagram "A Pup and A Plant Series." On our walks, I try to remember plant names, then I take a photo of Rita next to the plant, and then attempt a little word-play for the caption.

I originally thought I could keep this going for maybe a week to 10 days, but I've managed to think up quite a few of them, so figured I'd share another batch here.

An African iris & an American princess. #sospoiled

Exercise For My Brain While We Exercise On Our Walks

I've been doing this thing over on Instagram. If we're connected there, you will possibly have already seen it. I call it "A Pup and A Plant Series." On our walks, I try to remember plant names, then I take a photo of Rita next to the plant, and try to do a little word-play caption.

I've done quite a few, so here are a chunk of them.

Rita and red roses.

Our New Family Member. Or "Everybody Loves Carson." (Well, *I* love him anyway...)

Rita has come a long way since we first got her. We don't know if perhaps someone hit her with a stick or something in her past life on the "mean streets," but when she first came to us she would run away whenever I got the broom out.

And that was often, because: shedding! (Look at the pile of dog hair I've got going in that photo. No, wait - don't!)

My Dog Is A Walking Contradiction. Literally. Like, On Walks, I Mean.

Rita is... kind of odd sometimes. (Okay, a lot of the time.)

One thing that's odd about her is that she doesn't really like strangers... and yet, when we go on walks, she often turns up people's walkways as if she wants to go say hi. My normally antisocial dog starts acting social.

A Tale of Two Kitties. (Okay, Really, Cats. Sorta.)

Rita "met" two "cats" this past Sunday. Normally, she hates cats, which you may recall if you've been following the blog for ages, because there was the time we took her to visit my sis, and Rita went ape over not only the actual cat in the house, but also this stone cat looking down from a bookshelf.

Better A Beach Day That Starts Bad And Ends Well

A couple of weeks ago, we had a day at the beach that started out great and ended badly. (Due to a DADO* with his uncontrollable dog off leash at the on-leash beach.) But I don't want to talk about that because it makes my blood pressure go up. Instead... let's visit a day at the beach that started out badly and ended much better!

The other day, we got to the beach and it was not only super foggy, it was really high tide. Like, only-a-narrow-slip-of-beach-to-run-on-in-some-places high. There was tons of stinky seaweed all over the beach. (Dog heaven, right?)

Ruff! Wait... Roof?!

When you're out on a walk, and you hear barking, and you turn to look...

...and the barking dog is on the roof!

Under Construction... Almost

We here at Chez Pooch Smooches are on the eve of a kitchen renovation. (Ugh.)

Rita and I have donned our safety goggles and hardhats (not pictured) and are ready for the work to begin!

It's Like Living With a Mastiff Sometimes

My nephew Leo the mastiff often goes around with a drool rag tucked into his collar. He's a big sweetie - and he's also a big drooler!

Here he is demonstrating two techniques at once - the "strand" and the "bubble." Impressive.

Good job, Leo! (Photo credit: my bro)

A Super Scary Thing At Our House

Every once in a while, Rita freaks out over a new thing in the house, which she decides is super scary.

A while back, it was this tiki man.

I guess he is a little scary.

Who's The Top Dog?

Birthday Donations Update: I wanted to thank everyone who wished Rita a happy birthday the other day. I'd said I'd donate $1 to Baja Animal Sanctuary (where Rita came from) for every comment. Well, I decided to include my replies to everyone's comments, which put the tally at 98. Woot! I rounded up to $100 and sent a check off to BAS, so thanks everypawdy!

Now back to our regularly scheduled post...

Frequent readers will remember Rita's cousin Reggie came to stay with us for two weeks last month.

While organizing the gazillion photos I took while he was here, I noticed these two similar shots from different days:

We're Walking Here... Or Not

As I mentioned last Monday, we're dog-sitting our nephew, Reggie the corgi, at the moment.

Here's a pic of Rita and Reg on our walk the other day. Of a twenty minute walk, about 13 seconds of it looked nice and organized like they are in this photo.

Monday Mischief - Busted for Pooch Smooches

Back long ago when I first started this blog, we had a very kissy dog.

This girl right here, angel Abby:

"Turn the camera off so we can make out."

Monday Mischief - Custom Bedding for the Dog Part II

Remember when Rita took it upon herself to customize her own bedding? (In a nutshell, she purloined a no-longer-needed twin mattress topper that I didn't know where to store and "customized" it to fit her fuzzy little form.)