Wordless Wednesday: Rita Must Be a Good Dog...

...cuz it says so right on the box we got today! Yep, Rita won something again! This time from Good Dog Takeouts treats from Jeffie's month long birthday party over at Talking Dogs Blog.

It's no wonder Rita thinks every package that comes to the door is for her - more than half the time, they are!

"Oh, for me?? Give me a hand, Momma!"

Monday Mischief: I Met My New Cousin!

Rita here! I met my new cousin, Reggie, this weekend. Momma said I did really good! She took about a thousand pictures, so I will let the pics tell the story:

We met through some bars, but he looked like he wanted to kiss me, and I looked like I wasn't going to eat him, so they let us meet for reals.

Mirth Watch Thursday: Opposable Thumbs

Last night the hubs asked me what I thought Rita would do if she had opposable thumbs.** I said we'd probably need to put a lock on both the fridge and pantry doors.

What If My Dog Had Opposable Thumbs?
I decided to Google "what if dogs had opposable thumbs" just to see what would come up, and it turns out there's actually a "What if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs?" Day. It's March 3rd. Unfortunately we forgot to celebrate it this year. It's in its 22nd year! According to the man who started the "holiday," people "aren't supposed to actually do anything on March 3." (Which is good, since I forgot to send out cards and get gifts!) "It's all about contemplation of canine and feline evolution." Since we missed the official "celebration," we'll contemplate it now.

Here are the top 3 things I think Rita would do if she had opposable thumbs:
1. Open the fridge and help herself to the contents of the cheese drawer.

2. Go online and order all the treats she can stuff herself with. (And she'd be able to open the front door when they were delivered.)

"If you loved me, you'd give me your credit card number."

3. Take the car and head down to the beach whenever she felt like it.

Okay, I wanted to put a picture here of Rita in the driver's seat of my car, but she ALWAYS sits in the back, and no amount of treats could convince her to keep her fuzzy butt in the front. She kept leaping into the back. And nobody wants a backseat driver. (She's so funny. We had to fight with Bailey and Abby to keep them OUT of the front!)

What If a Cat Had Opposable Thumbs?
If a cat had opposable thumbs, he'd probably just lie there and do the Roman Emperor "thumbs up/thumbs down" thing whenever you displeased him. "Why did you bring me so few cat treats? Thumbs down!"

And now... here is Jimmy, a cat who can actually do that:

As you can see, no, Jimmy does not want to do it again. And I love how he gives her the "thumbs down" when she says it's time to get up.

What would your pet do if he/she had thumbs? 

** There's a little back story here... One day loooong ago, Mike and I were talking and I said it was a good thing the dog (our beagle, Bailey, at the time) didn't have opposable thumbs. The next day, I heard him talking to Bailey, and he said something to her about not having "disposable thumbs." Yeah, he gets a lotta teasing about that. (In his defense, English is not his first language - although you'd never know it to talk to him since he has no accent - but he still gets a lotta teasing about that.)

Wordless Wednesday: Jealousy

Today's word is jealousy, cuz I bet you are gonna be jealous that I got to get my hands on this little fluffball yesterday! Meet my new nephew, Reggie!

Reggie with his favorite aunt! (Sure my other sis will have somethin' to say about that.)

Monday Mischief: Photo Mischief

I'm not super techy when it comes to messing with photos. I've never "shopped" a photo, as it were. (Why do they call it PhotoShop? It has nothing to do with shopping. Outta be PhotoTweak. Just my opinion...)
But recently I have played with made mischief with a few photos - and I think I might be addicted now. The photos I want to share also relate to two giveaways you can enter, so read on!

What the Dog Ate Giveaway
Thanks so much to Taryn over at A Tail of Two Cardis who wrote a lovely post about my novel, and is hosting a giveaway for a copy right now. All you have to do to enter is visit her post here before Thursday, April 25th and leave a comment about a funny thing that your dog (or another pet or even you) ate. It's open to folks beyond just the US, so hop on over there.

Now, when you do, you'll see that Taryn decided to "revise" the cover of What the Dog Ate, substituting one of her handsome pups for my usual cover model:

Too cute, right??

This of course made me wonder: "Why didn't I ever think of that?!?" So, here you go - Rita as cover girl:

She makes a cute cover girl, IMHO!

If you are wondering what the dog ate, that's a little spot of melted cheese on her nose.

Celebrate Jeffie's Birthday! 
Meanwhile, Jeffie over at the Talking Dogs blog is celebrating his 7th birthday, and stretching out the celebrating over the entire month of April. (You know how to pawrty, Jeffie!) Part of the celebration involves a giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card if you submit a party pic of your pup by April 27. Check out this post here re: entering. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing, so go on over and join the fun. 

I can't resist taking fun pics of Rita, so we had to enter. I was able to doctor up the pictures I sent with some captions using the free website PicMonkey. (Thanks to Taryn -again- this time for the heads up about PicMonkey!) There's a paid subscription version, but you can do some fun things even with the free version.

So, here are some outtakes of the pics I took of Rita, and at the end you'll see the final captioned shots I sent in for Jeffie's pawrty.

One outtake - she's drinking a "The Vixen" beer

Another outtake - the party "aftermath"

One more outtake - I put some cheese on the lid!

 And here are the 2 I submitted:

I had to put a treat in the lampshade to get her in there, of course!

Now go out there and have some fun with your photos! And enter some fun giveaways!

Happy Monday Mischief!

FitDog Friday: Pearly-White Canines!

... and incisors and whatever else a dog's mouth has going on in there. Yes, today on FitDog Friday, I'm posting about something that may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to keeping your pup fit and healthy: teeth. Just as with humans and dental health, keeping a dog's teeth healthy is super important too! (Note: Be sure to read to the end of the post for a link to a giveaway on one of our fave blogs!)

Do I Really Have to Brush My Dog's Teeth?
I grew up in the days of ignoring the dog's teeth, so it's been a little hard to get in the habit of regular brushing. When I came across Jozi the Corgi (yes, another Corgi! You know we love those around here, as evidenced by yesterday's post!) & the Pussycats' Smooch a Pooch Giveaway, we had to enter. How could Pooch Smooches resist a "Smooch a Pooch" giveaway?? Plus, I figured if we won I'd have no excuse not to brush Rita's teeth.

Well - we won! So now I have to start brushing Rita's teeth. And we've been lazy, but no more excuses.

I couldn't believe how big the box with our winnings was. Rita could have fit inside! I didn't remember everything involved in the prize package, so was expecting a tiny box with a doggy toothbrush and some Dentastix - but no! There were tons of goodies!

She's so excited, her head's all blurry in this photo.

I had to really dig around in there to make sure we didn't miss anything!

Rita with our haul!

Here's everything we won:

• A coupon for a free office visit and dental consultation to Banfield (inside Petsmart)** 
• Paw Print Keepsake 
• Doggie Toothbrush 
• 2 Doggie Toys
• Dentastix Fresh samples - yes sir, yes sir - 3 bags full!
• Sephora goodies including a $25.00 Sephora gift card (Whoo-hoo! Some shopping for the Momma!)
• Toothbrush, toothpaste & Altoids for us humans to keep our breath minty fresh and clean

Rita loved the toys that were included:

"Give, Momma!"

But quickly abandoned them in favor of the Dentastix:

"Oh, I love the easy-open packaging."

"Seriously, Momma. The Sephora thing is yours. Get away from my Dentastix!"

Just one, Rita!

After she finished the lone Dentastix I would let her have, she was back playing with her new toys. This one is really cute and is designed for snuggling - it sort of has a blankie attached to the stuffed part.

"I'll snuggle this later. Right now, I think I'll eat it."

Today we got out the toothbrush, which is really cool and 3-sided. As luck would have it, I'd been reading My Brown Newfie's post on all the benefits of coconut oil, (check it out cuz there's lots of good info about the health benefits both inside and out, for you AND the dog!). Via the comments and following some links, I found that some folks use it to brush their dog's teeth, so I thought I'd try that. I've tried in the past to brush Rita's teeth with one of those finger brushes and some gross chicken-flavored toothpaste, but she was not keen.

Today when I came at her with the new toothbrush with a bit of coconut oil on it, she was happy to give it a go!

"Yum!"

"Momma, could you stop the brushing action and just let me lick this??!"

Look at those pearly whites! Gotta keep 'em that way!

Thanks again to Jozi the Corgi & the Pussycats! (Stop by and check out their cute blog!)


**NOTE: I'm happy with our vet and he runs a teeth cleaning special every February, so if anyone would like the coupon for the free Banfield checkup, let me know. I'm happy to mail it to you!

Do you brush your dog's teeth? It's important for keeping them healthy!

Now... In Other News?
Remember when Taryn from A Tail of Two Cardis won my giveaway celebrating What the Dog Ate's first anniversary? Well, she's having her own giveaway starting today, so stop by A Tail of Two Cardis and check it out!





Mirth Watch Thursday: The Unbearable Cuteness of Puppy

Mirth Watch Thursday is all about making you smile (and/or laugh) - and what could be more smile-inducing than a NEW PUPPY??? Nothing - that's what. And thus for today's smiles we bring you the newest member of our extended family. Meet my new nephew, Reggie:

Here he is, quickly falling in love with his new Momma.

Wordless Wednesday: Spa or Gulag?

Rita generally doesn't like to be brushed, so when Daddy came at her with the brush** this weekend, she went belly up. 

Ugh. You try to get a little shut-eye in the sun. But no....

Blog the Change: My First Shelter Love

It's time again for Blog the Change. When I was trying to think of what I wanted to write about, I thought I might do a post on Black Dog Syndrome (if you've never heard of it, in a nutshell - black dogs, especially big ones, are much less likely to get adopted than their lighter shelter mates). While I was looking for a picture of Smiley, my sister's very lovable black Lab mix from my youth, I came across lots of pics of my first shelter love - Lazar Wolf:

Lazar, the day we brought her home - 1980

Mirth Watch Thursday: Mistaken Identity

Today, it's time for a pup pop quiz on Pooch Smooches.

I want you to tell me what this is:

You don't even need any help with this do you? You don't need a hint (like "it rhymes with merit") or multiple choice options to narrow it down (like: "a. Seal pup, b. Ferret, c. Toy Poodle, d. Rodent of Unusual Size".)

I Have Been Remiss - Part II: Winnings!

Okay, I know it's wordless Wednesday, so I'll try to not be too wordy and mainly show pics of what we won, but I have to give shout-outs where they are (over)due!

First off, we won several books!

"I don't always read, but when I do, it better involve a dog." ~ Rita

I Have Been Remiss - Part I: Awards

In the past few months Pooch Smooches has been given several awards by other lovely bloggers. I've been totally remiss in mentioning them and officially thanking them for the awards. There are various rules involved - usually answering a series of questions, and then nominating other bloggers. I added them all up, and (since I've been remiss for so long) that would mean answering 54 questions and nominating 77 different blogs. That's a lotta questions/blogs, so I'm just answering a few of the questions and generically nominating blogs in my Blog Roll to the right. (I hope I haven't left anyone off!)

I know... that's cheating. I'm usually such a rule-follower (like Maggie, the main character in What the Dog Ate), but, geez - 77 blogs is a lot!

"Did we get the awards cuz we are cute, Momma?" No, Rita.

Here are the awards in no particular order:

FitDog Friday: Kale - Good For You & Your Pup

SlimDoggy and Peggy's Pet Place have gotten together to start a new blog hop - FitDog Friday. We love fit doggies around here and have often joked about opening a fat farm for pups, so we thought we'd hop along on this inaugural FitDog Friday. (If you want to hop along, see details here.)

Mirth Watch Thursday: Behind the Limerick

In case you missed the wonderful limerick that Oz the Terrier wrote about Rita, here it is:

There once was a Shepherd named Rita

who was mixed with a Beagle, not an Akita.

She can throw a mean punch

and eats dead gophers for lunch

which she chases with a Peach Margarita.

And if you did see it and wonder why I let my dog drink margaritas... let me 'splain.

First of all, she's actually more of a straight-up-tequila girl:

Wordless Wednesday: Uninvited Visitors

In just the last couple of days, we've had a lot of uninvited visitors. First there was this little guy:

"May I come in? No? Okay, then, I'll just poop and be on my way!"

A Limerick & *Another* High

I don't normally post on Saturdays, but I had to post today because I wanted to share that Rita had a special limerick written for her!

Oz the Terrier has been posting the cutest, funniest, most adorable doggy limericks all month long and Rita and I were a little worried that we weren't going to make the cut - but we did! We got the slot for today. Whoohoo! Check out Rita's limerick here. Thanks, Oz, for the great limerick! Anybody who knows Rita, Rita, gopher eate', knows how perfect it is for her!


Also, remember the other day when I posted about the highs and lows of being a writer - the high being finding out someone wrote a lovely blog post about my book? Well, I'm on another high, since I found out Max, the Best Pup in the World, and his mom ALSO wrote a lovely post about my book. I had no idea they were going to do that! So sweet!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mirth Watch Thursday: Peeps Show

Peeps. Would it really be Easter without them? No, not to eat - just to mess with. Or microwave. Or decorate with. Or make bunny ears for your dog.

Slightly-Less-Wordy Wednesday: Staycation

A couple of weeks ago, the hubs suddenly decided to take a week off. We didn't have time to plan much, and we had some things to do around the house, so we decided on a "staycation." We'd only done this once before, and the last time it was pretty much a disaster. We took off the week in 2003 when the massive "Cedar Fire" hit San Diego. The fire hit the second day of vacation, so we spent 3 1/2 days basically trapped in the house (because the sky was orange and the air unbreathable) while we watched the terrible, depressing news. (At one point we even had our cars packed and ready to evacuate.) Luckily this time was much more successful!

A staycation is pretty much ideal when you have a dog. (No worries about how the pooch will adapt to the new locale.) And we had fun being dorks and pretending we'd rented our house from VRBO. ("Can you believe these people left us all these projects to do? Jerks!")

We basically pretended we were retired. We slept in every morning, enjoyed our coffees, and then went for long walks on the beach with Rita:

Had the beach to ourselves!

Monday Mischief: Some Bunny Loves You

I can't resist a dog in bunny ears. You? (I've been known to "friend" total strangers on Goodreads simply because their avatar is a photo of his/her dog in bunny ears. It happens more than you'd think.)

Mirth Watch Thursday: Why I Want a Hippo

Remember when I wanted a penguin (that I could get a penguin backpack for and take along to the store)? I said it was one of my all-time favorite videos and that I had one other that I was saving for another time. So, here it is - my other favorite animal video: Jessica the Hippo.

Have you ever seen this? It's about a baby hippo in South Africa that washes up during a flood at this former game ranger's house and how she comes to be a member of the family. The video is short and adorable and talks about how she's lived with him and his wife for 7 years.

Wordless Wednesday: SPRING!

To celebrate the first day of spring, I thought I'd share pics I took of some of the beautiful flowers in our neighborhood on a recent walk with Rita. And... we have a winner in the What the Dog Ate's birthday giveaway!

But first... Spring has sprung:

A California poppy

Monday Mischief: Cozy Blankie!

We've discovered that Rita LOVES this faux-fur blankie we have on our sofa. Normally, it just drapes over the back of the couch, looking cozy. But one night, it was chilly so I grabbed the blankie and unfurled it to throw over the hubs and myself. Who was immediately right there wanting up for a snuggle with us? Miss Rita.

"Oh, I loooove this blankie, Momma."

Mirth Watch Thursday: 7 Smiles, 1 Scream & A Giveaway

A week or so ago, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal on the benefits of smiling. According to the article, "Researchers are finding that wearing a smile brings certain benefits, like slowing down the heart and reducing stress." One of the researchers added, "You can influence mental health by what you do with your face, whether you smile more or frown less."

So, bring your face over to Pooch Smooches and engage in some smiling. No, it's not just dorking around and a waste of time. You're reducing your stress levels!

In order to induce today's smiles, I give you: seven smiling dogs, one screaming pepper, and a chance to win fun stuff.

Seven Smilers

An adorable pup from the shelter where I volunteer. (He got adopted!)

Wordless Wednesday: To The Beach!

Snapped a few shots of Rita on the way to the beach the other day. These are taken after we turned on to the little one-way road that leads to Fiesta Island, or Disneyland for Dogs as I call it. I just held my camera over and snapped, without looking, but they still came out kinda cute.

This one is taken w/ window up, no flash

Monday Mischief: Helping *AGAIN*

I've been needing to paint our hallway ever since we moved in to this house over 2 years ago. I finally got my act together and painted it last week while the hubs was away on business.

Of course, my little helper was right there doing what she could to make the job go more quickly, as evidenced by the paint on her tail:

Mirth Watch Thursday: Rita's Rant

Hi everypawdy. Rita here. I have a bone to pick with the authors, illustrators, screen writers, directors, claymation-ers and muppeteers of this here world!

I want to know - where are the bitches that a little girl-pup like myself can look up to?

I beseech you. Seriously... what gives??

Wordless Wednesday: Breakfast With a Side of Oxytocin

Unfortunately, my hubs has a very stressful job. He also has trouble managing his stress. Rita apparently knows this, since she suddenly decided she should sit between us while we eat breakfast on the sofa in front of the news. (Sorry about the picture quality - took it with my iPad, shooting in to the light. Should know by now to always have the camera handy.)

Administering the proper dosage of oxytocin

She's supposed to be over on "her" side of the sofa, on her towel. But since the hubs can use a dose of oxytocin before work, I don't mind a little dog hair. (Besides, our house is practically covered in it anyway.) You can read about dogs and oxytocin here, but here's a key nugget: "Oxytocin, which is sometimes dubbed 'the cuddle hormone,' helps reduce blood pressure and decreases levels of cortisol, a hormone related to stress and anxiety." Keep that stuff coming, Rita!

You might suspect that she only chose to sit there to have access to our breakfast of peanut butter toast and yogurt - but you'd actually be wrong. She's totally gone off peanut butter, and if I offer her a bite or my plate when I'm done with it, she turns her head and acts like I've put the most disgusting thing ever in front of her. As for the yogurt, she might lick a bit off a spoon when you're done, but she does NOT want to lick the cup. (She's so odd.)

Do you try to extract some cuddle hormone from your dog?

Monday Mischief: Such a Great Helper

I posted before about how "helpful" Rita is with projects around the house. This past week was no different, when I was doing some spring cleaning on our patio chairs. I laid the chair cushions out in a row so I could give them a quick scrubbing, and guess who immediately popped over to "help":

"Thanks, Momma! This is comfy."

Mirth Watch Thursday: Your Doggy Doppelganger

Do you have a doggy doppelgänger? Or maybe your dog has one?

I started thinking about doppelgängers the other day when one of my fave blogs, I Still Want More Puppies, posted a link to the "2013 Oscar Nominees and their Animal Doppelgängers". You should really check that link out (I think my fave is Tommy Lee Jones = Grumpy Cat, but there are other funny ones as well.)

Anyway, it reminded me of two things:

1) I once noticed that my friend's angel dog, Max, had a puppy pic that looked exactly like Ron Swanson (a hysterically gruff character on Parks and Rec, played by Nick Offerman). Am I right? Since Ron really likes meat, and Max did too, they were even somewhat of a personality match.

2) There is a web site that lets you find your doggy doppelgänger, appropriately called: Doggelganger. It's from Pedigree and the New Zealand SPCA. The tag line is: "Human to canine pairing software. Your best friend search starts here."

It's fun to play with. You're supposed to be able to add your own image either with your web cam or by loading a picture, but I couldn't get the web came image thing to work. So, I loaded a photo. (They say to load one with a neutral image - but, other than Ron Swanson above, most people smile when you point a camera at them.) Anyway, first I loaded my b&w "author photo" and I got a 62% accuracy match with this adorable 7 mo. old female Mastiff/Greyhound mix.
 

I also tried a color photo - but I guess I look a lot older in this picture since I got a 67% accuracy match with this sweet 12-yr-old Fox Terrier mix: (at least she's a fox....)

I do have the same worry wrinkles as both of these girls, so I think they did a pretty good job. It's a fun thing to play with - so hopefully the NZ SPCA is getting a lot of local folks on the site who then find their new best look alike friend!

I also looked up doppelgänger for this post - I thought it just meant "a look alike", but the actual definition from Miriam Webster is "a ghostly counterpart of a living person". Ghostly... hmm. So Tommy Lee Jones = ghostly Grumpy Cat I guess. 

Anyway, go have some fun and find your doggelganger.

Wordless Wednesday: DONE

If you've been following along, you know we started a so-called "6 week" backyard remodeling project waaaaaay back in mid-October. Finally, for today's almost-wordless Wednesday, the word of the day is DONE.

"I love my new sunning spot!"

Monday Mischief: Caught Cheating!

I was caught cheating this weekend - cheating on Rita, that is.

"Would you like to explain why you smell like Weimaraner?"

Mirth Watch Thursday: March of the Penguin

You've possibly seen this video before - after all, it's been around a while (and viewed by millions on YouTube), but it's one of my all-time favorite animal videos so I figured I'd share for those who haven't seen it. (I have one other "all-time fave" that I'm saving for another time.)

I give you, Lala, the shopping penguin:

A penguin with a penguin backpack, shopping for fish. I ask you, is that not the cutest thing? Thanks to Morgan Freeman, I know penguins like to march waddle long distances, but who knew they also like to shop? But how does it work... do they put his purchases on his bill? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

I would love to have a penguin for a pet that I could send to the store to pick stuff up for me. "Lala, we're out of milk. And get yourself a can of sardines while you're there."

But, honestly, I'm such a worrywart, I'd probably never let him walk to the store by himself. I'd be afraid he'd get run over or penguin-napped. So instead I'd end up driving him there, and then I'd worry about him going in on his own, so I'd go in instead, and he'd just end up sitting in the car running the A/C full blast until I got back. It wouldn't be nearly as cute. I guess it's best that he ended up in a nice town in Japan and not at my house.  

Wordless Wednesday: Old-Fashioned Tweets

Rita's not much for Twitter. She prefers her tweets to be the old-fashioned variety. (She actually prefers to try to catch birds, but seeing them on TV is the next best thing...)

"How did that bird get in here?"