Wordless Wednesday: The Preferred Part of a Pig

A while back I posted about what's the best part of a dog. (I said it's the ears.) In keeping with that "what's the best part" theme, we recently let Rita decide what was the ... well, not best (we only gave her two options) but better part of a pig. I present:

Ear vs. Pizzle
We gave Rita the option of either having a pig's ear or a porky pizzle twist. Would she agree that the ears have it? Or would the pizzle proudly point a path to preference?

It was a tough decision...

"Decisions, decisions. Calculating weight-to-porky-goodness ratio..."

The Dog's Not Spoiled . . . Much

Rita turned two on Sunday so we did lots of pigging out celebrating this weekend!

Of course, since we knew we'd be pigging out celebrating a lot, we started both days this week with looong walks. (After all, it's K9 Kamp and we gotta keep Rita in good shape!) Saturday we walked down by the coast for almost an hour and a half. Sunday we stayed in the 'hood and did some 'sploring.

A gorgeous day at the coast.

Extra, Extra... Exercise & a Mess o' Followin' Up

It's FitDog Friday as well as Follow-up Friday, so we're (mainly) following up today on how K9 Kamp is going.

Have you been to Peggy's Pet Place and/or Kol’s Notes to enter the giveaway and find out more about K9 Kamp? If you haven't, then get over there. Lots of fun things to win!

So, the K9 Kamp challenge is to work an extra 20 to 30 minutes into your pup's exercise routine 3 or 4 times per week. As I mentioned at the start of kamp, Rita and I walk a lot - about a marathon a week, between a long walk every morning and sometimes another 20 minutes a few nights a week. Adding more time sounded tough, so at first I thought we'd try upping the intensity instead.

A happy-walker makes for a happy-kamper

No Mirth Today - The Worst Walk I Ever Took

I had a very different post planned for our usual Mirth Watch Thursday, but today (Wednesday as I am writing this), I had the worst walk I've ever had with my dog.

Not even sure where to start.

As you know, my friend and I walk with our dogs (Rita, and Rita's best friend, Dakota the boxer) at Fiesta Island (FI) at least 3 days/week. On the weekdays we usually know almost everyone down there. There are a couple of dogs that our dogs don't like, or that don't like our dogs, and we steer clear. Sometimes there's a bit of noise and a skirmish, but no one ever gets bit and it's always fine.

Well, now that school's out and it's summer, there are a lot more people down there. I'm constantly checking out the other dogs and assessing Rita's body language, etc.

We were just about finished up with our walk and had run into another friend who comes to FI pretty much every day with her 4 huskies. At the same time two men (big, older men with big walking sticks) and 3 dogs were coming the other direction. They had a timid puppy with them, and Dakota ran at it showing teeth. Dakota is very good about listening to her mom, but before my friend could even yell "Sit, Stay", the one man raised his walking stick and hit Dakota across the back with it, breaking the stick. (Luckily, he had the smaller of the 2 sticks. The other stick was thicker and could have inflicted some serious damage.)

Wordless (ha!) Wednesday: KONG Premium Treats Giveaway

If you've been around a while, you know I have a hard time being wordless... and this is going to be another one of those wordy-Wordless Wed. posts. But hey... you could win stuff!

We were approached by JAKKS Pets, partners with KONG for the KONG Premium Treat line, about doing a review and giveaway. Rita said, "Sign us up!" Momma said, "Hang on... let's read through everything."

Once the Momma found out the treats are USA-made (very important - don't buy treats made in China!) and use good ingredients (all-natural, no animal by-products, and no wheat, corn or soy!) she agreed with Rita.

So, the lovely folks from KONG Premium Treats sent us 3 treats of our choosing to try, and now THREE lucky winners will win the same - a prize pack with 3 fabulous treats:

A prize package with a trio of treats!

Is My Dog Dumb, Or Just Not as Bored as I Thought?

... Or is she really, really smart?

Rita is usually fine with just a walk every morning and a bit of play time in the afternoon or evening. The rest of the day, she generally entertains herself checking things out in the yard, napping, and following me around. But she often has this bored-out-of-her-skull expression on her face.

"Ho-hum. Another day. Another 37 naps."

Follow-Up Friday: Pupdates on Past Posts

This week Pooch Smooches is very excited to be co-hosting the Follow-Up Friday blog hop along with the hop's originator, Jodi from a Heart Like a Dog. FUF is the blog hop that let’s you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend!

Personally, I like a margarita to lead me right into the weekend, but that will come later... As I post this, it's a little early to start drinking.

Sampson & Delilah from Heart Like a Dog - gorg, right?*

Since this is my first FUF post, I have a lot to catch up on, so we'll go back a little more than a week to wrap up: