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)

New Dog Picture Books for the Collection

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had a nice holiday season. Ours was lovely with too much food but lots of long walks (and a few runs) to try to counteract all the calories. Now it's back to the ol' routine...

I thought I'd share a couple of fun dog picture books we got for Christmas. We have a lot of dog books, but there's always room for more, right?

First of all, thanks to Jan at The Poodle (and Dog) Blog for mentioning Zen Dogs by Alex Cearns before Christmas. I got a copy for the hubs for one of his presents.

LOVE the cover!

Shepherds Keeping Watch

Since we have our own little shepherd (mix), I wanted to do a shepherd-themed card this year, and this is what I came up with:

Shepherds Keeping Watch...

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

I thought of the phrase "good fences make good neighbors"** when I took this photo of Rita checking out a neighbor's hens.

December Dog Photo Challenge - Plus Bloopers!

Rita and I decided to join Spencer the Goldendoodle's December Dog Photo Challenge for a fun way to be inspired this month with our photos that we post on Instagram and Facebook. (It's not too late to join! Check out the link to Spencer's page and join us!)

I thought I'd share some of the bloopers today! (We always have many since Rita isn't in love with getting her picture taken. And, wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted twice in one week! I'm really enjoying my new once/week schedule, but I wanted to share this before December was half over!)

The other day, the word was SWEATER. With Rita's thick coat + our San Diego weather, she's not a sweater girl, so instead I had her pose with #bearsinsweaters. I got this adorable photo:

Easy Xmas Craft: Scrabble Tile Ornaments

If you've been a blog reader for a while, you know my sisters and I get together every now and then for what we call "forced crafting." (It's like a forced march - you will participate. And you will enjoy it, dammit.)

You might also remember the last time we did a Scrabble tile craft, it involved dogs (we made pendants for necklaces and earrings):

Remember these guys?

Forget Puss in Boots; It's Pup in Socks!

My niece is a graphic artist (okay, technically she brands herself as a "professional weirdo"). Here we are snap-chatting at her wedding earlier this year. (I do not snap-chat, but my niece does and of course, knowing me as she does, she knew the dog filter would be the most appropriate.)