Muchas Pooches Equals Muchas Mischief

We are dog-sitting Reggie right now. (If you're new around here, Reg is my sister's corgi). When Rita and Reg get together there's always plenty of mischief! Here's a recap of some of it from this past week. Sorry about the quality of some of the pics. My phone doesn't take the best pics in bad lighting. Or maybe it's operator error!

First of all, I never met a dog who resists going on a walk. If he sees me coming with the leash, he takes off running. He seems to like it once we're out, but I have to corner him to get the leash on him. Funny boy.

Balancing to Build Up the Dog's Confidence

I wanted to try to do a pictorial of our vaca with Rita to Cambria in Central CA today, but I didn't have time to get organized, so instead I'm sharing a subset of Rita balancing on things while we were on vaca!

I'm always impressed by Mr. N., the adorable Tenacious Little Terrier and the Adventures of Zoe & Phoenix and all the other talented dogs out there who can hop up on trees and whatnot and pose for photos. Since Rita has a lot of fears, I figured we'd try some hoping-up-and-posing pics, too, to build up her confidence - but we started small!

Here she is on a bench. (I know: easy-peasy. But they had all these cool benches made of logs and driftwood so it was mostly for the photo op and to practice her "go to your bed" command. That was the command I used to get her up on all these things. If I pat something - sofa, her bed, bench, whatever - and say "go to your bed" she'll get on it.)

A Puffy-Faced Puppy

We were away last week on vacation so took a little bloggy break. Missed you guys! Catching up on recent mischief today, and hopefully I'll get around to sharing our vaca pics soon!

Some of you may have seen this on Facebook, but recently, Rita was happily hanging out on the deck outside, as she often likes to do...

Our Dog is Calling the Drought Police - We Gave Her a Bath

Rita LOVES the drought in California. Because of it, she hasn't had a bath in ages! She was terribly over-due so we had to give her one this past weekend. (Siriusly, Rita - we had no choice!)

Since I knew we'd be giving her a bath when we got home, I let her indulge in one of her fave things to do on a hot walk - dunk in a puddle.

Filthy dunking puppy

What the Dog Ate - In Real Life

If you've read my first book, What the Dog Ate, you know it starts with a woman finding out at her vet's office that her dog has eaten a pair of thong panties... but they aren't hers.

In real life, Rita's cousin Reggie recently had to visit the vet a few times. At first my sis and her hubs thought he was eating his own hair. He'd thrown up a hair ball, and then tried to throw up a few times at night, so off to the vet he went, where he had to endure the mischief of being prescribed some cat medicine! (Oh, the indignity...) (Did you know dogs can get hairballs, just like cats do? Especially long-haired dogs? I had no idea!)

No self-respecting dog wants to take medicine with a cat on the box!

Less-Wordy Wednesday: A Little Library

I found a little library in our 'hood. So fun!

I was out walking Rita the other day, and someone had put a "little library" on one of the side streets by our house. It had just started, so there weren't too many books then, but I did get Room, which I've been wanting to read.

Dog Normal or DOG CRAZY? Meg Donohue #Book #Giveaway!

Today for Monday Mischief, I have some exciting mischief. I recently read USA Today bestselling author Meg Donohue's DOG CRAZY. I really enjoyed it and I think you will too! So, today I've got an interview with Meg (#squee) and a giveaway of a signed paperback copy of DOG CRAZY!

Read on!

Isn't the cover adorable?!

Mad Dogs, Englishmen, and Us

Do you know that saying that "only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun"?

Well, you can add us to that list.

"I wouldn't say I'm *mad*, just annoyed."

Wordless Wednesday: Wild-Eyed

As you know from Monday's post, Rita's cousin Reg was here for four days last week. Usually he is the one trying to get Rita to play, but sometimes she tries to entice him first, which is what she was doing here when she flung herself into her bed and struck this "come and get me!" wild-eyed pose. 

Nutty girl.

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."

Wordless Wednesday - Spreading the Happy

I was tagged by Dolly (thanks, Dolly!) over at Dolly the Doxie to participate in the "8 Photos of Happiness" tag that is making it's way around the interwebs. Thank you to Ariel’s little corner of the internet for coming up with the idea!

With all the "sad" that's out there in the news everyday, it's good to spread a little happy!

Here are my photos, in no particular order:

This funny puppy makes me happy!

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.)

There Goes Peter Cottontail...

On a recent walk at a nearby park, Rita spotted something...

Something good...

Monday Mischief: Rita and the Breadsticks

From the title of this post you might suspect Rita got into a package of breadsticks and ate them.

Nope. Our girl would never do that. Siriously, never.

She won't even eat one breadstick.

Here is a (not very good) picture of her enjoying a bite of a breadstick.

But she won't eat a whole one.

Wordless Wed.: To Sleep, Perchance To Dream

Sometimes the pups at the shelter just want a little loving during what should be their roaming around, sniffing, and playing time. 

Weather Mischief - But We'll Take It!

Doesn't it seem like the weather's crazy everywhere lately? It certainly was here in San Diego this weekend. Everybody knows California is in the midst of a terrible drought and we've been hoping for rain while others are getting pummeled.

Just the other day Sue at Talking Dogs was wishing she could share some of their excessive rain with those of us praying for rain. Well, it seems like her wish came true!

Saturday morning we woke to a rare sound here - thunder! Rita was a little concerned, but not too bad.

However when the rain meant we had to cut our usual Saturday long-walk short, she wasn't thrilled.

Less Wordy Wed: The Dog Doesn't Want To Be A Bother

Usually Rita sleeps later than I do and I'm up before her, but the other morning I came around the corner and here she was, waiting patiently by the backdoor to go out:

This is what she does when she wants to go in or out. She waits.

Marriage Is Not "Work"; It's More Like a Game of Bitey-Face

I'm not a big fan of Hollywood news, but if you've been online at all recently, you probably saw that "Ben & Jen" (Affleck* and Garner) are divorcing. As part of the news, Ben's Oscar acceptance speech where he stated that marriage "is work, but the best kind of work" got some more play. 

I love to watch the Oscars every year, and I remember Ben making that speech, and I also remember thinking, "Uh-oh, red flag."

Now, some folks may agree that marriage is work, but not me. And not the hubs either. When I asked him if he thought marriage was work, he made a "the milk's gone sour" face and said, "Work?! No!"

Wordless Wednesday: Headrest

The hubs and I both like to lie on the floor when we watch TV. (Yes, we are a little weird. But we stretch, and do tennis ball massage therapy*, etc.)

Usually while we're on the floor, our spoiled pup is on the sofa or in her comfy memory foam bed. But sometimes she'll come and hang out on the floor with us. Like the other day when I looked up and saw that she and the hubs were hanging out together. 

A New Cover, Some News, and a Thank-You

A New Cover
About a month ago via my quarterly author newsletter*, I shared the new cover for Rescue Me, Maybe (due to be re-released on Aug. 25). I just remembered I never shared it here! So, here it is:

Final New Cover

An Experiment Goes As Expected

Last week, Jodi at Heart Like a Dog, who frequently writes cute posts about the funny or sweet things her dogs do that make her smile, wrote about how her boy Sampson stops eating his Kong and stares at it, "knowing someone will help [him] get the goodies out..."

She said that he will "either bounce the Kong until he gets the pineapple out, or he just stops all together. "

I commented that "Rita would look at me like I was insane if I put fruit in her Kong." Jodi asked if I'd ever tried pineapple, conjecturing that Rita might actually like it. I said I was "100% certain Rita will give me a look of disgust if I offer her a piece of pineapple." And an experiment was born.

A Book To Help You Survive Losing a Heart Dog

My blogger friend Roxanne Hawn of the award-winning Champion of My Heart blog recently published a non-fiction book called Heart Dog: Surviving the Loss of Your Canine Soul Mate. It is based on her own experience losing her beautiful heart dog, Lilly.

Isn't that a beautiful cover?

A Pet Pit-Stop at the Airport

Recently I shared pics of our trip to Hawaii. There were a couple I didn't share though.

While we were at the San Diego airport waiting for our flight, the hubs and I stopped to use the restrooms. Between the men's and women's bathrooms, this sign hung on the wall next to a closed door:

Mischief at the Office

Friday, June 26 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. 

Luckily, I've been working from home since 2000. For a long time I worked as a research analyst, and now as a writer. Our girls - angel Bailey, angel Abby, and Rita - have all enjoyed getting to "go to work" with me every day, even if my commute is just to the office down the hall.

We did try taking Bailey to the dog-daddy's work a couple of times -- but only on the weekends when very few other folks were around. 

Good thing too, because the very first time we took her there (the hubs just needed to quickly stop by the office for some files), she sensed immediately that this was some sort of enchanted land. As soon as we opened the door, she took off running. We had her off-leash, assuming she'd just cruise along with us - but no. She had other plans!

Angel Bailey