christmas destruction

for those of you that know me, you know that i have lost my fair share of personal belongings to the antics of my dogs. luckily, the incidents are getting fewer and farther between, but occasionally i am still greeted by a shredded possession.

today it was this

how silly of me to think that i could actually wrap all my presents and put them under the tree! especially ones that are technically food products. this one was for my mom's husband tom - a gift pack of spices from the savory spice shop* in denver. i'm going to take it in and see if they'll repackage the gift box for me - at least they didn't get through the spice jars!

this reminded me of a story my mom always tells about their first christmas when our dog champ was a puppy. this was before i was born, my parents were just married, and when they came home from work, there was wrapping paper and presents strewn all about the room. it turns out that my aunt paula had sent champ a bone and he tore through everything looking for it. my mom and dad had no idea who had given them what, which made thank you notes fun, i'm sure. dear grandma, thank you for the (check one): levis, book, frying pan, sweater. love sandie and luther.

and, because you all know i'm a list person, i'm going to try to compile a list of things my dogs have eaten over the past 2 1/2 years. i don't even want to think about the monetary value.

• 15 pairs of shoes
  
• 20 pairs of underwear
  
• 5 expensive bras
• 1 belt
• 2 ball caps
  
• 3 t shirts
• 1 bazillion white athletic socks
• 100 black dress socks
• 3 remote controls
• 1 fabric couch
• 1 black leather couch
• 1 brown leather couch cushion
• 1 brown leather couch leg
• 4 futon mattresses
• 3 corners of baseboard woodwork
• 4 dining room chair legs
• 1 dining room table leg
• 2 dog beds
• 2 down comfortors
• 6 pillows
• 1 bottle of lotion
• 25 pens/markers/highlighters
• 1 autographed book
• 2 coupon books
• 2 paper back books
• 1 library book
• 3 ski hats
• 1 scarf
• 1 glove
• 1 bottle of thyroid medication
• 1 basketball belonging to neighbor kid
• 2 vaccuum cleaner attachments
• 1 christmas present

i know i'm missing some.

anyone else wanting to see marley & me on christmas? it will be like watching jerry springer when you're having some family drama.. suddenly, your life doesn't seem so bad!


*AWESOME store! all blended locally, reasonably priced, and yum! i highly recommend to the foodies out there..

how i keep my house clean, my puppy exercised, and myself entertained

when the cat is away..

or in my case, when the dogs are away, the mice DO play!

i am heading out of town today for a business meeting and my dogs are staying with a friend.

just right now, i found a dead mouse in the dog water bowl and not 2 minutes later another one scampered across my floor and is hiding behind my snowboard.

i actually screeched and tried to jump on a chair.

time to call the exterminator, i think.

bone machine

today at my favorite grocery store, sunflower market, i purchased a bunch of ingredients to make 5 vegan casserole and/or crock pot delights. this is my first actual foray into the vegan lifestyle, which i was convinced was probably the way to go when i read "skinny bitch".

there is a mushroom "tuna" (how chickpeas can substitute for tuna i have no idea) casserole in the oven. i will let you know how it turns out.

i also purchased 2 ~8" ham bones for the puppers. they each received a bone at approximately 5pm. it is now 6:03pm, and while kitsu has been chewing on her bone at an appropriate rate as pictured below..

burton somehow misunderstood the assignment.

i took it away from him as soon as i realized what he did - i don't think that it's good for him to have eaten the bone. hopefully it will pass without incident - the last thing i need it another trip to the vet. :(

it's big, but not THAT big

so this chilly sunday night, i'm sitting in my big comfy chair catching up on my blog reading, with a bowl of hamburger helper (lasagna flavor*), watching really bad celebrity tv on VH1.

i had a better night planned, i swear. movie night. 2nd date with the boy, who shall now be named 24phd** who didn't even flinch when we ran into my ex friday night. movie night was his idea, even. and i don't think it's because he's lazy. but this afternoon i received a text from 24phd saying that his boss needs him to work on a grant that is due tomorrow and he's so sorry but he has to go to the lab and can't do movie night.

no biggie. at least i didn't have to clean the house. and we've rescheduled for tomorrow.

at any rate, there is about a foot of space between me and the edge of my big comfy chair. a foot of space that my 85 pound malamute has deluded himself into thinking he can fit into. every time i'm in the chair. i get the paw first.. and the look like "hi mom, whatcha doing? what? i'm just standing here!". then the second paw.. and the third and fourth. so he's standing in the foot of space facing the back of the chair. but he can't just lay down in that position. no, burton likes to be facing the tv, of course. so he turns, sticking his big ass right in my face and tries to lay down sideways, as in across my lap. this doesn't work so well when i also have a computer in my lap (and his ass has automatically sent a few emails before they were ready and shut down a few programs unsaved). so i push him over and he gives me an exasperated sigh and a look that says "will you please move so that i will be more comfortable?" and then kicks me trying to get his legs to fit in the space.

this has become an hourly ritual. because after about 15 minutes, he decides he needs a drink of water or has to go pee or needs to take a toy away from kitsu. then he comes back to resume the position. sometimes kitsu will feel left out and want to join the party too. she usually jumps up and sits on burtons head. i want to get a picture, but once they're in the chair, i'm pretty stuck.

it's nice in the winter though - at least the side of my legs stays warm.

and if you want to see a really cute video of a puppy that could be burton's twin, go here.

*made with almond milk because i'm trying to cut down on my dairy intake after reading "skinny bitch".
**who is of course, 24 yrs old (i like me some young ones!) AND 2 years away from a phd in a ridiculously difficult medical research field.

grounded

burton used to be so good at the dog park. he'd play with the other pups and there would be no problems.

then last year, i started noticing that he wasn't too fond of boxers. my friend's boxer and him got into it under the kitchen table last year during chrismas dinner. he would sometimes pick fights with other boxers at the dog park.

then one day the doggie day care called me and said that he had started a fight with a bulldog.

in the past few months, i can't take him to the dog park without there being an incident. the other dog is rarely the provoker.

i've talked with our trainer about this, and apparently we aren't to a level in the training that we can take care of it yet. plus it's hard to train because it doesn't happen every time with every dog. it's so unpredictable.

it's hard to come to terms with the fact that your sweet, adorable puppy may be a problem dog. i feel like i'm getting a reputation at the dog park. and that i'm very close to being banned. i'm embarrassed because i know people are talking about us. and they should be. burton has become the agressive dog.

i'm going to feel bad only taking kitsu to the dog park, but unless i can stop whatever is triggering burton, it's just too much of a liability to take him.

puppy for sale

burton will be one year old on saturday. 7 in dog years. and it's showing. he's testing his boundaries.

in the past 2 weeks, i have cleaned up FEATHERS from my house no fewer than THREE times. first it was a little pillow in my office when i was away all day.. then it was a larger pillow when i was in the shower.. and today is was my freaking DOWN COMFORTER while i was WORKING in my office!

there are down feathers all over my house. and the dog. he looks like the proverbial fox in the hen house.

per shannons request

my new, absolutely adorable, 8 week old alaskan malamute, burton.