Monday Mischief: Framed

Happy Monday, Pals!

Well, this weekend has been really warm, so all my white fluffy snow has been melting away :( I'm not too happy about that. 

Since our Christmas tree has been in our basement once again, my kitty sibs Thor and Allie have been up to quite the mischief lately.  

First off, they sleep IN the tree (or at least Allie does).  While she's in it, Thor will scale behind the tree and find his favorite ornaments to nab and take back to his "lair".  The ornaments have now traveled up to 5 feet away from the tree in a little "nest".  Hmmmm. Mom's up to his games.....she framed me at first, but now she finally understand that Thor likes to frame me.  Ugh!

Do your siblings frame you? What rebellion!  What deviance!  What betrayal!

That Allie is up to no good....

Monday Mischief: IT'S HERE!!!!

Guys!!!

Hey! Guys!!!

THE WHITE FLUFFY STUFF IS BACK!!!

The Bosses call this stuff "snow", but whatever it's called, it's the BEST. STUFF. EVER.

Will I stop whining at the door to go out?  Absolutely not! They call it "MinneSNOWta" for a reason!

The "snowpocolypse" (as some Minnesotans have been calling it) started around 3am this morning and is not supposed to let up until Tuesday morning.  We find it interesting, because not only is this our first heavy snowfall of the year, it's the first snowfall of the year.

Guess Winter didn't want to wait- Mother Nature, bring it on!  I'm ready for you!

Take a look- our pictures are just as fresh as the snow is on this chilly, chilly Monday morning!

Enjoy! :)

Monday Mischief: Project Sadie

Whew, it's Monday.  What a weekend! All my pictures would be of me sleeping, so I thought some "throwback" pictures would be kind of fun. :)

Post-bath hyena run, with my tire toy in my mouth.

Puppy Sadie, ready for destruction!

Now here we are, Monday- lately, since Kaiser has left our roost, I have been a little off-kilter.  I was SO happy to have a little buddy that lived with me.  Now I'm stuck with my little kitty siblings, and they aren't really fond of playing with me.  Alas, I have been causing some mischief.  During the 5 1/2 hours Mom is gone, I get a lot accomplished- I ate another stair's worth of carpet and padding, I left the contents of my bladder on the carpet, and shredded some newspaper and stuffies all over the carpet.  Mom was NOT amused.

I get rewarded for playing with appropriate toys!

Mom is pretty disappointed when I do this, but Dad?  He really is not amused.  They have been thinking of some solutions to curb my problems.  Dad suggested that I get crated for the day while both of them are gone at work.  This works for many, many people, but  Mom feels bad that I have to spend 5 1/2 hours in a crate, so she got creative and came up with this plan:

Naughty naughty!

Operation Sadie.

Purpose: To get me to stop my behaviors when home by myself.

The plan:

1. As Mom leaves (she's the last one to go), I get a Kong with peanut butter slathered on the inside.  This teaches me that good things come, even if I am apart from my humans!
2. I now have a soft radio playing in the background.  Mom thinks this will help to have some white noise, therefore keeping my brain from going crazy!
3. The landing/basement have been baby-gated so I can't even touch the stairs.  That way, the stairs aren't even an option.  I have plenty to do upstairs.  Mom and Dad are going to eventually cover the stairs/upper level with nice laminate flooring, but that involves $$, as you know.
4. All bedroom doors are shut, and the bathroom mats are hung up on the shower rod.  I have been known to shred a few memory foam bath mats, so now that they're out of my reach, I can't even go there. *sigh*

Me, surrounded by my good toys!

So far, this has worked for 3 days.  Think this might work long-haul?  What are your suggestions for curbing the mischief to an appropriate level? :)

Mission accomplished!  A tired doggie!

Monday Mischief: Sadie the Motor Mouth

Good Morning, Friends!

Sorry I didn't get the chance to get my paws on the keyboard yesterday- Bosses didn't let me into the computer room, since they went to Iowa City for a wedding over the weekend.  I got to hang out with my Grand"paw", "Run"cle, and "Paw"nt.  I think that's what they call those people?

Anywho, today, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the one thing that gets me in the most trouble:

My mouth.

I am a young dog, and am learning what is appropriate and not appropriate to chew on.  Unfortunately, I figure things out the hard way.  Bosses use a technique to help me learn what is right and wrong, which helps a lot.  If I have my mouth stuck on something they'd like me to leave alone, they switch the bad thing out with something good, like, a Nylabone/chew/ball.  That way, it's positive training with no negative punishments.  I think it's great!  Sometimes, when they're gone at work, I find something out of the blue and obliterate it.  Whoops.  Hence the first Monday Mischief that we wrote about- the stairs getting de-carpeted.

Along with behavioral training, chewing on inappropriate items can be physically dangerous for us dogs.  What if I would have ingested any of the things I ripped to smithereens?!  I hear things don't end well when certain items get stuck, so Boss likes to make sure I'm supervised when chewing on things as much as humanly possible.

We read a neat guide called "Eat This, Not That!" that explains the hazards items can introduce to dogs.  There's even a "seasonal hazards" section, which is very relevant during this time of year!  Halloween this week, Thanksgiving next month, Christmas, New Years.....lots of fun, but also lots of hazards.  I encourage you to read through the guide- even if you know some portions of it already, it's always worth a read.  You can learn something new everyday!

What are some inappropriate items I've destroyed?

• Underwear- I only rip up the cute ones that Small Boss has.  Not Big Boss's- those aren't cute.
• The carpet on the staircase- I pull the carpet up and shred the padding underneath.  Good fun!
• Socks- I like to tug on these.  They have good smells, too!
• The rugs in the kitchen- they looked too neat.  Plus, all the food smells?  Psh! Yeah!
• The memory foam bath mats- they were so squishy.  Felt like cotton candy!
• Toilet paper rolls- because when it's shredded, it looks like snow!  And I like snow!
• Mom's peony plant roots- THIS was a little more scary.  I threw up a lot from these- turns out they are toxic to dogs.  Who knew?!  Mom immediately put a little fence around these so I can't get them.
• Cardboard boxes- the cats do it, why can't I?
• Markers- I ate one.  It wasn't as satisfying as I thought.

The list could go on.  However, I don't actually swallow my victims.  Whew.  I recommend you check that infographic/guide out.  I found it very helpful, and we now know what symptoms to look for in case I do end up swallowing something one of these days.

*Note: I was not compensated for this article- I found it informational, and thought it would be a good read!*

Chow!

Monday Mischief: The Birth Day

Good Morning, Friends!

This weekend was a BLAST.  Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes- I feel so loved!  Saturday was our most mischievous day of the weekend- I regret nothing.  We made sure that my day was extra special, since, well, you only turn ONE...once!

Me posing for my 1st Birthday!

We started our day out by a big morning breakfast.  Bosses let us puppies go outside and play! I got to find all the sticks that have fallen with the leaves.  I decided to be a nice foster sister and share some with my buddy, Kaiser, too.

Sharing is caring!

Bosses then told me we were "going" somewhere.  I love the word "go"!  Bosses went quickly into REI, got me a sweet new food bowl, and then we went to a "Meet & Greet" at Chuck and Don's for RAGOM (Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota).  The Big Boss even let me sit in his lap up front, with the window rolled ALL the way down.  I just liked to rest my head on the window ledge and get all that fresh air in my nose.  It was WONDERFUL.  I even got to see the people who helped rescue me at the Meet & Greet!  They all couldn't believe that I was already one year old!  They even remembered picking me up for the first time when I was just two weeks old.  Ahh, reminiscing. :)

You can't catch me, Kaiser!

We took a mid-morning nap, because....well, we got a little worn out from the morning.  We played a bit more.  That's my specialty!

Aww, man!  You got it.  Now I have to get you!

After we woke up, we had lunch- another little feast.  I'm thinking everyday should be a birthday!  We had tons of T-R-E-A-T-S.

I kidnapped this fluffy friend from the bedroom and now it's mine.

Bosses even got me some birthday presents.  They got me a wonderful doggie bed!  Small Boss usually makes me one, but she found a deal on the foam/liner/"duvet" that was even better than buying materials.  So, this one is mine!

Eating yummy things on my new bed! So comfy!

I got a sweet bag of treats, TWO rawhide ribs, and a bunch of little toys handmade by my Boss herself!!!! SO COOL.

My haul from my birthday- not too shabby! :-)

We even went on an afternoon outing!  I'll be writing about that on Tuesday, because this one is getting a bit lengthy.

We played some more, ate some more, and passed out.  Just because the day was that good.  Bosses had friends over for something called "Bored Game Night".  They looked like they were having too much fun to be having a night devoted to "bored games", but I never said these people always made sense. ;-)  It was fun for Kaiser and myself, though, because that means that people come over to pet us!  Not a bad deal.

*Many treats were involved in the production of this photo*

Thank you everyone, for making my day special!

Chow!

Monday Mischief: Breaking News!! New Fluff!

Hello, everyone!

Prepare for trouble....

...make it DOUBLE!

You're not seeing double, we have raised you a Golden puppy!

This is our new buddy, Kaiser.  He's our foster puppy- not a permanent part of the family.  We're taking him in and teaching him how to be the best puppy until he finds his forever home.  Welcome, Kaiser, and we hope you enjoy it here with our furry little fam! :)

But wait!  There's more!  Bring a Golden puppy home and bring a Black puppy home!!!

Yes, you heard it!  We are temporary fostering another puppy as well- his name is Trackr.  He may or may not be Kaiser's sibling...we're not 100% sure.  They and one other pup (another supposed sibling) were found abandoned in a ditch in Alabama, and were rescued/transported to Minnesota to find forever homes.  Funny thing is...they don't look alike at all.

What do you think?  Siblings, or not siblings?

Chow!