Curbing "Some" Mischief

Happy Monday!

So, as you know, I've been known to cause quiiiite the mischief around here when Bosses leave for work.  I really miss them, so I panic, and think they're never coming back.....

....and then they come back.  And while I'm really happy that they're back, I also look around me at the rubble.  Oh yeah, I made that rubble.  Oh. No.

So now, I've been a member of "Project Sadie" for a few weeks.  For now, it's been a success- whew!  I'm finally being a rather good puppy (or did Bosses finally realize possible disastrous materials and remove them from my worksite)!  Mom has been lining my KONG with a spoonful of peanut butter everyday, which has been working well as a positive reinforcement.  Mom leaving is okay now, since I get good things when she goes!

The kitty overlord, Thor, making sure the "Staff" (or I call them "Bosses") are making the food correctly.

A few days ago, Mom saw a brilliant idea from her volunteer friend at RAGOM- now, most of it is common knowledge.  Her volunteer friend froze the KONG toys for her dogs, filled with a lovely little concoction! (You're probably saying "yeah, yeah, yeah, what else is new?" I'm Mom/Dad's first dog together, so this is all news to us!")  She mixes apples, peanut butter, plain yogurt, and water.  We did a little spin off this one, mixing plain yogurt, apples, peanut butter, and blueberries.  I'll show you what she did- I had to ask Mom to make these, since I don't have opposable thumbs. :)

If only we had more KONG toys.....

First, Mom washed all the fruits- gotta make sure that they're all clean.  You never know what's on those things!  After everything was squeaky clean, Mom cored the apple, then chopped it into little pieces so it would blend better.  The picture shows the skin, but she took the skin off shortly afterwards.

Mmmmm, apples!  After this picture, Mom took the skin off the apple and chopped it.

She put all the chopped apple aside in a little bowl (about 1 medium apple's worth), and put about 1/2 a little carton's worth of blueberries aside in a bowl.  Mmmmm, fresh fruit is so good!

After the fruit prep was done, she poured in a little bit of plain yogurt into the blender.  We're still in the experimentation process, so we started by adding a personal-sized container's worth of yogurt in there.  It seems like a reasonable amount.

Mom put the apples in first, and blended the apples and yogurt together.  The whirring of the machine makes me curious!

When the mixture was smooth, Mom then added the blueberries.  It was so cool watching the color change as soon as the blueberries started making their way to the bottom! :)

When the blueberries were mixed in, Mom also added in about a tablespoon's worth of peanut butter. YUM!  It has a slightly watery consistency, but it'll work for our purpose.  When it was thoroughly mixed, Mom set out the KONGs in...wait for it....

IKEA Kid cups!!!  Yes.  These things work perfectly for storing KONGs in the freezer!  The bottom little hole in the KONG practically seals on the bottom of the cup, and nothing spills.  Mom put mine in the freezer last night, and I'll get my first one to try when she leaves for work in a little bit.  How cool is that?!  A huge thank you to our volunteer friend for showing us this!  (Note: the ones that fit perfectly are a size large.  The one with the paper towel around the outside is a size medium, and still sealed.)

Size medium KONG with a paper towel around the edge.

Size large KONG- perfect fit!

 So, there you have it!  A brilliant realization!  The IKEA kids cups cost Mom and Dad about $1.99 or so.  Do you have anything that keeps you/your pet busy while the Bosses are at work?  Do you stuff your KONG with something different?

Until next time, we're working on getting more KONGs!  Mom says they're a bit spendy to buy 5 or 6 at a time, so maybe Santa will be kind to me this year.

Chow!

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!