BBQ

Yesterday was an awesome day.  Yesterday I was invited to my very first BBQ/playdate.

My adventure started off with me refusing to get into Sister's car.  There was really no reason why I didn't want to cooperate.  I guess I just wanted to be difficult.  Anyway, after much pleading, a few belly rubs, and some assistance from Pa, I jumped into the car and set myself down directly behind Sister and proceeded to drool and pant loudly in her ear while she drove away.

Just when I was starting to run out of drool (yes, it can happen), Sister pulled over, got out of the car, and let me out as well.  As soon as my feet touched the ground I started looking around for familiar sights, but I saw nothing that I recognized.  Then, all of a sudden, I heard it:  the sharp bark of my bff Mecki.  I was at Mecki's house!  Dragging Sister and all of her bags behind me (Sister just can't seem to pack lightly), I bolted toward Mecki's backyard.

Once behind the gate I:

Snout to Snout with Mecki

• Ran around like a crazy dog chasing and being chased by Mecki.
• Ate about half of the cookie that Karin gave me (Mecki came by later to eat the pieces I left behind).
• Stuck my snout in a bucket of water in search of Karin's fish, Mr. Freckles (he was shy and didn't say hello to me).
• Snacked on some grass.
• Wet on Karin's cucumber plant.

Just as I was starting to get worn out (Mecki has unlimited energy...I honestly don't think he ever gets tired), I heard a noise coming from the gate.  It was Joan, the lady known for carrying around baby carrots for good little puppies.  After collecting a sufficient amount of pets from Joan, Mecki and I spent a good ten minutes mooching carrots from her (I slobbered on her in thanks).  I like Joan a lot, and not just because she gave me carrots; she also repeatedly complemented me on my gorgeous eyelashes (it is always nice when someone notices and comments on your devilishly good looks).

Mecki Wants to Play...I Want to Nap

The rest of the evening consisted of Mecki and I barking hysterically at the neighbors (both of the two and four legged varieties) while Karin, Joan, Mecki's dad Andre, and my Sister tried to have a conversation.  Then Mecki and I chased each other around the backyard for a time.  Eventually, I got tired, but Mecki didn't, so I had to give him a few good paws across the side of the head to make him stop (he didn't get the hint).

Now, I've debated long and hard on whether or not I should tell you, my loyal readers, the next part of my adventure.  You see, it was really kind of alarming and embarrassing.  When it first happened, I immediately thought that I should simply pretend that it never occurred.  In the hours since, however, I've decided that I should tell my story so that other dogs might learn from my mistake.

Well, here it goes:

It was time to go home and Karin and Mecki walked Sister and I out to the car.  Sister opened the door and gave me the command "up and in."  Like earlier, I refused to get into the car and flopped down like an 80lb rag doll (I witnessed Mecki do the same thing a few minutes earlier...he's quite good at it) and rolled over to show my belly.  Sister begged and pleaded with me to get up then tried enticing me into the car with cookies, but I refused to budge.  After about ten minutes, Sister managed to trick me into standing and lifted my front end up in an attempt to "walk" me into the car.  This I found disturbing, but what was to come was even worse.  Suddenly, my back legs left the ground too; Karin had picked me up by my back end (and I thought you were cool, Karin).  So, in short, Sister and Karin pick me up and, together, tossed me into the back seat of the car before slamming the door behind me.  Sheepishly, I stretched out on the seat and slept the entire way home (truth be told, I was kind of hoping that that last part was a dream...turns out it wasn't).  So the moral of this story:  When Sister says get in the car...get in the car.

Keeping an Eye on Mecki

It goes without saying that I slept very well last night (Mecki, on the other hand according to Karin, was not at all sleepy).

The Puppy Files: My Overly Toothy Grin

Welcome to the fourth installment of The Puppy Files--the series where I recount stories from before I had my very own blog.  Today's topic:  my pearly white teeth.

Showing Off My Baby Teeth

As I've mentioned before, I was a very nippy little puppy.  I chewed on hands, I chewed on clothing (Pa still has a shirt that I put a hole in during one of my temper tantrums), I chewed on shoes, and I chewed on other inanimate items.  Basically, if I could get my mouth around it, I'd chew on it.  And boy was I a good chewer!  I had sharp needle like teeth and was not afraid to use them.  It was great (though my family would likely tell you otherwise).

But then, a really disturbing thing happened:  all my teeth started falling out.  There I'd be happily playing with one of my toys or gnawing on Sister's hand and POP! a baby tooth would just fall right out of my mouth and onto the floor (Sister collected these teeth--she keeps them in a little metal tin).  But not all of my teeth fell out this way.  Nope, I ended up swallowing most of them while I innocently ate my kibble or my daily Milkbone dog biscuit.  I know, how gross!

My Mouth Hurts!

Of course, once a tooth was ejected, a new one would start growing in and that was a particularly painful process.  My family tried to help me:  they bought me Chilly Bones (bone shaped cloth toys that were soaked in water and frozen) and didn't yell at me when I commandeered some other piece of fabric to gum piteously (that's how painful teething was for me--I couldn't even enjoy being bad!).

Finally, after days of pain and bleeding gums, my adult teeth finally grew in and I was pleased to discover that they were about five times larger than the teeth they replaced.  Seemingly overnight, I went from being a little puppy with a little mouth filled with razor sharp tiny teeth and a bad attitude to a little puppy with a little mouth filled with giant gnashing teeth and a bad attitude.  My family was horrified:  I was all teeth!  They were so concerned with this latest development that the next time I visited the vet, Pa asked him if I had more teeth than I was supposed to (the vet just sort of chuckled and assured Pa that I had all the teeth I was supposed to have).

Check Out Those Pearly Whites!

It wasn't until months later that my head and jaws finally grew in enough to match the size of my teeth.  Now I'm a handsome dog with sparkling white teeth and an award winning personality.

A Noisy Intruder

There are some dangerous things lurking the streets looking to infiltrate an unsuspecting dog's home security system.  Why is this?  It is because certain dogs do not take their role as Head of Security as seriously as they should.  Well have no fear, Rigby is here and I take my household security chores very seriously.

Early this evening, I heard a loud rumbling outside my house.  As is customary, I gave a low warning bark at the noise (after which, as is also customary, Pa told me to stop barking) then I put my head down and resumed my after dinner-before nighttime nap (after all, a warning bark is usually more than enough to scare away any potentially scary things lurking inside or outside the house).

A couple of hours later, Ma took me outside for my final business trip of the evening.  It was then that I saw it:  the large menacing and noisy intruder from before trying, unsuccessfully, to blend in with the environment right outside the neighbor's house.

So what did I do?  I sounded the alarm, of course.  I ran to the front gate and started barking as loud as I possibly could.

I guess I really frightened the intruder because he just stood there while I barked with a deer in the headlight look on his face.  After thirty seconds or so of menacing barking, Ma, feeling bad for the intruder, convinced me that I should go inside and leave him alone (she also promised me a cookie for being such a brave boy).

But before Ma locked the door behind us to ensure that the intruder did not try to follow us inside the house, Sister snuck outside to get a picture of him.  It's a little blurry, but I believe it successfully depicts the intruder's menacing nature.

The Noisy Intruder

So please, my four legged friends, do not shirk your Head of Security duties.  You never know what can be lurking outside your house.

Gesundheit

It all started out innocently enough (how many times has a story of mine started this way?). 

Yesterday, Sister and I were hanging out in the living room having just finished our dinners.  Sister was doing a masterful job of multitasking:  watching television while rubbing my ears and snout.  To my credit, I was making it quite easy for her because I was being particularly cuddly that evening.  You see, unbeknownst to my family (they found out at 4am this morning), my tummy was a little off and when my tummy is off, I become very needy (don't worry, a little grass and a 4:30am outdoor barking session and I felt much better).

So there I was taking full advantage of Sister's willingness to rub my ears and snout and tolerating the occasional kiss she insisted on giving me when all of a sudden I felt a tingling deep in my snout.  It started up by my eyes then slowly made its way down the entire length of my snout to my cold black nose.  Then, all of a sudden, my left lip curled into a snarl and my left eye closed as...

ACHOOOO!

It goes without saying that I felt much better once that sneeze was out of my system.  But before I could enjoy the relief I had found, I was started by the sound of Sister screaming "Ewww!"  Yep, I had sneezed directly in her face.

Amid Sister's cries and the laughter emanating from Ma and Pa, I did the only thing I could:  I wagged my tail and smiled.

Now, I expected karma to find me because of what I did to Sister; I just never expected it to find me the way it did.  You see, this afternoon, Ma and Pa gave me a bath, but not at the doggy spa (my bff Mecki got a bath at the doggy spa this weekend...I wonder what he did to deserve it).  Nope, I got a bath smack dab in the middle of the driveway.  How embarrassing!

But was it worth it?  When all the pain and suffering of bath time is weighed against the look on Sister's face after I sneezed all over her, do I come out on top?

You bet I do!

Rigby's Awesome Vacation

Last week my family was on vacation which means that I was not.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, it’s just that they are a bit high maintenance.  You see, when I’m home during the week and everyone is at work, I am able to maximize my nap time (and I think we can all agree on how important nap time is).  But when they are home, I have to keep an eye on them the entire time; make sure they stay out of trouble, floss regularly, and submit all their snacks to an inspection by yours truly (hey, we all have to make sacrifices sometimes).

But just because it was a working vacation for me doesn’t mean that I didn’t get the opportunity to have some fun.

The Fence 

I Swear, Trouble Finds Me

For the last year or so I have been lamenting how the house out east was severely lacking in the fence department.  Well, a couple of weeks ago Ma and Pa finally remedied that.  Some of my loyal readers might think that I would be ecstatic with this new development; that I would immediately run from one corner of the yard to the other for the first time, by myself, without being tethered to a family member by my leash.  To be honest, though, I didn't.  You see, when Ma and Pa first opened the back door after the fence was installed and said "OK, go play" without putting my least on, I was a bit hesitant.  "Have they finally had enough of my shenanigans?" I questioned as I stared out the door suspiciously, "are they trying to get rid of me--the old open the door, let the dog out, and then quickly slam it behind him?"  

For the first few weeks after the fence was installed, I made sure to stick close to Ma, Pa, and/or Sister whenever I went outside--just in case they tried to make a break for it.  It wasn't until this last week that I finally ignored that little hesitant voice inside my head and let loose by running with abandon through the yard, chasing after a ball (hard to believe, I know, I actually chased after a ball...once), doing figure eights around the trees (skidding through each and every turn--I have grass stains on my chest and legs), and provoking the dogs next door into barking at me.

How did I ever survive without a fence? 

The Floating Sofa

It was while running around the yard at top speed that I suddenly became aware of Ma and Sister dragging an oddly shaped package out of the house and across the yard.

When In Doubt, Sit On It

Being a quizzical dog (not to mention head of homeland security), I wasted no time in cautiously approaching and giving the invader a good once over.  After careful analysis, I determined that the intruder seemed safe enough, but, just as a precaution, I sat on it to make sure that it didn’t have any fight left in it (boy, did Ma and Sister complain--obviously they don’t understand the importance of making sure all invaders are completely neutralized).

After being shooed off the mat, I watched with intrigue as Ma and Sister hung the intruder from two nearby trees.  All of a sudden and before my very eyes, a flat, seemingly harmless carpet turned into a potentially dangerous floating table.  Exercising even more caution, I slowly approached the floating table, but before I could examine it, Ma, throwing caution to the wind, pushed past me and sat down on it!  And if that wasn't scary enough, Ma then lied down on the suspended table! 

Needless to say, I was completely horrified!  Ma was being swallowed up by a scary floating sofa!

Now, I've heard stories about knights in white armor rushing into danger to rescue damsels in distress and I thought, "Hey, I have white fur...that's close enough!"  So, with complete disregard to my own safety, I scurried up to the floating sofa and threw my front paws up and onto it.

Saving Ma

And that's when the floating sofa came alive:  the sofa swung back and forth, Ma's legs and arms flailed wildly in an attempt to escape the sofa's clutches, and I desperately tried to get a good footing in order to boost my back legs up and onto the beast.  After some struggling, Ma managed to get her two feet on the ground and completely blocked me from attempting to jump up and onto the floating sofa.  "Silly dog," she laughed, "this is a hammock!"

Watching Pa Closely

Now, I was assured by my family that the hammock was totally safe, but to be honest, I wasn't convinced.  I decided that it was my duty to keep a very close watch on Ma and, later, Pa while they lounged on the floating sofa and check it out further the first chance I got.

That chance came later in the day when Sister voluntarily allowed herself to be swallowed up by the hammock.  "Here's my chance," I thought as I scurried over to her and, in a single bound, launched myself into the air and landed feet first directly in the middle of the hammock (and Sister's stomach).

The entire world began to move and I was on top of it desperately trying to keep my balance.  The hammock swayed to the right and Sister and I both leaned toward the left which only resulted in the hammock wildly swinging to the left.  Adding to the difficulty of trying to keep my balance was the distracting sound of Sister wheezing because, apparently, she couldn't breathe with me standing on her chest.

After some harrowing moments, I gave up on taming the wild hammock and dismounted (I am happy to report that I stuck the landing beautifully and Sister managed not to fall on the ground).

It goes without saying that I will not be doing that again anytime soon!

Goodbye to a Friend

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my good friend Brandy.  

Brandy, you will be missed!