Who? Me?

Waldo is quickly mastering the art of the "Who? Me?" face. He is a well-behaved dog most of the time, but when he gets obsessive about an object, he just can't stop himself.

This week, he's taken a fancy to Peanut's round, plushy bed. It's beige terry cloth with a black nylon bottom (the style most commonly found in pet stores). Peanut doesn't find it irresistible but Waldo certainly does. The bed has sat in my office for months without a glance from either of them, until yesterday.

Since we are about 65% into a bathroom renovation, there have been many strangers coming in and out of the house. Waldo gets very nervous around strangers; we've kept him separated from them, but yesterday he decided he must put that nervous energy to work somehow.

Whenever one of us would turn our backs, he would march into my office and abscond into a dark corner to chew on the cat bed. "No!" "Damn it, Waldo!" "What are you doing?!?!" "No, no, no!!" were some common phrases heard throughout the house last night.

This morning, he finally got the best of the bed. He breached its defenses and came away with strings of nylon stuck to his face and hanging from his jaw (see photo). When we caught him, he did his best to sit and look at us like"Who? Me? No, I wasn't doing anything wrong." Indeed.

Wordless (but silly) Wednesday

32 bagels and a loaf of rye

I finally had 2 days off in a row and what do I do? I bake! It was a busy weekend, starting with three dozen bagels (plain, onion and cinnamon raisin) and loaf of rye.

Here are some photos of my rye and my onion bagels. I'm still trying to perfect the art of the perfectly formed bagel. In the meantime, Waldo is having a good time eating the deformed ones (notice the subject of my post was 32 bagels and not 36!)

Meanwhile, he is perfecting the art of looking cute and begging. This is picture of him in the kitchen, trying his best to look hungry.
















Afterwards, we took some time for sleepy belly rubs on the couch.

















And there is always, always time to taunt the cat.

We won an award!

Fiona at Yogi's Journey has given us the "You Make Me Smile" Award.

Yay! This is our first award!

Waldo's one year anniversary!

365 short days ago, Waldo joined our household. He was adopted at the age of 8 months from my vet, who had taken him into her home from a pet store who could no longer sell him (due to suspected health issues and his advancing age).

Turns out he was just fine; but with 2 dogs already in her pack, my vet asked if we'd be interested in adopting him as a little brother for Watson. I only promised to drive over to her house to meet him, but once I met him... there was no turning back. In less than an hour, he was stuffed into a small crate in the back of my car and we were headed home. The first photo was taken on March 10, 2007, a day after joining our brood.

I will always be thankful that Waldo and Watson had a few months together to bond before Watson got sick. I am sure that Waldo was nothing less of a nuisance to him, but the Old Man taught him manners in a way that we could not.

Here is a photo of Waldo overstepping his boundaries and trying to sleep in the Old Man's bed.


Finally, here is Waldo doing his best "angel face" as he is caught stealing an apple from the bin. Little did we know that we would see this face often over the next year!

Please give Fiona a (virtual) hug

Yogi's mom, Fiona, is having a hard time with his passing. Please visit her blog and send her some comfort. We've all lost someone in our lives - be it a pet, a relative, a friend.... please reach out and let Fiona know that the dark time doesn't last forever (even though it may feel like it does).

Busybody

Waldo is close to turning 2 years old, and I was hoping that his need to chew would lessen somewhat as he's gotten older. No such luck. In the past week, he has mangled several items around the house - including the cord to the new space heater I got for my home office. Inside of 30 seconds, he managed to chew through the cord with such surgical precision that it looked like it was cut with scissors. Amazing.

Give him a Kong! (He has one.) How about a rope toy? (Yep.) Rawhide?? (Yes.)

In my quest to keep his jaws happy, I think I have found the answer. Meet the Busy Squirrel: Kong-like in its durability, but the insertion hole at the bottom has tiny little rubber fingers that keeps the contents inside the toy.

I have found some success by stuffing in some Purina Carvers treats (they look like flattened road kill, and smell like it too), which has resulted in hours of frustration and gnawing on Waldo's part.

Let's hope this continues to work!