These coworkers aren't much help

Occasionally I'm able to work from home. It's nice to be able to catch up on writing assignments and focus on some big projects (while doing laundry). The one challenge is my lovely home-office coworkers.

They like to remind me to take breaks:

Proof read my documents:

And taste my notebook:

At least they don't ask many annoying questions or want raises.

They do however, occasionally cause serious damage.  Yup. Lindsey my sweet lovely social kitten joined a friend and me for coffee a few days ago in the kitchen, squirmed enthusiastically for belly rubs, and knocked over a cup of coffee. Killing my laptop. So I'm getting an unscheduled, unbudgeted upgrade. Good thing she's so cute.

Twins!

It's cat week - this week will be all about Lindsey and Maeby.

Too bad we don't have two Franklins. Imagine how much cuter these pictures would be if there were two small grey and white dogs rather than tabby cats.

although these kittens are pretty darn cute.

Lola's bed - part 9

Take that Franklin!

The two faces of Lola

95% of the time Lola is a wonderful, calm, obedient, sweet dog. She does great on Sociabulls walks.

Photo by A of Two Pitties in the City

She excels in her training classes.

At home she mostly just gets comfy and rests wherever she can find a good spot (we know she usually doesn't get her bed)

But when we have visitors in the house, it's a whole different Lola. I do not have pictures of Inhospitable Lola because I'm too busy trying to calm her and our guests to man the camera.

The minute we open the front door she starts barking. She shoves her nose at guests as they walk in the house and continues barking and bristling until the guest sits down. The second they sit down, she stops barking, and puts her giant meathead in their lap to be petted. She's great as long as guests remain sitting, going so far as to abandon me and take naps at their feet. She gets more agitated the taller the visitor. She eventually gets used to strangers, but has a short memory and every morning when family or friends stay over is the whole drama all over again.

I've tried getting her to sit and accept treats from visitors right when they walk in to minimal success. What seems to work best is to put her in her crate when guests arrive and bring her into the room filled with strangers on leash once everyone has settled in. She still sometimes freaks out when they get up. We've had more guests over lately and she seems to be improving a little. Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

Have any of you had this challenge? What did you do? A barking 75lb pit mix isn't exactly rolling out the red carpet for guests.

Wordless Wednesday

Little dog in the big snow

I'm not the most experience dog owner. Franklin is only my third canine companion, and he's by far the smallest. We adopted him in June, and didn't think about what life with a small dog would be like in the winter.

We didn't realize that when you're low to the ground, you get caked with snow. That just letting him out in the yard for a quick pee requires a full toweling off. That snowballs form in his little armpits.

 We also didn't realize exactly how cute a little furball bounding through the snow could be.

Small dog people - how do you deal with snow?

What's your type?

I had a friend in town this weekend. She's a retriever-lover. She likes all dogs, but her heart skips a beat whenever she sees a Golden. She's learned to love other dogs, but dreams of feathery legs and furry ears and golden goodness.

At SociaBulls yesterday morning, I got called out for my obsession (no, not adorable little terriers, sorry Franklin) with black and white bullies. I was gushing over Billy and all the other gorgeous black and white SociaBulls.

I admit it. I think Lola is the most beautiful dog around. 

I often walk north on my block in hopes of seeing Syd, the neighbors' blockheaded black and white pup who always gives us a play bow through the fence. 

I fell hard for little SuperLevi. Really hard. He's the one that got away. 

I don't know if I would've become such a fan of Two Pitties if they were solid colored. I also have a little crush on Bruno. He's almost black and white. And their current foster Bessie totally fits the bill. 

I just have a soft spot for a big white head. Ideally with a black splotch on it - to show you the best place for a smooch. That doesn't mean that I don't love the brindles and the blues and the reds. And even the non-pitty pups. Especially the adorable little terriers. 

What's your type? 

Lola's OTHER bed

This is where Lola sleeps at night. It's huge and cushy and big enough for both of us. I prefer snuggling with my people in their bed. But sometimes I like to nap with Lola on her nighttime bed.

Who says dogs and cats don't get along?

Before Franklin, Lola only had cats to play with. She decided that Lindsey was her best friend. They spent lots of time together.  After we got her a dog,  Lola realized that Franklin was more fun to wrestle with. She still sometimes cuddles with Lindsey and gets kisses from her, but she plays with her puppy more. 

Wordless Wednesday

Tub Sh!&%tters!

We live in an old house. When we moved in about 10 years ago this is the bathroom we inherited.

it was hideous. We lived with it for many years and just complained. It had no heat, so we never used the bath tub and gave it over to the cats. The litter boxes lived in the tub out of the way.

Fast forward to this year. We finally renovated the bathroom. It's gorgeous.

It has heat. We can use the tub. We had a special nook built for the litter box. Yet...

the cats haven't adjusted. It's been MONTHS. And they're still crapping where the litter box used to be. In our beautiful new tub!!!

One of my favorite blogs, Yellow Brick Home wrote about using office chair mats to keep dogs off furniture (and check out handsome Jack in the post. He and Lola have a little love affair going on at Sociabulls walks. It's cute.), so I figured it might work to keep cats out of tubs, and tried it. It's been a few weeks and no tub shitting!! Thank you YBH for the idea :). We put a strip of the chair mat in the tub, and narrow strips down the sides of the room, where they'd also been known to leave gifts.

We even went out of town for a long weekend and they didn't spite-tubshit.

Unfortunately, now that the litterboxes are out of the bathtub, others, who will for now remain nameless, have taken up snacking on cat-candy. But that's another post for another day...

Want more Franklin? Like him and his family on Facebook. 

step away from the sewing machine

TLWFM decided it was time to dust off the sewing machine and get crafty. She made me a new snowsuit.

and made Lola a new blanket-coat with girly flowers

I don't know that there's a Project Runway for people who make dog clothes in three hours. But if there was, I think TLWFM would win.

so maybe I'm not THAT smart

I was bragging about how I can do everything Lola does. How we both wait nicely for treats.

Well, once TLWFM gives us the "ok", guess who eats my treat first?!?!

I think she's been spending too much time on Facebook because Ms. M's person talked about how she does the same thing a few days ago!!  Maybe she got ideas from Ms. M. And we always thought she was more of a Mr. B. 

Who you callin' dumb?

You know how every family has the smart one and the fun, cute one? Well, I've always been the fun, cute one and Lola was the smart one. When she went to puppy school she was the star of her class, learned everything perfectly and went to advanced classes. When I went to puppy school the teacher thought I was really really cute.

My people spent over a year trying to teach me "down". I went to Basic Pawsibilities class. I learned how to sit and stay. I learned a bunch of stuff. And I know how to lie down. Duh. I'm a dog. I just couldn't figure out how to do it when they asked me to.

Over vacation, TMWFM spent a lot of time working with me.  And one day, I got it! And now I can do some of what Lola does!!

sit

down 

wait

I don't know that I'll ever figure out "roll over". Showoff Lola looooves doing her roll over trick. Growl.

Before Franklin and Lola, there was Emma

I always wanted a dog. This is me when I was little and the closest I could get to a dog was a box of diapers on a string:

I grew up. I still wanted a dog. But I was afraid of what having one really meant. I didn't know if I could handle the responsibility. So I remained dogless. Then in 2003, my brother asked if I could take his dog Emma. He wasn't able to keep her and knew that I already loved her. So Emma became my first dog.

Emma was already around 4 or 5 years old. She was a funny looking girl. All spare parts and ears. Mostly ears. And a whole lot of love.

She was a fantastic hostess when her friend Magic would come over.  She would sit like this on couches and in the car, resting her arm on the armrest.

She was a great friend to us, and showed me how much better my life is with a dog at the end of the leash, rather than a box.

We lost Emma 4 years ago today.

and I still miss her.  I still get teary when I see sheppermans (that's what breed I decided she was, based on her doberman and shepherd features) around the city. I still think of her and smile every time Lola wears one of her hand me down couture coats. I still cry on January 11.

Milestones

You've met my life partner Lola. What you may not know about Lola is that she's a toy-destroyer. A mauler of all things stuffed. She's never met a squeak she couldn't remove in 2 minutes. She loves rolling around in piles of fluffy toy insides. 

Our friend Mr. B had a similar problem, and bravely shared his story. We learned from his experience, and TLWFM spent some time teaching Lola how to be nice to her toys. 

I'm so proud of her. We got a bunch of new toys a few weeks ago, and this is what she does with them now. 

Thanks to Mr. B (and A&E) for sharing their tips.

I learned stuff over vacation too. I'll tell you about that in a few days.

Honorary Pit Bull?

There's been more than the usual amount of chatter around Chicago about bully breeds lately. This worries me.

You wouldn't know it to look at me, but I'm part pit bull. Here's my thinking...

Lola is a bully breed, some kind of pit bull terrier type, and I'm obviously a terrier, so I'm related to her, therefore I'm part pit bull too.

TLWFM looooves white and grey pitties. I'm white and grey and she loves me. So I must be part pittie.

Sociabulls is for bullies. Not only am I a member of this great pack, but I usually LEAD the pack. I'm top dog. I must be part pittie.

Photo by Rasidel Slika, from SuperLevi's walk 

Pitties can be wonderful pets if their owners give them love, and toys and treats and teach them how to be good dogs. Look at me. I'm a perfect example. Oh, and so is Lola.

UPDATE: check it out - we're famous!  Well, Lola's kinda famous. She's mentioned in this article in the Chicago Tribune about our Sociabulls walks.

Tourist with your People

You may have read about my summer vacation here.  After talking about it all fall, my people finally took me back to the fun place!!  On our way there we stopped at the Indiana Dunes and went for a really long hike.

We only went for two nights this time, and it was much much colder, but Lola and I got to let ourselves out into the yard using the doggie door and run around and sniff stuff whenever we wanted to.

I got to cuddle on the couch

And lounge by the fire

It was fun. I hope we go back this summer.

Earning my dinner

Lola and I really like dinner. And breakfast. We like to have eating contests and see which of us can finish our dinner fastest. TLWFM decided we should slow down and got us Wobble Kongs.

Bad idea TLWFM. Bad idea. 

I just want to eat my dinner. I do not want to have to figure out how to get my kibble out of this awful contraption. 

Perfect Lola has of course figured out how to get her kibble out and looooves her wobble kong. She's so smart.  Growl.

Lola's bed - part 8. The revenge of Lola

Franklin's resolutions

Franklin is a pretty perfect dog. He doesn't really need to make resolutions. He's even learning how to do more basic obedience and is almost as good as Lola at listening to commands.

There's one thing he's not good at, that maybe he should work on in the new year. Sharing laps with cats. Franklin does not like to share a nice warm lap with an icky icky cat. He prefers to chase them away and luxuriate in lapdom all alone.

 Sometimes he tries to weasel in and make himself fit, but usually he likes to have the laps all to himself.

Franklin has resolved to try to share in 2012.