Tip-a-Canoe and the Dogs Came Too

September was a blur. We took the boys floating early in the month. Lieu cried all 6.2 miles and Jason had to counter balance Speck the whole way. They used to float with us all the time but I don't think we'll be taking them again.

We've been trying to take Ray in the car on short trips. Now she loves to go and gets excited whenever we leave, unless we take one or more of the other dogs, then she throws a fit. One day we took her and Speck to the pet store, to get puppy cones at Andy's and for a walk on the greenway. She didn't quite make it, but we've had many shorter successes, all in good time. Ray also got to accompany Jason to my work picnic. She wouldn't let anyone pet her, but she loved walking around the park and didn't get upset with any other dogs.

I was 5 minutes from leaving for work one morning, getting ready in the bedroom with Ray laying on the bed, when I leaned over to give her some love. She jerked her head up, gave me a fat lip and knocked my bridge out. Luckily the dentist was able to get me right in.

We took Magi and Speck in for vaccinations. She's up to 54 lbs. and he's 23lbs. Magi didn't throw up on the trip, we're on a roll! Lieu's been to the vet twice-his first anal gland issue and to have a fatty tumor checked.

October brings Ray's birthday. I can hardly believe our Baby Ray is already a year old.

Her Rotteness Reigns Supreme

We've created a monster. These teenage months are going to wear us down as much as puppy hood did, the only difference is Ray moves faster now. She's still adorable and funny, and we could definitely have it much worse, but she's as obstinate as ever and has little interest in listening to, much less obeying, commands. Unless you're Magi...or Jason.

Magi has very little patience for Ray's antics. They're still buds and wrestle regularly, but Ray cow tows to Magi, even when she shouldn't or doesn't need to. Magi's gotten really bossy with everyone, including us when she thinks she can get away with it. The two of them keep the boys in check though. They won't put up with Lieu picking on Speck at all.

Ray's love-me-not behavior wouldn't matter if she hadn't decided she's Jason's dog. She loves, loves, loves her papa. She brings her toys to him to play (while refusing my offers to play), and tries to share by shoving them in his mouth, she snuggles with him in bed or on the couch and ignores me or jumps off. And now she cries when he leaves.

So I've decided to use Ray's fondness for Jason to teach her a new trick. I always wave goodbye to him from the dining room window and Ray has started standing at the window with me when he leaves. So I'm trying to teach her to wave at him by moving her paw up and down. She's not very patient so she usually runs off before he actually leaves, but I call her back and help her wave as I do. I'm pretty sure she tried to wave by herself today and even if it wasn't intentional, she's still getting the idea.

I'm also teaching her to catch treats in the air. We started with Cheetos, cause who doesn't love Cheetos!? Ray did great, Magi not so much. Magi just lets them bounce off her head and the floor, much like Betty used to do. And Specker is great at it too. Lieu didn't hear the commotion and slept through it all.

A word of warning should you ever visit the Animal House: Ray loves to stick her nose in your crotch and butt, and will happily lift your skirt, shorts to do so. She actually has to approach you to do so, the chances of which are fairly slim given her track record with people, but consider yourself warned all the same.

Belly Love and Other Topics

Ray is a belly whore. Betty was the original belly whore. Whenever you'd pet her, Betty would invariably roll on to her back so you can pet her stomach, and usually sooner than later. Most dogs like their bellies scratched, but these two would prefer it was all belly petting, all the time. Ray takes belly whoring to a new level as she throws herself on the floor at your feet as you're walking through the house. She's hard to resist, laying there wiggling her butt and wagging her stubby tale, but she's also a danger to our well being at times. But look how big she's getting! The first photo is from today and the other six months ago.

Ray gets to sleep on the floor in our room every night. She's becoming a pretty good watch dog and doesn't care to sleep on the bed or tear anything up, so we're happy to let her sleep outside her box. The best part--Sillybutt comes up for snuggle time before we go to sleep and when we wake up. The other Rosendogs aren't too happy about it but they also aren't content to sleep on the floor. I also started pulling a bed in for Lieu (Ray also if she wanted) a few nights a week, he gets some special treatment as our senior Rosendog. Like getting to drag our clothes around the house.

Magi's been getting her own special time. I've started painting her nails every week or so. She does really well through about three paws, then it's sometimes a struggle to finish.

I'd feel bad if I didn't mention Speck. We're trying to keep his annual summer allergy freak-out at bay with Benadryl. Luckily the weather has been much cooler than normal. 

Catching Up

Hey there! Sorry it's been awhile but things have been fairly quiet in Rosendog land. I'm also experiencing technical difficulties with my tablet, the tool I use to write Ray of Life. I HATE technical difficulties and nothing I do seems to fix this particular problem, so I avoided the issue until I could think of a work around. I've downloaded an app for the blog, this is the test run so we'll see how it goes.

Anyhow, as I was saying, dog-wise it's been fairly quiet. Then this weekend happened. Jason took the critter feeding tray down because Ray became obsessed with jumping and grabbing the tray with her mouth. We were worried she'd hurt herself and eventually the tree, so down it came. Of course the jumping hasn't stopped, she is actually jumping even higher! But there's less jumping overall, so that's good.

A water lily was sitting next to the pond for re-potting after the koi dug it up. Ray thought the plant would make a good snack and while she didn't eat much, it was enough to warrant checking the toxic plants lists. Opinions vary on the toxicity of water lilies so we opted for the watch and wait method. I did check my phone to make sure the animal poison hot line was still listed, just in case. So far, so good, although there was that nasty mess she rolled in...not sure what it was, but Ray managed to find and roll in something gross in the yard and required a bath first thing Sunday morning. That was pleasant.

Ray didn't escape the weekend unscathed. She got her ear pinched under the rocking chair Saturday night. Poor baby! It was quite the little injury and we learned that ears bleed profusely. Jason put styptic powder on it and it stopped. That powder burns a bit, but Ray was a trooper through it all and hasn't bothered her wound at all. Such a good girl...sometimes!

Dog Treat: Smarties

Here are a couple of pups who are as talented as they are cute! The patience and time these owners and talented canines exhibit is impressive. Bravo!

I'm ready for an end to daily rain and muddy paws. The floors and my clothes can't take much more. If only I could train the Rosendogs to wipe their feet...and Ray to quit jumping on me.

Critters Beware!

Ray has a new way to torment our backyard visitors. She loves to jump up to the feeder platform, whether critters are up there eating or not, and has started biting and hanging from it temporarily. She almost got a squirrel by the other day, it just barely got away. Here's the tree climbing/jumping video as promised:

In other news, Ray slept on the bed with us almost all night last night! So exciting, even though I got almost no sleep! She hasn't slept with us since the first night we brought her home and she slept with me on the couch.

Ray's still terrified of the crevasse between the bed and wall. I don't know what she thinks is in that dark abyss, but she still stays far from the edge. We invite her up on the bed regularly but you can't move too quick or she takes off. And she typically only stays a few minutes. Last night was a treat but not one I'll be too quick to repeat.

In not so fun news: Ray's a little obsessed with the dog behind us. We're teaching her not to bark at it (wish our neighbor would do the same) so instead she whines. And bites the fence. I was looking the other day and the privacy fence has bite marks all down a lengthy section of it at various heights in the Ray reach. I see fence repairs in our not so distant future.

Ray Don't Care

"Ray don't care" pretty much sums up life at our house the past couple of months. And we expect to keep saying it regularly as our teenage terror of a puppy seems hellbent on continuing her current trends of disobedience and destruction.

You see those ears, right? Ray picks up every sound in a mile radius, I'm sure. So I know it's not her hearing when I call her to me from two feet away and she goes to Jason. She just doesn't care that I'm the one calling her.

The other day Jason found our little darling de-feathering our lonesome dove. She hadn't killed it mind you, just pinned it to the ground and proceeded to pull the feathers out of the poor thing's back. Jason was able to distract her away from it long enough for the dove to fly away. This dove has visited our yard regularly for several years and has no mate, so I'm very hopeful he has a full recovery.

That evening Ray punched Jason in the mouth after he made what we've started calling the crazy note while playing with her