Christmas with Rosie - part lll

Well, Christmas is over and Rosie must have been good.  Santa brought her a stocking full of goodies and she got gifts from all of her friends. She had a great Christmas morning.  Of course she had the undivided attention of Isabel, our three year old granddaughter.  Isabel would not even open her gifts because she wanted to hold and play with Rosie instead.  Rosie is very fortunate to have someone who only wants her. 
I told Isabel's mom and dad that she needed a puppy for Christmas, but they didn't agree.

With six grandchildren in the house, you can imagine that there would be lots of wrapping paper once all the gifts are open.  'Lots' would be an understatement.

This is Rosie with our other two princesses, Alex and Isabel. Rosie is not a fan of the paper but it was a chance she had to take to get the attention she wanted from the girls.

We did manage to get a picture of Rosie with us.  This was taken before everyone got here. She is our little sweetie that morning.

Merry 1st Christmas to Rosie.  She helped to make our morning quite enjoyable.  

I am sure if Rosie could talk, she would wish you all a Merry Christmas too.

I love my Rosie.

Christmas with Rosie - part ll

Now that Rosie has gotten past the Christmas tree mess and the bone hiding in the tree skirt, she has had to deal with Christmas baking.  She loves nothing more than standing with one of us in the kitchen waiting for a handout, crumbs dropped on the floor, lick the dishwasher door...anything that has food flavor. Well, today, my daughter, Paige and grand kids, Mackenzie and Alex came over to help with the Christmas baking. Rosie gets excited enough when they come over and today was no different.  We baked all day along and all day long Rosie was at our feet. Just waiting for a morsel of something to hit the floor. We did pretty good getting things up before she got them.  I really don't like her eating junky stuff, (although we all eat plenty of it).  She really did just stand around all day.  I would think that she would be conked out by now but she isn't. I think she is in the kitchen right now scavenging.

I think I will go get her a bone to chew on.

Stay tuned for Part lll...

I love my Rosie...scavenging and all.

Christmas with Rosie...part 1

Well, it is our first Christmas with a pup in the house in many, many years.  Rosie hasn't cared anything about the tree. It is the mess that she has to keep walking around that is freaking her out.  We have finally gotten most of it out of her way, though.  The only thing about the tree that interested Rosie, at first, is the tree skirt.  It is one that I quilted years ago and have used ever since.  It is like all tree skirts, pretty, but you can't see it once the gifts are under the tree.  Rosie's main attraction to the tree skirt is burying her fake bone.  She has this innate need to hide these bones and walks around the house with one in her mouth and whines the distressed out whine of not knowing what to do.  She will look at us and we will take the bone and hide it under a blanket or a pillow or our leg and she is perfectly fine with that. But with the tree skirt, she just goes under the tree and scratches the skirt until she finds just the right spot to put her bone.

But alas, with presents under the tree, the skirt is no longer available. This presents the next problem, and it doesn't have to do with the bone.  The operative word here is 'presents'.  She pretends to not be interested in them, but like most things in our house that she can reach, as soon as we are out of the room they suddenly become interesting, alluring and worthy of chewing on or shredding or at least investigating.  So we have decided to become pro-active in this area.  We bought a small white picket fence, you know, the kind that you stick in the ground around a flower bed. We trimmed off the part that goes in the ground and put hinges to hook them together. It actually makes a nice little decoration around our tree and Rosie seems oblivious to it.  So for now, the presents are safe.  I will keep you posted on any incidences that occur:)

Stay tuned for Christmas with Rosie - Part II

I love my Rosie, especially at Christmas time.

Rosie, the pumpkin pie distractor

Just before Thanksgiving, Jerry makes pumpkin pies with two of our grandchildren, Michael and Patrick.  It is a time of year that the boys look forward to and Jerry is making memories with them.

The boys have a little sister, Isabel, that came with them.  She will be three the day after Christmas.  We had hoped that she would want to participate in the pie making but she really had no interest at all. The only thing she wanted to do was play, pet and hold Rosie.  She can not get enough of Rosie. Loves her to death. 

Rosie likes Isabel too.  Everytime she comes over, Rosie chases Isabel and Isabel chases Rosie.

They are good friends. 

After the pumpkin pies were done, Isabel didn't have any problem wanting to eat some.  Papa even fed some to her.  She is so silly.

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and pumpkin pies are eaten.  Rosie made it through her first Thanksgiving by distracting our little girl from making pies.  But that is okay.

I love my Rosie, distractions and all.



Rosie's first Halloween

Rosie's first Halloween was fun filled.  She started out on Friday night with a few of her closest human friends spending the night.  Actually, it was five of our grandchildren and my nephew.  All of the kids decorated cupcakes and Rosie was treated to cakes crumbs and sprinkles that made their way to the floor. 

Patrick, Alex, Graham, Isabel, Mackenzie and Michael

We then threw lots of comforters, sleeping bags and pillows on the floor and the kids piled in.  Rosie loved that too.  She can't get enough attention.

On Saturday night we went to my sister's for her annual Halloween party.  We all dressed up including Rosie and Milo.  Boy did Rosie ever have fun.  She loves, loves , loves Milo!

The biggest problem was that Milo liked Rosie's princess hat and thought it was a toy.  He really wanted it.  Needless to say, it didn't stay on Rosie's head very long.

Rosie was a pooped puppy on Sunday and rested most of the day.  On Monday afternoon she went to work with me.  She really wanted Kin, my boss, to be there so she could trick or treat in his office, but he wasn't.  So I took a picture of her sitting in his chair and sent it to him.

Although she didn't get a treat, she didn't trick him:)

Halloween night night we went to Ian and Tony's house to watch all the kids trick or treat.  It was a crazy fun time.  My sister and I gave out candy to hundreds of kids while the rest of the family went trick or treating. 

Rosie and Isabel getting ready to get candy.  Rosie didn't get any though.

Ready, set, go!!! Actually, Rosie stayed with us, but she really wanted to go with the kids.

After all of the celebrations throughout the weekend and Monday, we had one tired puppy on Tuesday.  She loves activity but when she is tired she sits on the back of the couch and snoozes away. Maybe next year she will get to walk with the kids and have the full trick or treating experience, but for now she is still just our baby.

I love my Rosie, trick or treat or not.



Clothes, clothes, clothes

Well a few days ago I bought Rosie a little blue polk-a-dot tee shirt. I put it on her and she was just fine in it.  In the past, she hasn't cared too much for clothes.  This was a little disappointing to me since I wanted to dress her up occasionally, so I was excited that she is okay with them now. 

Anyway, I found a great buy on some outfits at an antique store.  They are, however, not antiques. I don't think there is any such thing as antique dog clothes.  For some reason, people just didn't dress their pets up a long time ago:) Three out of the four I bought were brand new.

I bought her a lovely pink sweater, with a pink faux fur collar and rhinestones on the back.  Also, a darling hounds tooth jacket with a white faux fur collar and an elegant black evening gown with a burgundy sash with a diamond (also faux) studded bow.  I also bought her a pink hooded bathrobe with a rubber ducky applique on the back.  She was tired of me dressing and undressing her by this time, so no picture yet.  She prefers no clothes so I left her alone for awhile.  I'm just happy that I get to dress her up.

I love my Rosie even when she is naked.

Two scares this week!

You know, I never thought I would become one of those dog people.  You know, the one that think their puppy is a baby, the one who tells all her friends about the things her pup does, the one that panics when something happens with or to their pup.  Well, I am one of those people. I do think Rosie is my baby and I do tell all my friends and family about the things she does and I do panic when something happens with or to her.

Just like last weekend.  Our front door sometimes comes open if it is not shut until it clicks.  Jerry really needs to fix that.  Anyway, Paige and I were in the kitchen making cake-pops and we hear Alex yell that the front door is open and then, that Rosie is outside. We all get up and she is in the yard pooing.  Well, we could make the assumption that she went out just to take a poo, but no.  As soon as she was done, she trotted her little hiney toward the road.  We all started calling Rosie and Alex started chasing her.  Of course, Rosie ignored us all and started prancing down the road. I kept telling Alex not to chase her but that is all Alex could do. She was trying so hard to get Rosie. I stood on the porch in a panic, imagining a car coming down the road. Finally, one of our neighbors came walking up the road and Rosie went to greet him and he gave her to Alex.  Thank you, Andrew.

Well today, I took Rosie to Lowes for the first time.  My sister, Dana, takes Milo sometimes and puts him in a buggy.  He loves it.  He stands up on the end and just begs people to talk to him.  He actually is disappointed when they pass him by without speaking.  When I got there with Rosie, I was in the parking lot and grabbed a buggy out of the rack. I decided Rosie is too small to put in the back of the buggy so I flipped down the little plastic thingy and set her in the front.  She did not want to sit.  As I was letting her go to reposition her she jumped out! She landed flat on her side.  Scared me half to death.  Before I could even stoop down to get her, she was up and running toward a lady getting in her car.  I grabbed her up and inspected her all over.  I couldn't imagine that she would not be hurt but she did not appear to be. I carried her around Lowes for a little while. I wonder if she will be sore tomorrow. By the way, 6 lbs may not be a lot but when you are carrying it around for a while, she gets heavy.  Seems like I remember that from when my kids were babies.  See she is just like a baby:) 

Well she still seems fine.  She sure did give me a scare though.  Twice this week!

I love my Rosie, just like a baby.

Daddy's home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This past week, Jerry had to work out of town.  Rosie and I had to go it on our own for 4 days.  She was quite funny as she looked around the house for Jerry.  If I asked her where daddy was, she would sit on the back of his chair and look out the window for him. 

Jerry would call and I would put him on speaker phone so he could talk to Rosie, (I know, sounds crazy, doesn't it? We love our Rosie.)  She would look at the phone and bark. Then she would run to his chair and look out the window. On Friday morning she did the same thing but then went to the kitchen to look for him and then started barking at the stairs.  I know she was waiting for her Daddy to come down. 

She really missed him.....

But Friday evening, she was rewarded.  Jerry pulled up in the drive way and she went crazy.  She ran to the back of the chair and whined for him as he was getting out of the car.  She would jump to the floor and run back up the chair.  Finally,  she saw him and ran to the kitchen yipping and whining and barking all at the same time and jumped all over Jerry as he came in the door.  It was so sweet. 

Jerry missed her as much as she missed him.  So sweet:)

Jerry loves our Rosie and so so I.

Rosie has had a good weekend.  We had lots of company Saturday and she was mostly well behaved.  One of our friend's daughter, Julia, just fell in love with Rosie.  She walked her and petted her and loved on her.  Rosie just ate it up.  Julia's mom said they would be glad to puppy sit for us if we needed them to.  That would be great.  I think they would spoil her more than we do. On Sunday, I took a few pictures of Rosie outside.  Isn't she georgous?

I just love my Rosie.

A job to do...

Lots of dogs have jobs to do.  Some herd sheep, some sniff out drugs, some are guard dogs, some are therapy dogs.  Rosie, she unties shoes.  Well, she unties Jerry's shoes.  She is pretty good at it too.  Without fail, when Jerry sits down in his recliner, Rosie unties his shoes.  Doesn't matter if it is work shoes, tennis shoes, or church shoes, she unties them.  It doesn't matter if it is in the morning right after he puts them on or in the evening when he gets home from work, she will untie them. It is her job.

I told Jerry, the real trick will be teaching her to tie them back. I don't think that is part of the job description though.

I love my Rosie, even if she can't tie shoes:)

The sweetest thing!

Rosie has been the sweetest thing this week.  Jerry and I took a couple of days off and worked in the yard.  Jerry concocted a special way to keep her safe outside when we are not holding on to her leash.  He hammers a crowbar in the ground with a sledgehammer and we hook her retractable leash over the hooked part.  I know you can by the things to screw in the ground to hook the leash to, but Jerry prefers the crowbar/sledgehammer method.  Anyway, when we were outside working, she felt like she was part of the action.  When we stopped for a cool drink, so did she.  She didn't even seem to mind the noisy leaf blower or lawn mower. She loved barking at the neighbors that were out for a stroll. When we came in, hot and exhausted, she came in hot and exhausted. We all took a nap.  On Thursday, she went to work with me all day and Friday half a day and she was so good.  She even slept in one of the chairs for awhile.

It amazes me how she has just fit in to our family so perfectly, like she has always been here.  We just love her to pieces.  She still goes crazy when company comes over but calms down sooner than she use to.  She still likes to mess with Jack, the cat, but not quite as much since Jack swiped her one time. She even likes riding in the car now, as a matter of fact she even expects to ride.  I knew I would like to have a dog, I just had to convince Jerry and it has soooo worked out.  She is so sweet.

I love my Rosie, even when she's not so sweet.

Rosie and the Bear

My sister, Dana, invited us to lunch last Sunday.  My big brother, Mike, was here from Michigan and we all got together before he had to leave.  The kids got to go fishing in the pond.  Uncle Roger had made stick fishing poles with bobbers and they all caught fish.  It was a fun day.

Rosie came with us and she and her cousin, Milo, got to play together and go down to the pond with us.  Dana had recently bought a bear statue for her yard and has it near the pond. We wanted to see what Rosie's reaction would be so we took her to see the bear.  We thought she would be scared since she is usually such a scaredy cat.

She didn't see the bear at first and when she did, she was not really scared at all, just intrigued. She didn't even bark at the bear.

She didn't try to play with it like she would another pet or one of her toys.  I guess it was too big for her to get too close.

Who knows, maybe she had a little respect for the bear and decided to be nice and not jump up and down in his face.  Just in case he was real and he did have those big sharp teeth.

I wonder what she really thought.

I love my Rosie, bear lover or not.

Chocolate and Rosie = Mayhem!

I know, I know, dogs are not suppose to have chocolate.  Well, I didn't give her chocolate. On Tuesday, I came home from lunch and decided to take Rosie back with be.  She was fine, maybe a little excited. Typically she is pretty good at the office and stays within the boundaries I set up for her without much complaining. But this day, she was not very cooperative.  She whined at the door.  She jumped over the box that I had set up as a block. She would run down the hall to Kin's office. Kin told me to let her run around a little and she would probably settle down. No...she went in to one of her running fits, up and down the halls. She would follow the guys out back to the warehouse and would refuse to come back in.  I would have to go out there and get her. She was, as the Allstate car insurance commercial says, MAYHEM. I told Rosie she wouldn't be able to come back to work with me and act like that.  She was way too distracting. Finally, it was time to go home and usually she will pass out on the back of the couch from exhaustion when we get there. Not that day. She would bark at us. We would take her out and she would run.  She actually was a little aggressive when we played with her toys.  Just very much unlike Rosie.  I told Jerry something was wrong, that she just was not acting like herself.  Then Jerry remembered finding a chocolate foil wrapper on the floor before he left for work that morning.  Occasionally, I buy Jerry this chocolate with hot peppers.  They are quite good.  Anyway, he had eaten half of one and I got the other half and ate half of it.  I put the rest on my computer desk, which until that time had been a safe place to keep 'The Nose' out of. Apparently, 'The Nose' sniffed her way on to my chair and on to my desk and helped herself to the chocolate.  I figured if she ate chocolate that morning and it was 7:00 at night, there was nothing that we could do about it then.  When we put her in bed, she sat there, but didn't bark.  The next morning she seemed fine, a little tired maybe. Thank goodness.

Well, it is Thursday evening and thus far she hasn't repeated her bad behavior so, I guess we will assume it was the chocolate that created our little monster.  I plan to take her to work Friday afternoon and see how it goes.  I hope she can redeem herself there as well.

I love my Rosie, 'The Nose', even when she creates mayhem.

Driving Miss Rosie

Rosie has finally decide she likes to ride.  I credit this partly to my friend, Fay.  You may remember that Fay kept Rosie for us when we went on vacation in June.  She took Rosie here and there and everywhere and, I guess, broke her of her fear of riding.  Thanks Fay.  The other credit goes to my boss, Kin.  He lets me bring Rosie to work with me, so she gets to come from time to time. She loves going to my office. So lately, when I go home at lunch and let her out and she finishes her business, she trots right to my car door.  She just assumes she is going with me. Of course, sometimes I just can't resist.  She is just so darn cute.

Her usual driving, ummm....riding, position is behind my head, laying across my shoulders, facing the center of the car.  You would think she would want to look out the side window, but I guess she likes looking out of the front windshield best.  She will lay her head on my shoulder, sometimes snuggling my neck and giving me a kiss.  She is perfectly comfortable and content back there and it really is much better and safer than her sitting on my lap in the car.  I like it much better.

So, I guess she will be my willing passenger from now on.  She doesn't always get to go with us in the car but when she does, she enjoys the ride.

I love my Miss Rosie, even in my car.

Birthday Party and Chong

Rosie attended her first birthday party Saturday.  Graham, my nephew, turned 6 and had a water party.  We took Rosie and she behaved very well.  She was the only non-human there so that helped.   The kids played in the pool and on the giant slip and slide.  I took Rosie's swim suit but she never got to participate in the wet stuff.  The only wet she got besides her water bowl, was wet little Isabel holding her.

 Isabel's Aunt Claudia had given her a manicure and painted her finger and toe nails blue.  Isabel was checking out Rosie's nails, which thus far have remained unpainted.

Isabel loves to pet Rosie.

                                                                                                      

We did give Rosie a little vanilla ice cream so she would feel like part of the party.  She loved it.

On the Chong front, Paige said he is amazingly better.  She has been giving him lots of fluid and meds for nausea. He was better last night but this morning he was much better, even wagging his tail and eating a little.  Hopefully this trend will continue.

I love my Rosie, wet or not.

Pooped, sad, and no slippping and sliding for Rosie

Friday afternoon and Rosie is pooped out on the back of the sofa.  She went to work with me after lunch and she is always tired when she gets home.  You would think she actually worked!  Paige is coming over tonight to help me decorate a cake for my nephew, Graham's, birthday party tomorrow.  He is 6 and is having a water party with a giant, and I mean giant, slip and slide.  It is maybe 4 feet wide and 50 feet long. Fun fun fun.  I might take Rosie but I don't think she will be doing any slipping and sliding.  She will probably stay inside mostly.  The temperature is suppose to to be 101 with a heat index of 105 or something crazy like that.  Not sure how Rosie would do in that heat for very long.

When Paige comes over tonight, she is bringing Chong.  He has pancreatitis and is really, really sick.  Not sure what the out come will be but it doesn't look good.  We are keeping them in our prayers. Chong has been with them nearly 11 years.  All of Mackenzie's life and nearly all of Alex's.  It will be hard to lose him.  It is very sad. Hopefully, he will pull through.

It makes me think about Rosie.  I love her so much and can not imagine what losing her would be like.  I hope I don't have to experience that for many, many years.  She brings such joy to us. Maybe I will let her slip and slide. She would have fun and it will help keep her cool. Naaa, she might break something:)

I love my Rosie even when she is pooped out from work.

Rosie and Princess Alex

Alex is our oldest granddaughter and very much a princess herself.  She has out grown the princess dresses, although she does still like to dress up.  She, like Isabel, loves Rosie.  Actually, Alex loves all animals of all types.  She is much like her mother in that respect.  The 'little girl' in Alex (she is almost 12 years old), still likes to play though.  Today she and her brother, Mackenzie, made a puppy tent.  They draped blankets from the backs of chairs and put Rosie's toys and blankets in there.  They climbed in themselves and tried to coax Rosie and their own pups, Gibbie and Chong into their lair.  The dogs really didn't care that much about participating in the puppy tent business but the kids insisted.

Later, I took some pictures of Alex with Rosie. 

Alex was being silly and making faces but they turned out cute.

I love my Alex.
She loves my Rosie and so do I.

Rosie and the Little Princess

Isabel is our youngest grandchild and like most two and a half years old, she wants what she wants and she wants it when she wants it.  When she is at our house what she wants is Rosie.  She wants to pet her, she want to hold her, she wants Rosie to do what she wants Rosie to do, it is as simple as that.  Rosie doesn't always accommodate though.  Rosie has a mind of her own too.  But sometimes Rosie eats it up.  She can never get enough attention. She might be a little spoiled:)  Isabel is very gentle and sweet with Rosie and Rosie is sweet with Isabel too.  They are so cute together.

Isabel, loves to wear dresses and she came over wearing her Disney Princess dress. She and Rosie look so cute.  Maybe I need to make Rosie a princess dress too.

Isabel likes all things Rosie.

I hope they will stay good friends. Isabel is the closest person to Rosie's own size that she knows, at least for now.  That child is growing like crazy.









I love my Princess Isabel.
And I love my Rosie, even if she doesn't have a princess dress.

Super Rosie!!!

Do you ever think your pet is crazy?  Sometimes I wonder about Rosie.  Other than the fact that she goes into her running fits occasionally and she acts like a maniac when she is around other dogs, and she is scared of her own shadow, now she is barking at NOTHING.  She will sit on the back of the couch like a cat, look out the window and bark at nothing that we can see.  When we take her out, sometimes she will bark at the woods or a tree, nothing that we can see or hear.  Maybe she has special powers in her ginormous ears that alerts her to sounds that only she can hear. Maybe she can see things we can't. Maybe she knows things we don't. Certainly she can smell things we don't since she has her nose to the ground a good portion of the time we are outside.  Maybe she is Super Rosie!!!  I wish she would use her super powers to keep the cat away when we take her out to do her business.  Of course she would never do that. She loves the cat and would rather play with him than pee or poo.  She has her priorities. Tonight when I took her out there is a new cat in our yard.  Rosie was soooo excited.  This particular cat walked right up to Rosie so she was in cat/dog heaven.  She did not do her business though. Apparently her super powers do not extend to her attention span.

Maybe I'll make her a cape.  A pink one with a pretty 'R' on it....mmmm.

I love my Rosie, super powers and all.

Sunday morning and 110%

It's Sunday morning and all is well.  Rosie was slap worn out Saturday from going to work with me part of the week.  She did very little work though.  She played on the job, she ate on the job and she slept on the job.

On the medical front, I took her to have her stitches removed.  The assistant took two of the five stitches out but wanted the doctor to look at the others.  He said it was best to leave them in for another week.  One of them had a little bit of drainage.  He said it wasn't infected though. Also, no bath until then.  I guess I can handle that:)  She really doesn't smell bad, she just needs to smell better and get some fluffing up. Oh yeah, she weighed in at a whopping 5.2 lbs.

Jerry said she is back to normal, actually he said 110%.  She is quite active and feisty. She is doing her running fits, leaping from the arms of the chairs.  She even followed us upstairs the other day.  She hasn't done that for a long time.  Of course, she still won't go down the inside stairs. Although, she will go down the outside steps without much thought.  Right now she is sitting on the back of Jerry's chair looking out the window waiting for the cat to walk by. It is good to be back to normal.

I love my Rosie, all 110% of her.

She's back.....mostly.

Rosie is back. Back from the laying around. Back from not wanting to play with her toys.  Back from not sitting on the back of the chair looking out the window. Back from not chasing Jack the cat. Back from not acting like a wild woman when she sees the kids.  She is back...mostly.  One of the thing she has not seemed interested in is playing fetch.  Now that was one of her favorite games and I hope it comes back soon. She is also not chewing on her toys much.  That may be because her baby teeth were pulled during surgery, so her mouth may be sore.

I did discover something last week while she was at work with me.  She likes popsicles.  I was eating a fruitsicle and let her have a lick when I was done.  There was still a little on the stick.  Man did her super long tongue go to work licking that stick clean.  I don't usually like giving her real people food, but I don't think a popsicle counts as real food. It will just be an occasional summer treat.

Anything to make her happy.  I love my Rosie.

Better but still sore and could use a bath:)

Rosie is much better.  Her surgery went fine and she is healing up well.  She still has moments of pain if we pick her up wrong or she moves a certain way but all and all she is good.  She still hasn't gotten back to her old self.  She is not beating up her toys and doesn't want to play fetch yet and she could, quite frankly, use a bath.  She can't get really wet until after her stitches come out next Friday.

She has had an interesting week.  Since her surgery, she has been going to work with me.  I took her crate, which she would not get in.  I took her extra bed and some toys and food, of course.  The first day she sort of stood around, unless I was holding her. The next day she would at least lay in her bed occasionally. She would follow me all over the office.  By Friday, she knew where we were going and wanted to lead the way most of the time.  She would keep looking back to make sure I was behind her.  She wouldn't go into the kitchen area for some reason.  I think it is because there is a large fire extinguisher on the floor as you go in and she is a little scaredy cat.

My boss, Kin, tried his best to make friends with her.  She would have nothing to do with him and she would hide under my desk or chair when he came in to my office.  He even tried sneaking in so he could pet her before she saw him but her gianormous ears alerted her first and she would start barking before she could even see him.  He said I could bring her anytime, so maybe I will, from time to time, and maybe she will eventually befriend Kin.  After all, he is the one that said I could bring her work, she should be grateful, not all bosses would let that happen.

Well, it is Saturday morning and since my living room floor and couch are full of grandchildren that slept over last night, I am sitting in a different chair which Rosie does not appreciate. So, she is snuggled with Jerry in his chair for her usual Saturday morning sniffing the aroma of coffee and being petted.  When Jerry gets up she climbs on top of one of the sleeping kids and goes to sleep.  Ahhh, what a life!

I love my Rosie, and glad she feels better.

Big day, but not a pleasant one:(

This has been a very big day for Rosie.  Not one she particularly liked though.  We had an appointment with the vet to get her spayed.  First of all she got no snack after doing her business outside last night or this morning.  Then she had no breakfast, not even water this morning.  To top it off, she had to ride in the car, not her favorite thing.  The minute we walked in to the doctor's office she starts shaking.  I hated leaving her there.  They told me I could call after 12:30 to check on her. Of course I did. She was fine.  When I went to get her up she was in a sleepy daze.  She didn't whine on the way home but when I picked her up to carry her in she cried.  When she moves around, she cries.  If I move her around, she cries.  She has slept nearly all evening.  I hope she sleeps all night. There was one wierd thing they did at the vets.  The receptionist asked me if I wanted her teeth, that the doctor had pulled her baby teeth while she was under anesthesia.  She said that is a usual thing they do...and for some reason, even unknown to me, I said yes, I wanted them.  Why do I want her baby teeth? Now that I have them, I can't make myself throw then out, so I guess I will start her a momento box and her baby teeth will be the first thing I put in there:)

Well, supposedly she will be much better in the morning.  I can't bathe her or let her tummy get wet until the stitches come out in 10 days. She can eat in the morning.  Not sure if she will want to though. I offered her water tonight and she licked some off of my fingers but didn't take any from the bowl.

I hate seeing her like this but it had to be done. I have a great boss and he said I could bring her to work with me in the morning.  That way I will be able to keep an eye on her. I hope she behaves herself.

I love my Rosie, particularly when she doesn't feel good.

Mayhem....then friends

I have posted before about how Rosie gets really really excited when she has company.  It doesn't matter if it is family, human friends, doggie friends or even strangers.  But she gets the most excited when it is of the doggie variety. She loves jumping run and acting like a lunatic when someone brings their pet over.  She can't get over the fact that there are others that look sort of like her and smell sort of like her and sound sort of like her. It makes her happy.  A few weeks ago, Paige brought Gibbie and Chong over.  Chong is an older dog and generally ignores Rosie and Rosie eventually will give up messing with him.  Gibbie, on the other hand, is only about 8 months old and loves to run around and play too.  I think he met his match with the wild and crazy Rosie though.  At first it is mayhem with Rosie jumping in Gibbie's face and barking and whining like a wild dog, but eventually they start actually playing. It really is quite sweet to watch them play.  It makes them both happy to play with someone on a more level playing field. I quess we all need that from time to time.  To be around someone that is like us and someone that thinks the same way we do, that play the same way we do, that likes the same things we do.  Someone just for us.

It amazes me on this puppy adventure that Jerry and I have embarked on, how much we can learn from Rosie.  She actually requires very little of us, she loves us even though we are not like her.  We don't talk like her or act like her or play like her. We do talk to her and play with her and take care of her, but we are very different than her and she loves us anyway.

I love my Rosie even though we are so different.

Adventurous Rosie = Scared Daddy

Rosie has overcome her fear of stairs, at least the ones on the outside. She has also decided that she can go in and out the back door whenever anyone else does.  She just slips right by you on the way out.  It hasn't really been a problem until she decided she could go down the deck steps without permission. She is never outside off the deck without her leash on.  If she chased something, we would never be able to catch her.

This morning Jerry calls me at work to tell me we will have to do something about Rosie. She slipped out the door when he went out to start his truck.  Her adventurous self went down the steps, decided to trot herself down the driveway, across the road to the mail box.  Jerry was going after her and calling her the entire time.  She chose to ignore her daddy and just kept on going.  He finally got her and took her back to the house.   It had Jerry so upset that he spanked her (a first), fussed at her (another first) and put her directly in her crate.  He couldn't stand it long and got her out and loved on her before he left for work.  I am so glad I was not home.  I would have had been frantic thinking that a car might be coming while she was crossing the road. It makes me shiver to think about.

We are going to have to devise a gate or something to block off the deck steps.  I can't stand the thought of something happening to her.

I love my adventurous Rosie (but please don't scare us like that again)

Rosie vacation at Camp Fay's is over...

We just returned from 4 days at the beach and had a really nice time, but boy did I miss Rosie. Every time I mentioned missing her, my sweet granddaughter, Alex, would pretend to be Rosie and lick my hand and paw at me. Silly girl.

I have a dear friend, Fay, offer to keep Rosie for us. So I packed up her crate, her blankets, her sleeping toys, her play toys, her chew toys, her food, her snacks, her leash, her puppy pads (just in case), and a sheet of instructions.  I may have gone overboard.  My daughter said I was crazy when I told her a laminated a collage picture of Jerry and me for Fay to show Rosie everyday.  Well it seems that Rosie didn't have time to miss us.  Fay took her out for longer walks than I ever do.  She took her to visit a friend across the street who has a dog named Sophie.  Rosie stayed with Sophie when we went to my nephew's wedding in April, so she had fun playing with her. She went to see Fay's brother and also to a town that is about 20 - 30 minutes away. She road with Fay so much that when we picked her up and took her outside, she walked straight to Fay's Jeep.  The best thing is, she did not tinkle or poo in Fay's house the entire time.  I am so proud of her.

When we got her home she acted a little weird.  She wouldn't immediately come to us, she laid on the couch, not with us, I really think she was missing Fay.  Paige and Alex came over a little later and Rosie perked right up, started doing her jumping thing and running around like crazy.  I was glad to see her old self again. 

Today she seems completely normal. She is sacked out right next to me and I'm loving it!

I love my Rosie, especially after missing her so much.

Cat Dog - not the cartoon!

Do you remember the cartoon that was popular a few years back called CatDog?   There was a dog that appeared to have a long body but at the other end was a cat.  It was really a little disturbing if you think about it.  Well that, thankfully, is not our Rosie but there are a few things that make us want to call her CatDog.  You can tease her like a kitten by wiggling your fingers under a blanket.  She loves this game and will go nuts trying to get the mysterious wiggling things under the blanket. It is one of her favorite things to do. She will eat the cats food on the deck if given a chance.  Another thing she does is sit on the back of the sofa or chair.  She likes napping on the back of the sofa but she especially likes to sit on the back of Jerry's chair.  She can see out the window, she can lick Jerry's ears and sniff his hair, she can watch TV and she uses Jerry as a spring board if we throw her toys. She can get up and down from the back of furniture with no problem at all, but she still will not go down the steps. Go figure.

Rosie the CatDog

Looking out the window

I guess she isn't really a CatDog and I like that she does quirky stuff.  That just adds to her character and one of the reason I love her so much.

I love my kitty puppy Rosie.

Lost toys and accidents

Well, Rosie has lost, misplaced or hidden some of her toys.  I don't mean the ones she doesn't care about or play with very much, I am talking about the ones she loves the best....Pink Elephant and Blue Hippo. She still has Yellow Giraffe and Starfish, though.  We have looked and looked for the others to no avail.  I knew the toys were getting a little ragged so I bought an extra hippo a couple of weeks ago and bought another elephant today when I went to the store, so she is set for awhile.  I can't imagine where her other toys are though. Go figure.

I hate to say this out loud because I might jinx it, (I don't really believe in jinxes), but we have not had hardly any accidents in the house in a couple of weeks. She has gotten pretty good at letting us know when she wants out and so far so good.  Of course one of those accidents was last weekend in the kitchen.  Jerry stepped in tinkle in his bare feet. He was not happy. I cleaned him (Jerry) up, patted (kissed) him on his head and he was good to go. When Rosie has an accident I have to clean it up because you see, she is MY puppy, I'M the one that wanted her, if I got a puppy, I promised to clean up after her...... yada, yada, yada....The thing is, Jerry really is in love with her.  You should hear him talk about her, it is so sweet. He walks her to the mail box every morning and plays with her all the time. I'd say he has the best end of this deal:)

That's alright.  I'll clean up after her because, after all, I love my Rosie.

No Vacation for Rosie

We are trying to plan a few days away for a mini vacation.  You know, the usual... deciding on a date, place, etc.... This is the first year, however, that I need to plan on a puppy sitter.  We had to leave her one night in April to go to my nephew's wedding in Athens and she was fine, but 3 or 4 nights...I just don't know.  I have a very good friend that is going to keep Rosie. I trust her completely. I am sure Rosie will be fine.  I am just not sure I will be.  I love this little dog.  She makes me happy.  She is part of my day and I am part of hers.  It surprises even me that I have worked her so perfectly into my life.  I knew I would like her, but loving her so much that the thought of a few days away is breaking my heart.....I just didn't realize it would affect me like this. I guess I will be fine though and I could sure use a vacation.

Poor Rosie doesn't get a vacation, or maybe she does....she is going to Camp Fay's:)

I love my Rosie, even when I go on vacation.

Pads, bells....no, Break through... yes!

In the ever going struggle to house break Rosie, we have tried a number of things.  At first we used the 'piddle pads'.  You know, the ones that look amazing like the pads they use in the hospital. We had one near her food bowl, one in front of the fridge, one next to the front door, one right as we walked into the living room.......  She would hit and miss those areas on a regular bases and we were playing hop scotch to try to avoid stepping on them.  She finally abandoned them all together and so did we. Gladly. 

Then we tried to watch her every move.  Now this is not only time consuming, but impossible. With our busy lives, our human attention spans we are not geared for this.  We would all of a sudden look at each other and ask, 'Where's Rosie?'.  Well, of course, by then it was to late.  We would have a puddle and/or little tootsie roll somewhere in the house. 

Several weeks ago we decided to try the bell ringing technique. I found some bells that I usually hang at Christmas and Jerry hung them near the floor at the front door.  The idea is to ring the bell every time you take her out.  Theoretically, she is suppose to ring the bell when she needs to go out.  So far, not working, but we still ring the bell when we take her out, (just in case:).

A couple of weeks ago we noticed that Rosie was having far less....mmm....accidents in the house.  We have been taking her out a little more and she always tinkles and, many times, poos.  Our latest break through though, is Rosie herself.  She will whine or bark and continues, not even distracted by throwing a toy, until we either take her out or ignore her. If we ignore her, she gets down and goes elsewhere in the house to do her job. Well, the bell in these dim-witted humans finally went off!  She is telling us she need to go out, she doesn't want to use the piddle pads, and she doesn't want to ring the bells, she just needs to go out.

Jerry said that all this time we were trying our ways to train her and all we really needed to do was try her way. (There is a sermon in there somewhere).

Well we still have the occasional accident. Hopefully we won't have any back sliding.  I am considering getting the carpet cleaned, would that be considered false hope?????

Too soon, huh?

I love my Rosie, spots on the carpet (hopefully, not for long) and all.

Fast asleep

As some of you already know, I am usually fast asleep on the couch by 10:00.  I guess that is why I am a morning person.  Our evening usually starts with Jerry either practicing in his music room or playing his guitar in the living room, but Rosie is all about playing fetch these days. Once we sit down she will jump on the couch with one of her toys and will chew on it awhile then pushes it toward my hand.  If I ignore her, she will nip at my hand until I pay attention to her.  All I have to do is toss the toy once and the games have begun. She will retrieve that or any other of her treasure trove of toys and jump back on the couch and pretend she doesn't want me to get it, but of course, she does.  This can go on for quite a long time. Sometimes it even turns into one of her running fits. She never tires of playing this game, although she does get really tired.  She hesitates more and she gets slower to return but we are usually the ones that puts the brakes on.  She just doesn't know when to stop.

She will then climb in one of our laps to rest.  Once I throw the pillows to the end of the couch and lay my head down, she crawls on top of me and goes to sleep too.  At 11:00ish, Jerry goes in the kitchen to get the coffee ready for the morning. This is probably the only time she doesn't follow him to the kitchen, she just lays there with me.  Jerry announces that it is bed time and will pick her up and snuggle a minute and I will put her to bed. She goes fast asleep too.  Like puppy, like mommy.

I love my Rosie, fetching and all. Nighty night.

A little man in her head??

I came to a realization today.  I went to Walgreens to get some pictures developed of my nephew, Jason's, wedding.  As the machine is loading the over 500 pics on my SD card, I realized that I have taken an inordinate amount of pictures of Rosie. Now don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces, but is there something wrong with that???  I mean, I just bought this card in the middle of April.  There are more pictures on a previous card too. I just don't know. I never thought I would be this much of a dog person.  Is that crazy?

Anyway, as I was scrolling through the pictures and choosing the ones I wanted to print and send to Jason, I came across a funny pic of Rosie.  She was sitting on the lift of the the recliner when I took the picture.  The television is in the back ground.  I have no idea what was on, but it appears that Rosie has a man in a white suit standing on her head.  Look....

Now I know she has a lot of stuff going on in that little head of hers that makes her act crazy sometimes, but I hate to think that man in a white suit crawled out of one of her ginormous ears and is giving her instructions.  Maybe he's the one that makes her go into her running fits. (I wrote about that in an earlier post.) 

Just saying....

I love my Rosie, little man and all.

Before and After

We finally decided to give Rosie a spa day.  She had her nails trimmed, not painted. She had a smell good bath, a trim, and a bow put in her hair (and a couple of other things that I really don't need to mention on this blog:)  Most of the trimming was done around her eyes and nose. They couldn't do anything about the giant ears, so they are still there:)

When I picked her up I was told that she was one on the quietest ones in there that day.  I told the girl it was only because she was scared to death.  Rosie was happy to see me and ready to get out of there.  The only problem was, when she left the doggie spa, she had to get in the car, which she also doesn't like.  She sat on my shoulder and hid her head behind my neck.  I took her over to Jerry's work so he could show her off.  We visited Lonnie, Jerry's brother, then came home.  Boy was she tired.  She played a little but she mostly wanted to sit on our laps and nap or just chew on her toy.

The pictures are before spa day and after spa day.  What do you think?

I love my Rosie, hair cut or not

Up, but not down

 Years ago, 19 to be exact, our first grandchild, Way, was born.  At the time, we had a miniature schnauzer named Fritz.  He was a good dog but liked to sit on the stairs so he could look out the window and bark at anything that moved....cat, squirrel, butterfly, leaf etc.  Well, with a baby in the house that just didn't work out.  So Jerry cut out a piece of plywood and I covered it with quilt batting and quilted some houses on it and we slid it through the posts on the stairs.  It made the perfect Fritz block and when Way became mobile, it kept him from climbing the stairs too.  We have used that block with all of our grandchildren but put it up when they all got bigger.  We brought it back out a couple of years ago when we had a surprise grandbaby, Isabel. 
I tell you all of this because the block has come in handy again with Rosie.  When we first got Rosie, she ignored the stairs. Then she would get on the bottom step, especially if there was a shoe to get.  Over the next days and weeks she started easing up a step or two until she made it all the way up.  The problem is, she can't get down.  I guess she could get down, but she acts like she is stuck and cries until somebody comes and gets her.

So we started using the block again. It works really well, but from time to time, when we slide the block over to go up, we leave it open.  Rosie takes this opportunity, immediately, to go upstairs.  All the way upstairs, jiffy quick.  She sniffs around up there a little and then she is stuck.  She sits at the top and cries until we go get her. She has actually gone down the 4 or 5 steps on the deck, but she just can't make herself go down the inside steps. I guess it is just too many steps and it is just too scarey.

I love my Rosie, even shen she is stuck upstairs:)



I'm up and I can't get down!





Please come get me down!!!



Classical Rosie or not

As with most puppys, a new sound usually gets Rosie's attention.  They are typically short lived since her attention span is so short lived.  But this morning while I was checking my face book posts, I opened a video sent by my brother.  It was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor.  WOW...or should I say BOW-WOW....did it get her attention.  Her ears's grew to more than their already unusually large size, she turned her head this way and that, and did a little bark.  It was quite funny.  I played it again and she responded somewhat, but when I played it later - nothing, nada, no response at all.  Interesting  though.

She doesn't pay much attention to Jerry's guitar playing. Probably because she hears it ALL the time.
We may try some other classicals, even other genre's to see what she thinks. 

I love my Rosie, whether she has a musical ear or not.
© ©©

Computer puppy

Rosie likes nothing better than to sit in my lap and chew on a toy, or my fingers.  She doesn't particularly like my laptop.  Initially, she will avoid me when she sees the laptop.  Eventually though, she climbs around it, wiggling her way until she finds a spot to sit on my lap with the computer.  Sometimes it is right in front of the screen.  She typically doesn't pay any attention to what I am doing but every now and then something on the screen catches her eye she will watch it for awhile.

The other night Alex was on my laptop and Rosie wanted to sit with her.

It is not always easy to type or play Webkinz with a puppy in the way.  But she is so hard to resist:)

I love my computer puppy, Rosie.