Catching Up a Bit

I haven't posted for a while about Rigby and her exploits, so in order to bring the blog up to date this posting will be a mix of subjects, stories and photos.

As Rigby continues to grow and mature into a lovely young dog she is going through some mischievous times and her curiosity leads her to many new adventures.

BURIED TREASURE

The couch in our living room is a sectional that curves along a corner of the living room, creating a bit of an open space where we have a lamp placed. Since Rigby's arrival, that space containing the lamp has also become a storage area for our throw pillows, keeping them safe from puppy teeth.

Recently Rigby has become more interested in the open space and she takes her toys to that area of the couch and holds them there while gazing into the void. Now it seems that she thinks it's a hiding space for her treasures and, when we can't find one of her toys, that is the first place we look.

The other morning, as I was preparing to take Rigby for a walk, I could only find one of my tennis shoes sitting by the couch where I had left both of them. I searched high and low, room to room looking for my other shoe, not understanding how one shoe would be where I expected, but the other one totally gone. Then it hit me, Rigby must have taken my shoe. Sure enough, when I looked behind the couch, there was my shoe in her special hiding place!

CRATE GAMES

Rigby's favorite crate game is not one you'll see on any video for training dogs to love their crate, it's one she has developed and perfected on her own. She loves to take her Nylabones and stick them through the openings in her wire crate and drop them on the floor. Now, as you might imagine, this takes a bit of skill to get the bone positioned in her mouth just right so that she will have the correct angle to line the bone up with the openings in the crate, then to push it far enough through until it falls out of the crate. Sometimes she will even use her paws to get the bone into the desired position.

She knows that when Rocky hears the bone drop he'll come to get it and go chew on it. Then she protests loudly, crying and barking, until Dan or I fetch the bone from Rocky's mouth and return it to the crate. Because she has several bones in her crate, at times there will be two bones laying on the floor near her crate that she has pushed through the bars.

IN THE PINK

Rigby loves pens and so we try to keep all writing utensils out of her reach at all times. The other night, though, I fell asleep on the couch with a red marking pen in my hand. It must have fallen onto the couch where Rigby was chewing a toy beside me. I woke up to the voice of my husband telling Rigby, No, and him trying to wrest the pen from Rigby as she was totally destroying it. There was red ink on a couple of the throws we had on our couch as well as Rigby's legs and her chest. She did a pretty good dye job on herself, but we're just pleased that no ink got on the couch.

Aww, don't tell everyone what I did!

You can see the pink on the white spot on her chest!

Rigby Red Legs -- she might start her own baseball team!

This shows the ink on her chest and her legs.

These stories show just a bit of Rigby's personality, the crazy puppy side. For the most part Rigby is maturing into a well-behaved family dog, who listens pretty well. She has been accompanying me to many different places and meeting people along the way. Her manners are improving nicely and it's seldom that she attempts to jump on people. Her mouthing has gotten to a minimum and usually only happens when unknowing people dangle their hands above her head as though they are toys to play with. Her play time with Rocky has taught her to enjoy other dogs and she is always friendly and happy to meet new friends.

A PUPPY CELEBRATION!

One of Rigby's sisters, Roxy, (formerly known as Miss Yellow) had a big day with her family earlier this spring as she reached an important milestone in a puppy's life -- at least a Jewish puppy's life -- when she celebrated her Bark Mitzvah! Here are some photos from the celebration, as well as some family photos.