A Visit From Rigby

Rigby came to visit with us for an evening while he parents went out with family and it was so great to see him. He was a gentleman as always and was even very patient with little Lizzy.

In fact for awhile he was quite fascinated by her and even played with her a bit until he decided he had enough. For older dogs Lizzy is best in small doses.

While Rigby was excited to see us and visit he was definitely ready to go home with mom and dad when they arrived which is always a happy thing to see.

Lizzy's Frog

Lizzy loves toys. In fact, she enjoys them so much that I should capitalize that. She LOVES toys.

So when the Barkbox came in the mail over the weekend while the other dogs were taste testing the treats she was the one who scored the plush frog prince toy.

Froggy's "before" picture

Froggy's "after" picture

Around and around the room she threw him, squeaking away and occasionally stopping for a quick death shake and then finally settling in to de-crown him. While she was at it she also removed his arms and tag for good measure. And after she finished that job she just gummed him into a soggy mess. His body is still intact although his squeaker just rattles now instead of squeaking.

He's had a rough day and a little too much love.

Lizzy doesn't mind though. She LOVES her frog and wants to take him everywhere. I haven't been letting her take him outside and at first she always goes into a panic at being without him - throwing herself at the sliding door melodramatically. I imagine her yelling "Froooooooooggggggyyyy!"

Once she has calmed down and spent some time outside I let her back in the first thing she does is tear around the living room in a panic, looking for for her frog prince and then prancing around a bit after she finds him.

Naptime with Froggy while foster mom writes this post

Let's just say she can be a bit obsessive.

UPDATE: This post was written 24 hours ago and since that time a terrible tragedy has struck. Froggy up and disappeared!! Lizzy paced and searched frantically most of the morning (as did I) but no frog has been found. Because he was a frog prince we are pretty sure that after being sucked on by a dog for a full day so he was rehydrated by dog spit he magically turned back into a human prince and promptly left the property while Lizzy was on a potty break outside.

I tried to ease her worries by offering her an old favorite - Mr. Fox. She looked down at the fox, looked up at me, and then ran off to continue her search. I had never seen her so concerned.

But love can be fickle and when I offered her a new Hugglehound rabbit complete with crinkly ears, squeakers in every limb and a grunter in its body all thoughts of Froggy flew from her mind. She's been throwing Bunny around for 30 minutes now and is just settling down to chew his tag off.

Gus Pupdate!

Remember little Gus? He was the little guy that New Rattitude saved who ended up having parvo. For a couple weeks we weren't sure if he would make it but he rallied and finally was healthy enough to come to us in foster care.

His family reports that he is going great and has grown a ton. He loves anyone he meets - dogs or humans - and the family says he has been an amazing addition.

In August he got to take a camping trip with his family and really enjoyed himself.  Take a look at the cute photos:

Sun Worship

My dogs all know from experience that in the Northwest you have to take advantage of the sunshine while you have it. Lizzy has been watching them and has learned from the girls the joy of relaxing in a patch of sun warmed dirt.

Lizzy sleeping in the sun while Sal watches for rodents in the background

Chima and Sal, sunspotting

For some reason she found this pile of bamboo leaves and fir cones comfortable.

Frodo loves sun but hates dirt (unless it's smelly dirt and then he rubs it into his neck for cologne.) He prefers to sit in the sun and any snoozing happens on the much cleaner deck or top of the concrete retaining wall. 

Frodo getting some sun while at the same time locating himself within easy access of the fence should the neighbor let their dogs out. 

Of course Lizzy can only lie around for so long before she needs to find something more interesting to do like burrowing under a pile of lumber and lattice to go after a mouse and getting deliciously dirty.  Or checking out any spots in the fence that might allow her to peek in on the neighbors yard. According to Lizzy the rodents are always fatter on the other side of the fence. That is one of the reasons my fence gets daily perimeter checks. My dogs may love me but they love rodents more and would choose crawling under a high spot in the fence after a rodent over me any day of the week.

Dirty dog! Lizzy had been burrowing under the pile of lattice and boards

Little Miss Snoopy - checking out the neighbor's yard

Pupdate!

I received an email from Rigby's mom the other day and he sure has hit the jackpot.

His skin is staying nice and itch-free and he's started trying out some raw food which he thinks is amazing and scarfs right down. His mom recently made him and his brother Skip rain coats since Rigby hates the rain and Skip doesn't mind it but his fur soaks up water like a sponge. While they aren't that impressed with wearing coats, Rigby doesn't seem to mind walking in the rain as much so that is a good thing.

The boys are looking dubious as to whether rain coats are a good idea.

And guess what? The boy who wasn't that interested in toys has fallen under the magic spell of the Egg Baby plush toy. He loves to chase the eggs around and play fetch with it.

And apparently he is getting better at leaving their kitty alone who is a big guy and doing a good job at teaching Rigs that cats are best enjoyed at a distance.

Hanging out under the table while his family plays a game

Rigby holds a special place in my heart - both because he is amazingly sweet but also because he and I spent so much time together getting his skin healthy. We will be watching him for a couple days in October so stay tuned for more Rigby posts then.

Lizzy aka Killer

Lizzy has earned her right to call herself a Rat Terrier. Tonight she caught her first rat - a nice big one that was near the fence line with our not so fun neighbor who seems like a bit of a hoarder. We have 3 neighbors that border our back yard: one great neighbor, one mediocre neighbor and one really awful one. The dogs appreciate the awful neighbor's penchant for throwing all manner of crap into their back yard though as it creates a great rodent population for them to hunt.

The Great Huntress

Licking her chops and all pumped up to find another one to kill

And she's off! A mighty hunter can only stand still for so long.

Anyhow, we are all impressed with little Miss Lizzy. She performed a victory lap around the yard, death shaking the rat dramatically before Troy swooped in and spoiled all the fun by taking the dead rat to the trash can.