Christmas decorations....

Ok, it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything on Jake.  It's not because he hasn't done anything post-worthy.  There are the 3 ink stains on the living room carpet, for example.  No, Jake has been as busy as ever.  But when I think about writing about his exploits I start to worry about what people are thinking about me.  Like the ink stains.  People might wonder how he can get his mouth on 2 pens.  Yes, 3 stains but he used 2 pens to do the damage.  I'm afraid people will think I leave ink pens just laying around the house.  To be honest, I'm not sure how he got the pens.  I'm pretty sure one of them was on the coffee table in the living room.  A big no-no.  Usually, before we leave a room, we do a quick scan and make sure everything is up.  And by everything, I mean remote controls, phones, pens, pencils, shoes, small pillows, etc.  In fact, we pretty much just have furniture and 17 chew toys in the living room.  And the living room and kitchen are the only rooms he has access to.  All the other doors in the house are closed.   And still, he is able to get pens and leave 3 sizeable blue spots on our beige carpet.  And they're not even in a place we can cover with furniture.  Right in the entry way.  Oh well. 
In any case, please don't think my house is in that bad of shape.  I don't have a maid so our house looks like a maidless family lives here. 
And now it's Christmas.  I love Christmas.  I love the decorations, the tree, the food....everything.  Last year, Jake didn't bother the tree too much.  He found it interesting, but he didn't bother it.  We put our presents under the tree and he didn't do too much damage with them.  This year is a little different for some reason.  He's a lot more sneaky.  We have the tree up and he left it alone for a whole week.  Then one day, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him walk to the tree and then run off.  When Jake runs from something, that's the first indication that a crime has been committed.  I chased after him and he had a little plastic ornament from one of the bottom branches.  Then he left everything alone for another week.  I put a few presents under the tree, off to one side, to see how he would do.  They are on one side of the tree because he has decided he likes to sleep under the tree.  Everytime he goes under there or come out from under, the whole tree shakes and just when I think it's going to topple over, he's out and it stops.  Anyway, he left the presents alone for a few days and then decided one of the curly bows looked like fun so he tried ripping it off.  I caught him before he could do any real damage.  But now, he's back to the ornaments and has tried the "grab and run" with them in the last week.  So, the rest of you out there with your beautifully decorated homes, picture my living room this Christmas.  As you enter the house, you'll notice the window ledge next to the front door that has half of the ledge chewed off from Jake's puppy days.  Walk past our pretty entry way tile to the start of the carpet entering the living room.  This is where you'll see the blue ink stains.  They are now various shades of blue because of all the different things I've tried on them to get the ink out.  Nothing works.  I don't care what anyone says or suggests.  It won't work.  As you look straight ahead to our lovely, slightly lopsided tree,  you'll see a few presents under one side with our red hassock in front of that side of the tree.  Jake is afraid of the hassock ever since it rolled when he ran into it so he avoids it.  The tree skirt on the other side of the tree is most likely messed up because he likes to move it around when he's laying under the tree for his nap.  Other than that, I'm sure our house looks just like yours this Christmas.
                                 Here's Jake in his new favorite nap spot.......
                                 MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!

Jake's Diet (Part 2)

A couple of months ago I wrote about Jake being a little "husky" and I resolved to put him on a diet.  I started feeding him less of the canned food and more of the dry, hoping that would fill him up with less calories.  I still feed him some table scraps, but not as much.  Well, I hope it's not as much.

This morning I thought it was time for a grand weigh in.  Weighing Jake is no easy task.  Holding him and balancing on a scale is tough.  Last time I weighed Jake, he weighed 42 pounds.  This time he weighed....drum roll, please......42 pounds.  What?!  All that work and nothing to show for it?  Jake wasn't upset by it at all.  He was just happy when I got off the scale and put him down. 

This morning I got my daily email from a pet website I subscribe to.  The topic happened to be about overweight dogs.  I opened it right away to see what I'm doing wrong.  The first thing it said is that in the world of pet owners, a common name for an overweight dog is "chunky monkey".  Even the vet didn't know how the term started but there it is.  He also said between 25 and 45% of dogs in the US are overweight.  Is that really surprising?  Look at the US in general.  Why should our pets be any different? 

I was sure this article was going to have all the answers and hopefully a diet plan I could rigidly follow.  I do well with plans.  I was hoping for a Weight Watchers for dogs.  A Jenny Craig, with the prepackaged meals for dogs, would be even better.  But first it said that all members of the family must admit that the dog is overweight.  Immediately I pictured myself standing in front of a room full of people and shamefully saying, "Hello.  My name is Cindy and I have a Chunky Monkey".  Ok, we're past step one because my family has been telling me for months that Jake is overweight.  They acknowledged it way before I did.  After that it said to check the food intake versus the exercise.  Jake gets plenty of exercise.  He gets at least one good walk everyday, sometimes two.  Jeff takes him to the park and walks him at least 1 or 2 miles and then through the neighborhood.  Some nights I take him to see his pals down the street and they run in their backyard.  Really, isn't that enough for a dog?  I've been told that people in my neighborhood have dogs but I couldn't tell you what they look like because those dogs never get out of the house.  Are their dogs overweight?  If not, then what's their secret?

So, I'm pretty sure exercise isn't the issue.  It must be his diet. He's eating the same food as always and like I said, I've cut down on the canned food.  I'm trying to think about the table scraps.  I can't imagine not giving a dog the occasional bit of people food.  Would you want to eat the exact same food everyday?  Dogs need variety too.  Now that I think about it, the table scraps might be the problem.  Yesterday he had part of my pizza (the dog loves pizza!), some King Ranch Chicken casserole, a bite or two of cheese, some crackers.  Yeah, that's not sounding too good.

The article went on to name several things that obesity can cause in dogs, like diabetes.  Ok, now I'm scared. I think I will make that appointment with our wonderful vet and get Jake checked out.  I also think I'm going to have to get tougher on the table scraps.  But in the meantime, if you know of any overweight pets support groups that my little Chunky Monkey and I could attend, let me know.

Dog Proofing

Dad had some minor surgery last week.  Nothing serious, just foot surgery but to those of you that know my dad, anything that would keep him off his feet is not good.  My dad likes to move, likes to keep going so keeping him off his feet was not going to be easy.  He takes his dogs for walks several times a day, whether they want to go or not.  During his surgery, Lela and I thought it would be best if I brought their dogs, Fritz and Freddie, back here for a visit.  Jake would be ecstatic.  He loves playing with Fritz.  And Freddie....well, Freddie would enjoy sitting on the couch with me.  We got Dad back home and in bed after the surgery and "the boys" were jumping all over him.  That made the decision even easier.  I packed the dogs up:  crate, bag of food, bag of their favorite toys, some rawhides, dog bed, leashes.  Check.  Abigail and I grabbed the boys and drove home.  Interestingly, the second we turned into our neighborhood, Freddie went nuts.  He was barking, growling, and clawing at the window.  I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

Everything went great.  They played until they were tired, took a little nap, then played some more.  Fritz likes to get in the pool so we got a float and put him in it.  He would stand with his front paws on the inflated pillow and honestly, I thought I could hear him say "I'm king of the world!"  While Fritz was floating, Jake was running around barking at him and anytime Fritz would get close to the edge of the pool, Jake was there trying to paw  him out of the float.  In the meantime, Freddie was hiding under one of the patio chairs.

In my house, dog proofing is pretty much the same as preparing for a hurricane.  Everything is off the floor at least 5 feet.  But I still don't trust Jake or Fritz, mostly Jake, to be out unobserved and not chew up everything in sight.  So, anytime we go anywhere, we put them in the bathroom.  To make their time in the bathroom more comfortable, we put in 2 dog beds, numerous toys, a few Milkbones, and a bowl of water.  I also always lock the closet doors with a childproof latch to keep them out of there and, more importantly, away from all shoes.  The first time we left them in the bathroom, this is what we came home to:

Jeff said it looked like a frat party had taken place in here.  Neither of the beds were in the same place I originally put them.  Not sure how they pulled the rug back.  The white paper on the floor is the label that was on the back of the rug.  But the doors to the closet.  That's what really got me.  Here's a close up of the door knobs:

The latch was still attached but it pulled one of the doorknobs off.  Don't know how they did it, but they did. Amazingly, they didn't destroy anything in the closet, including my cute little bunny slippers that were on the floor in there.  Why is it I can't walk across the room with those slippers on without Jake trying to play tug-o-war with the little bunny ears but they were sitting in plain sight and not one of the dogs bothered them?  

Anyway, I got the doorknob on and fastened tightly (it involved using a bobby pin) but that doorknob wasn't going anywhere. So I locked it again, checked it twice and it wasn't budging.  When we got home, the closet doors were open.  The doorknob was still on.  The weird thing is that the latch was gone.  Totally gone.  I  looked all over the bathroom, in the dog beds, everywhere.  Nothing.  I looked in the closet.  Nope.  Granted, our closet is a mess.  We have 3 clothes baskets in there.  Maybe they buried it somewhere in the closet.   I even thought maybe they ate it but I'm sure there would have been little plastic crumbs on the floor.

Fortunately,  I buy the economy packs of these things since Jake has broken several of them off (but never with the doorknobs attached).  So the next time we left, I put 2 latches on the doorknobs and Fritz's kennel in front of the doors, hoping to block the doors completely.  When we got home, the doors were still locked. But the kennel was across the floor, the blankets and pillows were out of the beds and the rug was pulled back again.  Next time, I think I'll take my chances and just leave them out. 

And I'm still looking for the missing latch.

Here's Abigail with Freddie (left) and Fritz.

Jake's Diet

The day we got Jake, the people we bought him from told us they thought Jake would get to be about 25 or 30 pounds.  Sounded like a good, manageable size to me.  Then Jake started growing.  And growing.  I thought he was such an odd dog.  He has these tiny, petite feet but such a big body.  His feet just don't match his body. 

Now, I've been enlightened.  Well, not so much enlightened as I've had my eyes pried open by concerned family, friends, and neighbors.  My dog is fat.  It's not that his feet don't match his body....his body is too big for his feet.  He probably would be about 25 or 30 pounds if I hadn't been feeding him pizza crust and graham crackers and other assorted goodies.  I blame myself.  Jake's actions say it all.  When we sit down to eat or snack or do anything where food is in front of us, Jake comes to me.  He doesn't go to anyone else.  When I run out of graham crackers, he doesn't move on to Abigail or Jeff, he just gives up and walks away knowing he won't get anything from them.  Yes. It's my fault I have a fat dog.  Jeff says he's "chunky".  So does one of our neighbors who then laughs as she reminds me how I said he wouldn't get over 25 pounds.  I like the phrase "husky" because there's still a doggie connotation there.  But then again, when I hear the word "husky" I remember walking through the boys "husky" section of Sears when I was kid.  At least they didn't call it the "chunky" section.

So, what to do about it.  I looked up a few articles about "overweight dogs".   None of the articles say "fat", just "overweight".  Let's see.  One way to tell if your dog is fat, I mean, overweight, is to see if you are able to feel his ribs.  Ok Jake, let's check it out.  Well, I can feel his ribs if I push down really, really hard.  Yes.  I'm sure there are ribs in there....somewhere.  Another way to tell is to stand over your dog and look down his spine.  He should have a curved indentation right below the ribs.  Well, since I can't see or feel his ribs, how would I know where that indentation is supposed to be?  He shouldn't be "a straight line or bowed out".  Jake falls in the bowed out range which I always thought was cute when you walk behind him.  He kind of waddles.  Really...it's cute.  But back to the test.  Not doing so well so far.  Ok, next is to check the area above the base of the tail.  Overweight pets have extra padding or folds in this area.  I always thought the little padding was a congenital anomaly.  But I have to face the facts....Jake is fat.

So Jake is on a diet.  I weighed him today and he's 42 pounds.  Considerably higher than the 25-30 pounds the breeder said he would be.  I reviewed what he eats in a typical day.  He eats a bowl of dry food with 1/3 of a can of dog food mixed in with it twice a day.  When Jake was a puppy, his vet said he could have table scraps.  In fact, according to the vet, table scraps are good for dogs because it helps with their immune system.  But I'm not sure I was supposed to give him as many table scraps as he gets.  It's just so convenient sometimes.  I like pizza but not the crust, so we share it.  I like grilled cheese sandwiches but not the crust, so we share it.  You get the idea. 

The vet said both brands of dog food I use are fine but he did mention mixing in some bran flakes so he would feel fuller and not eat so much.  So far, I haven't tried it since I keep forgetting to buy bran flakes and I'm not sure Chocolate Life cereal would be a good substitute.  This morning I made some oatmeal for breakfast and thought I would mix some in with his dog food and hopefully that would fill up him.  I know he likes oatmeal because he had to eat it for 3 days after he ate a razor blade last year.  So, I gave him a smaller portion of his food and mixed some oatmeal in it.  He loved it.  Totally licked the bowl clean.  Ok, that should keep him satisfied until dinner time.  After about 15 minutes he was whining.  Surely he wasn't hungry already.  I checked him out.  "Jake, are you ok, boy?"  Then he threw up at my feet.  Jake felt pretty spry after his purge and I was on my hands and knees cleaning oatmeal and dog food out of the carpet.  Day one of the diet wasn't off to a great start.

By lunchtime he was pretty hungry.  Remember how I said I share things with Jake?  Today for lunch I had a chicken pot pie.  I love chicken pot pie but I don't like the chicken, I just want the crust and veggies.  Jake loves the chicken so I had to share it with him.  It's chicken.  That can't be bad for him, right?  Yeah, I realize I may have kind of blown the calorie count on lunch since I added a little bit of crust in with the chicken.  Now that I think about it, I gave him a little ham mixed in with his dog food at dinner time.  Hmmm, not so sure that was good for him either.  The good thing is that the responsible dog owner in this family  (Jeff) makes sure he gets enough exercise everyday.  He took him for a nice 1 mile walk around the park this evening.  I think I need to start over and come up with a better eating plan for him. 
I wonder if Animal Planet has a "Biggest Loser" for dogs.  I may have to sign Jake up.

Jake's Haircut

As I've said before, Jake is a Schneagle. A beagle/schnauzer mix. He has the coloring of a beagle but the coat of a schnauzer, which I love. It's soft and doesn't make my arms break out when I pet him. He also doesn't shed very much. Our guinea pig used to shed more than Jake does. But...Jake has to be groomed.

When Abigail and I first started lobbying for a dog, I kept telling Jeff  "dogs don't cost that much. I mean, buy a bag of Kibbles 'n Bits, get their shots once a year and that's pretty much it."  I'll admit, I wasn't even sure I believed that but I was desperate. We never thought we would have to pay for things like taking him to the vet after he had eaten a razor blade, dog obedience classes, or.....grooming. When we bought Jake, we saw his mom (the beagle) and Jake kind of looked like her, but softer. So I never even thought about haircuts.

Let me preface this by saying I know grooming has to be a really hard job. The clients are not too happy about it, they may bite, you have to clip hair in some not too pleasant places, etc.

The first time I got him groomed, we went to Petsmart. I didn't know where else to go and I had a coupon. What better reason to go there? They did a decent job on him and they trimmed his nails nicely. I took him there a few more times with great success. The last time I took him there, his regular girl wasn't there and the person that did it, cut way too close on his head and caused a "burn". (I know that's what groomers call it because I watched a whole season of "Groomer Has It" on Animal Planet. Yes. I am that addicted to reality TV.) So, I called around and decided to try a real Doggie Beauty Parlor.  They did a great job a couple of times and they seemed very professional. But one time I took Jake and they took him around back, loaded him in a van and drove him down the street to another grooming place. When I asked about that, they said they didn't have a groomer at the moment so they were "outsourcing" their grooming business. What? I could have driven him there myself and saved him a van trip. The only good thing is that the place they sent him has a webcam and you can watch your dog being groomed. So, of course, I spent the better part of my afternoon checking the computer to see if my baby was on camera. I finally got him on there. Poor guy. He looked so pitiful. He was a brave little soldier though. I was proud of him.

Anyway, it's summer now.  Summer in Texas.  I'm hot in my swimsuit in a pool so I know Jake is hot in his fur coat that is getting increasingly longer every day.  I made an appointment for him at the Doggie Beauty Parlor last week and checked to make sure they did indeed have their own groomer. I was going somewhere that morning so Jeff took him and dropped him off. I told Jeff to tell them we wanted a short summer cut and trim his beard. I hate it when his beard gets in his food.  When I would say trim his beard, I made a motion with my hands like I'm chopping off imaginary hair under my chin. Don't know why, I just always made that motion. Jeff said he told them exactly what I told him but apparently he forgot to make the hand motion because they not only shaved his beard, they shaved his whole head!  I also said to tell them to do a cut all over and not that goofy schnauzer cut they always want to give him.  That's where they want to leave the hair on his legs long.  But since there's no defining point on his body where it should start, they just made this insane lightning bolt design on his side and then half of his back legs have long hair and half has short hair.  Really?  That's what you come up with?! Of course, I didn't really say anything when I got him, he's always so glad to see me and get the heck out of there that we just head right for the nearest lamp pole (apparently he's had lots of water but no potty break) and then into the car.  When I got him home and got a good look I was stunned.  A lightning bolt?!  He's not Harry Potter!  I thought I was on "Candid Camera" (or "Punk'd" for those of you under 30)  I did have to call them the next morning because he had some terrible burns on his ears.  Their vet took a look at him and gave me some ointment for it.  I don't think we'll being going back there.  In the meantime, I went to the library and got a copy of "Dog Grooming for Dummies".  I don't know if I'll be able to do any better but at least he won't have a lightning bolt.

So this is Jake before:

This is the usual summer haircut I want for him:

And this is what he came home with.  I don't have pictures of his lightning bolt...

Jake and Fritz and Freddie Part 2

In my last post I said we were dogsitting my Dad's dogs, Fritz and Freddie.  It was a long, long night.  Not because of F & F but because of Jake.....

Fritz is just a little puppy and sometimes still has to get up in the middle of the night.  Having a puppy is such great preparation for having a baby, but that's another story sometime.  Anyway, Jeff went to bed at 10 but I kept the boys up and let them play.  I mean, after all, I'm an experienced owner and know all about puppies now, right?  But there was one thing I forgot....don't let puppies (or dogs) drink water after a certain time in the evening.  The dogs played out in the back and drank pool water.  I didn't catch them before they started slurping but it was early enough in the evening, I thought it would be ok.  But then when it was getting late, I made a rookie mistake.  I forgot to take the water bowl up.  Picture it in kind of a slow motion sequence in a movie.  I heard the heavy slurping of the dogs.....I turned my head....jumped off the couch and yelled, "Nooooo!"  I ran to the bowl, but ahh, too late.  Oh well, maybe they could hold it during the night.

At around 11:00, I was pooped and put Jake in his kennel, Fritz in his kennel and Freddie on our bed.  (did I mention that Freddie is an incredibly spoiled dog that likes to sleep on the bed?  But really, once he's asleep, that's it.  We don't hear from him until morning).  Anyway, I'm not a good sleeper and finally dozed off around midnight.  At 3:30 am, I heard Fritz squeaking.  Yes, it was potty time.  I let Fritz out of his kennel and Jake out of his and they both go outside.  I have to go outside with Jake at night because he barks.  He barks at his shadow, he barks at the dead palm tree (stupid freeze), he barks at the patio chair.  And barking at 3:30 in the morning will not get a person a friendly wave from their neighbors the next morning.  Fritz went out, squats, comes right back to me and squeaks to be let inside.  Jake decided it's pretty nice outside and there's a leaf floating in the pool that needs to be checked out.  He jumped in and immediatley got spooked by the leaf and jumped back out.  It's 3:30 in the morning! Get out of the pool!  I started whispering his name in the most firm way I knew how but that got me nowhere.  I kept whispering/screaming "front!" which still doesn't work for him unless he's hungry and he's 100% sure I have a treat in hand.  I got the flashlight and was trying to coax him in.  Nothing.  Then he started barking.  Oh, that's just great.  Sorry neighbors, please don't hate me.  I was actually hoping maybe they thought it was someone else's dog.  Maybe I could casually say, "Hey, have you heard so and so's dog?  What a pest, huh?"   Eventually, after threats and bribery, I got him back in the house.  At some point in all this, Freddie came out of my bedroom to join the fun but he just looked at all of us with a rather bored "you silly, silly people" look on his face and yawned alot.  Ok, everyone has peed, time to go back to bed.  It's 4:00 in the morning and I've only had 3 1/2 hours of sleep up to this point.  Fritz was ready to go back into his kennel and Freddie will go anywhere I go, but Jake, no way was he going in his kennel.  He'd had a nap and was ready to go.  I chased him around the living room table a few times and thought, fine, he'll just play a few minutes and settle down and I'll put him back in.  Eventually Jake got Fritz to play with him and they ran around and played tug of war with a toy and other things that would have been cute had it not been at some insane hour of the morning.  I tried watching tv for awhile but since I didn't need Melissa Gilbert's hair products or a machine that will give me super abs in just 10 days (well, ok, I do need that) I gave it up.  The next thing I knew, I woke up at 6:30 on the sofa, scrunched up in a little ball with Freddie on one foot and Fritz on top of my leg.  Jake was asleep by the fireplace.

When Dad and Lela came to pick up the dogs that afternoon, Dad started apologizing when he walked in the door.  He was sure Fritz kept me up all night.  I kept trying to assure him, his dogs weren't the problem.  As they were leaving, Dad said anytime we wanted them to keep Jake, just let them know.  I tried to get them to take him that night but for some reason, they thought I was joking and drove off without him. 

Jake and Fritz and Freddie

We have another puppy.....for 24 hours.  Lela surprised Dad a few weeks ago with another dog to keep their dog, Freddie, company.  Dad named him Fritz and he's a mini dachshund like Freddie.  Several posts ago I wrote about Jake and Freddie's personalities and if Freddie could talk, he would sound like a stuffy Frenchman.  I still think that.  But Fritz is just the opposite.  I think he would sound like Barney Fife.

Dad and Lela have gone to visit friends for 24 hours.  It's Fritz's first night away from home.  I think Dad is way more worried about him than any of us are. Dad walked in with enough supplies to last the dogs a week.  I actually thought I misunderstood and maybe they were going to be gone longer than one night but no, it's just one night.  After he unloaded a dog bed (with an afghan big enough to be a queen size bedspread), a kennel, a bag of toys, a plastic container with at least 5 days of food, 5 rawhide bones, and 2 leashes, he walked slowly out the door and I'm not sure, but I might have seen him tear up a bit.  Freddie stayed at the window next to the door and watched (he may have been tearing up too).  Fritz, on the other hand, was ready to play and Jake was thrilled, thinking we got him a new, living, chew toy.  And off they went.   But Freddie, in his true stuffy Frenchman attitude, just jumped up on the sofa next to me and  watched them running circles around the living room.  He looked down on them as if he believed he was far too superior to behave in such a manner.  Fritz and Jake didn't seem to care about what he thought.  Fritz was too busy trying to hang from Jake's beard and Jake was too busy trying to bat him around like a dirty sock.

So, they've been here 6 hours and so far, so good.  But we haven't gone to bed yet.  Dad warned us that Fritz squeaks alot at night.  We'll see how it goes.....

Christmas with Jake

Well, here it's February and I'm just now posting about Jake's second Christmas with us. Either we've been very busy or Jake just hasn't been that interesting. I think, mostly we've just been very busy.

Jake's first Christmas last year was kind of like having a toddler around. He didn't really get what was going on. A tree was in the room but he didn't really even seem to notice it. This year, Jake was the equivalent of a 4 year old. He saw the tree, knew something was up, and he was all nose and paws around it. He couldn't help himself, he just had to check it out!

When we first put the tree up, Jake walked by it and would take a quick side glance at it. He made a circle around the room and walked over to it again, this time a little closer to the tree. By the fourth lap, he actually rubbed up against it a bit but kept walking. I didn't say anything yet, I wanted to see where he was going with the next lap. The next time around, he kind of crouched down and walked under the tree. I didn't know what was up with that. Then, one more lap and he tried to crawl all the way under it. I don't know what kind of dog instinct led him to do any of this but it was interesting. All in all, it took him about 5 minutes to make all these laps.

After the tree was fully decorated and we started putting the presents under the tree, Jake got a little more bold and nosey. We would occasionally catch him running up, grabbing a present and running off with it. So fast! Then we would chase him around the room yelling, "Leave it!" (the command we learned in doggie school....he still doesn't know what it means) and eventually we would pry the slightly soggy gift out of his mouth. I only had to rewrap one present this year. On the other hand, he stole several ornaments and destroyed 3 of them. We would walk into the living room and see part of a snowman here, some pieces of felt over there. We would eventually figure out which ornament it used to be. Years ago, I bought a metal ornament shaped like a Christmas tree and had 5 glass bells hanging from it. I would put it on the bottom center branch of the tree so I could hear if Abigail was getting too close. She never did. This year I put it up so I could hear if Jake was getting too close to the tree. Even though he still snagged a few ornaments, the little tinkling of the bells usually sent one of us running and we saved many more.

So on Christmas morning Jake got to open a couple of presents too. Abigail insisted on buying him a couple of new toys and she did a pretty good job picking them out. The first one was a rawhide that's about as big as his leg. We thought it might keep him busy for awhile. She also picked out this rubber toy with a rope through the middle of it. Two of his favorite chewing items. I can report that he has chewed the rawhide in 2 but he still has both parts around here and he's working on them. The rubber toy no longer has the rope through it. He managed to chew the knot off and pull it out, but he still likes the little rubber thing.

The day after Christmas we took the ornaments off and put the tree up. I think Jake is still pouting about not having that little corner of entertainment in the living room. Next year we're going to save ourselves a lot of trouble and just put up rawhide and chew toy ornaments.