Friday, December 31, 2010

Nugget 'Nuggles

Nugget cuddles with his new plush Christmas dog he received from his mawmaw. The dogs have decided to de-stuff the other Christmas dog already.
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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Doodle-Free Zone

B officially declared this a "dog-free" bed week.  What he fails to understand is that those furry bodies are my heating blankets at night when he is on the road!  It does, however, become slightly crowded with 2 adults and 1 dog (let alone 2!) in a queen size bed.  We have tried this numerous times since Oscar's arrival.  Each effort ended in a monumental fail.  Oscar would cry and howl loudly and pee on the floor repeatedly until we caved and let him in the bed.  If we were in a house instead of an apartment, I might have considered letting him cry it out but only when B was there.

Nugget has never expressed much interest in being a bed-dog.  Usually, he prefers the floor over the bed, especially in the hot summer months.  When he is in the bed though, he at least quadruples in size and weight as I find myself curled up in a small corner of the mattress, unable to move his big butt to make more room for myself.  Occasionally, bedtime is quite the ordeal.

I was skeptical that this attempt would be much different from our previous attempts to break Oscar's bed habit.  The glimmer of hope rested in the fact that he is completely potty-trained and has been accident-free for several weeks.  At the very least, I wouldn't be blotting pee puddles from my bedroom carpet, I hoped.

We returned to Charlotte from our holiday endeavors on Tuesday night rather exhausted.  I was not in the mood to fuss with the dogs at all!  Yet B insisted we put up the gate preventing either of them from jumping into the bed.  Both dogs had a Bully stick (a beef rawhide chew they got for Christmas, which I highly recommend!) on the floor beside the bed along with their "night-night babies" (read: Oscar's ratty old stuffed cat and the new stuffed dogs they each got from my mom for Christmas).  As I fell asleep, Oscar was quietly chewing his Bully stick and Nugget was already snoring right beside him.  I awoke at 3am to find Oscar still chewing on the Bully stick.  He hadn't made so much as a peep, let alone cry or howl for his spot on the bed.

I have no idea what time he finally went to sleep, if in fact he slept at all.  Nugget was the first to "will" us awake with his hungry golden retriever eyes glaring at us from across the room.  The day progressed as normal from there.

Night 2 of the mission to break the doodle of his bed habit was also a smashing success.  He whined briefly, pretended to be mad by laying by the door where we couldn't see him and finally settled in alongside Nugget on the floor for a very peaceful night.  Oscar was the one who woke us this morning - an entire hour later than he normally gets up!  While I didn't sleep well at all, (I blame the doodle and golden nighttime snuggle withdraws) everyone else slept very well.  Now that I know Oscar can sleep on the floor without issue, he will certainly be back in the bed with me next week while B is gone for work!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

"Fold-A-Doodle"


For your convenience, this breed folds in half for easy naptime storage!  Coming soon to a couch near you!

Snow Puppies!

 Oscar acted like a total maniac in the snow.  Always sporting the "snow beard", he dug through the cold, white powder until he found a sizeable stick and then tore through the yard like his tail was on fire.  A high speed chase ensued.  Nugget was on hot pursuit, Buttercup lagged a little further behind and Hailey ran in smaller circles trying to keep up.

Nugget is a snow veteran.  He's seen it before, but loves it just the same.  His preference leans toward catching snowballs thrown to him in the air.  We tried to play fetch with a tennis ball - thinking it would be hard to lose given its neon green color.  That was not a success. 

Hailey and Buttercup


Notice their less-than-amused faces at the thought of the boys spending an entire week with them...  Actually, once Oscar stopped humping everyone, they all got along great!  By the end of the week, they were all romping around in the snow chasing one another. 

Oscar turns 1!!


The doodle's birthday was officially on Christmas day.  My baby boy is 1 year old!  We had every intention of celebrating with Frosty Paws on Christmas night, but in craziness of the week, my mom forgot to pick some up at the grocery store.  We instead celebrated on Monday night with some delicious chicken jerky treats (I could not find Frosty Paws to save my life this weekend!)  Nugget, Hailey and Buttercup were all in attendance.  The chicken jerky treats were a huge hit!  Overall, it was a fabulous canine party.  Oscar received three new collars for his birthday - to match some that Nugget already has.  (We can't have mis-matched doggies running around!)

DOG WAR III: The Battle of Edgewood

 That is Oscar's 'Kitty Cat' which he loves dearly and protects at all cost from being torn to shreds and ripped of its stuffing.

 Nugget gets vicious.

 Great action shot!

 Getting dangerously close to mom's tree!

 Nugget is proud!  The victory is all his!

The doodle is SLAIN!  You have won the battle, Nugget, but not the war!

Shelby Lou


My gorgeous niece, Shelby.  She is set to be a very, very BIG girl!!  How seriously adorable is that face, though?  If I could lift her, I would have so kidnapped her...

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Nugg relaxes after a LONG day

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Oscar enjoys a Christmas treat

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Nugg Involuntarily Finds Himself as a Pillow

Despite Nugg's certain discomfort, he very rarely makes the doodle remove himself from atop any part of his body.
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Snuggle Time

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Oscar's Boredom...

...briefly turned destructive. He gnawed on a door lock in the new Impala. I guess he decided seat belts aren't for him after he shredded one in the old Impala. Funny he only does these things in B's cars...
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Yet Another Sleeping Arrangement

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Nugget Improvises

And sleeps sitting up. Considering they both spent a good portion of the morning romping in the snow with Hailey and Butters, their heavy eyelids did not surprise me.
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Our Million-Hour Trip Home

Ok, it was only 10. But it should have taken us 7. Accidents galore! Here, Oscar demonstrates not only his instant boredom with the car trip, but selfishly hogs the majority of the backseat as he stretches out to nap.
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We're Back!

We took a brief blogging hiatus over the holiday weekend, so I'll bring it up to speed. Nugg took a bye-bye car ride to my pawpaw's house over the weekend. He was in the backseat with my 7 yr old goddaughter, Courtney. Nugg is very tolerant of kids climbing all over him and loving (sometimes roughly) on him.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The 12 days of Christmas and getting Oscar to do his business

So I have to share some information on Oscar's first encounter with snow! First let me start by saying that it has always been a chore trying to get Oscar to go to the bathroom....a leaf blows he's distracted, a person is walking 500 yards away he wants to stalk them, a bee farts and he needs to follow it for a mile. So in normal conditions he must be taken out alone and given ample time to do his business.

Fast forward to this weekend in the snow....it takes Oscar all 12 days of Christmas to do his business. Every foot print, hole, and dent in the snow must be investigated. He will show his nose all the way down into the hole, sniff, and then throw the snow into the air like his nose is a shovel! Suddenly there is this white stuff in the air (WTF did that come from Osc thinks to himself) and Oscar must chase it! Then he repeats and repeats and repeats. With all this snow how can a doodle not get distracted?!?

Not a creature was stirring, not even a...

... Nugget or Oscar!  The men (Nugg, Osc & B) departed yesterday morning, destination: Kentucky.  The pups will be staying with my parents whilst B and I tour the entire midwest in 3 days visit his family in Illinois and Indiana.  B & I will meet back up with them on Saturday (Christmas and Oscar's 1st birthday!) to spend the rest of the holiday with my family.

I miss them terribly!  It was so weird to be home alone sans canines last night.  I kept thinking, "It's quiet, I need to go see what Oscar is into..." since silence is never golden in this house.  And there were several instances last night where I stopped what I was doing so I could take the dogs out... except there were no dogs.  There is, however, still a plethora of toys dropped haphazardly throughout the place.  I stepped on at least 2 bones and almost broke my ankle on a tennis ball.  I know I picked all those up before I left for work yesterday and they departed only moments later.  Sometimes I think they have a contest to see who can empty the toy basket the fastest.

In their absence, I was able to get quite a few things accomplished, like painting the dining room and the bathroom.  Such a task is nearly impossible with those crazy beasts on the loose.  Without question, I would have smudged walls and Almond Fudge-colored paw prints adorning my carpets.  But I digress.

Although I miss them, I know they are having a great time in Kentucky and are being well cared for.  There is, afterall, snow on the ground there!  Nugget loves the snow and since we rarely get so much as a flurry in Charlotte, he goes absolutely nuts when he does see it.  This is Oscar's first snow experience and I'm sad I'm missing it.  B was kind enough to snap the pic below on his Blackberry (hence the poor quality).  The doodle reportedly loves the white, fluffy mystery substance too!


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Nugget Neck Warmer

No, this really is what I rolled over to this morning - Nugget's long snout nestled into B's neck. I can only assume this is how they slept most of the night because when Nugget gets comfy, trying to move him is harder than pushing a boulder to the top of Mt. Everest on a Tonka truck.
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The doodle does...


...what the doodle wants. I fell asleep with a heating pad on my back when I went to bed. I got up and stumbled to the kitchen for a glass of water around 2am, only to return and find the doodle laying in my nice warm spot on my bed. Some nerve that Nakee Doodle has!  He must have been cold...

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Monday, December 20, 2010

The 8th Wonder of the (Doggy) World...

Why do both dogs always want the same bone?  Let's not forget the fact that there are exactly 2 of everything, and bones are no exception.  We have at least 4 different varieties for a total of 8 bones... for 2 dogs.  Theoretically, there are more than enough to go around.  But not in this house!  If Nugget digs one out of the toy basket, Oscar has to have the very same bone.  And vice versa.  Thus begins each battle of Dog War III - at least nightly, occasionally hourly.

Tennis balls spark a similar ferocious encounter amongst the beasts.  There was a time (briefly) where Oscar showed no interest in Nugget's beloved tennis balls.  In fact, Oscar would sooner fetch an empty pop can full of rusty nails than retrieve a tennis ball.  He was far more interested in his own frisbee (despite the fact it's pink).  Coincidentally, Nugget has no interest in the frisbee - and for the record, I think that has less to do with its color than the fact that the tennis ball to frisbee ratio is about 325:1.  In recent weeks, however, the doodle has expressed an increasing desire to become part of the tennis ball fan club.  After all, what's not to love about a fuzzy, neon green, slobber-soaked ball that bounces to the ceiling thereby spraying aforementioned slobber all over my walls?  Despite the vast collection of tennis balls (& in an astounding variety of colors!) they have stashed everywhere from the toy basket to couch cushions and beyond, there continues to be a mutual desire for them to both chew the same ball at the same time.  (Seen below: Nugget dares Oscar to touch his ball).



So why is it that they both have to enjoy the same toy at the same time?  Can't everyone be happy to have their very own cheesy bacon-filled bone?  These are the questions that keep me up at night...

Friday, December 17, 2010

And then there's Nugget Claus...

...and he couldn't be less thrilled. It's always funny, Nugget... Until it winds up on YOUR head!!
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Dear Mawmaw...

Oscar Claus is coming to town!!
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

'Mom!!!....

'I really like this nom!!!' So I'm a pushover and the boys got a couple of their Christmas gifts early. (Read: I had far too much to do to be able to adequately entertain two puppies suffering from cabin fever this weekend).
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Dozing Dogs

This is how they taunt me as I get ready for work. They lay there looking all cute, warm and cuddly whilst I brush my teeth, dreading my daily trek into the cold.
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'I have a headache!'

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Three weeks later...

... and the tree still stands, undisturbed.  Frankly, I'm impressed.  The night we introduced the Christmas tree to the living room, Oscar stood barking and growling at it for at least an hour.  "What is that very large, green, furry thing in my house?" he probably thought.  This being his first Christmas, I wasn't sure how well the tree would fare.  After the barking/growling episode, I was sure the tree would not still be standing by the end of its second day.  To my credit, I did learn from last year's mistake of leaving my tree unprotected from the wrath of Nugget.  This year, it's surrounded with a gate so as to mitigate the risk of another total loss.  So far, I've busted Oscar only a handful of times standing on the arm of the couch, reaching as far as his skinny, long legs will allow him, and licking the ornaments.  To date, the tree, in its entirety, remains intact.  If we make it through next week, it will be a true Christmas miracle.