Indoor Blues

For the past two days it has pretty much rained nonstop.  Today is the worst…a steady, pouring rain with wind.  So make that steady, pouring, sideways rain.  Yuck.  The view from my office window today looks something like this:

Not pretty.  I’m sure Darcy doesn’t mind rainy days so much while I’m at work.  She knows what to do with a rainy day – stay in bed and sleep all day.  Sometimes in her pajamas like she did yesterday.  Lazy bum.

The problem starts when I get home from work.  To Darcy, me coming home means it’s time to play–and more importantly–it’s time to walk.  When this doesn’t happen because it’s raining, she gets mad…and then she gets even.

When Darcy can’t go outside on a long walk (1.5 miles is pretty typical), she uses all of her extra energy for evil.  She becomes what I not-so-affectionately call “destructo-dog.”  Anything in my bedroom is fair game, really.  She tries to chew anything she can her hands on.  Since I learned long ago not to leave shoes, books, or other flotsam and jetsam laying around, this means Darcy turns to furniture and floor coverings–the bottom of my dresser, the fabric skirt of the chaise lounge, and the carpet.

Needless to say, this drives me insane and causes some long nights of me yelling at her to knock it off and her continuing her antics just to get attention.  Diverting her with toys and/or bones is pretty useless.  I currently have the entire left side of my room (where all of her beloved chewing spots are) blocked off with her old exercise pen (the one she’s climbing out of on the About page).

So my question to you is this: what do you do to keep your dog from going crazy during a stretch of rainy days? 

Oh, if you tell me you don’t get very many rainy days because you live somewhere sunny and warm all the time like California or Arizona?  Not helpful!  =)

Spring Adventures

In the span of just a few weeks, we’ve gone from this:

To this:

To a beautiful spring day at the beach:

Of course, today it’s chilly and raining.  But I can’t complain because that just means I have a warm, cuddly puppy curled up on my legs as I type this.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the spring weather is going to stick around so we can enjoy some more time outside.

This past weekend was absolutely gorgeous – sunny and in the 70s both days – and Darcy spent lots of quality time outside.  She’s definitely the happiest when she can be exploring the backyard and going on long (think 3 miles) walks. 

Has spring sprung in your neck of the woods?  What kinds of outdoor activities do you do with your dog?

How to terrorize your dog

Take them to the car wash!

Maybe not the best idea for a dog who already hates going in the car, but I was curious to see how she would react.  Lesson learned!

Only a month late

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the post about Darcy’s second Christmas. 

Darcy was just a little baby for her first Christmas.  I had only had her for about a month, and she was only a few months old.  There was a lot of backing away from wrapping paper in terror.  This year, however, she had the whole present thing down.

She must have smelled the peanut butter-filled bone in her stocking because she figured out what was hers real quick!  And thus began the dismantling of the stocking.  We let her pull out her presents first…the new toys kept her occupied while the rest of us opened our loot!

In the afternoon I took her over to my brother’s house to celebrate with the rest of my brothers, my dad, and stepmom.  My brother’s house has a fenced-in backyard which Darcy absolutely loves.  I took her for a walk shortly after we got there (and found out my dad, stepmom, and little brother were going to be later than planned).  Darcy was happy to see some new sights and track new scents. 

Later on, once the rest of the family had arrived and I had dinner in the oven, I took her out back with my little brother to run around.  This is a dog who needs a fenced yard!  She just absolutely loves to run as fast as she can.  She was quite the tired dog that night, and I actually ended up feeling reallybad for her because she just couldn’t settle down to sleep at my brother’s.  She kept looking at me pathetically as if asking when we could go home and go to bed!

All in all, though, a successful second Christmas!  Did you celebrate the holidays with your pets?  What kind of goodies did you get them?

A Mighty Wind

Happy 2010!  I do still owe you all an actual Christmas post, which I’ll get to this week.  (As an aside: Who are you all anyway?  Does anyone read this blog yet?  Am I writing in a vacuum?  Speak up and comment!)  Right now, though, I’d like to talk about how mighty cold it’s been around these parts lately! 

While it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 degrees on Christmas Day, ever since then temps have dropped down to the 20s and 30s.  Add in the excessive wind, and it feels like the teens.  While each season holds a special place in my heart and I don’t mind snow and wintery weather for the most part, this is a bit too cold for me.  Darcy, on the other hand, could care less.  This is a dog who loves to be outside!

I woke up the morning of New Year’s Eve to find a couple of inches of freshly fallen snow outside.  If you’ve read my earlier posts, you know that Darcy is a big fan of snow.  She was delighted to see that it was back!  While the snow/freezing rain was still falling a bit, we set off for a walk. 

Cute, right?  Toasty warm – except for her little behind.  The problem with her being half dachshund/half pug is that most dog clothing sold in stores isn’t long enough for her.  The pieces that are long enough are too big everywhere else. 

I only just bought this coat for her a week or two before Christmas, but I just ordered another one from the internets because I’ve felt bad that she’s properly covered up on our frigid walks lately!  The new coat hasn’t arrived yet but get this – it comes with a scarf!  The cuteness level may just be off the charts on that one.  Pictures of Darcy modeling her new gear are sure to come once her coat arrives. 

Until then…stay warm wherever you are!

Do you have clothes for your dog?  Does s/he like them?

‘Twas the night before Christmas

This is Darcy’s second Christmas with me, but I think she’s even more excited about the arrival of Santa Paws tonight than last year!  Christmas Eve is the night where all the family comes over to celebrate, eat, drink, and open presents together.  Darcy gets lots of attention and extra people food snuck to her, so she loves it. 

After everyone left tonight, she got an early Christmas present…pink reindeer pajamas!

It’s tradition in my family to get new pajamas to wear Christmas Eve, and this year I didn’t want to leave Darcy out.  I had no idea how much she would actually like them!  I think these jammies made her instantly sleepy.  She’d had a busy day to begin with, but once she got these on, she started slowing down.  I guess she thinks she’s wearing a blanket.  I debated whether to get her a dog Snuggie for Christmas, but I think these are better…and certainly cuter!  As soon as I took her upstairs to bed, she curled right up.

And even as I write this post, she’s asleep in my lap…still wearing her new jammies — with visions of peanut butter bones dancing in her head.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Snow Day

Mother Nature decided to swing by and drop off a white Christmas yesterday!  I think this is the most snow Darcy’s ever seen before.  We got some last year, but pretty much just a couple of inches at a time.  One of the reasons why I love her so much is that she’s such a fun dog.  Just look at her play in the snow…she loved it.

After all that prancing through the snow, she was wiped and spent the next couple of hours doing this:

Stay warm wherever you are!