Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Playing a Trick on Mommy & Daddy


We really can’t tell the difference between this new low fat food and our old kind. But Brownie & I (Rocco) decided to play a trick on mommy and daddy.

It was Rocco’s idea since he has to eat the low fat food even though he doesn’t need it.

Since mommy started giving us the new food, we’ve been eating differently.
Instead of eating out of our bowl like we used to, we’ll now take a kibble or two in our mouth & put it on the floor instead of eating. Pretty soon we have 4 or 5 or 8 or 10 little kibbles scattered around on the kitchen floor. Sometimes we’ll leave them there for a few minutes, other times we leave it there all day.

Mommy will pick up the nuggets & put them back in our bowl. Daddy just looks at the floor and shake his head. It’s so funny.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

The Torture Chamber



Mommy has been saying all week that we need a bath.

And she & daddy decided TODAY is the day.

In the old house we would get a bath in the bath tub. Though we hate baths, it was somewhat civilized.

In the new house, however, we get taken to The Torture Chamber and are washed in the laundry room SINK. It’s barbaric & humiliating.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Country Dog, City Dog


We guess we're pretty lucky dogs. We have a house in the country and a condo in the city. But, we've been country dogs most of our lives, so we are still adjusting to life in the big city. (More about that some other time.)

Mommy is the city girl. She lived in San Francisco for 10 years before daddy plucked her out of there and moved her to the country. It was hard for her at first. She really missed her girlfriends.

So daddy said we would find a NEW place in the city…one big enough for all of us to stay in! Everyone was very excited. Especially mommy.

We like our condo in San Francisco. It has a big front window that we like to look out. We bark at the cable car going by. We bark at the zillions of pigeons. We bark at the dogs being walked on the sidewalk. We bark at the homeless people. And we bark at the people WITH homes. We bark a lot when we’re in San Francisco.

Friday, January 19, 2007

El Corte Inglés

Mommy lived in Madrid, Spain for awhile before she knew us. Naturally she wanted to introduce daddy to her beloved European city.

During their visit mommy took daddy to her favorite Spanish store—El Corte Inglés. It’s an incredible place. In the center of the city the store is actually FOUR buildings—there’s the seven story Music store, the Book and Sports stores, each three floors, and the NINE story department store filled, not only with quality department store goods, it also has a barber shop, two travel agencies, a gift shop with the best souvenirs, a tobacco shop and post office. But the most special part is the gigantic, full service supermercado in the basement! Daddy had never seen anything like it before.

As they walked around the supermarket, mommy pointed out some of the differences from markets at home…like the entire aisle devoted to olive oil & the coffee boutique—where an expert creates the perfect blend for your particular taste.

Then there was the meat counter; an experience all by itself. The highlight, and the reason we’re writing this, was the baby white suckling pig lying peacefully behind the glass. At first daddy was taken back; then he smiled and said it reminded him of me (Brown). And then mommy said she missed the pups.

We think it's nice that they thought about us while on vacation.
But we don't understand why a baby pig was sleeping in a supermarket...

Here’s a picture of me poising like the little piggy.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Our Friend Terry

Though we don’t really pay attention or even understand days of the week, Tuesday is our favorite. Why? Because Tuesday is the day our friend Terry comes to visit us.

We met Terry in October, soon after we moved to our new house. Of course Brownie was the welcoming committee that first day. She went right up to him & said ‘hi’ in her friendly, tail wagging way. I, (Rocco) of course, was much more reserved and suspicion. Why was he in our backyard? I am, afterall, the man of the house when daddy isn't home.

You say I’m overtly friendly, but I (Brownie) AM a good judge of character, don’t forget. I could tell from the first sniff of Terry’s boots and wrangler jeans that he was a good guy. But that wasn’t all. I looked up into his sun kissed face and his sparkling eyes and listened to his gruff yet soft voice. My female intuition told me he was a kind and gentle man. This opinion was solidified when he took that first cookie out of his pocket. It was then I knew I had a friend for life.

Naturally, it took me more time, and lots of cookies, to trust him. But I do now, and I even let him pet me.

When we see him out back, we get sooooo excited; we can’t wait to go say hi.
Mommy tells us to let Terry do his work. I (Brownie) thought his ‘work’ WAS to come and visit us.

Wrong. I (Rocco) know he’s here because of the pool…He brings a net, a vacuum and testing vials. Then he writes some numbers down on the log, remember?

Sort of, but all I (Brown) really know is that he has really good cookies.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Rocco & Brownie Meet The New Vet

Today mommy took us to a new vet. She and daddy discussed it, and they agreed that since we moved, our old doctors are just too far away. Mommy was smart and got a recommendation from the people that used to live in our new house. They were a really nice couple with two little girls named Josie & Mona. They’re Pugs.

It was time for a check up and our Bordetella vaccine. Plus, our friend Terry, who cleans the pool, warned mommy that she better get us vaccinated for rattlesnakes. Mommy freaked out…a little at the thought of a rattlesnake close enough to bite one of her babies and a little at the idea of a shot. Mommy isn’t afraid of many things, but she is scared to death of needles!

Anyway, mommy put us in our car seat & off we went for a short drive. When we got out of the car we didn’t know where we were. We definitely didn’t quiver & shiver like we used to do when we’d realize we were at the old vet. Mommy wondered how long that would last.

Once inside we explored around…lots of different scents to sniff out…and one of those big scales to stand on & be still. The ladies there were pretty and nice and all wearing the same blue clothes. Then mommy took is into the examining room & we waited for the doctor. Of course Brownie greeted him when he came in, so she went first. I (Rocco) hid under mommy’s chair & watched. The doctor was a MAN. We were used to women doctors examining us! Though he was a bit peculiar, he did have warm hands and a gentle, happy voice. He told mommy we were good dogs and everything looked great. Mommy was happy. Then she told him that the pugs’ parents had referred us. He let out a little laugh and said ‘those girls are here all the time. They’re always getting into something!’

Then he mentioned something about shots. Mommy said something about Brownie scooting & anal gland expression (Thanks for embarrassing me (Brownie) mom!)…and then she hurried out of the room.

We won’t tell you what happened next, let’s just say we were veryyyyy anxious to get out of there.

When we got back home, mommy was feeling very guilty so she gave us lots of treats!

Friday, January 5, 2007

Our Most Embarrassing Moments



Do we really need to say anything?

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Brownie Goes on a Diet

We had a lot of family visiting starting with Thanksgiving and continuing through Christmas. Consequently Rocco & I (Brown) got a lot of extra treats. Like almost everyone else, I put on a couple extra ‘holiday pounds’.

Mommy tried to tell everyone that that’s what we do in the winter to protect ourselves from the cold weather. Yes, it DOES get cold in Northern California in the winter!

Finally, mommy got tired of all the comments about my weight…so today she told daddy she is putting me on a diet. And of course that means me (Rocco) too since we eat out of the same bowls.

Mommy went to Petco and found a low fat version of our food. It’s called Eukanuba Weight Control.

We don't mind. It doesn’t taste that different to us.

Pretty soon Aunt Jackie WON’T be able to refer to me (Brownie) as “sausage dog” anymore.

btw, didn’t anyone tell you its not nice to call ‘people’ names, Aunt Jackie?