Travel Rod

The Rod is a clever creature.  He knows when my back is turned and plots his movements accordingly.  The most recent time this happened I was packing for a weeklong trip and he successfully removed clothing from my suitcase.


He noticed something suspicious.

He played it cool at first, acting only slightly interested.

When I went back to the closet, he checked for the all clear.

Then plotted his big move.

One by one, he took my articles of clothing to “his” spot where he hoped I would never find them, causing me to cancel my trip.

However, he got really into burrowing and lost focus.

That ended up being irrelevant since he felt comfortable enough doing this right in front of me.

Don’t mind me, Rod.  Do not mind me.

Bringing Home Rod-y

I wanted my very own dog for forever.  And today was the day I would take home puppy Rod!  I drove to his pet store and could hardly contain my excitement.

In fact, I refused to contain it!

In my excitement, I did not prepare for Rod’s car ride.  I decided it was a good idea to drive home with him on my lap.  “He will love it!” I said to no one.  After 2 seconds in the car, Rod began to claw his way up the front side of my body, then perched on my shoulder, shaking.  He finally settled in this super safe location:

But I didn’t mind that Rod was a bundle of nerves.  He was my little bundle of nerves. 

Rod was so small, he didn’t even have his doxie nose yet.

It didn’t take long for him to gain confidence.

And settle right in.

Welcome home, Rod!

The Bag Rod-y

Like most of us, Rod loves the sound of a good paper tear.  His favorite part of any shopping trip is when I come home and give him the receipt or paper bag to rip to shreds.  He gets really into it and I am pretty sure he is imagining something other than paper being ripped apart.

When the paper has been properly killed, he lays down and lets the shreds envelope his body.

Once we reach this stage, I like to try to pick up the pieces, however I learned early this is not part of Rod's basking plan.

He goes from laying blissfully...

...to claiming his pieces.  Apparently, I have not received the necessary clearance to touch the bag pieces.

This look clearly says, "don't touch my stuff, lady."

Cleaning time has been post-poned.

Buggie Rod

There are pros and cons to owning an intensely alert Doxie.  One con is the slightest noise will rouse them from a deep sleep and cause raucous barking while you are also in a deep sleep.  Though Rod lacks the power of speech, he does have the power that comes with using a long nose to point and was able to convey that there is a noise downstairs in the middle of the night!

I tried to lure him back to bed, but he was having none of it. 

I listened myself, and indeed heard a strange clicking noise coming from downstairs.

Upon further investigation, it seemed like it was coming from the downstairs window.  My first thought was an intruder was trying to break through the window screen. But then I saw it…the lightening bug that could not get his butt to light up, causing it to click.

My fright then turned to disgust and Rod's fright turned to excitement.  He found the intruder!

Once the bug was removed, Rod was able to fall back to sleep in no time, having done his job for the evening.  The threat was neutralized!

However, some of us stayed awake, thinking of all the potential bugs hanging around the house.

Rod and the Hurricane

Since we live in Virginia, Rod and our family got our first hurricane experience this weekend.  Rod handled the wind and rain like a champ, watching and waiting for the storm to be over.

That is, until he needed to go to the bathroom. 

Which he refused to do for quite a while, extending our time outside.

He was no longer amused or entertained by Hurricane Irene.

But he got over it and did what we all do on stormy days.

But he still kept an eye on the hurricane as is stormed into the night...



Like a champ.

Rod gives me a scare.

When Rod was just a young pup, he gave me a bit of a scare.  I was hanging out around the house when I noticed a trail of blood leading to Rod, and he seemed distressed about something on his face.  I could tell his mouth was bloody and drool was coming out.  I of course panicked and went to see what was wrong.

 

When I got to him, I realized he was just going through what we all go through at a young age: losing our baby teeth!  In this particular instance, his tooth was quite loose and was hanging out of his mouth at a perfect right angle.  He did not like that nor did he appreciate my attention to his mouth.

 After that, he lost all his baby teeth in private and I kept finding them around the house.

And for a while, his mouth looked like this:

But now he has this lovely set of chompers!

He still does not appreciate his mouth being touched. 

Rod and the Cicada

Like most of us, Rod is both attracted to and weirded out by cicada shells.  This causes him internal conflict when he encounters them so he deals with it accordingly - stretches as far as his body will allow.

Today, he finally summoned the courage to fully investigate a shell.

Leaving only carnage behind.

He then did the most logical thing in the world - ate the pieces.

Yum!