Ice-Capades!

Rivet's Christmas Morning!!!

Rivet just loves her presents from my parents! Note the hand-crocheted dog sweater from Mom!!!

Tunnel Tennis!!!!!

Look how much fun can be had with 1 Ikea play tunnel, 3 mini tennis balls, 1 plush squeaky ball!

Dinner time and tricks for kibble.....

Loofa Dog Toy Brings on the Zooms!

Rivet just loves this little toy - as you can see!



Oh and by the way, Rivet finished totally updating her Amazon Store for glam little dogs.

Lazy doggie!!!

I broke the ancient rule of "let sleeping dogs lie" today - and was rewarded with cute stretching, a yawn, and being stared at - Rivet was being VERY lazy this morning. Cuteness warning +10!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIVET!!!!!

Today Rivet is 3 years old - and has spent most of the weekend in some form of celebration here is a highlights video of her pool party at the dog park, and opening a present sent by my parents:

Rivet takes over the bean bag chair!

Rivet has claimed a deflated bean bag chair as her own!

A Morning Swim...

Its been WAY TOO HOT around here, and I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be for Rivet who has all of that gorgeous poofy fur. Last Saturday, on my way to the warehouse (normally I don't go on Saturday, but whatever) Rivet and I stopped in at Petsmart to buy treats for her and an ice cold soda for me. Then we both noticed the cute little wading pools, and I figured it was worth the $9 to see if she would like to cool off in one. Given the fact that I grew up in a "behaviorist household" I am prone to do experiments finding the most effective ways to train, and how to instill happy doggie associations with things. This was a prime opportunity. I knew that other papillons seem to enjoy water, and I wanted to make sure there were no associations with the dreaded "bath time". There is a rule, Rivet never gets in the pool unless its because she wants to - I have never placed her in there, if she is in the pool, its because she's jumped in. Now, that being said, at first I had to build up some nice associations with being in the pool - I lured her in with a favorite treat - after that happened a few times, I noticed she wanted to go out on the patio more and more to hop in the pool and just walk around, chase a ball in there, or "dig" in the water for fun or to cool off. This morning, she has asked to "swim" about 3 times - I guess she likes it now!!! Have you ever seen someone have so much fun in 1" of water in the bottom of a plastic wading pool??

Extra long video today - food time!!!!

Rivet loves her bowl of Royal Canin Mini Special 30 (for "picky little dogs" as it says in the package). She does have a discriminating pallet to say the least...

Doggie playground!!!!!!

This is Rivet's favorite doggie playground - watch her go!!!

Paper BAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's more fun than a paper bag that has treats and your favorite toy inside????

Don't Wanna Share!

This is MY chewy toy! Let go of it!!!

Papillons and.... TOMATOES???

I don't get it, but sometimes, as a human, it is difficult to fully grasp the logic in the mind of a dog. They really do have their own agenda sometimes. And well, sometimes that agenda resembles salad. She doesn't do it often, but sometimes Rivet likes to have an absolute hissy fit about something - and this particular day that thing was a tomato. I was minding my own business, working out and was interrupted by what you see below:


Interestingly though, I found out that some papillons like tomatoes - watch this guy eat them right off the plants!!


And this puppy who hasn't quite figured out if he wants to eat a cherry tomato or not:

You've been so patient!!!!

Sorry for the huge delay, but I have 2 bits of great news:
1. Today's video is extra long and adorable
2. We have been recording tons of new material for this site, so keep checking back as it will be added each week!!!

After all the hundreds of dollars we've spent on so many toys, what is Rivet's current favorite? A mini tennis ball with a piece of stretchy fabric tied onto it... go figure!

Sorry for the delay!

The full version with sound is now up!



Want another chuckle? Check out Rivet's Mommy doing karaoke on myspace!
Click here!! :)

Everything tastes better when you're fed by hand....

Here's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who also likes the whole hand fed concept:

Rivet navigates some foam board obstacles!

A spoonful of cute helps the voting go down!

If you haven't already, please go vote - its your right and duty as an American - but as all things such as traffic and long lines tend to make some folks apathetic, please push past that and realize that even if it takes you 4 hours to vote, that is nothing compared to the 4 years of regret you might feel if you fail to get out there today.
OK!!! ENOUGH PREACHING! Back to the cuteness!

Rivet's kinda gross chew treat

Rivet really likes these, they're called "Moo Tubes" and they're pieces of specially prepared and dried cow esophagus, apparently a nice natural source of glucosamine (good for joints and connective tissue, I prefer to take mine in tablet form in the morning, but to each their own). Rivet enjoys hers the most when someone else acts like they want it too - as you can see from the video:

Making Faces....

We were supposed to be playing fetch, but Rivet decided to just make faces at me instead - which is still quite fun:

MINE!!!!!

Just hanging around

Just a short video of what Rivet likes to do on a regular basis:

Fay, Fay, Go AWAY!

Rivet has come to really hate the rain, especially during the long drawn out rains of Tropical Storm Fay... luckily, she and her friend Shirley had raincoats and were prepared to continue their walking schedule regardless of the weather:

Chilling with my best friend....

Rivet got to hang out with Shirley a little earlier today, unfortunately I only had the camera in my phone available, but here's what went on:

Happy Birthday, Rivet!!!!

This past Saturday, Rivet turned 2. She had so much fun the first half of Saturday that she slept the rest of the day away, but it was her birthday and that's what she wanted. It all started at 9:30am when her playgroup met at a local dog park and she hung around with 20 of her friends and made some new ones too. Then we went to a local dog bakery and let her pick out some treats. After coming home and eating, she then fell in a heap and slept and slept and slept.

Today she is doing her best to keep me from studying - while atop her birthday afghan made by my Mom - Rivet just LOVES anything soft and pink.

New Toy!!!

Who says toddlers should have all the fun - here's Rivet's new "play tunnel" from IKEA

Papillon Hissy Fit!!!

Just when you thought she was a good girl all the time, Rivet has an incomprehensible back of the couch barky hissy fit. NO IDEA what the deal is... no idea at all, but wow is it funny to watch!

Rivet's Talk To Me Treat Ball!

Watch Rivet have fun with her new toy - my parents picked out the perfect gift for her! In case you're wondering, the sample the toy plays is me saying "squeak squeak" in a goofy voice. Note the flashing lights make for fun in the dark room!

Nosy Doggie!!!!

Ok, so I cleaned out my car (I get a LOT of junk mail being a small business owner and keeper of 3 mailing addresses) and brought in a box that happened to have a catalog, a few pens, and a little plastic box in it. For some reason this drove Rivet NUTS. I had to take the box away from her since I needed it to ship some stuff out via Priority Mail.... I dump the whole thing out and it still isn't good enough - what a nosy little girl!

Lol Dogs!!

I've finally made my own LOL pic!!!

Enter the Make Ur Lolcat Famous Contest

Busy Buddy... yummy yummy fun!

Typical Day.....

Just a typical day for Rivet:

Le Petit Momo

Rivet has made friends on YouTube, and one of her biggest crushes is an adorable papillon named Cosmo. He had a puzzling video up where his owner calls him "Le Petit Momo" and he seems somewhat annoyed/offended. Of course I want to see if this has the same effect on Rivet. Not so much, but it did get a little bark out of her. Anyway, here is Cosmo's video and Rivet's video:

I am spoiled, hear me roar! (I mean, watch me chew)

This is my favorite blanket, on my favorite corner of my favorite couch on top of my favorite pillow while chewing my favorite toy. In case you haven't guessed, my life is probably way better than yours. Observe:

Under the stove

Chaos reigns as Rivet discovers her favorite ball has "accidentally" somehow gotten under the stove again.

Tiny mouth goes crunch-crunch!

Watch as Rivet eats the last of her dinner - she has a very distinctive way of eating:

Orange ball

With treats!!!!!

Rivet's playdate!

Delayed because of technical difficulties, but FINALLY here! Rivet and her Chorkie (or Yorchi chihuahua/yorkie mix) friend, Murphy have a lot of fun running and playing together:

sorry....

I've been LAZY

Short and super cute.... just like Rivet...

Rivet: I discovered that I can get under the couch!!!! WATCH!

Dog Party Recap!

I went to 2 dog parties in one day! One at a dog park, and the other at my veterinarian's office. I had so much fun that I fell asleep in the car all the way home - and then some. The dog park party had a crazy costume contest as you can see, and my vet's party had some fun agility stuff laying around. I'd never seen this sort of thing before and ran all over it just to get at some seriously tasty treats. Isn't my outfit totally fabulous? Not only can I jump hurdles, I can jump hurdles while wearing my little kimono from NYC....

Planter or Digging Box....

I had just finished putting dirt in this nice large round planter to grow some lettuces on the porch, my back was turned for just a few seconds when Rivet decided she had other plans for the "planter"

Naptime is OVER

I tried to post this last week but there were problems with the camera and youtube. Everything's fixed this week so this will be good week for updates!

Here's where I didn't want to wake up - who would believe that I could be so lazy!!

I moved! :)

So sorry I've slacked off on uploading new videos lately - but we just moved to a brand new place and I LOVE IT! My bestest friend Shirley lives in the building next door and there are dogs EVERYWHERE. I've made so many friends between here and trips to the dog park that I'm going to have to start writing them down! I'm even thinking of starting a microdog playgroup for little guys 10lbs and under like me.

Oh, and the new berber carpet- LOVE it - I can run even faster now!

Tenacious Me

The treat inside this favorite toy never had a chance!!!

I'm feeling better already!

I still have my stitches (all 3 of them) but the vet's taking them out next Monday - I can't WAIT to have those itchy things gone!

Last time I visited my friend Shirley, Adrienne and Shirley's owner traded more doggie stuff and I ended up with this awesome purple toy that Shirley wasn't really into. Its all boingy and Adrienne hides treats in the hollow ends - you have to keep rolling and shaking it around until the treats fall out:



And then a "talent scout" from Worldwide Fido found me on Youtube and invited me on their website - should be fun!

Doggie Fashion Show!

We recently got back from a great time in NYC. While wandering around Soho, I happened upon 2 really cool dog stores - Pet Bar and Harness*Dog. Rivet was so happy that I brought things back for her and she wanted to show them off for you! BTW she wears a size 4S from PrettyYoko.com, the online version of the store.

Overview


Kimono


Green Dress


Black T-Shirt

Look at me!!! I'm skateboarding!

Rivet is now officially 1 year old! I brought her back some really cute dog clothes (she wears size 4S) from NYC this weekend. She will be showing those off later this week, but today she really wanted you to see how she's progressing with her skateboarding:

Stealing your water

I like drinking water out of human glasses.....

Canine Tony Hawk part 1

Day 2 of getting Rivet the Papillon puppy used to a mini skateboard - she seems to like it. I'm still getting used to clicker training while holding a camera at the same time, so sorry for the shaky cam, I'm jugging a clicker, a camera, and a handful of treats.

In case anyone is concerned, she will only be on the tennis court and going at slow speeds - she's so tiny (and that was the smallest skateboard I could find!).

... Look! I'm Cute!

So, apparently I did this "totally cute thing" last night when I stuck my head into Adrienne's water glass and drank while I was sitting on her lap - and she wanted me to do it for today's video. I had other plans though - like trying to lick the camera and rolling around on the floor. Oh well, you'll like this too!

humans, whatever....

The humans had some people over, and I was cordial, but I really just wanted to play my version of soccer... my version is better because it involves a ball full of kibble - can you imagine the World Cup if their soccer balls were full of crackers??

As promised.... SUPER UPDATE!

Shirley and I had SO MUCH FUN on Saturday. We went to a Luau at Bone Jour. Played, met a bunch of other doggies, got our pictures taken - together and by ourselves (though I wasn't too sure about that emo guy putting his hand on my butt! Hands off, buster, I'm an Internet Celebrity!). One of the best parts was that Shirley's owner had made little flower bits for us to wear so that we looked extra special at the party. Here we are wearing them and on our way to Bone Jour:


Anyway... I'm a lucky girl because I ended up winning one of the raffle prizes - a birthday party set! Shirley thinks I should have my dog party at Sam Snead's because apparently they even have a dog menu! I'll have to check that out! Anyway, next month we'll all have dog party hats, round dog placemats, invites, and matching party favors!

Speaking of Shirley, after the party we still had some energy left for playing -


Look how I make Shirley howl!!!!!

Kong time!!

This drives me crazy (in a good way of course). I don't know why the humans laugh about this treat in a can, and I'm not sure what they mean by "spray pate", but I sure like how it tastes.


By the way, look how much my hair has grown since this video from a few months ago (March 1st to be exact)! I'm a big girl now and no one has tried to call me a "long haired chihuahua" for quite a while. No offense to my chihuahua friends, but we are just not the same!

Red scarf

After I kept pulling this out of the closet for the umpteenth time, Adrienne finally realized that she should give it to me - I like it and she never wears it, so ha! Besides, who knew you could have so much fun with a silly scarf?

Back from Vacation.

From Adrienne:
Watch as Rivet "helps" me unpack and finds a special treat!!

The wave

I'm learning to "wave" at you - here's one of my training sessions!

BIG tennis ball

I was thinking that I might do a "weasel ball" impersonation, but lost my concentration... Near the end of the clip you can see me demonstrate my "2 paw" technique - I think its terribly effective!

Stairmaster!

Even though I haven't figured out how to go downstairs, I sure like going UPSTAIRS

My newest obsession.....

DIGGING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watch me go!!!

Grrrrr!

I am Rivet! Hear me ROAR (erm, I mean kinda play growl). This is my way of telling you that I want to play - like NOW, no YESTERDAY. BTW, sorry about Wednesday, I was trying to get footage of my newest obsession (not telling you yet), but it didn't come out so well. Stay tuned for hopefully a special post about it this weekend.

I was asleep...

I just woke up, and I guess I fell asleep with my tongue stuck out again - watch what happens:

Look how smart I am!!!

When I found out that my friend Shirley, the raggle puppy learned to roll over, I just knew that I had to learn this trick too. Here's a video of me getting the hang of it:


I'm hoping that soon Shirley and I can do syncronized roll over dancing... heehee.

I love the smell of Tennis in the morning.

What better way to start the week than a morning game of tennis... well... doggie tennis at least, where the ball falls short of regulation size, but tiny mouth size at 1.75" in diameter. Oh, and we only use half the court and forget about that net - its only good for chewing on, but Adrienne doesn't let me. She says that as soon as she finds her racquet that she's going to play some "people tennis" and needs the net to not have holes in it. Whatever... people and their weird demands. As you might be able to tell, I'm wearing my favorite canvas "bling" harness that she made for me - its important to look good when you're playing tennis.

Do you like celery?

I know I do! I was just sitting there last night, minding my own business when I hear my people behind me crunching on something that sounded just amazing. Celery sticks! One of them had their hand down with a whole bunch of the sticks and as soon as he wasn't looking I snagged one away and started crunching on it like mad!

The Greeny Game...

From Adrienne: I like for Rivet to have one of these dental chews every now and then - they help with the dreaded "dog breath" and she seems to enjoy them a little more than having me constantly chase her with a toothbrush. Sometimes she grows disinterested in them, and her thinking that I want one for myself renews that interest with zest. Here we are playing "the greeny game" and needless to say it was a success, she chewed and ate the whole thing over the course of the evening.

Sleepy Puppy and Dog Shirts!

It got cold, so what's a sleepy puppy to do but to snuggle up on the couch under blankets and watch tv!



Oh yeah, and here I am trying to "model" the dog shirt a friend gave me - since I'm moving so fast in the video, I'll tell you what it says: "I like people. They clean up your poop."

Mega Dognoodle!

My owner went overboard with this oversized dog toy, but I LOVE IT! I can't wait to show it to my beagle-friend, Shirley!