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:

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...

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!

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.