Ice-Capades!

Tunnel Tennis!!!!!

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

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...

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

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

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!

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:

New Toy!!!

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

Busy Buddy... yummy yummy fun!

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:

Under the stove

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

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

Finally!!

We had some problems with our little camera, but its back in action complete with a new video setup! Here's Rivet opening a Christmas present:

This whole Santa thing....

Not to sure how I feel about this whole Santa thing - that big red outfit kind of scares me - after being bribed with treats and accompanied by my big friend Shirley I started to think it was ok. I mean, I want presents, but I have to admit that Santa kind of scares me. Adrienne said that I was like a dog version of Ralphie's little brother in Christmas Story.

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

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

Raggle Family Reunion.

From Rivet: My big best friend Shirley was reunited with one of her littermates (Bubby) this past Sunday, and while I like being the center of attention ALL THE TIME, I'm going to let them have the spotlight for this post. Check out how they have the same bark!!

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??

Dog Tired

Here's my best friend Shirley relaxing in the car after a big party - look at that back leg!!!!

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!

The wave

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

Stairmaster!

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

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.

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!