Cuddling...

So, Raisin has turned into our cuddle/needy/always gotta be touching someone or something puppy. His favorite place to lay down is right behind your feet, wherever you are, usually with his bottom just barely touching you. He is also fond of laying on Eden...no matter how content she is. In fact, it is usually when she is at her most unintrusive that he goes over and lays on her. Then, soon, the licking and nipping begins, quickly to progress to full on biting and wrestling. Then, the peace of my home is shattered.

Here is a quick rundown of how it goes...


Notice Eden, sitting quietly in her favorite spot (against the cabinet with her head peeking out so that she can see what's going on without having to move because she's in the way). Rai, on the other had, looks harmless enough, but in actuality, has formed a plan to wiggle his way into Eden's arms/paws/short stubbers.



As you can see, he's putting his plan into action with Phase One: Pretend that I, too, am just laying down. As it happens, I am doing it nearby to Eden, even with some body to paw contact, but never fear. That is incidental, and not at all what I am going for. And again, notice Eden. At this point, she knows what is coming, and is looking at me like, "Jeez, Mom, aren't you going to make him leave me alone?"



And, Alas, the invasion has begun. Eden put her head down to just lay down quietly and rest, and Rai promptly put his head right on top of hers, as if, Oh, Eden's head is there? What a nice pillow! So nice of her to do that for me!



Eden then realizes that, hey, Raisin has a FAT HEAD attached to a heavy body, so I'm going to move mine. Then, thump, Rai has dropped down the the ground...oh, wait, no, it's not the ground. It's right into Eden's waiting paws! She's holding me, and she loves me and I, of course, did nothing to create this position. It really is just how much she cares for me.



And then, it degenerates. Notice that while this picture is not rotated correctly, you can still tell that Eden is attempting to eat Raisin's ear. So much for a peaceful time inside.

The Curse of the Puppies

Recently, Chris and I filled out brackets for the NCAA tournament, as part of a thing with my family. We also made a side bet...if Chris did better than me, he could hang his giant UVA flag in the office (currently it is relegated to the garage...). If I won, Chris would have to hang out with me doing what I wanted for a full 10 minutes. I originally tried 20, but he can only hide his irritation for so long. Usually, I want to do things like talk about subjects he thinks are stupid (like why we buy Christopher eggs, and not Egglands, or generic; or why Starburst Jelly Beans are way better than any other brand...I think he thinks that those conversations are not useful in the whole scheme of life...). Sometimes, I want to have thumb wars, or watch all of my favorite scenes from my favorite movies (Flashdance, Girls Just Wanna have Fun, Footloose, and Fame...all classics!). I think what he hates the most is when I want him to find me something to eat. Currently, I seem to be incredibly indecisive, and often decide that we don't have anything in the house, and need to go grocery shopping (which he also hates...). Clearly, I am some kind of torturer.

Anyways, that story has almost nothing to do with the pictures. The other day, UVA and Wisconsin were playing, so Chris got out his hats to cheer the teams on. He decided to make the dogs cheer along with him, so we tried to put the hats on the dogs. Then, both teams lost. I blame the puppies.

Here's Eden, trying to avoid cheering for Wisconsin. They say that dogs have better senses than humans. Maybe she knew they were going to lose...



In this one, Eden is still putting up a fight.



Rai was much better at wearing the hats. It's probably because when he wore the hat, we gave him some waffle. And he would do anything for food.



Of course, it could also be that Rai doesn't have Eden's keen senses. He IS the puppy who tries to scratch his head while walking...



And here's Eden, trying to inform Rai of the impending doom. Or she likes to eat hats.

The Long Stalk

Since the beginning of time, animals have played, often simulating real life experiences as they learn the best and most effective ways of succeeding in those real life moments. My super smart dogs are no exceptions. They, too, must learn to hunt and stalk their prey, for that time may arrive when their food might unexpectedly move, or leap out of their bowls. One never knows.

The other day, Raisin was inside the house with me, as I puttered around the kitchen (did you just say "puttered", Jin? Why, yes I did.). All of the sudden, he ran to the door, and then over to the window, both of which face our backyard. So, I let him outside. But, instead of his usual running leapy bound off the porch, he took two steps, and then sat down. So, I shut the door and watched him. That's when I noticed that he had become "The Prey". Eden had "hidden" herself behind the legs of our table, and was stalking him. She sat that way for at least 10 minutes, while Rai kept a good eye on her while he sat by the door. Eventually, he got tired of waiting for her to start playing, so he bounded to the left of the grill. Then he bounded to the right of the grill. Then he ran over to her and then ran away real quickly. Sensing that she had lost the element of surprise, Eden decided to go after her prey.


Eden, hunter extraordinaire.




Still watching...




10 minutes later...




Rai, watching Eden...




Such primal creatures, they are...

Death of a Turtle

On the day Eden came home with us, our friends brought over a cute turtle toy with a squeaky thing in it. We named it Turtle. Every night since then, Turtle has lived in Eden's crate. She moves it around and puts her head on it. She guards it from Rai, who covets it. She licks Turtle's little paddle arms. And the other day, she killed it. Now, she is Turtle-less...Well, it lasted almost a year. Longer than Rai's last squeak (less than a day.)

Dogs in Shirts

Recently, I dressed the dogs in some old t-shirts of mine, just to see what would happen. As expected, Eden was stunning. Rai was a bit silly, mostly because he walked around with his front legs really straight, sticking out stiffly, as if he was a soldier marching or something. Since our dogs are of course, super fashionable, I tied them in knots on their backs, because belly buttons are "in". But then, they would attack each others' knots and pull them out.

Here are the two happy puppies!


Rai kept tripping, so eventually, he gave up and laid down.


He loves posing for the camera!


Here's Eden and I. She is already a super "hot" dog, so the shirt just made her hotter, and she had to rest because she got tired of looking so hot.


Here are the two puppies, used to their new outfits.

Christmas Fun!

For Christmas, Eden and Raisin received Christmas rawhide candy canes from their cousins, Tyco and Akira. So, being the slightly mean, but loving a good laugh, I gave them ONE of the two. They chased each other around for awhile, but then, even after I gave them the second one, they only fought over the one. Dogs are funny.

Anyways, finally I separated the two and gave them each one of the candy canes. Rai went in his crate, and Eden ate her's outside.

Here is a visual reconstruction (aka photos) of the event.


Rai ate the beefy center first. He proceeded to shred it all over his crate, and then try to lick them off.


He had a great time! (and some interesting poop)


Eden also ate her beefy center first. I think she actually ate it all in one bite.


Then she proceeded to pull and tug at the rawhide while looking in at Rai in his crate, making sure he wasn't having more fun than she was.

Puppies being friends

So, as the dogs have gotten older, they have maintained the close friendship that siblings often strive for. That means that when they play, they really get into it, and sometimes even get mad at each other. But when it's time to relax, they like to be by each other...


Like putting your head on your sister's butt.


Or resting your head on her back.


Or sitting so close that your paws are between her paws.

That's friendship.