How to bury a bone indoors.

by Me, Maggie

We've all buried a bone, a ball, or some other valuable outdoors at one time or another. Dig up some fresh dirt, place the bone in the hole, cover with dirt. Simple. But what if you want to bury something indoors? Perhaps you do not have a yard to bury things in. Maybe it is too cold outside to dig the dirt. Or, as in my case, you are upstairs in your house when someone offers you a tasty morsel that you'd rather save for later. What do you do?

You bury that thing indoors. How? Let me tell you. I've got it down to a science.

Oh--and if I move too fast, just start over at the beginning and reread it until you feel comfortable. Ok? Splendid. Now let's begin.


Step 1: First, find a heap of fabric. It could be a pile of laundry, a blanket, a pillow... something soft and moveable that does not smell like your bone. For the sake of demonstration, I'll use this here throw. It has Winnie the Pooh on it. You do not need Winnie the Pooh on yours. Improvise.


Step 2: Once you find your "pile" it is time to place your bone in it. This is the hard part. Sometimes it is difficult to let go. I often find myself putting the bone down, sniffing it, then picking it up again. You might hear me whimpering during this stage--it is ok to cry. Just get that bone in the pile eventually.


Step 3: Now. Use your nose and your paws to move the fabric and fold it over the bone. Get that shnoz in there real good and tuck it in real tight. We don't want anyone coming along and finding that bone before you do. But! Be careful not to break the bone or damage it in any way. We want a good looking snack later.

Are you having trouble parting with your bone? I understand. This is normal. If you are worried that your bone just disappeared into nowhere, take a peak under the fabric. See? It is there, just where you put it. Do not worry. What we are doing here is a lot like humans do with their food when they put it in that big humming fidgeadator. It is just temporary storage.

Repeat Step 3. Repeat steps 2 and 3 if necessary.


Step 4: WALK AWAY. But when you do, be aware of your surroundings. Check to see that there are no suspicious characters lingering around, waiting to pounce on your bone the minute you leave. In this example I am checking out the Turtle in Mommy's art studio. Yeah, he is in a glass aquarium with a screened-in lid... but you can never be too careful.

Congratulations! That's it! You've successfully buried your bone indoors. No soil between the toes, no parents angry about their garden full of holes. And now you've got a convenient snack ready when you need it.

That is, until someone picks up your throw and puts it somewhere else. But we will get to that dilemma later.
*puppy licks*

I forgot to show you...

...my new sweater!

I know there are a lot of sad things going on in the world this week so I will do my best to do my part and spread cheer however I can. And what is more joyful than a Beagle in a sweater being kissed by her Daddy?



Or a beautiful young Beagle performing her "Down!" trick, waiting for her reward (which is in Mommy's right hand, see it there? I'm looking right at it.



And the best part yet--a baby Boxer who is going to be the best friend of the aforementioned beautiful Beagle!



Don't mind him, he does not sit still very well. Luca has a lot to learn.

See? I told you this digital camera was going to be a blast, didn't I?
*puppy licks*

Ducky and Stucky in Kentucky - A Christmas Story

Hooray for Christmas! This weekend I got lots of treats. I got a rawhide candy cane, a squeaky football, a sweater, a jingle bell collar, more treats and guess what--Duckie. You remember Duckie? Well, he's been around my entire life and last month he got injured and fluff went everywhere and I tried to save him, I really tried... but the more I tried to fix the fluff, the more it went all over and then after that he disappeared. I missed him, but Goosey and Quaily and Foxy kept me company and made sure I wasn't sad for long. (But I still missed him.)


Me and Duckie when we first met. It was love at first sniff.

Then the most amazing thing happened on Christmas. When we all woke up and looked under the tree, THERE HE WAS! There was Duckie, all fixed and as good as new. Seriously. He hadn't looked so good since he was new, since the day I met him. His fur was soft and fluffy, his feet were clean bright orange, his neck was all in one piece... and his honker worked! Duckie hadn't honked for a long time. So when I saw Duckie all fixed up, I must say I was a little spooked. When I picked him up he honked at me right away. I could not believe it. It was the best surprise ever.

It is too bad that I don't have any pictures of that moment to show you. Remember all those pictures I promised? Well, there was a problem. My Mommy's camera was late. L-A-T-E late. It just came yesterday. And you know who is to blame? Snow. Snow kept Santa's package from coming to us on time for Christmas because it got stuck in Texas, then stucky in Kentucky. She was pretty sad.

But once that package showed up yesterday, she got right to work on taking some pictures for you. And what was the first picture she took?


Me, Maggie in my antlers. It was hard to hold still but I managed.


Then me, Maggie in front of our tree.

And this morning--yes, this very morning--Mommy brought her camera on our morning walk through the park. There is still some Snow (grrrr...!) on the ground which fell here on Sunday. Just another "dusting." I am still not sure how Snow is supposed to be fun, because all it seems to be good for is making my paws reeeeally cold.


Here you see the back of my house, which is decorated so that people who walk their dogs and kids through the park can feel Christmasy. Sometimes dogs take a walk in the water and make a lot of noise. I haven't tried that yet. Plus, it's too cold.


While Mom tried to take a picture of me, I spotted a funny looking person jogging. See? I'm pointing at them.


When the jogger was gone, I pointed at my Mommy. Because even though she's funny looking (especially in the morning), I love her lots.

So there you have it! My first digital pictures. This is gonna be FUN.

OH! And I almost forgot to tell you. On Christmas Santa brought a puppy to my favorite neighbors' house! That's right, a puppy! His name is Luca and he is much younger than me--only 11 weeks. Just a baby, really. He's what those people call a "Boxer" but a dog is a dog to me. All I know is, he is soft, he is floppy, he is cute and he loves to play. And I love to play. We played together on Sunday and rolled around and tackled each other. We are going to be best, best friends.

I hope everyone else had as great a Christmas as I did.

*puppy licks*

A Christmas Treat!

I won't be around here til next week, so I thought I'd give you your present now. Ya ready? Click below!


Ho Ho Ho Harooooooooooo!!!
Treats to you all, and to all a good night.

And make sure you come back to see bazillions of pictures of my Christmas weekend!

*puppy licks*

Snow.

You heard me. I met Snow.

On Sunday night it was verrrrry cold and verrrry windy outside, and the Eagles beat the Cowboys (just barely). And just after the game was over, the misty rain outside turned into white fluff called "Snow."

I'm not so sure about this Snow.

Mommy and Daddy tried to lure me out into the snowing Snow. They acted like crazy nut jobs trying to get me outside. Eventually I caved--outside was suddenly where all the fun was. But what was this stuff that fell like rain but landed like something different altogether?

When I stepped out onto the deck, I went one paw at a time. Then something cold fell in my eye! I ran back in. Then Daddy called me again. I stepped out slowly. Carefully. So cold. Sooo cold! The Snow was snowing so fast that there was already some of it on the deck in front of me.

Hmmm. I thought. It smells like ice. I know what ice is. It tastes good when you are feeling hot.

I leaned down closer for a taste. I slipped out my tongue ever so slightly and took a little lick. Hmmm. Kind of tastes like ice too.

I suddenly became aware that there was a whole bunch of it stuck in my fur and sitting on my back. Frightened, I ran.

Down the steps I ran into the back yard! Over the patio and through the snowy grass I ran, I ran as fast as I could! Daddy ran with me, and we both started barking. The Snow fell fast all around us, as fast as we could run. Suddenly I STOPPED--sniffed the Snow, took a lick, then ran ran ran again! I ran ran ran all the way back up the stairs to the deck and waited at the back door to be let in. My feet were so cold that I let them take turns being on the ground whlie the others held me up. My body was so cold that I shivered all over. Mommy let me inside and I ran right to the couch. Why did they seem to love that Snow so much? Am I missing something?

It was apparently just "a dusting" and a dusting is just not as fun as "lots" of Snow. Or so they say. Hmm. We shall see.

There will be pictures of my first Snow day after Christmas. Mommy needs to develop the film. But guess what? She won't be developing film for much longer. I heard that Santa Claus is bringing her something that doesn't need film. ;)

*puppy licks*

There is a tree in my house.

Mommy and Daddy bought a tree and put in our living room. They thought that I'd be scared and bark at it, but I didn't. They thought I'd try to eat it or jump up on it, but I did not. At least, not yet. I think I like it enough that I'll leave it alone. It seems that whenever I chew on something I shouldn't, I never see it again. I'd like the tree to stay so I'm going to do my best to keep away.

They keep talking about "what Santa's bringing Maggie for her first Christmas." Not sure what that means yet, although I'd like to think that it means TREATS. I can never have enough treats. In fact, if I had to make a list of treats that I'm wishing for, they would be:

1. Boiled chicken and rice
2. Meatballs
3. Freeze-dried ice cream
4. Chicken liver snacks
5. Pig's ears (aka bacon)
6. Puppy biscuits
7. Biscuits from the crossing guard
8. Biscuits from the mailman
9. Hickory smoked rawhide
10. Babydog "Train Me!" snacks

So Santa-whoever-you-are, if you are going to bring something to my house, this list is a good starting point.

In other news, I had a doggie visitor at my house on Friday night! Do you remember Otter? I first met Otter in June at the seashore. Back then she was bigger than me. Guess what? Now I'm bigger than her! I mean, she is longer--she is a loooonnng dog--but I am taller. My legs are longer and my back is higher. I think she might have been intimidated by my new size. Otter doesn't trust other dogs. I don't even think she believes that SHE IS a dog. But I was real nice with her, real gentle, and I was careful not to jump on her or run too fast. Last time I did all those things and she did not like it one bit.

So, me and Ott got to hang out while our parents went out to dinner. We both stayed in our caves but it was nice just to have a friend there with me. When our parents got back we went outside together to go "chop chop," then came back inside together and hung out with our parents (who were very silly at this point) and took turns on the couch. I think I would like Otter to come over again sometime. She's no spring puppy like me, but we can still have fun.

*puppy licks*