The Puppies are Out to Get Me!

I was chilling here in bed with my laptop, logging into the blog to write an entry about how generally good of a day it was, when suddenly Zoey curls up suspiciously close to me -- the kind of I'm-getting-as-close-to-you-as-possible-so-you'll-think-I'm-cute-and-forgive-me close. Two seconds later I smell that all-too-familiar eau de Zoey. She peed on the bed! And I had just taken her out an hour ago.

So, after taking her outside (potty-training sucks), stripping the comforter and sheets, cleaning them off and putting them on the porch to dry, and pouting about my newly-stained mattress, I am back here with my laptop. The puppies are, of course, sleeping sweetly beside me now, as though the thought of doing anything bad is completely beyond them. Cockers are notoriously hard to potty train (and we don't know that she had any potty-training in the six months before we adopted her), but Zoey is doing relatively well. She's generally a very good puppy (and about as sweet as they get.) Then there are days like today, when I come home to this:

Let me decipher this for you: Among this pile of destruction is one of the linen napkins from our dining table (not sure how they managed that one), a set of our decorative wooden chopsticks, Gearry's 2-CD culinary instruction set, and a couple sheets of math problems that I worked on while studying for my test.

It's part of having a puppy, and part of us refusing to put her in a crate while we're gone, so it's just part of life. But I'm kind of over cleaning up messes. You don't want your puppy to grow up, but at the same time -- you're ready for your puppy to grow up! (Yes, I attribute most of this to Zoey. I'm pretty sure she "starts things" and then Bailey probably joins in to help. My friend Tasheena at work joked that I should get a "puppy cam," like a "nanny cam.")

Since it's getting warmer, as soon as Gearry moves the planter from our back deck (the dogs like to dig in it when left by themselves... I mean, it's a giant dirtbox... if I was a dog, I'd LOVE to play in it, too) we're going to start leaving the dogs out there when we're gone during the day (with Gearry's and my schedule, they're only alone 3 days of the week... Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays). They'll like being able to watch all the birds and squirrels, enjoy the sunshine, etc., and I'll like not cleaning up messes (namely various chewed-up things we've accidentally left out) when I get home.

Alright, well, writing about my puppy adventures has kind of deterred me a bit from writing about my generally good day (nothing special... just nothing bad either) so I think I'm going to call it a night. Yes, it's 10:40 on a Friday and I'm only 23 years old... I should be out having fun. BUT... by some Fridays, turning in early IS fun!

Tomorrow morning I'm timing at the finish line for the IU, Dayton, Eastern Michigan regatta at Lake Lemon, IU's last home regatta of the season. Bright and early Saturday for this girl, as usual.