Determination...

Lucy's not as little as she used to be, she's growing up pretty quickly. So, in honor of her newly added pounds and inches, her play space at the store had to get bigger! She was so excited to come into work with me the other day and discover that she's now got even more room to romp around. She wasted no time figuring out a way to keep an eye on everything going on in the store, either. I finished with a customer to find my little boxer's head sticking out the bottom of a bookcase. She was so happy to see me that I got a big kiss... Of course, I had to crawl around on the ground with her to get it...

The hunt for toys that will occupy Lucy for hours, without being destroyed is on. I loved all the suggestions I got after the post I made about the lion the other day. (I wonder who I can contact to become a "toy tester"... Lucy's also curious!) After reading all of those posts this morning, I got online and ordered Lucy up some new toys. I found a great site- with fantastic prices which really made me happy! (http://wholesale-dog-supplies.com/)

We've got dragons on the way... And in the process I was able to locate a replacement for Lucy's favorite toy that was retired two weeks ago. I had looked everywhere, including the place where I bought it, a pet store in Charleston and even one in Orlando with no luck! But I struck pay dirt this morning, and we've got 6 of them on the way! I can't deal with that look on Lucy's face...



Since we're on the subject of indestructable toys, I thought I would share this one with you. This octopus was purchased (https://www.vipproducts.com/retail/files/index.php/) about 6 months ago and has really taken a beating! Lucy loves him, and I'm thrilled that the $19.00 I spent lasted longer than 30 minutes! She and I had a wild play with the octopus this afternoon, and he's no worse for show.... (If only I could say the same for my arm and the sweater that I'm wearing :) )

Tug O' War With A Lion...

...And the boxer won!

Lucy's been such a good sport about all of the hours that she's been at work with her mama, and earlier this week I decided it was time to reward my little helper. (Since a paycheck is out of the question, I reward her with toys and bones!)

Off to Petco Lucy and I went. I always let Lucy pick out a toy, and of course, I typically grab a bunch of stuff on the way through. I'm always looking for things that will occupy her while we're at work, and of course, not fall apart immediately. (3 of her toys have gone to the toy graveyard in the past 7 days! I "mend" them whenever I can, but these 3 were beyond the point of minor surgery!)


Lucy picked out a little lion with a rope, she loves anything that has a rope attached. And she was so excited with her new toy that she pulled it out of the bag as soon as we got in the car and she played with until we got to work, then carried it into the store, and laid right down with it. 30 minutes later, the precious lion was in two pieces... I'll be returning that one to Petco- it was labeled "strong".... I don't think so!

I feel bad because she loved the toy, but it just didn't hold up to my little tug of war queen! You win some, you loose some!

Lucy's Take...The Doggie Bloggie Award

I ams so honored to have received the "Doggie Bloggie Award" from our friend, Olive! Thanks a bunches Olive! If you've never met Olive, you should swing by and say hello! This is my pal, Olive:



Here ares the rules of da Doggie Bloggie Award:



1) Thanks da person who gaves the award and link to them.


Thanks Olive!


2) Name 10 things about yourself-creative, weird, enticing, whatever...


1.I loves to fetch things. Buts da best part of fetching tings, is playin tug-o-war wit my hooman. She always seems to want da toy back as bad as I do, so I likes makin her works for it!

2. Meeting new peoples is one of my favorite activities. My hooman always tells people dat I can't holds my licker though! How embarrassin is dat?

3.I works full time... Buts don't get a paycheck! Thankfully, my hooman understands dat I needs to be rewarded for my efforts and takes me on regular trips to da pet store! I gets lots of toys, bones and treats! And of course, whenever she gets sometin to eat, I always get at least a little taste!

4. I loves my veggies! For breakfast dis morning, I had somethin my hooman calls "Stew". It's had carrots, broccoli, yams, cauliflowers, green beans, zucchini, and squash all mixed in with ground turkeys! YUMS!!

5. I always helps my hooman takes a bath. And whens she's all done, I help drys her off! Sometimes, I drags da washcloth down da stairs so mom doesn't haves to carry it as far to put it in da wash!

6.I am a puppy school drops out! But dat doesn't means dat I don't behaves. I walks nicely on da leash, shake, sit, come, and leaves it very well despite not havings completed my puppy classes!

7.I'ms a little sad rights now because my favorite toy had a bad accidents and my hooman says I can'ts play wit it anymore! She tells me she looked all overs da place to find another one just like it, but was unsuccessful! She gets an A for efforts!

8. One of my favorites places to lay in da house in on da stairs.

9. I love to sleep in fronts of da heater in Mom's office! It feels so good!

10. I get very jealous when Daddy hugs Mommy- I should be included in that hug too! I'ms a part of da family!!


3) Award 15 doggie bloggers-whoever you think deserves this regardless of whether they are old or new.

Dis part is too hard! I loves all my doggie blogging friends, I can't picks just 15, and my hooman says dat I don't haves too! I loves all of you guys, and we luvs reading abouts all of your adventures and looking at yours pictures! My hooman wants you all to know dat she reads me your blogs every chance she gets, but doesn't always haves time to comment! She works so hard. 7 days a week, 10 hours a day... frankly, she's loosings its a little bit... but don't tell her I told you dat, k?

4) Finally, have a great time...participation is not mandatory, only if you want to!! After all, doggies are nothing if not fun! It was a lots of fun to share some things about myself! And I'm so happy dat I gots an award. Maybe I'll try to be better at posings for da camera da next time Mommy gets it out.

Lucy's Take... How I's Help Wit Da Laundry

My hoomans returned on da 12th, and haves been keepin me pretty busy ever since! I hads a great times with my Aunt Kim and my 4 cousins, but I was sure happy to see my hoomans!

I loves to be a good little helper. When my Mom does da laundry, I do everythings I can to help! I loves to help her folds, and it's a lot of fun to run off with the socks! Of course, doin laundrys exhaustin- and there's nuttin better dan curlin up on a nice warm pair of jeans fresh out of da dryer!

Lucy's Take... My Littles Vacation

Well, it's official. Both of dose hoomans have left! I still haven'ts figured out what's goin on, but my Aunt Kim came and picked me ups dis morning! I was so happy to see her that I wiggled all overs da place and gaves her all kinds of kisses. But thens it dawned on me, "Where's ya been, Aunt Kim? I haven'ts seen you since da hoomans went to Aruba!" She apologized for nots seeing me in so longs, so I guess I'll haves to forgive her!

I'ms all settled ins at Aunt Kims house. I hads a big dinner, and nows I'm watchin those silly things everyone calls "cats". They're prettys amusing, and we don'ts have any of those at our house!

I'ms sad my hoomans are gone, but at leasts my mom called tonights, and I sent her kisses on da phone. She sounds like she really misses me. I's is missing her too! Wonders when dey are comings back?

Lucy Wants To Go Shopping...

I think Lucy might have been trying to send her Daddy a message this morning. I just got a call from her Daddy that she had managed somehow to pull his wallet from his briefcase, completely remove all of the cash and then she proceeded to pull all of his credit cards out and start nibbling. I think she was trying to tell him that she wants to go shopping! Good girl, Lucy! That's definitely the right wallet to be in if you're in the mood for a big shopping spree!

Lucy's Take... Where's Dat Silly Hooman Goin Now?

Dis mornin my hoomans woke up very early, and Daddy announced that there was a whole world out there waiting to be conquered. I don't knows what dat means, but Mommy promptly jumped out bed, grabbed a cups of coffee and dragged that big soot-case out of da closet. Ugh oh! I didn't likes da look of dat. She threw all kinds of stuff in der, and den Daddy hauled it out to da truck. Den my hooman loaded me into da truck and off we went!

We pulled up to dat ting my hoomans call da airport, and Mommy and Daddy's both got out! Mommy came around da back and gaves me hugs and kisses and tolds me to be a good girl for Daddy... Dis mornin just kept gettin worse...

You're nots gonna believe dis one, but we left Mommy der...all by herselfs... What's da matter with my Daddy? I don'ts know why he woulds do dat? I guesses I'll be hanging out with my Dad for a coupla days. Mommy mentioned sometins about a visit to Aunt Kims house, wonder when dats happenin?

So, ifs you don'ts hear from me for a coupla days, dats why. Just don'ts want you's all to worrys about me!

Lucy's Take... Reporting From Da Furniture Store!

Our work days just got longer, my hooman says it's because it's November. I don't knows what dat has to do wit anythings, but I guess it means dat I'll be goins to work with one of the hoomans every day. Da furniture stores is open from 10-8. Trusts me, it's a very long time!

Mommy says dat 10 hours is it too long to leaves me alone and dat we shoulds be very busy dis time of years. (I don'ts know how busy it is out der todays, but I haven'ts seen much of my hooman since we gots here!)

So, dis mornin, she buckled me ins, and we were off to work... It's was a really long ride. But, it's was worth it, cause when we stopped, she let me out of da car, and we were at Petsmart! Woo hoo!

There were dogs all over da place. I even saw a puppy. It was so cute, but I didn't gets to play with it. It was pretty little.

We walked ups and downs the aisles, and I sniffed all kinds of yummy tings. Den Mommy told me to picks somethings out. I picked out a rib bone, and she lets me carry it up to give to da lady behind da desk. Da lady tolds me I was so cute and Mommy tolds me I was a good puppy! It's pretty goods! Yummy!

Da best tings about going to work with da hoomans is da food. They're always eatin something, which means dat there is always sometin for me to do. I sit as pretty as I cans, give dem a paw, ands waits for sometin good to drop to me!

Here's me waiten for my friend Jake to drop me a bite of his bol-og-na sandwich. I don'ts know if it was da face, or da paw on his leg, but whatevers it was, it worked and I gots a bite! Tanks Jake! You're a good friend!

My hooman tooks me for a very long walk in da colds, and now I'm gettins ready to snuggles up and takes a nap. I dont's tink I likes da cold very much. I don'ts tink my hooman does either cause she was all bundled up!

Time Really Flies...

It's so hard to believe, but yesterday my little Lucy turned 9 months old.

Seems like just yesterday that I was holding that teeny, tiny little 4 week old puppy in my arms and admiring the little black spots on her pink nose attempting to teach her that her name was "Lucy!" I was going to visit her 2 or 3 times a week and counting down the days until I could bring her home, anxiously shopping for toys, crates, food & bowls, and a puppy bed! I couldn't wait, I was so excited that I had a hard time sleeping at night!

Now, Lucy's just about impossible to hold in my arms and not just because she doesn't fit, but because she's strong and she's a wiggler! But, when Lucy decides she needs some "lap" time, she has a good way of letting me know about it. I don't mind appeasing her, she just has to sit first.

Those darling little black spots on her nose have completely taken over the pink, and now there are just a few tiny specks of pink remaining. She still has that beatiful white around her little black nose, and when she's happy, she blushes!

My teeny tiny pup at 9 months old is probably somewhere around 60 pounds... yep, you read right! She is 60 pounds of muscle, lovin, silliness and constant hunger!

She knows how to sit, give paw, and is very good at "leave it" (as long as the object needing to be left is not a raccoon or opossum). She comes when she's called, hops in and out of the car with ease, and knows what it means to give her mama a hug! She's definitely her mama's girl- but there wasn't really ever any doubt that was what would happen.

Snuggle Weather Is Here!

Cool temperatures have arrived in Pittsburgh, and while Lucy is more than happy to go outside to do her business, she's pretty eager to get back in the house where it's warm. The cooler it gets outside, the more snuggly my little boxer becomes. I'm probably going to be shopping for a coat for my little girl if I want her to leave the warmth of the house once the snow hits the ground!

Yesterday, on the job, Lucy found the heater underneath my desk and curled right up resting her head on the knee. And on Tuesday, she pulled her blanket in direct stream of the heater and took a nap.

In general, in our house, other than the bed, furniture is off limits. However there is one exception: my favorite over-stuffed chair which has found a home in my reading/ironing room. This chair was always a favorite of my basset hounds, and anytime that he was "MIA", I could usually find him curled up in this particular chair. And on many occasions, he and I would snuggle up in this chair with a good book and a cup of tea for a read on a cold winter afternoon.

Up until a week ago, Lucy hadn't paid much attention to the chair. There were a couple of times that I caught her jumping into the chair, but she usually didn't stay! But on Sunday afternoon after tearing around the yard for a couple of hours, she was definitely in need of a good warm place to snuggle up and recharge. This is where I found my little boxer sound asleep and snoring like a champ! (Is it a coincidence that there is a heat vent right above this chair? I kinda doubt it!)

Cozying up on top of her humans is definitely becoming a favorite activity of Lucy's. I wasn't at all surprised to wake this morning and realize that the reason that I couldn't breath was that I had a 60 pound boxer on top of me. I guess it makes perfect sense that I felt so warm and cozy...

And it's not at all uncommon to find Lucy where there's a big fluffy blanket, and her human's feet. Sunday night, she plopped right down on top of her Daddy's feet and the blanket and made herself comfy. I'm sure she's also figured out that where her Daddy is, there is also likely to be something good to eat, especially when there's a football game on the tv.

Wordless Wednesday... Lucy On The Job