New Bed

Maisie's dog bed in my office was starting to look a bit shabby, I thought.

She always wants to sit in the cushy "people" chairs in what would be the waiting area if we ever had visitors with a reason to wait (we don't), so I decided to splurge a bit and get her kind of a mini-couch style dog bed.  I've been eagerly awaiting its arrival, and finally today it came.

It was vacuum packed, so looked very weird when I first took it out of the box.

But after a few minutes, it poofed up to full size.

On Thursdays, Maisie usually goes to daycare for the morning and then I pick her up sometime in the afternoon.  I went to get her a little after 2pm today and I couldn't wait to see how she'd react to the new bed.  She first stepped onto it tentatively.

Then took a good sniff...

Followed by a little lick...

Before finally hunkering down...

And making herself comfortable.

I was a little concerned that Maisie might not like this kind of bed since she sometimes liked to stretch out over the side of the old bed.  She made this one work though.

No matter what bed she has, she still sometimes likes to hang out directly on the carpet. Here you can see most of the "Maisie area" at work, it's pretty much half of my office.

Overall, Maisie seemed pretty happy with her new bed.

And thanked me with lots of slobbery kisses!

Naked Friday

One of my favorite blogs (other than my own, of course) is Two Pitties in the City.  The other day, they had a post about how different their dogs looked "naked," as opposed to when they are wearing a collar, harness, etc.  Coincidentally, I had taken Maisie's collar off the previous night because she was keeping me awake by fidgeting next to me in bed and in the morning, I was struck by how stealthy and silent she was.  It seemed like every time I turned around, she was RIGHT THERE.  For such a normally un-graceful dog, it was almost like the collar removal turned her from a boxer into a ballerina.  Almost.  

But appearance-wise, she actually does come across as tougher without the little band of pink around her neck.

"You talkin' to ME?"

I bought her a pink collar specifically because I'm so frequently asked "how old is he?" and "what's his name?"  In my experience, people tend to assume pit bulls are male unless informed otherwise.  I guess that's because pitties are such a strong and muscular breed, which are typically interpreted as masculine characteristics. I wonder if it works both ways...maybe owners of male poodles purchase blue collars to avoid gender confusion?

Maisie is just as cute collar-less, of course.  Perhaps even cuter since you can clearly see her "tuxedo" front...though that doesn't really help her look more feminine, I suppose!

"How YOU doin'?"

I also happened to catch a rare shot with her ears sticking out.  It's quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

Hope you all have a happy Friday...whether you choose to spend it clothed or not!

Drizzle

It rained last night and it's supposed to continue all day today and tomorrow.  I'd be happy if this was a sign that spring had arrived, but unfortunately it's supposed to get very cold (and potentially snowy) again within the next couple days and last at least through the weekend.  Maisie and I both hate going out in the rain, but thankfully it was just drizzling when we went for our walk this morning.  Still, it's a very gray day...

And there are puddles everywhere.  But around (and through) them we walked.

We actually live on a very nice block in a not so great neighborhood.

This being Uptown, we often encounter interesting items on our walks.

The last couple mornings, I've been feeding Maisie post-walk instead of before we go out, which has resulted in much quicker walks because she's focused on the breakfast that awaits her.  Add rain to the equation and you've got a dog who just wants to take care of business and get her furry little butt back in the house.  Even though it wasn't raining hard, it was still wet enough outside that she had to endure the dreaded Drying Towel.

Don't forget your umbrella today, Chicago peeps!

A Case of the Mondays

Maisie and I had a busy weekend and we are not quite ready for it to be Monday.  Neither of us wants to go to work, and one of us won't even get out of bed this morning.

  "What?  I didn't hear an alarm..."

"Really, come on...it's so comfy here.  Gimme five more minutes."

"You're not still here, are you?"

"I moved...happy now?  No?"

"Your persistence is so tedious..."

"Fine, I'm up.  There better be breakfast ASAP, mmkay?"

Dirty Dawg

I generally give Maisie a daily clean-up with dog wipes made for that purpose.  In the summer, I also take her about once a month to Soggy Paws, a local self dog wash place. But after a while, I start to get grossed out thinking about all the slobber (and probably worse things) she encounters in her many daycare sessions and park visits.  Especially because of all the time she spends hanging out in her favorite location (aka my bed)...

So every three months or so I feel like she needs a trip to the groomer for a professional scrub down, nail trim, etc.  I realized yesterday it was about that time, and was able to get Maisie an appointment for today.  I figured as long as she was about to get extra clean, we may as well go to the dog park this morning and let her get extra dirty first. Maisie agreed.

After an hour of playtime at Puptown, it was off to the groomer.  As you might expect, Maisie doesn't enjoy going there and sometimes even tries to run back out the door as soon as we enter.

But the two extremely nice pit bull-loving sisters who own the place always tell me that Maisie is a perfect little angel while there, allowing baths with no resistance and waiting patiently in a crate while drying.  Interesting.  I took advantage of Maisie's day of beauty to make a last minute haircut appointment with my stylist as well.

After coming home and washing all the blankets on which Maisie routinely lays her precious little self so they'd be clean too, I waited for the groomer to call and tell me she was ready. I picked her up around 3pm (she'd been there a little over four hours total).  The finished result is an uber clean, super shiny and very tired pooch!

Maisie Earns Her Breakfast

by putting up with her annoying mama!