Life with Gob - Kat’s new puppy - has been interesting.  I’ve ready about him tearing out of the house and Kat chasing the pup with a migraine.  This may be why the black dog was tethered to a leash all the while on vacation.

Now Gob is jealous of Kat’s knitting.  The proof is in the yarn…

Silly Gob. I can’t wait to see pictures!

Just because I said “week” doesn’t mean I have more than two days.  So two days you shall have!

The popular Shiba Inu Puppy Cam from a couple of years ago had another litter. The puppies have all gone to good homes, but they recommend the Puppy Window camera.

Click HERE to see the live puppy cam from Greenwich Village.

My friend Newscoma writes that when you’re feeling down, it sometimes pays to look around and be grateful for what you have.  Some people have problems I wouldn’t want to shake a stick at.

They saved a puppy from the flames that went up 20 feet into the air in the house. I find that to be just wonderful, as I stood in the ice watching the firemen battle the flames despite the cold wet, the family apparently standing under umbrellas watching their home go up in flames with the harsh irony that the ice was coming down and could not save their home. Tongue and groove homes tend to go up fast the fire chief told me as we stood watching it burn.

Since she didn’t have a photo of the puppy, she gave us one of Mabel instead.

But my daughter’s wacky college friends like this.

Hurley on LOST is one of my characters.  And Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays him, writes one of my favorite blog sites, Dispatches from the Island.  This December he brings us a daily NuNu chewing picture for his virtual Advent calendar.  How can you not love this??

You can follow the adventures of NuNu chewing every day in December! EPIC WIN!

Former television producer and eloquent writer Sharon Cobb reminded me today of the classic cat versus dog diaries.  It always makes me laugh!

A sample from the dog:

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

And the cat:

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

Thanks for sharing, Sharon!  You made me laugh today!

Katherine Coble is thankfully nothing like Mary Katherine Gallagher from Saturday Night Live except her dog is a SUPERSTAR!  Mary Katherine does the whole sniiiiiiiiffffff thing.  My own friend Katherine does not - at least I’m about 100 percent positive she does not.  But I’ll bet her dog does.

Katherine wrote on Just Another Pretty Farce that she slept with a celebrity several nights ago,

Yes, I know I’m married. But I just couldn’t resist. I mean, you see a guy in a movie and something about seeing him on the big screen, bandying with a hot movie star makes him irresistable. Even to me, a woman who takes her wedding vows seriously.  I knew when I watched him swept away that I was swept away by him. I had to sleep with him. I just had to.

Her celebrity?  Her American Eskimo pup.  Katherine tells us that the American Eskimo played a pivotal role in the movie The Proposal.  Though they are beautiful dogs, they have some personality traits would-be owners should be aware of.  For example,

They Are Very Vocal. American Eskimos are excellent watchdogs. This means they will bark at any and everything. You just have to learn to accept that kids and cars passing your house will raise an alarm of barking, mewling and “eskie speech”

Read more of her informative, smart post here.

Photo is her pup, too.

My mom asked for and received a puppy for her birthday this past weekend. He’s another little black and white shih tzu they named Duke. Unfortunately, the grown up dogs Indiana and Molly do not like Duke at all. Now, Duke’s only been living there for a couple of days, but Indiana is beginning to concern my mom because he’s been snapping at Duke. Not good.

Mom thought if we brought my puppy Kitty over, perhaps Indy and Molly would see that Duke’s not such a bad guy and perhaps treat him a little better. Not so. Kitty and Duke get along marvelously, but Indy’s still vastly unhappy and Molly doesn’t really know what to think.

While we were watching the puppies romp in the yard, an idea was hatched. We watched Molly intently watch Kitty and Duke. Indy was inside, so Molly felt like she could watch without barking. It was decided that Indy would come home with me and Kitty would stay at mom and dad’s house.

We figured a couple of benefits would happen because of this. First, we figured without Indy’s influence, Molly might warm up to the puppies. We also decided Indy was stressed and needed some time away from all things puppy. Indiana’s a cranky old man, and my dog Tiny is a cranky old man, and when they have met on previous occasions, they’ve gotten along swimmingly.

So, home Indiana came with me, and Kitty stayed at my mom’s. Indy was like a totally different dog when he got to my house. I’m not entirely sure he’s ever seen cats before, but he did well with my cats. They seem to have an agreement. They leave each other entirely alone and give each other a wide berth when passing. My cats are used to dogs coming to visit, so they don’t bat an eye when a dog comes in unless thee dog tries to cause problems. Or, if they bark too much. The cats dislike barking immensely.

Indy cautiously walked around my house sniffing everything. Tiny came out of his room to join the party and wagged his tail happily to see his old pal Indiana again. Tiny showed off his yard to Indy, who obligingly peed on all the pertinent spots.

Indy, who is normally an incessant barker, seems to understand the cats’ “no barking” rule, as he’s hardly barked at all so far. As bedtime fell, Indy and Tiny snuggled together on my bed, Indy on top of the covers and Tiny underneath. There’s now no roon for my feet, but you can’t win them all.

Will Molly learn to get along with the puppies? Will Tiny and Indiana band together and start an anti-puppy revolution? Stay tuned.

My good friend Newscoma needs to find homes for the puppies that resulted from their taking in a pregnant dog. I would adopt one, but I’m at my limit of 5 animals in this house, I simply cannnot take in any more. There are pictures and descriptions of each of them at her website. I’d like to personally offer that I’ll drive up to 6 hours in any direction from Nashville to bring a puppy to you if you can adopt. I would also drive out to Charleston, SC or Wilmington, NC, if you live there and want to adopt. (I have friends and beaches out there, haha.) Email me at badbadivy@gmail.com if you are interested.

I still need to find my camera, so here’s a picture of my mom’s dog, a veteran of being boarded.My grandmother passed away on Sunday, so at the end of this week we are traveling to Indiana to have her funeral. Whenever we go out of town, I always have to think of what to do with the pets.

Usually, it’s not a problem to just have my dad drop in a couple of times a day to walk Tiny and feed him and the cats. But obviously my dad’s going to be gone as well this time, so I had to decide what to do. Tiny would not be able to stand being boarded. He is terrified of cages and most other dogs, and he does have a tendency to bite when he’s upset, so boarding is not really an option for him. Luckily, I have a good friend who lives close by who will be able to come by and walk him and feed the cats while I’m gone.

Kitty, on the other hand, cannot be alone that much. So I called the vet’s office to see about boarding her. Luckily, they have space and it seems they will take really good care of her while I’m gone. Everyone at my vet’s office is enthralled with the cuteness that is Kitty, so I think she’ll be fine. My 8 year old daughter echoes the irrational concerns in my mind though: What if they lose her? What if she gets scared or sick? I mean, the vet’s office is the best place in the world for a dog to take sick, but the thought still echoes irrationally in my head.

I wish I could take her with me, but funerals aren’t a good place to bring your puppy.