Olive Badger Refuses To Share

Christmas was, as expected, deliriously wonderful!

Christmas dog treats stuffed in our stockings!

Three new squeaker toys!

Three new soft toys!

All three were commandeered by Olive as soon as we go the wrapping off.

Here Olive is being told to share......

 And here she is clearly not listening.

 I thought she might learn to share after the newness wore off.  

She has not.  

Here she is on Mom's bed with all three toys, all of which she had crammed into her tiny little mouth!

 I think that might be a feat worthy or Ripley's Believe it or Not.

 Here she is refusing to let Sarah Beagle have one toy.  One. 

It might look like it's a game of tug of war, but trust me, I was there.

It wasn't a game where Olive Badger is concerned.

The good news is I've got a Dad who loves to play fetch with me.  He just takes up any old toy he wants and throws it to me and doesn't let Olive take it from us.  

He's my Hero!

I've Got Two Words For You

Christmas Cookies.

 Dad thinks it's funny that a piece of cookie slid under the stove.

There is nothing funny about wasting Christmas Cookies.

But, being the nice Dad that he is, he got it out for me.

And it was, as expected, delicious!

Could I have another?

My Wish For Christmas

My wish, dear Santa if you are reading this, my wish for Christmas this year is really a wish for Olive Badger. (See? See how good and kind I am Santa? My first wish is not for peanut butter cookies in my stocking. That is my second wish....)

My wish is for Olive Badger and for her to not get in so many scrapes. Just like the time she got an eggnog carton stuck on her head, she tends to get into troubles. She tried to bite the Fed Ex guy, the mailman won't come up to our house anymore, and she is constantly chewing something to smithereens.

But last night she did the worst thing ever. She stole a half empty (which means it was half full) bag of chocolate chips out of the cupboard and ate it all. Six ounces of chocolate and a 15 pound dog do not equal good things.

She's been very ill, but she'll be okay. But I heard Dad say that dogs like the taste of chocolate, and after eating some, they usually will eat more, any chance they can. That is bad.

My wish for Olive Badger is that she will not love the taste of chocolate. I wish she would hate it, and remember being so sick. I know I'll remember it. I've never seen so much sick. I didn't even ask to have my crate opened until the floor was cleaned, twice.

It was that bad.

So, dear, darling, wonderful Santa. Please make Olive Badger just a teensy weensy bit better behaved; please make her just a little bit more like me. Once in awhile I get in the trash, and I've been known to bark in a ferocious manner at certain strangers, but overall, I'm a pretty good role model.

Ahem. Peanut butter cookies are a much appreciated gift for good role models. Just saying, Santa. Think about it.

What's With The Bobby Pins?

Hey, Olive Badger, what's with all the bobby pins in your crate? I've watched you search them out and carry them back to your bed, all happy and pleased with yourself. I thought you might be planning on a chew fest, but they remain mostly un-toothed.

Are you planning on using them in your crazy badger fur?

Pardon? You want to know what all the toothpicks in my crate are about?

Hmm. Why don't we let each other alone, and our individual collections stand, at least until Mom finds them. Can you imagine the look of puzzlement on her face when she cleans out our crates?

It will almost be worth losing my toothpicks to watch her wonder!

Is It Raining Outside? I Hadn't Noticed.

I woke up this lovely morning to discover that it is raining outside. Great huge drops of rain, coming down in copious amounts.

So, of course, being the Beagle that I am, and loving the be warm and dry, I have mostly stayed inside, bedded down in my crate with the heater blasting me with hot air. Sarah Beagle is likewise occupied.

Olive Badger, meanwhile, is outside, casually meandering in this downpour. Her look when she came inside, clearly said, "Oh, is it raining? I hadn't noticed. It's lovely out today."

Then she shook herself off, got the couch wet, and ran back outside to soak up more rain with her fluffy badger fur.

Too bad for you, Olive Badger, Mom's getting out the towel. You might not have noticed the rain, but Mom has. It's about to become that kind of day when you get dried off every time you come in the house.....

And yes, that is me laughing at you.

Olive Badger Finds A Frenemy

This is Olive Badger, looking unhappy because of something Mom is holding.

This is Olive The Other Reindeer, the thing that Mom is holding.

From the moment that Mom pulled Olive The Other Reindeer out of a bag, our Olive Badger has had a jones for it. It remains unclear whether Olive Badger likes it or hates it.

She acts like she hates it, but she doesn't bite it. She doesn't try to shake the stuffing out of it, but she does want it under her paw. Sarah Beagle and I took a turn at sniffing it, but frankly, it's just a stuffed dog wearing antlers. Olive Badger disagrees, and for that reason, Mom is being very careful where Olive The Other Reindeer lives. Like, it's going to live way up high on a shelf, safe from the climbing, acrobat that we know as Olive Badger.

Or at least, I hope it's safe. I looked over the area to see if there was a way to climb up to it, but I didn't see one. Of course, 5 years of living in our kitchen with a crate next to the counter, I never once thought I could jump up on the crate and get a loaf of bread down, and Olive Badger knew that was a doable action right away.

Olive Badger is clever like that.

Remembering Nemo

My Mom is a firm believer that dogs will be in heaven. I like that idea a lot. Sure, in part because I am a dog and I like the idea of heaven, but also, because that means we will see this big lug again.
Nemo was my cousin dog. He was roly poly, surprising fast, and he loved a good belly scratching. We did not always get along. We are dogs after all, dogs from two different families, brought together for parties and camping and various work days, all of which involved food of some kind and as previously mentioned, I am a food hound. So was Nemo. There were some conflicts!
I knew when my Mom came home from visiting nephews, that she would smell of Nemo, because Mom is one of those people who gets down on the floor to play with the kids, and if a very excited Corgi came over and sat in her lap, well, she's going to not only let him, but give him so much petting he will be delirious with it.

And that was okay with me. It was very exciting for us to smell her pant legs when she came into our house. The three of us girls would surround Mom, tails wagging, ears on alert, noses going overtime. Even Olive Badger would take a turn sniffing, although I'm sure it was more of a monkey see, monkey do situation than her really understanding why we were sniffing Mom's legs!

Sadly, so very sadly, Nemo has passed on. Mom has cried and spent time petting all of us girls. Some people might say that's weird, it's just a dog and not even a dog that lived with us. But Mom remembers a big footed Corgi puppy, tumbling around in her backyard, before we were even a twinkle in her thoughts. She remembers having a dog nephew before she had real boy nephews.

She remembers Nemo, and I will too. Catch you later, Corgi-gator.