I have a friend who actually trains dogs for shows and stuff, and, after reading my last post, she emailed me with some advice. Now I'm inspired to work with our dogs, no matter how much they will hate it, so that we can all co-exist peacefully. If I don't do this I'm afraid Steve will come home from work one day to find that I have murdered them in a fit of cold-blooded rage. Okay, maybe not, but still. Steve doesn't think there is a problem, so I had to sit him down and make a point that while he doesn't have to help me, I do need him to back me up and not sneak them food under the table or invite them up on the bed after I'm asleep. So, here are my goals:

1 - No chewing tissues. Yesterday I went to Target and bought several trash cans with those flippy tops to replace our other trash cans. Now the dogs can no longer reach in them and drag out tissues. Problem solved.

2 - No sleeping with us. I brought up the crate from the basement and am going to start putting them in there at night. That crate was used for all of about five minutes when Jose was brand new. We put him in there once, he cried that sweet little puppy cry, and we took him out. So, five years later, after never spending another second in there, I know they are going to flip out when I put them in there. I know they will bark all night, but at some point they just have to accept it, right? Maybe a week from now? Two weeks?

3 - No jumping on and climbing all over visitors - same solution as No. 2. If someone is coming over, they will go in the crate. If, at some point, I can teach them to control themselves, they can stay out.

4 - No stealing food. This will be the hardest one. I got two choke chains, and a bunch of special treats, and we're going to work on being around food that isn't theirs and actually not taking it. I am certainly no dog training expert, so I guess we'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

Let's see, what else...oh yeah, here is the hat I knitted for Emma out of the yarn we dyed the other day.