Someone forgot to tell Ginger she GREW!!!

When Ginger was just 7 weeks old I bought her a super cute little pink and white striped bed to sleep on and it went everywhere with us...the living room, bedroom, car, and "Grama's" house. She fit so perfectly in it for quite some (The "before" pictures are on the left) time but after a few months we upgraded to a BIG donut-style bed that measures 50 inches in diameter so she was able to stretch out and feel comfortable. The funny thing is that she will turn 7 months old on Oct. 19th and she STILL tries to curl up into the little pink bed every once and awhile. (The "after" pictures are on the right just in case it's not OBVIOUS!) It is hilarious to see her in it now because she clearly overhangs every side of it...although, it doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest!!! When I took Ginger home for the first time she didn't weigh over 12 pounds and just yesterday we stopped into PetsMart to pick up a few things and while we were there I decided to weigh both of the girls...Ginger is up to 49.5 pounds and Baylie is down to 66.7 (guess it is all that Rollerblading in the morning!) It won't be long before Ginger catches up (or surpasses) Baylie!

NOT FUNNY anymore!!!

Ok...so Ginger's Monday anxiety and boredom destruction began the week I went back to work. She started small with shredded newspapers and magazines, a shoe or two, a Pepsi box and a couple punctured cans that she lapped up some much UNneeded caffeine etc. She then escalated to eating a few DVD's (not so cool) and the toilet paper scattered all over the house and yard was pretty messy, but funny and then the tree issue was frustrating, but again...replaceable with a minimal amount of money and labor. This time however, she went TOO far!!! It was MONDAY September 29th and I got home pretty early but as I walked down the hall I saw stuffing. I originally thought nothing of it because I assumed she'd killed a stuffed toy but then I saw black leather...UH, she didn't have any leather toys! I turned the corner to go into my living room and I screamed a horror movie type blood curdling scream! Yep, she ATE the entire side off of my leather couch! I was so angry, frustrated, and deflated...I truly didn't know whether to yell and scream or cry! For a couple of days I tried spraying the remnants of the couch with bitter apple spray but it didn't deter her enough and on Thursday she ate a hole in the opposite arm of the couch. Friday morning we started a new routine...I now (for the past week and a half) get up early every week day to take them on a 3 mile run (well I Rollerblade--they run) just to get rid of their (specifically Ginger's) extra energy. I've also resorted to locking them outside and for now that works because the weather is nice but I feel a little bad for "punishing" Baylie because her worst offense in 3 years was chewing holes in socks I left on the floor. Luckily, when I get home from work they are still happy to see me and don't seem mad...so all is well for now, I guess.

Uhh...Timmmbbbuuurrrrr!!!!!

Yeah, so it's not official but I'm beginning to think that my little Ginger was a world class beaver in a former life!!! She of-course started with small twig-like low hanging limbs on my hibiscus plants which was mostly a nuisance but recently she has began picking on my palm trees! I kept finding 5-6 foot palm limbs in my living room or out on the grass when I got home from work and I hadn't figured out just how she was getting them down?!? Well by looking at the trunks of the trees where they are stripped to "bone-white" instead of green it became quite clear that she was literally whittling them down until the limbs fell down then she rips them off! I truly think that the two trees that she set her sights on have lost 1/2 of their diameter in the lower trunk region...and as of yesterday one of them was seriously leaning! As of today...it came crashing down...NOT happy! If it weren't for the money to replace it I'd probably find it amusing, but I personally put A LOT of money, blood, sweat, and blisters into planting and maintaining that stinkin' back yard and I hate knowing that thanks to her I've gotta do it again! THEN I've gotta rig up some serious chicken wire and major cyan pepper or something to prevent it from happening again! Enjoy the demolition photos!

Monday's are BAD!!!

I think that Ginger has a very difficult time switching back from our weekend schedule when I'm home all day to the workweek schedule because she seems to be most destructive on Monday! I always make sure to put valuables behind closed doors because putting things up high is just not good enough! I'm certain the guest bathroom door was closed when I left this morning so either it just didn't latch all the way and the girls were able to push it open OR one of them has learned how to jump up and push down the lever type handles to open the door (scary idea)! I came home to find my house and back yard toilet papered! Oh yeah, she didn't mess around and sadly she got a brand new package of 9 triple rolls that I'd just bought at the store yesterday! I had set the package up on the bathroom counter and Ginger obviously shredded the plastic and unraveled all but 3 of the rolls...luckily the backyard took the brunt of the disaster! She also got to another pair of shoes and broke a necklace...she's even eaten through computer cords and DVD boxes and broken the discs in the past! As good as her training/listening skills are in person, it is really frustrating to see what she's able to do when she's bored and no one is watching! She'd better grow outta this soon or I'm gonna go broke!!!

Animal sitting the"cousins"

So over the weekend of September 13th and 14th my sister's friend from high school was getting married down south and Sherry and Matt left after work on Friday. I watched and fed their animals on Saturday and Sunday. For me it was an opportunity to bring my girls over for a play date and it gave their dogs Blue & Liberty some stimulation and exercise! In the past Liberty and Blue would dig under or break through the back fences to visit their neighbor's pups...so Sherry and Matt have installed an electric fence. Sadly, my little inquisitive puppy, Ginger just HAD to check out everything in this new environment and as much as I tried to call her away before she got shocked I never seemed quick enough. She must have gotten zapped 4 or 5 times throughout the course of the weekend, each time running back to me with her tail tucked! For the most part all the dogs played really good together, although if Ginger took off running Liberty was ready to head her off at the pass and then Blue was right there to help stop her in her tracks! Funny thing is that they used to do this to Baylie...so I guess Ginger is "new bait"! It was a warm weekend so Baylie and Liberty took plenty of dips in the kiddie pool between Frisbee throws to keep cool...never missing a chance to get wet! After everyone had ran and played for an hour or so we had to have a photo opp. of course! The ultimate goal when it comes to getting a good picture is to get all to sit, stay, look in the vicinity of the camera and the hardest part...get a shot of Blue without piercing red eyes! Enjoy!

Mischevious Little Ginger...

For someone so small and cute, this little girl can cause tornado like destruction indoors in as little as 30 unsupervised minutes!!! I'm really dreading going back to work because that will be a very LONG time for her to find ways to occupy herself and I'm sure I'll walk into a new surprise everyday!!! So after some of her recent destructive actions I took pictures of her next to her "trophies" for your viewing pleasure! She likes diet Pepsi so much that she'll rip open the cardboard box and then bite and puncture a can to LAP it up...this, I actually saw with my own two eyes!!! She is a TV watcher and a computer hacker too when I'm home and she's seeking attention! When I'm gone she keep herself busy by dragging things outside...everything from shoes, clothes, unmentionables, pillows, blankets etc...pretty much anything she can find on the floor and fits through the doggie door. The problem is that when she gets stuff stuck in the flap Baylie is such a fraidy cat that she won't go through the door or move the item out of her way and sometimes she'll just sit and bark at it! The funny thing is that when all is said and done and Ginger is tired she's so stinkin' cute...I look at her and wonder how it is possible for her to be so mischievous and destructive...can't wait for her to grow outta that trait!!!

Ginger and Dakota Swimming

So in all of this nasty heat and with the closest dog park covered in fertilizer and mud we are running out of places to exercise the pups in the middle of the day...so the other day Leah, her 3 kids, Dakota, Ginger, Baylie and I invaded my mom's back yard and went swimming for a couple of hours (after asking of-course). This is fantastic exercise for the dogs and kids too! The funny thing is that the first time Dakota and Ginger went swimming together it was Dakota who was jumping on top of Ginger and now the tables /'have turned...I swear they almost drown each other! Dakota is really good at fetching toys in the pool...Ginger is not so good so instead, she just waits for Dakota to get it and then jumps in to steal it from her! If they have a big enough toy they'd both grab hold of it and swim it in together.

Helping to conserver H2O...

Ginger loves it when I'm loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher...she gets up into it and starts to lick them "clean". I have to shoo her off over and over because she is just certain that I've left food particles on them somewhere! Of-course now she is weighing in right at 30 pounds I can't let her do this any more (not that I "let" her in the 1st place) because I'm afraid that she'll break the door! Even after she gets her whole body off like I tell her she'll usually try to put just her front paws up there to see if she can get away with that! She's just so darn cute when she gets caught...always looking innocent!