One Smart Dog

Hi Friends...Mom read this story to me. I thought you all would enjoy it especially our dog friends. Madi

Below is an excerpt from an article by columnist A. C. Snow, in our Sunday, August 23, 2009 newspaper, The News and Observer. The article was about the bumper stickers you see in and about Raleigh claiming my child is an "Honor Student at so and so school".
Mr. Snow wrote, "Well, we have an honor dog down the street. On a recent morning at 3 am, Rusty let his mistress know he needed to go out. Upon reaching the door and discovering that Raleigh was undergoing one of its recent gully washers, Rusty turned tail and raced down the hall, into the bathroom. There, he cocked his leg and let fly at the commode. He missed the bowl for the most part, but his owners gave him an 'A' for effort."
To the best of Mom's knowledge this is a TRUE story, as you can tell by Madi's expression...she

is skeptical.

Madi's first year: Trials and Tribulations Part II

Madi Climbs, strolls and jumpst to the top of the Secretary.

Madi's fascination with heights did not end after the grandfather clock caper. A few months later, she changed her focus to the mantel. This trip was a slightly more challenging. It took her about a month to complete her trip. She had to jump on the back of this white chair only to find the lamp was in her way. We thought she is stumped. Not to be defeated she enrolled in a refresher Physics class to figure out the math for the jump. She finally had access to the mantel only to find she needed some fancy foot work to cross the mantel w/o knocking over the knick knacks to the other end. Once again she was not defeated. The Cat Woman in her said, I can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Once again Dad comes home, as soon as he walks into the family room Madi announces her presence with a triumphant MEOW. Dad is not happy but he can't reach her from the floor, he doesn't want to scare her. Slowely he sweet talks her down. Now it is time to rearrange the furniture. We move the white chair to the middle of the room for a few days. Finally it dawns on me, Madi is screaming for mental and physical enrichment. Her inner mountain goat needs something HIGH that is HERS. That is WHEN and WHY we bought blue perch. You've seen lots of pictures from that perch. There have been no more trips on the mantel. As you can see a little adversity, brings out the best in Madi. She worked hard from day one to train us properly, too bad we were sucg slow learners. At about 1 year old Madi traded in her jumping shoes for her Diva crown. A Diva's needs are easier to handle than those of a mountain goat.

Madi's first year: Trials and Tribulations part 1

I was not blogging on Madi's 7th b-day (March 11). Today and tomorrow I'll post two stories about Madi's first year with us to celebrate how lucky she was she is still here and how VERY LUCKY we are she chose to STAY!!!
Madi Climbs: Mount Grandfather Clock: Part 1

Madi was angelic when we brought her home at 2 months of age and weighing 2.5 lbs. During the first 4 months of cuteness she was really sizing up her peeps, deciding best how to rule her domain. She cast her cuteness net over us, reeling us in hook, line and sinker. At 6 mos. and maybe 5 lbs, her true colors came out she was a really mountain goat in a kitty body. This picture is our staircase...to the left of it our Grandfather clock. The gap between the stairs and clock is about a foot. One afternoon Madi's Dad heard a faint meow (aka 'look at me Dad'). He looks to his left to find Madi on top of the Grandfather Clock. Somehow, Madi was able to jump between the banisters upwards to the top of the clock. As if this wasn't bad enough (cat claws on fine wood), she decided to carve her 'name' on the wood. Yes, she had gnawed on the top. THIS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED Dad says!!! Now that she had discovered the trick there was not keeping her or her teeth off. We covered the clock with a sheet hoping to spook her, NOT!!! Her launch point was where the wicker mag. rack now sits. I was at my wits end trying to keep her off the clock. Finally, I remembered seeing a stair step magazine rack in a magazine. I bought the last one they had at Linens and Things. Here 7 years later it still sits there...to the best of our knowledge she never went up there again.

Oops I Ate It......Award

Our Thanks to Tank for the delicious award!

The Rules to this award are as follows:

'When accepting this award you must blog about the food you have stolen when your humans weren't watching. If you have never stolen any food, you must be a very good pup or kitty. You can accept this yummy tray of cookies as your reward!!! Next add the logo of this award to your blog (optional), then nominate at least 5 other furry blogs and let them know by leaving them a message on their blogs."

As I told Tank I'm not sure if there is enough room on the post to list all the things I have stolen. You see if my peeps eat it then I think it must be super duper ok for me to eat it.

1.I absolutely love to stick my head in my peeps coffee cup. I don't drink the coffee but I love to lick the rim of the cups.

2. Once I stuck my head in a nearly empty tub of Brummel and Brown margarine. Oh was it good. Mom screamed at me so loud "NO MADI" (my ears rang for hours afterwards) "Now I'm going to have to throw the Brummel and Brown away"! I say why, I eat after you why can't you eat after me?

In true Madi form...she isn't following the rules of 5. She wanted to pass this award to 3 new Dog friends and 3 new Cat friends: Remington, Sadie, Cole, Huffle, Beautiful Creation and The Kitty Krew

Buns of steel......

Madi only exercises under duress. Often Madi and I will be headed upstairs at the same time. She stops dead in her 'paws', looks up at me with those gorgeous greenish-gold eyes as if to say, 'how about a lift'? I tell her she'll have buns of steel if she exercises more. In return, I get a look when translated with HBO words deleted to 'I don't want buns of steel'.
Note: Don't feel sorry for her...she can take those stairs two at a time.