Melissa's Wedding

Well, it was very hard to leave Raider and Scott for 5 days, but I did! I left Wednesday morning and got back Sunday at midnight. The wedding was at Carillon Beach Resort in Florida, near Panama City Beach. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

It was about time

Finally got a new haircut and highlights!!!! (and failed to turn off the date or crop the picture) ;)

Bubbles!!!

Well, I think you know its time for kids when you buy bubbles for your dog. I was buying a present for a 1-year old's birthday party on Saturday and Scott was with me in the toy aisle. After turning on every noisy toy he could find, he wandered down the outdoor aisle... where there were tons of bubbles and bubble blowing accessories. Raider loves bubbles more than any of his toys I think.....


Raider thinks everything is something for him to bite or chew, and it drives him nuts that he cant actually bite down on the bubbles.

He goes crazy trying to get just one in his mouth. (look how tall he is!)


He actually attacks Scott now when he pulls out the bubble bottle. I can't tell who is having more fun.

and one day I will remember to turn the date off!

Seriously, he should be named Houdini

Yes, thats right folks, Raider has done it again. He has escaped yet another cage/crate/enclosure. He worked hard on this one, chewing a little bit each day until one day I opened the door to find this.........

His adorable little self greeted me at the door. I actually screamed it caught me so off guard.
Then I yelled for a few minutes and called Scott.

We had the crate tied down to a board using truck tie-down straps, because of the chair incident (see old blog) and Raider hated those straps. He just knew they were somehow against him. So once he got out of his crate, he chewed through one. Had to throw it away, orange fuzz all over the floor. So, I loaded him in the car and off to Petsmart we went. They were OUT of crates! (Apparently its the time of year to destroy yours) So we got back in the car and went to Petco. Luckily, they had one (this time with metal bars on the sides) so we have Raider enclosure #4 in the living room now.
Today Scott build a base for it so we dont need the straps anymore. Raider has already chewed a piece of the wood off the base....

Sirens wailing, flashing lights.....

Raider got a new ball last night. It flashes and makes noises when you throw it. Mostly he liked chewing on it, but it was hilarious to see it flashing in his mouth and see him try to figure out where the noise was coming from.

WE FIXED THE FLOOR!!!

Scroll down to see how much Raider hates our carpet.
Well, we have fixed it! The room is now wood!!!

I dont know why this picture looks so red. Our camera is whack. This is the same view as the one with the carpet ripped up. Quite a difference!!

A D O R A B L E

Raider's rescuer/angel sent me these pics of him today.......


These are after she had nursed him back to health and was putting him on petfinder.com to be adopted by US!








He looks sad and pathetic, but those are his normal sympathy looks.

He still gives us those looks today.






The last one is the 'why are you making me do this?' look.

I'm fairly certain he jumped out of the chair soon after this one was snapped!

King of the castle

Raider's new favorite spot is at the foot of our bed. He jumps up there and throws himself down into the laying position and looks at me like "I'm so comfy, don't throw me off!" And so I don't. When Scott comes in though, Raider knows to jump down and get in his own bed. So I have added our comforter to the list of things to vacuum dog hair off of twice a week now!

Scott's project

UPDATE! The stand is done!!!
Here is the TV before and after the stand are in the room. No more ugly glass doors or speakers sitting out in the corners. And the TV doesnt hang off. Amazing!

Yaaay Scott!!!

Scott is building a tv stand for our new fabulous TV. It is nearly ready for staining! He is doing a great job. Don't mind the messy/cluttered garage in the background.

Auntie Erika

Raider really loves the Fire Biter tire Aunt Erika and cousin Rex sent him from Bloomington.He chews and chews on it.
We play fetch with it in the house (this is him bringing it back) and it makes wonderful black marks on the wall. Luckily some wonderful person created mr. clean magic erasers that take the marks right off! Long live tire-fetch!!! Aunt Erika will get to play it with Raider when she comes to visit in March!!!!

Raider Strikes Again

Most of you know that Raider likes to tear things up.
He had a pillow in his first cage and he destroyed that.

Then we left him in the extra bedroom and he destroyed the carpet.

Well, his new thing is moving his crate around during the day.
It starts in the corner.

And ends up at any random location and angle by the time I get home.

Yesterday, he decided the chair looked scrumptious.

We are currently devising a plan to keep the crate in one place during the day.......

Ranger D. Whitaker

This is Raider's friend Ranger. He comes over to see Raider with his mommy and daddy (Justin & Stacy) who are very good friends of ours, even though they are aggies. He is the sweetest, calmest Cocker Spaniel anyone has ever met. He is 2 years old and a very good boy. We are hoping to teach Raider to be as good as Ranger is. Their names get confusing when we are together!

Raider's long lost twin

This is a most hilarious video clip of a dog that has to be related to Raider.
http://break.com/index/attack-of-the-flying-puppy.html

Santa was good

Raider had a great Christmas! Amazing how easy it is to entertain a dog. And yes, that yellow ball in the background is the most obnoxious squeaker you can imagine. It is his outside ball. We annoy the neighbors.

Merry Christmas!!!

Raider sat remarkably well for these pictures. Still haven't
gotten around to getting a Santa hat, so I just went for it.
Took me a bit to figure out how to put him next to the tree, keep him there and back away far enough to get everything in one shot. I'm still amazed he sat still as long as he did!

He blinked in this one. I had to include it.


The tree!!!!

Playtime

There is no better time of day than when Scott gets home. It is an event. Raider hears the car or garage door, grabs a toy and waits by the door, tail wagging lethally. Last night Scott had to do some homework in the office, so we left him alone for a little while, then went up to see if he had time to play.

The ball

Raider got this ball from his friend Rex in Bloomington. He takes it everywhere with him, even sleeps with it. Best of all its indestructible so no matter how much he tries, he cant rip it apart! Thanks Rex and Erika!