We got new furniture!

We got new couches. And a new coffee table. Elka, to say in the least, is dismayed.

See, first, we emptied the living room. Took the furniture out. The whole nine. Poor princess had nowhere to lay, and was very disgruntled the entire time.

(please ignore our unsightly Internet wires. They were in a table that is no longer there)

Monday Mischief Pet Blog Hop!

About a week ago, I received an email from Alfie over at Alfie's Blog about a new blog hop! I was very excited to hear about it, and was pleased that he'd taken the time to let me know.

Monday Mischief is the pet blog hop that wraps up the weekend! From Australia, to the UK, California, to Ohio, our dogs all love getting up to something mischievous over the weekend and we are sure yours do as well! This isn't just open to dogs though, because we know that all other animals can get up to lots of mischief too.

 I thought it was a fun and new blog hop idea! Now, you may have noticed, I think Elka's pretty great. She's very very good most of the time, and even when she's "bad", it's not generally her fault. Or not generally that bad. This is one of those stories, but it more or less applies to the "mischief" category. I wasn't sure if I would have an entry, you see, and my good Dobergirl rose to the occasion for me!

Dogs will be Dogs

Elka is a very clean dog.

It's against all odds, really. Our back yard can be very muddy.  Our walks in the park are not entirely grassy areas.  She frolics in the creek.  Oh yeah, and in the occasional mud puddle (this is new).  And to top it all off, I let her sleep in our bed!  

Lots of people don't let dogs on furniture because they think letting them on a "high place" will "make them dominant".  Same with not letting dogs in bed.  Or, the latest claim, having a dog in bed will make you sick.

I don't buy it.

Dogs on furniture

You've probably noticed by now that a lot of Elka pictures are of Elka on the couch.  Or on a chair.  None of them have been of Elka on her bed.

The fact of the matter is that Elka can be on the furniture, pretty much carte blanche.  We say "move" or "off" if where she is is not convenient for a human household member.  She has the privileges for a couple of reasons; for one, keeping her off of the furniture would really be more trouble than its worth to me.  We've got slipcovers on a couple of them and she can't have food on them (a restriction that does not extend to the humans).

Some people are of the belief that letting your dog be on the same physical level as you or higher will cause the dog to perceive her rank as equal to or greater than yours, and she may try to assert her dominance over you.