(www.meowbarkblog.com) — We came home from visiting family last night to find a white explosion all over the kitchen and living room. We should have known better than to leave the flour on the counter in preparation for tonight’s fried chicken dinner. But honestly, what is appealing about 10 lbs of flour? The world may never know. And my rug will never be the same.

My bedspread will never be the same, either, because about an hour after we got home, Pickles projectile-vomited a disgusting green half-liquid, half-paste mixture all over it. Oh, and have you ever used a regular vacuum to suck up 10 lbs of flour? I don’t recommend it. And neither does the manufacturer, I’m sure.

These dogs are VERY lucky we love them so much. Otherwise, we would be selling them to the circus, I swear. Oh, and did I mention how fun it is to clean flour from every surface in your home two days after getting in a car accident and having limited to no mobility due to back injury? It’s a blast.

Previous episodes:

• My Glasses Case
• Prescription Drugs
• A Framed Photo of the Dogs
• Electronics
• A Wallet

Contents Copyright © 2009 Kristen King

(www.meowbarkblog.com) — Okay, so maybe we were a little bored. And tired. And punchy. And maybe we’d both had a few drinks. That’s probably why we thought it would be fun to tie bandanas on Pickles and Murphy.

Meet Babushka Pickles

Murphy is Too Cool for School

“Take THAT, bandana!”

And that’s probably also why Murphy, after taking it off, proceeded to tear it into five pieces after playing a brief bout of tug of war with Pickles.

Time for a new bandana!

Contents © Copyright 2008 by Kristen King

(www.meowbarkblog.com) — I didn’t realize exactly how co-dependent our dogs are until Pickles couldn’t be in the same room as Ty for what seemed to her an interminable period of time. This is from the second day he was home, and it’s only gotten more pathetic:

She just sits outside the office door and cries all day when he’s in with me. I think she’s actually making herself sick with sorrow over not being able to lick Ty for cumulative hours daily. They have started napping nose to nose under the gate, but every time I try to take a picture, they move.

I tried holding her in my lap so she could see him, but she went so crazy that I had to put her back out of the room for fear that she would snag his stitches with her insane clawing to get free.

It’s kind of completely heartbreaking.

Contents © Copyright 2008 by Kristen King

(www.meowbarkblog.com) — I think that when Pickles dreams, she’s a black pug, Murphy is a Great Dane, and Ty is a giant whose leg doesn’t hurt.

Contents © Copyright 2008 by Kristen King

(www.meowbarkblog.com) — As soon as I started playing these, Pickles got her serious bark on and was totally freaking out. I think she wants to be a gangsta pug, too!

- Kristen

Best “play dead” ever. We have to add this to the list!

Every time we try to get Pickles to shake, she just bites us. Sigh.

I met a dog at the airport who could sneeze on cue. It was adorable… This is not the same dog. Does she growl at him at the end???

Because yes, now that we can film everything that happens all day we do, here is Pickles with her limited repertoire tricks. See how she does almost everything with hand signals? That’s all me, baby. I rock at training my dog. Just her, though. The other two couldn’t care less about rolling over or even sitting. Oh well. At least I have one talented child, right?

The secret to training Pickles is threefold:

1. Incessant repetition.
2. Lots of patience
3. An endless supply of treats.

No, really. But probably the best thing we have done with training her is to build on thing she does naturally. Every time she laid down, for instance, we threw a party. “Good girl, Pickles! Down! Good girl! Good down! Yay, Pickles! Down! Good girl!” Same with speaking (it helped when we barked, too, to get her started), sitting, and high-fiving. Rolling over was a little trickier because it necessitated basically yanking her legs out from under her and flipping her manually for a while, but she picked it up fast.

What should we teach her next? Leave your suggestions in the comments.

…but they sure hated the present she brought! Check it out as Murphy and Ty make their YouTube debut (and here’s Pickles’ first appearance on YouTube, featuring Isabel).

(www.meowbarkblog.com) — Watch to the end — it’s worth it.

Every time we go to the dog park, the other pet moms and dads are blown away by how friendly, nonaggressive, and well socialized Pickles, Ty, and Murphy are. “They listen to you so well!” “They’re so big, but they’re so calm!” “How do you make them listen like that?”

The answer? I expect them to do what I tell them do. I don’t beg them, bribe them, or plead with them. When I want them to sit, I tell them to sit and then I make they do it. It’s called follow-through, and it’s the cornerstone of good parenting, whether for kids or for animals.

One couple at the park this last time had a Yorkie who, in addition to trying to hump Pickles incessantly the whole 2 hours we were there, terrorized and started fights with all of the other dogs, including two crazy, uncontrolled, unaltered male boxers who I could tell were just itching to rip him to pieces. Every time the Yorkie went after another dog, the owner would pick him up by the scruff of the neck, cuddle him, and say in a baby voice, “You’re such a bad widdle doddie, awen’t ooo?” Gee, no wonder it kept misbehaving — they were rewarding it for being a monster!

I couldn’t take it anymore, so the last time the commented on how well-behaved Ty was in particular, I said, “That’s because I punish him when he does something bad, so he knows I mean it when I say no. I put him down and make him submit when he disobeys. It’s the only way to make them listen to you. You have to mean it.”

They were skeptical, so I led Ty over and made him submit in front of all of the other dogs. Then I did it to Pickles. Then, I helped them do it to their little Satan Dog, and I swear to you, it worked.

Why people are baffled when their dogs keep doing things they get rewarded for is beyond me. If you don’t want your dog to do a behavior, stop rewarding him for it! And then YOU can have the best-behaved dogs in the dog park.

Do you have any fun dog park stories? E-mail them to me!