Meet Riley

My almost-2 year old forever-puppy is a constant source of entertainment.  He's a 4 pound shih tzu yorkie mix.  Sometimes, he is too smart for his own good.  Within a three weeks, he learned how to climb over the puppy gate.

Don't worry, I was just out of sight to catch him.  He's also learned how to open doors that are not fully latched, get toys or food off the dining room or coffee table...and many other things to make him a rascal.

I'm pretty sure he's a dog trapped in a cat's body.  He loves to perch on the back of the couch, or in a sunny windowsill.  His growl sounds more like a purr.  He'll climb the boyfriend's computer chair to the window and growl at the people walking by thinking he's a big dog.  Now that winter has settled in, he's decided that it is so much better sleeping *under* the covers with mommy and daddy.  Unfortunately, he has *us* trained; I'll wake up to him pushing at the covers and find myself automatically lifting them for him to crawl in. 

Don't think you can ignore him either, if he wants to play, he'll pull toys out of his toy box and toss them at you until you give in.  Or crawl into your lap and flop onto your laptop when you are trying to work from home. Also, make sure you hide all the squeaky toys really well when you're on the phone - and that doesn't mean the pub-height table, because he'll just jump on the stool and climb up to get it.

Things however, don't always go according to *his* plan either.  After he learned to climb the gate, I had to go MacGyver on the gate to try to keep him in place.  This meant adding more and more cardboard to the front to eliminate any puppy footholds.  The little rascal figured out to work his paw under the cardboard and scale the wall instead.  So I added more tape.  One morning, I'm trying to get out the door for work and I hear thrashing and crying.  I go back to check on the puppy...he managed to tape himself to the gate and wall.  He didn't even learn a lesson, and suffice it to say the gate didn't last long.  Neither did the crate which he always Houdini's out of.

Well today things didn't go according to plan either.  I'm working on my business, ScienceFairGirl.com, and he's been hanging out in the window as usual.  I hear a strange thud and him crying.  So I run across the room to investigate.  He somehow rotated the chair he was using as a ladder, missed the seat, and fell between the chair and the wall.  So there he is, trying to pull himself back up and giving me the most pathetic look.  So I scooped him up, gave him loads of mommy-love, wedged the chair closer to the window, and went back to work.

What a handful!