Rusty (It's a love/hate thing)

My friends and family know that I love my coonhound, Rusty.  But I also am quick to tell them how much I can't stand him as well.  

For instance....

He constantly raids my recycle bin and frequently litters the back yard!!  

He never picks up after himself - EVER!!

He his sooooo naughty when he thinks no one is looking.  If you aren't careful, he will lick the butter dish dry.

A closer look...

The other morning I kept hearing him bark (actually howl - he's a hound)  but couldn't find him.

Eventually his howling led me to the side of the house where he had gotten himself tangled up in my tomato cages.  Yeah, that was not fun trying to get him out!

But it made me laugh and I guess that's why we keep him around.  

He definitely makes us laugh.

Caught!

Rusty is not allowed on the furniture in our home.  He is actually really good about this and we never have a problem - EXCEPT for the bean bag on the floor.  He KNOWS it's off limits, but occasionally when we are away, we will come in and find this.  He curls himself up into the tiniest ball possible, in hopes that we might not see him there.  Then he always acts so surprised when he does get caught.

He really is a naughty dog and I have considered sending him to the sausage factory!!

Rusty the Hunter

Rusty is a Redbone Coonhound (ya know, like on "Where the Red Fern Grows"). They are bred for their tracking skills - more specifically - racoon tracking. Rusty likes to chase anything furry really - cats, rabbits, squirrels, etc. He doesn't care much about birds. It's fun to see him get excited when he sees a bunny and chases it. The hair on his neck bristles, and he starts baying with all his might. (It's really something to hear him howl. It sounds similar to a beached seal crossed with a wolf howling at the moon.) He never catches anything, but he sure gets all worked up when he sees one.

Well, recently we brought Rusty up north with us as we stayed at a cabin with friends. He was in heaven- his "sniffer" was really working. Early one morning, we were wandering around in front of the cabin with Rusty and the kids. I spotted a fat squirrel on the ground and alerted Rusty. His ears instantly perked up and he waited for me to point the way so he could follow the scent. Now mind you, I knew he would never catch the squirrel as we were surrounded by trees and Rusty can't climb trees obviously. I just wanted him to have a little fun in the chase.

Well, he instantly spots it and takes off to tree that squirrel. The squirrel realizes it had better move and instantly darts up the closest tree. Here's where it all went wrong! The squirrel decides it doesn't like that tree and comes back down to go to another tree. (What this squirrel was thinking I will never know.) That was all the time Rusty needed. He snatched that squirrel by the back and proceed to throw his head back and forth as fast as he could. (You know the way dogs do when you are playing tug of war with a rope).

The children all watched in horror as Rusty continued to break the poor little squirrels back with his death grip. The squirrel even let out little high pitched yelps. "Oh what have I done?" was all I kept thinking. I just wanted him to chase the squirrel up a tree and then start baying and howling. Not this!

The whole thing happened so fast, but here's a run down of the dialogue I had with Rusty during the tragic event.

"Rusty!! Look Rusty, it's a squirrel! Rusty go get the squirrel! (I said this in my most excited voice, almost like a mother to her toddler). Rusty get the squirrel!! Oh No Rusty! No Rusty - drop the squirrel - bad Rusty! ( My voice was not so excited anymore - more disgust and concern - like when you witness your child throwing up) Oh Rusty, stop!!! What are you doing Rusty. Drop it - Drop it!"

Here's a picture of the squirrel as it meagerly tried to climb the tree with it's front paws (it's back legs just dangled because of the broken back) after Rusty let him go.

It finally dropped to the ground and wriggled in pain.

Shane decided it was cruel to let it suffer and put it out of it's misery.

Despite my disgust, Rusty was quite proud of his kill.

The boys (only a boy would do this) cut off it's tail and mounted it to the side of the cabin.

EEEwwwwwww! Gross!

Do all squirrels have such nasty teeth?

Rusty the Egg Snatcher!

We just finished dying Easter eggs today. 

The girls were having a fun game of keep the egg away from Rusty - that is until he stole the egg and swallowed it shell and all!  

That can't be good for a hound dogs belly.

Rusty's Christmas Casualties

This past season of sweets we actually faired pretty good against the counter surfing hound dog.

The list of casualties is as follows:

• One bagel off the counter when 7 year old wasn't looking
• Half a box of hazelnut chocolates
• A few licks of Christmas cookies but I got there in time to stop him from eating them - but I still had to chuck them because he slobbered on them
• One stick of butter

He was on the naughty list and got nothing for Christmas.  In the meantime, my daughter decided to have a photo shoot with Rusty.  Wallah!

PS.  Did I mention that someone gave a live hamster as a white elephant gift?  Yup!  You guessed it... I am now the proud owner of a hamster.  Why not one more pet in this zoo!

Rusty Stays!!!

We told my daughter that we were going to either keep Rusty or get rid of him depending on how you voted.  (We were just teasing of course).  She checked everyday to see how the votes were coming.   She was thrilled that you voted in favor of keeping the slobbery dog!

She loves this mut.

Rusty Strikes Again!!!

Rusty has been at it again.  Remember those gingerbread storefronts in the last post?  
They were so cute I hung them on a wreath I had on the wall just so I could look at them until Christmas.
When I came home today, this is what I found.  Mind you, the wreath on the dog bed was ABOVE the other wreath.  Is there no end to what Rusty will do?
How ironic is it that I have a scent hound who is ADDICTED to sugar, and I decorate cakes and cookies.  HA!  I am not laughing!!

Not only am I not laughing, I am pouting and require your sympathy.  So this weekend, I invite you to get to know this adorable, annoying hound better, by visiting some old posts about my dog, Rusty.

If you don't have much time, I would recommend 3 of my favorites.  It wasn't my fault,  Into the belly of the beast,  and the all time GROSSEST story in the history of dog-dom,  Rusty the Cannibal. 

If you have any extra time, I like this story too.

Would you get rid of this droopy faced canine?  Cast your vote on the right.

Rusty the Kleenix

Nathan and I took Rusty the dog for a walk yesterday.  I love these one on one moments with my kids.  It's a great time to really get to know them and understand their world better.

Nathan insisted he hold the leash.  I looked at him as he proudly walked his dog.  "Nathan, you don't love that dog do you?" I asked.

"Of course I love him mom, he licks my boogers when my nose is runny".  

And there you have it.

What would the world be?

For those of you that know me and read my blog, you know that I have a love/hate thing with my dog, Rusty.   The hate thing stems from the fact that he is a scent hound and always has his nose in the trash.  ALWAYS!!!!
The love thing stems from the fact that he is a mellow fellow and puts up with the kids no matter what they do to him.   He is loyal and protective of our little family.
I teach a music group and one of the song we learned was titled,  "What would the world be without music".  The other day Nathan, my youngest, was sitting on the toilet singing at the top of his lungs, "What would the world be without RUSTY"!  

Honestly, I am sure we'd survive, but in the meantime, we sure like having him around.

Me and My Coonhound

Rusty and I are always together except when I leave the house in my car.  He follows me upstairs and downstairs, barks at the door when I am in the restroom, and sleeps on the floor next to my side of the bed.  We walk or run together everyday except Sunday (Jeff walks him on Sunday).  I have really enjoyed having a dog.  I am one of "those" dog people (except I don't let him lick me on the mouth or face - YUCK!)

But enough is enough!  Tuesday I woke up and met my friends to walk our dogs.  There is a little patch of desert behind our houses where we can let them run free.  The dogs love this and get a nice run in.   So after our morning walk, I get the kids off to school and clean up the kitchen.  The weather is nice outside, so I decide to go for a run - ALONE!  After all, I already walked the dog.  I needed a little "me" time.

I waited until Rusty was sound asleep on his bed upstairs.  I slowly tiptoed downstairs, then paused to see if he had roused.  Still asleep.  I quietly grabbed my ipod off the counter.  I paused again as I heard something stir upstairs.  Dang it.  I held very still for a few minutes.  All is quiet, so I slowly go for my sunglasses.  Then I hear a thud.  He's probably just shifting or fluffing up his bed.  I continue to tiptoe around the corner and make my way for the door. 

YIKES!!!!   There is Rusty waiting on the middle stair.  He caught me red handed.  He knew I was trying to sneak out without him.  

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!   I am sneaking around in my own house!  Well, I have to tell you that I really wanted my alone time, so I locked him in his crate and took off running. I could hear him howling all the way down the block.

Sorry Rusty. 

PS.  He forgave me.

Bark Avenue

I broke down and bought Rusty a new bed from Costco.  They didn't have the nice fluffy ones like before.  By looking at this picture, I am sure you can tell how Rusty feels about it.

(If you don't know why I bought Rusty a new bed, see previous post below)

It wasn't my fault!

I know this looks bad, and it is, but it really wasn't Rusty's fault.  Okay, it was, but let me explain.  
Rusty will only lay on his dog bed.  He is lost without it.  He's really picky when it comes to dog beds.  It has to be a soft material or he won't lay on it, and it has to be fluffed up just right or he won't settle down and go to sleep. Before he lays down he always fluffs his bedding.  He scratches at all the sides of the bed until all the fluff is in the middle, and then, and only then, will he lay down upon it.

The other day it was time to clean the cover because it was starting to stink, so off it went into the wash.  That night, Jeff and I were to lazy to get up and take it out of the dryer and put it back on.  Well, Rusty went to his bed and fluffed. But because the cover wasn't on it ripped open and went everywhere.   
To be honest, I think he was really annoyed and just wanted his old bed back.  Stupid dog and his soft bedding!

Into The Belly of The Beast!

So on Wednesday I had my cake class and we were working with fondant.  I put together my first fondant cake.  It turned out pretty cute right?
I was so proud of it, so I left it on my kitchen counter for all to see.  BIG MISTAKE!
This is what Rusty was doing when I ran out the door for just a second.   He's a sly devil, and knew that eventually I would be out of sight and he could make his move.  Well he did.
He ate 99% of that pretty cake in a matter of 5 seconds flat.  Apparently he doesn't like fondant and left that alone.  That night he had the worst belly ache and he moaned and moaned.  I refused to feel sorry for him and even made him skip his dinner.  Bad doggy!!!!!  Very very BAD DOGGY!!!!!!

More of Rusty

You know I only post about my dog Rusty for my brother Eldon.  He is dead set on never owning a dog and I am okay with that.  Now I just love to fuel him with reasons why never to get one.

Today I was restocking my food storage buckets with white flour and powdered sugar.  I do this outside so as not to get white dust all over the house.   I accidentally spilled some on the ground and Rusty was there to lap it all up.

He created quite a sticky paste in his mouth and couldn't stop licking his lips to try and get it off.  I laughed and laughed at him and decided it served him right.  I didn't even offer him water. Hee hee!   (There you go Eldon... yet another reason).

But isn't he cute!

Darn Dogs!

Rusty my dog mysteriously broke his tail. We have no idea how he did it. I never heard him yelp in pain or anything. But his tail is broken... right in the middle. How do you think Rusty broke his tail? (See poll to the right).

POOR RUSTY!

Rusty the Cannibal

This is Rusty my dog.  And this is a picture of what he does all day long.

The other morning my friend Becky and I took our dogs for a walk in the patch of desert behind our home.   Rusty ran off and came back with something dangling from his mouth.  It looked like a furry rodent.  I of course didn't take it out of his mouth because I didn't want to touch it.  He eventually swallowed it.

So the next day, I went back out and he went to the same spot.  I followed him to see what he was eating.  And this is what I saw...

Yes, that is a dog leg sticking out of the ground, and yes... my dog was digging it up!

Here's Rusty with a tasty morsel in his mouth.

My parents were walking with me this morning, and I made my dad pull this furry bone out of his mouth.  Does anyone know how to sanitize a dogs mouth?

One word:  GROSS!!!!!!!!!

Poor Doggy

My girls tried to give Rusty a "Princess Leia" makeover.

Sometimes being a dog is ruff!