She just called again, to ask about cupcakes. I said, "Aren't you supposed to be relaxing?" She laughed and said, "They haven't told me that yet."

Hil, yay for your mom feeling better, and patience~ma for the rest.

Viscous chihuahuas and rouge waves, oh my.

Coffee and adrenaline can do amazing things, I tells ya.

So festival recycling is all set up, and my stabby feelings are slowly beginning to fade. I sense they will not go away completely until I have showered, eaten something massively unhealthy, and napped. Off to accomplish those things, possibly not in that order.

Hil, great to hear progress on your mom. Good luck with the scores of phone calls. But revel in them, as it sounds like it might be a strange delight.

As for me. I've been trying to food shop for a couple days now. But not wanting to while it's raining, because I move slowly, espicially with groceries. And moving slow in the rain is not fun. Of course, it only rained when I came home from work all week. Now. It's just raining. I got a party people! I need to make Lasagna. Get some snacks! :: shakes wee fist at rain clouds :: But. My new windshield wipers work great !!

Now, I myself have never met a viscous Chihuahua, but I find myself wondering how they could have sharp anything, really.

More than you know, dude, more than you know. We've got a vicious one in the 'hood name of Porkchop.

It's the little ones and the cute ones you gotta look out for.

Just ask my right heel. A month later and that Dachshund bite still bugs. You can still see the 5 little fang marks.

we have a chihuahua in our neighborhood named Annabelle Peapod. I've watched her chase Rottweiler puppies. She tangled with a raccoon and lost , but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to go after it again

She tangled with a raccoon and lost

The raccoon must have been a dirty fighter. I think Porkchop has taken on a 'possum and run it off.

I've got a Yorkie client (named for a high end fashion line, no lie) who weighs in at 4lbs and runs the house. Sigh. Humans can be really, really silly.

annabelle doen't rule the house, just all 4 legged creatures. her owners (?) spent a lot of time socializing her -- and most of the time she doesn't shake -- unless she remembers to be nervous.

Humans can be really, really silly.

Who, us?

bonny, tell me how to stop Sass from waking me up at 5 a.m. by licking my face? Ignoring her leads to pawing at me. For 30 minutes. She's looking for breakfast, not to go out, and she learned to think she should eat that early when I had morning sickness and was up to nibble on crackers, and then when I was up because I was too uncomfortable to sleep in. So, it's all my fault. Oops.

Sparky, tell Sass I'm going to come and shake my very authoritative finger at her. Bad Sass. No biscuit. Literally!

You just described the perfect storm of how bad habits get started. One of my people clients couldn't figure out how 'all of a sudden' her dog started getting up at 4, demanding food. Turns out, the hubby couldn't sleep and 'thought he looked hungry'. ::facepalm::

Unless you restrict her range, so that she can't get to you in the night, then you just have to be ZEN. The asscaps here acknowledge the seeming impossibility of this suggestion.

The behavior will continue as long as it is rewarded. Unfortunately, when you are half asleep, it's pretty hard to distract and redirect, which is the optimal technique.

I was about to suggest a redirect, but honestly, I don't see how that will get you any where. If you can stay awake long enough, reward in a very low, quiet voice (so as to avoid spinning up her energy) when she lies down and is calm.

If you can stay awake long enough

Did I mention that I get up during the week at 5:30 a.m.? So, since she can nag me for 30 minutes, she does seem to get rewarded in the end. Sort of like barking at the mailman, who always goes away!