In Which My Dog Says "Take That Rudolph"

I often wonder what my dog is thinking. People with no kids have time to do this. A lot of people think they can tell what kind of parent I’ll be after seeing me interact with my dog. I’m not sure how I feel about this. True, my dog is spoiled rotten. My dogs growing up are looking down from the big dog park in the sky thinking “you lucky bastard! I was never allowed to (fill in the blank)!” All I can say guys is: Blame Mom and Dad! I kid, I kid (no really, don’t’ look at me). The rest of my family is pretty appalled when they see what Rip gets away with. When staying with the Newport Martinez (I guess now the In-Transit Martinez) I let their family dog sleep in the bed with me. My brother about stroked out. What can I say? I have a hard time saying no to a cute face that just wants to snuggle. Ok, maybe I am in trouble. Not that it took a genius to figure this out. Has anyone seen me interact with my nieces?

Anyway, I think it was pretty obvious what Ripken was thinking when he was watching me decorate the tree this year curled up on the couch (dios mio HE'S ALLOWED ON THE FURNITURE!). He was pretending he was asleep, but really he was pondering the pros and cons of ornament eating. He decided on two little stuffed glittery reindeer. Oddly, they were in separate sections of the tree, but he sought them out with that beagle nose of his, and had his way with both of them in the time it took me to put a load of laundry in the dryer. (Now my mom is thinking “she was doing laundry?!?”) Photographic evidence below. (of the ornament eating, not the laundry…you’ll just have to take my word on that)