No Rain Ain't Gettin' Ma Doggy Down

Ack....arg...ughcchhk...

...there! I finally was able to post a picture on this dang thing! Let's hear it for the biggest accomplishment so far for 2010!

That yellow monster eating my puppy's head is his new raincoat! Err, at least it was new a month ago when we received it from my ever-thoughtful sister. But let's just pretend I just opened it and immediate ran to the computer to blog about how much I love it. How awesome is she to think of her "puppy nephew", as she calls him, and include him in her holiday well wishing? Not only that, she got major points for taking note of when I said Theo had outgrown his old winter jacket. What, with all the crazy rain we got a few weeks ago it was truly a life saver. Seriously, the rain was insane! People actually started building arks. Children living 20 miles inland were getting swept out to sea from the safe slumber of their beds. I may have seen a Kraken tentacle or two poke out of the not-as-dried-up-anymore dried up lake by my house.

Ok really, I was out of town nephew-sitting the cutest baby with the most pinchable cheeks and the sweetest smile that was ever born*. But Husband totally used the raincoat, I am told. So far I've only tortured Theo with it from the safety of our own home, but I can already tell that it's a keeper. Here's what I like about it.

First, it's bright yellow, as all fashionable raincoats should be if they can possibly help it.

Second, it's long enough to cover most of his bummy bum bum. This is a very important feature, and one that is often hard to come by. Corgis are, after all, not the body type norm for canine clothing. Unfortunately, neither am I the norm for homo sapien clothing, so I feel like we totally relate to each other on that one.

Third, it has a very large hood, all the better to cover his huge satellite dish ears with! The last jacket had a hood, but it was so small that I had to crush poor Theo's ears to get his head in it, making it kind of impractical to use. This one, while still bothersome to Theo, is also completely usable, which is important, since it's the raindrops on his head that he really can't stand.

Fourth, it has a good amount of fabric on the bottom, so his tummy stays relatively dry while he traipses through lawns and bushes to send pee mail to all his buddies. And it attaches to the top portion by a long easy strip of velcro, making it immensely easy to get on and off. When you have a dog that hates getting in it, and can't wait to get out of it, this is essential.

And finally (aka, fifth), it has purely decorative ducky buttons! And ducky lining! Big points for fashionability here. Also, I just decided fashionability is a word. Use it.

Husband and I discovered the entertainment value that comes with dressing Theo up in all sorts of getups and then playing fetch with him while he's wearing them. As you know, Theo is a serious fetch player. It's not just his job, it's his passion. So he doesn't let pesky things like booties on his feet or over-sized raincoats stand in his way. I say over-sized because originally the raincoat we received was a size too small. I was kind of an idiot at the store and rather than buying one size up, I bought too. Of course, I got home and discovered it was too big. But after the second trip, we got the raincoat that was just right. Anyway, Goldilocks was slipping and sliding all over the place in the raincoat he was swimming in, and it was hilarious!

I admit it. I'm a sadist. I get great enjoyment out of my dog's suffering. But really, it's only so laugh-so-hard-I-cry funny because he doesn't acknowledge that he's wearing anything hindering! He doesn't give me a pathetic look that says "Mommy, I could play fetch so much better without this thing on me!" Nope. He only has (very intense) eyes for his tribble, and when and where I throw it. If he was bothered by the slipping and sliding you would never know it because he would figure out a way to get the toy and get it back to me and was only concerned with when I would throw it again. Comedy!

In closing, my dog is awesome, hilarious, focused. He has "calmed down quite a bit", as people tell me, but really he just tends to pouting. But that's another post.

*God help the next kid born to my sister if s/he does not have enormously pinchable cheeks. I'll sigh and tell the kid "you know, I love you ok...you know, well enough. But man, your older brother is just so darn cute and lovable. I just adore him. I won't lie, it's the cheeks." What can I say? My family gatherings are not for the faint of spirit. Also, apparently "pinchable" isn't really a word and blogger thinks "punchable" is actually what I'm trying to say. Oh man it would be hilarious to see people's facing if I went around describing my nephew as having punchable cheeks.