so smart it hurts

I've started doing a new thing,which I think is utter genius but which drives mommy insane!  It all began after I wrote my vanishing toys post for the blog challenge and mommy saw things from my point of view - which made her feel bad.  So she started being a lot quicker about fishing my toys out from under things when they disappeared.  In some cases, the second a ball rolled out of reach, mommy grabbed it for me!  After this continued a few times, and I was sure it wasn't coincidence, I figured I could exploit this and put my brilliant plan into action.  

See it's not easy being a smart dog.  I can't lay around all day doing nothing, just waiting for mommy to finish work and talk me for a walk.  I need stimulation and activity!  That's why (for a little while anyway), this new trick was utterly genius:  I would purposely slide my balls or stuff my toys under the couch and then alert mommy so she'd have to get them out for me!  This occasionally lead to playtime as well! Oh we had a glorious few days ... Until she figured it all out! Now it's back to maximum wait time for vanished toys and it's even worse because the legitimately-accidental ones are neglected for hours at a time!  

Sometimes I think there's no place for a smart dog in a human world! 

the constant thorn in my side

I know some of you thought I meant Dorothy with that title: but no, she's being alright and we're getting along really well.  I'm actually and quite literally talking about thorns!  Or prickles, or spurs, or whatever you want to call them!  

Every grassy patch is covered in them at the moment and I can't go outside without mommy attacking me with a hairbrush afterward!   The thorns get caught and tangled and it takes forever to brush them out, plus sometimes it hurts!  I never thought I'd say this but I can't wait until my next haircut!  Hopefully I'll get shaved so this whole thing can end.  

Here are some photos after a quick run in our front yard yesterday!

You can't even see most of them because they get tangled!

But when mommy starts brushing... this happens!

What the sink looks like afterward 

note: Dorothy doesn't have these issues but she got some pretty nasty cactus spikes on her face!  See the one just under her left nostril? OUCH! Luckily mommy always finds them.