Ember, the Multi-Tasking FrogDog

There are so many things I love about Ember, a sweet and silly Lab/Golden Retriever cross who -- unlike the Labradoodles I'd just watched before I puppysat her -- had very little concept of graceful motion. The first time I let her go downstairs off leash, I was a little afraid my apartment neighbors were going to kill me for making so much noise. Ka-da-KLUNK! Ker-KLUNK! Ka-BOOM-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP-BANG!

She's pretty good-sized, which makes it hard to be puppy-like and exuberant without doing some damage, at least to the peace and quiet of an otherwise silent stairwell.

Ember makes me laugh.



She's an expert at the "FrogDog" position:



But Ember is also a world record holder for the number of toys she can hold in her mouth at any given time. She never seems satisfied with just one. Just one toy in her mouth is only acceptable when she's petitioning you to play with her or to let her have additional toys.

What she prefers to do is get one toy in her mouth that can scoot way to the back and perhaps sit over her muzzle -- like this tire, or the Nylabone Ring, for example -- and then busy herself picking up other toys with the front of her mouth, like so:



The record? At my apartment, the record was six toys. I had stuffed the Holee Roller ball with a few toys, and she had picked up the tire, the Roller-full, and a light plush toy all at the same time. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to capture the moment.