Vacuuming the dog (or, why it's hard to do housework with an 8-month old puppy at your heels)

It's a lazy Saturday morning, and I thought I would get some housework done. However, this is proving to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. Vinnie is constantly at my feet, wanting to be a part of whatever I am doing. Most times I don't mind, and am able to pet him while brushing my teeth, getting dressed, and even going to the bathroom (TMI, I know). But it is a bit harder while I am vacuuming, sweeping, or trying to do laundry.

Let's start with Chore #1. If you have read the previous posts, you know that Vinnie has a love of socks. This is why I have to do my laundry only while Vinnie is eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner. This seems reasonable enough, unless you have ever seen Vinnie eat. It only takes him about 45 seconds to inhale the 1.5 cups of food I place in his bowl at each meal. I don't even think he tastes it. I could be giving him rocks and he would probably inhale them at the same speed. (It would also be cheaper to feed him with rocks... Hmmm...)

Let's go to Chore #2. Sweeping the balcony. At my condo, there is a big, leafy tree (sorry, I'm not a botanist) that hangs over my balcony. Although it's not fall yet, leaves still accumulate on the balcony. I recently cleaned off the area so we could sit out there during these lovely summer evenings. Anyway, so each week I try to sweep up the leaves. However, Vinnie loves the sound of the teeth of the broom brushing across the floor, and every time I start sweeping, he rushes over and starts chewing on the brush part. Of course, the more I try to keep it out of his reach, the more fun he has trying to jump and grab for it. What a silly puppy. So, no sweeping.

Chore #3. Vacuuming. I have a puppy and my roommate has 2 cats, and year-round, especially in the summer, our carpets collect a lot of animal fur. This means that vacuuming should be done on a weekly basis. It doesn't get done that often, of course, evidenced by my constant sneezing, but we try to do it as often as we can. But every time I turn on the vacuum, Vinnie starts barking at it. He thinks it is a loud, obnoxious foe, one that he has to play hide and go seek with while he simultaneously gives it a piece of his mind. I try to shush Vinnie, but this does nothing for his constant jumping around and running in front of the path of the vacuum. Today, he was fascinated by the vacuum hose. I finally gave up and just started "petting" him with the hose, getting rid of some of the dog hair that Vinnie would be shedding anyway. Surprisingly, Vinnie became super content and collapsed on the floor while I did this. I'm sure it felt like a massage for him. He really enjoyed getting his back and stomach vacuumed, but not so much when I tried to vacuum his tongue or lips. :) So cute, though. I will post pictures on my Facebook page. He looks like his head is out the car window and catching all the air. So adorable.

Thus, this lazy Saturday has turned into a blogging opportunity rather than a housecleaning one. Maybe that was Vinnie's intention all along, for me to write about his cuteness rather than ignore him in the quest for a clean house.