Dog Talk: Burger’s Home Renovation Survival Tips
Apparently Beans and Lulu have been secretly making friends on the Internet. I just found out they’ve been emailing back and forth with Burger, the lovable 8-pound chihuahua who makes cameos over on Young House Love. He even has his own blog, Hamburger’s House. Beans and Lulu must’ve invited Burger to write a post for Dog Milk as one showed up in my inbox, and it’s a goodie. I’ll just let Burger take it from here…
Ok, Burger here. I thought about what I could say and realized that anything that I write is pure gold, so I’m going to riff about home improvement + dogs. Here are a few quick tips for learning to survive in a house with two crazy DIY obsessed owners. You guys might want to take some notes.
Rule #1: Bark at everything. You never know if loud noises are intentional hammering by the rents or the sounds of some evil intruder off the streets trying to break in and steal your treats. Better safe than sorry. That’s all I’m saying.
Rule #2: Refuse to help. Are you a dog or are you a laborer? You’re a dog. So do what you do best. Curl up on the couch and watch those humans sweat.
Rule #3: Nails aren’t food. Don’t jump up off the couch to eagerly sniff a nail that dropped to the floor. It does not smell like bacon or pumpkin pie or anything worth running towards. It smells like metal — kinda like a fire hydrant. And we pee on those.
Rule #4: Say yes to quality control. New pillows should be smashed and sat upon. New furniture should be used for jumping and climbing. And for goodness sake, if the humans decide to take a pizza break, go ahead and make sure it’s not poisoned by sneaking a few bites before they realize what you’re doing. It’s for their own good.
Rule #5: Never let them see you flinch. If you parents notice that you jump every time they fire the nail gun, they’ll think it’s funny. And they’ll laugh at you. Trust me — nothing’s worse than guffawing two-leggers. So build up a nice tolerance to those loud sounds like I have. Never let them see you sweat. That’s their job.
Hope that does the trick for ya. You can check out a ton of photos of yours truly on my blog.
That is too cute! I <3 Burger!!
aww so cute. you know what’s up burger!
Too cute! My dog Dots likes to help/surpervise with DIY, but my husband’s dog cowers in the corner at power tools, haha.
Hi Burger! I’m Winston! I’m a 5 month old Yorkie and I’m so glad to see that there are other doggie bloggers! My parent’s own a construction company and I big sis (a fancy bichon) and I go to all the jobsites! Keep up the good work keeping those humans on task. They need us to supervise!
Burger, great tips. Everything you do IS pure gold.
Burger’s the bomb!
Not being a dog owner myself due to my husbands weird notion that they cost too much, I have come here to get my dog fix for the day. Thanks burger for making me laugh and realizing that little dogs aren’t just flighty. They really have something to say! ;o)
My best, Lynn
Thanks for the tips, Burger. We are taking notes
Adorable!
Hey Burger! Great advice here – my dogs follow all of it to a T. Having done a bit of home reno and redecorating, it seems like maybe there’s a Rule 2(a) – that is, refuse to help unless the materials being used are poisonous, messy, and/or very likely to stain. Then my dogs seem intent on “helping” as much as they can. (We’ve ended up with quite a few painted tails…)
Burger for President! xo
That is too cute! Love it. I think Burger would be a great partner for my min-pin, Chanel.
Denise
Extreme Personal Measures
I’m going to HAVE to do a spin on the dog writing the blog style…TOO CUTE!!!
*smiling!!* my cockapoo, LuLu, enjoyed this one, too- tail’s wagging!
OMG YoungHouseLove is my favorite blog ever! So glad Burger is making guest appearances now.
Starsky and Bruticus, we, frown on work. Our older brother, Barry, may he RIP, would get on holiday storage boxes that the humans would carry in and out of the house making those boxes 25 pounds heavier. He thought he was a god. We bark at wheelbarrows, lawn mowers, power drills, hammers. If its work, we bark!
How do you stop a dog from biting electrical cables. I have a little 11 week year old pup and he just seems to want to nibble on everything he can get his hands on. I try to redirect him but at times he just seems ignorant to it.
Many thanks,
John
Hi John,
The best way is to be firm with your puppy, tell him no. Then redirect him with his own Toy, if that doesn’t work re-direct him with a treat, but make sure he work’s for the treat, don’t just give him it otherwise you are rewarding that behavior.
Many thanks,
Marc