Something mysterious has been happening with Chili Dawg and we can’t figure out how he’s doing this.  He’s a very smart dog and now we fear, too smart.  THREE TIMES this week we have left home with Chili Dawg in his pen and have come home to this:

an empty pen–still locked–and Chili Dawg greeting us at the door.  This pen is 30″ high, but somehow he is able to jump out, scale the sides or teleport himself.   I think the first time was a fluke, the 2nd time was to see if he could do it again and now by the 3rd time he knows exactly how to get out.   Next time I walk in the door I expect to see him laying on the sofa watching a movie and eating popcorn.  Obviously we need to find other ways to confine Chili Dawg when we’re not a home

Chili is full of hijinks.   We have to push the chairs away from the table or otherwise this happens:

And it is not unusual to see a whole roll of toilet paper unraveled in the bathroom.

All attempts to keep him off the sofa lead to this:

My husband is not amused.

Chili Dawg is a handful, a rascal, a SCOUNDREL, but he’s my puppy and I love him so much.  Look, this is a photo that I tore out of a magazine years ago; I knew instantly that it was my dog.  I taped it in my “dream notebook” and forgot about it until I blogged last year about wanting a dog.

And now look at this photo of Chili Dawg.  See, Chili Dawg was in my heart, even before he was born.

*Not only do I blog about my puppy, Chili Dawg also has a Facebook fan page!  Click on the badge to the left to become a fan, keep up with his status updates and to see more photos.  I have officially become “one of those dog people” that my friend @StuMcDnld talks about makes fun of on Twitter.