The big mean kitty

Hi folks - sorry I haven't been posting too much, but I've really settled into a routine around here. Now that I sleep in the "mud room" and can come and go through my doggie door as I please, life is pretty good here. I get to go outside and pee/poop whenever I feel the urge, and I don't wake up Christine or Richie. Around 6:30-6:45 am (I don't know really, as I can't tell time) I hear them walking around upstairs. So I cry by my door until they let me come upstairs.

I have a great time running back and forth between eating my breakfast and trying to steal slippers, all the while Christine is trying to get ready for work. Sometimes, when Richie is working at home, I'll come upstairs and play or sleep in his office.

Here I am with my big mean kitty... ok, he doesn't look so mean with his head in my chompers, but these cats, well, you never really know what they're going to. I can't trust them as far as I could throw them. This one squeaks if I bite on him in just the right spot... I wonder if I catch a real one if it will squeak too? Apparently the big mean kitty is a tradition with us berners - see?

This is a picture of Paisley, Richie's sister's berner on one of the many overnight stays with him. Quite a resemblance, eh? Apparently, she was a bigger handful as a puppy than I am. I guess I had better step it up a bit... wouldn't want to make it too easy for these two.

I have got them trained pretty good however. I've got a number of ways to get cookies out of them - sit, lie down, shake (demonstrated by yours truly above) and bark (on commmand, of course). I'm going to start a few new ones soon, but I'm going to wait to show them off to that know-it-all Lewis... he thinks he's got good tricks. Just wait.

Mischa

(Editor's note: What Mischa thinks are "cookies" are just another brand of kibble - so the joke is on her!)