Chips Chat – March 2009

“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.”
- Ogden Nash

“The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.”
- Anonymous

“There’s no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”
- Ben Williams

“Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.”
- Corey Ford

“If a dog’s prayers were answered, bones would rain from the sky.”
- old proverb

“We give dogs the time we can spare, space we can spare, and love we can spare.  And in return, dogs give us their all.  It’s the best deal mankind has ever made.”
- M. Facklam

“Ever consider what they must think of us?  I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul–chicken, pork, half a cow.
They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!”
- Anne Tyler

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.  You are his life, his love, his leader.  He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”
- unknown

“God…sat down for a moment when the dog was finished in order to watch it…and to know that it was good, that nothing was lacking, that it could not have been made better.”
- Rainier Maria Rilke

Decorating with Dogs

Decorating when you have pets can provide unique opportunities to express your own personal style and taste. Here are some tips I’d like to share:

1. Other people expend a lot of money or energy trying to give their hardwood floors the distressed look.  Yours already have that vintage, lived-in appeal.
2. Paw prints and nose smudges on glass doors and windows break up glare and soften the light in a room.
3. Dog crates, when stacked three high, can add height to a room and pull the eye up.
4. Old towels and blankets thrown casually on upholstered furniture can add a wonderful homey, country-quilt look to an otherwise bland room.
5. Common smooth upholstery fabrics can look almost velvety when lightly textured with pet hair.
6. Crates placed end-to-end and topped with plate glass can create an unusual coffee table.  One your friends will really remember.
7. Doggie beds, randomly placed around a room, can add color and texture, much as throw pillows do.
8. Shredded or chewed books and magazines send a message to guests to relax, because yours isn‘t a stuffy, prim-and-proper household.
9. Dog crates can be slip-covered to match any room decor.
10. There is absolutely nothing that makes a guest feel as welcome as three friendly dogs hopping into her lap as soon as she sits down.