A dog has more hygiene sense than S ...

My dad came over yesterday to witness the annual cluster that is the Boo-tiful Pets Halloween Costume Contest. Because we are either gluttons for punishment, or learning deficient, not sure which, we entered Wally and Gus for the second consecutive year. After not winning a prize last year with their fantastic and funny Blues Brothers costumes, Megan decided that clearly sex sells. After that, she vowed that we'd never have to enter again. (Let's just say that the contest is horribly run and extremely inefficient. Golden retrievers don't like wearing clothing, so putting them into outfits, and then making them sit in them for hours, while you try to figure out how to parade 60 dogs around in costumes is torture for us and them. The thirty minute wait for them to calculate results after also wasn't fun.)

Probably two weeks after last year's contest she announced, above my protestations, that she had come up with the perfect costume idea for "next year." When reminded of her earlier vow, she decided that this costume was too good to pass up. So this year they entered as the "Chippenpups" complete with Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy as their musical accompaniment. Sex does sell, and the boys came home with a third place prize and a legion of new fans. Unfortunately, there was no cash to contribute to their future puppy therapy needs as a result of the contest. Also unfortunately, this taste of satisfactory judging results may mean that we have to go through it all again next year. The dogs and I are so oppressed.

That's all really beside the point. So, my dad came to witness this, and follow that with a little Patriots destruction of the Cowboys action. Maxwell, his min pin with an attitude, came with to see all of the fun, and possibly sport his lobster costume. While Maxwell has poor fashion sense (you really should see the necklace that he wears in addition to his collar. Let's just say that it wouldn't be out of place on one of Tony Soprano's muscle men.), his sense of smell is clearly intact. Every time S opened his door and came out of his room Maxwell stood up, and barked fiercely at S until he went back into his room. At one point after he returned to his chamber my dad turned and said, "Well Maxwell's sense of smell works perfectly." Well said.