Sure, Jake may have curbed his begging a little, per his New Year’s resolution he reported on a few days ago. But he is now supplementing his caloric intake with a new technique: raiding the compost bucket. Last night I heard him breathing in an odd, hollow-sounding way as he tiptoed past me in the living room as I was reading from my new Kindle. He sounded like a short Darth Vader.
I looked over as he walked by and saw his mouth open to the point that it looked like a shark’s unhinged jaw. In his mouth he held what he surely considered the most fantastic treat ever: the gingerbread house my daughter and her friend Elton put together three weeks ago. It was from a Trader Joe’s kit, and it had been cute, but it didn’t taste very good so we used it purely as decoration, picking off little candy bits as the days of Christmas came and went. Last night, while starting to dismantle our Christmas decorations, we decided it was time to put the gingerbread house in the compost bucket in our kitchen. Within 10 minutes it was in the stealthy jaws of our ceaselessly food-obsessed yellow Lab.
I had my camera close by and wanted to catch him red-jawed, as it were, but Jake wanted to keep moving toward the backyard with his quarry. So I called for Laura, who ran out of her room and grabbed Jake for his mug shot.
The compost bucket will be on the counter from now on.
I hope the New Year’s resolutions are going better in your household.
A few months back, Dogster designer Yuko Takahashi created an exclusive Dogster-themed Flip video camera for a summer photo contest we were running on 
DogTek and Dogster are teaming up to give away an Eyenimal collar cam (retail value: $129) to one lucky dog-blog reader. To enter for your chance to win, simply leave a comment below telling us the kinds of things you would like to see from your dog’s perspective if you had a doggy cam. If you think you’d see any sneaky shenanigans like Jake’s, be sure to mention this, too.