We now have a robot in our house and Ruff has checked it out.

I don't usually succumb to impulse buying but a few days ago I was in Sam's Club and saw a display for the iRobot Roomba vacuums. Two words jumped off the display and caught my attention: PET HAIR. If you own Rottweilers you know what I mean and if you own more than one Rottweiler you really know what I mean. So I bought it and took it home wondering all the time how it would be greeted by the rest of our family. In case you're interested, the model 585 was $279 which turned out to be a pretty good price and the reviews were mostly favorable, too.

I charged the battery in the robot overnight and the next day gave it a try. The first thing I found out was that my original plan to use this after we go to bed was not feasible because it is loud. Then I discovered after one try that the best way to use it was to keep it from wandering all over the house by blocking it into one room at a time. And it did a very good job. It got under the furniture in the living room and under the beds and dressers in the bedrooms and it chirped out a plain language message every time it needed its waste bin emptied. And when I used it in the living room where the charging station was set up, it plugged itself back in when it need to be recharged.

Oh, and how did the Rottweilers think of it? Axl took a look at it and then went up on the couch for a nap and ignored it afterward. I used Sassy's bed to block the entrance to the living room and she laid on her bed and watched it working. Ruff, on the other hand, followed it all over the place, nosed it a few times and tried to pick it up once. After the first time I used it Ruff left it alone.

I really love the way the little iRobot got under the beds and the dressers. And it did a really good job, too. Now if they could build a bigger model to cook, do laundry and dishes, I would be thrilled.