The Dogs of Our Lives

Cole, my 9 month old, has been a good puppy. I got him when he was 4 months old, so I got to bypass a lot of the really bad stuff they do. My roommate and I have tons of shoes, and we just pile them up by the front door. The dogs (2 Whippets, 1 Lab) never bothered with the shoes until I bought a pair that cost me $80. Came up to find not one, but BOTH of my new shoes on the couch with holes in the back of the heal!!! Boy, was I mad!! I know it was Cole, because sometimes when he gets really excited he will pick up a shoe and carry it, but not chew it. I don't know why these particular shoes were better, or if he just knew I paid a lot for them. Needless to say, these shoes have a place in the closet!!

Puppies and couches!! When Grace was a puppy she would never wreck anything at my house, but the very second people were out of sight at my mom's house something just HAD to be chewed. One particular morning I had gone downstairs to shower and left her out - not thinking anything of it - I came back to find her chewing on the cushion of my mom's leather couch!!! Of course there is no repairing the cushion - 3 seperate panels runied. I still get heck for that one...

My dalmatian puppy has a penchant for plants. Every spring, I bedeck my deck anew, and this year, I'm trying madly to stay one plant ahead of my Kuuipo. She's precious--oozes sweetness out of every pore--but she's a chewer. No shoe, cell phone, or other odd item is safe within her reach, and no plant survives unchewed.

Our Dal, Olivia, loved to eat mulch, strawberries, cabbage...you name it. We think Pont is going to be a mulch lover as well. Yippe.

Funny you should write about this.....Corvette has this week gone amuck also. He has had his little dog bed for months, but it's now in pieces. (Oh, that LOVELY fluffy stuffing! FUNNNNNNN!!!!!) He's gone over to items of furniture (including our couch) and given them all a chomp. Testing the "chewiness" I guess. Tonight, he crossed the line. I was on the phone in my room, while he and Tigger ran and tore around as they do as usual about 8:00 pm each evening. Corvette flew onto the bed, and came at me chewing. I said, "NO!" and he thought I was kidding. Chomp. I gave him a good back of the finger across the bridge of his nose, and yelled "NO. DON'T BITE". He looked at me in shock, like 'Hey, chill out, Mom!" Off he ran, and I think he will stick to rawhides now (for awhile). It's like spring has really set them off I think. Yikes!

Sue: Yes, we also get the FRAPing (Frequent Rapid Activity Period) each evening after supper between Glynis and Pont. Last night Pont ran outside in the backyard for about 10-minutes straight. Back and forth, back and forth. He was winded for about 30 minutes afterwards. Fun to watch.

This week we have a fascination with toilet paper. But I'll save that for another entry.

OOOHHH...Don't GO there with TP! Our old lab "taught" Tigger our 8 year old whippet how to chew up Kleenix, TP, paper towels, etc. Tigger, being a good doggy Uncle, has taught Corvette the joys of shredding... Puts a whole new meaning to "Recycled" paper when you see the dog doo doo!!
It's raining up here in Duluth...Mud AND Poop to get tracked in, so I will have to be a viglante with a bucket of water at that back door for the next week or so! Grab dog, slosh foot, wipe off, let in house...Cheers....Sue

The only time I chew on those pillows that are on mom's chair is when I think she has not been paying enough attention to me. Even when I have 30 other toys spread out on the floor, sometimes I chew on the pillows -- even tho I know she gets mad at me for doing it. Well, sometimes a dog just wants a reaction. I'd rather have petting, but sometimes being chased is fun too :)

Well, we have never had the misfortune of something being chewed other than my baseball caps for some reason if he finds one that he can get to, he will chew on the brim. He has not gotten to my last chewed free coveted MN Vikings cap yet.
However, he does have a penchant for doing some other fun things when he sees we are leaving him for the evening and he believes not enough attention has been given. One morning I went out early for an errand, my wife went to work. I got back to find our living room and dinning room floors filled with beans, yes I said it beans- kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans. My wife was going to teach a dietary class the next evening and was going to use them. She had left a grocery bag with all her supplies in it on the kitchen floor.
He decided what fun it would be to take 8 or 9 of the bean filled bags and run around the house with it like he was coursing. We were finding beans all over the house for months.
He has taken other bags of items and ran around with it to, but nothing as bad as the bean incident. No the popcorn was not bad, the bag of grapes was not nearly as bad as the bean incident. He doesn't eat it, he jsut runs around with the bag until it is empty.

Rob