One of my dog lover friends out here in cyberspace needs to take a minute to remind me just how much I love my dog!
I walked into the house on Wednesday after a long day at work, arms full of groceries to find this:
Arrgh! Bad dog, Sam!
Bad, bad, bad, Sam.
Not the dining room chairs, too, Sam!
Sam looks awfully sorry. Here he is laying on the afghan that Brian's mother made, ruined on another day.
Well, I’m a cat person, and your dog is a bit too big for it, but if I had a dog that did that I would ship it off for some pot pie making place.
Awww, you can’t mean it! We have 3 cats and have always been cat people, too! But, Sam came to us very broken. He is very well behaved EXCEPT when we aren’t at home!We expect he’ll grow out of this, eventually, we hope, before all of our furniture is ruined!
Regardless, he is now one of the family!
My dear little Chloe has scratched the diningroom chairs REALLY bad and clawed each and every corner of sofa and love seat. She destroyed the plastic insulation around the back door – only so far up. I bought big plastic 2-sided tape to put on furniture and haven’t got around to putting it on. They say cats don’t like “sticky” on their paws. How can one littly kitty do soooooo much damage??? …like I can afford to replace the furniture – I can’t afford to pay attention!
I’ve not met Chloe yet (or Bonnie’s Lilly, for that matter). I will get to meet them both later this summer! Woohoo!
Mandydog ate the following items: 4 remote controls, numerous shoes and school books, a sofa ( I mean the entire sofa) and a pair of spectacles. Not to mention that she just didn’t understand that peeing outside is best policy until she was two. But she has turned into the best dog I can not even tell you. Now she is 13.
Yes, I remember when Mandy ate your glasses. You were living on your own for the first time, poor, and had saved for months to get your new glasses. And, in one fell swoop, Mandy leaped up on the counter and destroyed them. You cried about it – not about the glasses getting destroyed, but that you were so angry you smacked her and felt sooooo bad!
And, yes, I remember the sofa, too! You aren’t lying when you say she ate it all!
Everybody in cyberland, please note that I am not in the habit of smacking my animals.
If my comment implied that to anyone then I apologize! I know no one that loves their critters more than you!
I’m getting the impression from your comments, both here and at work, that you are concerned that Sam is in trouble with Brian and me. I guess I should have made it clear in my post that you needn’t worry about Sam’s future with us. I can assure you it is secure. All you have to do is look at him to know this is true! It’s those damn blue eyes!
As Ken and have said time and time again, he is just a puppy. I agree that you need to install a fence. His breed and size definitely indicates he needs room to run and get exercise. When a dog gets bored they start looking for something to do and that’s when they can tear your house, furniture, clothing, etc. to pieces.
But, remember this . . . a dog will always give you his/her unconditional love. There is nothing like their devotion to their human mommy and daddy. Give it some more time.
We are also going through this stage with Lilly (our dog). She is so bad, but, she has captured our families heart.
I will print your article for Ken and will get back to you tomorrow with his comments. You know “Kennyaya”
Oh, dear; yes, Sam was a very bad dog. I truly understand how upsetting this kind of incident can be to a pet owner. But, I’ll tell you something. When I looked at the photos, I really had to think back to recall specific similar incidents with many of our dogs. However, there is never a day that I don’t recall wonderful, happy, loving moments with all of them. Would I go through it all again for just a little more time with them? Absolutely; you bet I would! And now I’m sobbing…
Hey Daneen! I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away from this post! Ha! I think our problem is that we weren’t getting Sam enough exercise. Without a fence, he was starting to run off when we would take him out to play ball. One time he ran to the neighbors and dug up a dead animal! So, he became a leash dog. For several weeks, he only went outside on a leash. Last night, after I cleaned up the mess in the house, we tried letting him off the leash again to play ball and he did very well. This morning we did the same. He ran off once, but came back when we called him. We are hoping to have a fence installed by the end of summer. Then, we can play with him outdoors without a leash and not worry about his safety. Additionally, I have been looking at interactive toys on-line – things to keep him entertained and happy when we are at work. One is called a Buster Cube – very durable cube-shaped toy that holds dry dog food and as he flips it and rolls it, a few morsels of food fall out. Review indicates dogs love it and it is highly durable. (The only complaint is the noise it makes on hardwood floors.) I am also looking at some toys with lights and sounds. Also found something called bitter apple spray that discourages chewing on furniture (unless your dog likes that taste). Sheesh!
Toys and exercise should definitely help. And believe it or not, they do usually settle down and outgrow this bad behavior. I’ve been trying to remember and I don’t think we ever had any real problems after the first six months to a year. I am referring to their time in a new environment, not their age. We many times adopt older, unwanted dogs, and even they can exhibit some really bad behavior habits initially.
He missed you! 🙂
Yes, he does miss us when we are gone! I wish I didn’t have to worry about my stuff getting ruined or one of the cats getting hurt or whether he might hurt himself, though. Sheesh! This is harder than having a kid!