Yesterday, I was gone for four hours. I returned home to find this:
I posted the picture on Facebook, and it sparked a big discussion. Lots of people shared stories about things their dog ate or destroyed – my favorite? 5 lbs of butter! – and lots of people had really great advice. (Crate training was a recurring suggestion. Crate training is another topic for another day…)
I probably shouldn’t have posted the picture in frustration, that’s for sure. The reality is, Lucas has come so, so far! This sort of thing used to be a regular occurrence; now, it’s surprising when it happens. That’s huge. Plus, there’s construction going on across the street, and he’s never been comfortable with groups of strangers walking around with loud machines.
I wasn’t even mad. Disappointed, yes. Mad, not even a little. Lucas can do so much and navigate the world so much better than he could a couple years ago. The Facebook comments were an excellent reminder to celebrate the good!
Plus, Lucas says Emmett did it. 😉
So, I want to ask you: What can you celebrate about your dog today??
Well, one of the dogs pooped in the house last night, but at least the culprit did it on the hardwood near the door.
I would have preferred a pre-accident wake-up call, though.
Still, I love those guys.
I have a cat, who is pretty great around the house. I have had other cats who have shredded the big ticket items in my house–my sofa. My husband has learned how to reupholster a sofa–handy guy that he is. Our cat, Earl Gray, thankfully doesn’t scratch the furniture.
No problem, one of the workers probably knocked at the door for something. Lucas just did his best defending the home!
Go Team Lucas! That is huge, I agree. In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget how far you’ve come, isn’t it? But when I think of my life, and my dog’s life, just six months ago, almost everything is so much better today.
So what can I celebrate about my dog, today?
Shiva never, ever, ever, ever, fails to make me laugh.
Aww, Kristine!! What a wonderful thing to celebrate! 🙂
I think we have all been there! I think everybody has had a dog that has destroyed something. It is disappointing when you come home to discover it though.
Sorry abouts those blinds. But I bet it wasn’t Lucas. I bet it was The Ninjas. They like to chew up my mom’s shoes! But they don’t do it as much as they used to. Mainly cuz she learned to pick up her shoes outta the floor. Which, all in all, was pretty disappointing for me…er…The Ninjas.
I asked my mom about if there was anything she wanted to celebrate about me today and this is what she said:
Mayzie is absolutely terrified of strong winds. I have a feeling it’s from spending her first couple of years outside on a rope on the prairie, where the wind can really howl. Anyway, I let her out this morning, not realizing the wind was screaming. I went to feed the cats and when I came back, she was at the back door, flattened to the ground. I let her in, not knowing whether she had peed or not. She immediately went to hide out in her crate. But about 30 minutes later, she came back to me wanting to go back outside. Luckily, the wind had died down and she was able to do her business.
Why does this make me proud? Because not that long ago, if something had scared her that much, it would have taken an act of congress to get her back outside that quickly. Her resiliency always amazes me and makes me proud.
Every day that Clara wakes up and walks around is worth celebrating because she’s so old and her legs barely support her.
Big lughead smiles from 6 in the morning until we go to bed each night.
I’ve replaced about 4 sets of blinds and counting. We now only use the vertical ones 😉
I’ll have to replace my sliding glass door eventually because Joey decided to eat the frame of it in a desperate attempt to destroy the leafblower.
Regardless, I figure it’s a small price to pay for the constant reminder that it’s all just stuff… and that his smiling little face and warm snuggles are a relationship and a life.
My favorite story about a dog eating random stuff, actually belongs to an old roommate of mine, Meritt, and his dog Bernie. Bernie was a very large chocolate lab who would eat most anything, including a 5 lb. box of Swedish Fish, at least 4 loaves of our other roommate’s bread (not in one sitting….I still think that she should have tried keeping it somewhere BESIDES the counter) and a bar of Avocado soap……
Oh my gosh, Jenifer! That is a lot of gobbling!