Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Day 30

And I am a toasty critter! Today was a rough day with the Bear. I went to work and dealt with two year old temper tantrums...for real, I work with young children when I'm not aspiring to become a writer, and spent a solid hour getting kicked and punched by a very "put out" little guy who was not very thrilled at the prospect of not being held through his entire nap. Aside from this, the day was pretty normal, until I got home...

The kitchen was just about perfect upon first glance, dining room was fine, and then I entered the living room.

You know that picture of Bear with the "beastie eyes" I took last night? Well, that's who was in my living room while I was at work today. Now, I don't know what the thing with the cushions is but every cushion from every piece of furniture was on the floor. The three dog blankets which normally reside in the corner were all over the place. The pepper shaker from the kitchen, the place mats from the table, the dog brush, both of my husband's boot brushes, chewed up pillows, a chewed up cane and I can't even remember what else...plus one accident over by the bathroom were what greeted me when I entered.

It was in that moment that I realized that "positive child guidance techniques" do not work very well with canines and that Bear is, in point of fact, a dog...who will continue to slobber all over and chew on everything in the house until he realizes that I am higher on the pack totem poll in this house than he is. Round about the time I was slinging the couch cushions across the room and back onto the couch while pointing out to him that this was not appropriate dog behavior in my house and that I did not want to see him or hear him while I was cleaning up his mess, I think he realized that.

By the time the husband got home, I had the mess cleaned up. I was calming down with a game of spider solitaire when he walked in and inquired as to why the table was not set for dinner. I only had to give one look for him to realize that this was not appropriate spouse behavior and that the table would be set when I won the spider solitaire game...which I did and then set the table. Bear spent the entire meal silently laying beside me without moving a muscle and, when offered his after dinner treat, was actually very sorry for upsetting me. Then he gobbled it down and proceeded to slobber all over me until we went out to play ball for a bit with both of the dogs.

Some days go better than others, I think, and hopefully tomorrow will.

We had a great walk this morning...

Happy wandering!

The Writer...and her dog, Bear

3 comments:

~Marie~ said...

Ha, sounds like Bear had a fun time while you were away at work. I myself have come home to many a chewed brush and disheveled room.

saratogajean said...

I had a rough time with my dog when he went though a book-chewing phase. It was so frustrating, but I eventually had to bring out his crate that I hadn't used since he was a puppy. He got his special "crate" treat (a frozen Kong with peanut butter inside), and I got to be excited to see him when I got home, rather than angry at the distruction. I only had to do it for 2 months before he realized that "alone time" was not "feel free to tear the house apart" time.

cosmiccowgirl said...

My Scout was exactly the same way. Even having the dogs in the backyard while I was gone was not safe, as he ripped all the wires out of the air conditioner not once, but twice, and destroyed every piece of yard furniture we had. He was kept in a kennel inside while I was gone for like the first year until he quit destroying things. It sucks but it is better than the alternative...being on my "sh$& list" every day when I came home!