Monday, May 24, 2010

"Tails" of Hunter the dog...

Original huh!?!

As you all know, we added our newest dog, Hunter, to the family on Mother's Day....as Ryan would say (correctly, may I add)....another case of what Mommy wants....Mommy gets. Well....that was two weeks ago....and what a two weeks it has been.

Hunter is a sweet dog. Very loving with all of us and extremely patient with Delainey....his best trait, by far. He is very tolerant to Sheba's antics and fits right in with the family.....until the family is out of sight!!

Someone has a major case of separation anxiety....MAJOR!!!

With the way our schedule works out, he is rarely left alone. We only leave him for the time it takes to run quick trips to the store, etc. But, oh my....what damage he can do in that short period of time. Those of you on my facebook page already know that he has destroyed two crates this week....one of the standard plastic ones, which he pulverized, and a metal one, when he bent beyond recognition. The day he broke out of the metal one, he also completely shredded the cardboard box that it came it!

Let's see.....what else has he destroyed...
A small mermaid Barbie.....after he broke into Delainey's playroom
A small Barbie-like doll dressed as a ladybug....that he stole from inside a bucket that was sitting on one of my cube tables
A ladybug stuffed animal.....from inside Delainey's cradle in her bedroom
A box holding office supplies and a few empty CD cases
A plate and plastic fork that he helped himself to....off of the table
The kitchen sponge.....I swear it was in the sink
One of Delainey's flip flops....although I saved that one...so it just has a few bite marks
An old collar
etc...etc....etc!


Oh...I guess I should explain that since he has destroyed two crates.....when I HAVE to leave, I have been leaving him in the house and closing every door and putting everything I can away....I didn't know he could reach the kitchen counters!!!!!

And let me tell you.....he knows how to party when the parents are away!!!

Sunday, Delainey was invited to go swimming at her little friend, Tyler's, just across the street. I made sure that everything was away....or so I thought....and we headed over for about an hour.

We came home to a kitchen that looked like a war zone. He pulled every dish that had been drying on the counter.....thank goodness there were no glass items.....but he managed to pull down a bunch of tupperware-like bowls, a frying pan, a big water bottle and lid, strainer...you name it....I found it on the floor. There it all was.....spread out on display.....next to the pot that had previously been on the stove. Apparently he likes macaroni and cheese as much as Delainey and wanted to lick the pot clean.....I guess I will not be leaving pots to cool on the stove anymore!!! That's when he took her plate and fork off of the table....and shredded them!!!

Did we learn our lesson.....well of course not!!!

After dinner on Sunday, Ryan and I were out working in the garden and had the whole family out there with us. As we were cleaning up, Ryan put the dogs in the house....for maybe 5 minutes alone. We hadn't cleared Delainey's plate from the table....so....Hunter helped himself to a bit of pasta salad, the remainder of a hamburger and bun....oh yeah...and an ear of corn. But let me say....when we walked in....Sheba had joined in on that one and was running around the house with the ear of corn in her mouth. Had I not been so mad.....it would have looked pretty funny, I must say! So I wrestled the corn away from Sheba and cleaned up the trail of kernels spread around the kitchen. That was the end of the story....NOT!!!

Literally 5 minutes later....Ryan was on the back deck putting some things away and Delainey and I headed out there with him. My intention was that we would be out there for a minute or two, but the neighbor was out back....and Delainey has a little crush on him....so we ended up out there for probably 15 minutes, at the most. Again....the pooches were inside!!! Well...needless to say, Hunter continued his wrath! This time, we found a broken plate on the floor and the hamburger that was sitting on it....mysteriously gone! Again....this plate had been on the counter....and not near the edge or anything. Considering he is a shorty....I have to give him credit for having a good reach!!

Well....I put him into the crate that we now have in the living room and I headed upstairs to clean up. I told Ryan to let him out when he came upstairs in a few minutes. A few minutes later Ryan calls out that Hunter is bleeding.....in his words....pretty bad! So I head back down stairs to find Hunter lying on the ground and Ryan is holding his front paw up and blood is dripping onto our floor. Poor dog! I guess as Ryan started cleaning up the mess in the kitchen, he noticed blood on the cabinet and lip of the counter, so he let Hunter out of the crate. Because of our very dark floors, we didn't notice the bloody footprints until afterwards. I held pressure on his little paw for awhile and when I was finally able to look at it, he had cut one pad slightly and had sliced another one almost in half. After a short lesson on what to do when someone is bleeding for Ryan....ie.....don't just sit there and let it drip.....HOLD PRESSURE, I cleaned and bandaged his little foot. Let me tell you.....Steri-strips our perfect and hold pretty well on a dogs paw.....just in case you ever find yourself in this situation! Hunter is currently sporting a pink and white toddler's athletic sock taped onto his paw.....just to pad and keep it covered, as well!

Crisis averted.....but what will the dog get himself into next!

He is definitely giving us a run for our money!

Oh and can I just add .....Sheba gave me a nice scare, too, on Saturday! Sheba's cable broke on Saturday when I had let the dogs out, and she ran away. I was inside and didn't realize it til I checked on them! Thankfully when I ran out front and yelled her name, she came waddling her way from down at the end of the street, but still gave me a heart-attack, none the less!

Apparently, not only do our dogs need some training, but we do, too!!! Looks like we just may have the most tidy house around in the near future, since we will not be able to leave anything out in plain sight!

We are working on crate training Hunter, bit by bit, and he is doing well, but I am nervous that he will go crazy as soon as we leave him in there. It is annoying that he is destroying so much...but I would hate for him to hurt himself trying to escape from the crate. One injured paw is enough for me! I have heard about DAP, dog appeasing pharamones, which is like doggie aroma therapy....and I am definitely going to invest in that! And besides that, I know that it will just take some work and dedication to get him back to being the calm and sweet dog that he is when we are all around. In the meanwhile....say a prayer that the dog, and all of our belongings will remain safe when we are out of sight!!!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

A new day....a new blog!

Well....I was feeling left out. Seems like everybody who is anybody is on blogspot, rather than the nameless site I was blogging from.....so.....I changed! A woman can always change her mind! I will give a real update soon.....but just thought I would say hello and now I officially feel like I can get this blogging party started!!! Lol!