The one where we both have meltdowns

One of the perks of Bowie's kennel cough diagnosis is that he is quarantined from other dogs for two weeks <most sarcastic comment of 2018>.  This means that he is banned from attending doggy daycare, my lifeline to sanity while Bryan is traveling for work.  When we leave him at home unattended outside of his crate, typically he quietly watches squirrels and birds from the sitting room and waits patiently for us to get home.  Because it's been raining buckets for the last two weeks, we haven't been able to get him out to the park and let him off leash.  He's been sitting on a rocket launcher of all that unspent energy.  I came home from work to let him out at lunch mid-week and found this.


He had gone into one of the spare bedrooms, found a paper bag with books earmarked for donation, and shredded each one.  Including the hardcovers.  Especially the hardcovers.  We also had our tennis racquets sitting on the floor in that room, and he chewed the grips off the handles.  Needless to say, his roaming privileges have been restricted and he now spends the day in solitary confinement.

Later that same day after I got home from work, I took him for a long walk so he could stretch his limbs.  After our walk, he went into our backyard to do some exploring and promptly caked all four paws with mud.  I carried him to the bathroom to rinse him off in the tub and halfway through, he hopped out and covered the entire bathroom - walls, shower curtain, shower mat, floor - with muddy water.  It was at this point that I sat down covered in dirty water and dog hair on the bathroom floor and promptly called Bryan: you need to get rid of the dog.

After trying to calm me down, he assured me that the dog is going through a phase and tried to rationalize his behavior.  "He's 8 months old, testing the boundaries, and bored."  At home alone with the monster, I didn't really want to hear it but acceded to all his points.  On Monday, when Bryan was home alone with the dog, he went to run an errand for 20 minutes, leaving the dog out of the crate.  He didn't find the damages until Tuesday, when he was about to leave on a trip.  Bowie had gotten into a cardboard box and started shredding it and the styrofoam packing material inside.  It was at this point that that calm, cool collected Bryan disappeared.

The dog was sent back into solitary confinement which is where he'll stay for the foreseeable future.  Like any puppy, he acted ashamed when dragged back over to the scene of the crime.  We then had a few hours of very good behavior - Bowie's way of telling us he's sorry.  During that evening's walk, he didn't pull on his leash.  We both casually strolled along in the twilight, enjoying each other's company.  Up until the point where he found a dead rotting rat and rolled in it.

And dear reader, I didn't even cry.


Comments

  1. Nash is in solitary too. He was a crate puppy until he got neutered at 7 months old & then he got freedom mostly because the cone didn't fit in his crate & then he had done so well that I left him out. Fast forward a few months, he tore up some carpet. To the crate! I tried again, he was good for a few months, tore up some more carpet! This was a roller coaster up until this past August when he did it for the 4th time & he is now a crate dog until he learns to chill the hell out.

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    1. Yes yes and yes. The dog is fixated on anything paper. I can't wait until he's over the cough and can go back to daycare

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  2. ugh dont you love that he got kennel cough I assume from daycare and now he isn't allowed back. MAKE A DANG VACCINE THAT WORKS THEN PEOPLE. Sorry I get angry.

    I wish you lived closer Bogie could play with my guys here at the farm :) They would love it! I am sorry you are having such a time. Ollie peed on my barn boots yesterday and I had a minimeltdown..he is six or seven he knows better LOLLOL So i get it.......good luck!!

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    1. Or just don't give them the vaccine so we don't have to pay for something that doesn't work. I wish we did too! Animal mini meltdowns are now more common than not. And yet riding is supposed to be stress reliever... hmmm

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  3. Sounds like he needs a good run! Mischievous pooch!

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  4. I'm so sorry I laughed a couple of times when I read this, but I've been there. It gets more funny with time, I promise.

    Is it possible to set him up an indoor agility course, or something under the roof outside where he can get rid of his puppy energy when it's raining? Even tossing a toy indoors might help, though I know it's not the same. Hopefully this is the extent of his puppy destruction phase, but he's going to be a teenager next. 😅

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    1. We just run him out in the rain. The dog normally does 4 - 5 miles a day so there's no way to replicate that inside, unfortunately

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  5. Ughhhh puppy brain 🙈 it's enough to drive you nuts! Hopefully once he's able to burn energy at day care again he'll be back to his normal self!

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    1. It's driving us nuts very quickly. We need him to get well stat!

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  6. Oh my gosh! Rooth...sorry but this post did make me LOL:D I would've cried after the bathroom fiasco, but I digress.:P
    I remember my hubby telling me about the time his husky was still a pup and basically ruined all his stuff including the couch. Sigh....pups are work!

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    1. I was really close to crying after the bathroom fiasco :)

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  7. Oh no! Having a puppy is so much work, but they are just so cute...even if they tear your house apart! Though I would probably be crying if I saw that mess! :p

    http://roadesque.com

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  8. That's so not funny. I mean... so NOT funny. And now what?

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    1. We had another instance with books after that. And he got punished so he's now afraid of the bookcase, at least when we're at home.

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  9. Sometimes I think about getting a puppy then I see pictures like that. Better you dealing with it than me. ;)

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    1. The mess and the tiny terror is real. And also the reason I don't have kids :)

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