Luna: Caught in the act!

Okay, okay, OOOKAY! You caught me in the act and I just don't know what possessed me this morning to start tearing apart the chaise lounge cushion. I love to sit on it! It was soft and comfy like the couch you keep throwing me off of. I don't know what happened. So, I went on the net and this is what I found. I hope it will help. I don't like being scolded. I'm a good dog at heart, really I am.

From DoggieProfessor.com:

It’s virtually inevitable that your puppy will, at some point, chew up something you value. This is part of raising a puppy! You can, however, prevent most problems by taking the following precautions:
Minimize chewing problems by puppy-proofing your house. Put the trash out of reach, inside a cabinet or outside on a porch, or buy containers with locking lids. Encourage children to pick up their toys and don’t leave socks, shoes, eyeglasses, briefcases or TV remote controls lying around within your puppy’s reach.

If, and only if, you catch your puppy chewing on something he shouldn't, interrupt the behavior with a loud noise, then offer him an acceptable chew toy instead and praise him lavishly when he takes the toy in his mouth.Make unacceptable chew items unpleasant to your puppy. Furniture and other items can be coated with "Bitter Apple" to make them unappealing.Don't give your puppy objects to play with such as old socks, old shoes or old children's toys that closely resemble items that are off-limits. Puppies can't tell the difference!

Closely supervise your puppy. Don’t give him the chance to go off by himself and get into trouble. Use baby gates, close doors or tether him to you with a six-foot leash so you can keep an eye on him. When you must be gone from the house, confine your puppy to a small, safe area such as a laundry room. You may also begin to crate train your puppy (see our handout: "Crate Training Your Dog"). Puppies under five months of age shouldn’t be crated for longer than four hours at a time, as they may not be able to control their bladder and bowels longer than that. Make sure your puppy is getting adequate physical activity. Puppies left alone in a yard don’t play by themselves. Take your puppy for walks and/or play a game of fetch with him as often as possible. Give your puppy plenty of "people time." He can only learn the rules of your house when he’s with you.

Gulag Dog

OK ... I'll be honest ... I don't know what I was thinking either. Its not like I don't have toys to play with, bones to eat and balls to chase. But after a couple of hours in the Gulag I'm looking for just about ANYTHING to keep me entertained and the other day what I found was the pillow in my crate where I used to sleep when I was little.

They put it out here in case I wanted to "crawl in and curl up" (one of my moms said) but honestly ... can you see me doing that at this point? I know they call it a "crate" but it feels like a cage to me.

Which brings me to the whole "dog run" issue. "Dog RUN" my foot ... have you ever tried to actually RUN in one of these? I don't care how they try to spin it ... it's a jail and that's why Harvey and I call it The Gulag.

And last Sunday when they said, "Be a good girl: guard the house while we go to church" I figured a couple of hours and I'd be out chasing cats again.

But Nooooooo ...Turns out there was more stuff going on over at All Saints about the IRS (whatever that is) that involved CNN, CBS, ABC and a bunch of other letters I don't even remember and took a REALLY long time ... much longer than a regular Sunday morning, which we're used to by now, but really!

So at this point all I can say is I'm sorry about the IRS and I really do get that sometimes there's more work than there is time to do it and I'll TRY to stick to the tennis balls and the rawhide bones but I can really only be so responsible for what happens if they leave me alone TOOOO long. So I'll work on the not-chewing-up-everything-in-sight if they work on getting home at a decent hour ... IRS or no IRS!

Deal or No Deal?