Saturday, April 16, 2011

Definitely Not Half the Work...

But maybe double the destruction.

I said in my last post that I had read that having two dogs was half the work - I suppose the theory being that they keep each other company and entertain each other. We're dog-sitting a little cockapoo named Mia. We rearranged the main floor of the house a little, since we planned on leaving the two dogs out during the day together.

The first day went pretty smoothly. When we came home, the dogs were tired (probably from chasing each other all day) and the only damage was our chewed-up blinds. I wasn't crazy about them anyway - they were here when we moved in - so I wasn't too upset about the damage.

That doesn't look right...

Mia wasn't really extra work. She does have quite different eating habits than Oscar. She is a grazer, and eats just a tiny bit at a time. We couldn't leave her with food all day though, or else Oscar would have eaten it in a heartbeat, so we separated her from Oscar several times that evening to try to get her to eat. The extra time we spent with her was more than offset by her having tired Oscar out so much with all the chasing and games of bitey-face that he pretty much just lay around rather than trying to play, being rambunctious or causing trouble as usual. We were feeling pretty good about things.

Yay sleepy dog!

The pups are tired out.

Then came Wednesday. My husband got home first, and immediately called me to ask me to come home, because the dogs had chewed the baseboards in our living room. Great. There was quite a pile of wood bits all over the floor, so I got worried and called the vet even though they were running around and seemed totally normal. I was told to wet and soften their kibble and see if they could eat and swallow properly, check the roof of their mouths for splinters, and check their poop for blood. If they could eat, and there were no splinters or blood, they were probably just fine.

I didn't see splinters and there was no blood anywhere. Mia ate all her kibble at once, which I thought was a very good sign that she was feeling fine - and actually hungry for once. Oscar ate all of his as well, as usual, which was also good. They both pooped more or less right away, and there were only wood splinters in one dog's poop...I'm sure you can guess which one. Sigh. Oscar is such a troublemaker. We cleared the entire room of anything that we thought he could eat before we left for the day. We definitely didn't think he'd go and eat our baseboards!

Note the entire top strip is missing.

This corner has been nicely gnawed on too...

I wish I could tell you that this is his remorseful
pose, but it's not. No remorse whatsoever.

Lucky for us, he was feeling okay. There were still long pieces of the baseboards that were intact (although no longer attached to the wall), and a big pile of wood splinters and chips, so I don't think very much of the wood actually made it into his system. Most of it has gone through him and he's been doing fine since then. Mia was fine, but that's because I don't think she did any of the chewing. I suppose this means we'll be making a trip to Home Depot and will teach ourselves how to install baseboards. It's probably going to come in handy, because now that he knows he can do it, he's tried to chew them on two more occasions. The baseboards are all over our house - on the main level and in the basement - so we really have to keep an eye on him now. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of this new habit, sadly.

I think having two dogs could actually be half the work (or at least no more work than having one), if only one of those dogs wasn't a chewing/destruction machine. Even now, after running around for the entire evening, Oscar's been going to town on his Everlasting Treat Ball for the last hour (which, might I had, he had pretty much no interest in before Mia decided she liked it) while Mia is lying quietly on the couch, sleeping. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - he's lucky he's cute!



15 comments:

Tokyo Bun Bun said...

Hi! Found you on the blog hop!

Ugh, I know how this feels. Our new family member Indigo decided to bring down the blinds in the guest room along with knocking all the glass candle holders off of the shelf... we had bloody paw prints all over. Luckly, he is ok and no major damage. I also agree with your comment... lucky Indi is cute! LOL

Rubie and Poots (her Mum) said...

I feel so sorry for you.....and the wood. It is scary that he could have ingested splintered wood - that can be REALLY dangerous. I'm so fortunate that we have finished our working lives and could be home 24/7 for Rubie's puppydom....I think that helped with preventing this type of destruction. I can tell you that after my brother got his first mini schnauzer, Scarlet, he loved her so much he got a second, Zoe. It did DOUBLE the workload as Zoe is the sneaky troublemaker!! Rubie's mum.

Debby and Kirby the Dorkie said...

Naughty Oscar! I'm pretty lucky Kirby doesn't tear things up around here. He can't bear to be in trouble and knows what is his and what isn't. This reminds me when I was house training Kirby - which was very difficult - my mantra was "It's a damn good thing I love you!"

IHateToast said...

Ha! It's fibre. He's a crunchy dog.

Shannon @ Why Not On A Tuesday said...

Oh Goodness! Yep, it's a good thing he's cute - haha! I tell Beauford that all the time!

-- said...

Oh my goodness...this post made me laugh out loud a LOT. The picture of the blinds was the best. I know it's bad, but I love sneaky dogs. It was his first time out and about while you were at work, right? He'll learn, it'll just take time. And when he's all grown up and out of the puppy/adolescent stage, you'll look back on these pictures and laugh.

I wonder what would happen if I let Sawyer out with Lacey through the day. I think she might get bit because she wouldn't leave Lacey alone!

Great post - made my day!

OscarBlogger said...

I suppose it was a bit of an experiment, leaving him out, even though we took most of the furniture out of the room and put up baby gates. He lost his chance though! Maybe when he's older and calmer we'll try again, but for now, it's back to the exercise pen for the mighty Oscar! Ah, the joys of raising a puppy...

Anonymous said...

Opie having fun with our plantation shutters. He's knocked few slats out trying to get to the mail carrier. This morning we discovered a fine white powder where he's been tryingto get into the kitchen when that door is closed. His food and water is outside of that door so what's the draw? Smells? Well this seems to be something we'll just live with. I was cataloguing the rings on my dining room table made by kids who don't understand what coasters are for. LOL
Oh well, it's just stuff. :)

Amber-Mae said...

Oh dear, those poor blinds.

AJ of PupLove said...

Oh no! Naughty puppies! Glad to hear that everyone seems to be feeling alright, though, and I'm sure you're relieved as well!

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all!

Oscar! You better straighten up! Next thing you'll find yourself spending days in a crate. Let me tell you, I love my crate, but there was a time when I was closed in whenever the Humans weren't home...even with a stuffed Kong it got to be a long day!

Shape up little buddy!

Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog

Asta said...

Oh Oskaw
I can't believe you awe getting blamed fow evewything.
Evewyone knows boys awe not twouble makews at all.
I nevew chew anything, but my angel sissie Nowa usde to be a destwucto machine..mowe chewing than thwee doggies combined.
One day my pawents came home and she had eaten the wall, you heawd me..the smoof wall going to the next doow neighbows.
She almost got thwoo, hehehe, but guess what they loved hew anyway and STILLL miss hew
..Go figoowe
smoochie kisses
ASTA

Oskar said...

Yep, he's a schnauzer all right!

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

Lori @ According to Gus said...

Oh no! So glad to hear both Oscar and Mia are okay and everything came out okay (yeah, I went there). My brother's smallest dog, Little Debbie, has been known to gnaw on baseboards, too.

Stopping by from the blog hop. I hope you had a great weekend!

Diana Chiew said...

Good thing that those blinds are not new. Oscar must be curious of his newfound "freedom". Ours had chewed off the bottom of the sofa, the corner of the TV cabinet and one of my slippers. Two of them had swallowed the pieces of rubber from my rubber slippers. They threw up after that! Glad Oscar is find.

- Diana

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