I've heard of dogs eating furniture, ripping apart pillows and shredding toys, but I have never experienced a dog who eats everything and anything as my Marley does. I can't take it anymore. Never in my life have I gone through so many articles of undergarments as I have in these past few months, considering ripping them apart is one of Marley's favorite past times. In fact, I hadn't noticed that several articles of clothing were missing until pieces of them showed up in her bowel movement. I learned two valuable lessons that day - nothing is safe in my house, and to keep the vet on speed dial. I have since learned that drawers need to be shut tightly and dirty laundry needs to be immediately taken to the basement to be washed as opposed to placed in the clothes hamper where apparently Marley can open the lid and get out her choice of garment.
Never in my life did I think for a second that my puppy would nuzzle her nose into my nightstand drawer to devour something that would spark a telephone call to puppy poison control, accompanied by a very uncomfortable conversation about the amount of the substance that she drank. But on Saturday morning, that's exactly what I had to do.
I can't understand why my puppy, who I love as I would my own child, would be so devious as to chow down on my new shoes, my purse, and basically anything that she can sink her teeth into and ruin.
Her favorite hideout is underneath the master bed where she knows she can stay just out of arms reach so that she can destroy my personal belongings. I guess I am lucky because she hasn't chewed any furniture...yet.... knock on wood. However, I am frustrated by my near daily findings of shredded cloth, toy stuffing cotton wads and chewed pieces of leather, including anything from baby presents to my favorite pair of pumps.
We take Marley for walks, play catch with her for hours, run laps around the house, we try anything to tire her out so that we can get some sleep. No matter how much we exhaust ourselves though she wakes up at 4 a.m. and is ready to go. We've also increased the amount of food she gets so that she isn't so ravenous that she'll eat, not just chew, my pants, shirts and undergarments. Nothing helps.
This morning, at around 1:30 a.m. Marley decided she needed to go outside, so she woke up her favorite person to pester - Mom. I took her outside to do her business, gave her a treat, and then proceeded to chase her around the house for 15 minutes trying to coax her back upstairs to bed while at the same time trying to be as quiet as a mouse so that I don't awake my sleeping husband. At 4 a.m. the routine continued. Marley woke me up so she could go outside and then hid behind the couch, so that I couldn't go back upstairs to bed. Succumbing to defeat to my 6 month old Labradoodle, I blocked off the family room with the puppy gate, grabbed a couch pillow and blanket and tried to go to sleep on the couch, only to be awoken by the sound of gnawing and licking of yet another pair of my sandals that I had just purchased to replace the last pair that she tore to shreds.
When Eric got up to get ready for work, and I told him of her tirades, he said, and I quote, "I just don't understand. I wish you had a camera, so that you could see how good she is with me." Really, I'm on 3 hours of sleep and you have the audacity to rub it in my face that my dog doesn't respect me? That deserves the husband of the year award, let me tell you.
I've paid for obedience training, I tried playing the tough guy, and I've practiced the techniques that was taught to me by the dog trainer. The problem is that while we're practicing Marley acts as though she's mastered her listening skills. She leaves the rocks alone when I tell her to "leave it." She walks nicely on a leash and even stops jumping up on me when I tell her stop. But as soon as she finds her window of opportunity- when I'm napping, in the shower or on the phone - she devices her plan of attack and sneaks away to destroy, devour and conquer.
Needless-to-say, today was not a good day.
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