In a weird twist of fate Freddie spent the night outside while Rosie got to stay with the Humans last night.
We came home to discover not only did Fred destroy his bed (again), but that he chewed up the hose.
That's the second hose that has succumbed to wolfhound teeth. *sigh*
Welcome to my household which consists of one Chewer, and one Digger.
The consequences of his actions meant that Fred wasn't allowed inside the house (a huge privilege) after dinner. Although I don't think Fred really understood why he was left outside. I mean, shaking a mangled hose thing without the hose isn't exactly revealing to a dog. It's not like we caught him chewing it. In which case, maybe he'd understand.
I think the reason why he did it was because we've been quite busy lately at work, getting home fairly late at night, and haven't had time to walk him. 3 days without a walk makes a dog very bored indeed.
At least I managed to give him a quick walk around the block before we ostracised him.
All my reading of dogs (in forums and dog training books) suggest that our choice to do so probably would've made no impact. It would've been a punishment and not a correctment/learning behaviour technique. But I think leaving Fred out there made the hubby feel better at least. After all it was his hose. Fred ate the one I bought a long time ago.
After we let Rosie in, I don't think she really knew what to do with herself.
She came in and after realising Fred wasn't behind us, wandered around to check and then gave us both a look of shock and awe, as if to say:
"I'm the favourite tonight? Really? Are you sure?"
It's funny because the night before, she knew that she wasn't going to be let in after her shooting range escapade. In fact, she didn't even bother getting up after dinner. Dogs sure get used to routine. Although it says a lot that she already knows that she won't get let in if she's done a runner the day before.
Anyway, let's hope no more nasty surprises greet us when we get home tonight.
Poor Freddie- I've seen/heard that both activities chewing/digging are boredom related but I'm not one to tell you how to change since I'm a bad dog owner and routinely deal with dog issues.
ReplyDeletethe dogs are taking turns at being bad at the moment. Rosie was wonderful on her walk, and then when i went to let them in after dinner, she just walked in the house without a 'sit'. i sent her scrambling back out.
ReplyDeletewhen i went to let her in a few hours later, she was curled up on her bed with her back to the door. looked like sulking to me. LOL.
don't know what the hubby was thinking last night though, I woke up this morning to find Freddie in our room again. he was there when i went to sleep, but that doesn't always guarantee that he'll get to stay the entire night.