8/25/09

Lesson Learned

You remember that movie, Marley and Me? The one where the dog eats everything in sight and destroys the furniture but the owners just love, love, love him anyway? I've never actually seen the movie, but it was playing on a plane ride and I was able to listen to all the sobs from the many, many passengers who were watching it.
We've been pretty lucky with our dogs. Jack Russell Terriers can have some crazy behaviors, including some pretty severe separation anxiety. Our dogs are good, they sleep in their kennels and have a bed upstairs that they rest on during the day if they need it. We always kennel them when we leave the house because, well, Tank taught us a lesson when he was about 5 months old and he ate 2 holes in the hallway wall. Since that time, they have been kenneled.
This summer has brought us late nights and restful mornings, which means that we're all waking up when our bodies are good and ready...around 10:00...it's lovely. But poor Trey has to wake up and get going earlier so he's been letting the dogs out and keeping them away from our bedrooms so we can continue to rest. It's worked very well all summer. Until today.
Today Trey woke up before everyone else and let the dogs out. The gate was up by the hallway leading to the bedrooms and the back door was open so the dogs could play outside. Once Trey left Penny apparently got bored of all the room outside and came in to see what she could do in the living room.

And this is what she did. To our brand new coffee table. Hazel found it first and was very quiet about it. When I came out of my room she implored me to not be too mad but that Penny did something real bad.
Oh, yes, this is real bad. We all got dressed and took the dogs for a long walk to the pet store and bought a big bottle of Bitter Yuck to spray on every piece of furniture.
I'm not sure this dog will be with us much longer if this becomes a habit for her. Trey and I are nothing like the owners of Marley.

3 comments:

bandwidow said...

oh, no,no,no,no...

oh so sorry, and right before your company...

tania said...

oh no!!! wow!! can you cover it up somehow? that bitter yuck sounds like a good idea. by the way, love your new couch!!

Jennifer said...

I've sanded it, but it's the corner...can't really cover that shit up! I'm going to take a sharpie to it tomorrow...we'll see.