Shawna and Jim
One of my all time favorite stories is Marley & Me by Josh Brogran. I have read that book several times and it never fails to have me in tears laughing. Many of Marley's antics resemble Chloe as a young pup. You see, Chloe wasn't always such a good dog.
As I posted before, Chloe became part of our family on July 10, 2001. She was extremely shy and had a hard time adjusting to her new environment and life without her siblings. We all just spent so much time loving her, playing with her, snuggling her. Eventually, she broke out of her shell...And all hell broke loose.
Chloe had an endless supply of stuffed animals, chew toys, rawhides, etc. None of those compared to the delicacies all over the house. Apparently, there is nothing more tasty than a plastic hangar, a nice book (she preferred hardcovers) or some footwear. Okay, so not such a big deal, right?! Isn't this typical puppy behavior? Well, as Chloe grew, so did her appetite for the finer things in life. My husband Jim has always worn the sunglass brand Maui Jims. The style he wore ran about $300. Chloe ate two pairs. Chloe also ate a patio furniture set. I kid you not. Because of her destructive behavior in the home, we kept her outside during the day while we worked. This particular day we came home to find the mesh on all four chairs ripped to shreds.
I chose the above picture for a reason. There are actually two stories involved here. Now Chloe ate hangars, books, sunglasses, footwear and furniture yet somehow managed to remain part of the family. Shawna would justify every incident with some excuse or another. Even Shawna's patience wore thin when Chloe discovered lingerie. I will never forget the day that Chloe came flying down the stairs with a bra hanging from her mouth and Shawna screaming and chasing after her. (There is nothing Chloe likes better than a good chase.) Jim and I were terrified that Shawna would eventually catch Chloe. She was SO upset. Jim diffused the situation by mending the bra. That's what's happening in the picture. And Chloe lived to see another day.
Take a look at the size of the bean bag that Shawna is sitting on. Right behind the bean bag is the doggy door and to the left are some cabinets under the counter. After the patio furniture incident, we began putting Chloe in the dog run behind the house. Because the doggy door had no insert to block her entrance into the house, we would open the cabinet and push the bean bag in front of it to prevent her from entering.
I'm not sure where the three of us were that day, but we did not get home until dusk. Shawna was the first up the stairs. I hear her scream, "Oh My God, Oh My God! Don't let Jim come up!" We walk in to find her covered head to toe in the foam beads from the bean bag. She was crying and desperately attempting to clean up piles and piles of those little white beads. Our entire living room was covered in white. It looked like a major snowstorm had occurred in our living room. To make matters worse, we were having Santa Ana winds and the air was full of static. Those beads were just jumping onto us, the furniture, the walls. Years later, I was still finding those suckers!
This is what we think happened: Chloe was really upset with being outside and to she must have been extremely frightened by the howling winds and desperate to get inside. She somehow managed to get her head through the door and grab a hold of the bean bag. Now, that big ole bag WAS NOT going to fit through the opening, so she thought she might eat her way in. She had chewed a gigantic hole in the bag and somehow pulled the shell out the doggy door while the beads stayed inside. She was a determined little pup and she got what she wanted.
As for us, it took a couple of years, but we finally figured out that all this destructive behavior was a result of being locked out of the house. Once we allowed her access in and out of the home, the major problems ceased. Not to say all the shenanigans were over, but that's a story for another day...
