Meet Chester. He is a Bolognese. Looks sweet, no? (Besides the weird glowing eyes caused by the flash.) And mostly, he is sweet. He loves visitors. He does tricks. He likes to play. Sometimes he likes to sit on your lap, but he doesn't insist upon being a lap dog.We are dog-sitting him. We've done this a few times before, and we know the routine. There are walks to go on, gloves to wear when you want him to play rough, treats to be had for tricks. There's the loss of appetite for the first few days when we arrive, and then the realization that he is a slave to his appetite and cannot ignore his food bowl for too long. There's combing his fur regularly to prevent matted knots and giving him baths while he looks pathetically up at you wondering why you insist upon torturing him.
And there are the little tantrums. Not like terrible-twos tantrums where he throws himself on the ground and screams and kicks until he gets his way. They are some kind of doggy tantrum, and they consist of him getting into a closet and taking down everything he can reach, which fortunately isn't much. We've made the mistake at least twice (in previous stays) of leaving the closet door open in the bedroom, and that closet has two levels of bars, which means there are lots of clothes at ground level. Plus there are shelves at ground level. So even though he is a little dog, he can make quite a mess. This time around we've been really careful to close doors behind us, but one night he managed to get into a linen closet in the hallway:
What we have yet to figure out:Is Chester mad at us for invading his place, or at his owners for leaving? Either way, this tantrum was the first week of January, and we haven't had one since.
5 comments:
I have a Theory. Perhaps these tantrums occur when Chester's body is overtaken by the mischievous spirit of Tenny. Since Chester's small stature limits Tenny from snatching the entire loaf of bread off the counter (which she feels is rightfully hers) she must find some other way to rebel. Poor Chester, framed by Tenny's shenanigans must deal with the repercussions of being called a bad dog, even though he swears he can't remember getting into the closet the previous night.
That dog seems to have a truly wicked heart!
The dog is most likely bored. Dogs pine for their owners but don't tend to get mad like we do.
Best suggestion- shut him into a small room where he can't get into anything at night and leave him to it. (We used to do this with our lab until he got stuck underneath the kitchen units and needed to be rescued).
And just be thankful that although he pulls the clothes out, he has yet to eat any of them (Lab again... So many pieces of flip flop)
Be thankful that pulling the clothes or linens is all he does. Some dog leave "presents" or devour the furniture or ... What a cutie pie, tho. :)
When Sammy was born Muffit freaked out. We did have a traumatic night when she puked & exploded out of her rear in her kennel. Ever since then we can not leave her out of her kennel. If she is out during the day she tears up anything of Sammy's. We gave her a few chances,but after a bottle of butt paste (also barfed out as well), 2 boxes of completely torn up wipes, and a bag of toys; she has been banished to her room (kennel) during the day. We tried to keep her in the kitchen w/ the baby gate, but she knocked it over one day and jumped it the next.
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