it was a rough night
Oct. 26th, 2019 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chase_acow
It's been cold and rainy off and on, so I started letting Dasher stay inside overnight without being locked in his kennel. I went through and moved things I thought might be too tempting to resist, but he did great! Didn't bother anything. Only chased the cats (in a fun way?) a little bit and settled back down when I yelled at him. So, good! Excellent. He's almost a year old now, will be on Nov 5th. That's about what I'd expect for a young dog. I'd left him in the house before while I did some running around town for maybe a little over an hour - no issues.
Yesterday I had to go to work at 4pm. It was still cold and rainy. Okay, I had some cover coming in at 8pm letting me leave to come home real quick on my lunch break to let him out and just check things out. I didn't really expect any issues. I cleaned the litter boxes, blocked his access to the one in the living room. No big deal.
I honestly kinda thought the couch eating dog was an internet urban legend. None of my animals, and no one I actually knew has had this problem. Alas. And he peed on something. So into the kennel he went. I eventually found the cats crawling out from under my bed, so who knows just how much fun he had during his destruction.
Fine. No use yelling at him at that point. Whatever.
I cleaned everything up once I got home, reluctantly let him out of the kennel, fed everyone and then we settled down to watch Saw VI (don't judge me). I get off at midnight, but generally I need another hour or so to feel sleepy. I stayed up a little longer just because I was so irritated. So now it's 2am. Dasher goes back in his kennel. I've already decided to shut my door so I can sleep with the cats weighing me down. Brush my teeth, change my clothes, set my alarm, turn to my bed AND ONE OF THOSE DRATTED CATS AT SOME POINT AFTER I GOT HOME PEED ON MY BED.
gross.
So, I pull all the bedding off, start scrubbing, turn on my ceiling fan, and despair. Whatever happened with the dog was apparently Too Much for someone even if they all acting fine while we were hanging out.
3am, I ended up sleeping on the awful mattress in the spare room. Now I'm washing everything that was on both beds, because there was a suspicious stain on the second bed when I went to change those sheets to sleep.
Animals are the worst.
Yesterday I had to go to work at 4pm. It was still cold and rainy. Okay, I had some cover coming in at 8pm letting me leave to come home real quick on my lunch break to let him out and just check things out. I didn't really expect any issues. I cleaned the litter boxes, blocked his access to the one in the living room. No big deal.
I honestly kinda thought the couch eating dog was an internet urban legend. None of my animals, and no one I actually knew has had this problem. Alas. And he peed on something. So into the kennel he went. I eventually found the cats crawling out from under my bed, so who knows just how much fun he had during his destruction.
Fine. No use yelling at him at that point. Whatever.
I cleaned everything up once I got home, reluctantly let him out of the kennel, fed everyone and then we settled down to watch Saw VI (don't judge me). I get off at midnight, but generally I need another hour or so to feel sleepy. I stayed up a little longer just because I was so irritated. So now it's 2am. Dasher goes back in his kennel. I've already decided to shut my door so I can sleep with the cats weighing me down. Brush my teeth, change my clothes, set my alarm, turn to my bed AND ONE OF THOSE DRATTED CATS AT SOME POINT AFTER I GOT HOME PEED ON MY BED.
gross.
So, I pull all the bedding off, start scrubbing, turn on my ceiling fan, and despair. Whatever happened with the dog was apparently Too Much for someone even if they all acting fine while we were hanging out.
3am, I ended up sleeping on the awful mattress in the spare room. Now I'm washing everything that was on both beds, because there was a suspicious stain on the second bed when I went to change those sheets to sleep.
Animals are the worst.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-26 08:45 pm (UTC)The SO's dog (that i am currently dog sitting) only ever chewed up one thing - a tv remote.
Cue me and him freaking out because we could only find one battery!
Fortunately, we found it under the couch soon after, but man!!
I hate to tell you this - and you probably already know - but this kind of behavior generally stems from a dog either not getting enough exercise/play time, or from having separation anxiety kind of issues. They look like a German Shepherd/mix? They are particularly prone to that kind of anxiety, and they need a *lot* of exercise and stimulation.
One of the reasons that, though they are beautiful dogs, I will never own one (and wouldn't let the SO get his first choice of dog, an Australian Shepherd, because omg, 100 times worse).
no subject
Date: 2019-10-27 06:34 pm (UTC)Yeah, I've had several shepherds before but through the good luck of genetics and planning, they've all been couch potatoes. Dasher's still just young, and for a first attempt to leave him alone, it could have been worse. So I'm not planning on changing up our routine walks, dog park, and lake time or taking him to the vet for meds just yet.
We'll try again for like an hour maybe at first, then I'll do a couple of hours a few times before I try half a shift again. : )
At least it makes for a funny story to tell at work.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-27 07:02 pm (UTC)They're gorgeous dogs, but that would drive me nuts. Annalee (SO's dog) only freaks out when anyone not me, him, or the Monstrous Bebe comes into the house. Fun times!
no subject
Date: 2019-10-26 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-10-27 06:36 pm (UTC)Just kidding, it's a funny story and I love getting people to laugh at me at work. I feel a lot better after a good night's sleep last night. It was a little past time to change all the bedding anyway and clean sheets feel so good!