I love my dog Bonzo, she makes me laugh and smile just by being near her. When I am not traveling I am lucky enough to be able to bring her to work at IZEA. The team at IZEA takes great care of her, I often find her curled up in someones lap or on her back getting her belly rubbed.
She brings joy to everyone around her…. but all that love and attention does have a downside. Bonzo no longer likes being home alone and she is making a point to Tara and I. Since Bonzo can’t speak (English anyway) she communicates through doggy destruction. A few of her latest works:
iPhone Charger
Ink Bed
Thank goodness Bonzo is small, she is farely limited in the amount of destruction she can cause. I know I am not alone, I am sure many of you have bigger dogs and crazier experiences. Drop me a lashing and share your doggy destruction story, if you have pictures please be sure to include them.
I just moved into a new place in January and my dog became really nervous and anxious. Basically he just wasn’t comfortable with the house yet.
The first day there, my girlfriend and I thought it would be best to shut him down in the basement while we went to work instead of letting him roam around. Just in case.
That didn’t help at all. He’s a big mastiff/husky mix and he just dug through the basement door and let himself out, then dug through the wall leading into the garage.
He peed on the floor and scratched both the front and back doors to hell. Pretty much tore the place apart. He’s been in his kennel ever since.
My dachshund Chester runs around like he’s in a race when he needs to go outside, which he started doing one day when I was still in college. I was in the bathroom at the time and all I could hear was him whirring about the house with iTunes playing in the background…
Then the music stopped.
When I came out I saw him cowering under a table because he knew he’d just done something very very bad. My little iBook was sitting on the floor, open and powered down. When I turned it back on the screen was shattered, but everything else was fine. So I sold it on eBay for over $600 and eventually let Chester out of the “dog house.”
And the next summer, Apple came out with the Magsafe power adapter.
Cats, cats, CATS! That’s all I have to say.
My open letter to Ted and Tara:
I consider both of you good and longtime friends. You also know that I love that little dog and realize that I’m saying this as a friend…it’s time to put Bonzo in a crate when she’s alone.
As an owner of two dogs, it’s hard I know. Putting them in a cage, knowing that they can’t run around while you’re both gone, it’s tough. I get it. However, look at the alternative.
In my opinion, crating your dog can actually be a good thing, for both you and Tara, and for Bonzo. No more need to worry about what surprise Bonzo has left for you in the form of destroyed possessions. If used right, a crate can actually help to calm a dog and can become a source of security; Zeta and Maya both treated their crates like little doggy dens and napped in them when the door was open.
I hope you find a resolution to this, because no matter how cute your pet (and Bonzo is damn cute), destructive behavior gets old pretty quickly.
Leave the charger plugged in next time for her to get a little power jolt when chewing through it! That’ll show her!
But seriously, like Jeremy said, it’s time to crate her while you’re not home. A crate turns into the dogs own little home (like a dog house outside would) and many times they will retreat to the crate to sleep or relax even when the door is wide open and it’s not necessary for them to be in it. Eventually, she’ll get used to getting in it when you leave and you’ll have no more problems.
Good luck!
Let’s see… my dog Arrow nearly chewed through our wooden backdoor and the woodwork around it (we replaced the door with a metal one). Then he chewed up the plastic frame around the window of the new door. He once busted through an upstairs window screen. Sometimes he would pee after being out all morning when we were gone only a short time.
He’s on Reconcile now – the doggie sep. anxiety drug – which has completely worked, except that he has to be on it permanently. (They say to keep them on it a short time while you retrain them & then go off the drug. We did all the stuff they said to do and he still relapsed).
Good luck!
Bonzo is ADORABLE! Who could yell at a dog with a face like that? My American Eskimo Beau was very anxious when left alone as a youngster. The first week he was here, my husband was out of town and I awoke at 3am covered with the contents of his pillow. Beau eventually de-fluffed every pillow in the house. Filling Kong toys with peanut butter or other treats was the only thing that would occupy his mind when he was alone. After a few years, I just “retired” and became a Stay-At-Home-Dog-Mom so we could get new furniture.
P.S. We did the crate too, including many experiments with goodie-filled Kongs. If that works for Bonzo, that is the best thing. Ours would hurt himself trying to get out of his crate, and figured out how to escape from two different ones we had.
Chachi is the perfect dog… as long as there are no dirty underwear laying around on the floor. Yes, it’s gross. It’s his one tragic flaw. Sorry Ted, I won’t be sharing any pics with you.
I don’t have a dog, but my cat is a hell fiend sometimes. She likes to tear into things and run recklessly around the house, forgetting about how things like inertia work. I’ve seen her smack into doors, chairs, people, and bottom cabinets from sheer lack of brakes. She only makes bodily fluid messes if I’ve been lazy about cleaning her litter box. That was another blessing of having a cat – you don’t have to train domestic cats to use a litter box, usually their mother does that for you.
It looks like someone needs a little crate training ASAP!
I agree with Jeremy & Julie! (The Js have it!)
Here’s what happened before we wised up to the benefits of crate training: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anaisamy/414750121/in/set-72157600194167569/
@amy
I’m wondering of this had anything to do with your dog’s mischief 😉
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anaisamy/413954649/in/set-72157600194167569/
@Jeremy Hilton:
Crating makes me sad. Doggy prison.
Is Bonzo a schnauzer? I used to have a schnauzer, they can be the best dogs in the world or the worst. Sounds like you have both 😉
i love my cats. i really miss them when i need to further my study..:(
We used to have an open dogloo for Chester and a fence (3’x7′) around it. He had full access to food/water, his blankie and his bed. He seemed to like the special “human free” zone.
Years ago, when we had our best dog ever, Reuben the Labrador retriever, he ate the dashboard of our car.
@Karen:
WHATTTT!!?!? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. Do you have pictures?
Ted – I think we’re going back to the crate method. I went home for lunch an Bonzo had already eaten/destroyed your new running magazine for lunch – hope you weren’t planning on reading it!
@Tara:
Bad bonzo!