Bored dogs will trouble bring
The picture alone made me want to post this item courtesy of Dogster (who, in turn, got it from Paw Talk).
Most of us have come home to find a piece of furniture or something in our home destroyed by the dog. I can't begin to enumerate the number of times I've walked in and just groaned.
But this article from Paw Talk by Lisa Woody, titled "Home Alone," has several good suggestions.
Among them:
- Take your dog on a morning walk
- Give your dog something constructive to do (like a hard plastic treat-dispensing toy, Kong Toys or bones filled with peanut butter or spray cheese. I'd forgotten about spray cheese, but that was a staple in my house for a long time (great for getting dogs to swallow pills) until Pilgrim, my Australian shepherd who died nearly 2 years ago, developed diabetes and couldn't have anything beyond his strict diet.
- Re-introduce the crate. A couple of my dogs have been crate trained. Very handy.
- Restrict access to the house.
What's worked for you? Or not?
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About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.
My house is decorated in the baby gate motif. I bought several of them during the Pilgrim era, I really should have purchased some stock in the baby gate company. A Martha Stewart "look" it's not, but those things are indeed pretty effective for blocking off furniture and other areas to keep destructive or mischief-seeking dogs at bay. (And Cowboy and Tess are absolutely TERRIFIED of the things, they've occasionally fallen over and made such an awful clattering noise that they're convinced they're alive and just waiting to swallow them whole. This pleases me.)
After Cosmo got Advil out of my purse one night, we decided to put up the "baby gates" to keep them out of the living room unless they were supervised.