silly dogs and sillier husbands

Apparently while the kids and I were on vacation, Nala ate a little bit of her bed one morning when my husband took a shower before letting the dogs out of their crates in the morning. I usually let the dogs out first and feed them and the cats and sometimes the birds before I shower. Then they can be outside playing while I shower and get ready. My husband sewed up the little hole and it wasn’t too bad.

So anyway, we had to get up at 4:30am to take our son to the airport this morning. I told my husband if we were both going, I would let the dogs out since Nala got frisky that one morning when he didn’t let her out. He said she’d be fine and that the bed-eating incident happened on a weekend so it was later in the morning – like 10am. Of course, at this point I am wondering why he would not take 5 minutes to let the dogs out and throw breakfast at them before taking a shower, but I was good and didn’t say anything.

Anyway. I was thinking I should let the dogs out before we left this morning and just gate them into the family room like always. I’d wait and feed them when we got back home. It would have taken 2 minutes. But he said I was being silly and the dogs were still quiet after we left the room, so I left them. As we were driving home, though, I was thinking that the sun had been up for a while and most likely Nala had become antsy by then. She does fine in her crate at night and when we are in the room, but she doesn’t do well otherwise. And I worry because her crate is stacked on top of Bonnie’s and I am always afraid she will crash around and make it fall off and hurt one or both of them.

We got back home around 6:30 or 7am, and sure enough she had eaten a good portion of her bed. She managed to get a huge amount of foam out through the same tiny hole from before that she had ripped back open again. She’s fairly talented at destruction! Luckily she was safe and the crates were still stacked just fine. She also messed with her agility ribbons that were hanging on her crate, but only one was damaged and I managed to fix it (I think – the glue is still drying). There are some sharp parts and staples when you take the rosette ribbons apart, but I don’t think she ate any of them. I hope.

My husband was annoyed. I told him I wasn’t surprised, that we left them unattended in crates and the sun was up. I guess he just doesn’t think it’s “logical” because eating a bed "doesn’t help with anything." I explained that chewing is a stress-reliever for dogs and there was little else she could do. She obviously gets stressed or bored or something when she is alone in a crate. And when I let them out, she was very hyper and is only now starting to calm down, over an hour later. That means stress, to me.

I am proud of myself for being calm about the whole thing. I didn't say "I told you so!" or get angry (at him or at the dogs), although I was a little upset about the ribbon until I got it fixed. It didn't even occur to me to be mad at Nala, because she was just being a dog. Unfortunately, the only ways dogs can relieve stress are typically "bad" in the eyes of their humans, but that's not their fault!

At least they are both safe. I just have to go buy a new bed (again). The silver lining: I don't have to wash her bed this week.

 

LOL Jamiya! The few times I have left my BF to look after the dogs, they have scammed him out of a half a box of treats. He thinks they're starving and woefully underfed. He also thinks this is why Zoey eats poop. He also never fails to mention any dachshund he meets and how THAT doxie is "normal" and jumps in and out of (insert word here--truck, golf cart, chair, etc.) And they just love him to death! :?

 

I can totally relate to everything said here. Im having problems 'training' hubby how to just be around Krissie. He hasnt lived with a dog since he was about 5 years old and is clueless, we did talk a lot before I agreed to bring her home from the shelter, I told him things like, shes scared of everyone (me included although with the training shes had shes not so bad now) so he shouldnt 'stare' at her, go slow around her etc, his personality I thought would be ideal for her, hes very mellow and laid back, doesnt yell at all, isnt controlling or have an ego thing going on....so he tried to 'befriend' her, I noticed that there had been a very slight improvement after a week, she would now actually get out of her bed while he was home!!! but then she reverted and was watching him like a hawk, I asked if hed 'stared her down', he said he had looked at her but not stared at her, turned out he had been 'looking at her eyes', he didnt know he was doing anything wrong, so basically now he has made her feel more threatened which has set her back. Hes convinced 'she doesnt like him' and now his' pride' is hurt, Ive tried explaining the whole anthropomorphic issue, why she acting this way with him, what its going to take to correct it all. Right now he is the only one feeding her and giving her treats but 'we' havent advanced to him walking her yet....he needs a bit more training before he can advance to that level!!!!!!....At this point Im not sure if I feel worse for Krissie or for hubby.

 

Haha, I find it gets to people more if you don't say 'I told you so' sometimes as it's eating away at them whilst they're waiting to hear it :lol:

Glad everything was OK.

When I took Floob to training the amount of women there saying they were having a harder time training their husband then their pup was unbeleivable. I fight a loosing battle with it every day too!

 

Jimiya, I understand that, sun comes up Nala is awake is ready to go, but since she hasnt been let out she needs to reilieve that tension, sometimes I think its a womans nurturing, vs men, now I have to look up what anthormorphic means, probably the same thing I am trying to say

 

Well, the next night she FREAKED OUT when she went in the crate with her new bed. Now, a new bed is not an uncommon occurance with this dog. She usually doesn't care! But I put her and Bonnie in their crates, shut their doors, and left the room briefly (as I always do), and when I got back she was pawing at the bed and was absolutely frantic. I let her out and she ran around and acted totally bonkers.

I put her back in and gave her treats, but she was still very upset. I took her out, took the cover off her old bed and put that in on top of the new one and put her back in. Still no good. I ended up taking the new bed out completely and putting just the old cover in. I put her in, left the door open, and treated her. Then I closed the door and kept treating her. Then she was okay and she went to sleep.

I was really steaming at my husband at this point, but I managed to not say anything.

So the next day, I weighed my options. Buy a new bed EXACTLY like her old one? Wash the new one I already had? Wash it WITH the old one? Rub the old one on the new one? Give Nala Bonnie's bed and let Bonnie adjust to the new one?

I ended up putting the new bed out in the family room for the day where Nala could sniff it at her leisure. Every once in a while, I called her over to it, put her on it, put her in a down, and treated her or rubbed her tummy. I also rubbed the old bed all over the new, earning a strange look from my daughter.

At bedtime, I put her in the crate. I left the door open and watched her. She sat there. I closed the door. She laid down and went to sleep. Go figure.

I am being really careful to NOT leave the room after crating the dogs now. I used to always leave for about 5-10 minutes to do whatever things I forgot to do. I will resume that schedule in a week or two, but I want to make sure she is adjusted first.

Silly doggies. I expect this sort of thing from Bonnie, but not Nala! Nala is harder to handle when she freaks out. Bonnie freezes. Nala goes totally berserk - a blind panic sort of thing.