The Little Pack

Apparently Dixie is mad at me. Very mad at me. Last night she ate, not 1, but 2 of my shoes. Different pairs of course. Sadly, one of the shoes she chewed up was my black patent leather Nine West heels. Easily the nicest pair of shoes I have ever owned, my all-time favorites and my go-to shoes anytime I dress up. Not to mention they were my only pair of black dress shoes.  They were timeless and I would have had them forever. The best part is that they were in my closet with the door closed (or so I thought)–I didn’t live through Cheyenne without learning a thing or two.  Evidently, I left the door cracked open just enough for Dixie’s tiny little 10 pound body to squeeze in and destroy whatever suited her fancy. At least she has good taste.

As a 6 year old dog, it has literally been years since she chewed up a pair of shoes. Clearly, she was mad at me. And not just a little. She was devastated when we discovered her. She slunk around and cowered and wouldn’t look us in the eye. Her tail, which curls over her back, went down straight. Today she is a completely different dog, playing with me and curling up in my lap, intent on making up with me.

Meanwhile, Cheyenne has found a new way to embarrass us. The neighbor’s house fascinates Cheyenne. They have 2 golden retrievers and a cat. She sits as close to the underground fenceline as she possibly can without getting shocked (my thoughts on electric fences still to come), and stares at their house. The other morning she had been outside for quite some time and ignored my every request to come inside. I tried opening the garage door because sometimes I can trick her into coming to me that way, to no avail. Eventually I had to go outside to get her. She was intently gazing across the street and did not move even when I walked up to her. Judging by the amount of snow that had accumulated on her body, she had been sitting in the same spot the entire time she was outside. I literally had to pick her up, and carry her inside after wiping off the snow. Once inside, she  held up her paws, and licked at them. Her poor little paws were frozen from sitting in the snow so long.

Dixie had just finished licking the plate after we had spaghetti for dinner. I’m pretty sure that when the vet said, absolutely nothing except her food, he didn’t mean, oh and leftover spaghetti too. She has no idea the evidence is all over her face.

Dixie is going through an extraordinarily naughty stage. We think that she is testing her boundaries but oh my! She is something else lately. She seems to be deliberately  misbehaving. Little does she know that she has nothing on Cheyenne. If I made it through the tough times with her, I can make it through anything!

We came home from a hockey game tonight to find that Cheyenne has struck again! I guess we were due, it has been quite some since we came home to a chewed up pair of shoes, or some other type of destruction. My husband had left a box of Dots on the kitchen counter–inside a gift bag and in the middle of the snack bar. She loves jelly candies. Strange dog. Anyway, we came home, to find the bag knocked over but still on the counter and the box of Dots missing. Pieces of cellophane and the box were strewn about the living room and we found only 3 Dots. I looked everywhere for a hidden stash but couldn’t find any. Because her little sides were bulging out, we are quite sure that she consumed the rest… So we are faced with one of two scenarios:

1. Archie knocked the bag over and Cheyenne capitalized on the turn of events, making her an opportunist.
2. Cheyenne is far smarter than we give her credit for and she some how managed to reach the bag herself, either by contorting her body or by striking a deal with the other animals to help her get to them.

I don’t know about you, but I am leaning towards #2. Also, you may wonder how we know for sure Cheyenne is the culprit. Just trust me on this one. Over the years, Cheyenne has gotten into many things, including a bag of cough drops and a bottle Pyoben gel within days of each other requiring back to back calls to the vet and subsequent humiliation. Also destroyed: many pairs of shoes, a latte, an entire loaf of banana bread and a jar of cocoa butter to name just a few…