It seems he also targets Joey's shoes. Joey has gone through five pairs of sandals since June. now he's reduced to wearing two sandals of different colors because Mom (that's me) is tired of buying replacement sandals just because he's too lazy/forgetful/whatever to put his shoes in the closet and shut the door.
Rocky also seems to have an appetite for literature. In other words he likes to eat books. What fascinates me is his choice of books. When I'm reading a book I make sure that when I lay it down it's out of Rocky's line of sight-usually on the back of the couch. I know that if I leave it on the coffee table or some easy-to-reach place I'm risking having my book turned into kibble. But seriously, he can't even see what's on the back of the couch, and he's trained not to get on the furniture. (fine with him he has not one, but two comfy doggy beds)
Rocky hasn't chewed any books in a very long time. The kids even leave books on the coffee table now and he shows no interest in them whatsoever. But last week I was reading Cujo and when I started getting tired I put it on the back of the couch and went to bed. The next morning when I woke up I found the book ripped shreds lying in Rocky's doggy bed. I thought it was odd that out of the blue he'd start a)climbing on furniture and b)chewing books again. So I punished him and went to the library to get another copy so I could finish the story. That night I put the book up on a four and a half foot ledge that seperates the dining room from the foyer. I'm not even sure how he knew it was there. But sure enough the next morning I caught him with that book, chewing the corner like there's no tomorrow. I got the book away from him before any major damage was done.
I wondered aloud why he chose that book in particular. Joey came up with the best answer. He said that Rocky knew the book was about a bad dog and since Rocky is a good dog he thought he had to destroy the bad dog to protect us. Sounds logical to me.Then there's the issue of eating out of the garbage. If there is any leftover food on our plates we either scrape it off into his dish or down the disposal, so there is no actual food in the trash can. He just likes to get whatever is in there (like maybe, the box a hot wheel came in, for example) and chew the hell out of it, usually scattering bits and pieces of it all over the house.
I started punishing him. Every time I caught him eating garbage I would smack his nose and put him in "time out" on his bed. Not one of my better ideas. He just started getting garbage and taking it directly to his bed. My final solution was trash cans with lids.
And then there's the shedding. You wouldn't think a short haired dog could shed so much. But it's unreal how much hair comes off this damn dog every day. I try to keep the house (the house with all tile floors, by the way) swept regularly. But if I miss a day or -God forbid- two, the house ends up looking like the set of the porn classic "Shaving Arizona". It's pretty gross.
Why do I even keep this dog? Well, I guess I must just love his furry, black ass. Having a dog seems to make the house a home. If you're a dog-person you'll understand. If you're a cat-person, you can take comfort in knowing that Stephen King never wrote a book about a rabid Tabby.
