I was reminded this morning of some forgotten challenges that adopting an older dog brings into a household.
When we brought Sampson a 13 pound bundle of joy home, common sense told us how to puppy proof our house. It was easy because Sampson’s head barely stood a foot off the ground.
When Delilah joined our pack it was a totally different story. Delilah’s head was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground and while there were certain things Delilah couldn’t reach with all four feet on the ground, most things were easily accessible by standing on her hind legs.
I quickly learned that everything had to be picked up off the floor, furniture and counters; as nothing was sacred to Delilah. Thankfully she was never a ‘shoe-chewer’ instead she favored paper. Paper plates, paper towels, paper napkins and occasionally yes just plain paper. If you had a snack of crackers on a paper plate and forgot to pick it up, it would be destroyed when you came back in the room. If it had/has the faintest whiff of food on it; Delilah would/will find and destroy it.
It is extremely frustrating trying to puppy-proof your home from a fully grown dog; especially when you have Mr. Canine Good Citizen for the first dog sitting there watching. Many a day I came in and said to Sampson, “Can’t you be a role model?” Those were the days I wished I could communicate in a strait forward manner with my dog.
Now-a-days Delilah favors bounce dryer sheets, but on occasion she will still find a random napkin or paper towel. She also loves to greet you at the door with your gloves in her mouth.
I was reminded of those frustrating habits by my friend Laura this morning. You may remember Laura, she is the one with the animal sanctuary in her backyard. 😉
Here’s what she wrote. ” I SWEAR you and Delilah are in my thoughts CONSTANTLY these days. I’m thinking that Ginger is my Delilah. She’s into EVERYTHING and chews up just about everything.”
Ah yes, those were the days my friend.
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OMG, Sampson was the cutest puppy!!!
Thank you, he really, really was!!!
More and more Deliah sounds like Toby. I think they are related. While we adopted Leah full grown, she never destroyed ANYTHING. Later, we got TOBY. OMG – the paper he shred. So much paper. Argh!! And did he learn good manners from Leah? No way….
They must be soul doggies or something!
You think?
LOL she does mimic the way he greets us, because he lays on his back with his feet in the air waiting for us to pay homage to him and she does the same thing, but she won’t learn his good manners!!
What an adorable pic of Samson!
I had to laugh about Delilah and her paper addiction, as Clancy is the same. He loves nothing more than stealing kleenex, paper towels, envelopes, etc. If I mistakenly leave my purse within his reach, he has his snout inside it looking for kleenex in seconds.
I also couldn’t help but smile at the image of Delilah greeting you at the door with your gloves in her mouth. What a rascal!
Julie, they must be soul siblings…..LOL Oh yes to tissues. She doesn’t do envelopes (yet.)
She especially loves my work gloves and I can’t tell if it’s because they’re leather or because they are used outside where all the ‘good’ smells are. 😉
Sampson was so cute!! Eeeeee!
I can’t believe you are complaining about a little paper. My dog Shiva was – and is – definitely a shoe chewer. I lost at least eight pairs, maybe more, just a few months after we brought her home. And then there are the books, the DVDs, the fish tank supplies, the jackets, the carpets, the table legs, the pens, the socks, and right about there I get dizzy. She only chews paper out of the garbage she wants attention. 😛 We have a rule in our house, if it’s on the floor, it’s fair game for the dog. If you don’t want your laptop to be chewed into wee bits, pick it up. Though, she is much better now, I will say. It does get better!
It’s a good thing they are so cute, eh?
LOL Kristine!!! a fish tank? That’s crazy! Yes, I know it’s only a little bit of paper, but it’s more of the differences between dog #1 and dog #2.
Now remember, it’s all about perspectives…..if Sampson had been like Shiva then Delilah would have been a dream. 🙂
Shiva is one lucky dog! A lot of people probably would have taken her back to the shelter. 🙁
Oh, I know how frustrating that can be! The worst was the foster pair we had–a teenage mom and her puppy–who ate my boyfriend’s passport. I don’t know what possessed me to leave them uncrated that day, but I did and it didn’t take long. The folks at the Swiss consulate had a good laugh 🙂
Now I am pretty religious about leaving the new puppy in her crate, and Fozzie has never been much of a destructive chewer. It sounds like you’re being really thorough with the dog-proofing though, and it definitely will get better! You are such a blessing for Delilah, and although I’m sure it seems a thankless job sometimes your blog friends are grateful for what you do for that girl!
You know Kirsten, if we’d had Delilah when the kids were smaller they would have been able to use the excuse, “The dog ate my homework” and it would have been true!! LOL
She is mostly away from the paper now (preferring the softer materials of napkins and the like) but just last week I found some paper she’d had a go at!
Now the passport thing would have made me really upset! Thankfully the consulate had a sense of humor. 🙂
I love Sampson’s puppy pic! So cute.
Bella is all about the dryer sheets too, for some reason…
I think Delilah does it to mask her scent because she loves to roll in dead things in the woods (or poop.) What makes her think an animal won’t be surprised by the smell of Bounce is beyond me! LOL or a piece of poop sneaking up on you! Sometimes I wish I could get inside her mind and other times I’m glad I can’t!!
My tall person says that having a puppy is just like having a baby in the house. As they grow everything has to be safely stowed, higher and higher and higher! I’m big now so can reach most things. I am still partial to paper products but I am trying to give up socks because they don’t ‘travel’ well after I’ve eaten them 🙂
LOL Oh no! Are you trying to wipe yourself from the inside? 🙂
Yes, you really have to be aware of how high your dog can reach before putting something away.
Luckily your tall person is tall and can hopefully out manuever you. 😉
Sampson you sure were a cute little guy 🙂
🙂
At our local shelter, they work with the desire to chew paper and cardboard by filling boxes with other boxes with other boxes filled with goodies and letting the dogs destroy them. It’s messy but tiring.
Of course, you might not like spending all your days cleaning up shredded cardboard. 🙂
That’s a really great idea; especially if you could contain them to one area. Luckily for us she is much better!!
Maggie Mae was our paper fanatic. It always amazes me what our pups will fixate on for their attention seeking habits. : )
It could be much much worse!
Love the puppy photo of Sampson, no wonder you fell whole hog for him! 🙂
Awe, look at Sampson as a little tyke. Cute! 🙂
At about 5 months Thunder was tall enough to stand on his hind legs and reach anything on the counter, even if it was well toward the back. Dish towels were a particular favorite. He wouldn’t chew them, but hold them in his mouth and play “keep away” which a devilish Chessie look on his face. Used to make me crazy. Luckily at 18 months he out grew that.
That’s a long time to wait!! Sampson would reach up to eat butter, that is the only thing he would ever take off the counter.
I did catch him pulling at the fabric on the loveseat once. LOL