The soundtrack to my life is now a constant symphony of squeaky
toy sounds.
The puppy is a fiend for squeaky toys. He does not, however,
have a very long attention span. I suppose, once he’s determined he has
officially killed the plush wart hog/ bunny/ fox/ bear, he is no longer
interested in that toy and wants to find a new one.
The only toy he does not tire of, is my shoes.
He’s also regressed a bit on the potty training; we’ve been
working on it all week, so now when he has an accident, I’ll say, “No no no,
puppy…” and before I say anything else, he runs to the back door to scratch. It’s
a process. I get this.
What I do not get is why he insists on eating all the bark
off of the firewood pile in the backyard. I pull it out of his mouth as fast as
I can, but he’s unstoppable. Today I looked over at him in the yard and he
tried to look casual while chunks of wood kept falling out of his lips.
And of course, we had our first ‘table surfing’ experience,
wherein a dog finds food on a high human surface. The food was a giant chocolate
birthday cake that I’d just unboxed; I turned my back to get the candles, and
next thing I knew, there was no icing on the front side of the cake. Lucky for
him, these things are mostly ‘chocolatey’ coating and not real cocoa.
I can’t blame him: the icing is my favourite part and I’d
happily do the exact same thing, given the chance.
What compensates for the constant vigilance, worry,
frustration, and wood splinters, is the moments when I sit on the step and he
climbs up in to my lap, then curls up like a cat. That won’t be as cute when he’s
sixty pounds, but for now, it’s my favourite thing in a day.
Just a quick note that some trees are toxic to dogs. I would suggest you look up the kind of tree logs you have and see if the bark is dangerous for him. A quick search on Google brings up at least Oak and Willow trees are toxic. Maybe you could try covering the pile with tarps? Or make a custom shed for them?
ReplyDeleteGood point; I hadn't considered whether this wood was toxic. We'll be doing his check-up this week and I'll ask the vet for sure!
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