Thursday, May 31, 2007

The FREE dog...is a dog.

Just about a month ago we discovered some dog hair on the sofa in the living room.
Oh…the horror of it.

Not surprisingly, I was not happy. This is not acceptable FREE dog behavior.

Well last week, while removing the slipcovers for washing I found a brand new, never been chewed rawhide hidden neatly under the sofa cushions.

This brought me great joy.
The FREE dog was NOT sleeping on the sofa – she merely needed to hide her toy there.
After washing and replacing the cushion covers I put the rawhide right back where I had found it.
There have been no further discoveries of dog hair on the sofa.

Yay.
We were back to having the perfect FREE dog (well… that is if you don’t mind the whole ‘not friendly with strangers’ thing…).

Until last night.
A major canine indiscretion.

Food taken from the counter.

We are simply not used to such behavior. We have kept plates of food out on the counter for over 6 years without worry.
We have even left food on the coffee table in the living room… unattended. And while it was carefully watched by the FREE dog, it was never touched.

I am dismayed.

My dog-loving wife points out that the FREE dog clearly waited until Ferris, the alpha dog, was satiated and had left the house before devouring his tasty, cheese-slathered meat.

This sort of behavior makes sense within a pack.
Except that weese is in this pack.

My constantly-cooking wife is already coming up with alternate game plans to leave food in more secure locations for the alpha dog. She keeps the whole pack happy.

9 comments:

sporksforall said...

Biscuit loves to counter surf. The other day she got hold of a 1/4 stick of margarine and ate it paper and all. We tried to get it out of her mouth, but finally decided it wasn't worth it.

Yucko.

maxine said...

isn't it a delight how easy it is to clean those cushions??

Suzanne said...

Oh my. Dog hair on the sofa. Tragic! Pixie hides her rawhides under our pillows on the bed. You've got it easy.

What you need is a dog with short legs like our basset. Despite what he may wish, there's no way Dudley can get his nose anywhere near the countertop!

The alpha dog theory is interesting and almost makes sense. Who stands in as alpha when Ferris is off at school?

Lachlan said...

"Canine indiscretion". Love that term.

Sumi, surprisingly, is VERY considerate and calm where people food is concerned. She is also too short to table surf.

Val said...

This is where I'm glad I am a cat person. Though the cat DOES sleep on the couch. But our food is safe.

Zoe said...

I used to call our dogs floor dwellers. Though the term no longer fits, that is where they belong IMO. Stupid neurotic little white dog is making me let her do things I wouldn't normally allow and didn't allow until she came along.

Anonymous said...

yep, you've lost your edge over your FREE dog. And anyway, why was any tasty cheese-slathered meat left for her to get?

SassyFemme said...

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that you're not the Alpha in the house!

Maria said...

We used to have a dog. She died last year and we haven't replaced her.

I can deal with the whole meat stealing thing, I mean, a dog is a dog is a dog.

I just can't deal with the whole training thing again.