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TheHeretic -> Old dogs - new tricks (7/28/2013 1:50:08 PM)
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Just a rant
It's been an irritating summer. I hope we are into the last stretch, but we are depending on contractors, and that can take as long as it takes.
Back at the first of June, my folks had a sewer line back up, and flood their house. They are living in a hotel, and their dogs are living with us, while the homeowners insurance pays for their house to basically get gutted, sanitized, and now, put back together. The big one, doesn't like strangers, barks and growls at any noise, and is used to getting fed bites while hanging out under the table at meals. He also had stress-related diarrhea 5 times a day for the first week The smaller is a spaniel mutt of some sort, DUMB, demanding of constant attention, thinks she's an alpha female and growls at our dogs, and is an extremely gifted escape artist. They aren't trained to anything like what I consider an acceptable standard. My folks tend to just put them in a room, when company comes over.
We had actually stopped taking care of their dogs on their odd out of town weekends, just because it was such a pain in the ass. We already have two dogs, and two cats. One cat is evil, and our big dog came as a rescue with serious behavioral issues.
The first order of business, obviously, was teaching them, "leave my cat alone." The evil cat we weren't worried about. They knew her, and feared her. She, of course, exploited this, and would keep them trapped in a room by laying in the doorway and growling at them, or by holding the landing on the stairs. The only way the dogs would dare to pass her, was by waiting for one of to pass that way, and use one of us for cover, to dart past. A little tricky, for the human coming up the stairs with our hands full, or just trying to get through a door. The 3 a.m. spats over access rights to the bed were the straw that ended the previous weekend dogsitting.
The new cat though, is a playful lover and a snuggler, with no fear of dogs. The big one adapted pretty quickly, but the spaniel (did I mention she is DUMB?) keeps forgetting, and starts shit. Mostly, the cool cat just lays flat, and nuzzles the sniffing dog, but sometimes he's happy to play chase, and the whole house (including us) is his obstacle course.
I have no idea how the spaniel is getting out of the back yard, but it is immediate and at will. I let them out in the morning, while my coffee brews, and she pees, escapes, and then bangs the screen, to knock at the front door. She's also perfectly happy to break a screen, and go outside, through a window. We got home late one evening last week, and she had broken a screen to jump from a second story window, down to the driveway. She wasn't hurt, but scared the hell out of us. So much for opening all the upstairs windows at night, to cool the house.
The back fence, recently replaced, has been torn to shit, as their big dog goes at the pack of chihuahuas from the hose behind. About a dozen little items have been broken, when the spaniel and the young cat get into it. We have a carpet cleaner, but the whole downstairs is going to need professional attention when this is over. Our rescue lab has fallen back into some of his old habits, and is going back to boot camp, when the normal order is restored.
How the hell do people keep dogs, and not teach them stay out of the kitchen? Why does doubling the number of dogs, triple the piles of poop to be scooped in the yard?
Dad says the contractor is telling them three weeks. Please, God.
Like I said, just a rant. The spaniel is sleeping at my feet, and didn't even budge when the cool cat came in to steal a dirty sock from the laundry basket, a few minutes ago.
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