Thursday, May 6, 2010

OK. The Honeymoon is OVER.

We’ve had Trixie – our dog – for almost 5 weeks now.

During those 5 weeks, we’ve had our ups:

• Trixie obviously loves us – me especially
• We love Trixie – especially the girls
• It’s amusing watching Trixie and Quinn try to meet
• Playing tug of war
• Playing catch the ball
• Paying the girls to pick up dog poop in the yard means I’ve never once had to do it

During those 5 weeks, we’ve also had our downs:

• Trixie chews on stuff – A LOT
• Trixie likes to steal things – toys, trash out of the trash can, shoes
• Trixie poops a lot(ironically this is also OK - see above)
• Trixie has forced Quinn to stay in the basement and I miss him

Now that the “trial” period is over and I am pretty sure what every day with Trixie is going to be like, well, let me just say: the honeymoon is OVER.

I’m sick of finding my shoes laying under my bed, all chewed up. I’ve lost two good pairs and Elizabeth has lost one. And now one of my crocs has teeth marks all over it. Fortunately for me crocs are made of rubber and have actually held up pretty well considering the abuse they’ve suffered. But still. I’m sick of it.


I’m sick of being accosted every time I’ve been out of her sight for more than 8 minutes. I mean, it’s nice to feel loved, but come on – the jumping is excessive.

I’m sick of having to chase her down every morning to get her into her cage. Let me just say: I’m not the fastest person in the world, and when up against a dog, I will lose. Every time. Plus I feel bad having to shoo her out from under my bed with a broom and then putting a leash on her (making her think we’re going for a walk, when really, the walk is right into the cage, not outside).

I’m sick of our poor cat being too afraid of her to come up from the basement during waking hours. Poor Quinn. I think he’s going to have to live out the rest of his days in our basement. Although I’m pretty sure he comes up in the middle of the night (which is why I think Trixie was barking loudly last night at 2am…..).

OK. Now that I’ve said all that, I realize that those are pretty much the only annoying things about her, and really, they’re not all that annoying in the whole scope of things. She could be A LOT worse, right? And she’ll grow out of those things, right? Actually, she’s starting obedience school in a couple of weeks, so that will help with the jumping, I think. But we’ll see.

So there you have it - the real truth about Trixie, the amazing(ly annoying) wonder dog.

3 comments:

Foursons said...

I was going to suggest obedience school. Eventually she'll calm down, but I don't know how long it will take. How old is she? My dog is 3 and he still jumps, but not on me. He learned I don't like it when I screamed at him so loudly that my husband came running out of the house to check on me 'cause he thought I'd been bitten.

Michelle Pixie said...

Oh fun times! I have moments of wanting a dog and then I remember how much work they are and I am just not there yet. ;-) She sounds like a great member of the family aside from the eating of the shoes.

JCMurray said...

The thing that worked the best for me for a chewing puppy is those rope bones. The ones that have knots in them. I had to cut the knots apart, and trim the strings close to the knots, throw the strings away, and let the puppy chew away on only the knots. Although I had to every so often trim the strings off the chewed knot (yuck), and watch for when they were too chewed, it really saved my kitchen chair legs.