Day Four with Lucy (Who switched dogs)

I am setting here trying to figure out what happened to my shy and scared little Lucy, I instead have this brave little escape artist, thief and destroyer of everything. She has found her confidence and is acting more like a three month old puppy rather then a three year old dog. The morning seemed to have started out in the usual way except for the fact that when Lucy hopped out of her bed hanging from her collar was the clip and about a foot of the leash. It appears that sometime during the night she chewed on her leash and managed to chew it to where it is in two pieces, thus making her an escape artist. I tied the two ends together but now this retractable leash that was locked to not retract will no longer retract all the way. (Doesn't matter Lucy, I will still be using the leash and collar to keep track of you.)

First thing we did was head outside, lined up at the patio door was Shelby, Celina and of course Lucy. To my surprise Lucy did her job in record breaking time and back in the house we came. It is now breakfast time for all, Natural Choice and green beans was on the menu. As I sat Lucy's dish down in front of her she wasted no time in picking out the Natural Choice but would not touch the green beans. I am wondering if she will ever take a liking to green beans, didn't matter Shelby was standing by to eat what Lucy would not so nothing was wasted.

I had an appointment mid morning and knew I had to come up with something for Lucy. I did not want to let her run loose in the house, after all I wasn't sure how she would be left alone without supervision. I really didn't want to do this but I could not think of any thing else, so in came the dog crate. As I was setting it up I tried to watch Lucy's reaction, but she didn't seem to have one. I placed two big black garbage bags under the crate because I was going to put her bed and a bowl of water in it for her. If she were to spill the water bowl or have an accident at least my carpet would be spared. I placed Shelby's bed in the crate that just fit and then Lucy's bed on top of it, Lucy was going to have total comfort all the way. As I placed Lucy in the crate she went in with no problems, I even threw in a few of Shelby's toys she settled down in her bed and everything seemed fine. So off to the appointment I went, I was gone for about 3 hours and when I returned, oh my what a surprise I came home to. Don't ask me how she did this but she managed to get a hold of one of the big garbage bags, pulled it into the crate and chewed most of it into pieces. Need I say I think she was a little upset with being put in the crate, and so this makes her the destroyer.

Back on goes the leash and outside we go, the sun was shinning and the heat from it felt good I must of spent five minutes standing out there waiting for her to do something but she chose to do nothing. Back in the house we came and I dropped the leash and let her drag it around while I cleaned up the garbage bag mess she made. Well sometime during cleaning up the mess and heading to the kitchen to find me something for lunch, Lucy managed to chew her leash into two pieces again. No problem, I just once again tied the two ends together and placed it back on her even though this was getting to be old I wasn't going to give in and take the leash off.

After lunch I decided to check my emails and so to the bedroom and on the computer I go. I hadn't been on the computer very long when something told me to turn around, and when I did what did I see, I saw a white shirt of mine being dragged out the door and down the hall. So up I jumped to go and find out what was going on. As I entered the family room I saw on the floor, a pair of my pajama bottoms, one sock, a T-shirt and of course the white shirt I saw heading out my bedroom door. Lucy had found my laundry basket and was taking clothes out of it and dragging them to the family room floor. This had to be one of the funnest things I have seen her do yet. What made her do this I have no idea but she was having a ball doing it, and so this makes her a thief.

As for the rest of the day things were quiet except that once again Lucy chewed on her leash so I once again tied it together. I'll have to say it is not the prettiest leach now but it still works and I have sense decided to take it off of her and let her have her way. After all she is a Diva and what respectable Diva drags a leash around with her.

Lucy sure has surprised me today, like I said she is acting more like a puppy then an adult dog and I am so happy to see this. She probably didn't have much of a puppy life, and if she is happy with running through the house like the devil himself is after her, chewing up garbage bags, and dragging my clothes to the family room, then so be it. There will be plenty of time to correct this behavior, but for now it's all about letting Lucy be what she is suppose to be, one happy little Dachshund.