Sunday, October 27, 2019

I See Them One Way - My Dog Sees Them Another Way

I'm maybe going to have to lodge a complaint with the companies that make my eyeglasses. They are not very sturdy as they do not last very long when subjected to harsh conditions. I mean, how is it they think it acceptable that after only a minute or two of rough use, they have literally been torn to pieces! I think they owe me for every pair that has been chewed to pieces by my dog in less than a minute or two at most. She almost totally destroyed the last pair she got and that was just this morning.

My pooch has been pretty much conditioned not to chew things in my house that I do not want her chewing. In addition to that, I try to keep things out of my mongrel's reach but the truth is she sometimes surprises me at how far back on a table or kitchen counter she can reach when up on only her hind paws. Most times now, when I've been at home, I've caught her at whatever and I've told her a growling "NO" and said bad girl in a growl as well. For the most part, that's worked. She no longer chews on books (you should see my poor checkbook) and magazines, no longer goes for the toilet paper rolls if the bathroom doors are left open, does not chew on her leash or harness, does not even think of chewing my shoes, does not chew on her beds (yes she did a couple of few times but now she just rests or sleeps on them) and has never once tried chewing on my tortoises (as did another dog of mine and my female Hermann's Tortoise's shell has the scars to prove it many years later). When it came to her first meeting the tortoises, I think I let her know they are a no go as far as playthings go. She was and remains curious about them but has never once tried to pick them up and carry them away for a good chaw.

My eyeglasses are another story. If I leave them where she can reach them, she chews up the plastic ear pieces with avid delight. She has destroyed about 7 - 8 pairs of them. I see them as a necessity to see clearly - she sees them (or smells them) as an irresistible and delectable morsel. Luckily for me, they are all over the counter readers and are not expensive; I wear +2 for distance vision (my eye doc said to go with them or a prescription which is essentially the same strength) and +3.25 for reading. It's curious that she usually only likes to chew the plastic part of the ear pieces, I guess maybe because they have some scent from behind my ears (yes I shower regularly and keep my ears clean) or because they are just the right consistency for a good jaw boning - whatever it is she loves to chew that part.

So, why has she not stopped going after them like the other things she has been cured of chewing? I am guessing because I rarely catch her in the act with the glasses. I may leave a pair on the living room table and hit the hay forgetting them there. Or I may leave a pair next to my bed when I get up to answer nature's call and she scoops them up in her maw and sneaks away with her tasty delight. sometimes when at my laptop, I take off the ones I use for reading and put on the ones I use for distance when I get up to do something else and leave the glasses on the table on which the laptop sits. Wherever they are that she can reach, she gets them and chews them to pieces. Her habit has me wondering if I should start leaving partially chewed on ones around, purposely easy for her to get them, with me watching so that I can reprimand her in the act. It's either that, or that bitter spray liquid they sell to avoid such problems (and I have found it did not work all that well with other dogs), or me contacting the eyeglass manufacturer's like a wussy millennial cry baby and demanding they stick a tit in my mouth give me reparations to shut me up over them not making their eyeglasses dog proof. 
I think I'll try it the way I see fit as a responsible dog owner and eyeglass wearer. I will figure out some way to train her to see it my way, in other words, off of her seeing fit to steal and chew my eyeglasses! 

All the best,
Glenn B

No comments: