utter destruction

Do you remember that Sesame Street song/game, "One of these things is not like the other..."  When we come home from work it's always a toss up as to what our mini Aussie puppy will have done this time.  By the looks of this picture, there appears to be something missing from our table...

OH MY GOODNESS, DASH!!!  This isn't even our plant.  This is our roommate's ficus tree, which is now gnawed and uprooted, with its pot completely void of all dirt and stones.  My first thought was, will the plant be salvageable?  Can I re-pot it and make it live again?  As you can imagine, there was dirt EVERYWHERE.  Papa Dash and I took a long deep breath and tried to focus on the cleanup.

We swept, and vacuumed, and wiped down the entire living room.  I think it took about 45 minutes or an hour to get it spotless.  Our roommate usually gets home really late so we thought we had ample time to clean up and "remove the incriminating evidence".  Unfortunately for us, he came home early!  We were caught red-handed (or perhaps red-pawed would be more appropriate).  He was, of course, very understanding of the situation.  We are SO lucky to have such a great roomie!  I bought more potting soil and and did what I could to save the plant, but it has been touch and go.  The leaves are all slowly falling off now, and when I chopped off one stem there was no green in the center.  I think it may be a goner... :(

chew on this... again

What?  How?  Really?  But?  Huh?

If you didn't recognize it, this is a photo of two different destroyed items.  The piping used to be stuck in the crack of our couch to keep the slipcover in place.  I don't even know how he knew it was there.  You can't see it at all when you look at the couch or sit on it.

The very end of the plug is from the lamp cord, which I took great care in hiding behind the couch where I thought our mini Aussie puppy couldn't reach it.  Now we have a cute lamp that can't be turned on.

I'm getting a very clear picture there is nothing Dash can't get a hold of!!!

chew on this

Hmm... sharp tiny pieces of clear plastic scattered throughout the apartment.  I wonder what Dash got to today while we were at work???

If only the Modern Warfare 2 disc was actually in the case before our mini Aussie puppy destroyed it, then maybe I'd have one night of no video game playing by Papa Dash.  At least he has headphones now so I don't have to hear the shooting noises...

bathroom fun

Today we went out to run errands and left Dash at home to recuperate.  Apparently his blood and urine tests came back normal, so it seems like the back injury may have been accurate.

Well...  When we came home Dash was right there at the door to say hello.  He was more energetic and perky, which was a huge relief.  However, our little mini Aussie puppy had something stuck to his foot.  That's strange, we thought.  Where did that come from?

 

OH.  That's... where it came from.  I guess we neglected to close the door to the bathroom before we left.  OOPS.  Dash had a field day tearing up the entire roll of toilet paper, then picked through the rubbish can and found an empty package of face cleansing wipes - hence the closure sticker on his paw.

We had him go back in to pose in front of his art project.  Doesn't he look genuinely proud of his work?  Oh my.  On the bright side, at least Dash is feeling better!

art project

Oh Dash.  So cute.  So naughty.  What will we ever do with you?

 

Usually Papa Dash is so frustrated that he neglects to take photographic evidence.  However, this mess was so monumental that he just had to show me...

  

This was certainly Dash's worst mess ever.  While we were all at work our mini Aussie puppy pulled our roommate's hibiscus flower plant off the shelf and tore it to pieces.  Even the pot was shredded, because it was one of those organic types that could eventually be planted in the ground.  :(  The dirt was just everywhere!!!  EVERYWHERE.  We had to move all the furniture, sweep the whole living room, and take the rug out to thoroughly dust it.  To make matters worse, since the pot for the plant was destroyed I resorted to replanting the remaining stalk and roots into a spare rubbish can.  It was so ghetto.  Sorry roomie.

need dog walker

Most days I'm not the first to get off work, so I'm usually saved from the horrors of coming home to our mini Aussie puppy and his "art projects".  At first we told ourselves it was just because of teething.  Now we're not sure when it will ever end!

Papa Dash has cleaned countless torn pee pads, chewed wires and shoes, broken wicker baskets, disheveled pillows, tattered DVD folders, dissected tissue boxes, mangled game controllers, shredded paper bags, gnawed furniture...  Even an unpopped bag of popcorn.  You think it, and Dash has probably chewed it up.  I realize in writing this it sounds like we're very irresponsible puppy parents who shouldn't give their unsupervised canine access to such things.  Nonetheless, it will blow your mind to know what this puppy is capable of in terms of ingenuity and physical agility!

We've been looking for a dog walker on and off for some time now, since we can't afford to send Dash to doggy day care.  Our rationale is that going out for a couple of hours to play will help burn off energy and stimulate Dash's mind, so that he no longer resorts to chewing.  There are also several great off-leash places where he could romp to his heart's desire and be nice and mellow when we come home from work.

At first we figured in a city like this, where there is the highest number of dogs per capita in the nation, finding a dog walker would be cake.  But, the crazy thing is that in San Francisco, where the entire city is about 8 miles by 8 miles, there are NO established dog walkers in our area!!  Our apartment is apparently too far into suburbia (or the avenues as the locals call it).  No in-demand professionals venture out here, since there is a higher concentration of wealthy people and penned up dogs to be had in the more metropolitan neighborhoods.

Until we find someone trustworthy and competent enough to handle spry little Dash, our daily surprises like this one will continue.  I used to keep a potted house plant on the side table next to the couch.  BADDD idea.  Papa Dash had a wonderful time cleaning this one up!  He was so (not) amused that he took a photo just to show me how hard he worked to get it clean by the time I came home.

So the search continues...  Perhaps the new year will bring new luck in the dog walker department!  Either that, or our living room will soon become void of anything even remotely chewable...