More Dog Stuff
My gf just had some new cabinets installed in her kitchen, and the old ones fixed up so that shelves no longer rest on coffee cans.
The dogs are fine with workmen, but only if she or I are actually in the house. Ruby, being quite protective, tends to cause trouble if there's a stranger in the house when we're not there.
But my gf had to go out. So she put the dogs in the bedroom, where they'd be out of the way. The workman was leaving shortly anyway, and I was supposed to show up shortly after that to take them for their afternoon walk.
So everything worked out fine. Except for one thing. It turns out Ruby can open doors.
Now, I've seen her try before, watching the doorknob move from the other side of the door. And yes, she's got out of a room a couple of times before, but we always assumed that we'd forgot to firmly latch the door - it is an older house, and everything is a bit creaky.
But this time, there was no doubt. The workman had already left, but when I got there, I could see dog faces in the front window, which I thought odd. But I assumed that my gf had just changed her mind for some reason. But no.
All the food from the cabinets was piled on top of the kitchen table. The kitchen table is no barrier to Ruby of course. But she ignored the crackers and dog treats and went right for the thing that is her passion in life - chocolate.
She once ate a half lb box of dark chocolate that was wrapped as a gift, in the car, at the bottom of as bag filled with other gifts, when she was left alone in the car for two minutes. An expensive lesson. And trip to the veterinary ER - chocolate is somewhat poisonous to dogs, and she 's not very big.
This time she knocked off a large tin of unsweetened baking cocoa and pried the lid off. It's bitter, of course. You'd think a dog wouldn't eat it. But for Ruby, it's CHOCOLATE. From sheer luck, I must have arrived almost immediately after, before she had a chance to eat more than a small amount of it.
So all's well that ends well. But she is a clever dog - not exactly smart, the way some dogs are smart, but clever - the kind of dog who loses a ball under a fence and immediately runs around the entire enclosure, looking for a weak point to get in.
And somehow, has figured out the secret of doorknobs
The dogs are fine with workmen, but only if she or I are actually in the house. Ruby, being quite protective, tends to cause trouble if there's a stranger in the house when we're not there.
But my gf had to go out. So she put the dogs in the bedroom, where they'd be out of the way. The workman was leaving shortly anyway, and I was supposed to show up shortly after that to take them for their afternoon walk.
So everything worked out fine. Except for one thing. It turns out Ruby can open doors.
Now, I've seen her try before, watching the doorknob move from the other side of the door. And yes, she's got out of a room a couple of times before, but we always assumed that we'd forgot to firmly latch the door - it is an older house, and everything is a bit creaky.
But this time, there was no doubt. The workman had already left, but when I got there, I could see dog faces in the front window, which I thought odd. But I assumed that my gf had just changed her mind for some reason. But no.
All the food from the cabinets was piled on top of the kitchen table. The kitchen table is no barrier to Ruby of course. But she ignored the crackers and dog treats and went right for the thing that is her passion in life - chocolate.
She once ate a half lb box of dark chocolate that was wrapped as a gift, in the car, at the bottom of as bag filled with other gifts, when she was left alone in the car for two minutes. An expensive lesson. And trip to the veterinary ER - chocolate is somewhat poisonous to dogs, and she 's not very big.
This time she knocked off a large tin of unsweetened baking cocoa and pried the lid off. It's bitter, of course. You'd think a dog wouldn't eat it. But for Ruby, it's CHOCOLATE. From sheer luck, I must have arrived almost immediately after, before she had a chance to eat more than a small amount of it.
So all's well that ends well. But she is a clever dog - not exactly smart, the way some dogs are smart, but clever - the kind of dog who loses a ball under a fence and immediately runs around the entire enclosure, looking for a weak point to get in.
And somehow, has figured out the secret of doorknobs