A few of us are lucky sufficient to be home all day and have the time to spend with our pets. But let's face it; most of us have to go to work covering our homes, to preserve our families and canine companion.
For the median family, mornings are hectic and chaotic. The alarm goes off. You drag yourself out of bed, still half asleep, to get the kids up, dressed, fed, lunches made and out the door. Oops, someone lost his or her homework, so you spend the next 10 minutes looking for it. Can't find it! Now it's time to get you dressed, sneak in a quick cup of tepid coffee and out the door. Oh yeah, one more thing on your morning program before you head out to greet the day with a smile on your face and a song in your heart. The dog!
Pet Pillow
There they are, patiently waiting. You speedily feed them and if he or she is lucky, they may get a quick walk nearby the block. Most just have the back door opened, so they can take care of enterprise in the backyard, then rushed right back inside.
While all this crack of dawn house theater is going on, there's Fido, sitting back watching and knowing it won't be long before the last member of their pack walks out the door and the lock clicks. They know for the next 8-10 hours, they are home alone.
We have two categories of the Home Alone Club. The Home Alone In Crates members. They get to look send to 8 more hours in solitary confinement. And, we have The Home Alone, I Got The Whole Place To Myself members...better known in the canine world as the "the lucky dogs."
The majority of the Home Alone In Crates bunch plainly resign themselves to the fact they are alone and will spend other 8 hours whether barking, sleeping or both. Your neighbors will assuredly appreciate the barking. Your puppy or dog will thank you for allowing them to sleep away 16 hours a day, of a relatively short life. They are the ones that are ecstatic when they hear the key in the lock! You are home and they are grateful their day now begins.
If you're lucky, you won't have a crate that needs to be cleaned or a puppy or dog that needs to be bathed. Eight hours is a long time to "hold it."
Next, we have the first half of the Home Alone, I Got The Whole Place To Myself members that will patiently while away the hours rotating between barking, napping and looking something suitable to amuse themselves with. The high point of their day is when the mailman shows up. Finally, they have a serious imagine to bark, after all, they are guarding the castle. They are happy to see you. There is a quick hello, and then it's "Ok, that's out of the way; now let's go covering and play", followed by that matter-of-fact look asking, "Oh, by the way, what's for supper?"
Finally, we have the Home Alone, I Got The Whole Place To Myself members that are exceptionally creative. They are too busy to bark. The neighbors love them! They are the ones that can redecorate your entire house to their preference, in less than 8 hours. They start in the kitchen first doing the Hoover thing...vacuuming up every last crumb left on the floor. That is followed up with a little stealth counter surfing, with a cursory descry into the sink, to see if any dirty dishes have been stacked up. They save the best for last...wastebasket patrol. Waste supervision is an huge responsibility to many a dog's self-designated job description. It's a nasty job, but someone in this house has to do it!
You confidently leave the house thinking the puppy gate is going to safe the rest of the house...guess again. It is merely a small obstacle, a little challenge.
With a full belly, they then slow gravitate toward the dining room, with those "Oh so tasty table and chair legs." Sometimes, they may even find the "missing homework," and snack on it. Next on their "must do list are the bedrooms. There is a closely guarded private in the canine world, the more bedrooms, the less boredom!
Bedrooms are spicy and fun. More often than not, they are on a tried and true mission. Bedrooms can take hours sometimes. They know from past experience, there is bound to be underwear stashed away somewhere to be searched for and destroyed. If they can't find underwear, there is always a pair or two of flavorsome shoes squirreled away in at least one of those bedrooms. Their sophisticated palate inherently draws them to the more precious ones.
Bathrooms are for amateurs. Ordinarily towels are the main focus for newbie interior designers. Those infernal, little, white tags humans insist on leaving on their towels are a bone of contention to canines of good taste. The general rule is: start with the tag, and work your way straight through the rest of the towel. Yummy! Then we have puppies or dogs, ordinarily puppies that almost laser beam onto toilet paper. What a great toy! Whoever invented toilet paper is a saint to some dogs. One can do so much with toilet paper. If you wet it, it sticks to stuff. Make use of it dry, and you can drag a new roll all over the house!
Finally, they head to the living room, for their piece de resistance. This is where they pride themselves on style and technique. They can't quite comprehend your taste or fondness to furniture, pillows, or chotchkies. To them, that charming, ancient vase you inherited from your great-grandmother, made the neatest sound when it hit the tile floor. They wished you had more of them! This is the room that most needs that refined canine soupcon. Ok, maybe a bit more than that. Fluff...lots of fluff...a little fluff is good, more is better. Get that fluff all over the place! A few broken pieces of stuff here to tie it all together and voila! You have a canine interior-decorating masterpiece!
So, while you were gone, they had a busy and effective day. They hardly missed you. They are as a follow of all that hard work, totally exhausted. Normally, you'll find them curled up, sound asleep on the vestiges of your couch. Yup, home alone isn't all that bad for the more resourceful, creative puppy or dog.
Note: This is also the bunch that sometimes has remodeling in their genes. You often find them tearing out old carpeting, remove molding and maybe adding a new doggie door between rooms.
Oh, by the way, if you don't appreciate the new look, "The cat did it!"
For ways to make your pet's home alone touch less stressful for you and more fun than quest and destroy or sprucing up the castle for them, watch for Home Alone - Part 2.
Home Alone - Part 1 - What Kind of Life Is That For Your Puppy or Dog?
