R.I.P. I.D.

This week I had an all-day meeting I had to attend at work.  I went back and forth between thinking I should have the dog walker come and attend to Dorothy, or thinking it wasn’t really necessary (Dorothy likes the dog walker, but she doesn’t like to walk with the dog walker, so it is all a bit of a hassle.)

I finally decided that I would see what happened if Dorothy was left out free-range with no noon-time walk.  My pug, Tulip, was home alone for long stretches when she was Dorothy’s age, and all was fine.

Before I left in the morning, however, I did a run-through of my apartment to make sure that there was nothing that Dorothy might decide to chew.  She generally no longer chews what she shouldn’t (except for the occasional item of dirty laundry), but I still put the trashcan up high and put away some of her more dilapidated toys.

We gave her an extra walk in the morning and then left at 8:30.  I returned at 4:30 and wondered what I would find.  First, I was given a very wiggly and happy greeting by Miss Dorothy.  She came trotting to the door and was very pleased to see me.  But when I got further into the room, I noticed something suspicious on the floor:  something had been chewed to bits, but I wasn’t sure what it was.  Once I gathered all the pieces, I realized it was Sean’s work I.D., which he must have dropped on the way out.  Dorothy had filled the hard plastic with teeth marks, ripped off a few choice bits, and managed to fish out the microchip inside.  She had also denuded the I.D. of it’s neckband and pin.

When I exclaimed, “Oh, Dorothy, what have you done?” she immediately rolled over guiltily and showed me some submissive belly.  She always knows when she has done something naughty!  Luckily, she hadn’t swallowed any of the pieces that I could tell (she generally is not an eater, just a chewer—it is Posy that tends to come along and start eating the pieces of whatever Dorothy has chewed apart).  All in all, I consider her stay at home alone and free-range a success—although Sean is now in the process of getting a new I.D.

Dorothy thinking, if I destroy his I.D., then he won’t be able 

to go into work and he’ll have to stay home with me!