Wednesday

[ksmith]

Reminder To Self: never wear the nice white shirt the day after you dye your hair an Interesting Color. Especially when you use the stuff that washes out over time.

King was a complete PITA last night. He dozed for most of the evening, but as soon as the lights went out, he realized that he wasn't tired, and if he wasn't tired, no one could be tired either. It's after 1am, I'm having a hard time falling asleep anyway, and all I can hear is the soft jingle of dog tags as King wanders through the house, with occasional breaks to stop by my room and stand in the doorway and stare his "you aren't tired, are you?" stare.

I let him outside. Let him back inside. He'd lie down for a few moments, then start to pace again. jinglejinglejingle.

Then I heard a hard crunch, and stumbled out to the living room in time to see King slouch away from the photo bucket. The photo bucket is an old wooden bucket with a padded lid that we always used to store, well, photos. I checked it out, and found that King had chewed the spot where the handle attached to the side, leaving some very nice marks in place.

I yelled. He settled down...for a few minutes. The more jinglejinglejingle. Stop by the room. "You tired?"

At 230am, I cracked and put him outside. Lest I be charged with cruelty to Kings,let me add that this is a dog who used to lie on the lawn in the rain and chew bones. A descendant of herders and hunters. A Real Dog (tm), IOW, until a life of soft cushions beckoned. A former outdoorsman.

I was awakened by barking at about 530am. Opened the door, and King bounded in like he'd been shot out of a cannon. Grabbed his heaviest bone, and played a little "Can I drop this on your foot?" before settling down to nap. Because he was tired, dammit.

I got back in bed and tried to grab a few more lovely minutes. Heard a sniffle and a rustle, which meant that it was Mickey's turn to get into the act. I let *him* out, but before I let him back in, I moved his bed out to the living room because it's the size of a small country and I can't reach my closet unless I move it. Then I let Mickey back in, at which point he starts wandering around and standing by my bed because I moved his bed too soon, dammit, and he still had some sleeping to do.

I got up. Made coffee. Mickey is sound asleep on the office cushion. King is sleeping the sleep of the just in the living room. I'm getting a massage tonight, and will likely fall asleep on the table.

Comments

[slave2tehtink.livejournal.com]

This is why my dogs are naked in the house and in my yard when I'm there to supervise: jinglejinglejingle *pause* *I begin to wonder what the now silent dog is up to* jinglejinglejingle. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Of course, the nudity doesn't help when they decide, usually just as I am dozing off, to re-enact The Epic Battle Scenes of Jack London right next to my bed. But at least they aren't jingling while they do it.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I want the jinglejinglejingle, annoying as it can be, because a King that can't be heard is a King that is up to no good.

That and the fact that he gets edgy when I take off his collar. I think he thinks it means parking lot abandonment is in his future. Which wouldn't be an issue if he'd stop eating my furniture.

[elmunadi.livejournal.com]

Bitter Apple. tastes nasty (much nastier to a dog than to me, from the foul looks I've gotten in the past after using a spray mister to dose items I wanted no (or no further) damage to.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I've tried that on bandages and such--he licks it off.

[elmunadi.livejournal.com]

Ah... you have our sheltie.

Ok, switch from "Bitter Apple spray for Dawgs" to the gel, or, the moderately more evil and definitely more persistent "Bitter Apple for Horses".

It's a little thicker consistency, can be cleaned off with Alcohol, Orange/Lemon Pledge, and other such *non-water* cleaners, and considerably less soluble in Windex, water and apparently saliva. It's great on outdoor materials, and fine on indoor materials that you're not going to be handling a lot.

Alternatively, not all dogs hate Bitter Apple - you might try Bitter Yuck - similar, but with a different chemical mix (it has a different odor, and if sniffed, has enough effect in the back the throat to make you gag. (not from caustic action, but the taste...)

Failing any of the above... have you tried Egyptian Plum on him?

[cabri729.livejournal.com]

So is it now a nice white shirt with an interesting Egyptian Plum design on the shoulders? Perhaps it will wash out over time.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Egyptian Plum ring-around-the-collar, actually. Hair's just long enough that it brushed the top of the collar.

It should wash out, eventually. I hope. I really do like that shirt...