# Noooooo! Not those shoes!



## Mandarama (Jul 5, 2009)

Today is the first time in all these weeks where I have looked at Murphy and thought, "WHY DO I HAVE YOU?!" 

I started back to work in mid Aug. (I teach.) Well, Murphy had had several weeks of always being with me--and then I started having to go to work. Mind you, it is 3 days a week for a total of 4 hours each time. He's not crate trained b/c he is SO bothered by it, and of course for the first several weeks, he was an angel! (Honeymoon period!) So we thought, OK, he'll be fine for these short bursts. If I have to meet with students or run errands, I made an arrangement with my neighbor to bring her toddler over to play and take Murph out.

Well, evidently, as soon as I leave, he looks for trouble. Last week, he ate both my pairs of black summer work shoes. One pair, he actually went into my closet and pulled out of the shoe cubby. He's also chewed up some cat toys (got the basket down off the top of the dresser), his pick-up bag dispenser, a wooden tinkertoy, etc.

So OK. We know this is basically our fault for leaving things where he can get them, so we tidied up everything, close closet & BR doors, etc. 

Tonight, we are sitting around the table eating dinner, and I hear him gnawing away. I look over expecting him to have his antler, and instead he has MY FAVORITE RED ROCKET DOG MARYJANES that are my FAVE shoes on the planet. And he's chewed off the straps. This is after a long frisbee play session at midday, me being home most of the day, & my husband taking him on a walk after work. He got my shoes right there with us home! Gaaah! And I know it's silly to care too much about shoes...but these can't be replaced, and I got them for a dear friend's wedding. Sob.

Luckily, I caught him in the act and was able to clearly convey that he was wrong and he is in disgrace.  He's been shadowing me and "kissing up" ever since! But man...it's a good thing I already love him so much. Because did I mention these were my FAVORITE shoes? 

I know we are going to have to revisit the crate training. I dread it...he's SO freaked out by confinement. But I don't want him to choke on anything, either! Truly, the rescue was right when they told me to expect "Angel Dog" for a period of weeks and then "your dog's real personality will emerge." Hahaha, no kidding! :


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I'm not much into shoes but I can feel your pain. Caue still surprises me once in a while with mild destruction of items that have my scent on them. Yesterday I came home at lunch to find my bedroom pillow in the middle of the living room floor. Luckily no damage. I also never have a complete pair of shoes in the same room of my house.


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## Mandarama (Jul 5, 2009)

Do you think it is connected to the smell of you, then? B/c I told my husband...you notice that it's only MY shoes! My kids leave their shoes and clothes everywhere and Murphy never touches them. Same with my husband--and as I told him, his boring shoes could be replaced!  Haha. But red Rocket Dog Mary Janes that you wore to a wedding and got for only $20 and love more than anything...those will never come 'round again. I haz a sad. My husband said, "those shoes aren't even leather; why would he want them?" Either this is something about ME or my feet are very attractively smelly to a dog!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Oh I know how that feels. My Shelby was that way. She chewed up my favorite pair of cowboy boots that were nice and broke in and so comfortable. And a couple of other pairs of shoes. She somehow figured out how to open the closet door. so she had to stay in her crate. 
Maybe you can use the kongs filled with yummies for the short time you are gone.


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## spruce (Mar 13, 2008)

goldens too!!! I've never had a golden pup (got my kid when he was 6 months & too shy to destroy much)

but our lab destroyed all my shoes - which were all great deals like your Rocket Dogs. Never DH's which were very accessible - she was/is totally in love with him, but never had any jelously towards me. I'm sure his shoes smell more interesting to a dog than mine

when Sadie had access to shoes, she'd get out 3 (1 each from 3 pairs


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

I can feel your pain. When we were first married ( ie, young and dumb.... and long long ago), we took our dog ( terrier mix) to a workshop we went to out of town. We left her in the hotel room while we went to our seminars, and when we came back, she had eaten ONE out of every pair of shoes we brought !!! She was in no uncertain terms PO'ed !!!! 
Be sure if you start crate training that you make it really positive. Perhaps give treats and leave the door open while you are right there at first. And work up from there. Kongs with frozen pnut butter or yogurt ( if he tolerates them well) keep them busy for quite a while.


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## Bob-N-Tash (Feb 24, 2008)

But how could he resist... after all your shoes taste like your feet....


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## Alohaimee (Feb 15, 2009)

Oh no!! Leonidas has started chewing on stuff when I am gone too!! Yesterday we came home from "town" and he (Maximus helped i'm sure) had eaten an ENTIRE log of the natural balance duck!! Are you kidding me!?? We are still smelling that! lol!

I am sorry about your shoes! That sucks!! That is why goldens have those big doofy smiles... so they stay alive!


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## Mandarama (Jul 5, 2009)

Aimee, exactly--they are SOOO cute and sweet so we don't kill 'em! :no: We had 2.5 hours at the dog park this morning before I had to leave home--this was my plan to make him way too tired for mischief. But when I got home today, since he couldn't get to anything ELSE...he'd dragged out the multi-pack of toilet paper and chewed a bunch of it up! I was thinking, really? Toilet paper? Doesn't that get all stuck to your tongue and stuff? Sigh. Better that than anything costly, I guess.

Thank you for the crate advice, Penny&Maggie's Mom. I guess we're gonna have to give it another try. Murphy has a Kong and a FunBell--neither of which he will have anything to do with. We've tried peanut butter & treats, etc. inside--he just looks at it like he finds the rubber personally offensive, but he's too polite to say so. Argh!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I forgot to mention about Beau and his shoe chewing incident. When Beau was about 1 year old he decided my husband's favorite pair of docksiders would make a good chew toy. He chewed up one till it was in shreds. We still have that shoe and now treasure it. In fact I was going thru a box and found it a couple of days ago and just started crying remembering the incident. Who knew a shoe would mean so much to me now that Beau is gone.


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## Mandarama (Jul 5, 2009)

Aw, {{{{{Carol}}}}}...that's a good reminder of what's really important!


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

BeauShel said:


> I forgot to mention about Beau and his shoe chewing incident. When Beau was about 1 year old he decided my husband's favorite pair of docksiders would make a good chew toy. He chewed up one till it was in shreds. We still have that shoe and now treasure it. In fact I was going thru a box and found it a couple of days ago and just started crying remembering the incident. Who knew a shoe would mean so much to me now that Beau is gone.


Oh, I hear you Carol!
My favorite pair of flip flops have a couple puncture wounds in them from Cooper. So does one of our plastic kitchen spatulas. (lol.) I'll never part with those things - they mean too much.

The only time I ever came close to getting mad was when Alomar (one of our GSDs) got ahold of my favorite Bandolino leather boots. They were pretty expensive and had been a real splurge for me. I loved those boots. Alomar completely shredded them. The heels and the soles were the only thing recognizable when he was finished. I had that split second of wanting to brain him, but it didn't last long.


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