Every rescue dog comes with its own set of baggage to sort through. Freya loves to chew – probably some from anxiety but more likely from being caged most of her life and now finding a whole new world of tactile sensations.
Even though I pick up the toys most nights, by 9 a.m. she has most of them out of the bin and every one is missing something – an ear, a fin, a flipper. Once she finds a way in, then she goes all in looking for the squeaker so the white toy stuffing goes all over. Our living room right now looks like a stuffy toy abattoir. Even the hard rubber toys are no match for her little shark teeth.
Unfortunately, it’s not just toys. We realized right away that pretty much anything is fair game. It took YA a bit longer to come to terms with this – she’s lost a shoe, a slipper and a pair of shorts. We’ve taken to limiting her smorgasbord a bit right now by putting up gates to keep her in a smaller area and by keeping a very close eye on her.
She is however quite stealthy and if your attention is elsewhere, she can get around you quite nicely. On Saturday I spent some time on the phone with one of my BFFs from Madison. I had been upstairs before the call and when I came down, I neglected to put up the gate at the bottom of the stairs. A few minutes into my call, I looked up and saw Freya chewing what looked like a big chunk of yellow foam. At first I figured she had gutted a stuffy but most toys these days are white fiber fill; I also didn’t see any stuffy carcasses nearby. When I took it from her and headed toward the trash, I noticed more yellow foam on the landing. I had reconfigured the dog bed situation upstairs so I thought that maybe Freya didn’t like my renovation.
When I got off the phone, I went to check it out. No trail of yellow foam to the landing. No cover to whatever the item had been. Both upstairs dog beds were intact. In fact, everything upstairs was intact. I even checked rooms with closed doors. I moved the gate to YA’s room and looked around in there. Bupkiss. I even did a slow-pan video of her room and sent it to her (she’s out of town for work) and she says it looks fine. We haven’t replaced bathroom rug yet. All my pillows are fine. Downstairs everything in order. Piano bench fine, dining room chairs fine, breakfast room dog kennel fine (I checked this twice). Not one bit of yellow foam anywhere else.
At this point I have given up looking for whatever it was in its past life. I’m figuring that in three months or so I’ll be looking for something, won’t be able to find it and a lightbulb will go off. Maybe.
Have you lost anything lately that you think you might find… eventually? Any mysteries in your life this week?
