on old dawgs and new rugs…

Last week we bade farewell to our aged pooch. Millie came to live with us 13 years ago when it was estimated she was about a year old, maybe two. She was a rescue which I believe affected her personality to being one of the sweetest and most grateful creatures ever.

We started with her sleeping in a crate at night but then she became too big to fit so her accommodations became more casual. Her behavior 95% of the time was on point yet that remaining portion she was whack-a-doodle! In her last 2 years she would frequently tear through the bathroom garbage, claw at the toilet roll unwinding several feet at a time, and nest at the foot of the stairs, shredding whatever rug was there. Then she would go back to being normal for some months and we would forget that her whack-a-doodle days might be approaching.  We went through two area rugs in the family room and last winter I just decided to keep the floor bare there and replace the rug when she was no more. After all she was an old dawg!

So imagine my surprise when about a month ago, in the night, she took to destroying the last vestige of area rugs…an exquisite red bamboo area rug in the living room. The first evidence showed up as a bald spot. Apparently she pulled the tuft and ingested it in the night.  I was annoyed and perplexed but the damage had been done so I left the rug in place to discourage her further pillaging the upholstery. A couple nights later she woke me when she actually tore strips from the base of the rug. How could I scold her? She could barely walk!

Fast forward ten days and now I am spending hours online looking at area rugs to replace the two most recent victims of Millie. I have spent considerable hours looking at rugs and at this point I am thinking…wha? we will likely rescue another pooch in due time. Is anything pooch proof really?!

And then suddenly I realize how my ideals and standards have changed. I used to believe that one day I would have nice things, things not destroyed by kids or animals. And now I believe that it is the kids and animals that are the nice things which fulfill us and make for a wonderful life. The rest is just decoration.

That said…the search continues…