April 5, 2011

White Dog gave a little "What are you doing ?" woof as she came around the corner to join me in the office. Her question was not what I was doing, but rather, what her sister, Still Another White Dog, was up to. WD sighed heavily as once again the burdens of pack leadership pressed down and she tapped to get my attention. "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked our littlest Eskie as she continued to calmly gnaw on the door frame. "Stop that!"

Puff is not a puppy; she is 12 years old and other than terrorizing stuffies on occasion, has never chewed up anything inappropriate since we got her. SAWD looked annoyed, first at me and then at White Dog. She got up, moved to the end of the hallway and laid down with her back to us. WD and I went back to work.

A short time later we simultaneously looked toward the hall, drawn by the whumfing noise that sounded like either a bad case of canine hiccups or pre-barfing sounds. There was SAWD with the edge of the carpet runner in her jaws, the rug gripped in her paws as she dragged and pulled and nommed at the fabric attempting to tear off a strip.

WD let out a warning growl. Puff turned but did not even drop the carpet. "Really?" I said getting up and catching her in my arms. "What is this about?" I checked her mouth to see if there was a tooth issue that needed attending but her teeth were fine and gums healthy bright pink. For a senior girl, Puff has wonderful teeth.

Our house looks like a bulldozed cemetery; there are bones everywhere for the pups to enjoy. Big beef shins, littler nylabones, round steak bones, rawhides, moo ears, and an endless assortment of rubber chewable toys. The White Dog Army does not lack materials to exercise their teeth, gums and jaws.

Just to be sure, I took a new rubber denta-bone from the stash and gave it to our girl. She took it and sniffed. She gave it a tentative munch. Then she dropped it and went outside.

White Dog followed her and came back laughing. Where was SAWD? Why, in the backyard of course, chewing a stick!

And the bizarre door and carpet chewing? She hasn't repeated the behavior all afternoon and is certainly not talking about the incident.