I am a huge animal lover. HUGE. My pets are like children to me. I frequently pet-sit for families who go out of town and need someone to watch their beloved animals. My father recently recruited me to watch his three pups for a few days, 10 days to be exact. My father and his wife own a border collie, a sheltie/collie cross and a bichon (sp?). I love these awesome dogs and usually, I anxiously await the moment I walk in the door to see their happy, wagging tails.

I am not looking forward to seeing them or their happy wagging tails tonight.

Yesterday, my first day of doggy sitting, I arrive to the house to find the border collie, Dodger, ripping his bed to shreds. Lots and lots of little pieces. He is quite the diligent dog. It must take a great deal of patience to rip something into increasingly smaller pieces. I am fairly certain that his favorite activity, above all other things, is destroying anything and everything he can get his paws on. I'm pretty sure he rips things apart out of boredom, complete and utter boredom.

Dodger has a very specific routine that he follows. He is outside in the mornings and is brought inside at lunchtime. There are reasons for this routine, but I've never been entirely clear on them. Yesterday, I knew I would not be able to make it home at lunch, and on those days, I've been instructed to leave him inside all day. Apparently he gets "talkative" and the neighbors don't always feel like chatting. So naturally, by the time I get home, he is driven mad from being trapped in a house all day long. I don't blame him. I'd want to break stuff too if someone made me sit inside all day when all I really wanted to do was go outside and play. So I cleaned up the mess and decided to shut them back inside for a few minutes while I ran down the street to the grocery store. 30 minutes later, I came home to yet another mess. This time, it was a bright red mess.

I wish I had my camera with me, but I had left it at home. Somewhere in my father's living room, Dodger managed to find a Christmas toy made of some styrofoam like substance. A red Christmas toy. And he had ripped it into a million little pieces. And his mouth was red, his paws were red, his tail was red, the carpet was red, the tile was red. everything. was. red. I almost cried. And had it not been for the fact that I was laughing so loudly about it, I may actually have cried. I managed to get the red out of the carpet, thanks to a brilliant bissel carpet cleaner. But after several showers, the dogs paws are still red. Strike that, bright pink. I picked up my camera today. I hope there are no more messes, but just in case, I'll be able to capture it.

Oh, and Dodger is hanging out outside today. All day. Sorry, neighbors. I just couldn't make him stay inside two days in a row.